Mercury in Capricorn (And its Associated Factors)

Mercury Lacing his Winged Sandals by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle

(1753, cast lead - Louvre Museums, Paris)

This post is going up just after the Full Moon hits full with (astrologers admission) Eurydike already on station.

Sometimes scheduling a blog is just imperfect no matter how hard you try!

Anyway, perhaps you’ve noticed some ‘cost’ to something, whether that means something you’ve done, something you’ve chosen not to do or something you haven’t yet gotten to?

Eurydike goes retrograde on December 29th at 13 Virgo, a degree which in general refers to whatever emotional factors you experience as part of getting things done. This could also be about the ‘cost’ of having done something, not only because that’s the ‘gist’ of Eurydike, but because 13 Virgo is a degree which on one side speaks to the love of ‘fine arts’ and which on the other apparently refers to all those ‘finer things’ in life.

Wherever you go with this, plainly the inference is that Eurydike on station is a moment when we reflect on what we want or like and what that perhaps has cost us, or what it is going to cost us. Yet considering this is Eurydike in Virgo…and since Virgo refers to (among other things) health and, through its rulership by Mercury mental health (or the health of the basis upon which we make decisions or adopt priorities)…this may be a moment when you determined to avoid some cost because you realize that’s not the best (“healthiest”) thing to do.

(And yes, “healthiest” could refer to financial health or many other kinds of ‘healthy choices.’)

When we talk Virgo, we always talk responsibility. And considering the story of Eurydike (spelled as ‘Eurydice’ most times in the myth)…where this asteroid is concerned, the Virgo side of the equation asks whether we have taken responsibility for something, acting responsible where we are in charge of something, or whether we are holding ourselves to standards or limits which are considered responsible. Against this, Eurydike represents the ‘cost’ of having taken whatever on. Or not honoring our commitments.

This can be as simple as holding yourself to a budget to realizing you’ve been careless online, opening yourself to ID theft to even recognizing that you’re in the wrong profession. Or a marriage which is miserable, but…

What does it depend on? Most likely the degrees of situational difficulty depend on several things.

Operational Factors:

• Was your natal chart aspected by November’s Solar Eclipse at 21 Scorpio? (LINK to blog post)
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• Was your natal chart aspected by November’s Lunar Eclipse at 6 Gemini? (LINK to blog post)
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• Was your natal chart aspected by December’s Uranus station/direct? (LINK to blog post)
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• Has your natal chart been seriously affected (by aspect) by Pluto’s conjunction of Facies? (LINK to the most recent blog post on this subject. For others, click on “Facies” in the sidebar word cloud.)

The more of these questions you answer “yes” to, and the closer the aspect involved, the more likely it is that Eurydike’s station is going to be a bothersome moment.

By why Eurydike? Aren’t there a zillion other asteroids out there?

Absolutely yes. But take a look here…

…Eurydike goes retrograde on the 29th. And as you can see, during Eurydike’s two-days-prior, two-days-after station “allowance” Mercury enters Capricorn (where Pluto is just finishing its initial, year-long conjunction of Facies) and Dionysus, a symbol of ‘sacred celebration’ goes retrograde. And not to put too fine a point on this, but December 28-29 is when the Sun crosses the Pluto/Facies point.

This is a recipe for setting off results, recognitions, realizations, limitations or feelings of needing to improve, deal with mistakes and pay Ye Olde Piper for whatever has already been done and done not all that well.

Dionysus being the alternate godly name for Bacchus (lord of the drink and all that) we know there is some sort of impulse to have fun and not care. But in Virgo? And going retrograde (the image of our ‘looking within’) as Mercury reaches its most sobering and pragmatic transit of Capricorn is where we get the idea that the bill is coming due. And all that feeds into our Pluto/Facies issues, be they personal or societal.

Have you ever heard of Sagittarius as the sign of the legal system? That’s true. But if I add that Sagittarius is also the sign of media (getting the word out)and education (spreading facts, ideas and information)  it’ll probably make sense that Sagittarius is about the trial and Capricorn is about the legal consequences (also known as the reward-vs.-punishment). This truly fits with Sagittarius as a fiery sign of the ideal and how things should be (or should work) and Capricorn as cold hard reality.

It also underscores the idea that as Mercury moves into Capricorn, we start thinking realistically and about ‘the realities’…and that whatever difficult-to-untangle Pluto/Facies realities are part of life are going to be coming to the conscious, ‘thinking’ (Mercury) forefront.

As I type this, I know many an American is thinking “Congress…” (fill in the rest of the sentence lovingly or otherwise as fits your bill)…but it’s not just Things Governmental, though Mercury entering Capricorn surely puts a highlight there. Capricorn as the general sign of ‘commerce’ as the doing of business brings anything about that to the forefront, too. So…are we in for news on the (Eurydike) cost of doing (Capricorn) business? Probably yes – at many levels.

But that’s not all! (Is it ever?)

