|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mercury
Tarot Card: Major Arcana Number: Sephirah: Sephirah Number:
The Magician 1 Hod/Splendour 8 cccccc
Mercury is a planet of the mind and governs the nerves and one's general uptake or processing of information. Its position within the chart yields information pertaining to what we choose to focus on, analyze, and where we are most skilled concerning the mind and cognition. How we communicate is heavily influenced by the Mercury placement, and also how we talk to ourselves generally; the "tone" and dynamic of our inner voice. Mercury is identified with the Egyptian Thoth, the god who is said to have taught the arts of reading, writing, magick, medicine, astronomy, geometry and agriculture to the Egyptians. He is generally credited with having seeded civilization itself. Within the Greek myths, Hermes and Prometheus are the most Mercurial of the gods, both identified as having discovered the secrets of fire. Prometheus for example, the Trickster, stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity to use, openly mocking Zeus. This is only one of the many tricks Prometheus performed. Mercury plunges into and traverses the depths, yet also scales the heights. It rules learning and direct experience on all levels. There is nowhere that Mercury is not willing to go and nothing he is not willing to do which gives him the reputations of a Trickster, Magician, or Jester. Mercurial gods and myths like the Egyptian Thoth, the Afro-Caribbean Eshu, the Irish Herne, and the Greek Prometheus and Hermes, are always seen as great benefactors and servants of humanity in their respective cultures. Some of these gods are tricksters, which is to say that due to the nature of Mercury (the mind), things can indeed get tricky and are not always as they seem. In astrology some find the infamous Mercury Retrograde is a time that sees a lot of miscommunications, problems with technology and machines, and/or increased risk of accidents.
Depiction of Herne, also known as the Stag God, the Horned One, and Lord of the Trees. The Irish Herne was the prototype for the Greek Hermes, the Messenger of the Gods. The Greek Hermes and Roman Mercury are often depicted wearing a helmet with wings which may also be interpreted as horns. Horns and horned animals are symbolic for heightened receptivity and connectivity to the environment. Herne holds the masculine and feminine symbols of the lingam and the yoni symbolizing balance and also of creation. All this symbolism is also found in the symbol for mercury, with the masculine phallic (the cross), the feminine circle, and the horns on top.
|
The symbol of Mercury is obtained by tracing on the Tree of Life. Notice the symbolic resemblance to Herne. There are the horns, the feminine circle or vesica pisces, and the masculine phallic or cross.
|
The most well known and accepted symbol for Mercury.
|
The Caduceus (far left) is another mercurial symbol often depicted with Hermes or Mercury holding it aloft. This symbol came to signify negotiations, the heralding of news, skill with the written and spoken word, and is also symbolic of money, merchants, commerce, thieves and conmen, all of which Hermes is patron.
The Rod of Asclepius (right of caduceus) symbolizes wisdom, knowledge of medicine and healing, and is placed on nearly every medical establishment and vehicle in the West. These symbols of the serpent and staff are Egyptian in origin and are associated with Thoth, the medium and Scribe of the gods. Just as Mercury, Thoth, and Hermes, etc., have many faces, that is, many different attributes and abilities when compared to other mythological figures, so the Serpent and Rod symbolism also has many possible meanings and interpretations. Some claim a connection to the supposed double helix of DNA which, though speculative, is quite interesting.
We even find that there is a direct parallel between Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, and the Biblical Moses. In the Book of Numbers, Moses fashioned a Brazen Serpent which he then placed on a rod or pole. This was used to heal the Israelites by having them look upon it. In some bibles it states that those who chose not look at the serpent soon died horrible deaths. Moses also used his staff to part the Red Sea, among other miracles. The Hebrew word for the staff of Moses is spelled MTH HShQD, meaning "a rod of almond". Using Gematria we find that MTH HshQD = 463. It turns out that 463 is also the sum total of the three Paths of the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life, the paths of Gimel (3), Samekh (60), and Tau (400). This Middle Pillar, and also the Caduceus, the Rod of Almond and the Staff, are all symbolic of the spinal column, the central tree trunk of our nervous system which is responsible for the lightning quick gathering and channeling of information to and from the brain. Truly the bodies way of "heralding news". It is the most sensitive, electrified and complex system in our bodies. Another fun fact is that if we use Gematria again on the word Sushumna, a Sanskrit word for the column connecting the Crown Chakra to the Root Chakra on which Kundalini is raised, we see that it also equals 463, giving us yet another Middle Pillar reference.
