Mercury aspects

What the tradition holds about the Mercury at an angle to each of the other bodies. An aspect on its own is geometry; what the older sources actually discuss is a particular pair at a particular angle, and they treat each one as its own subject.

21 pairings curated here, each traced to a work and a page you can open for free. 21 also have a longer piece on what the pairing looks like in a life. Anything involving Pluto is absent and will stay absent: it was discovered in 1930, after every work this site is able to cite.

Mercury and Sun

Sun conjunct Mercury· also written Mercury conjunct Sun: The only aspect these two can form, and a common one: Mercury never strays far from the Sun, so a large share of all births carry it and having it distinguishes little. Alan Leo reads it as adaptability, resourcefulness, and the power to fit the environment or rise above it as needed, provided the sign suits both. One 1918 source calls it good for memory and mentality unless Mercury sits within three degrees of the Sun — then it calls the planet combust, its good qualities burned up in the Sun's rays.; What this looks like in a life; Alan Leo, How to Judge a Nativity (1912; pages from the 1928 printing at archive.org/details/howtojudgenativi00leoa), p. 135Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 207–208

Mercury and Moon

Moon conjunct Mercury· also written Mercury conjunct Moon: One 1918 source groups the conjunction with the parallel, sextile and trine, and reads the group as a receptive mind and a retentive memory — two qualities it calls very rare, and good indications of success in life, most of all in literary, clerical or travelling work. It rates the sextile and trine highest on that count. The same source holds that, without some steadying influence elsewhere, such people are not reliable, changing their minds repeatedly and in the most unexpected manner; it reads them as looking on the bright side of life, and as fond of pleasure and of travel.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234
Moon sextile Mercury· also written Mercury sextile Moon: Sixty degrees apart. One 1918 source takes the sextile with the conjunction and trine as giving a receptive mind and a retentive memory, and singles out the sextile and trine as good indications of success in life — especially in what it calls the mercurial occupations, literary, clerical or travelling. The same source qualifies this: unless something steadier sits elsewhere in the chart, such people are not reliable, changing their minds repeatedly and unexpectedly. It reads them as fond of pleasure, and of travel in particular.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234
Moon square Mercury· also written Mercury square Moon: Ninety degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the square together with the opposition, and reads the pair as a poor memory and an unsteady mind, with a tendency to indecision and worry. It holds that these characteristics make the person unpopular, and — in its own phrase — that the person is reckoned “unlucky”.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 234–235
Moon trine Mercury· also written Mercury trine Moon: A third of the circle apart. One 1918 source reads a receptive mind and a retentive memory here, calling both qualities very rare, and counts the trine — with the sextile — as a good indication of success in life, particularly in literary, clerical or travelling work. It attaches the same caution it attaches to the whole group: without some steadying influence these people are not reliable, and change their minds repeatedly in the most unexpected manner. It describes them as looking on the bright side, and as fond of travel.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 234
Moon opposite Mercury· also written Mercury opposite Moon: A hundred and eighty degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the opposition together with the square, and gives the pair a poor memory and a lack of mental steadiness, with a tendency toward indecision and worry. It reads those characteristics as making the person unpopular, and reckoned “unlucky” in the ordinary phrase.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 234–235

Mercury and Mars

Mercury conjunct Mars: One 1918 source treats the conjunction separately and leaves its direction open. It gives the same mental energy, enthusiasm and dexterity it credits to the sextile and trine — but says whether those go to constructive ends or destructive ones depends on the rest of the chart, not on the conjunction itself. It is the one aspect of this pair the source declines to call good or bad.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 213–214
Mercury sextile Mars: Sixty degrees apart. One 1918 source reads a keen, sharp, ingenious and resourceful mind here — someone enthusiastic about whatever appeals to them, able to carry others along, and an indefatigable worker for any cause that engages their sympathies, though no visionary and interested only in concrete matters. It describes a love of argument and debate, and an inexhaustible fund of wit and good humour, sometimes with a vein of sarcasm that always strikes its mark but never viciously.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 212–213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213
Mercury square Mars: Ninety degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the square with the opposition. It reads a quick-witted, sharp and alert mind joined to a quick temper — impulsive, jumping to conclusions and acting before thinking, and so, it says, forever landing themselves or others in trouble. It calls them born prevaricators, incapable of a straight statement, vitriolic in anger, and bullies bound to rule or ruin wherever they are.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 214–215
Mercury trine Mars: A third of the circle apart. One 1918 source credits this pair with remarkable dexterity — an ability to turn their hands to whatever is required and do it with astonishing speed. It holds that such people cannot do anything slowly or by halves: whatever they take on must be done with a rush, with their whole energy in it. On that basis it expects success in almost any line of work they choose, and names literature and the mechanical arts as the likeliest.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 212–213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 213
Mercury opposite Mars: A hundred and eighty degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the opposition with the square. It reads a quick, sharp mind joined to a quick temper — impulsive, excitable, acting before thinking — and holds that such people are feared or disliked by those tied to them, and shunned by everyone else who can manage it. It calls them selfish, swaggering and egotistical in the extreme, while allowing that other aspects may temper all of this.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 214Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 214–215

