Remediating… Mercury
Welcome to the “Remediating…” series, where I give you practical info & tips on how to better understand a planet and remediate the issues it may cause in your life based on your birth chart! What is planetary remediation, you may ask? You can read an article dedicated to it here. To put it simply, planetary remediation is the art of identifying what planet or placement is connected to a problem you have, and to act directly on the planet through symbolic subsitution, replacement etc. in order to ease the issue. For example, say that you keep having issues with passive-aggressive neighbours no matter where you move (and have decided, after some good self-introspection, that you don’t seem to be the annoying one). We look at your chart, and see that Mars in Cancer (the sign of its fall) is in the 3rd house of neighbours. Ah-ah! From time to time, when an activation happens (say, Mars squares your natal Mars), your neighbours act up and start being extremely mean. Based on your chart, and on the timing of these issues, I would suggest different solutions, all related to other symbols of Mars. For example, starting a martial art class (Mars) in your neighbourhood (3rd house) or donating red objects or spicy food (Mars) to said neighbours or a local charity (3rd house). The idea is that you symbolically substitute an issue here for a less problematic manifestation of it, it order to mitigate the issue.
But, it’s not always easy to know where to start. How do I know what placement is tied to what problem? Or, if you know a bit about astrology already, you may be aware that a certain planet is giving you some trouble… But what can you do about it?
This article is here to give you a place to start with the tools that will help you figure out these answers yourself. If someone is an expert in a topic that confuses you, isn’t the best remedy to ask them directly? For each planet, I will give you the basic signification that it holds, and potential issues that may arise. I will also explain how to pacify relations with planetary charity (donating time, money or objects to a cause that’s ruled by the planet in question), before giving you suggestions on how to set up your planetary altar (a dedicated space with symbols of the planet/deity that you can pray to & ask help from). Let’s dive in!
Mercury Essential Info Sheet
Name: Hermēs, Mercury, Budha, Thoth, Hermanubis…
Sect (time of day where it’s at ease): Dual (depending on its phase, day or night…)
Domiciles: Gemini, Virgo
Exaltation: Virgo
Detriment: Sagittarius, Pisces
Fall: Pisces
House of its joy: 1st house
Number: 8
Symbolises: communication (oral & written), writing, letters, competitions, commerce, businessmen, accountants, mathematicians, thieves, currencies, mathematics, accounting, divination, astrology, prophets, architects, languages & interpretation, speaking eloquently, "getting your own way" through words, buying & selling, change, surprises, reversals…
Parts of the body: the hands & fingers, the joints, the belly & gut.
Determining Whether a Planet Needs Remediation
Using the system of “essential dignity” as established in traditional astrology, we can examine whether a planet has resources or not to enforce its agenda (do things according to its nature) based on certain factors such as the sign & house it’s in, the aspect(s) it makes to other planets, its speed, visibility, etc. There are a lot of factors in order to assess what a planet is up to, and whether it’s free to act or not. So when I say that a planet is “exalted” or “fallen”, it doesn’t mean “good” or “bad”. It means: the planet is in a position to enact its nature, or it might be a bit more constricted. It’s all nuanced, so keep that in mind as we explore possible remediation for a certain placement!
Mercury: the Concept
In our solar system, Mercury is the closest planet to our Sun. As a result, he’s never too far from it: Mercury can never be more than 28° away from the Sun, or in other words, more than one zodiac sign away.
Because of this astronomical feature, Mercury has often been described as the Messenger planet (together with the Moon). Hermès, the winged-foot god, would travel to different worlds, entities & people to carry the messages of the Gods and especially Zeus (Jupiter in Roman mythology). Mercury was the only being allowed to travel to the Underworld, the realm of Hades (God of the Dead), and come back! This is why Mercury is so strongly associated with communication, eloquence, the oratory arts, writing & speaking and the function of scribes (educated people who knew how to read and write, and were instructed to write for powerful people - including legal texts, which is why Mercury is sometimes associated with knowledge of the law, as opposed to Jupiter who symbolises the law itself).