The Rod of Asclepius (right of caduceus) symbolizes wisdom, knowledge of medicine and healing, and is placed on nearly every medical establishment and vehicle in the West. These symbols of the serpent and staff are Egyptian in origin and are associated with Thoth, the medium and Scribe of the gods. Just as Mercury, Thoth, and Hermes, etc., have many faces, that is, many different attributes and abilities when compared to other mythological figures, so the Serpent and Rod symbolism also has many possible meanings and interpretations. Some claim a connection to the supposed double helix of DNA which, though speculative, is quite interesting.
We even find that there is a direct parallel between Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, and the Biblical Moses. In the Book of Numbers, Moses fashioned a Brazen Serpent which he then placed on a rod or pole. This was used to heal the Israelites by having them look upon it. In some bibles it states that those who chose not look at the serpent soon died horrible deaths. Moses also used his staff to part the Red Sea, among other miracles. The Hebrew word for the staff of Moses is spelled MTH HShQD, meaning "a rod of almond". Using Gematria we find that MTH HshQD = 463. It turns out that 463 is also the sum total of the three Paths of the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life, the paths of Gimel (3), Samekh (60), and Tau (400). This Middle Pillar, and also the Caduceus, the Rod of Almond and the Staff, are all symbolic of the spinal column, the central tree trunk of our nervous system which is responsible for the lightning quick gathering and channeling of information to and from the brain. Truly the bodies way of "heralding news". It is the most sensitive, electrified and complex system in our bodies. Another fun fact is that if we use Gematria again on the word Sushumna, a Sanskrit word for the column connecting the Crown Chakra to the Root Chakra on which Kundalini is raised, we see that it also equals 463, giving us yet another Middle Pillar reference.
Egyptian Sun Disk
In looking at the 1st card of the Major Arcana that represents Mercury, called The Magician card, we see many symbols of Mercury and Mercurial gods. There are the four elements in the form of fire, water (a cup), air (a sword), and earth (a pentacle) indicating the four suits in Tarot which are at the Magicians' disposal to use. There is parchment and a pen, symbolizing skill in language. There is the Ape of Thoth which was an ally or companion the Egyptian Thoth used in the underworld. We also see the winged golden egg which is another key symbol of kundalini having risen up the tree, staff or rod, i.e. up the spine, and activating the crown chakra. The winged golden egg symbol comes directly from the ancient Egyptian Sun Disk which is often pictured or fitted on the top of the Caduceus. As an interesting aside, if one recalls the story of Jack and the Beanstalk, what did Jack find after climbing all the way to the top of the entwining stalk and above the clouds? Golden eggs!
The number of The Magician in Tarot is 1. The shape of the number 1 itself is obviously reminiscent of a staff, pole or rod and is a numerical of beginnings, of leading the way, and can be thought of as taking the world as it comes. Moving in the direction of new experiences and challenges builds upon and even rewrites all the accumulated experiences of the past with a single, straight forward and confident come what may kind of action. The way one constantly learns new things as opposed to having to re-learn old things is very Mercurial in nature. Mercury can also reinvent old material of thought or action and find new ways of doing old things which can fine tune one's abilities to a great extent. For example, an individual does not need to teach themselves how to drive a car each time they get behind the wheel. This process is known as neuroplasticity or operant conditioning and is how we are able to continually learn new things. It is also how habits become deeply ingrained over time and may become hard to break. It's where we get sayings like "old habits die hard" or "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." Indeed, Mercury is hard to kill. What is interesting though is that old habits can and do "die" all the time, one just has to make sure that their Mercury is never asleep at the wheel.
