Mercury in Cancer in the Third House

The placement of Mercury in Cancer indicates you have a need for those functions symbolized by Mercury to operate on the emotional level. Much of the behavior and many of the personality characteristics associated with Mercury in Cancer are a result of the basic emotionality of the mental functions. Mercury is generally challenged somewhat by its placement in Cancer. However, as symbolized by the natural sextile between Cancer and Mercury-ruled Virgo, there are very positive aspects of this placement that can be realized.

Cancer is the Cardinal Water sign. Most of the time, the active watery nature of Cancer symbolically drowns and dampens the changeable airy nature of Mercury, forcing the Mercury-associated functions to act through an unaccustomed element. This can produce a major amount of stress if the mental functions do not adapt to the emotional energy field represented by Cancer. However, if there is attunement, then the combination can become very powerful and positive, as you now have become “bi-lingual” as it were, able to unite and balance the Yin of the mental with the Yang of the emotional.

Insecurities

Having Mercury in Cancer, if you are insecure as a person, you are likely to feel unsure of your mental nature and, because of this, you reject the emotional attunement toward which your mental state leans. Your intellect feels overwhelmed with irrationality and you cannot deal with this. The ego subconsciously perceives its vulnerability in allowing the mind to function in a state in which the “irrational” (i.e., the ego’s perception of the unconscious Reality) may break through and threaten the integrity of the ego. Your response to this mental confusion is to withdraw mentally from active engagement. However, because you cannot escape the nature of your mental functions, you tend to communicate in an emotionally reactive manner whenever you are mentally confronted with “the irrational.”

Mercury in the 3rd House:

The 3rd House is Mercury’s natural placement, since it rules that house.  Having Mercury in the 3rd House you have strong and active mental and communication faculties. Mentally, you are oriented to receive sensory information from your immediate environment. You are often eager to learn about things and curious about your world.

As an individual with Mercury in the 3rd House, your mental contact with the world is usually direct and immediate. This is apt to result in your outlook being objective and straightforward. You are likely to accept what you experience, often without questioning its validity. With a mind that is generally uncluttered by doubts and second guesses, you are likely to be quick and alert in your perceptions and your reactions. You experience the world as it is, through your senses, without filters.

With Mercury in the 3rd House, you may be accused by some of being naive or simple-minded, but you can have a freshness of approach that may allow you to see things that others miss.  You are generally not inhibited about trying new things or approaches, but you may balk if these do not make sense from and objective, common sense perspective.  You are most likely a realist and may have little patience with ideas or thoughts that do not have an immediate and tangible application.

Insecurities

Having Mercury in the 3rd House, if you are inwardly insecure, your need for constant sensory stimulation in order to feel mentally alive will be almost obsessive. Your ego is firmly attached to the objects of sense, which you consider yours (if not in possession, then as your experience). To admit that there may be something behind the immediately observable is an admission that the premise on which your ego-esteem is based may not be valid. This is tantamount to admitting that your ego-self may actually not exist, although you would probably never verbalize this thought. With Mercury in the 3rd House, this is a thought that is unbearable and, so, you cling desperately to your sensory experiences. You deny whatever cannot be objectively confirmed and you become defensive when confronted by the prospect of the unknown or the complex.

As an individual with Mercury in the 3rd House, if your mental faculties have been traumatized or overly stressed, you may not be able to handle the sensory input being received from your immediate environment. In this case, you are likely to withdraw mentally or become incommunicative. You may also subconsciously reduce the level of your mental functioning so that you are doing nothing more than mindlessly experiencing the immediate.

Intellect’s Focus

With Mercury in the 3rd House, your intellect will tend to focus on that which is objective and sensory. You are more likely to be concerned with data than with theory. You may have a love of learning, but it will usually be a love of collecting facts. You may have to draw upon faculties other than the purely mental in order to integrate the bits of objective data you collect into a coherent whole picture.

Having Mercury in the 3rd House, your mind is normally engaged in the world around you. Mentally, you may be very good with details and with assembling data. You may be able to detect patterns in the data, but you may have some difficulty in interpreting what these patterns mean.

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Article referenced from:

• Gargatholil, Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook – Volume 2: Planets in Signs

• Gargatholil, Depth Astrology: An Astrological Handbook – Volume 3: Planets in Houses

Click Here to Access the Complete Depth Astrology Collection with full excerpts.

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