Astrological Planets: Mercury in Brief

The astrological symbol of the planet Mercury shows the mental half of the soul (crescent) resting on the symbol of the spirit (circle), which itself rests on the cross of matter. It is as if the symbol for Venus, with all its power to love, beautify, desire, and attract, has been crowned with the crescent of the Moon. The symbol of Mercury suggests the ability not only to focus with pin-point accuracy on the particulars of what is mentally desires, but also to concentrate on and communicate those personal ideas to the universe.

Called the "winged messenger" in Roman mythology, Mercury, god of communication and thought, represents the mind, the energy that enables our ego to receive and transmit fact, ideas, and information. Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun so, in a personal horoscope, Mercury will occupy either the same sign as our sun sign, or one sign behind or ahead of it. This can be interpreted as symbolic of our mind, which is either involved with our current situation, thinking about the previous one, or jumping ahead to the next. By concentrating on a subject one fact at a time, Mercury enables us to make reasoned connections between ideas and predictive calculations involving logical assumptions. When we become too obsessed with knowing the outcome of a situation ahead of its time, we tend to be prone to nervousness and worry. Mercury teaches us to focus, and rules the hands, sight, and the nervous system.

Qualities associated with the astrological planet of Mercury include: thinking, observing, studying, analyzing, division, criticism, reason, logic, connection, adaptation, reorganization of thoughts, crafting, forming, details, predicting, calculating, translation, communication, speaking, writing, and reading.