Remember that Mercury is never afraid to traverse the depths in order to scale new heights. This means that the faculties of mind and learning should not become too comfortable in old, well established patterns, but to push beyond them out of the comfort zone no matter how unfamiliar or uncomfortable the new territory is for the mind. Note that in many stories of Mercurial gods or deities they are repeatedly tortured and punished over and over again for going "out of bounds". But the earmark of these stories is that the Mercurial character never gives up, never dies, and must always keep moving. A truly great story illustrating this is The Lord of the Rings when the hobbits must leave their home in the comfortable Shire for the first time and end up meeting very powerful and adversarial forces on their journey. Their only saving grace through all of the ups and downs of their journey is that they never give up and keep moving no matter what, even in the face of great odds.
Within The Magician card we of course also see the caduceus in the form of a staff, middle pillar, or column extending from below the feet of the Magician to above the head. This is a reference again to the spinal column and to the central nervous system. Interestingly, the snakes that entwine the staff resemble horns on the head of Hermes, the Magician, which again shows a connection to the Irish Herne, the Horned One.
The number of The Magician in Tarot is 1. The shape of the number 1 itself is obviously reminiscent of a staff, pole or rod and is a numerical of beginnings, of leading the way, and can be thought of as taking the world as it comes. Moving in the direction of new experiences and challenges builds upon and even rewrites all the accumulated experiences of the past with a single, straight forward and confident come what may kind of action. The way one constantly learns new things as opposed to having to re-learn old things is very Mercurial in nature. Mercury can also reinvent old material of thought or action and find new ways of doing old things which can fine tune one's abilities to a great extent. For example, an individual does not need to teach themselves how to drive a car each time they get behind the wheel. This process is known as neuroplasticity or operant conditioning and is how we are able to continually learn new things. It is also how habits become deeply ingrained over time and may become hard to break. It's where we get sayings like "old habits die hard" or "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." Indeed, Mercury is hard to kill. What is interesting though is that old habits can and do "die" all the time, one just has to make sure that their Mercury is never asleep at the wheel.
Remember that Mercury is never afraid to traverse the depths in order to scale new heights. This means that the faculties of mind and learning should not become too comfortable in old, well established patterns, but to push beyond them out of the comfort zone no matter how unfamiliar or uncomfortable the new territory is for the mind. Note that in many stories of Mercurial gods or deities they are repeatedly tortured and punished over and over again for going "out of bounds". But the earmark of these stories is that the Mercurial character never gives up, never dies, and must always keep moving. A truly great story illustrating this is The Lord of the Rings when the hobbits must leave their home in the comfortable Shire for the first time and end up meeting very powerful and adversarial forces on their journey. Their only saving grace through all of the ups and downs of their journey is that they never give up and keep moving no matter what, even in the face of great odds.
Within The Magician card we of course also see the caduceus in the form of a staff, middle pillar, or column extending from below the feet of the Magician to above the head. This is a reference again to the spinal column and to the central nervous system. Interestingly, the snakes that entwine the staff resemble horns on the head of Hermes, the Magician, which again shows a connection to the Irish Herne, the Horned One.
The Moses of Michelangelo
Yes, there is obviously something peculiar about this sculpture of Moses which Michelangelo carved for Pope Julius II, and that is it has horns. Recall Moses' "rod of almond," the "miracles" he performed with it, and its connection with the Middle Pillar of the Tree of Life, the caduceus of Mercury and Thoth, the sanskrit Sushumna and Kundalini, the spinal column and the central nervous system. Many will say that these horns on the head of Moses are a reference to the precessional astrological age in which he allegedly lived, that of the Age of Aries, the Ram. I do agree with the overall importance of the Age of Aries. This age influenced much art and religious movements during and also following the time of Moses. Some even point out that Moses himself may have been a "lone renegade" of sorts who wanted to usher in the Age of Aries by force if necessary, and that the story of Moses may in fact be an allegory for the story of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton, and that it is he who wanted to usher in the Age of Aries. The relationship between Moses and Akhenaton, and indeed Egypt and Judaism in general, may be studied in depth in the books Irish Origins of Civilization by Michael Tsarion, Moses and Akhenaten by Ahmed Osman, and Moses and Monotheism by Sigmund Freud. Of course, rams do not have horns which look like the ones on the head of this statue of Moses. Ram horns are quite large and they have a spiraling shape.
