Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is the ruler of Gemini and Virgo. Mercury is the messenger in Astrology as it is in Mythology. It is the planet of day-to-day expression and communication. Mercury’s action is to take things apart and put them back together again. It is an opportunistic planet, decidedly unemotional and curious.
In modern times, we tend to "meet" people’s Mercury first. Many people make a connection for the first time through e-mails, for example. Mercury rules whether we are flowery in our speech and/or written words, concise in our choice of words, or business-like even in our personal communications. Mercury not only rules communication, it represents coordination. Though processes, ideas, and sensory information from both unconscious and unconscious sources all need to be coordinated and understood. Mercury analyzes, sorts, groups, and makes sense of things. How do we handle nervous energy? How do we express and convey our thoughts? How do we approach others and information in order to learn and exchange ideas?
Mercury, much like the winged messenger of the gods, comes in on feather-light wings and commands us to speak. Communication, intellect and awareness are all within Mercury’s domain, as are logic and reasoning, our manner of thinking, and how we create and express our thought processes. A mercurial nature brings to mind restlessness and motion. Mercury is about a quick wit, quick thinking, possibilities, opinions, reasoning and the ability to rationalize things. Mercurial energy can be good or bad, but it will certainly be energizing! This planet also prompts us to move from one thing to the next and to get answers on both a physical and psychological level.
Further, Mercury’s energy is both dexterous and perceptive. Mercury is about short trips: a visit to a neighbor or a friend across town, the workaday commute, a weekend getaway. Siblings, and transportation in general, are also within Mercury’s realm. Speaking, writing, books, online communications and learning are all within Mercury’s domain. This planet implores us to express ourselves often - and well. When Mercury goes retrograde (the appearance of traveling backward), however, our communications will be challenged. Mercury is never more than 28 degrees from the Sun; it takes about 88 days to complete its orbit of the Sun.
It is neither masculine nor feminine energy and assumes the gender of the sign it is in. It rules both Gemini and Virgo, and the Third and Sixth Houses.
