Almagest

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Mercury square Uranus

Mercury square Uranus, within one nativity or between two charts in synastry

What the tradition reads

Within a single chart Mercury square Uranus is read as a quick, very intuitive mind that requires a great deal of mental stimulation to keep from feeling bored, the tradition reading the square as friction between the wish for a settled train of thought and Uranus's own insistence on breaking it. Between two charts, this square is read as a partner who is stimulating and intriguing but can just as often throw the other off course with surprises: sources note potential incompatibility in perspectives, a real difficulty depending on one another, and communication that tends to run stressful as a result.

The story

A square is ninety degrees, a quarter of the circle, one of the four configurations Ptolemy names; Wikipedia's own summary of the aspect calls the square a hard aspect that creates a strong and usable tension requiring adjustment or a decision, and Ptolemy calls it, together with the opposition, discordant. Hermes is credited with inventing the lyre, built from a tortoise shell on a sudden, unasked for inspiration rather than through any careful plan; named for the primordial sky Ouranos, born of Gaia herself before their union produced the Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hundred Handed Ones, one generation of new beings after another, Uranus carries into this pairing an old and prolific kind of invention the tradition keeps. Set at this harder angle, the herald's own wish to carry a message cleanly runs against Uranus's own insistence on breaking the pattern that message was built on, invention arriving faster than the ordinary channels of speech are ready to carry it.

Written from

Corpus key aspect:Mercury:Uranus:square.