When taking into account the many blatantly Mercurial tropes surrounding Moses, and the esoteric meanings behind them, I think it can be safely deduced that the horns are most likely a reference to Mercury, Hermes, and Herne, and not just of Aries by itself. Of course the horns may also be a reference to Aries as well since this shift from the age of Taurus to Aries was extremely important at the time of the alleged life of Moses. In any case, it would look quite odd indeed for Michelangelo to have put the large spiraling horns of a ram on the head this sculpture. There are many layers of possible interpretation. Another angle is that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and indeed Moses was thought to have been the closest man to god!
Interestingly, one of the most famous psychological analysts in history, Sigmund Freud, being a man who certainly grabbed his analytic, mercurial nature by the horns (pun intended), was in absolute awe of this particular statue, saying "...no piece of statuary has ever made a stronger impression on me than this." He eventually wrote an essay on it in which he attempted to analyze every last detail of the statue from a behavioral, psychological and biblical perspective. The essay, called The Moses of Michelangelo, analyzes the statues countenance, position of legs, feet and hands, the direction he is looking; well just about everything. Very mercurial indeed of Freud to analyze the statue in this way, attempting to get to the essential bare bones of its meaning and what Michelangelo must have been thinking while carving it.
Freud does not, however, in his entire in depth analysis of the sculpture, do so much as mention the word "horns," or even address them in any way. It is believed by some that the horns are a result of a mistranslation by Jerome in the Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, of the word "karan" (spelled Qoph, Resh, Nun) which can mean either "radiating light" or "grew horns," or simply "horn." So, instead of Michelangelo giving Moses a karan as in a halo of radiating light, he gave him a pair of grown horns as it was translated by Jerome in the Vulgate. Of course one would also find it a lot easier to fashion two small horns on a statue instead of a large halo of light!
The spelling of the word "karan," QOPH RESH NUN, is very important as well. The Hebrew letter attributed to The Moon card in Tarot is Qoph, which means "ear" or "back of the head." This is an allusion to the subconscious areas of the brain. The letter immediately following Qoph is Resh meaning "head," which is attributed to The Sun card. Resh represents fully conscious ego awareness that is an outgrowth of the subconscious. It is also symbolic of the sun dawning as awareness through the heart, the "inner sun." The letter Nun is attributed to the Death card. As stated, the Hebrew word "karan" means either "radiating light," "grew horns" or simply "horn." This word, karan, is spelled QOPH RESH NUN, showing that the act of growing or radiating light has its definite beginnings in the subconscious. This spelling is indicative of the aphorism "die daily," or the sufi saying "die before you die." Karan is very close to the Sanskrit word "antahkarana" both phonetically and also in their meaning. From the wikipedia entry on antahkarana we read:
...the antahkarana is described as the reincarnating part of the mind, so it has a special link with the soul.
We have The Moon card, The Sun card, and the Death card, QOPH RESH NUN, or MOON SUN DEATH. We "grow" out of the subconscious by waking up, experience daylight and become energized, then die, that is, just let go and melt back into the subconscious again at night where more "soul material" presents itself in sleep. Tomorrow's a brand new day. This simple "phoenix" sequence allows for metamorphosis, transformation, and for the heart and soul to remain the guiding light that they are. This sequence is not relegated only to sleeping and waking patterns either. These "horns" or "karan" are what become "plugged" into a higher awareness through this phoenix sequence. The karan is many times symbolized by two fingers as well. In many pictures of Christ, you will notice that he often displays two fingers held upright. This is symbolic of his karan or "radiating light," his spiritual connection with a higher power.
The ideas of the Sanskrit antahkarana and the Hebrew karan, being the "reincarnating part of the mind," are even expressed within the eastern divination system of the I Ching. Part of the commentary of Tung Ren, the 13th Hexagram, in Hua Ching Ni's I Ching: The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth states:
Worldly people desire life and fear death.
But, fear it or not, physical death is certain.
Immortality can only be achieved
through many deaths.
As the impulsive mind dies,
the shadow of life and death can be seen
as the surface activity of non-conscious awareness,
for nothing is ever really born or destroyed.
The luminosity of pure mind
comes only with the death of desire.
As the mind dies, your spirit comes alive,
realizing an unusual majestic light.
