Mercury Rx: Real Messages

Molly Hall About.com
Mercury Rx: Real Messages
Monday April 12, 2010

Can we really know someone if we haven't heard their voice? Hearing someone's voice transmits their vibe in a way that emails can't. Meeting face-to-face, we get the full sensory experience, and our energetic systems (the chakras) read each other in ways we don't have words for. We hear the emotion, nuance, inflections, what's stressed. That explains why we might have one perception of who someone is, via FB friending and such, but then it can be altered completely when we hear their voice.

This morning, I read a writer's story in the Guardian UK of taking a mini vacay from virtual reality. In a choice of words that reminded me of this week's Mercury retrograde, he calls it regressive therapy. He writes, " I was going to go offline, to see if I could last a week without looking at a website or checking my email; to somehow re-connect by disconnecting." As he stopped trying to keep up with the frenzy of tweeting and facebooking, he stopped feeling like he was drowning. His advice is, "if you're finding life on the information superhighway is getting too much, just pull over to the hard shoulder and stretch your legs for a bit."

It's synchronistic with the coming Mercury retrograde (this Saturday) in slow and real-time Taurus. It's a great time to catch up with friends by phone (preferably a land line), or plan a long lunch and stroll. When Mercury is in Taurus, we savor words and build them up with some craft. We want to hear the resonance of the other's voice, since this sends messages picked up on a sensory level.

So even the writer says it's extreme to think we can live offline in 2010. But as someone that works at the computer, I'm always looking for balance. During this Mercury retrograde, to sink into deep realness, it could mean more breaks, naps or walks with a friend. If you have tips for balancing the real with the virtual, I hope you'll share them!

Some themes for Mercury Rx in Taurus
•Making in-person contact with clients, potential business partners or collaborators.
•Meeting your neighbors and establishing a rapport.
•Writing your thoughts by hand.
•Getting into the craft of writing: calligraphy, artful fonts.
•Preferring a book in the hand, to reading a Kindle or off the monitor.
•Dinner parties with laid back, relaxed conversation.

Mercury in Taurus
Molly Hall, About.com


Mercury's Themes:
good memory, hands-on, tactile, capable, results-oriented, tangible outcomes, deliberate


Possible Challenges:
stubborn, restricted speech, heavy mind, plodding thoughts, catching flies, rigid


Famous People with Mercury in Taurus:
Penelope Cruz, Salvador Dali, Daniel Day Lewis, Miles Davis, Marquis de Sade, Uma Thurman, George Clooney, John F. Kennedy, Clint Eastwood, Cher, Linda Goodman (astrologer-poet), Crispin Glover, Rene Zellweger, Johnny Depp, Kofi Annan, Samantha Morton, Martha Graham


The Taurus Mentality:
When Mercury is in Taurus, the mind slows down to take in sensory perceptions. Those with this fixed earth Mercury in the natal chart build up impressions carefully. They speak slowly, often choosing each word like a mason chooses bricks for a foundation. What this Mercury loses in speed, is made up for in thoroughness. They want a solid grounding in what they're experiencing -- often in a hands-on way -- as they shape perceptions.


This Mercury likes to learn by doing, and to take slow, steady steps toward a practical goal. Whether it's a solidly constructed building, song or educational program, they want to see tangible results in the end. They work best in an unhurried environment where they're not pressed to make leaps of logic. This Mercury approaches progress with caution, planning out each step to make sure it's on solid ground. Like the tortoise in the fable, they patiently deal with what's in front of them, and progress slowly toward the finish line.


Mercury loses its restless edge, and becomes mesmerizingly grounded in Taurus. They speak with the authority of earthy wisdom, a knowing that comes from leaving no stone unturned. Their words come out full-bodied, rich, and rooted in the real world. They can be no-nonsense, which saves them time in the long run. They're not fantasizing about what could be, because they're enmeshed in what is. Sometimes this locks them into safe boxes, where the unproven or new is treated as suspect.


Taurus is Venus-ruled, and as artists, they're apt to approach it as craft, becoming masterful at what they do. This Mercury lends the strong focus and discipline to make it through the apprenticeship period. Often they're graced with melodious voices, and shine in mediums in which the body is the instrument.


In Taurus, Mercury seeks to create things that are enduring, tangible and stable. Ideally, what is created is a reflection of deeply held values. There's a need to have something to show for the effort, like growing wealth and possessions. This is a mind geared toward consistent effort over time, with the expectation of an abundant harvest.

Solane Star wrote:

Mercury in Taurus

Famous People with Mercury in Taurus:

Penelope Cruz, Salvador Dali, Daniel Day Lewis, Miles Davis, Marquis de Sade, Uma Thurman, George Clooney, John F. Kennedy, Clint Eastwood, Cher, Linda Goodman (astrologer-poet), Crispin Glover, Rene Zellweger, Johnny Depp, Kofi Annan, Samantha Morton, Martha Graham

Look who's on the list above here for Mercury in Taurus " Linda Goodman ".

I Am on this list to, my Mercury is in Taurus ALL-so

My Mars is in Taurus

and my Jupiter is in Taurus tooo, WOW !! !!

I Am ALL Taurus'ed out, tired, need to go to bed now.

My Mercury is in Taurus too, and this describes my approach to a T (T for Taurus)!

