Mercury in Capricorn
Mercury in Capricorn is the planner. You think in steps and consequences, speak plainly and rarely waste a sentence, and trust what has been tested over what merely sounds clever.
Everyone else is excited about the idea, and you, quietly, are asking who will do it, by when, and with what money.
Step by step
Mercury in Capricorn thinks the way a builder does: foundations first. You see how a plan breaks down into tasks, which task has to come before which, and where it will go over budget. Long projects suit you. You can hold a goal in view for years and make steady progress toward it while cleverer, quicker people start and drop three other things.
You learn slowly and thoroughly, and what you learn is usable. You are not interested in a theory until you know what it is for.
Dry wit
People who only know you from meetings think you are serious, and you are. Friends who have known you longer know about the humour: dry, exact, delivered with a straight face, usually at the expense of whoever is taking themselves too seriously. It arrives late in the conversation and it is usually the line people repeat afterwards.
The merchants’ god
Hermes was the god of merchants and roads as well as words, and in Capricorn the merchant wins. Your mind likes a ledger that balances, a timetable that holds, a promise with a date on it. It can climb, patiently, to a result, and it can go down into a heavy subject without drowning in it.
Saturn rules Capricorn, and some of Saturn’s caution is in your thinking. You would rather say nothing than something foolish, and you take your time before you trust a new idea, or a new person’s account of an old one.
The weight of it
The shadow is pessimism dressed as realism. You see every way a plan can fail and say so, and some days that is wisdom and some days it is simply fear. You are hard on other people’s mistakes because you are so hard on your own, and it escapes you that your careful silence reads, to others, as disapproval.
When the plan does work, and it usually does, nobody is surprised, and nobody quite realises that it worked because you had already thought through the things that could have gone wrong.
Were you born with Mercury in Capricorn?
Mercury comes to Capricorn every year and stays about three weeks, or as long as two months when it turns retrograde there.
Mercury’s every stay in Capricorn from 1920 to 2030, from the minute it entered to the minute it left, in Universal Time (UTC). Born on a first or last day? Then the hour and the place decide it, and your chart settles it.
1920s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 8, 1920, 5:55 a.m. | January 27, 1920, 1:49 p.m. |
| December 31, 1920, 11:22 a.m. | January 19, 1921, 2:28 a.m. |
| December 24, 1921, 6:44 a.m. | January 11, 1922, 4:58 p.m. |
| December 17, 1922, 12:27 a.m. | January 4, 1923, 11:40 p.m. |
| February 6, 1923, 3:36 p.m. | February 13, 1923, 11:23 p.m. |
| December 10, 1923, 12:18 a.m. | February 14, 1924, 3:17 a.m. |
| December 2, 1924, 11:41 p.m. | December 31, 1924, 3:52 p.m. |
| January 14, 1925, 7:15 a.m. | February 7, 1925, 8:12 a.m. |
| January 11, 1926, 7:27 a.m. | January 31, 1926, 10:05 a.m. |
| January 5, 1927, 1:58 a.m. | January 24, 1927, 1:13 a.m. |
| December 29, 1927, 1:48 a.m. | January 16, 1928, 1:35 p.m. |
| December 20, 1928, 7:37 p.m. | January 8, 1929, 8:08 a.m. |
| December 13, 1929, 2:42 p.m. | January 2, 1930, 10:25 a.m. |
1930s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 23, 1930, 12:30 a.m. | February 15, 1930, 3:08 p.m. |
| December 6, 1930, 8:57 p.m. | February 11, 1931, 12:27 p.m. |
| December 2, 1931, 12:00 a.m. | December 20, 1931, 7:59 a.m. |
| January 14, 1932, 12:47 p.m. | February 5, 1932, 2:36 a.m. |
| January 8, 1933, 10:25 a.m. | January 27, 1933, 10:39 p.m. |
| January 1, 1934, 6:40 p.m. | January 20, 1934, 11:44 a.m. |
| December 25, 1934, 2:59 p.m. | January 13, 1935, 1:20 a.m. |
| December 18, 1935, 8:29 a.m. | January 6, 1936, 3:32 a.m. |
| December 10, 1936, 6:40 a.m. | January 1, 1937, 4:41 p.m. |
| January 9, 1937, 9:29 p.m. | February 14, 1937, 12:26 a.m. |
| December 3, 1937, 11:51 p.m. | January 6, 1938, 9:37 p.m. |
| January 12, 1938, 10:30 p.m. | February 8, 1938, 1:17 p.m. |
| January 12, 1939, 7:57 a.m. | February 1, 1939, 5:57 p.m. |
1940s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 6, 1940, 7:56 a.m. | January 25, 1940, 10:14 a.m. |
| December 29, 1940, 9:35 a.m. | January 16, 1941, 10:36 p.m. |
| December 22, 1941, 3:54 a.m. | January 9, 1942, 3:24 p.m. |
