Transits of Mercury

Transits to the Moon

Mercury and the Moon traditionally represent the two major parts of the psyche. Mercury represents the rational and communicative side, while the Moon represents emotions, sensitivities, and the more unconscious parts. Therefore, when Mercury transits the natal Moon, these two aspects of your mental functioning are brought into a relationship where, depending on the nature of the transit, they can either work in harmony or become disturbances to each other. However, even in the latter case of mutual disturbance, conscious effort on your part can bring things under control so that harmony can be restored. In concrete terms, you can express your feelings during these transits more clearly and articulately than usual. You may be able to verbalize things of which you are normally not conscious. And even when you are expressing yourself on a largely rational level, your communication will be infused with more feeling and sensitivity than usual. The energies of this combination also enable you to work more successfully with people you normally have difficulty understanding, those with whom you usually find it hard to communicate clearly on a rational level. Under the influence of these transits, other people will not have to work as hard to get you to understand them. Your conscious mind can build a bridge that helps you understand things that are not as clearly expressed as they might be.

Transits to Mercury

When Mercury transits its own natal position, it highlights the rational and intellectual side of your mind. It also energizes other mercurial functions such as communicating, negotiating, and the way in which you interact with your everyday reality, for example, driving a car, walking, using a phone, texting, emails, or any other kind of written communication. Because Mercury is traditionally associated with speed, the transits of Mercury to Mercury may result in an increase in the pace of your daily life. This can be good or bad, depending on how you handle it and whether speed is appropriate to the task. Usually, however, the transits of Mercury to your natal Mercury are likely to increase your ability to deal with things at a faster pace. Because of Mercury’s relationship to the Sun, that is, it never gets further away from the Sun than 28̊, the cycle of Mercury to your natal Mercury is roughly one year, give or take several weeks. As a result, Mercury will conjoin your natal Mercury within a month or so of your birthday.

The main difficulty that Mercury transits to your natal Mercury present comes from Mercury’s tendency to be more concerned with speed and efficiency than with the content of thinking and communications. Mercury’s energies are not inherently deceptive, but they can be amoral. It is up to you to provide the moral and ethical background to your communication as appropriate when Mercury is transiting your natal Mercury.

Transits to Venus

The combination of these two energies can be very positive because both Mercury and Venus are concerned with harmony, albeit at different levels. To give an abstract example, Mercury represents the mathematical foundations of music that are the basis of harmony, while Venus represents the experience of harmony in the world. Consequently, the interactions of these two energies can be very creative. In fact, no true artistic creativity can take place without the energies of Mercury and Venus working together. And it is also true, of course, that on another level the combination of these two energies has to do with communicating love and affection. While this combination does have to do with expressing love and affection, it has little to do with the arousal of passion that comes in intimate relationships. That is due to Venus in combination with other factors.

Transits to Mars

In general, the combination of these two energies by any aspect whatsoever joins the intellectual and mental energy of Mercury and its usefulness in communication with the assertive and forceful energy of Mars. This can have two distinctly different effects, the first of which is potentially quite destructive and the second of which is, by contrast, quite constructive. The energies of Mars typically manifest as combative and egoistic. The aim is to win in a conflict and to reinforce one’s own position in any matter. The energy of Mercury is best expressed as objective communication in which the message is transmitted from one point to another, or thinking is performed with a maximum degree of objectivity. When these two energies are badly combined, the clarity and fidelity of the message transmitted by Mercury are distorted for egotistical ends by the energies of Mars. The result can be lying and treachery in extreme cases. On a milder level, it can signify communications that amount to contests in a debating society, in which winning the debate is the primary goal and where truth may be bent a bit.

However, there is a higher side to Mars, which shares the high energy and the willingness to fight but not the egoism of the lower side. The high Mars fights to find one’s true way in life, to help others do the same, and to protect and defend those who need protection and defense. Where the low Mars is egotistical, the high Mars is altruistic. When this is combined with the energies of Mercury, people fight for the truth of something they believe in, which they feel transcends their individual egos. The motto “To serve and to protect” is found on many police cars. Even if the police do not always fully live up to that goal, that is the goal of the high Mars.

Transits to Jupiter

Just as Mercury and Jupiter rule the opposite signs of Gemini and Sagittarius, they are also complementary in a way similar to these opposite signs. For example, Mercury transmits information with the highest possible degree of fidelity, and Jupiter assembles that information into a larger structure. Where Mercury has dominion over the words in a book, Jupiter has dominion over the book’s content and overall organization. And, just as the signs they rule are opposite, these two planets can also interfere with each other. Mercury can be so caught up in the details that it loses track of the overall intention. Put another way, Mercury is more intent on the content of the message than on its intention. Likewise, Jupiter’s energies can be so wrapped up in the overall content that they pay little or no attention to the methods for conveying information clearly.

