Mercury as a ruler of astrology

I should not blow my own trumpet but it does feel good to do so. 

During my astrology study I have often heard that astrology is ruled by Uranus. Even though some arguments could be made in this direction, personally I am hesitant to accept this statement as being the whole story.

Perhaps people repeat this tired stereotype without really thinking it through or they are compelled  by the flattering image of the astrologer as an unorthodox genius. 
In my opinion, a strong case could be made that astrology is ruled by Saturn and Mercury. Recently I have written about Saturn’s rulership of astrology in my post “Why could Saturn rule astrology?“ 
https://www.natterwithnina.co.uk/why-could-saturn-rule-astrology/. 

Meanwhile Mercury went retrograde and the rear event of Jupiter’s conjunction with Uranus in Taurus occurred. It brought about a big crises in my faith in astrology.
Fortunately, Mercury turn direct two days ago and I decided to listen to one of my favourite astrologers Rick Levine talking about the houses in the chart. 
Amazingly, he confirmed that astrology could be governed by Saturn and Mercury. He also talked about modern astrology, the astrology of nowadays and the future. 
https://youtu.be/dcu05EJEK3s?si=_EYms9gISlCsu5Hv
With this encouragement I will proceed to share my thoughts about the possibility of Mercury being an astrological governor. 
My main arguments are based on the neutral nature of Mercury and its acceptance and easiness with paradoxes. 
Mercury is impartial. Mercury does understand that basic astrological elements such as planets, signs, houses and aspects do not exist on the shaking ground of “good” and “bad`’, “benefic” and “malefic”, “feminine” and “masculine”, “positive” and “negative”. 
 
He deals with data without entering  into the disputable areas of morality and outdated classifications. 
 
 
Yet, remember, Mercury is the God of communication and learning including divination. 
 
He was the only God who could go to the underworld, traveling with the souls across the River Styx and come back.
 
 
 
Mercury understands that paradoxes are the essence of life. 
Paradoxes can make it exciting. Paradoxes can make it hard. 
Paradoxes make “putting people into boxes” redundant. 
 
Mercurial genius thrives on the ability to find the common ground between polarities, unfamiliarities, unknown terrains and to suggest feasible solutions or at least workable explanations and directions. 
 
Astrological art highlights the paradoxes in the chart, tries to make sense of them and to take guidance from them. 
Astrology is stratospherically more than producing long lists of key words, explaining what the single elements mean or using the last technological tool. 

It seems that the question of how well astrologers see and explain the charts’ paradoxes have significant weight.
I believe a high degree of virtuousness is a rare quality and in my experience only a few astrologers and teachers have achieved it. 
The good news is that when they have acquired the mastery in question they cannot hide it. It works like magic.
 
 
 
Someone will argue that it is the strike of Uranus. 
 
Maybe, but I doubt it. 
 
That is Mercury giving you the message to embrace paradoxes and even to try to make friends of them.  

GOOD MORNING!

We say “Good morning” every time we meet each other and probably do not think about the wisdom in the phrase.

It is as simple as all truths – life is good when mornings, afternoons  and evenings are good.

Oh yes – and nights too. 
 
I struggle to define good.
Let’s say good is what everyone thinks and feels good. 
We do not know straightaway that our day is good. 
 
We may suspect it but we realise the goodness of the day with some delays. 
 
A strong sign of a good yesterday is a good morning. 
 
More good mornings more good yesterdays. 
 
More good yesterdays more good mornings. 

Blow water 吹水

 
 
 
I had not heard the term “blow water” until last Saturday. I definitely could drink water, boil or freeze it, swim in it, admire the beauty of it but why on earth would I need to blow it?

At first hearing the phrase sounds like a “wellness” term of 21st century – the urge to avoid dehydration by drinking at least 2 litres of water daily goes so excessively wrong that the water-saturated body must blow the surplus. Really!?
Then, I thought about whales. Everyone has seen the iconic pictures of whales blowing geysers of water in the ocean. Scientists believe that whales were land mammals which have evolutionary adapted to the life in the ocean in search of food. Obviously they were very successful in their advancement – they can grow up to 15 meters and weigh around 35 tones. 
Whales have one or two blowholes on the back of their head. These blowholes are their nostrils. The animals come to the ocean surface and without lifting their head they contract their muscles, open their blowhole(s) and inhale air. 
 
