Rewind: The Deeper Meaning of Mercury in Capricorn

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology. Today we are going to take a look at the deeper meaning of Mercury in the sign of Capricorn.

I think it's a good time to rewind and look at our Mercury from the Planets and Profile series that I did on Mercury in Capricorn. I'm also doing this because, at Nightlight, I make things a week in advance. In this first week of January, as I'm making content for this week's videos, we are in the midst of getting absolutely slammed from the Kickstarter reward delivery process. So, I’m rewinding a few episodes this week as we just sort of dig ourselves out of a hole.

My normal production schedule will be back next week, but I’ve tried to select videos that will be really relevant and poignant for this week’s astrology. Thankfully, it's a little bit of a quiet week, but Mercury's ingress into Capricorn is really significant this week.

We’ve had Mercury in the sign of Sagittarius for several months, and so seeing that dignity change — that sign change — is worth noting. Mercury leaving a less complicated place in Sagittarius and moving into Capricorn, where it doesn’t have any great dignity, but also doesn’t have any debility, is significant. It now has some reception with Saturn.

It’s a good time to just notice the shift in Mercury. You’ll notice it right now if you pay attention, because when a planet changes signs after being in a sign for a long time, it’s more noticeable. So, it’s a good time to refresh on this. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Remember to like and subscribe. Share your comments and reflections. You can find transcripts of any of these daily talks on the website, which is Nightlightastrology.com.

I also want to point you over to the website's Live Events page because we have another webinar coming up. If you go to the Live Talks page under Events, you will see that I’m giving a talk on Saturn conjunct Neptune in Aries, called "Encounters at the Edges of Reality" on January 16. That’s next week, from 7 to 9pm. If you register, you’ll get the link to attend the live webinar. If you can’t make it, you’ll get the recording afterward. So I hope to see some of you there.

Normal content production schedule will return next week. So, I hope you enjoy these rewind episodes and get something good out of them.

Also, we will be running a little bit more on the Mars-Neptune Trine. You’re going to see a rewind episode from late October when that same Trine came through Mars’s direct motion. We’re going to revisit that in a rewind episode on Friday. That’s going to be a really good one to tap back into because now we’re getting Mars returning to some of where it was.

So, stay tuned for that later in the week. Enjoy this one today, and we’ll see you again soon. Bye.

Hi everyone. This is Acyuta Bhava from Nightlight Astrology, and today we're going to talk about the meaning of Mercury in the sign of Capricorn.

So this is part of a series that I've been doing called Planets in Profile. I've taken Venus and Mars through the 12 signs so far. Now we're working on Mercury. I try to do this as Mercury is moving through the signs consecutively and publish them at the same time during the year. Sometimes I get a little bit behind.

So it's December 2020, as I'm recording this, and Mercury is moving through the sign of Capricorn. Also, if you're listening to this right now, I am just about eight or nine days away from the end of my Kickstarter fundraising drive. We're looking to get to 1,000 backers by the end of the year, and we’re just a little over 100 away from reaching that goal.

Click on the link in the comments section and pitch in to help me meet my goal of 1,000 backers. If you appreciate this channel, subscribe to it, like it, and enjoy the content. If it helps you as a student of astrology or serves as a spiritual source of nourishment for you, then consider pitching in and supporting me and the staff of people I support through the donations that we collect.

I also just want to remind you that we’ve gone through a lot of different talks in this series. You can look back and find the talk you’re looking for if you want. If you check my playlist, you should be able to find the Mercury playlist.

So, Capricorn. What can we say about Mercury in the sign of Capricorn? Well, a few things about this. This is the earthy, feminine, cardinal, or tropical sign of Saturn. So, we have to blend all of those qualities together as we understand Mercury in Capricorn. We have an earthy, feminine, tropical sign, and its domicile ruler — the planet, the deity, the God that lives in that temple — is Saturn.

What that means is that we have to interpret Mercury through the lens of Saturn, through the feminine, earthy, tropical lens of Saturn. And what we get with that is going to be a Saturnine quality and a kind of Mercury-Saturn blend, but a little bit more of that earthy, grounded, practical type of Saturn, as opposed to the airy Saturn that you get in Aquarius, for example. We'll take Mercury through Aquarius later, and you'll see some of the practical differences.

In order to interpret Mercury in Capricorn, you need to look at the position of Saturn in the birth chart in relation to Mercury. I can’t teach that in a simple video. It’s something that I unpack in my one-year course. But the gist of it is that Mercury is a house guest in Saturn’s home, and wherever Saturn is, that greatly qualifies the kind of Mercury-Saturn blend that you're going to get. This is very specific to each individual chart.

Nonetheless, you can still say some things very generally about Mercury-Saturn combinations and how they show up. Mercury is not debilitated or in any natural dignity of its own in the sign of Capricorn. So, you have to look at it as a kind of Mercury blended with Saturn — earthy, feminine Saturn in Capricorn.

