Mercury-Uranus
Overview: Mercury-Uranus in tense alignments combines the learning, thinking, speech and writing associated with Mercury with the inventiveness, eccentricity, freedom, and spontaneity associated with Uranus.
The challenges: the thoughts (mercury) that seem to move so fast they can’t be caught (uranus). the odd or quirky (uranus) communication style (mercury).
the strengths: a tendency to communicate (Mercury) that which is funny and unexpected (uranus). the mind (Mercury) that is lightning quick and inventive (Uranus). information (Mercury) insights that suddenly appear (Uranus) as if downloaded. The tendency to talk (mercury) about freedom (uranus).
Below are examples of well-known individuals born with this combination in their natal charts (an astrological birth chart is a symbolic map of the sky at the moment of birth). Observing how this combination appears in their lives can help us recognize it in our own. The more consciously we engage with these astrological alignments—or “aspects”—the more their underlying tensions can be integrated, allowing their strengths to emerge.
Please note: the expression of this archetypal tension, as seen in the lives and work of the people below, may reflect varying levels of integration.
The Mercury-Uranus combination in the chart of the musician Bjork can be seen in the way she is known for the unique (Uranus) style and content of her speech (Mercury). In this interview we see her talking (Mercury) about technology (Uranus) in a way that demonstrates very unique and eccentric (Uranus) thought (Mercury): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2lRscaX0uI
The Mercury-Uranus combination in the chart of Franz Kafka can be seen in the writer’s career as the author (Mercury) of the strange (Uranus). His writings (Mercury) were so revolutionary (Uranus) that they are considered to have invented (Uranus) and new style of surrealist (Uranus) literature (Mercury).
The Mercury-Uranus combination can reflect a tendency to communicate (Mercury) the quirky and unexpected (Uranus) in ways that are often comical. Musician Tom Waits, born with the Mercury/Uranus combination in his natal chart, is known for the odd (Uranus) lyrics (Mercury) to his songs, as well as for his tendency to say (Mercury) oddly humorous things (Uranus), as demonstrated in this conversation with David Letterman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbKMX2vFOaQ&t=307s . A comedian born with the Mercury-Uranus combination in his birth chart is Richard Pryor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3D6Qc6uByo .
The Mercury-Uranus combination in the birth chart of parody singer Weird Al Yankovic can be seen in his tendency to take create funny and unexpected (Uranus) takes on the words (Mercury) of popular songs. Here are some examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFnAvnXduwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOfZLb33uCg
The Mercury-Uranus combination can show up as the one who is rebelious or eccentric (Uranus) through communication (Mercury). In the case of whistle blower Edward Snowden, who was born with this combination in his natal chart, we see how he rebelled (Uranus) through communicating (Mercury) about freedom of information (Mercury-Uransu). In the case of actor Jack Black, also born with this combination in his natal chart, we see the Mercury-Uranus combination showing up as the following eccentric form of communication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fogA2E-DEw
The Mercury-Uranus combination in the natal chart of comedian Steven Wright can be observed as the unexpected quirky (Uranus) turns of phrase (Mercury) in the following quotes from him:
“I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.”
“Borrow money from pessimists -- they don't expect it back.”
“99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.”
“82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.”
“All those who believe in psycho kinesis, raise my hand..”
“I almost had a psychic girlfriend, ..... But she left me before we met..”
“How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?”
“When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.”
“What happens if you get scared half to death twice?”
“Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.”
“The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.”
“If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.”