Moses himself seems to be an amalgamation of Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun, or Prometheus/Hermes, Zeus and Apollo, all seemingly wrapped up into one character. He has the magickal cunning and craft of Prometheus and Hermes as indicated by feats performed with his wand, he has the incredible temper and also the sometimes father-like jovial mercy of Zeus, and he has the radiance, truth and prophetic attributes of Apollo.
When taking into account the many blatantly Mercurial tropes surrounding Moses, and the esoteric meanings behind them, I think it can be safely deduced that the horns are most likely a reference to Mercury, Hermes, and Herne, and not just of Aries by itself. Of course the horns may also be a reference to Aries as well since this shift from the age of Taurus to Aries was extremely important at the time of the alleged life of Moses. In any case, it would look quite odd indeed for Michelangelo to have put the large spiraling horns of a ram on the head this sculpture. There are many layers of possible interpretation. Another angle is that Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and indeed Moses was thought to have been the closest man to god!
Interestingly, one of the most famous psychological analysts in history, Sigmund Freud, being a man who certainly grabbed his analytic, mercurial nature by the horns (pun intended), was in absolute awe of this particular statue, saying "...no piece of statuary has ever made a stronger impression on me than this." He eventually wrote an essay on it in which he attempted to analyze every last detail of the statue from a behavioral, psychological and biblical perspective. The essay, called The Moses of Michelangelo, analyzes the statues countenance, position of legs, feet and hands, the direction he is looking; well just about everything. Very mercurial indeed of Freud to analyze the statue in this way, attempting to get to the essential bare bones of its meaning and what Michelangelo must have been thinking while carving it.
Freud does not, however, in his entire in depth analysis of the sculpture, do so much as mention the word "horns," or even address them in any way. It is believed by some that the horns are a result of a mistranslation by Jerome in the Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, of the word "karan" (spelled Qoph, Resh, Nun) which can mean either "radiating light" or "grew horns," or simply "horn." So, instead of Michelangelo giving Moses a karan as in a halo of radiating light, he gave him a pair of grown horns as it was translated by Jerome in the Vulgate. Of course one would also find it a lot easier to fashion two small horns on a statue instead of a large halo of light!
The spelling of the word "karan," QOPH RESH NUN, is very important as well. The Hebrew letter attributed to The Moon card in Tarot is Qoph, which means "ear" or "back of the head." This is an allusion to the subconscious areas of the brain. The letter immediately following Qoph is Resh meaning "head," which is attributed to The Sun card. Resh represents fully conscious ego awareness that is an outgrowth of the subconscious. It is also symbolic of the sun dawning as awareness through the heart, the "inner sun." The letter Nun is attributed to the Death card. As stated, the Hebrew word "karan" means either "radiating light," "grew horns" or simply "horn." This word, karan, is spelled QOPH RESH NUN, showing that the act of growing or radiating light has its definite beginnings in the subconscious. This spelling is indicative of the aphorism "die daily," or the sufi saying "die before you die." Karan is very close to the Sanskrit word "antahkarana" both phonetically and also in their meaning. From the wikipedia entry on antahkarana we read:
...the antahkarana is described as the reincarnating part of the mind, so it has a special link with the soul.
We have The Moon card, The Sun card, and the Death card, QOPH RESH NUN, or MOON SUN DEATH. We "grow" out of the subconscious by waking up, experience daylight and become energized, then die, that is, just let go and melt back into the subconscious again at night where more "soul material" presents itself in sleep. Tomorrow's a brand new day. This simple "phoenix" sequence allows for metamorphosis, transformation, and for the heart and soul to remain the guiding light that they are. This sequence is not relegated only to sleeping and waking patterns either. These "horns" or "karan" are what become "plugged" into a higher awareness through this phoenix sequence. The karan is many times symbolized by two fingers as well. In many pictures of Christ, you will notice that he often displays two fingers held upright. This is symbolic of his karan or "radiating light," his spiritual connection with a higher power.
The ideas of the Sanskrit antahkarana and the Hebrew karan, being the "reincarnating part of the mind," are even expressed within the eastern divination system of the I Ching. Part of the commentary of Tung Ren, the 13th Hexagram, in Hua Ching Ni's I Ching: The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth states:
Worldly people desire life and fear death.
