Mercury in Virgo

deck: leonora carrington + klimt

mercury moves into virgo today through august 15th, retrogrades back into leo, and then is back in virgo sept 10-26th.

the tarot correspondence to mercury is the magician and to virgo is the hermit. the magician is in the hermit, the 1 is in the 9. the singularity of all possibilities is within the spiritual evolution, and it has wisdom for us. funny enough, 10 of pentacles corresponds to mercury in virgo, and the second decan of virgo 10-19°. so the 1 plus the 9 equals the 10. the ouroboros. the beginning is quite literally embedded in the end.

similar to the sun in leo, mercury in virgo asks us, “what is the difference between a zodiacal and planetary expression of a sign?” in this case, what is the difference between the planetary archetype of flow, communication, intellect and the zodiacal archetype of systems, the root, surgery and healing, and tethering core truths to expand? what does it mean to find newness and learn within the transformation and finality of the earth element? and, when including the decan card, what does this all mean in relationship to what we are embodying within our lineage? what are our ancestors trying to tell us about abundance? what wisdom is being passed down through the inner knowing that we have developed in the privacy of our own selves and now seeks to be expressed?

today’s date adds up to 22, or reduced to 4. the gematria of 22 reveals a correspondence to the word “unity” in hebrew. 4 implies a correspondence to the sphere of chesed or mercy on the tree of life, with the planetary correspondence of jupiter. 4 is stability and foundations. jupiter is expansion and abundance through faith. so we can see more language speaking to us having faith in ourselves, finding the ground floor of our faith, in order to truly expand into greater abundance. to truly come into unity with ourselves and what our ancestors have been working towards. true stability, true completion, embodied here in the kingdoms we are building for ourselves.

art: jillian adel

the unity spread

on the left is the card that represents the hermit or virgo. he is shining a light of wisdom onto the magician who is using this wisdom to improve or increase his flow in order to embody his 10 of pentacles, his ultimate manifested abundance on the right, expanding his sense what is possible regarding stability and foundations.

below are some questions and suggestions for ways to use this spread, although if you are called to use it a particular way, your intuition is always correct.

left / the wisdom

what wisdom have i garnered that is now coming through to be embodied in my flow, communication, intellectual processes?

center / the flow

what seeks greater flow in my life? or what seeks to be communicated about?

right / the unity

what seeks to be materially fulfilled and finalized so that my greater sense of abundance may be expanded?

deck: klimt

Notes

first, i pulled the spread and took any initial intuitive notes from the cards.

next, i looked up the elemental and astrological correspondences for the cards, along with any correspondences with my natal chart. for example, we are working with mercury and virgo. so i noted that my mercury is in taurus in my 5th house and virgo rules my 9th house, where i have no placements. i found it interesting that the hermit which is card 9 in the tarot, corresponds to virgo which also rules my 9th house. 9 is the number of spirit. the 9th house is the house of teaching and learning, philosophy, and travel. not so dissimilar from the way the hermit teaches from all he has learned up on the mountain, or mercury is the planetary ruler and diety of learning and intellect.

then i sat and journaled about the reading through cards / intuition.

finally, i go back over everything and make as many connections as i can. if certain ideas, numbers, archetypes keep popping up, they start to shine brighter and feel like a core message. feel into it. synthesize.

this is a deep dive for those who work with decan correspondences, but i’m curious to see how this plays out:
i pulled 5 of wands, which corresponds to saturn in leo or the first decan of leo. i also pulled 9 of pentacles which corresponds to venus in virgo or the second decan of virgo. i noted any transits or natal placements in any of these decans, and then felt into what they might mean for this spread. this spread is active for the dates that mercury is in virgo, which are at the top of this post. within that time frame, there are dates that the sun, moon, venus and mercury will all transit through one of these decan fields. i made note of the dates and what i felt the planetary energy might bring to the read. this could be used either to reflect on those dates, but i tend to find going back retroactively to reflect shines a clearer light. with more time, i’ll have a better understanding of how to use this. so if you do, please let me know how it turns out for you or how you use it as it is a total experiment!