Jupiter is more concerned with the intention and meaning of the message than with clarity. In our lives these two planets should balance their functions so that neither dominates the other. When they are in balance, both thought and content are well expressed. From a social point of view, Jupiter corresponds to law as an expression of right and justice. Mercury corresponds to the details and wording of the laws that enable the Jupiter function to take place. Conversely, Mercury can give excellent expression to a terrible legal system, and an excellent legal system can be undermined by unclear and ambiguous wording. At the most abstract level, Jupiter has to do with overall structure and form, while Mercury has to do with the expression of that structure in detail.

Transits to Saturn

The energies of Mercury and Saturn work together very well in some ways and with considerable difficulty in others. On the positive side, Saturn’s tendencies toward structuring and constraining can greatly improve the precision and clarity with which Mercury’s energies communicate. Also, Saturn’s energy at its best works at deep and profound levels. This tends to give weight to Mercury’s energies, which are sometimes inclined to be a bit superficial. The image of the old and wise sage is a Mercury Saturn image. Also, Saturn’s energies tend to be ponderous and slow-moving, which can slow down Mercury’s expression and make it more careful and considerate.

However, if Saturn’s energies manifest in too extreme a manner, they can interfere with and restrict Mercury to the point where communication does not happen at all. This is more likely to be a problem with Saturn transiting Mercury than with Mercury transiting Saturn. Another potential difficulty with this combination occurs for people who have not mastered their Saturn energies. For them, Saturn often represents fears and hidden matters they are unwilling to divulge, and when Mercury transits Saturn, that fear may injure communication. Regarding the effect that Saturnian structure has on Mercury’s facility, it may result in one’s critical faculties getting the upper hand, so that, once again, no communication seems sufficiently near perfect to allow it to take place. The challenge of these two energies is to keep them as balanced as possible.

Transits to Uranus

While the fundamental qualities of these planets are quite different, they can work very well together. Despite their differences, they are often perceived as similar, so much so that many astrologers refer to Uranus as the “higher octave” of Mercury. However, Mercury functions very well at the personal level, although it does have a transcendental function as well. Uranus functions well only at the transcendental level. In terms of everyday normal consciousness we experience Uranus as disruptive, sudden, and therefore often unpleasant. In the human body, both planets are considered to be related to the nervous system, and both are associated with the sciences, particularly the mathematical sciences, and in particular astronomy. They are also associated with astrology.

Both planets are associated with speed, although in the case of Uranus the speed is often felt to be sudden and hasty. The combination of these two planets tends to enhance mental functions and works very well so long as they do not interact in such a way that things happen too fast, too suddenly, and become more disruptive than efficient. The special virtue of this combination is that the mind, as represented by Mercury, is enabled to see possibilities that have not previously been seen. Consequently, the combination symbolizes both invention and discovery. On another level, their effects can be electrifying, both literally, as in a lightning bolt, and figuratively, as in suddenly and dramatically capturing everyone’s attention. Uranus is the intrusion of the new and radically different into ordinary reality. Mercury’s energies are very happy to go along with this. Both planets, however, are typically a bit dry, meaning that communications arising from Mercury Uranus energy are often undiplomatic, brusque, and intolerant. The brilliance often associated with this combination can see things so clearly that it cannot understand why so few others can see it.

Transits to Neptune

This is a combination of energies that can range from powerfully creative to confusing and disorienting. The problem is that the energies of Mercury and Neptune are very different and in many ways conflict. On the transmitting end, Mercury represents communication in which the form and content of thought are translated first into language in the mind and then into speech or writing. On the receiving end, Mercury receives the speech or writing, directly or indirectly, and transforms it into thought in the mind of the receiver. There may be many steps in this process, but the aim is that the content of the transmission be received with as little loss as possible. Mercury symbolizes the essence and logic of accurate communication. It is also characteristic of Mercury that there are several clear steps in this process.

Neptune, on the other hand, symbolizes an energy that is, at its best, a unified field in which the transmitter and the receiver are so completely at one that there is no need for intermediate steps. A Neptunian communication would involve the direct and unmediated union of the minds of both transmitter and receiver. Some would argue this condition cannot be met and is certainly not met in most practical communication situations. So, when the energies of Mercury and Neptune are combined, there is often a loss of clarity in the signal that constitutes the communication unless the communication can occur through the perfect merging of minds or, in the case of inanimate communication, of the sender and the receiver. Speech and writing are not required in Mercury Neptune communication. This often means that speech, writing, or any other modality of communication does not work very well in real world terms. The only time that Mercury Neptune communications reliably work is when, by some means we mostly do not understand, direct, unmediated communication occurs. This is found most commonly when somebody has an immediate, intuitive grasp of a situation without anyone having to say anything or transmit it by any other form of communication that we understand.

