Mercury and Pallas are very different planetary bodies, and they differ in their astrological significance as well. Mercury is a planet after all, and Pallas an asteroid. Mercury’s orbit is quite short, just 88 days, where the orbit of Pallas is 1686 days. In the astrological pantheon, planets are given primary importance with asteroids relegated to a minor role – they add details and color to the basic energies that the planets describe.
But Mercury and Pallas share an affinity for the mental realm – they both are concerned with learning and understanding. Mercury is the messenger god, and astrologically Mercury symbolizes the mind, mental function, the desire to learn and communicate, travel short distances, and run equipment. Pallas (Athena) was born out of the head of Zeus, and symbolizes the kind of divine intelligence which is not dependent upon the limited mind or what can be learned.
Both Mercury and Pallas are androgynous in nature. Mercury is a shapeshifter and is able to move smoothly between worlds; in his mythology he was the only god who was allowed to travel into the underworld of Pluto’s realm. Pallas, though female, was born of no woman or man – she sprang fully formed out of the head of the king of the gods – his own creation, as it were. I have observed that individuals who perceive themselves as transgendered often have a prominent Pallas in their charts. In mythology, Athena is sometimes called Pallas which means “young woman” – she was the “young woman of Athens. Athena had many different roles including that of Athena Nike, the victor, but it’s as Pallas that she expresses creative wisdom rather than warfare.
Mercury and Pallas will be traveling together in Scorpio over the next few weeks. During this period the limited mind of Mercury will be better able to absorb the divine intelligence and wisdom of Pallas, especially since the Scorpio influence deepens our desire to know and understand at the deepest level. This is an ideal time for spiritual study as our ability to connect our higher intelligence to our own mental function will be enhanced.
The first exact conjunction will be October 21, 2019, although the energy of the conjunction will be building for a few days before. Venus, planet of love and beauty, will transit Pallas on the 29th and then Mercury on the 30th. The trio of Venus, Pallas and Mercury will heighten our sensitivity to beauty and add a harmonic appreciation for all lovely things in our lives, but also make any dissonance feel more uncomfortable. This is a wonderful time for creatives of all kinds.
Mercury turns retrograde on October 31, and returns to a conjunction with Pallas on November 2 as it retrogrades back through Scorpio. The final phase of the Mercury/Pallas dance will occur on December 21st, with both planets in Sagittarius. After exploring the deep realms of truth in Scorpio, Sagittarius seeks greater understanding and how better to accomplish that than under the tutelage of Mercury and Pallas!
This is not a particularly powerful alignment, not the kind that will hit you over the head with its intensity. But it does open up portals of wisdom, knowledge, and higher understanding for those of us who remember to listen.
I have a line-up of Mercury, Pallas, Venus and Pluto conjunct in Virgo (all sextile Jupiter and Neptune in Scorpio). Thanks for this write-up on Pallas and Mercury in transit. I guess when you live with certain aspects you don’t always see them because it’s the air you breathe (water you swim in for water signs? path you walk for earth signs?!), so it’s interesting to read something insightful about them.