Mercury left behind the high octane information highway of Gemini on July 5th for a calmer, more circuitous route by a quiet lake for its quick sojourn in Cancer. You may be feeling a momentary mental calm, and a reliance on emotions; sensing vs. intellectualizing.
But don’t get too comfortable. Moving swiftly as it approaches its superior conjunction with the Sun mid-month, Mercury will soon surpass the Sun and enter into bombastic Leo on July 19th.
That’s a mere two weeks spent in the sign of the crab. Still, this brief cancerian stint sees Mercury doing some harmonizing work. . . that is, before its move-fast-and-break-things phase in Leo. So, let’s take a moment to look at what this intuitive, emotional, and moody Mercury has to say, both in the sky this month and in a natal chart.
Gut Instinct
In Cancer, Mercury is ruled by the Moon, which moves through eight phases and all twelve signs within the span of a month. As a cardinal water sign, Cancer initiates things in the sphere of emotions. However, because its ruler is constantly shifting signs every couple of days, and waxing into fullness before waning into darkness, Cancer is continually adapting to the variations in the music of the spheres. Translation: this is a sign that can get moody.
Mercury doesn’t have a natural affinity with Cancer, either through domicile, exaltation, or triplicity. Yet, Cancer provides a gentle harbor for the planet of communications and the intellect. Thought processes slow down here, as in all of the water signs; Mercury tunes into its feelings and instincts here, much like a crab senses its environment with its antennae, probing and testing before sidewinding along its way.
In medical astrology, Cancer rules the breasts and stomach. Females of all mammal species, of course, breastfeed their young; species of all kinds take nourishment into their bodies by way of their stomachs. As such, Cancer is about nourishment, tending, caring, and feeding, of ourselves and others.
Mercury in Cancer connects the stomach to the mind, honing the gut instinct to be a natural extension of its thinking. They can sense the mood as soon as they walk in the room, even before they can articulate what the mood is.
Memory Keepers
Ruled by the moon, which signifies the mother, home, family, body, and the past, people with Mercury in Cancer are natural historians, whether of their family or community or in a more official capacity.
They are often drawn into meditations of the past, with memories stored in the body. A trigger — a glimpse, touch, smell, or taste, perhaps, can bring memories flooding back.
This experience is described beautifully by the narrator of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (a Cancer stellium with the Sun, Mercury, Jupiter, and Uranus in Cancer in the fourth house of home, family, and the past), brought on by the taste of a madeleine with a cup of tea:
“No sooner had the warm liquid mixed with the crumbs touched my palate than a shudder ran through me and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary thing that was happening to me. An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses, something isolated, detached, with no suggestion of its origin. And at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory – this new sensation having had on me the effect which love has of filling me with a precious essence; or rather this essence was not in me it was me. ... Whence did it come? What did it mean? How could I seize and apprehend it? ... And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray (because on those mornings I did not go out before mass), when I went to say good morning to her in her bedroom, my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane. The sight of the little madeleine had recalled nothing to my mind before I tasted it. And all from my cup of tea.”
―Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time
Moon Rules
The placement of the Moon is all important for those with this natal placement; having the Moon in a sign in which it excels, such as Cancer, Taurus, or where it has some affinity, like Virgo or Pisces, is very helpful; also helpful is if the Moon, in whatever sign, witnesses Mercury in Cancer from a traditional aspect, which provides a means of communication and support from the Moon to Mercury.
Hearts and Minds
Mercury in Cancers can lean in to their natural intuitive and emotionally expressive powers of communication and storytelling, weaving stories that hit all the right emotional notes. Conversely, to appeal to Mercury in Cancers, tell an affecting story that gets to the heart of things.
Big Ideas and Inspiration
Mercury’s contacts this month, while in Cancer, at least, are primarily helpful and supportive. Mercury forms an energizing sextile with Mars on the 5th as they both change signs. On the 9th, Mercury squares Jupiter in Aires, firing up the big idea machine. A few days later, on the 13th, Mercury sextiles Uranus in Taurus, inviting positive change.
Then, on its way towards its meeting in the heart of the Sun on the 16th, Mercury sextiles the North Node and trines the South Node, supporting the sites of the big changes in our lives this year. A supportive trine to Neptune in Pisces on the 17th, just after Mercury meets with the Sun, which also trines Neptune, inspires imaginative and creative endeavors.
Pluto’s Gauntlet
But then, the music changes. On the 18th, just before moving into Leo, Mercury must run the gauntlet, opposing Pluto at the end of Capricorn (itself on the degree of the US Pluto return).
Harsh contacts between Mercury and Pluto can often reveal secrets or information that was meant to stay buried. Pluto’s distortions and paranoia can lend a smoke and mirrors quality to whatever is revealed. That the Sun, very near Mercury, is also opposing Pluto, only underscores the importance of this moment. All eyes are watching.
Swimming Under the Beams
This month, when Mercury is in Cancer and also for part of the time in Leo, Mercury is in a condition known as being “under the beams” of the Sun. This happens when a planet is so close to the Sun, as viewed from Earth, that it’s not visible to the naked eye when the Sun rises.
When a planet is under the beams its significations are thought to be less visible in the world. There may be something hidden or obscured, which is revealed in some fashion at the exact conjunction with the Sun, known by the Arabic term cazimi, which happens on July 16th. (Mercury is considered to be it its “chariot,” protected from the beams of the Sun, for a few days from July 11-14, when it travels through its own bounds or terms, a subdivision of the zodaical sign.)
So, look for there to be something obscured or not clear around communications or developing narratives that receives a sudden clarity around July 16th, leading to some revelations a few days later once Pluto gets involved.
And then, the music changes again. Mercury’s entry into Leo begins a tense period in the last part of July and into August in which the fixed signs experience standoffs and destabilizing influences. Much of this seems to be broadcast, in dramatic fashion, by Mercury in Leo, who relishes the spotlight and the bully pulpit. Stay tuned for some dramatic storylines, folks.
A Reflective Light
Speaking of music, someone who perfectly embodies Mercury in Cancer’s silvery reflective light spun out in song is Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens (Cancer Sun and Mercury in the tenth house of career, with artistic Libra rising, and an ingenious Moon in Aquarius in the fifth house of creativity), whose gentle songs feature a reflective, emotive quality. Here’s his Moonshadow recorded live in 1971: