Mercury in Scorpio: The Hound of Hell (Concentrate)

Steph Verschuren

In air signs, Mercury is concerned with bridging the gap between self and other.

In earth signs, Mercury becomes an alchemizer, taking great pleasure in making an idea into something tangible in the actual, physical world.

In fire signs, the powers of Mercury are used to shine light on one’s inner world, making that inner world quite visible.

But in water signs, Mercury often takes a more internal approach to ‘navigating worlds', exploring the boundaries between the conscious and unconscious minds, and tuning into subtle currents between us.

Mercury in Scorpio lives in those subtle undercurrents, and keeps a tight hold on what stays in the underworld and what they allow to ooze into the visible world.

What does Mercury represent in astrology?

Mythologically, Mercury was the god that brought souls to the underworld and could still return to the visible world unscathed. Mercury was, among other things, a transporter and a navigator of boundaries. In astrology, Mercury acts as a bridge between our inner world (the underworld) and the outer world/other people (the world above ground) and between the unconscious mind (the underworld) and the conscious mind (the visible world). Mercury is a joker, a trickster, a knave.

Mercury in Scorpio

Scorpio is a fixed sign, and Mercury is, by nature, unfixed; it’s about crossing between worlds and being in flux. To have Mercury in a fixed sign is almost an oxymoron. It can be strangely challenging for people with Mercury in Scorpio to concentrate their mental energy, to focus on one thing or on the long game in the way that all fixed signs (and especially Scorpios) are inclined to.

However, Scorpio Mercury does come with a rather fixed mindset. Think about the (contested) idea that water stores “memories” of things it has touched: as a fixed water sign, Scorpio really remembers. Mercury in Scorpio is a placement that remembers like a fossil, recalling everything that has ever occurred like it just happened today. It can be very difficult for them to forget the past or change a thought pattern. Once those Scorpionic emotions are stimulated, the mind becomes a bear trap; an iron jaw locked shut around a feeling or a thought. They do not let go of a thought or perspective easily.

In a sense, people with Mercury in Scorpio are natural guardians of the underworld, like the mythological Cerberus, the multi-headed dog that was said to guard the gates of hell, preventing the dead from leaving. While Mercury itself is about crossing boundaries and building bridges, this is a Mercury sign that instead aims to keep, block, and protect; rather than building a bridge, it guards the exit.

Peter Paul Rubens, Hercules and Cerberus, 1636

It’s their fixed nature that makes Scorpio Mercury so all-or-nothing. This is a sign in which Mercury doesn’t smoothly navigate the boundaries between inner world and outer world, self and other, connection and separation, conscious and unconscious, communication and silence. Either you’re all the way in, or all the way out and fluctuation is rare and clunky. These boundaries are all lined with barbed wire, and they tend to spend most of their time on one side of it or the other. They are very particular about their friends, too. They are constantly analyzing whether someone should be allowed behind that barbed wire fence. Despite what they may think, when Scorpio Mercury is paired with Scorpio sun, it’s obvious that the barbed wire fence is there. But when dealing with a Scorpio Mercury with Sagittarius sun or Libra sun, others may not know there even is a fence. They think that they’re getting the whole picture, but they are not.

There are many different “types” of Scorpio Mercury people out there. Some people with Mercury in Scorpio talk a lot; some talk very little. Some are rarely harsh; some are very abrasive. Some are stuck in the past; some remember but have little attachment to it. Some are open about their inner world; some are very closed off. There are few constants throughout the many expressions of this placement but the sense that communication is a sort of minefield. What they all have in common is a tendency to use words as a form of defense. All types of Mercury in Scorpio are tuned into subtleties, too; the quiet acts of war, the slight changes in energy between people, body language and more.

People with Mercury in Scorpio like to control the conversation. For some, this means that they will always jump to steering the conversation to what they enjoy or are comfortable talking about, or investigate those around them by holding a floodlight tightly in their scorpion claws and shining it onto them, thereby keeping the light off of themselves and out of their own psyche.

