V ICTORIA P ELTZ S MOOT
There is a voice that doesn’t
use words ... Listen! — Rumi
Is Mercury really to blame: for techy and
mechanical things breaking down? for lack of
understanding what was said? for failing to
communicate exactly what you mean?
for changes in plan or agenda? for procedures
and habits that suddenly don’t work?
for mistakes of choice or circumstance?
for things happening THAT YOU DIDN’T
EXPECT?
It seems, sometimes like Mercury, The
Trickster, has become THE ULTIMATE
EXCUSE!
The recent Mercury Retrograde is in it’s
post shadow right now, but it has been a
powerful one. It originated in Moon ruled
Cancer denoting the need for security, safety
and support in communications. Then it
went BACK into Gemini – the mentally
oriented mutable air sign, of “Why is this
happening?” Important to consider, how-
ever, is that in it’s pre and post retrograde
periods AND throughout the retrograde
period, it has made NO exact ptolemaic as-
pects to any other orb or planet (except the
O P A
❥
Moon, of course). This is not the usual sce-
nario. Flavored with emotional needs and
curious intensity, this Mercury was powerful
and hyper-informative.
Let’s look at the Archetype of Mercury
and its origins. Mercury is the archetype of
communication, information, and technol-
ogy. Right? This is called the time of the
“Truth Tellers.” In fact all secrets seem to be
observable and available and “transparent”
by way of technology. Yet, this was not al-
ways so and leads me to question that tech-
nology is not under Mercury, or at least
there are other planetary energies involved.
How far back do we look for understanding
Mercury? How deeply have we looked at
where communication takes place? If things
aren’t working, where and how do we find
out why?
As one of the richest archetypes, planet
Mercury has come to stand for the MES-
SENGER OF THE GODS with winged
helmet and winged feet from the Greek
mythology as Hermes and from Roman
mythology as Mercury. In Egypt, Mercury
as Thoth was the Patron of knowledge, se-
crets, writing, and scribes, appearing as a
The Organization for Professional Astrology
10
man with the head of an ibis holding a
scribe's palette and stylus.
For Mercury this is thought, correspon-
ding to Thoth, the Neter or nature principle
of Ancient Egypt, depicted by the human
figure with the head of an ibis bird, and also
by the seated baboon. It seemed to me that
the Ibis with its probing beak as a bird is
poking down into the water for nourish-
ment described the activity of Mercury in its
direct movement. The baboon is always
shown seated and quiet represented the
contemplative and inner activity most suit-
able to the retrograde cycle of Mercury.
Thoth is shown both as full ibis, and as
baboon. The ibis is recording the events
THE CAREER ASTROLOGER
SUMMER 2014