Practically speaking, the Mercury Neptune combination often results in miscommunication. The most frequent cause is that the transmitter does not transmit the full content of the message, somehow expecting the receiver to fill in the missing parts. Mercury Neptune perceptions are also frequently full of error, not so much because the perceiver is perceiving falsely, but because the perceiver is perceiving so many things without order or proper classification that the wrong conclusion can be drawn from the perception.

Yet at the same time, Mercury Neptune perceptions and communications are the essence of the creative imagination. While they are not the precise communications we would like in our everyday conversations, the result is often a perception that could not have been arrived at by purely rational means. Oddly enough, there are several well documented incidents in the development of science where a scientist trying to solve a difficult problem got the answer in a dream. Many people would deny the reality of such phenomena, but they do occur. This is well documented.

It is often believed that Mercury Neptune combinations result in lying and deceit. This is not true. Lying and deceit both require an intention to deceive. Even at their worst, Mercury Neptune communications are not intentionally deceptive. They can be based on illusion or, worse, delusion. (For practical purposes a delusion may be defined as an illusion in which someone passionately believes. I think we can all think of examples of this, but I am also sure we would disagree on which phenomena are examples of illusion versus delusion.)

Transits to Pluto

While there is no inherent conflict between the energies of these two planets, their combination can sometimes be difficult. This is because Mercury normally operates at a personal level, dealing with day to day activities and communications. Mercury’s energies work perfectly well with normal states of consciousness involving language, communication, the organization of ideas, and so forth. Pluto is a transcendental planet. It does not work particularly well in the everyday world. The reason is that Pluto concerns major transformations that are the result of forces and energies working over long periods of time, which, if blocked, can lead to breakdown and destruction. If they are not blocked, then the energies of Pluto are about long range transformation that can take place reasonably easily. There are two problems Pluto’s energies encounter in the everyday world. One is that most of the time most people fear change. Change requires letting go of old states of being and adapting to new ones. The more complex and involved our attachments become to current ways of being, the more likely we are to try to block the transformational energy of Pluto. This must inevitably fail and, the more energy that goes into resisting transformation, the more difficult the transformation when it inevitably occurs. The second problem is that some people try to harness Pluto’s energy for their own ends. These are people who seek power and the ability to control. This is where the transcendental aspect of Pluto comes in. Pluto’s energies are not for individual use based on egoistic drives. Even when people to some degree succeed in harnessing Pluto’s energies, the end results are unfortunate, if not for the individual attempting to control the uncontrollable, then for everyone else around them.

When Mercury is combined with Pluto and the combination is put into the service of individual egos, it results in attempts at mind control, trying to influence people against their will, or coercing mass opinion. The extreme form of this is propaganda, exemplified most extremely by Adolf Hitler. When advertising and public relations go beyond the basic task of informing people about something, they also become milder forms of Mercury Pluto; the more they attempt to influence people along lines that serve special interests and the more they distort the truth, the more destructive they become.

This is not to say that there is no good manifestation of Mercury Pluto energies. If the message being conveyed is important, powerful, and not merely in the service of an interest group but in the service of a larger truth that transcends the interests of the individuals putting forth the message, the energies of Mercury Pluto employed in this way are benevolent.

Another benevolent manifestation involves the principle of a “change of mind.” This is not a simple change of opinion or belief. It indicates a sweeping change in one’s consciousness and the way it works. Examples of this include religious conversion experiences, enlightenment experiences at all levels, and breakthroughs that sometimes occur in psychotherapy, among other things. On a mass level, not always so benevolent, these energies can represent ideas and ideologies that sweep through a population or a nation such that they become forces for social change, both good and bad.

Transits to Chiron

Mercury by itself can be any of the four primary qualities, the Hot, the Dry, the Cold and the Wet. When Chiron is in its healing and integrating mode, it functions as somewhat Wet. When it is in its trauma inducing and dis integrating mode, it functions mostly from the Dry. Chiron is never completely of the nature of the Wet because extreme wetness does not integrate parts into wholes. It obliterates them as separate entities. The combination of Mercury with the natal Chiron is potentially positive for analyzing systems of any kind and finding ways to integrate them more completely. Such systems include entire organisms, organ systems within organisms, social systems and the relationship of individuals within them, and anything that serves to connect parts together and make them function within entire systems. Overall, the combination of transiting Mercury with natal Chiron has much to do with healing and integrating.

