What Traditional Astrology Says About Intelligence

Of the Native’s Understanding

Although much of the native’s understanding is included in the judgment of his manners, it may still be discovered more particularly by the following rules.

If Mercury and the Moon are well placed in a nativity, it is a sign of a strong and fruitful understanding. Likewise, if they are in reception, and behold one another by sextile or trine, the native will have excellent wit and judgment. But if they are ill placed, the contrary may be expected.

For reason, judgment, and imagination
Proceed from Mercury’s configuration
With pale-faced Luna: he the brain and soul
Does govern; she, the body does control.

If Mercury is in an airy sign, and aspects the Moon, or beholds the Ascendant or its lord, it produces a most excellent understanding.

If Mercury is weaker than the Moon in any nativity, and is placed in obedient signs, the native is usually excessive, irrational, and brutish; his passions overpower his reason.

But if Mercury is stronger than the Moon, and is placed in commanding signs, then the native’s understanding and reason will master his unruly passions.

Mercury also in good aspect to the lord of the ninth house gives the native a curious, searching, and inquisitive mind.

Arguments of a Good Understanding

1. Mercury in Gemini or Virgo gives a good understanding. The native who has Mercury so placed shall have admirable judgment.
2. When Mercury is in conjunction, sextile, or trine with the Moon, and neither Mercury nor the Moon is cadent, combust, or retrograde, the native is ingenious.
3. Mercury in Aquarius, free from impediment, and joined with the North Node, gives an understanding capable of learning almost anything. It makes the native admirable in the study and invention of new things.
4. Mercury with Jupiter or Venus in airy signs produces an excellent mind, and a fancy capable of many things.
5. Mercury in Aries, in reception with Mars, gives a subtle and sharp wit, and a piercing understanding.
6. When Mercury is under the earth, the native is inclined to arts and sciences. But when Mercury is above the earth, the native is more inclined to oratory and public speaking.
7. If Mercury is swift in motion, the native has a quick and piercing apprehension. Yet he is often unstable, and changes his opinions frequently.
8. The Moon with either of her Nodes shows a good understanding. It makes the native active and inclined to any science, especially if the Moon is increasing in light and motion.
9. If Mercury is in an angle, and free from the harmful rays of Saturn or Mars, especially if he is in the Ascendant, the native is sharp and witty, a good linguist, and able to learn many languages.
10. Mercury in conjunction with Saturn, when Saturn is well dignified, makes the native solid, grave, and serious, with profound judgment and a deep understanding.
11. Mercury with Jupiter, when well placed, gives the native incomparable judgment. Such a person usually proves to be learned, honest, and upright.
12. Mercury with Mars, when well seated, gives a quick understanding and great confidence. The native becomes a good disputant, an admirable defender of any matter, and a bold writer or speaker.
13. Mercury with Venus, when well placed, gives an ingenious understanding in every praiseworthy thing. The native has admirable conceptions, wonderful eloquence, and is often inclined to poetry.
14. The more fortified Mercury is, the greater the native’s understanding will be, and the more excellent his thoughts and conceptions. Also observe what Mercury signifies when joined to any of the planets, if those planets are well fortified. For Mercury signifies much the same when he is in sextile or trine with them, provided he is well placed in the nativity.

Arguments of a Dull and Weak Understanding

1. If the Moon is in opposition to Mercury from angles, it shows the native to have a very dull, stubborn, turbulent, and distracted wit.
2. If the Moon and Mercury are in square, the native has a rough, unpolished, and poorly formed understanding.
3. When Mercury is peregrine and in detriment, the native has a rebellious and disorderly wit. He is rash, headstrong, impudent, and careless in behaviour.
4. If Mercury is retrograde or combust in Taurus or Capricorn, and placed in the twelfth, sixth, or eighth house, and has no aspect to the Moon or the lord of the Ascendant, the native has a simple, raw, and rude understanding.
5. If Mercury is slow in motion and in the Via Combusta, which extends from 15 degrees Libra to 15 degrees Scorpio, the native has poor judgment and weak conception. His speech is unsettled and fluttering, his wit is troublesome and impertinent, and he is given to meddling with small and needless matters.
6. If Mercury is occidental and has no aspect to the Moon or to the fortunate planets, the native is a cunning and secret dissembler.
7. When Mercury is cadent, combust, slow in motion, and afflicted by Saturn or Mars, the native is very dull in understanding.
8. If Mercury is in Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces, and has no configuration with Jupiter or Venus, the native is extremely foolish and lacking in judgment.
9. Mercury in square or opposition to Mars shows the native to have a cruel, destructive, and malicious wit and understanding.

And this shall suffice for judging the understanding of any native, whether it be good or evil.

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