QUICKSILVER – Mercury’s Liquid Metal
Wherever there are boundaries to be crossed Mercury is found ~ it is the true ruler of the borderlands. Hermes, the Greek form of Mercury was also known as the ‘Lord of the Crossroads’ who conducted the souls of the dead into the underworld. The jackal-headed Anubis performed the same function in ancient Egypt and pots of mercury have been found in Egyptian tombs as offerings to this friend and guide of the dead.
In Astrology, Mercury represents the ‘active intelligence,’ ruling all occupations dealing with communication, education, travel, and writing. The restless intellect of Gemini roams the fields of the mind gathering and disseminating information. The earth sign Virgo, also ruled by this swift moving planet, puts these ideas into form to be of service to humanity.
Trade, commerce and agencies of all kinds are under the patronage of Mercury — once the entire world trade in mercury was controlled by one family of the Fuggers. In more recent times it was monopolized by the powerfully wealthy Rothschild family. But in its true dual style mercury also patronizes swindlers, thieves and corrupt government officials. We live in a tremendously mercurial age where information is transmitted at mind-dazzling speed via computers and satellites and all their accompanying technology. Never before has such an elaborate system of communications been so open to abuse by ‘intelligence’ gatherers.
While Mercury makes us want to know, to question and probe beyond the world of appearances, when this force predominates it becomes the coldly rational mind, closing out the higher impulses of inspiration and intuition. This negative side manipulates both information and the forces of nature without conscience, and combined with Mercury’s great compulsion to amalgamate works to build giant corporations and vast multinational businesses in which the individual character is dissolved and lost.
Consider the ultimate abuse of the mercurial forces, shades of George Orwell’s 1984, a chillingly prophetic example of the shadow side of Mercury, where the world is dominated by a handful of powerful, invisible dictators with complete control over the communications and intelligence networks, who have perfected the art of manipulating the mass mind of the people, now mere slaves to the political machine, their creativity and will crushed by bureaucracy.
But the essence of Mercury remains forever fluid. Far better it is to contemplate the cheerful Messenger of the Gods who, wand in hand, probes beyond all arbitrary boundaries to discover the Gold of the spirit within.
QUICKSILVER REFERENCES
1. The Nature of Substance, Rudolf Hauschka, Rudolf Steiner Press, London, 1983
2. The Secrets of Metals, Wilhelm Pelikan, Anthroposophic Press, NY, 1973
3. Health Consciousness magazine, June issue, 1990
4. The Tantric Way, Ajit Mookerjee and Madhu Khanna, Thames and Hudson, London, 1977
5. Alchemy, Titus Burkhardt, Element Books, Ltd., Dorset, Great Britain, 1986
6. Cults of the Shadow, Kenneth Grant, Samuel Weiser, NY, 1976