Mercury in the Houses
Mercury in the 1st House
Others see you as intelligent, youthful, interesting, and lively. You may be mercurial in appearance or manner, especially if Mercury is close to (within 10 degrees of) the Ascendant.
With Mercury in the first house of your chart, you can be restless, adaptable, changeable, easily distracted, versatile, and nimble. You use the power of positive thinking and communication to attract what you want into your life. You enjoy talking but might often monopolize the conversation or fail to listen (you might be too busy thinking about what you will say next!). You have a mischievous and even precocious manner.
Adaptable and curious, you quickly adapt to new situations. In fact, you treat most new endeavors with curiosity and high interest. Your first reaction to new stimuli is logical and curious rather than emotional unless the Moon is also in this area of your chart. Emotions kick in later. You can be quick to speak out, but the sign of your Mercury can modify whether or not you’re verbose, spontaneous, and outspoken. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 2nd House
You have practical intelligence and a commonsense mind, seeing the obvious, most logical answer to any predicament often well before others. You can be quite one-track minded at times, not very happy with multi-tasking, and often quite fixed in your opinions. You find sensual stimuli far more relevant to you than abstract concepts.
You don’t like to be put on the spot or pushed into talking or coming to a conclusion. Studies are similar–you need to work at your own pace.
You can have a strong business mind, and you like to make decisions based on practical or pragmatic considerations rather than expectations or dreams. Even so, as intelligent as you are about money, you may not always follow your own advice about spending it. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 3rd House
This is an especially curious and inquisitive house position for Mercury. You are a quick study! You can be very interested in reading, teaching, speaking, exchanging ideas, keeping current with the daily news, and perhaps gossiping. Your interests are many and varied, sometimes to the point that you barely skim the surface of any one topic. You can be easily distracted, and your attention span can be quite short, but you’re mentally agile. You’re an excellent translator or imitator since you’re so acutely attuned to the nuances of language and expression, and you may be especially good at teaching or otherwise explaining ideas to others.
You enjoy the challenge and variety of having a number of things going at once, and you can quickly become bored with routines. This house position is often strong in the charts of people who run a lot of errands or take many short trips. Quick to learn, you are also swift to share what you know with others. You can be very talkative when you have the chance. You very likely are a list maker, and you can be quite involved in your community, or at the least an avid people watcher who is curious to a fault. Some with this position are quite nervous or fidgety, perhaps given to pacing, too.
These traits are Mercury in the third house in pure form and can be modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. Strong aspects of Mercury to Saturn or Pluto in your chart, for example, can point to a less chatty and more serious conversationalist and/or to deeper studies and interests, for example. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 4th House
You are an extremely imaginative person who dreams up all sorts of unusual ideas and plans. Your thinking is rather subjective, and in some cases for people with this position (rare ones), narrow or biased. For most, though, it’s about focus. Some of you might enjoy working at home or keeping a lively, intellectual atmosphere in your home. You more easily than others retain a lot of information, and you can be especially interested in history, psychology, or politics. You are not quick to embrace a new idea or plan, and you can be quite traditional in your thinking.
You are often found thinking about your personal life, home, and family! You may worry a little too much about these matters, in fact. Watch for this, as your resting state may be more nervous than for most people. You do tend to nurture and calm yourself with words and lists. You tend to put others at ease about expressing their feelings.
People with this position often enjoy having a home office or collecting books and other media that aid learning. Your family life may emphasize education or prioritize learning. These traits are Mercury in the fourth house in pure form and can be, in reality, modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 5th House
You tend to use your voice, whether written or spoken, as a means of creative self-expression. You are witty and humorous, an engaging communicator, and a fun friend. You love playing games, especially ones that employ your intellect, and you can very much enjoy producing creative works. Your particular art may stand out for its attention to detail. You may be particularly skilled at writing, drawing, or music, for example, and you are likely to have multiple such talents.
You love tricks, jokes, plays on words, and mimicry. Often people with this Mercury position are skilled at impersonations. Some of you could be clever at lying. You might have a tendency to promise more than you can deliver or to overstate your case. In some manner, you are very entertaining with the spoken and/or written word, for better or for worse! Communication and intellectual rapport are most attractive to you in your romantic life. In some cases, this can indicate more than one lover at a time. You can be quite skilled at verbally expressing your feelings, although this can sometimes take away from the full-on experience of them.
Curiosity can be a strong motivator for making social and romantic contact. You might also take much pride in your children’s intellectual abilities and talents. You would make a good teacher, as you are very curious about how people learn and can come up with many ideas that allow you to teach others creatively. These traits are Mercury in the fifth house in pure form and can be modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 6th House
You are a person who thinks of all the details that others often forget! Your mind is almost always turned “on” which can make you interesting, for sure, but also a little nervous! In fact, you may tend to fret more than most people. You are excellent at sorting things out, organizing, and making lists and associations. With your attention to the details and mechanics, however, you might miss the bigger point from time to time. You may, in fact, feel more comfortable with the details and finer points of a plan.
You are exceptionally helpful, and others often count on you to make arrangements, do the research, and offer advice. You’re usually the most logical and knowledgeable one in a group.
You truly love to feel useful. You might have some traits of a hypochondriac, as you notice all of the little aches and pains that others might overlook. Nervous tension could be at the root of many of your health complaints, in fact. You might frequently have to deal with duplicitous co-workers. Many of you are good at crafts, mechanics, or anything that requires good manual dexterity. You can also be a “jack of all trades” type since you seem to know a bit about everything, but you are inclined to specialize, too, and become an expert in a particular field, however formally or informally. There can be some shyness about going big with your ideas or job, and you may not be quite as ambitious as others unless your chart suggests strongly otherwise. You may take on all sorts of odd jobs, and you seek out variety in what you do. These traits are Mercury in the sixth house in pure form and can be, in reality, modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 7th House
You have a great love of debate, if only to get closer to your own thoughts and opinions. Bouncing ideas off others helps you to make a decision, although coming to definite conclusions can be painfully difficult for you. You see the other side of the coin! This is wonderful but does keep you in a state of uncertainty at times as you bounce back and forth between alternatives that seem equally viable. You might often play devil’s advocate. Verbalizing what you’re thinking and seeing the reactions your ideas and thoughts receive helps clarify and sharpen your thinking. You are not a follower of others’ ideas, often going your own way, but you do seem to need to interact with others to arrive at your decisions.