For other Scorpio Mercuries, “controlling” the conversation is less overt and more about what is not said — what is outright withheld, and what is “sensed.” They will let other people talk and talk as they simply listen and collect information. Many people delight in what a great listener this type of Scorpio Mercury is (they truly are!). In many long relationships, though, sometime down the line, perhaps not until after the dissolution of the relationship, the friends and lovers of this type of Scorpio Mercury sometimes realize that they never actually knew who their Mercury in Scorpio friend was. And in retrospect, this can feel strangely deceiving.

Mercury in Scorpio is not afraid to talk about or listen to things that others may find difficult to stomach. They are brave with where they will allow their mind and mouth to go, and are unfazed by the more shadowy parts of other people. Scorpio Mercuries love people who are a little bit bold in their conversational style, who can talk about discomfort, the past and sometimes even trauma very casually, and who are not afraid to say what others shy away from. People who are not so comfortable talking about the more unpleasant parts of life may find it difficult to casually connect with people who have Mercury in Scorpio.

All this being said, one of the biggest errors people make when describing Mercury in Scorpio is painting them with an all-black brush. Yes, they may be psychically tuned into the “uncomfortable” parts of life, but like all water placements, Scorpio Mercury loves to use humor as a sort of propeller that keeps them moving forward. Remember, Mercury is a joker, a sort of imp that loves to play games and practical jokes, and that Mercurial nature is expressed through the lens of the sign it is in. Mercury in Scorpio people love to joke and make people laugh.

People with Mercury in Scorpio also really enjoy talking about and quoting movies and TV shows, both for comedic value and other reasons. This may be related to how much is communicated through body language, silence, metaphor, and what is unsaid in film. Scorpio Mercury’s passion for music is also interesting, particularly because this placement is a Cerberus of sorts, and in a myth, Cerberus was lulled to sleep by Orpheus’ music. Perhaps music brings this placement a sense of peace that is hard to come by at the gate to the underworld.

Concentrate

People with Mercury in Scorpio remind me a bit of that creepy childhood game called Concentrate that is supposed to tell you how you’re going to die. The game is played by two people. One person faces the other’s back, and recites a creepy poem while performing certain hand motions on the other person’s back. This is the poem:

(Every time you say this, you pound lightly on the person's back with both fists.)

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

People are dying. Children are crying.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

(Verse 1: Tap the person on the top of their head with your fist and run your hands down both sides of their head)

Crack an egg on your head.

Let the yolk run down. Let the yolk run down.

Crack an egg on your head.

Let the yolk run down. Let the yolk run down.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

People are dying. Children are crying.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

(Verse 2: Twist your hands on their shoulders and then run your hands down their arms)

Squeeze an orange on your shoulder.

Let the juice drip down. Let the juice drip down.

Squeeze an orange on your shoulder.

Let the juice drip down. Let the juice drip down.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

People are dying. Children are crying.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

(Verse 3: Poke them in their sides with all your fingers, then run your hands down their sides)

Stick ten needles in your sides.

Let the blood drip down. Let the blood drip down.

Stick ten needles in your sides.

Let the blood drip down. Let the blood drip down.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

People are dying. Children are crying.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

(Verse 4: Tap them on the back with your fist, then run your hands down their back)

Stab a knife in your back.

Let the blood drip down. Let the blood drip down.

Stab a knife in your back.

Let the blood drip down. Let the blood drip down.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

People are dying. Children are crying.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Concentrate on what I'm saying.

(Verse 5: Mime wrapping a rope around their neck and then pull the imaginary rope. The person's head should move back as if they are being hung.)

Wrap a rope around your neck.

Wrap it till it's tight.

Wrap a rope around your neck.

And... PULL!

(Hold the person by their arms. Whisper in their ear)

You're standing on a building.

You're out on the ledge.

You're feeling very dizzy

and you're close to the edge.

and someone... PUSHES YOU!

You push them, just enough to make them tip forward and regain their balance. Then you tell them to open their eyes and ask them what color they saw. The color they see when they open their eyes represents how they will die.

Red means they are going to be stabbed.

Blue means they will drown in water.

Yellow means they will be poisoned.

Orange means they will burn to death in a fire.

Green means they will fall from a height and die on grass.

Purple means they will suffocate.

Brown means they will be buried alive.

Grey means they will die of a disease in hospital.

White means they will die of old age and go to heaven.

Black means they will die of old age and go to hell.

That is a Scorpio Mercury sort of game. ;)