Because of his ability to travel to the Underworld, Mercury was also sometimes characterised as a Chtonic God - later syncretic practices in Ancient Greece fused Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Dead to Hermes, resulting in Hermanubis, a psychopomp God who was responsible for bridging the worlds of the dead & the living.
Mercury transmits messages, and he’s also a god of travel, as his nature allows him to go anywhere & everywhere to deliver information. In our modern day & age, Mercury has also been associated with communication technologies (as he’s also a God of technology, but we’ll talk about that later). The Internet, emails, computers, texts & phone/video calls… you name it!
Mercury is also strongly associated with commerce, buying & selling, merchants, and currencies/coins - the sort of "practical" aspect of business. You have to be good at convincing people to buy things in order to do business, so the more eloquent you are… the better! If you’re involved in commerce at all (or if you feel like bargaining!), Mercury is the God you need!
As I mentioned before, Mercury is also a god of technology. Virgo, the sign of Mercury’s exaltation, was actually the traditional sign associated with technological innovation (which has sometimes been associated with Uranus during the 20th century). Don’t underestimate Mercury’s craftiness!
Finally, Mercury is a trickster God… That means he’s also a god of theft & thieves! There is an Ancient Greek myth about Mercury’s stealing Helios’ prized possession, golden cattle… This allows us to see the cunning, clever nature of Mercury: an ambiguous deity, ever-changing, switching things on & off!
This is why Mercury rejoices in the 1st house: a planet in the 1st house can either be above or believe the ascendant, visible or invisible… Mercury is multi-faceted, ever-changing, with no set purpose or agenda. This is why he favours those who manage to get themselves in & out of situations, those who play & reinvent meanings, and above all… those who know that the devil is in the details!
Mercury is an adaptable planet: it is known to take on the significations of whatever planet it is close to, or forms aspects with. When remediating Mercury, it is important to pay extra attentions to the planet he’s connecting with in order to understand what "flavour" he has. For example, a Libra Mercury square Mars could try to avoid confrontation at all costs, but blow up if it’s provoked. A Scorpio or Aquarius Mercury trine Jupiter could be solitary, but very philosophical & wise.
Mercury Issues & Remediation
Mercury issues aren’t as straightforward as other planets’, because a lot of these issues can manifest in a playful or creative way. If Mercury is combust (less than 8° from the Sun), in Sagittarius (detriment) or Pisces (fall), or in a dark house (2nd/6th/8th/12th), it could manifest as issues with expressing yourself, reading comprehension, dyslexia/ADHD*, eloquence or negotiation, money making… Mercury in fixed signs and aspected by the malefics (Mars/Saturn) could be overly rigid and have trouble "switching on and off", whereas a Libra or Pisces Mercury could be overly generous/give the benefit of the doubt too often to their own detriment.
However, this could also manifest as doing things in an unconventional way: poets and artists express themselves in beautiful ways which defy the understanding of words as strictly for practical communication purposes. Remediation is also context dependent: I’ve seen a number of clients with Sagittarius/Pisces Mercury placements go into professions with traditionally higher levels of workplace misogyny, like physics or finance… Here, Mercury didn’t speak to their ability to work in these fields (they were absolutely brilliant), but rather to their ability to defy expectations and trace their own paths in environments which made it harder for them to establish themselves without discrimination. As we said, Mercury is the norm-breaker!
When remedying Mercury, we can ask for his help in "reverting" things, in shaking things up a bit and channeling our inner creativity, precision, attention to detail and/or innovation. If you deal with commerce of some sort, work as a diviner or astrologer, are interested in exploring your gender identity/sexual orientation, want to get better at communication/expressing yourself, or want to improve your writing/speaking skills… Mercury remediation is for you!