Communication with a partner is craved, and you also love an audience for your own thoughts and opinions, but preferably a one-person audience, as you come alive verbally when it’s one-on-one. You can be quite skilled at keeping a partnership animated and alive with interesting tidbits, new ideas, and stimulating conversation. You can quickly become bored in a partnership if the lines of communication go down, even temporarily! You might attract partners who are not especially sincere or downright duplicitous. In your quest to put an end to this pattern, you might decide to avoid scheming and overanalyzing in your relationships.
You might also love to talk about and analyze relationships and partnerships. You get off on new perspectives that partners or good friends offer you. A meeting of the minds is vital to you in a partnership. You are perceptive and fair, always seeing the other side to a story, and you do your best to be diplomatic and kind. You are capable of much objectivity, and this makes you a good judge, lawyer, or reviewer. These traits are Mercury in the seventh house in pure form and can be, in reality, modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 8th House
You are especially curious about what motivates people, as well as all that is mysterious, taboo, secret, and psychological. You are excellent at analyzing people and getting at their motivations, and you’re interested in cause more than effect, in general. You also excel at developing strategies. You may have a sound mind for finances, medicine, and other subjects that require research and investigation. You speak with authority, and others listen, having strong persuasive powers which should be used carefully. You tend to feel that everything people do and experience has a purpose. You have a great, investigative, and penetrating mind and you are excellent at analysis. You put others at ease about expressing their feelings or desires through your understanding nature. You’re also capable of keeping secrets, which is uncommon!
These traits are Mercury in the eighth house in pure form and are modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 9th House
With Mercury in the ninth house, you are eternally curious, and you hunger for knowledge. You enjoy studying and learning, not because you have to, but because you want to. You enjoy exchanging ideas and personal philosophies with others. You are exceptionally buoyant, enthusiastic, and even inspiring in your communications. While you may not pay enough attention to details at times, you are skilled at finding a quick solution to problems. You readily see the bigger picture and enjoy sharing your opinions and ideas. You get off on how information affects people’s lives, and you take great pleasure in learning that something you have shared or taught has inspired others to take action, experience something new, or make changes in their lives. A potential flaw when Mercury is challenged here is to be too quick to offer advice that might be lacking in thoroughness and practicality, or that you yourself don’t follow. Or, your enthusiasm can lead you to make quick statements before you’ve had time to check the facts, saying “yes” before you truly know that it’s a go.
You may be especially interested in learning about different cultures and lands. You are intuitive in your thinking, believing strongly that you’ll get to the truth through instincts and visions faster and more accurately than you would if you used a more structured approach. You are a lively conversationalist.
These traits are Mercury in the ninth house in pure form and are modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 10th House
You are good with language, and you’re likely to use this talent in your profession. You can have an authoritative air about you, or you are talented at communicating and negotiating with those in authority. You might have more than one job going at once much of the time, you could change your career directions frequently, or you could be attracted to jobs that keep you on the move. You enjoy frequent changes of setting or activities in order to remain stimulated and challenged, but you’re also fully capable of a structured approach to your work. In fact, feeling secure about what you’re doing is most important to you, as you feel incredibly uncomfortable with things you don’t know well. You abhor being taken off guard and will go out of your way to avoid such situations. You are skilled at bringing fresh energy to your conversations or to your job, perhaps because you thrive on the stimulation.
These traits are Mercury in the tenth house in pure form and are modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 11th House
You are endlessly curious about people, group interactions, community affairs, trends, and teams, as well as wonderfully open-minded. You are attracted to people who bring new ideas into your experience, and who have something novel to contribute on an intellectual level. You are very forward-looking and fair-minded. Fair play, impartiality, and unselfishness are essential ideals for you. There can be many changes or fluctuations in your personal wishes, dreams, plans, and ideals. You might attract friends who come and go, or who are dishonest or duplicitous if Mercury is challenged here.
You are friendly and an engaging conversationalist, although you tend to go off on many different tangents, rarely following a neat, logical line or train of thought. Sharing ideas with others is vitally important to you. While your ideas can be unconventional, you work well with others or in a team.
These traits are Mercury in the eleventh house in pure form and are modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.]
Mercury in the 12th House
You may not be very quick to speak or communicate, especially in childhood, as you need to develop trust in your own abilities to express yourself. You make an excellent confidante–you are very discreet, and secrets go into the vault. You might make matters more complicated than they should be by overanalyzing motives or hunches, and then have problems acting on your intuition as a result. You are very attracted to symbols, sentiment, imagery, and paradoxes. You prefer not to focus on facts and learn best when ideas are presented visually, emotionally, or imaginatively. Learning to communicate clearly is a challenge for you, but one that might put an end to feelings of guilt, of being misunderstood, and to attracting unpleasant situations or duplicitous people into your experience. Watch for procrastination or a roundabout style of speaking that can sometimes get you into trouble. Defining things too tightly bothers you since you see so many different sides of a situation. You are enormously perceptive and understanding and your sense of humor is unique.
These traits are Mercury in the twelfth house in pure form and are modified by Mercury’s sign and aspects. [Note that house positions are highly dependent on birth time.] To Planets in Signs To Planetary Aspects
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