Marc Chagall “Le Cirque”

May 4 - July 11, 2021

Mercury, our friend and familiar, is now in rulership in Gemini, flying fleet-footed through the library of the mind, exploring the labyrinths of the brain, connecting neurons and laying down pathways for new information with the quickness. “Exuberant synaptogenesis”, I recently read, is the colorful term scientists call the period in infancy and early childhood when the brain is an unmitigated sponge. And if that’s not a perfect description of Mercury in Gemini, then I don’t know what is. Of course, we’re not children anymore, but the archetypal quality of this planet in its home sign is nonetheless that of a young and hungry mind.

Mercury is a busy body, and when it travels through Gemini, our lives and our world are abuzz with gathering data. This is a caffeinated, kinetic, cerebral transit; potentially a fidgety and flighty one too. When it’s in the groove, Mercury bestows upon us an appreciation for language; a delight in the beauty, magic and power of words. 

Since their conjunction on April 18, Mercury has been skipping merrily along ahead of the Sun and Out of Bounds, as if in anticipation of his homecoming. Beckoned further by the North Node, and supported by Saturn in Aquarius, he can look forward to productivity, boundary-pushing and maturation for the next couple of weeks. But come mid-month, the planet enters his retrograde shadow, eventually stationing retrograde on May 29, and the messenger will be reined back in by Father Sol, like an adventurous toddler that knows he can’t stray beyond the imaginary tether to its parent, or a teenager that has to be reminded that, even though at home, he still lives under Dad’s roof. But more on that in a future post.

For now, the world is your encyclopedia. Use this time to call on Thoth, Hermes, Mercury or your divine scribe for assistance with translating your thoughts, for going between worlds, and for keeping the mind engaged. Start that writing project, that novel, that journal, that podcast; take that class or that trip, or find a way to work with your hands. Let yourself be curious and conversational, and whether you share it with the world or just one person, find the story that you want to tell.