Interview with Mercury, Part 2

John: I’m sure I’ll treasure my time with you more once my readers get a chance to learn about you. That’s why I’m here.

Mercury: That’s fair.

John: [consults iPad] What would you say your motto is?

Mercury: “Information is everything!”

John: That’s a huge statement.

Mercury: It’s a huge exclamation, actually, if we’re being precise. But think about it. What would life be without me? Every single day humans are bombarded with information, and without me, you wouldn’t understand it, and you wouldn’t be able to communicate it, store it, or retain it. I am the most specific and discriminating of all the planets. Wars are fought over information. Whole organizations are built around it.

John: Could you please explain what you mean by “most discriminating?”

Mercury: Do ursine mammals defecate in arboreal regions? I can’t believe you’re even asking me that question, so let’s go with an example. When you’re looking at a color, you could say it’s red. But if we drill down a little deeper, what color is it really? It could be scarlet or chili or candy apple, or even maroon or mahogany. That’s discrimination. When you’re looking at very fine differences in anything, I’m the one who sorts through it for you.

John: That’s a powerful gift.

Mercury: Certainly. And while the Moon deals with how you behave on an instinctive level, I represent something more: The ability to use the rational mind and reason to guide our actions. It’s one of the things that separates us from animals.

John: I also thought one other main difference was our desire to know things.

Mercury: That’s not incorrect. Curiosity is another gift I bestow upon you. People always want to know more and more, sometimes about things that may make no difference in the end. So, it’s not always a gift, you know?

John: I’ve always thought being curious was a gift, generally speaking.

Mercury: You have Mercury in Scorpio, so of course you’re curious to a fault. And I’d normally agree with curiosity being pretty damn awesome. But whenever I hear a conversation about someone who wonders if their old romantic partner is unhappy in a new relationship, I remind myself that curiosity is not always a blessing. In this case, the curiosity is a blatant attempt to fill an emotional void, and I don’t do that.

John: Let’s pause here for a moment. You don’t….do what, exactly?

Mercury: Emotion. Remember earlier when I said, “information is everything?” Well, it is. It doesn’t matter where it comes from or where it goes. But the emotional impact is one of the few things I am not curious about. It’s way too messy for me, and it doesn’t involve me anyway.

John: I think I get it. But to make sure my readers understand, you take no responsibility for it?

Mercury: For what, exactly? What the information means to a person?

John: Yes.

Mercury: How could I? Each person does that on their own. And it’s way out of my lane. That’s the Moon’s job.  

John: I guess I can understand that.

Mercury: Dude, “Dragnet” is one of my favorite old shows, because one of my mottos could be “Just the facts.” Caring about it, dealing with it, or otherwise handling the emotional reactions to it would be asking a lot of any planet.

John: That would make sense. [consults notes]. Speaking of the Moon, while she holds the title of fastest planet, you still move at a pretty good clip, right?

Mercury: Yes. I move through one sign in 2-3 weeks, but I have a restriction that the Moon doesn’t have.

John: Restriction? What restriction?

Mercury: I’m always within 28 degrees of the Sun because of how the solar system is set up.

John: That would mean that when someone is looking at a chart, you have to be within one sign in either direction of the Sun, correct?

Mercury: Accurate. If we have a person with the Sun in Taurus, then I’ll either be in Taurus, or the sign before or after it—in this case, Aries or Gemini.

John: Taking that further, if someone told you they were a Taurus and said they had Mercury in Libra…

Mercury: Then they don’t know how to read a chart very well. They’re probably confusing me with someone else. And it couldn’t be Venus, either, which is the symbol that’s closest to mine. Consequently, I go back to “They don’t know what they’re talking about.”