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Mercury in the Twelve Signs

Mercury's sign describes your thought processes and projection. It's closely associated with its natural home, the third house of learning and communication. Mercury relates to your general intellectual orientation, and the expression of your thoughts and ideas. In other words, it describes the way you think and communicate, and the way you get information. Mercury also shows how you like to travel through life. Are you a speedster who takes the most direct route, or do you amble and get side-tracked sometimes?

Mercury in Aries

Mercury in Aries suggests ways of thinking that are decisive and to the point. This Mercury is argumentative by its nature, suggesting that you enjoy competing mentally. Your thinking is original. You love creating new ideas and intellectual adventures.

You think and debate well on your feet, but you may become impatient with opponents or opposition. You hate delays. Roadblocks frustrate you to no end. This attitude may extend to areas of your life other than speech, communication, and decision-making. You may drive too fast and become very impatient in traffic, too.

You may not be able to concentrate on any one subject for very long. You jump to conclusions quickly and with little hesitation. Impulsiveness can be a problem sometimes. If this trait is not controlled in your daily living, you will appear to have a type of intellectual egotism that is most unattractive. Guard against becoming too headstrong in your thinking and decision-making. A quick temper is sometimes a by-product of this placement.

Your mind is witty and inventive, and you are usually very quick on the mental trigger. You can come up with a clever answer and a quick repartee to any question. While you may not be the best at digging deeply in to subject matter, when it comes to having some sort of an answer quickly, you will surely lead the pack.

Mercury in Taurus

In Taurus, Mercury produces a mind that is patient and practical. Your thinking is often conservative, and your thought processes are fixed and stable. You are more apt to learn from experiences than from formal training. Your powers of concentration are outstanding. Thinking and decision-making is based upon that which is practical, material and surrounded by common sense. Many will consider you a "slow-poke" when it comes to mental matters and communicating ideas. You are slow to form opinions because you put much thought into questions before you render an answer, and you don't like to be rushed in this.

You may excel in handling financial matters, for you are very dependable in managing money. You have a shrewd business mind and a natural inclination toward management of resources.

Often this position marks a degree of mental stubbornness and steadfastness. Once you have made up your mind, you do not like to change it or hear differing arguments and ideas. In extreme cases, you may ignore obvious conclusions that differ from your initial decision. Guard against a tendency toward intellectual obstinacy and the highly opinionated views that sometimes plague Mercury in Taurus people.

Mercury in Gemini

Gemini is the natural home for Mercury, and the placement produces pure logical reasoning of the highest order. This Mercury denotes a lightning quick thinker. Your concern is with fact and unbiased understanding, rather than personal preference. Communication is easy, rapid, accurate and often eloquent. You are an interesting and incessant conversationalist. Mercury is at its quickest and best when it resides in Gemini.

If given proper training, you excel in mathematics as well as in language. You are very logical, and your mind moves very quickly. You love logic, a fact making you an excellent teacher or reporter.

When engaged in arguments, you may miss a basic premise, but you are clever enough to win anyway. The opponent is convinced by your rational remarks. You have a great variety of interests, and your mind may flit from one idea to the next, never digging in very deeply. You have an intense curiosity leading you to want to know a little about nearly everything. This makes you a very interesting person, but rarely an expert in any particular field.

The down side of Mercury in Gemini is the sensitive nervous system often noted. It's hard for you to shut out external stimulation of any sort. You may find yourself being forced to deal with too much activity and too many impressions from time to time. If you allow yourself to be subjected to too much stress and too many demands for an extended period, you can become frazzled and subject to breakdown. The obvious signs of this problem are irritability and mental confusion. The root cause of this is simply spreading yourself too thin. Getting away from it all generally provides a quick cure.

Mercury in Cancer

In Cancer, Mercury produces a mind that is very intuitive. You are influenced more by an appeal to the senses, than by logic or common sense. Your thinking is regulated by deep-seated emotional patterns, many of which may be rooted deeply in your subconscious. Objective thinking is not easy for you because your biases seem to force you to make certain decisions and ignore certain facts that disagree with you internal initial judgment.

Your memory is exceptional, especially for names, dates, and historical events. You have a deep appreciation of history and any artifact or relic of the past. Your answers to present day problems are frequently drawn from precedence and past events. You are influenced by those around you, by your early training, and the opinions of friends and family. You are very close to family, friends and even to country. Loyalty and patriotism run very deep in your nature.

You seem to learn best by exposure to information via life experience, as if by osmosis. You are highly receptive to subliminal messages or subtle inferences that you receive.

You are sensitive to other people, and you have some difficulty being with those who you sense to be in some way unfriendly to you. It may be hard to explain why you feel uncomfortable with someone, but you do. A major strength of this placement is that you are such a very sympathetic listener. Yet you have to be careful not to identify too closely with the problems of others and take on those problems as if they were your own.