I’m going to try to explain how Mercury and Saturn blend in this placement by showing you a bunch of examples of people and talking about them. Saturn can mean the gravitas, the heavy, weighty, serious, mature qualities. Saturn can also point to those that are old, dark, decayed, or sometimes heavy in a darker, more difficult sense, or sometimes too authoritative — authority versus authoritarian. That distinction sometimes comes up, insider versus outsider. Those themes come up with Saturn.

Also remember, Saturn represents people who are cast out — black sheep, the alien other. That sense of there being something that's distant, alien, foreign, or stranger is also a big part of what Saturn represents in ancient astrology. So, sometimes you see that combined in very interesting ways with Mercury in Capricorn.

Let’s go through some examples now, and I’ll give you a sense of how this works. Think about someone like Michelle Obama. She has a voice and a presence when she speaks. Think about that, because a lot of the way you can see Mercury is in how someone speaks. She has a serious, mature, disciplined, measured quality — very Mercury and Saturn, Mercury and Capricorn, Saturn sign.

You also have women who have these strong, powerful, but very serious presences. They may embody something of looking, feeling, or sounding classic, classical, or like an old standard. There are a few that meet this definition, with the clout and the seriousness. Shakira is an interesting example.

Also, James Dean is an interesting example, where there's a serious, sometimes heavy or otherworldly quality, but with a sense of tradition and seriousness. Some personalities carry that weight of tradition, while others embody the sense of being an alien or outsider.

For example, David Lynch is a really good example. David Lynch has this quality of being heavy, serious, dark, mature, and totally otherworldly — that’s Saturn in action. You also have Anthony Hopkins, who has this serious, measured, steely presence. Think of the roles he plays, which are very serious and measured — that’s the Mercury quality.

Edgar Allan Poe is another example, the dark, heavy, serious poet. Also, Pope Francis, people who wear the mantle of authority very well. You know that sense of the heaviness and the graveness of the position. You also see that in Michelle Obama — like the stateswoman.

You have people who carry that heaviness and gravitas of Saturn in more traditional societal ways, like Jeff Bezos. He’s obviously this kind of entrepreneurial figure, someone who wants to rule the world — Amazon. Ronald Reagan also fits this type, with his classic conservative qualities. You have Tiger Woods, who has a very steely, determined, mechanical, serious, and accomplished mental game when it comes to golf. He’s known as a golf genius.

Sometimes people are criticized as being too serious, and that’s not always fair. For example, Greta Thunberg, the young environmental activist. She has that sense of seriousness and responsibility. Look at her eyes. She means business. That sense of importance and seriousness can feel like a heavy mantle to carry.

Then you have people who are serious but irreverent, like Howard Stern, Samuel L. Jackson, and others. They have that serious, but kind of irreverent quality. Samuel L. Jackson is another example. He has this toughness, and his sense of seriousness can sometimes be a little crude. But that irreverence is also a Saturn quality, the quality of an outsider.

Alan Watts is another example. He’s a renegade but very serious and measured — a Zen philosopher with a very Saturnian presence.

You have people like Nostradamus, with his prophetic, otherworldly voice. Stephen Hawking also fits this — a scientific genius with a robotic voice that sounds like it’s from another world.

James Dean is another classic example. He has this iconic look, like someone from a specific era, but he was also a rebellious, conflicted figure, with that heavy feeling around him. Jim Morrison has similar qualities, with those heavy, serious, grave, dark, Saturnine traits, but also the sense of being an outsider. David Bowie fits this role as well — dark, gothic, space prophet.

Sometimes, you get the heavy, serious qualities becoming more authoritarian or rigid, as seen in figures like Mel Gibson or Joseph Stalin. Not that I'm comparing the two exactly, but their personalities do reflect that kind of serious, authoritarian Saturn energy.

Finally, you can also see Mercury in Capricorn coming together artistically. Some of the people I’ve mentioned were artists. J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, is a great example. His work is otherworldly, but it also carries serious, heavy themes. There’s a battle for Middle Earth and a ring of power, but Tolkien was also a child of World War I, which gave his work a certain gravitas.

Bowie, again, fits this artistic, otherworldly, and serious Saturnian vibe.

So, I wanted to make sure we covered the texture of Mercury in Capricorn because it's a really beautiful placement that’s often misunderstood.

I’d love to hear your stories. What is Mercury in Capricorn like in your own birth chart? I’d love to hear from you all and hear your experiences, or stories about someone you know with this placement.

And don’t forget, my Kickstarter is almost over. We’re just about finished, so help me rally and see if we can cross that 1,000 backer threshold. I really appreciate your support, and I look forward to making more content for you in the year ahead.

Take care, everyone. Bye.