When Mercury Crosses the Sun: A Tarot Exercise

This week, on May 9th, we had a rare astronomical event. Mercury crossed in front of the sun.

For a look at the astrological impact of this event, see what Astrology King has to say.

I am much more a tarotist than an astrologer.

When I heard that Mercury crossed the Sun, all I could think was, “Hmmm, what a powerful reading that would be!”

Often, we create tarot spreads to perform in celebration or commemoration of holidays and special events.

This Mercury transit across the Sun made me think of another sort of tarot exercise; not a spread, but a configuration.

This configuration could be a reading, or a lesson, for the whole planet this week, and for each person on the planet.

Mercury crossing the Sun, for me, translates into tarot like this.

The Sun, Major Arcana 19, is the card that represents what is currently happening, or the energy that is currently available to us.

Mercury, for me, is the Magician, Major Arcana 1. That’s because Mercury is attributed to the Magician in a prominent system of tarot’s astrological associations.

The “As Above, So Below” arm gesture of the Magician calls to mind Hermes, who is conflated with Mercury.

As a crossing card in this configuration, the Magician represents the challenge or obstacle.

The Sun is the energy that we have available to us, the Magician is the thing we have to overcome to utilize that energy to its fullest.

Since this Mercury transit across the Sun is planetary event, we could say that, for just a moment this week, these two tarot cards, in this configuration, are pertinent to each of us.

The question is, how will you interpret them in your life?

What do you think they say to our planet as a whole?