“O Vipra, Mercury possesses an attractive physique and the ability to make pun or to speak works having double meaning, sense of humor. He has a blend of all three humors of Bile, Phlegm and wind (vaat).”  - BPHS Chapter 3, verse 26

Myth:

Mercury was born from the illicit coupling of the Moon and Tara, Jupiter’s wife. Jupiter had been away, studying and teaching, doing Jupiterian things, so Tara was a little bored. She became enamored of the Moon and moved in with him. When Jupiter returned, he asked, “Where is my wife?” Upon discovering that she was shacked up with the Moon, he went to retrieve her but she refused to return. This refusal began a war between the devas (gods) and asuras (demons). Brahma intervened and convinced Tara to return. To add insult to injury, she was with child and that child was Mercury. She named the child’s father as the Moon but the child was so beautiful and charming that Jupiter wanted to father it. As a result of this confusion of fatherhood and being the object of the first custody battle ever, Mercury has a tendency to ask “Who’s my Daddy?” This tendency is apparent as Mercury takes on the characteristics of the planet it is with in the horoscope. When the Moon and Mercury get together, it spells trouble.

Significations of Mercury:

Speech, communication, humor, the intellect, the rational mind, language, writing, logic, discrimination, friends, travels, messengers, business, trade, man made law, skin, lungs. Mercury is rajasic and belongs to the commercial/trade community. Mercury is also the prince, the heir apparent, again showing the importance of benefic influences upon him.