Mercury Enters Pisces

Following a two-and-a-half-week sprint through Aquarius, Mercury splashes into Pisces today, the sign of both its detriment AND fall. Mercury, known to favor raw data over flights of fancy, has a notoriously difficult time navigating this numinous territory. While this signature may help the musician, poet or fiction writer gain inspiration, it can cause the average Joe to stumble over sentences and confuse concepts as if Mercury went retrograde and forgot to tell anyone.

In thinking about this disconnect, it can be helpful to consider that Mercury in Pisces presents a clash of two very different kinds of magic. Mercury’s magic is discursive. Mercury takes something that has no true inherent meaning, like a written number or letter and infuses it with context based on our exchanges and lived experiences. Stringing symbols together becomes a way to weave a spell. Something that once lacked sense becomes sensible, capable of conveying ideas or providing labels.

But Piscean magic is different. Its realm is feelings and ideal forms. Its magic lies in arousing emotion and memory. In this intuitive space, Mercury can be totally out of its depth. How can we communicate rationally within the non-rational?

The short answer: nonverbal communication is best. Showing instead of telling not only gets the point across; it also cannot disguise our intentions. We have no choice but to be sincere. Giving a hug is a form of communication. Making art is a form of communication. Recognizing cosmic signs in our daily wanderings places us in a dialogue with the universe, which is an ESPECIALLY compelling form of communication. Mercury in Pisces teaches us that when we reframe communication as something fluid rather than fixed, a new world opens up for us to explore.