Mercury

Symbols of the moon and the sun, water and fire

May 22nd 2024

If you look at the glyph of Mercury, you will notice that the symbols of the Sun and Moon are placed in an unusual position. In principle, as the Sephirotic Tree shows, the Sun is above the Moon – Tiphareth is above Yesod – and in the hierarchy of the elements, fire is above water. Here, on the contrary, the Sun is below the Moon. Why is this? In order to heat it, to exalt it.
The respective places of Sun and Moon correspond to a cosmic phenomenon, which you will understand more readily if I tell you that it is reproduced in our everyday lives each time you put a kettle of water on the fire to boil. As the water boils it is transformed into steam, which is sometimes strong enough to lift the lid.* Fire transforms water into a driving force. Fire represents the masculine principle, and water the feminine principle. So, when the masculine principle acts upon the feminine principle, it produces a force, and Initiates know how to use this force to travel through space. In a human being, the masculine principle is the spirit and the feminine principle is the soul, and when a person’s soul, exalted by the spirit, travels through space, that person becomes the perfect incarnation of the symbol of Mercury. This same idea is expressed in Greek mythology, in which the god Hermes (Mercury) is able to fly, thanks to the wings at his heels.
* Related reading:

As we get used to observing and listening to nature, we come into contact with the soul of the different kingdoms and elements, such as that of water and fire. Water is the symbol of the raw material, the matrix of life, and this life came out of the water thanks to the principle of fire, symbol...