But, fear it or not, physical death is certain.
Immortality can only be achieved
through many deaths.
As the impulsive mind dies,
the shadow of life and death can be seen
as the surface activity of non-conscious awareness,
for nothing is ever really born or destroyed.
The luminosity of pure mind
comes only with the death of desire.
As the mind dies, your spirit comes alive,
realizing an unusual majestic light.
Moses himself seems to be an amalgamation of Jupiter, Mercury and the Sun, or Prometheus/Hermes, Zeus and Apollo, all seemingly wrapped up into one character. He has the magickal cunning and craft of Prometheus and Hermes as indicated by feats performed with his wand, he has the incredible temper and also the sometimes father-like jovial mercy of Zeus, and he has the radiance, truth and prophetic attributes of Apollo.
In looking at Michelangelo's depiction of Moses one can't help also being reminded of the horned, goat-like being Azazel of the Hebrew Scriptures who is also said to have taught humanity to use tools and fire much like other Mercurial archetypes such as Prometheus and Thoth. In the book of Enoch we read:
The souls of men [made] their suit, saying, "Bring our cause before the Most High; […] Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were in heaven, which men were striving to learn." - Wikipedia
Mercurial characters, no matter if they are gods, angels, fallen angels or deities, are always getting quite a bad reputation for revealing and teaching secrets to humanity. Why would this be?
The souls of men [made] their suit, saying, "Bring our cause before the Most High; […] Thou seest what Azazel hath done, who hath taught all unrighteousness on earth and revealed the eternal secrets which were in heaven, which men were striving to learn." - Wikipedia
Mercurial characters, no matter if they are gods, angels, fallen angels or deities, are always getting quite a bad reputation for revealing and teaching secrets to humanity. Why would this be?
Stealing Fire from the Gods
~
The Electromagnetic Communion
Promethee by Jean Delville
There are many more connections between the archetypes of Mercury and the Sun in Greek myths. Note that in the myth of Prometheus it says he stole fire from the Gods. He did not ask to borrow it or promise to eventually return it. This is the trickster archetype at work who moves quickly right under our noses. The trickster does what it does despite odds, dictates, rules or laws. In this sense it is an archetype of absolute and unimpeded freedom. It is the element of free will being imparted to man to do with as he will, and to believe what he will and to use his mental and imaginative faculties in any way that he will. This is humanity's divine inner light that the Gnostics called epinoia which is translated loosely as "imagination." It is humanity's imagination and ability to think which makes them god-like.
The other mercurial Greek god parallel to Prometheus was Hermes who was quite the trickster as well. As the story goes, when Hermes was born in Arcadia, he walked out of his cave to steal 50 cows from his half brother Apollo, one of the Greek Sun gods (Helios being the other solar personification). To trick Apollo, Hermes led the cows backwards. Upon return to his cave Hermes found a tortoise which he killed and cleaned, and then tying sheep entrails across its shell he created the lyre, a harp-like musical instrument (the craftiness of Mercury). He hid the cattle and returned to his cradle in the cave.
Apollo soon suspected that Hermes had taken the cattle, but Hermes denied any wrong doing and instead began playing his new instrument. Apollo, being very impressed with the invention, agreed to trade the lyre for the cattle, hence making Apollo a god of music. In addition to this Apollo also gave Hermes his own golden staff entwined with two serpents (the caduceus), which then became the main symbol of Hermes. Hermes went on to steal the sceptre of Zeus (Jupiter), the trident of Poseidon (Neptune), and the belt of Aphrodite (Venus), and thus became the patron god of thieves and impostors. This is part of the reason why mercurial deities have such a bad wrap, because of the abilities they represent in humans. Thieves and conmen are indeed crafty, but their degenerate acts are a degradation of mercurial myths and their meaning. The obvious astronomical reasoning behind the myth is that Mercury itself moves faster than any other planet, so it is always "ahead of the curve." It is also closest to the Sun, that is, close to the source and very "bright," i.e., cunning. Here we see how Mercury "steals" from the gods. It is always ahead of the curve, and always seems to know something the others don't.