Mercury enters Capricorn and Tantalus (that we know we shouldn’t do but which we’re tempted by) is sitting right there. PLUS…0 Capricorn (the ingress degree) is in perfect trine to 0 Virgo, where sits Regulus. And since Regulus is all about success which is spoiled by those who want revenge or to do the ‘other guy’ a nasty if they can’t have their own way, this speaks to come-uppances being on the menu.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave….when first we practice to deceive! And who do we deceive first and last? Ourselves!

This is one of those ‘you thought you could get away with it? No, no, no…not so much!’ sort of moments.

Plus there are a few other noodles in this soup. We’ll get to Sphinx in a moment, but Mercury’s Capricorn ingress is nicely trine asteroid Hel, which will at that moment be at 3 Taurus, a degree known in the Sabian parade as THE POT OF GOLD AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW.

In Taurus, this is ‘pot of gold’ image is theoretically about reaching a point of intrinsic personal security satisfaction with our lives. Of course many people interpret this monetarily, but that’s not the core of the metaphysical meaning.

Anyway, with Hel – all the things and ways we make life hard for ourselves – sitting at 3 Taurus in what is very much a Grand Trine with Mercury and Tantalus in worldly-reality based Capricorn and the operational realties of Regulus (have we played above board?) you can just imagine what could be going on about now.

And if you can’t imagine it…well, just hold on – it’ll happen!

But wait – that’s not all! (Yes, I’m sounding like a Ginsu knife commercial…) AS Mercury sets off this grand trine and all the tra-la involved therein, Sphinx and Phaethon are also going on station.

Let’s imagine this…asteroid Sphinx is about patience. It’s about asking questions. It’s about enduring and waiting things out. And Phaethon? Phaethon is the headstrong energy of the teenager who doesn’t think anything can hurt them and that they’re not just the equal of any adult, but that they should have ALL the rights of an adult RIGHT NOW.

For which....(according to the myth)...we come to a great fall.

 Phaethon by Hendrick Gottzius (Netherlands 1558-1617)

So...Phaethon and Sphinx in an overlap. Does that sound like a dichotomy?

Indeedie it does, and yessir, it can indicate just that. It can also indicate someone who is sitting on their thumb (or something else) all up in their high-dee-ho opinion that they KNOW and THEY’RE right and they’re just going to WAIT and they don’t care if the whole kit-and-kaboodle goes up in flames, they’re going to have things THEIR WAY!

Once again, I will guess Americans will read this and think “Congress.” But just on the political level, we can look around the world and there are plenty of other headstrong types demanding to have their own way and by gum, they don’t care if they take everybody down with their self-righteous, stubborn attitudes!
But this is also a recipe for bungee jumping without having checked the cords, whether your leap is emotional, financial, relational or otherwise.

And then….then there are those people who won’t budge and who won’t jump (or move an inch) because they’re sure everything IS going to Hel in a handbasket. I can hear it now…’you do that and you’ll be sorry!’

For what? Name it. After all, this world is full of parents who object to their children loving someone of a different ethnic background. Or culture. Or financial situation. Or not of a different gender.

So we can expect threats and posturing and the digging in of heels about now. Some of us can expect to get snowed under by a many-tendrilled problem we haven’t been able to solve which has finally caught up with us.

And some of us will finally get a clue. And that’s the other way to look at this confluence of Mercury-Eurydike-Dionysus-Sphinx and Phaethon (all in a pie with a Pluto/Facies crust): some of us will come to realize that the ‘sacred idea’ bears too high a price to support. They will realize that the waiting only hurts them – and people or things they care about.

How “big a deal” all this is in your life depends on how your natal chart is affected. There was that list given earlier, and of course to that we would have to add having any planet, node or axis point in conjunction to 0 Capricorn, Cancer, Aries or Libra…which is to say, from 25 Sagittarius through 5 Capricorn, 25 Gemini through 5 Cancer, 25 Pisces through 5 Aries or 25 Virgo through 5 Libra.

For those in the Sagittarius/Capricorn muddle, this is very personal. For those in the Gemini/Cancer quadrant, this is about facing someone or some thing. If you’re in the Pisces/Aries group, this is about getting something done, on the road or to where you can deal with it. And if you’re in the Virgo/Libra bucket, this is about coping with and straightening out something which is already under way.

One last note here: because asteroid Hel was part of the Full Moon formulation and that Full Moon occurred on December 28th with that being the day that the Sun triggers Pluto/Facies, there’s every chance that all of this is a ‘playing out’ of what came your way at the Full Moon.

 A Full Moon setting over the island of Lanai in Hawaii

(photo credit: Vossman)

Whatever happens, Mercury in Capricorn is an excellent placement for working through complicated exotica with attentiveness to details. So this is a time to tackle big tasks, even if life isn’t tugging on your toe! Yes, these next days may feel bedragglingly complicated, but if you sort things through, ask all the questions which need asking (including of yourself!), there are ways to make the best of all things.
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