Mercury in Taurus - The Power of Language
Exploring my natal chart through the lens of my creative practice.
Last week, I wrote about some of the ways Mercury in Taurus can be expressed in a birth chart. This is a natal placement for me, joining other planetary bodies in my 11th house stellium.
Looking back over my academic and creative life, I can identify many ways this placement expressed itself in my skills, abilities, and preferences as to how to direct my energy:
I was put in a reading group by myself as early as first grade because I was already writing full sentences and illustrated stories
I always entered and did well in creative writing competitions in elementary and middle school
I aced every elementary spelling bee
In high school I was an award-winning public speaker
My AP English teacher said I wrote one of the best student papers he had ever read
In college I doubled majored in American Literature and Cultural Anthropology, focusing on modern American poetry
My college papers were selected as “model examples” by teachers and TAs multiple times
I wrote my Master’s thesis on code switching
I was a successful high school English (Special Education) teacher
These are just a few of the ways this placement has manifested in my life. I can also say that when I speak, people generally listen and trust me as an authority. I believe this is because I take great care to speak accurately and with honesty.
I can also be quite stubborn. Once I decide on my point of view I will entertain other opinions but it can be very difficult to make me change my mind. Ask any of my co-workers or loved ones who have been at the receiving end of my one-track “my way or the highway” thinking. This tendency is not helped by the fact that, because I am so careful with my words and ideas, I am usually right! Or at least, I can generally justify my position with well-reasoned logic.
I have always felt deeply the power and meaning of words. Back in the 1990s, when my conservatice classmates mocked the concept of “political correctness” as the “word police” I struggled to explain my emerging understanding that words had meaning far beyond the dictionary definition. What we said mattered. I saw how language could shape our reality, could create and color our understanding of the world.
Later, I would study semiotics and see these ideas explained in the concepts of sign and signifier. While the intricacies of grammar and the mechanics of linguistic development have always escaped me, I am enamored with the big picture concept of language as a social construct. Once we understand how language functions as a symbol, we gain a much greater ability to use it to create the impact we desire.
Which brings us back to my ability to read as a child. With this gift for language, I was always at the top of my class in academics and generally the “teacher’s pet.” I earned straight As throughout school and, while I took my schoolwork seriously, I rarely studied. I spoke at my high school graduation. I aced the SATs. I took and passed eight AP tests and took several college courses in high school, which gave me the ability to skip a whopping four quarters in the UC system and graduate with two majors in three years. I share this not to brag but to point out the tremendous advantage mastery of language allows in American culture.
You might think that I would be a published and famous author by now. But, that is one of the secrets of astrology and of the self-reflection that comes from looking at one’s natal chart in full. There are other, complementary and stronger placements that color how my Mercury in Taurus is expressed.
And yes, I have myself struggled with exactly how to use my well-recognized gifts in a way that serves not only the existing power dynamics in our society but also myself, my desires, and the dreams and goals of those less fortunate than I. For if there is one thing my 11th house stellium brings me is a deep compassion for community and for the needs of the collective. I continue to strive to synthesize my gift for language with my skills as a visual artist and my desire to assist in the positive evolution of humanity.