Being so close to the life force of the Sun gives Mercury another characteristic that it shares with Venus. One may think of Venus and Mercury as the archetypes of Women and Children. As stated on both the Mars and Venus pages, Venus represents the "inner world" that needs to be protected and that is "free of oppositions," whereas Mars, one planet further out from the Earth, is the first planet where opposition is possible astrologically, leading to its archetypal associations with war, martial arts, sharper and more angular facial and body features, sharp contrast to one's environment, etc. With women and children, Venus and Mercury, we see more rounded features, smoothness, and they are also much closer to the life force. They are part of the "inner world" that needs to be protected from the harsh environments that the masculine/martian side of humanity endures. Within the home (which is what the Hebrew letter Beth means, the letter attributed to Mercury/The Magician) there is an electrified atmosphere when there are children present and the mother taking care of them. Women and Children in a sense represent an "Electromagnetic Communion" within the Home. Note also that the Hebrew letter Daleth, the letter attributed to Venus/The Empress, means door. So the home itself is quite Mecurial and Venusian. Indeed Eshu, the Afro-Caribbean form of Mercury, is said to bring good luck when statues or small alters to him are placed right inside one's front door. The electrical nature of Mars though is also present within its archetypal structure as one can see on the Mars page, though it behaves more as a discharge rather than a gathering together.
The other mercurial Greek god parallel to Prometheus was Hermes who was quite the trickster as well. As the story goes, when Hermes was born in Arcadia, he walked out of his cave to steal 50 cows from his half brother Apollo, one of the Greek Sun gods (Helios being the other solar personification). To trick Apollo, Hermes led the cows backwards. Upon return to his cave Hermes found a tortoise which he killed and cleaned, and then tying sheep entrails across its shell he created the lyre, a harp-like musical instrument (the craftiness of Mercury). He hid the cattle and returned to his cradle in the cave.
Apollo soon suspected that Hermes had taken the cattle, but Hermes denied any wrong doing and instead began playing his new instrument. Apollo, being very impressed with the invention, agreed to trade the lyre for the cattle, hence making Apollo a god of music. In addition to this Apollo also gave Hermes his own golden staff entwined with two serpents (the caduceus), which then became the main symbol of Hermes. Hermes went on to steal the sceptre of Zeus (Jupiter), the trident of Poseidon (Neptune), and the belt of Aphrodite (Venus), and thus became the patron god of thieves and impostors. This is part of the reason why mercurial deities have such a bad wrap, because of the abilities they represent in humans. Thieves and conmen are indeed crafty, but their degenerate acts are a degradation of mercurial myths and their meaning. The obvious astronomical reasoning behind the myth is that Mercury itself moves faster than any other planet, so it is always "ahead of the curve." It is also closest to the Sun, that is, close to the source and very "bright," i.e., cunning. Here we see how Mercury "steals" from the gods. It is always ahead of the curve, and always seems to know something the others don't.
Being so close to the life force of the Sun gives Mercury another characteristic that it shares with Venus. One may think of Venus and Mercury as the archetypes of Women and Children. As stated on both the Mars and Venus pages, Venus represents the "inner world" that needs to be protected and that is "free of oppositions," whereas Mars, one planet further out from the Earth, is the first planet where opposition is possible astrologically, leading to its archetypal associations with war, martial arts, sharper and more angular facial and body features, sharp contrast to one's environment, etc. With women and children, Venus and Mercury, we see more rounded features, smoothness, and they are also much closer to the life force. They are part of the "inner world" that needs to be protected from the harsh environments that the masculine/martian side of humanity endures. Within the home (which is what the Hebrew letter Beth means, the letter attributed to Mercury/The Magician) there is an electrified atmosphere when there are children present and the mother taking care of them. Women and Children in a sense represent an "Electromagnetic Communion" within the Home. Note also that the Hebrew letter Daleth, the letter attributed to Venus/The Empress, means door. So the home itself is quite Mecurial and Venusian. Indeed Eshu, the Afro-Caribbean form of Mercury, is said to bring good luck when statues or small alters to him are placed right inside one's front door. The electrical nature of Mars though is also present within its archetypal structure as one can see on the Mars page, though it behaves more as a discharge rather than a gathering together.