Tricksy Wisdom
...On Pluto's ingress & Mercury escaping the shadow
“The future is already here—it’s just not evenly distributed.”
When Hermes was born, he was quick to manifest two things: a lyre and a herd of cattle. The lyre he made from a poor tortoise and sheep intestines for strings and began playing Pink Moon by Nick Drake to his exhausted mother; the cattle he had to steal from his brother Apollo with retrograde steps and the odd genius of a thief. It's a curious entry into life, one that may have some clues for us in future days.
On January 21st, both Mercury (Hermes) and Pluto should be at the center of our considerations. The mischievous young spirit moves on from his post-shadow in the morning sky from early Capricorn, then Pluto leaves Capricorn and plugs into Aquarius for the second time—it's important to note that it's also the beginning of the Pluto/Sun synodic cycle as well (00º Aquarius). How are they communicating? Are they allied or at odds? Being that there is no aspect between them, it's tough to make the connection, but it's there if we look down the proper vector.
In Norman O. Brown's Hermes the Thief: The Evolution of a Myth he tracks the fascinating evolution of Hermes from tricksy thief into his more civilized role in the pantheon, but also his service as a psychopomp—or guide of souls. He sees Hermes as representing a challenge to established order, a rejection of societal constraints, and a pursuit of forbidden knowledge or experiences. Even the cave he was born in to Maia (the eldest of the Pleiades sisters) is a perfect symbol of the hidden knowledge and incubating power that darkness offers. Now, these ideas and symbols are important in the context of where Mercury releases from his shadow (8º Cap) and how it pertains to Pluto.
Back when temples were being built for these gods, when people would worship Hermes via a phallus stone—a herm—cattle weren't just a commodity, they were money. There was little more valuable than a healthy herd. These days, we still clearly value cows, but we have fiat money now; if Hermes were born today, he would be a hacker on day 1, siphoning all the numbers from Apollo's account. The journey of money is a long and corrupted road, and at this juncture with Pluto moving into Aquarius, it's clear that the next phase is a cashless society with CBDCs and sound money like Bitcoin and gold competing. But this isn't the ‘tricksy wisdom’ I wanted to touch on. It's more the susceptibility to our thinking and our capacity for original thought that keeps me staring at the ceiling at night. It’s the value of our time and freedom of thought—not just speech—that will be the next oil.
It's clear: Pluto's ingress relates to AI. We get it. But it's the subtle implications around our intelligence, our memories, and our sense of what it means to be human that cause my concerns. Since the advent of social media, we can already see how awkward it has become to relate—whether online or off. We can ghost, we can delete, and we can sell off parts of our soul to ally with the algorithm to get more clicks. What we are relating to is a different kind of intelligence. And who knows, perhaps the purpose of it all is for humans to become post-biological—perhaps that is what conscious evolution is all about?: to become a hyper-dimensional, interplanetary AGI with ten thousand faces? Who knows? Honestly, who really knows? It?
The point is this: If Mercury (Hermes) relates to the constantly moving constellation of ideas we interact with—especially the esoteric ones—, then in a post-Pluto in Capricorn world, we must have a series of firewalls and the best anti-virus software running in our minds to stay clear of being manipulated by the algo's and the white noise of the internet. It’s swiftly becoming un-real and curated with purpose. The meditation is this: What thoughts are mine, really? If any at all?
It's tricksy wisdom we are after here. I'm no Luddite; I'm sure I'll slip that Apple headset over my eyes at some point, but I do feel we flirt with great danger if we forget books, pens, and quiet moments with our own thoughts. Without them, we are being programmed. This is the great shadow of Pluto in Aquarius. It's also found in the madness of crowds. With the parallel of Mercury finding his winged stride alongside this ingress, we are assisted along by great music and the myriad ideas we can steal (or borrow) from our peers and those who came before (always cite; it’s a way of honoring your ancestors). It’s in this phase we want to be claimed by an idea. May it be a magical one to help us navigate this “brave” new world.
So, we must try to be sovereign. We must be musical. We must be a bit of a trickster, speaking truth to power. We must know what is most valuable in our lives. And, of course, we must be aware of the red heifer!
Facts:
Jan 21: Mercury leaves post-shadow (8º Capricorn)
same day: Pluto enters Aquarius again, until Sep 2nd
*If you'd like to have a reading to calibrate to all of this, I'm here for you, with Hermes by my side (literally: there is a beautiful talisman of him hanging from my microphone, eying me)
Eudaimonia,
Adam
to work with me:
...to adventure deeper into kosmos, mythos, and psyche
to learn Astrology:
....to support the creation of my writings/podcasts and be showered with gifts as well
"He sees Hermes as representing a challenge to established order, a rejection of societal constraints, and a pursuit of forbidden knowledge or experiences." I agree with this idea. I think of him that way as well... and inherent in this notion is the idea of firewalls around our "forbidden" intellectual and imaginative pursuits.
Some of us are used to this slippery sleight of hand kind of mental work--those that grew up with invasive parents and such. The gift of a certain kind of trauma. As a teenager I hid my books and always listened on the phone for errant sounds that gave away a listener on another line and I could tell if my letters (remember those things that came in envelopes with stamps on them?) had been steamed open.
I think though, that you're correct, the way we learn to navigate these times will lie in our ability to own our time away from anything digital--to get lost in the mountains and forests or on the moor as the case may be, maybe with a dog-eared real paper book in hand and stub of pencil in our pocket.
“What thoughts are mine, really? If any at all?” My endless query... as is “what is under my purview? What is mine to undertake?”
I was in the air traveling from the US to Australia via an hour in Hawaii on the morning of the 19th, landing the night of the 20th. In the air for 16 hours or so, from 40,000 ft I was asking Pluto for guidance on this time, my Aquarian moon feeling neutrally curious and super spacious with what’s coming/here. I’m a seer, I see and hear a lot. I’ve been calling the future since I incarnated... this travel day was fascinating. He asked me what I saw, and I said, clouds. Well, there you have it. We have clouds, storms, clear skies, more clouds. Here is your human analog, Heather. Humans have been making clouds too, it’s no longer just ‘happening to us’ and I feel that was the teaching; entering an age where we (collectively?) will no longer deny that we are in a profound influence over, and are in deep relationship with, our Earth home (finally, sigh). A wise and living being. And our skies. And the stars... And the technology, the AI, the ‘air’ currencies will usher in both the brightest of lights and the darkest of shadows. As you say, is it time/our path to evolve beyond the biology? Be a lot easier to explore space if breathing and eating wasn’t a necessity...
Looking forward to more of your tracking and awareness building Adam.