Mercury has ingressed the sign Cancer, and today is forming a trine (120-degree contact) to Nessus, the third-discovered centaur planet, newly arrived in Pisces. Nessus describes the cyclical unfolding of events, and of making personal choices to intervene in what seems like karma. Said simply (borrowing from Melanie Reinhart), Nessus is about how the buck stops here — meaning with you. (The buck is not a dollar, but rather a buck horn traditionally used in poker games.) When someone gets the buck horn, they must deal the cards — or they can “pass the buck” and not deal. So the buck stopping means you get the opportunity to deal — with your own personal material, in a direct way. This is a kind of personal intervention; you take hold of an issue that is troubling you, and accept the responsibility to address the material, for yourself, not by blaming anyone. Understanding responsibility is necessary — and that is different from blame. You don’t pass your pain along (for example, to your child or another younger relative). Where Mercury is involved, that means cultivating inner honesty and communicating, using I-statements, about the ways in which you have been hurt, betrayed or been in any way involved in hurt and betrayal. Nessus goes deep (as do all the centaurs), so this may reference the most serious things that have happened to you and, by extension, to relatives whose lives have impacted you. Mercury is making an usual pattern of movement; it will station retrograde right in those early degrees of Cancer. It spends a total of 19 days there, in a water trine to Nessus. In the process, Mercury stations retrograde on June 7, which you can think of as a profound opportunity for introspection and self-honesty. Those fleeting opportunities to say what has been troubling you are now slowing down to a degree where it’s possible to look, to feel, to hear and to see. What is most interesting is that Mercury stations in early Cancer — in a close aspect to what is called the Aries Point. This is a mysterious degree of the zodiac where personal material intersects with collective material. When we speak from Mercury in Cancer trine Nessus, we are speaking from a common place, and when we listen, we are listening to humanity. And when we listen, I believe we will discover something that’s been discovered many times before — that we have far more in common than we recognize.
11 thoughts on “Mercury trine Nessus: Listening to Humanity”
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“Personal material intersects with collective material”, that’s a great slogan for understanding an Aries Point’s symbolism; thanks!
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Aries Point… Eric is that concerning Mercury intersecting activating this point on the Cardinal Cross? I will have to look up your article on this point again. Mercury is conjunct natal NN and MC. Cancer 1+ and 4 degrees. Is that where he will be in and around for 19 days?
“This is a mysterious degree of the zodiac where personal material intersects with collective material.” Maybe that’s why keeping healthy energy boundaries and allowing expression has been in detriment and a point of pain for me, but now in finding my balance has been such a gift/blessing.
Interestingly I noticed this water trine and aspect seems inline with this week’s lectionary which speaks of providence, perseverance and communication, summoning the union, and communion in expectation of the Spirit’s approaching mission. And Mercury’s stationing retrograde falls on the arrival of God’s Spirit at Pentecost this following week. This has got to be the truest as you describe, ‘look, feel, hear and see’ humanity message to ever have made the news!
Not intellectual at all, it was an intercession and act of the purest intimacy displayed in relationship right out there in a large gathering.
In Acts, as God’s Spirit is poured out on the disciples, astonishes and empowers the community. Just as you interpret the Mercury/Nessus aspect, similarly must have given such ‘a profound opportunity for introspection and self-honesty.’ Quite the opportunity to deal! Summoning (personal) responsibility, of a new era of sacred (collective) history beginning.
What’s to become of the ‘stopping the buck’, the spirit’s gift, the water trine, and help in our Venus’ current placement-
`Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”
The Corinthian community was torn by dissension over the characteristics, distribution and use of “spiritual gifts” (12:1). Paul emphasizes that these are gifts of grace to all, not just the private possession of certain people.
He points out the ‘triune’ operation of God in these gifts: the Holy Spirit as the giver, Christ as the One to whom service is given, and God the Father as the One at work in the gift. The gifts are complementary and meant for the common good. Every gift has an important place in the life of the community.
The purpose of all the gifts is to create not division, but unity in diversity. Paul illustrates this by using the image of the body to show the Corinthians the interdependence of all in the community.