Sigh. I am having a couple of issues with my MB related thesis at the moment, and they are precisely related to my Mercury in Taurus. I have a solid plan of how I want to approach it - it's very logical and like I am building something from beginning to end - but my supervisors are messing with that, not because they're trying to mess things up but because they think it will focus my project better. But to me, it's already in focus! And by doing things out of order, it means I'll be writing something NOW that goes in chapter 3 when I haven't even completed chapter 1. I can be flexible and do it their way, but to be honest, in recent times I've realised that although I might have the ability to be flexible with my Sagittarius rising and my other mutable planets and what have you, at heart (and in mind) I am a Taurus and in the end it's just better not to mess with that. I know it sounds so inflexible and stubborn, but in the past years I've gone down the 'it's good to be flexible' road and I feel like although that might be a good thing in theory, in reality you have to be true to yourself and do what works for YOU. I can't change what sign my Sun or Mercury is in. So I have to work with it, not against it... I can take their suggestions on board, I can take a little detour right NOW to show them I can do what they are asking, but I must also show them that what they are wanting me to write will make a lot more sense once I have built up the structure and the surrounding context. And then back off from the detour and do it my way. Not to be all "I know best" about it, but because now in my mid-30s, I have the maturity and self-knowledge to recognise what is going to work for me...

(The last time I enrolled to write an MA, 9 or so years ago, my supervisor at the time was a Gemini I'm pretty sure... which great, but his style of thought and communication did not gel with mine and I found that it somehow placed me in a pressurised situation when it came to working together to produce a piece of work. I would have done a great job of it for sure, and he knew that and was aware of my capabilities, but the difference in how he expected me to go about it just put my Mercury into a flurry... I don't want that to happen this time around. It's very important for me to have space and time to work things out).

Go with your gut Gem - I feel you will have success. It's important to balance what we know with outside suggestion. Take what you can use and leave what you can't. I 'm impressed with how you've worked through it in your mind and come to your own conclusions.

That stubborness can be a double-edged sword for us Taureans. I know for me I have a habit of holding on to things way past their use by date in my life and then I realise 'hey, there's other ways I can choose to go'. Sounds really dumb I know, but at 40 I still feel like a child exploring the world.

Thanks Goth. Oh yes, I can relate - it's like we have to go our own way first sometimes before we can appreciate what others may have tried to tell us. But that's all part of learning.

Strangely with this thesis thing, the other people I've mentioned it to have been surprised at the idea of not writing my first chapter yet. I've been continuing to take notes and plan out that chapter while I try to do this other stuff that my supervisors are suggesting. I think combining the approaches will work out pretty well, so I can build some kind of structure while I develop new ideas at the same time. I must admit though I'm finding it really tough to find the TIME to do this - the actual research, the actual study, the actual writing, that I should be doing. Working part-time and trying to have a life, look after myself, and not neglect the people in my life all seem to be more than enough to fit into a day, a week, a month. I'm a bit anxious about not having made much progress on my thesis so far really. I mean I'm doing readings, taking notes, and scribbling down a lot of ideas, and the last thing I wrote and handed in got some very good feedback, so I guess I am progressing but it's weird not to see solid evidence of it on my computer (ie chapter 1 completed).

Maybe this is a Taurean thing, we've discussed it before, the lack of physical energy. I really feel like this is weighing on my progress study-wise. On one hand, I've been taking iron supplements for almost three months now and I have been getting a lot more sleep since I don't have to go to work every day - and the results have been wonderful for me. I feel so much better physically, and I have also been having feelings of ACTUAL happiness with my lifestyle now and what I'm doing (I like both my part-time jobs and I love being a student again). But the problem is that this lifestyle that helps me to feel healthier, the sleeping til 9 or 10am, then doing housework, making lunch at home, takes hours out of my day that I feel like I should be dedicating to study. But if I treat study like a 9 to 5 job as I planned to, I feel I will be tired again. The days where I do have to get up and go to work, although I do like the jobs, I feel a lot more tired. It's almost as if I am not designed to handle the rat race, the expectations of the 40-hour week. Or maybe I'm just a lazy Taurus!

Taureans are so earth-based that they seem to have their own timetables. I know I am not a 9 to 5 person. Never have been. My best time of the day is from about 4 in the afternoon onwards. I work better in cooler weather than hot, and I need to know that things are flexible not fixed (like deadlines ugh!). Choice is important too - try forcing a bull and they'll surely dig their heels in and lower their head with their horns out in defence! Knowing all this, for best success, I work with my strengths not against them. I chose external study so I could fit it in around the other things in my life. So far it has worked well.

SHOULD is a toxic word that causes more blockage than action in my opinion. In fact, whenever I hear myself say it, I cringe. It belongs in the old archaic system of doing things where there are rigid rules and expectations and new age beliefs are ridiculed or treated as less than to be taken seriously. I have an ex-partner who is driving a stake through my heart with his constant 'shoulds' at the moment and causing alot of pain for his kids as well.

If words were weapons, then should would be somewhere at the top of the arsenal.

You are right! I never feel comfortable with it when I say 'should'... because the 'should' is something that is not right for me personally. It's so ironic that as a fixed sign, we do not fit with fixed scheduling... lol. I definitely don't. Afternoon onwards is best for me as well. Hmm. Back with more thoughts later...