Mercury Remediation Steps
Planetary Charity
Where to start? If you want to understand Mercury better, planetary charity is always a good idea. By donating money, time or objects to a cause ruled by Mercury, you “appease” him and do a gesture of good will. The optimal scenario is to do this on the planetary day and hour of the planet in question. For Mercury, Wednesdays (day of Mercury) and/or Saturday nights (night of Mercury) are best. In order to track the planetary hour, you can use Google to find a planetary hour calculator or use an app (TimeNomad is a free app that lets you display planetary hours, which start & end will vary depending on your location, time of year etc.). Planetary charity is sort of like bringing cookies to your neighbours: by offering something and making an effort to build a relationship with someone, they are more likely to see your good intentions and help with with whatever you need (and pacify relations when necessary!)
For Mercury, you can donate money or time to: writers or participate in a writers’ workshop, diviners, a local shop or small business, participate/volunteer/donate money to a poetry competition or writers’ fair, take part in a writing challenge, write to people who are in prison for stealing, donate money to LGBTQIA+ organisations, take part in a drag show or support them, donate money or time to schools or financially sponsor students or young pupils. A Vedic remedy for Mercury is to feed grass to cows.
If you donate money, it doesn’t have to be a big amount, but it’s best to give money or objects in a multiple of 8, on a recurring basis (for example, donating $8 to a school or LGBTQIA+ support fund every Wednesday or Saturday night).
2. Mercury Altar
The next step is to set up a Mercury altar, if you feel compelled to do it. By building a Mercury altar, you will be able to directly address Mercury and all its avatars to give you advice and provide assistance with whatever issue you may have. You can have a dream the next day, or a conversation with someone that will bring answers you are looking for: that’s the planet/deity’s way of helping! Here are instructions on how to set up a Mercury altar:
- Use a multi-coloured or orange cloth (paper is also fine), according to your preferences, and put it on your altar.
- Put eight candles (orange or multi-coloured, or white if that’s what you have) on your altar. You can engrave them with the symbol of Mercury.
- Put objects that evoke the image of Mercury. You can print out an image of a painting or sculpture of a Mercury deity, for example Hermes or Hermanubis. Many cultures have their own representations of the Mercury - you can also use this. Mercury objects include keys, coins/currencies, books, pens, glasses,computers/keyboards, notepads, gloves, enveloppes and letters, miniature cars... Mercury rules over birds (especially parrots) and butterflies, you can feed these animals or put representations of them on your altar.
- Mercury rules over the stones topaz, agate (especially green agate) and opal, so you can wear them or put them on your altar.
- With an orange or multi-coloured pen, draw the symbols of Mercury, his planetary square, as well as Agrippa seals on paper (see files below).
- Get incense. I like to use incense sticks (you can buy an incense stick holder for that). For Mercury, I like to fennel, lavender & lemongrass.
- For offerings, I like orange and multi-coloured flowers such as orchids. For food, you can offer fizzy & sour food or drinks (like a glass of lemonade!) You can also put a fresh glass of water on the altar.
- Put tarot cards, Mercury talismans and materia on your altar (what is talismanic/astrological materia?)
On the planetary day (Wednesday) or night (Saturday night) and hour of Mercury, once your altar is ready, light the candles and incense. You can then say the Orphic Hymn to Mercury (Hermes). Once you're done, present your offerings to Mercury, and you can then respectfully ask for what you wish for. Mercury rules over communication/eloquence, commerce & money-making, divination, creativity with expression and young people in general, so anything you'd like to request in that domain you can ask him. Once you're done, thank the Moon and meditate. And you're done!
Consistency goes a long way, so doing this for even 5 minutes every week is better than a big ritual every other month!
You will find a prayer (the Orphic Hymn to Mercury) below, as well as symbols to put on your altar. You can also devise your own prayers and symbols if you prefer!
Thank you for taking this Mercurial journey with me, I hope it can be a useful starting point for a blossoming Mercury pratice! ☿
*this isn’t medical advice. You should consult with a medical expert in order to receive a medical diagnosis.
