Mercury in Pisces
When Mercury is in the sign of Pisces, the traveler must adjust to moving in different ways. Mercury is an explorer and literally, as a planet, moves in between the expanse of space and time due to the weird-ass effect of the Sun's gravity. This actually makes Mercury well-equipped to explore the misty, mysterious fog of Pisces.
You see, Mercury is in both "fall" and "detriment" when in the sign of Pisces. We are talking about the essential dignities and debilities, here, and no other planet has the same sign as both their place of detriment and fall. Both fall and detriment imply that the planet is in a hostile, debilitating, or suppressive environment. Sounds serious, right?
So the assumption here is that Mercury works best when able to travel, gather, explore, and process in a linear fashion that is clear, logical, and linear. When the conditions are not right for that type of movement, we assume, "Ahhh crap Mercury in Pisces in bad."
This is where I say something that may be unpopular and goes against the grain of traditional astrology.
For the most part, astrology was created by men who maybe didn't think there was any benefit to non-linear, creative, alternative Mercurial energies. For Mercury to be debilitated, we would think there would be serious challenge in the ability to communicate or to give or receive information for processing.
Consider these folx who had/have their natal Mercury in Pisces:
Abraham Lincoln
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johnny Cash
Edgar Cayce
Mariah Carey
Lady Gaga
Tyler, the Creator
Rhianna
Eckhart Tolle
Billie Holiday
Nicolaus Copernicus
Nina Simone
Aretha Franklin
Rudolf Steiner
Giacomo Casanova
Maya Angelou
Charles Darwin
.... I mean, I could go on and on. Does this list represent a group of people who the world knows as "debilitated" in thinking, expressing, sharing, and receiving information and thoughts?
I think it's easy to say that when Mercury is in the sign of Pisces, we have access to creative genius that cannot be accessed in a linear or logical fashion. And this is why you won't hear me talking about essential dignities too much as an astrologer. I find it much more meaningful to embrace each sign and planet in a holistic way, allowing all their qualities to be expressed, understanding there is a spectrum of presentation and experience possible.
So, can Mercury in Pisces increase escapism, foggy thoughts, confusion, and challenges with communicating? Yes! That is part of the spectrum of Pisces energy; however most of these challenges come from trying to force Mercury to work in the linear ways that the western world recognizes as "good." Mercury is a flexible being and is quite capable of adjusting to different environments. It's often our challenge to adjust to working in a way the world doesn't seem to value, but we're here to change all that. aren't we, mystics.
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