The Horoscope of the World shows the moment of the Fall. And here we see the special role of Mercury. If you remember in our discussion we spoke of Mercury being poisoned by the Dragon. Mercury is in its detriment and fall. Where was it before the Fall? In Virgo, where it is in its domicile and exaltation.
Let us go a little deeper. Meister Eckhart in his sermon, “Vidi supra montem Sion agnum stantem…(Apoc. 14,1)” [“I saw a lamb standing on Mt. Zion…] describes the nature of man’s soul. This can help us understand her condition before and after the Fall and also when the pilgrimage of life has been acheived. Seen also in the above context it can help us to understand Mercury in connection with the Nodes. By way of review I want to point out some of the themes discussed so far. We have the poisoning of Mercury by the Dragon in the Horoscope of the World, there is also the Dragon in the form of Prometheus and Epimetheus in the myth of Pandora, there is also the axis of the Nodes seen as both the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil and also as the pilgrim’s staff. We have yet to look at the Nodes in connection with the Caduceus or Staff of Mercury.
But first Meister Eckhart: (here a loose translation, as I do not have an english edition)
“There is a power in the soul…if it were entirely so, would be uncreated and uncreatible. But this is not so. With the other part of her being she perceives and attaches herself to time, and so touches and associates herself with the created and so is created — it is the Intellect: there is nothing that is far from or outside of this power…God (takes her bare, without covering) into His Being. She is one with Unity, not equal with Equality. May it, with the help of God, also come to pass with us. Amen.” *
This was misunderstood, and condemned as heretical by Pope John XXII, to mean that a part of the soul is uncreated and as all is created by God would mean that this part would therefore not be from God. What Meister Eckehart was pointing to is that were the soul pure Intellect it would be united with God, creative in His creation, she would be one with God and as God is uncreated so would she also be. Simply put it would be in the pure state before the Fall.
Fritjof Schoun referring to this sermon says: “The fall, was precisely, the rupture between reason and Intellect, the ego and the Self…”
It is not by chance that Virgo is the domicile and exaltation of Mercury. This is the sign of the Virgin and so points to a pure condition of the soul before reason and Intellect were ruptured and bound to time. The Nodes are divided. There is not one Node. And here we have a reference to the staff of Mercury. Yes, another staff. If you look at the alchemical depiction of the Caduceus, below, you will notice that the Sun and the Moon are also present.
(image with courtesy of Adam McLean,
the alchemy web site http://www.levity.com/alchemy)
One of the central aspects of the alchemical process is to unite the two Mercurys. There are two. One takes on the form of the crowned wingéd or volatile dragon — Intellect in this context, the other the wingless or earthbound dragon — reason. In the Caduceus these two dragons are entwined around a staff that connects earth to heaven. Mercury is healed (you see how strongly the imagery is woven together) when the two dragons are united or more explicitly when that which was ruptured by the Dragon to bring it into his sphere of influence is once more united. If you also remember from our discussion, the Dragon “devours” cosmic intelligence into itself during an eclipse, trying to separate it from its source. If the two Mercury’s devour each other this is released and projected into the gold and silver of the luminaries.
(image with courtesy of Adam McLean,
the alchemy web site http://www.levity.com/alchemy)
* “Eine Kraft ist in der Seele… wäre die Seele ganz so, so wäre sie ungeschaffen und unerschaffbar. Nun ist dem nicht so. Mit dem übrigen Teil (ihres Seins) hat sie ein Absehen auf und ein Anhangen an die Zeit, und da(mit) berührt sie die Geschaffenheit und ist geschaffen – (es ist) die Vernunft: dieser Kraft ist nichts fern noch draußen…Gott (nimmt sie ganz entblößt) in seinem wesenhaften Sein; sie ist eins in der Einheit, nicht gleich in der Gleichheit. Daß uns dies wiederfahre, dazu helfe uns Gott. Amen.”
Altair Astrology 
Dear John,
After considering the content of your two messages I have put them on hold and have marked any messages that come from your IP addresses as needing moderation before they are shown on this site. The problem is that I am not sure whether you are a real person or a spam construct. The content of your messages has some similarity to the spam that finds its way to this site.
I can’t see a connection between the messages and the article on “Mercury and the Horoscope of the World”. If you are a real person please understand that this weblog is devoted to astrology and not numerology and accept my apologies. Any comments or messages that are directly related to the articles on this site are of course welcome.
sincerely yours,
Thomas
When it comes to Mercury being somewhat malefic in nature, I was always struck in that Mercury — in the Thema Mundi — is found at home houses which are “in between worlds” (3 and 12). And Mercury being by and by a principle of ambiguity and the necessities of life which is subject to constant change, can only be ascertained as having in itself more malefic than benefic tendencies for, as stated by Valens, “the malefics easily overcome the benefics.”
Mercury is essentially neutral and becomes like what is near to it. As a whole, we can be honest in judging our history these past few thousand years and, looking to the world leaders, make an honest but dreadful assessment and say that by large the world is more malefic than benefic. I back that up by saying, “or else we would have free energy technology instead of having free energy technology suppressed; illness and disease is carefully sustained instead of being piously cured; and computer virus’ are unleashed in technology and human minds TAUGHT to be vacant while standing beside chariots of death, flying through the air targeting your country and neighbor with pin point accuracy, all for the hidden secret initiates whose selfish hoarding of power and control via the catalyst of money… it is the result of a difficult logos.”
Oh yeah, and they nailed the Son of God to a cross ! Was that really necessary ?
Clearly, on some level it was deemed so. Ah, acceptance. Acceptance. Stoicism!
Anyway, the angst of Mercury is exemplified in the rational of the Lot of Necessity, which is subtracted from Fortune and not Spirit (as are Jupiter and Venus, being benefic).
As a parenthetical remark regarding your choice of words, my friend, I would merely point out that Jesus in A Course In Miracles makes a distinction for the reasons He has chosen to unanimously use the term “Separation” instead of “Fall” when regarding the split that was introduced into the mind of man — at some point in our history. Come Thomas, let us return for an instant to that time just before that event ever happened.
Peace and Joy and Light.
That is why the quotation from Meister Eckhardt is so important.
The concept of the “Fall” is very clearly placed on the vertical axis of Being and Nothingness. The Abyss is Nothingness just as Being is God. To eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is to be placed at the central axis of a cross and to know the difference between the two and to be able to choose between that power which is uncreated and uncreatible and so “ascend” to “Reality” or reject it and fall and descend (definitely fall and not mere separation) towards nothingness.
But Seneca, in a sense we are at that “time”, every instant, only it is veiled from us.
Thomas