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
“…For just as the body is one
and has many members,
and all the members of the body,
though many, are one body,
so it is with Christ.
For in the one Spirit
we were all baptized into one body
—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—
and we were all made to drink of one Spirit”
“When we speak from Mercury in Cancer trine Nessus, we are speaking from a common place, and when we listen, we are listening to humanity. And when we listen, I believe we will discover something that’s been discovered many times before — that we have far more in common than we recognize.”
Thank you always Eric for the love! I will continue to listen…faithfully.
I really resonate with this view of Nessus, “the buck stops here”. With my ascendant at 0+ Pisces, Nessus is gracing my ascendant. This interpretation has made so much sense of my life right now. I feel as I’m in the process of shattering lifetimes of patterns and “karma”–putting a stop to things that have held me back for so long.
It’s like this “now or never” feeling. I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of harnessing this energy and stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility–but with Nessus just entering Pisces I know the work has just begun, and I’m excited. Describing this as a personal intervention is so accurate.
The next three weeks will be quite interesting….
General Shinseki does have natal Neptune at 1+ Libra square trans Mercury at 0+ Cancer. His natal Mars at 18+ Scorpio is where transiting Saturn is presently retrograde. His natal Saturn at 9+ Gemini is conjunct the U.S. Sibly Uranus at 8+ Gemini and only 2 degrees from Wednesday’s New Moon at 7+ Gemini (which squared Neptune at 7+ Pisces). In the New Moon chart, Juno (a supporter of the disenfranchised who battled for equality) at 18+ Taurus opposed Saturn at 18+ Scorpio which conjuncts Shinseki’s Mars. DOB 11/28/42
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Mercury’s transit thru Gemini has presented a lot of information. Perhaps, humanity needs to slow down (Venus in Taurus) to access how we process our feelings (mercury in cancer) as they relate to the “karma”(Nessus in Pisces) we feel enmeshed in.
Ya know, this could be really interesting to watch via TV; transiting Mercury will station retrograde on the degree of the U.S. Sibly Venus and Karma, 3+ Cancer. Pres. Obama’s natal Venus is at 1+ Cancer and today he reluctantly accepted VA Sec’y Shinseki’s offer of resignation (trans. Mercury at 0+ Cancer). I’m going to look for a birth time for Shinseki, unless somebody already has it and would like to share.
U.S. Sibly Hades is at 0+ Scorpio retrograde. The buck stops here.
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That’s interesting, Amanda – it makes a minor grand trine with Venus as the potential focusing or outlet energy. So perhaps the need to communicate on a deep level (Mercury) and the easing of access to emotional wounds (Nessus) can be expressed through love of nature, honest interaction with one’s body, and exploration of the senses?
eric — not sure if you got my email yesterday about mercury and nessus also being in aspect to venus in the first degree of taurus, and i’m not sure if any of the thoughts i sent there were workable, since i was having a hard time putting my finger on the relationships. but would you say venus in taurus lends a hand in grounding the energy, as well as feeling “comfortable in your own skin” while working through whatever nessus is pushing to concoiusness (adding some of that famous taurean stick-to-it-iveness)?
or is it also possible that venus in taurus could come in on the “too laid back to get moving” side of things? then again, maybe all together it describes the potential-in-waiting characteristic of the sextile, since we only get the supportive ease if we get out butts in gear and try?
(venus in taurus is sextile both mercury in cancer and nessus in pisces — earth to water in both directions — for those without access to a chart.)
Well I am thinking this all starts with access to feelings that one wants to communicate. So I am reading the trine not so much as “flow” but as access.
I know the trine suggests an easy flow of energies, but I was wondering about how communicative Mercury is in early Cancer. It seems more of a secretive and introspective spot to be for a few weeks. Does Nessus help to shed those secure boundaries of Cancer?
Three weeks of Mercury trine Nessus — definitely good to know.
Especially thanks for explaining the “the buck stops here” usual Nessus analogy — now I understand.