Floris and Mercury

Floris, 1st century Roman wall painting

“Overhead the planet Mercury has just made its inferior conjunction with the Sun (Monday, May 1, 2023). At inferior conjunction Mercury is still in its retrograde motion, and slowing down. And even though it’s unusual to think of Mercury, the fleet footed messenger of the gods, in a mood of slowness and stillness, that’s the planet’s gesture this week.

In classical mythology, Mercury is in love with Floris, the flower nymph who has the task of scattering rose petals in the path of the rising Sun. To capture her, Mercury positions himself in the shadow of the dawn, where he tosses the net of Vulcan over the sunrise spot, and awaits the beloved. You can almost imagine him whispering to himself the words of TS Eliot from his “Four Quartets”: I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing. Because, how else catch the beloved as she fleets by like a quickening veil lifted by the dawn?

This is how the week begins, in the mood of waiting and anticipation. “

Excerpted from Mary Stewart Adams - https://mailchi.mp/storytellersnightsky/december-events-12234453?e=0522c907db