Mercury and Saturn

Mercury conjunct Saturn: One 1918 source treats the conjunction separately, and says plainly how it differs. It gives depth to the mind and forethought, along with the other qualities it credits to the sextile and trine — but not in so full a measure, and it holds that the person cannot externalise them as readily, so the assured success it grants the good aspects does not follow. The same source adds an embarrassing timidity here.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 210
Mercury sextile Saturn: Sixty degrees apart. One 1918 source reads Saturn's contact with Mercury as a brake upon a flighty mind, giving it seriousness, depth and concentration — and credits the forethought and reasoning that follow with success in whatever vocation is pursued. It describes a patient persistence that lets no temporary failure block eventual success, with caution and diplomacy that make such people hard to beat over time.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 209–210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 209–210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 210
Mercury square Saturn: Ninety degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the square with the opposition, and reads trouble and delays running through the whole life — the person thwarted by slander and by enemies who stay out of sight, growing bitter and sarcastic under it, then shunned, and finally withdrawing to brood alone. It calls such people cunning and untruthful, and holds that they pursue the occult for personal power rather than the unselfish motives it attributes to the good aspects.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 210–211Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 211Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 210–211
Mercury trine Saturn: A third of the circle apart. One 1918 source reads a mind steadied and deepened by Saturn — serious, concentrated, and capable of forethought and profound reasoning. It expects such people to become prominent in some serious enterprise rather than in public life, because they are quiet, subdued and serious in manner; and it calls them absolutely honest and fairminded, making them in its own phrase the finest judges obtainable.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 209–210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 209–210Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 210
Mercury opposite Saturn: A hundred and eighty degrees apart. One 1918 source treats the opposition together with the square. It reads a life subject to trouble and delay, thwarted by slander and secret enemies, and holds that this in time makes the person bitter and sarcastic — then shunned by those who can get away, and driven into seclusion to brood. It also calls the person cunning and untruthful.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 210–211Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 211Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 210–211

Mercury and Uranus

Mercury conjunct Uranus: No source before the 20th century treats this pair; Uranus was discovered in 1781. One 1918 source gives the conjunction no reading of its own here. It supplies a rule instead: where Mercury is otherwise afflicted, read the conjunction as one of the hard aspects; where Mercury is well placed and well aspected, the reading it gives the sextile and trine applies. On that source's own terms the conjunction takes its character from Mercury's condition rather than from the contact.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), pp. 215–216
Mercury sextile Uranus: No source before the 20th century treats this pair; Uranus was discovered in 1781. One 1918 source reads an original, independent and eccentric mind here — impatient of the fetters of fashion, tradition and convention, and strenuous in hewing its own path in complete liberty. It calls this the hall-mark of the pioneer in thought and invention. It adds that such people keep plenty of friends through a kindly and sympathetic nature, and rates the aspects good for literary or scientific work.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215
Mercury square Uranus: No source before the 20th century treats this pair; Uranus was discovered in 1781. One 1918 source treats the square with the opposition, and reads it as the hall-mark of the crank or the anarchist — someone with extreme ideas, bent on tearing down the social structure and undertaking radical reforms. It describes a habit of ranting and raving in public, with language as cruel as the measures being urged, and holds that whatever ability such people have is usually turned to erratic purpose.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 216Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 216
Mercury trine Uranus: No source before the 20th century treats this pair; Uranus was discovered in 1781. One 1918 source groups the trine with the sextile, giving an original, independent and eccentric mind, impatient of the fetters of fashion, tradition and convention. It calls their ideas and ideals exceedingly lofty, progressive and inspiring — too much so, it says, for the average person, who looks on their actions as vagaries. It rates these aspects good for invention, and names work involving air or electricity in particular.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 215
Mercury opposite Uranus: No source before the 20th century treats this pair; Uranus was discovered in 1781. One 1918 source treats the opposition together with the square, reading both as the mark of the crank or anarchist bent on tearing down the social structure. It describes such people as given to ranting and raving in public, their language as cruel as the measures they advocate, and holds that they are often forced into sudden changes because their ability is turned to erratic ends.; What this looks like in a life; Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 216Max Heindel, The Message of the Stars (1918, at archive.org/details/messageofstarses00heiniala), p. 216

Which of these you have

The birth chart page works out every aspect in your own chart from your date, time and place of birth, and shows the entry below the matching row. Nothing is transmitted; it is calculated on your device.

For what the five angles are — the geometry, the orbs, and which pairs can never form which aspects — see aspects.