When you look on your natal chart for potential careers and how successful you might be, you may find planets placed in the 2nd, 6th, or 10th houses or aspects with your Midheaven. Planets in these vocational sectors are the strongest career factors, and usually one or two of these planets will be the dominant influence. One important consideration for determining which planets are dominant is to measure how strong each of them is.

Let’s see what it means to have a dominant planet:

  1. If it’s conjunct the Midheaven (MC) within 10°, the 10th or 9th house.
  2. If it’s one of the highest score*.
  3. If it’s square, trine, or opposite the MC.
  4. If it’s one of the most aspected planets in the chart.
  5. If it’s in a career-oriented earth sign — Taurus, Virgo, or Capricorn.

Let’s suppose that the MERCURY is your dominant planet due to career path.

If Mercury is in a career sector and high-scoring, you may be a Mercurial type. You likely excel at communication, learning, thinking, writing, or manual dexterity. Depending on Mercury’s sign, house, and aspects to other planets, you can focus on communication and on forming a network of connected individuals.

The potentials that the MERCURY at its best can bring to your career:

  • Good communication skills can aid the career and lend humour and fresh ideas.
  • The ability to learn quickly, be adaptable, and readily transfer skills from one task to another.
  • An agile mind, curious and eager to learn more and share knowledge.

Possible deficits to overcome:

  • Restless, easily bored, and attention wanders and switches to outside interests.
  • Too much talk and less actions, may not keeping the promises.
  • Restless nervous system, tendency to get wired and have trouble resting or meditating.

The MERCURY’s possible constructive traits: communicative, fast learner, full of ideas, articulate, bright, adaptable, versatile, clever, imaginative, humorous, trendy, well-informed, curious, persuasive.

The MERCURY’s possible difficult traits: distractible, fidgety, changeable, restless, overly cerebral, faddish, fickle, superficial, nosy, gossipy, untruthful; know-it-all, Internet addict.

Solutions to Fix difficult traits for the MERCURY:

  • To calm the nervous system, low carb diet and intermittent fasting (two meals daily) with no snacks between the meals.
  • Take a vitamin B complex or the homeopathic remedy
  • Do something that’s grounded in the earth – a practical activity

*) Score to define MERCURY as dominant in natal chart:

10 points for Mercury conjunct the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, or Midheaven,

5 points for Mercury conjunct, square, trine, or opposite the other planets,

2 points for Mercury in minor aspect (sextile, semi sextile, semi square or other) to the Sun, Moon, Ascendant, Midheaven, or other planets,

5 points for Mercury as a part of major configuration like a stellium, T-square, or Grand Trine.

10 points for Mercury in Gemini or Virgo,

10 points for Ascendant in Gemini or Virgo,

5 points for Sun, Moon, or Midheaven in Gemini or Virgo,

3 points for other planets in Gemini or Virgo,

5 points for Mercury in the 3rd or 6th house,

5 points for Sun or Moon in the 3rd or 6th house,

3 points for other planets in the 3rd or 6th house.

Add 2-5 points for each other factor you consider important, such as Mercury aspects to the nodes or having a Node or Part of Fortune in Gemini, Virgo, or in the 3rd or 6th house.

Mercury’s orbs: Up to 8° for a conjunction or opposition, 6° for a square or trine, 3° for the minor aspects like sextiles, semisextiles, semisquares, quintiles, and sesquiquadrates. For planets conjunct within a stellium, extend the orb to 10°. The other exception would be a conjunction to the Midheaven or Ascendant, that is 10°.

Score: 0-15 low, 16-25 moderate. 26-40 strong! You are too restless! Over 50 – You are from another planet!

Next month I will write about MERCURY as a dominant planet in your career path.

Monica Lazăr

Astrologer