Everything seen has been begotten, because at some point it came to be seen. But the invisible always is, and because it always is, it does not need to become visible.
~ Hermes Trismegestus, Corpus Hermeticum
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Greetings and welcome to Mercury in Scorpio.
This is an incisive Mercury in Scorpio because as of this writing, three planets in Virgo are all ruled by, or answering to, or lorded over by, Mercury in Scorpio. There is Jupiter in Virgo, Venus in Virgo, and Mars in Virgo, which is in a mutual reception with Mercury for another week or so.
All those Virgo planets are now granted a depth and intensity in how they each express their Virgo qualities.
As for Mercury in Scorpio, he will remain there for a few weeks in November. He leaves the sign for Sagittarius on November 20th, and between now and then Mercury is very busy, making numerous classical aspects to planetary bodies in water and earth signs. Mercury is the hermaphroditic god of craftsmanship and invention, of boundary crossings, the god of places where strangers meet, god of the agora where commerce and trade happen, god of communication and speech, god of tricks and thievery, god associated with magic “tricks” and, significantly for Scorpio, the only god who can travel between Hades, the underworld, and the above world as he wishes.
Why is that. Part of the answer may lie in the fact that Mercury — the Greek Hermes — is the god of oaths. He is the god of binding and releasing, and this includes words and contracts. Hermes is the presiding god of the Greek All Souls day, and on that day he allows the dead to rise from their tombs to partake of the meals the living have left out for them. For the rest of the year, Hermes is responsible for keeping the souls of the dead in their tombs.
Hermes’ binding contracts and oaths were understood by the classical Greeks to carry magic qualities, because they tied deeds to words. Words that were whispered or spoken softly were magic words, something Hermes is associated with. The Germanic word for whisper is raunen, and this is the root of the word “runes”, the stones inscribed with glyphs of magical formulae.
Magic to the Greeks originally meant “secret actions”. Magic “tricks”, were associated by Homer and Hesiod with both Hermes and women, who were considered “tricksters” by virtue of their perceived occult abilities. The focus granted by Scorpio to Mercury’s thinking and speech faculties has something to do with this occult ability to influence outcomes. So, Hermes/Mercury, the hermaphroditic god of the threshold coasts quickly through Scorpio and reminds us that our words are deeds that carry creative ability.
Virgo and Scorpio are energetically complimentary, especially if what you’re trying to do is write or research or find well hidden information, uncover the roots or source of a deep fount. This is a good Mercury for following the energetic thread through the labyrinth and seeing it where it leads you. Since the water element is beyond words, it’s good to remember that images feed the soul and go beyond limiting associations of meaning. In mundane terms, this is a good Mercury for sincere conversation and healing exchanges. It is a good Mercury for revealing truths that are just out of reach.
There is a primal instinctual quality to the mind when Mercury is in Scorpio. The mind pointedly probes for the why. This has to do with Scorpio’s attunement to power dynamics and sex, which both go beyond socially acceptable diplomatic discourse or maintaining appearances. There is the smile that is shown, and there is the primal motivation underneath. There is the agreement made, and there is the, what’s in it for you and what’s in it for me. There is the information shared, and there is the why are you telling me this and what aren’t you saying.
It’s worth mentioning that all this sussing happens through a sieve, and that sieve will forever be subjective. For those of us located in bodies, all truths are subjective. So, barring monks in Greek monasteries who pray and sweep and arrange all day, or ascetics who have been meditating in the mountains for a few decades, we live day to day and we all have preferences.
So, for Mercury in Scorpio through November 20 we can remember the power that come from focus and concentration, and draw back the veil of the lovely, non-disturbing surface to look at pulsing truth underneath, even if it makes us a bit uncomfortable.
Wishing you deep-chill trickster magic,
Ichrak
Mercury in Scorpio is reminiscient of Mercury square Pluto. Excessive, obsessive focus can sometimes be problematic. For the most recent Mercury retrograde, which included a triple square to Pluto as Mercury went back and forth, I wrote a list of possible remediations to give that penetrating focus a channel for expression. Those suggestions should be inspirational for Mercury’s passage through Scorpio. You can find that list here.
For information on Mercury/Hermes’ associations in mythology, I drew inspiration from the book Hermes the Thief, The Evolution of a Myth, by Norman O. Brown published 1947