Mercury in Leo

In Leo, Mercury produces a mind with strong will power and stubbornly fixed purposes. Your comprehension is broad, and your expression is authoritative, sometimes even dogmatic, as the position inclines to being opinionated and rigid in viewpoint.

Your thinking has a very human touch, permitting you to make decisions that are accepted and followed by most people. You are inclined to leadership because you such a capacity to command respect. You like to be considered as the authority on matters pertaining to your field of endeavor, and you probably are. This sense of authority is aided by the dramatic and forceful way that you express yourself orally and in writings.

Your mental charisma and leadership style sometimes makes you a little proud and boastful. Sometimes you can get a little carried away with the importance of your ideas and expressions. Mental pride and arrogance can be a problem.

Usually with Mercury in Leo there is the tendency to become a bit lazy in a mental sense. There is often a need to cultivate more attention and exercise for the mind. Your strength is dealing with subjects in a broad-brush way, and in very general terms. You can ignore important details that leave your plan somewhat short at times. When this does happen, it is hard for you to admit a mistake.

Mercury in Virgo

In Virgo, Mercury produces a mind that is logical, but highly critical. You are mathematical, practical and careful about details. You are one of those people who catches on to things quickly, and you carry out your tasks in an orderly and businesslike manner. This placement indicates excellent analytical abilities, and a good common sense approach to most mental activities. You require orderly surroundings and efficient methods of operation.

There is some tendency for you to lack confidence or at least to seem to lack confidence. The hesitation that precedes action probably relates to your habit of checking, double checking and going over things one last time, before taking final action.

You rarely allow yourself to be spread so thin that you can't be sure of producing your standard of accuracy and discrimination. You want such a degree of minute precision and accuracy that many will perceive you as a nit-picker.

It is not at all uncommon for those with Mercury in Virgo to seek professional and financial success by acquiring much education and special technical skills. You also may possess special abilities in communication and in general writing. Your use of the language and grammar is probably near perfect. Be careful not to become to obsessed with detail and work, becoming shy and withdrawn, and failing to do as well as you should in casual and leisure conversation.

Mercury in Libra

In Libra, Mercury produces a mind that is well balanced, rational, and very judicial. You hate arguments and prefer to discuss issues or to reason together. You are polished in your expression, and this helps make you appear very diplomatic always. You may be very deeply concerned with human relations and psychology. You have a curiosity about people and the way they think. Getting along well with others is very central to your interests. You are easy to talk to because you listen with interest and you're honest in your response.

Although you are friendly and broad-minded, you can be stern when your principles are involved. Justice and balance are strong in your nature. You don't handle conflict all that well, and when people talk to you in a crude or uncouth manner, you back away and reject any contact, if you can.

You are really not readily adaptable to rapidly changing situations, because you have such a tendency to study issues so carefully before committing yourself. You must concentrate ever to attain a sense of expediency or decisiveness. Yet you can be counted on to relate fully both sides of any issue. Making a decision between two good options can be very difficult for you sometimes.

Mercury in Scorpio

In Scorpio, Mercury produces a mind that is secretive, investigative, and probing. Your method of expression is positive, and maybe a little intolerant, skeptical, and suspicious. A deep and penetrating thinker, you can dig in to the core of any issue with little wasted time or effort. You intuitive mind is capable of profound insights.

You are very good at keeping secrets. Plans and schemes are often carried on in secret. You are also very good at digging out secrets and getting to the bottom of complex issues. Thus, with this placement you may have the skills to become a detective, an investigator, or a researcher. There is much scientific ability with Mercury in Scorpio because of the innate curiosity. You are so perceptive that you "know" the unseen weaknesses and strengths of people with whom you come in contact. You have a way of seeking hidden truths and perhaps the hidden secrets of life itself.

You can be very incisive with your tongue or with your pen. Often using sharp language, you refuse to mince words or show much concern for the feelings of others. You either say exactly what you are thinking or you remain completely silent.

You can be very stubborn in your mental determination and tenacity. Your adaptability is limited in an intellectual sense because your highly emotional approach often has you prejudiced and focused on a set objective.

Mercury in Sagittarius

In Sagittarius, Mercury produces a mind that is independent, versatile, and roving. Your method of expression is impulsive, very direct, and sometimes argumentative. Yet you are social and very communicative with anyone who will listen. You may lack tolerance for the views of others when they depart from your own. You are something of an evangelist for your own opinions, and you love to get up on your "soapbox."

The natural tendency is for you to say exactly what is on your mind with little concern for fact or reality. You are impatient and don't always wait long enough to form a correct judgment. Yet people listen to you because you are interesting. Your wonderful imagination may make you a natural storyteller. You're good at improving on the truth.

