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Mercury ✧

Welcome to my page dedicated to Mercury! Here you will find information about Mercury in a planetary magic sense, along with their Orphic Hymn.

Disclaimer: The notes on this page are an amalgation of notes from books and blogs, some of which are straight up copy/pasted without proper citation. Sources are listed at the bottom of each page. Information may or may not be accurate.
Mercury goes through all of the signs every 88 days, spending approximately 14-30 days in each sign.

Contents

NASA image of Mercury

Mercury Keyword Correspondences and Associations

Mercury is the smallest and closest planet to the Sun, and it is also the fastest one as it orbits the sun once every 88 days, so it’s easy to see why Mercury is associated with speed. Mercury is typically associated with messenger gods, such as Hermes and Nebu. Useful qualities for messengers to have aside from speed are communication and (in particular for a messenger of the gods) trickery and memory.

Having the quality of communication also paves the way to be associated with commerce, music, and skills and knowledge. Combining some of these qualities (speed, skills, knowledge) give way to Mercury being associated with healing. Thus Mercury is associated with the power of the mind and ideas expressed through words.

Another big association for Mercury is that of being the psychopomp, guiding souls between the worlds. This is a good role for Mercury as it requires the agility and flexibility that Mercury has, thus also associating Mercury with protection while traveling. Mercury rules the hands and is an indicator of manual as well as verbal dexterity.

The negative associations of Mercury include deceit, gossip, lying, and treachery which are all associated with miscommunication: accidental or purposeful.

NASA closeup image of Mercury

Mercury in the Chart

In your chart, Mercury shows how you acquire and process information, how you exchange ideas with others, and your attitude toward intelligence, education, and language (but not how smart you are). If you meet someone who has Mercury in the same sign as you do, the two of you will “speak the same language.” You should be able to communicate well with someone whose sun sign is the same as your Mercury sign. Mercury’s passage through your chart may stimulate periods of learning, travel, or sharing ideas and information either verbally or in writing.

Mercury is also known as the gleaming one.

The Mercurial Symbol

planetary symbol for mercury

The symbol of Mercury has the circle representing the Sun, the cross below representing the Earth, and the crescent above representing the Moon. That is, the crescent of time is connected to the essence of life, dominating the physical realm. Since the crescent barely touches the circle, it signifies that Mercury's influence is more about subtle action rather than direct action.

Mercurial Magic

Mercury tricks, enlightens, or manages what it touches.

Because Mercury rules speech and thinking, it plays a role in most magic work. Whenever affirmations, incantations, chants, or consciously created thought-forms are used, Mercury's energies are being tapped. If you are doing magic that involves travel, communication, job hunting, business deals, or contracts and negotiations, then working with Mercury’s energy can be beneficial.

Mercury will help you when you are traveling or need to study.

Planetary Square for Mercury

Magical number squares are mathematical objects composed of a square grid with equal sized rows and columns that are filled with as many consecutive natural numbers (starting with 1) that it takes to fill. Each row and column sums to the same number. Frequently, the diagonals do as well.

Mercury's square is 8x8 and has the natural numbers 1 through 64 (8²).

The rows, columns, and diagonals all add up to 260 and the entire square sums to 2080.

To fill Mercury's square, place 1 in the top right corner. The rest of the numbers are filled mostly in pairs going from the top/bottom rows to the middle, leaving one or two spaces in between until reaching the middle. Then the spaces are filled going from the middle to the top/bottom, alternating between the two.

static image of Mercury's planetary square
gif of Mercury's planetary square being filled starting with 1

Ways to Connect with Mercury

  • Use botanicals associated with Mercury, such as lavender, dill, anise, honeysuckle, peppermint, rosemary, almond, or eucalyptus
  • Add gemstones associated with Mercury to talismans, such as tourmaline, citrine, peridot, serpentine, blue calcite, sodalite, or aventurine
  • Carve the astrological symbol for Mercury on a orange, light blue, yellow, green, or purple colored candle and burn it in a spell
  • Draw the symbol on paper and put it in a talisman
  • Divine with literature
  • Do spells on a Wednesday and/or on Mercury's hours (check for retrogrades!)
  • Light incense with a scent associated to Mercury, such as lavender, sandalwood, or orange
  • Incorporate hand gestures into a spell or ritual

Orphic Hymn 27: To Mercury [Hermes]

Hermes, draw near, and to my pray'r incline, angel of Jove [Zeus], and Maia's son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind, with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill, whose pow'rful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, 'tis thine thro' air to course, O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine, in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With pow'r endu'd all language to explain, of care the loos'ner, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and me memory's increase.

Mercury Facts

  • It takes Mercury 88 Earth days to revolve around the Sun and one Mercurial day is 59 Earth days.
  • Due to its slow rotation and proximity to the Sun, Mercury undergoes both molten and frigid temperatures.
  • Mercury has the most eccentric orbitof all the planets and is the second densest planet behind Earth.
  • The Sun undergoes retrograde motion when viewed from Mercury’s surface. An observer on Mercury’s surface would watch the Sun rise, stop, go backward, go forward again, and set all in one Mercurial day.
  • All of the major features on Mercury’s surface are named for artists, musicians, painters, scientists, works of architecture, ships, and scientific expeditions.
  • Despite its proximity to the Sun, Mercury has an abundance of water ice near its Northern/Southern poles in the bottoms of craters.
NASA closeup image of Mercury

Sources

Page last updated: March 25, 2026