Whales can keep the air in their lungs between 7 and 30 min (sperm whales even up to 2 hours), use 90% of the inhaled oxygen (compare to 15% of humans) and exhale it again through the blowhole. The exhaled air is warm from its body heat and it is released into the much colder temperature of the oceanic environment. So it condenses immediately and voila, the whale “blows water” which can reach 9 meters in the air.
 
It appears then that “blow water” is linked with something existential such as breathing and staying alive.
 
 
The next part of the story is that not only air but also mucus and oils and other bodily fluids emerge from the whale’s nostril and it stinks! Imagine having a cold and blowing your nose. Oph! 
 
Yet it is a process of cleaning, healing, releasing and eventually relaxing.
The most fascinating fact which hugely enriches the experience of the whale watchers is that different species of whales have specifically designed blowholes. 
As a result, the shape of the “blow water” enables specialists to recognise the species. 
For example, the sperm whales (toothed whales) blow water in a shape of geyser. The humpback, blue and grey whales (baleen whales) have two blowholes on their head and create an astonishing heart-shaped cloud.
So, watch how human “species” blow water – you could probably find your tribe.  
 
 
Finally, I walked the path most traveled – I looked at the translation of the Cantonese  (Hong Kong) term “blow water”. 
The English translation is to chat, to talk casually, chit-chatting. “Blow water” is this informal chat when you do not notice that time flies, the chat about nothing and about everything, the chat that connects qualities visible by hearts and eyes. 
It is the song of the humpback, the song of the sea. 

“Even the stars think I am superior”

I was researching for my article “Why could Mercury be a ruler of astrology?” when I came across a relatively recent Swedish survey about the correlation between the belief in astrology, intelligence and personality traits. 

 

The conclusions of the survey confirmed the thoughts I was having all along since my journey through astrology began. Coincidently, my March visit to an astrological “conference” in London provided me with empirical evidence for the likelihood of the survey suggestions.

 

In a nutshell – the study found that strong predictive factors of a deep belief in astrology are narcissism and low intelligence. 

 

The survey included 264 participants, most of them (87%) young women between 25 and 34 years old. They were recruited through social media (Facebook). The team acknowledged the limitations of the survey design (lack of random sampling, limited age and gender group, lack of information about the level of astrological knowledge and a short version of the scales used). They also indicated that more data should be obtained and analysed in the future. 

 

However, the results of the survey are important for all of us who have an interest in astrology. 

 

Firstly, the link between belief in astrology and low intelligence really appears biased. How could exceptional mathematicians, physicists and astronomers such as Ptolemy, Newton, Copernicus, Kepler and Einstein who were fascinated by astrology be called people of low intelligence?! They definitely and absolutely were not. 

 

Where is the catch then? It is in the lack of critical thinking. Astrology’s “pop” face is the columns in the lifestyle and fashion magazines and websites, the predictions on YouTube, the endless online astrological courses, etc. Nothing wrong with all of that if you take these forms as entertainment and small talk. People try to make money, so the more simplistic it is the better. We all want to hear exceptional, dramatic, positive predictions especially in moments of uncertainty and public or personal crises and decisions. 

 

However, in my opinion everyone must wear the hat of a critical thinker when it comes to astrology. You need to have knowledge of mathematics, physics, astronomy and psychology in order to understand the astrological tradition and not to accept foolishly what is thrown at you. For example, are you going to give credence to the shallow categorising of people by their Sun sign and avoid the complexity and vagueness of the astrological symbols? Do you think the astrological theory of planetary dignities and debilities have a place in the 21st century or we need to rethink it?

 

Secondly, the strongest indicator of a deep belief in astrology is a narcissistic personality. The authors of the survey  gave some possible explanations of the phenomenon – the “self-centred worldview, the cultural aspects of millennials which may emphasise the uniqueness of individuals, the positively framed astrological predictions”. 

 

I was not at all surprised by this finding in the study. Attend any astrological conference, school, classes, retreats and online readings and you will find the narcissists telling you who you are and how you must live your life. You cannot help yourself thinking that if they are so good at reading the planetary energies and riding their waves why are they not the richest, happiest, most successful people in the world. Instead, in front of you is someone who could do better with their personal grooming, improving their language and speech and who could present new perspectives instead of repeating cliches. 

 

Maybe the stars choose who they speak to.