Your senses are keen, but it can be hard for you to concentrate on any single subject for long periods of time. You can miss details because your focus is on the broad view.

Everything seems to interest you. You're particularly attracted to subjects that have significance beyond the everyday. You may enjoy philosophy, psychology, foreign cultures, or religion. Seeking deep understand of these broad subjects can occupy much of your thinking. You may become a lifelong student, because you never tire of learning and sharing knowledge. Forgetful and impractical, you mind may be like that of the preoccupied absent-minded professor.

Mercury in Capricorn

In Capricorn, Mercury produces a mind that is clear, sometimes rigid and narrow, and always cautious and resourceful. Your thinking is methodical and careful. You know how to take things a step at a time, each fact building on the thought that went before. Your speech is organized and follows a logical and orderly pattern suggesting that you carefully examine and edit your words before they come out. You hardly ever say something that you are sorry for later.

You are not a quick learner, but you are one who never forgets what has been absorbed. You have an excellent memory and attention to the business at hand; a down-to-earth and practical thinker. Insecure about your mental abilities, you work hard to develop yourself with education and experience opportunities. You may be a bit defensive about your lack of education, that is the case. A special need to prove yourself, one way or another, is often the case with Mercury in Capricorn.

You have such very good powers of concentration, dignity, and an earnestness that can make you seem too serious. You can have a tendency toward moodiness and sulking, and you may have to work at showing any spirit of optimism. This placement of Mercury, especially if your Sun is also in Capricorn, produces one who is very quiet. Even if your Sun is in the more communicative Sagittarius or Aquarius, a Capricorn Mercury is not very talkative and sociable. You are especially self-conscience about speaking to strangers.

You have a very down-to-earth approach to thinking and communicating. Planning and organizing are you special strengths, and they carry you far in business and professional life. You do particularly well on long, drawn out projects that require perseverance and determination. Once you put your mind to a task, it will surely be completed and done well.

Cautious and skeptical, you may be conservative to a fault. Your love of tradition, and a natural pessimism, makes you slow to change patterns and premises that have worked in the past. Ideas that shake long-held beliefs are not very often accepted.

Mercury in Aquarius

In Aquarius, Mercury produces a mind that is original, detached, and abstract. Ideas come to you as bursts of insights. Your mind is hyper-active and going constantly. Thoughts are rarely organized, rather arriving in flashes and fragments which are often the seeds of invention and progress. The thought pattern is scientific and dispassionate.

Your ideas may sometimes be considered very progressive and some may be well ahead of their time. Your unique approach will prompt some to label you as being a little crazy or at least eccentric. You like to do things that are unusual or avant garde just to shake up the establishment and create controversy. You have no respect for tradition and little concern for the lessons of the past. You are a pure progressive. You love to rebel against the system in supporting causes and ideas that are controversial and revolutionary.

You are very intuitive, and accordingly, an excellent judge of character. Being very fair-minded, you judge people by what they seem to know or what they do, rather than who they are or what position they occupy. You believe strongly in equality and fair play. A humanitarian, you support ideas and programs that assist those less fortunate than yourself, and you support the concepts of total social reform.

You're witty and open to a wide range of ideas, but at times, you become mentally fixed in your opinions and very stubborn. You are talkative and social, but you often come off as rather aloof and cerebral. It may be hard for you to find common ground in many social circles. Nonetheless, you are very verbal and enjoy expressing you views to anyone who will listen. Writing and speaking both come easily for you.

Mercury in Pisces

In Pisces, Mercury produces a mind that is receptive and ruled by feelings. Your thinking is colored by psychic tendencies, and you usually follow your instincts rather than any sense of logic or reason. You are a dreamer who can get lost in your fantasies. You don't pay much attention to the mundane detail of the everyday world that you live in. Your thought patterns and ideas are opaque and vague.

Your love of music and other art forms may be very strong. You have a fantastic imagination and you are artistically oriented. You see shapes and hear sounds that others don't, for you are tuned in a most sensitive way to sound and color. Art or composition may be easier ways for you to communicate than oral expression. Creative imagination is at its strongest in this sign.

You are frequently too sensitive and too easily hurt, becoming moody and negative when you are. This keen sensitivity may put you in touch with matter in the unseen realm. You are more psychic than most people, and you are certainly very intuitive and perceptive. Meditation, prayer and spiritual thought comes naturally for you.

There is a certain naïvete in your nature. You are trusting and gentle, seeing the good in everyone. As a result, you are easily fooled and misled. You can be taken in by a good hard-luck story, and convinced by any phony scheme that comes along. You are vulnerable in many of your business and personal affairs.