the mercurial magician & expanding our capacity for joy

hello, friends. i don't write about astrology much here anymore. i also don't share much about my own personal spiritual practices, generally preferring to keep my rituals and habits private.

but the world is so heavy, and so many of us are struggling to keep ourselves upright, drowning in grief, scrambling for stability. and given my deep love for mercury, my chart ruler and beloved constant source of inspiration, it only feels right to offer a bit about my understanding of this quick, clever, elusive planet — and the ways that this energy shows up in the tarot.

if i'm being super honest, the astrological tarot correspondences made popular by the order of the golden dawn are hit or miss for me. some deeply resonate, some are fine, and some feel like a bit of a stretch. but i've always loved the association of the magician archetype, card number one, with mercury: both planet and deity. for me, as a non-astrologer who knows just enough about astrology to be chaotic, this correspondence feels delicious, apt, and always worth deeper exploration.

mercury is the planet of communication, travel, information: the messenger, the trickster, the rogue. clever, sneaky, and already ten steps ahead of you. quick, transient, liminal, playful, and unexpected.

in other words, mercury is...
yes, and...
what if...
let's try...
tell me about...
imagine that...
i bet we could...
pass me that...
somebody one told me...

(sorry about that last one.) mercury is eager to imagine, to consider, to explore, to experiment. mercury is curious, and resourceful, and fluid, and courageous. mercury is open to new ideas, to different possibilities, to things that have never been seen or done or even thought about before. mercury is also very willing to fuck shit up, especially if it means we might hear something or learn something or accidentally stumble through an unexpected door.

and the thing is, so is the magician.

the magician isn't trying to recreate or replicate something that's already been proven successful. the magician isn't interested in what already works, what is already known. instead the magician wants to dream up something brand new, something unexpected, something strange and wondrous. the magician wants to show the haters that saying no to a mere idea is bullshit, that anything is possible if you get creative, that ruling things out before even trying them is pretty boring. and the magician is brimming with anticipation, eager for whatever magic gets stirred up and activated by all of this exploration, ready to see what happens next.

the magician is a rebel, a weirdo, a dreamer with too much charm by half. and mercury is a psychopomp, a trickster, deeply rational but also a silly little guy. they're one and the same: an androgynous illusionist who's never where you think they are, who's smarter than you, who will say something out of pocket that you realize ten minutes later is utterly brilliant.

this energy is both playful and profound: truths emerging in strange places, an off-hand comment that rearranges your entire brain, spilled coffee that reminds you of your favorite song. it's wisdom and nonsense; unexpected connections and irreverent overflow; intellectual trap doors and now you see it, now you don't.

mercury and the magician both want you to question and interrogate, to analyze and uncover. this energy doesn't take anything at face value, is always looking for another angle. working with mercury and the magician can teach you to see things completely differently: to open your mind to possibility, to challenge half-baked ideas and overly rigid structures, to dream bigger than you ever thought possible.

and in our current grief-stricken world, filled with crumbling empires and institutions that do more harm than good, dreaming is more important than ever. andrea gibson writes that there is magic and joy in choosing curiosity over certainty. and i couldn't agree more: it's so easy to get caught within existing systems, and so brave and wise and joyful to let ourselves question instead.

whenever i feel stuck, trapped, uncertain, or lost, i turn to mercury. this is an energy of slipping through cracks, asking strange questions, discovering hidden treasures, challenging old assumptions, learning new methods, and traveling to mysterious places. and while i often connect to this energy through writing, research, laughter, play, wandering outside, or praying with my coffee, i also love to work with the magician archetype as a guide and companion, someone who challenges and pushes me to try something different.

the magician has so many tools and resources at their disposal, but perhaps their most valuable assets are confidence, courage, and imagination. when we start to see our wild world through their kaleidoscope eyes, we glimpse possibility everywhere. we learn to look past restrictive structures and imaginary limits, to challenge the binaries and boxes that we've previously lived within. we expand our own capacity for seeing options, for tapping into resources, for holding joy.

and we see ourselves not as helpless bystanders, but instead as powerful, well-resourced magicians in our own right.

if you could use some of this innovative, playful, bold, courageous, initiation energy in your own life; if you're sick of feeling like your options are limited or like joy is forbidden; if you're craving possibility and magic and the surefire knowledge that you can do any goddamn thing you want, magician's lens is all about bringing mercurial, alchemical energy to your daily life through play, discovery, and mystery.

not sure what the magician might have to teach you? grab your deck, pull out the magician card, and consider the ways that mercury and the magician overlap. how might stepping into this energy and learning to see the world through the mercurial magician's eyes change your perspective? shuffle the rest of the deck and pull one card for each position in this spread:

card one: a big discovery you might make. something important, something unexpected, something fantastical that might be revealed. what might you learn?

card two: a bold change you might make. something evocative, something empowering, something transformative that you might be open to. what might you try?

card three: a magical journey you might begin. something joyful, something expansive, something brilliant that you might initiate. what first step might you take?

magician's lens begins on october 26th, and includes six weeks of immersive, sensory, imagination-oriented activities, exercises, and questions to change the way you see yourself and your world. all you need is a tarot deck, an open mind, and the ability to say yes, and.

what will you see? what will you discover? let's find out together.

and if the magician doesn't feel like the right archetype for in this particular moment; if there's another major arcana card that you'd find more supportive to embody right now, check out my upcoming archetypes medicine lecture, and other grief resources for personal support.