Mercury - The weaver of links
Dane Rudhyar described Mercury as the “Weaver of the Threads of Life.” The Mercurian function can connect what has been separated and mend undone connections.
Rather than remaining limited by a fixed interpretation of the past, Mercury can be the intermediary through which new perspectives emerge.
Mercury is the ruler of Gemini and Virgo. In Gemini, Mercury speaks of communication, discovery of the environment, gathering information, and creating connections between information. In astrological tradition, there is no planet in exaltation in Gemini. Dane Rudhyar considered Uranus to be in exaltation in Gemini, which can be related to his description of Uranus as the higher octave of Mercury and also to Mercury as the messenger of the Gods, allowing us to connect to the higher planes of consciousness.
The glyph of Mercury is similar to that of Venus with a crescent Moon on top, like a cup open to the sky. It evokes a receptivity to the celestial realm, the transmission of divine ideas, perfection (the circle) on earth (the cross).
In Virgo, the information gathered in Gemini is selected in order to be processed and organized. It is interesting to see that Mercury is in exaltation in Virgo, in addition to being its ruler. It is as if Mercury is elevated by Virgo's discrimination, precision and constant need for improvement.
Mercury is in exile in Sagittarius and Pisces, suggesting that Mercury is struggling in these signs. The planet reaches its limits when it is necessary to expand a vision and have a global understanding of a larger domain. This expansion is mainly associated with Jupiter but also with Neptune who are the rulers of the opposing signs of Gemini and Virgo, that is to say Sagittarius and Pisces.
The complementarity of these opposing signs shows the complementarity of the archetypes and the way Mercury interacts with Jupiter and Neptune. Mercury allows to apply in a concrete way the vision perceived by Jupiter and Neptune. We can say that Mercury adapts to the environment the global perspective linked to Jupiter and Neptune.
There is a disciple/guru dimension in the relationship between Mercury and Jupiter/Neptune. If I look at the dominance of Mercury and the conjunction of Jupiter and Neptune at the North Node in my birth chart from this perspective, they suggest that my spontaneous inclination with Mercury in Gemini in the 1st house is the position of the disciple, but the evolutionary direction is to integrate the visionary dimension without depending on another person. The North Node in the 5th house in Libra suggests this evolution by indicating a desire for individual expression (5th house) in an equal relationship with others (Libra).
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, making it an intermediary between the Sun and the other planets. This position corresponds to the role played by Hermes in Greek mythology. He could pass from Mount Olympus to the underworld and often played a facilitator role with the other Gods, using his skill and trickery to do so.
I remember that before leaving Elias' group, we embarked on an intensive exchange about our developed awareness of what was taking place in us and Elias. This situation reminds me of a story that the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi once told to define what ego is. It illustrates the Indian view of the ego. Imagine a party where each of the participants notices that there is a person present whom they do not know. After a while, the participants started asking each others if they knew the person they have never seen before. It so happened that each person in the group had noticed the same unknown person but didn’t share his view. After the exchange the participants came to the same conclusion: none of them knew this person. Confronting the stranger it turned out that he was not invited and they decided to ask him to leave. For Ramana Maharshi, this person represented the ego. In this sense, we can say that Elias had become our ego, that is, a part of ourselves that no longer corresponded to what we were becoming. A process of disidentification was underway through the communication that was developing between us, a detachment from the image of disciple. I think the story told by Ramana Maharshi illustrates well the Mercurian function, as the participants communicated, gathered information, created bonds (Gemini), then discriminated, analyzed and finally eliminated the intruder (Virgo).
Mercury can be a liberator through the power of communication and analysis helping us identify our false self and reveal our true self.
Mercury's role as an intermediary is also illustrated by Hermes under the name of Psychopomp. He assists the souls of the deceased in their journey to the afterlife. Mercury thus symbolizes the ability to travel between the realm of the soul and the earthly realm.
The ability to connect to the realm of the soul is not reserved for psychics or mediums. The less we are identified with external representations of ourselves, the more we are connected to our essence, which is our soul. With Mercury, we can develop the connections between the different parts of ourselves and maintain our attention on our essential identity.
Mercury is also linked to short-term memory, the one that allows us to keep in mind what we have experienced, that allows us to make connections between information belonging to different domains.
For example, when I was at the Pune ashram, during periods of intensive meditation, I took care to remember the ideas, experiences and feelings that went through me. By remembering them and weaving their threads, I created a story that accompanied me over the following months.
We are far here from the superficial image of the Gemini who talks a lot, flutters and avoids his own feelings and emotions. This image corresponds to a certain reality that is far from rare, but it means that the Mercurian function is disconnected from the rest of the personality, becoming a defense system.
Personally, it took me time when I started working on myself to connect to my emotions. I was stuck in my mind, unable to express my personal feelings.
In my birth chart, the Sun is conjunct Mercury in Gemini with the Ascendant in Gemini. Mercury is therefore predominant and reflects intense mental activity. But Mercury is at 27 degrees Gemini and makes aspects with Jupiter at 21 degrees Libra, Neptune at 2 degrees Scorpio as well as Pluto, Saturn and Chiron. If I use classical orbs, Mercury is in a sort of central position from which it is aspected directly by several planets and indirectly by the Moon and Venus (through Jupiter, Saturn and Chiron). Mars and Uranus are not connected to Mercury, directly or indirectly. These positions reflect what has been the most difficult to connect in my life: my emotions and feelings first (Moon and Venus) and then and above all my masculine energy (Mars intensified by Uranus in fire signs).
It is common to consider that Mercury is strongly influenced by the planets with which it is in aspect. The plasticity of Mercury is associated with the flexibility of the mind. Through introspection or spiritual practices, we can change the way we understand our environment. And this new understanding affects the environment in return. We know the environment through our perceptions and the way we interpret them. When they are modified, the environment itself becomes different. Given this plasticity, we can understand how it affects the interpretation of Mercury in the chart.
In my birth chart, the conjunction of Mercury with the Sun indicates the vitality of my mind but the opposition with Saturn suggests strong restrictions on this activity, which has generated in my life a difficulty in trusting the value of my reflections and therefore a difficulty in expressing them. This difficulty turned into a challenge to develop Saturnian qualities of self-discipline, perseverance, structuring and deepening in order to be able to fluidly express my mental qualities.
Mercury represents the ability to make connections by understanding the multiple facets of our experience. By observing these facets from different angles, we can create relationships between different aspects of reality and thus bring out new meanings. Rudhyar described Mercury as the “Weaver of the Threads of Life.” The Mercurian function can thus connect what has been separated and mend undone connections. Rather than remaining limited by a fixed interpretation of the past, Mercury can be the intermediary through which new perspectives emerge.
In Greek mythology, Mercury is not a prominent God, and yet he often plays a central role in many stories. He is the one through whom unexpected solutions emerge, the one whom the Gods ask to go to the Underworld to convince Hades to free Persephone.
Mercury should not be underestimated in the interpretation of an astrological chart. If inspired by the Jupiterian vision, Mercury can renew our outlook on existence, reseed reality with new possibilities and reweave the threads of life for new harvests to come.
