The Dual Nature of Mercury
The image of Mercury has always unsettled those who seek certainty. He is never fixed, he escapes definition. He walks with the Sun, sometimes combust, other times under the burning fire of cazimi, but does not belong to it. He at times is tied to the day and at times to the night. This shifting place is the very seal of his mystery. The ancients knew him as messenger, as guider of the soul, as thief, as scribe.
In the sky his body never strays far from the brilliance of the Sun; sometimes he goes before as morning star, sometimes he follows as evening star. This ceaseless alternation already reveals his nature. He is the only one among the wandering stars who can belong to both astrological sects. He may take the side of the diurnal host or join the nocturnal band. In that gesture lies the essence of the androgynous psychopomp. He alone passes between worlds; he alone can walk both roads.
This shifting allegiance is not an accident of astronomy, since it represents the planet’s vocation. It shows Mercury as one who crosses boundaries without being consumed. He can carry a soul from the underworld to the upper air; he can descend with a word of light into the cavern of matter. In his dual belonging is hidden a reflection of the human condition itself. Humanity is divided, living in body and in Spirit. Mercury reveals that division and also shows the possibility of reconciliation.
The mystery of this dyad is also inscribed in the Tarot. The Lovers, card of union, is assigned to Gemini, the mutable air sign ruled precisely by Mercury. Gemini itself is a constellation of the twins, a stellar image of two made one. The arcanum speaks of the encounter of opposites, of a choice that is also a an alchemical marriage.
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