Mercury Cazimi – Hermes in the Heart of the Sun

This week, as Mercury continues in retrograde motion, it hits an important milestone in its journey – the Mercury Cazimi. In technical terms, this is Mercury making its inferior conjunction with the Sun. In normal language, this marks an important meeting of the Sun and Mercury, symbolic of a brief opening of one’s mind to wisdom, clarity and insight. If one works with Mercury Cazimi, it has the potential to transmute one’s mind to a new perspective, allowing momentary access to a portal to higher divine consciousness or support from powers above.

Neither either rare nor common, Mercury Cazimis are special and potent. It helps us to distill and deepen our awareness on things that are often hidden, suppressed or inaccessible.

Interior vs Exterior Mercury Cazimis 

Before we move on, it may be helpful to explain that there are two types of Mercury Cazimis – interior and exterior. The interior cazimi occurs when Mercury joins the Sun part way through its retrograde cycle as it travels between the Sun and the Earth. The exterior cazimi occurs when Mercury and the Sun join together but this time, on the other side of the Sun furthest away from Earth, occurring when Mercury is direct in motion. 

At the interior conjunction, Mercury is said to be in the underworld where it can bring us insights from our shadows and sheds light on areas that have otherwise laid hidden for the purpose of starting something new. This is the beginning point of the Mercury synodic cycle which sets off a new 4-month cycle for a project or task to unfold. The interior cazimi is an opportunity to get clear about some of the more uncomfortable or confronting things that are seeking expression or acknowledgement.

Interior Mercury Cazimi – the beginning of the Mercury/Sun cycle

If you follow Moon cycles, the inferior Mercury Cazimi is similar to the New Moon phase in that it is the coming together with the Sun in the underworld. Like planting a seed in the ground, this interior Mercury Cazimi marks the beginning of a cycle with refreshed intentions. When a planet is with the Sun, it provides an opportunity for that planet’s affairs to merge with a higher purpose which is ultimately manifested during that cycle. In the New Moon phase, it is the union of spirit (Sun) and matter (Moon) during which one sows the seeds that will eventually flourish into material embodiment. In Mercury Cazimi, this union with the Sun represents a seeding of thought and inspired wisdom that will assist us to connect and influence people and ideas. It also receives support from people of influence and superiors, given that Mercury is in the front seat with the king himself.

Mark you calendars and set your alarms!

This interior Mercury Cazimi will occur on 12 November 2019, 2.21am (Melbourne, Victoria) at 18°55’ Scorpio so check your natal chart to see what house this falls within to get a glimpse of which areas of life you may experience the insights of this Mercury Cazimi. Also check to see which houses Mercury rules in your chart, ie. the houses of Virgo and Gemini, to get more detail.

The Mercury Cazimi occurring this week is of the interior type. Mercury will still be in retrograde motion as it makes its conjunction with the Sun, after which it will rise in the morning skies when it clears the Sun’s beams, representing a rebirth. For the sky watchers out there, you will begin to see Mercury in the morning skies in the following week, just before sunrise.

Mercury activating the water elements in 2019 

This Mercury Cazimi is the last of three interior cazimis this year which all occurred in the element of water, suggesting a theme around the dissolution of one’s mind. The alchemical idea of dissolving  the ego to get to the One Mind seems very relevant here. The nebulousness of the imaginal realm, the reality of our dream/spiritual states, as well as the awakening of our hidden senses has been the workings of Mercury this year as he has retrograded and joined the Sun in all the water signs. In Pisces in March, it was chaotic. In Cancer in July it involved family. Now in Scorpio, it is pulling us down to the deeper and darker truths of reality in order to purify and prepare us for a confronting journey that lies ahead. This Mercury Cazimi in Scorpio is making a very close sextile aspect to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, two heavyweight planets that been following each other for the past two years and will eventually make their grand union in January 2020. This suggests that the things being uncovered and revealed to us this Mercury Cazimi could be useful or supportive to us in January 2020 in some way.

What can you do this Mercury Cazimi?

The 116-day synodic cycle that Mercury shares with the Sun makes three revolutions every year and consists of five distinct phase. Of these five phases, Mercury Retrograde is the most commonly known (and cringed), but to view the retrograde in isolation of its entire cycle is neglectful of the sacred whispers behind the workings of Mercury.

While the concept of Mercury Retrograde has become part of the colloquial vocabulary, often blamed for things going wrong like transport issues, communication breakdowns, computer problems, etc., it’s little known that within all of this chaos, the Mercury Cazimi gives us a very brief opportunity to make sense of everything. If you’ve experienced such irritations during this retrograde period which started on 31 October 2019, it may be worth setting some time aside to use this upcoming Mercury Cazimi; to sit within the golden chariot of the Sun, and seek the higher meaning in all of this.

When I say brief, I really do mean it! Depending on which definition of Mercury Cazimi you go by (ie. anywhere between 15 minutes to 1 degree within the orb of the Sun) the period of time we have to work with Mercury Cazimi  is usually less than one day. I tend to practice on the orb of 17 minutes, which means that the window of opportunity for Mercury Cazimi this week will last just shy of six hours.

Using Melbourne time, the Mercury Cazimi is exact at 2.21am on 12 November 2019. However, from 11 November 11.34pm  to 12 November 5.18am, Mercury will be within 17 minutes of the Sun. Use this window of opportunity to get some clarity around any thoughts you may have, especially things that have been floating in your mind from around 12 October 2019.

Granted, this is not exactly the most practical time to write, reflect, meditate or create anything. You’ll need to think of a way to work around this – such is the way when working with the cosmos. You could do a late night meditation before bed and ask for visions or symbols to appear in your dreams. For early birds, you could set your alarm to do a morning meditation. This is also a great time for writing if you tend to work with this medium. And seeing Mercury will be in cohoots with the Sun, representing kings and people of power, the exact time of Cazimi would be a great opportunity to seek your request from superiors (where relevant of course!). Perhaps you’re due for a raise, or maybe you need to send off some job or rental applications – this would be a good time to do so. The good thing about email is that you can schedule a time to send it off. Just make sure you set the right time zone in your email settings.

For an extra special touch, try to honour Mercury by using its herbs, incense, flowers, colours, stones and metals either during, before or after your meditation / writing / dreaming / creating session. I find this website a great resource for planetary correspondences of materials.

Personally, I plan to do some writing in the evening to prepare for the Cazimi while I sip lemongrass tea. I’ll then do a short meditation before bed and ask for messages to come in my dreams. I hope this will inspire you to work with Mercury and see a deeper meaning beyond just the negative stigma of its retrograde. It is a truly sacred cycle to observe.

If you feel called to explore and work with Mercury further, you can check out my services page to book a consultation – I would love to guide you through this cycle in your chart.

Image Credit: @abatha, www.wallhere.com