The complete cycle of Mercury to natal Chiron lasts somewhat more than a year, although the actual length of the cycle can vary tremendously because of Mercury’s motion with respect to the Sun and the considerable variations in the orbital speed of Chiron. The typical transit of Mercury to natal Chiron will last only a day or so if Mercury is moving rapidly forward in the zodiac. If Mercury is retrograde, the transit will last a few days. It is likewise if Mercury is near either of its stations, going direct or retrograde.

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Transits to Midheaven

The transit cycle of Mercury Midheaven is approximately annual. It has to do with the expression of mercurial energies through one’s career, profession, or calling. Recall, however, that the Midheaven has to do with careers and professions one identifies as one’s calling in life. If your job does not fit that description, this cycle will have a stronger effect on whatever you do that you believe identifies you within society, even if it is not your principal source of income. The energies of Mercury are typically relevant to a career by their very nature. The word stem from which the word ‘Mercury’ is derived, namely ‘merc’, is found in such words as ‘commerce’, ‘merchant’, and all its derivatives such as ‘mercantile’. It is also found in a modified form, ‘market’. All forms of commercial exchange are signified by Mercury. All forms of marketing are signified by Mercury, although other planets are typically involved as well, denoting whatever it is that is to be marketed. As transiting Mercury makes its annual cycle to the Midheaven, it marks the ebb and flow of these mercurial activities as they pertain to your career. None of the aspects that Mercury makes by transit to the Midheaven are especially difficult except when they indicate the possibility of the pace of activity becoming greater than one can readily handle. Remember that Mercury also signifies speed. It naturally signifies activities that are performed quickly. Also, of course, Mercury signifies communication. So these transits also signify every form of communication that occurs regarding one’s career. This is, in fact, the connection between Mercury and marketing.

The principal difficulty with Mercury’s energy flowing through the medium of one’s career is that Mercury’s energies are ethically neutral. They do not determine the content of communication. When Mercury’s energies are working properly, the only thing they signify is that the content of the communication is accurate, not that it is true. When Mercury transits other planets, the energies of that other planet tend to influence the truth value of the communication one way or another according to the nature of the planet. The Midheaven is not a planet. It has no energy of its own. As with houses, the Ascendant, and the Moon’s Nodes, the Midheaven signifies a domain of activity, namely career, and gives little information about the quality of the activity in that domain.

Transits to Ascendant

Mercury transits to the natal Ascendant describe the domains of your life where you are most likely to direct your thinking. They also describe the kinds of situations and persons with whom you are likely to be communicating, and to some extent how well that communication will work, or not, as the case may be. These transits, more than any other Mercury Ascendant combinations, show an annual cycle of changing focus that affects both your thinking and communications. Some of these transits will say more about your ability to communicate with other persons, while others will describe the kind of communication you receive and the nature of the persons from whom you receive it. The energies of these transits typically do not indicate the quality of communications given and received. They are more about the quantity of communications and with whom they are involved. It will be up to you to determine the quality of your communications, at least insofar as you are the one who initiates the communication. If communications come from someone else, and they are either unclear or deceptive, your responsibility will be to note this and ask for clarification or take appropriate action wherever possible.

Transits to the Lunar Nodes

The Nodes of the Moon have to do with networks and connections. This symbolism covers everything from synaptic connections in the nervous system up to the social networks in which we work and live. Mercury symbolizes information and communication. Therefore, there is a natural affinity between the symbolism of these two astrological points. However, there is a difference. The kinds of connections symbolized by the lunar Nodes, whether in the nervous system or in our social networks (or any other kinds of networks one might conceive of) operate unconsciously. While it is easy to see what passes over a nodal network, it is not easy to see exactly how it works. In this respect, a modern phenomenon, the Internet, is very much a nodal network. We see our data go out onto the web and others see it come to them, but neither you nor they have any idea where it went in between or what pathway it followed to go from point A to point B. Much of our data now lives in a new kind of storage called “the Cloud.” Most of us understand even less about how that works. So the Internet is an excellent example of a nodal network. Our social networks also work in this way. The energy of Mercury typically represents conscious thought; this is the principal difference between Mercury and what is represented by the lunar Nodes. Information is transmitted through our nervous system by means we have only recently begun to understand, even when that information is experienced as conscious thought.

The annual cycle of Mercury to the natal Nodes represents a rhythm in which conscious communication is transmitted to external social networks from within one’s personal being. It reaches its destination, at least as a metaphor, when Mercury makes the 90̊ square to the Ascending Node, also known as the North Bending. At this point the energy of the communication begins to come back as communication received rather than transmitted. The transit of Mercury to the Descending Node represents the arrival of that energy, the way in which you receive it, and what you are likely to do with it. Then, at the 270̊ square to the Ascending Node, also known as the South Bending, the consequences of the communication are integrated into one’s personal world as much as they can be. At this point the response that will characterize the next cycle of Mercury to the lunar Nodes begins.