Much of the richness and complexity evident in a person’s life arise out of the sign placement of the Mercury, Venus and Mars in the horoscope. In some previous parts, I have written about the inner planets in separate groups of signs: Aries/Taurus/Gemini/Cancer, Leo/Virgo/Libra/Scorpio, and Sagittarius/Capricorn/Aquarius/Pisces. In this post, I want to revisit and emphasize some core principles that underlie the expression of inner planets through the various zodiac signs.
You want to first start with the descriptions of the inner planet’s functioning in the various elements–fire, earth, air, and water. This will give you an overall sense of how the planet’s energies will function.
You can then dig deeper into the individual signs, by running the essential qualities of the planet expressed through the sign. In other words, marry the keywords for the planet with the keywords of the sign, and recognize how this marriage might manifest in real life.
For instance, for Mercury in Gemini, consider how Mercury’s quality of communication work in Gemini – it would be rapid fire, talking about a variety of things, possibly witty, etc.
Venus in Gemini would want to relate to many people, form multiple friendships, find pleasure in a diverse set of interests.
Mars in Gemini would be the multitasker, doing many things at once, aggressively chasing multiple avenues of action, keeping options open.
You need to be a little flexible here and find related descriptive words for signs beyond the ones you have already seen, that may be also applicable. For instance, you could describe Mercury in Cancer as “emotional thinking”, but another likely expression is “fluid thinking”, since Cancer is a water sign.
There are a couple of important things to note about these sign placements, particularly in relation to that of the Sun.
Mercury’s orbital period is 88 days, which is much less than that of the Earth. But when you are looking at Mercury from the earth over an entire earth orbit around the Sun, it appears as though Mercury is more or less in the same sign as the Sun. One of the reasons for this is the apparent retrograde motion of Mercury, when it appears to reverse and move backward as seen from the earth.
The bottom line is that as seen from the earth, Mercury is only ever in the same sign as the Sun, or in the previous or next sign; it can’t be in any other sign. So, for instance, if the Sun is in Cancer, then Mercury can only be in Cancer, or the previous sign, Gemini, or the next sign, Leo.
Mercury in Gemini or Leo in this case would bring additional complexity to the character, because the Mercury function would need to dialogue with the Sun’s life-building intention to find a happy medium. Whereas Mercury in Cancer, in the same sign as the Sun, would be fully on board with the Sun’s agenda.
Since Mercury plays a crucial role in the individual’s perception of the world, it is vital to weigh its placement relative to that of the Sun.
There is a somewhat similar relationship of Venus’s sign with that of the Sun. The orbital period of Venus is 255 days, much greater than that of Mercury, but also a good bit less than that of the earth. Like Mercury, Venus also appears to have retrograde motion as seen from the earth. Consequently, Venus more or less keeps up with the Sun’s sign placement – it is either in the same sign, or at most two signs away.
In fact, every planet – Sun and Moon not included – has an apparent retrograde motion. But other than Mercury and Venus, their orbital periods are greater than that of the earth, so their sign placement is unrestricted relative to that of the Sun.
For instance, Mars’s orbital period is 687 days, almost twice that of the earth, or two years. As a result, it stays in the same sign for two months on average. And it can be in any one of the 12 signs, for any Sun sign placement.
Here a couple of examples of well-known people, with the inner planet sign positions in their horoscope, and a description for each. The description combines one representative keyword for the sign with an essential inner planet function. Other descriptions can be derived combining different keywords for the sign and the planet.
