Mercury Combust, June 12, 2024

Mercury seems a little under pressure in the sky right now. It is currently ‘combust’, in other words invisible in the Sun’s rays and heading towards a conjunction with the Sun on Friday. Today also brought the exact square to Saturn in Pisces.

Mercury’s period of combustion is the end of one cycle and the beginning of another, with the symbolism of fear and overwhelm that is suggested by a planet being swallowed into the Sun. It is a moment of threshold. With the square to Saturn still in orb for a few more days too, perhaps the communication in our relationships is not as we would like it to be, that we cannot say what we want to say or are somehow unable to act or express ourselves or move forward quite yet. More than once this week for instance, I’ve experienced things going missing or information being misunderstood, as if the Mercurial function was under duress and not flowing smoothly.

This current configuration would be consistent with a desire to withdraw our attention from the world for a few days, to mentally regroup. As we do this, we might think about what kind of closure is important for us in respect of Mercury, so that we can lay the foundations for the new cycle. Perhaps we need to let go of something – a particular view of our situation, an approach or attitude which we have been holding on to, a familiar pattern of behaviour – or perhaps we experience literally losing something which, although seemingly insignificant in itself, carries enormous symbolic meaning. The period of combustion is a tentative time, where such losses do not feel easy to make up for – and the square to Saturn in Pisces may only exacerbate the fear around it and the feeling that our hands are tied and there is nothing we can do.

If we trust the cosmos however, we know that Mercury will move from its square to Saturn and will be reborn into its new cycle over the coming week – with all the symbolism of a new beginning in Mercury’s terms. In the meantime, we might use these next few days to contemplate our options and make the adjustments of perspective or action which will soon allow us to move on from where we are.

- Carole Taylor