CLEVER MERCURY

The small planet Mercury, with deep meanings, is said to have a close affinity with the sign Virgo. This planet is also closely associated with the sign Gemini. Other planets of the ‘traditional’ group also have affinity with two signs of the zodiac, unlike the Sun and Moon which rule only one sign each. These other traditional planets in order from the Sun are, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. These 5 planets plus the Sun and Moon are known in astrology as the ‘traditional’ seven planets. They are observable in the sky by the naked eye [in clear skies] and they formed the basis of astrological interpretation for a very long time before the ‘new’ planets of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto entered into the human consciousness. These late comers were ‘discovered’ with the aid of new technological innovation, that is the telescope, in relatively recent times.

Mercury is a very important planet, one whose qualities indicate how we perceive and intellectually respond to the world around us, what our nerve energy is like. In Ancient Egypt the god Thoth represented these qualities and later this role was taken over by the Greek god Hermes.

THOTH Ancient Egyptian god of writing and communication. [Budge]

By the time of the Greeks and Romans Thoth had becomes Hermes/Mercury [Larousse]

In Egypt, Thoth as master of writing, transcribed the word of the gods so that humans could understand what was being communicated. The gods being represented by the other planets and acting as symbols for the different human traits such as, loving [Venus] giving [Jupiter] conserving [Saturn] feeling [Moon] strength [Mars] generosity [Sun].

In Greece, as a descendent of Thoth, Hermes too communicated between the gods and humans; he wears wings on his heels for speedy transport between the two worlds, that of man and that of gods. This hints at another Egyptian god, that of Anubis who also commutes between worlds and is known as a psychopomp or one who leads and guides the dead to the world of the spirit or gods.

Here is an amusing composite of Anubis and the Greeco-Roman Hermes/Mercury. [Barnett]

Moving back through time, Mercury -> Hermes -> Thoth. The Greeks called an inherited collection of ancient Egyptian essays on Divine Wisdom, ‘The Hermetica’. The Corpus Hermeticum