| December 14, 1942, 10:21 p.m. | January 3, 1943, 8:27 a.m. |
| January 27, 1943, 11:42 p.m. | February 15, 1943, 7:00 p.m. |
| December 8, 1943, 1:47 a.m. | February 12, 1944, 2:17 p.m. |
| December 1, 1944, 3:31 p.m. | December 23, 1944, 11:21 p.m. |
| January 14, 1945, 3:04 a.m. | February 5, 1945, 9:20 a.m. |
| January 9, 1946, 2:10 p.m. | January 29, 1946, 7:22 a.m. |
| January 3, 1947, 1:46 a.m. | January 21, 1947, 9:06 p.m. |
| December 26, 1947, 11:17 p.m. | January 14, 1948, 10:06 a.m. |
| December 18, 1948, 4:46 p.m. | January 6, 1949, 8:52 a.m. |
| December 11, 1949, 1:37 p.m. | January 1, 1950, 12:39 p.m. |
1950s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 15, 1950, 7:35 a.m. | February 14, 1950, 7:12 p.m. |
| December 5, 1950, 1:57 a.m. | February 9, 1951, 5:50 p.m. |
| December 1, 1951, 8:40 p.m. | December 12, 1951, 12:40 p.m. |
| January 13, 1952, 6:44 a.m. | February 3, 1952, 1:38 a.m. |
| January 6, 1953, 1:24 p.m. | January 25, 1953, 7:10 p.m. |
| December 30, 1953, 5:14 p.m. | January 18, 1954, 7:43 a.m. |
| December 23, 1954, 12:10 p.m. | January 10, 1955, 11:05 p.m. |
| December 16, 1955, 6:07 a.m. | January 4, 1956, 9:16 a.m. |
| February 2, 1956, 12:18 p.m. | February 15, 1956, 6:34 a.m. |
| December 8, 1956, 7:11 a.m. | February 12, 1957, 2:30 p.m. |
| December 2, 1957, 11:19 a.m. | December 28, 1957, 5:30 p.m. |
| January 14, 1958, 10:03 a.m. | February 6, 1958, 3:21 p.m. |
| January 10, 1959, 4:47 p.m. | January 30, 1959, 3:41 p.m. |
1960s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 4, 1960, 8:24 a.m. | January 23, 1960, 6:16 a.m. |
| December 27, 1960, 7:21 a.m. | January 14, 1961, 6:59 p.m. |
| December 20, 1961, 1:04 a.m. | January 7, 1962, 3:08 p.m. |
| December 12, 1962, 8:51 p.m. | January 2, 1963, 1:10 a.m. |
| January 20, 1963, 4:59 a.m. | February 15, 1963, 10:08 a.m. |
| December 6, 1963, 5:17 a.m. | February 10, 1964, 9:30 p.m. |
| November 30, 1964, 7:30 p.m. | December 16, 1964, 2:31 p.m. |
| January 13, 1965, 3:12 a.m. | February 3, 1965, 9:02 a.m. |
| January 7, 1966, 6:26 p.m. | January 27, 1966, 4:09 a.m. |
| January 1, 1967, 12:52 a.m. | January 19, 1967, 5:05 p.m. |
| December 24, 1967, 8:33 p.m. | January 12, 1968, 7:19 a.m. |
| December 16, 1968, 2:11 p.m. | January 4, 1969, 12:18 p.m. |
| December 9, 1969, 1:21 p.m. | January 4, 1970, 4:20 a.m. |
1970s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 4, 1970, 11:59 a.m. | February 13, 1970, 1:08 p.m. |
| December 3, 1970, 10:14 a.m. | January 2, 1971, 11:36 p.m. |
| January 14, 1971, 2:16 a.m. | February 7, 1971, 8:51 p.m. |
| January 11, 1972, 6:17 p.m. | January 31, 1972, 11:46 p.m. |
| January 4, 1973, 2:41 p.m. | January 23, 1973, 3:23 p.m. |
| December 28, 1973, 3:14 p.m. | January 16, 1974, 3:56 a.m. |
| December 21, 1974, 9:16 a.m. | January 8, 1975, 9:58 p.m. |
| December 14, 1975, 4:09 a.m. | January 2, 1976, 8:22 p.m. |
| January 25, 1976, 1:31 a.m. | February 15, 1976, 7:02 p.m. |
| December 6, 1976, 9:24 a.m. | February 10, 1977, 11:55 p.m. |
| December 1, 1977, 6:43 a.m. | December 21, 1977, 7:19 a.m. |
| January 13, 1978, 8:07 p.m. | February 4, 1978, 3:54 p.m. |
| January 8, 1979, 10:33 p.m. | January 28, 1979, 12:49 p.m. |
1980s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| January 2, 1980, 8:03 a.m. | January 21, 1980, 2:18 a.m. |
| December 25, 1980, 4:46 a.m. | January 12, 1981, 3:48 p.m. |
| December 17, 1981, 10:20 p.m. | January 5, 1982, 4:49 p.m. |
| December 10, 1982, 8:04 p.m. | January 1, 1983, 1:32 p.m. |
| January 12, 1983, 6:55 a.m. | February 14, 1983, 9:36 a.m. |
| December 4, 1983, 11:23 a.m. | February 9, 1984, 1:50 a.m. |
| December 1, 1984, 4:29 p.m. | December 7, 1984, 9:46 p.m. |
| January 11, 1985, 6:24 p.m. | February 1, 1985, 7:43 a.m. |
| January 5, 1986, 8:42 p.m. | January 25, 1986, 12:33 a.m. |
| December 29, 1986, 11:10 p.m. | January 17, 1987, 1:08 p.m. |
| December 22, 1987, 5:39 p.m. | January 10, 1988, 5:28 a.m. |
| December 14, 1988, 11:53 a.m. | January 2, 1989, 7:41 p.m. |
| January 29, 1989, 4:06 a.m. | February 14, 1989, 6:11 p.m. |
| December 7, 1989, 2:30 p.m. | February 12, 1990, 1:11 a.m. |
1990s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| December 2, 1990, 12:13 a.m. | December 25, 1990, 10:57 p.m. |
| January 14, 1991, 8:01 a.m. | February 5, 1991, 10:20 p.m. |
| January 10, 1992, 1:46 a.m. | January 29, 1992, 9:15 p.m. |
| January 2, 1993, 2:48 p.m. | January 21, 1993, 11:25 a.m. |
| December 26, 1993, 12:47 p.m. | January 14, 1994, 12:25 a.m. |
| December 19, 1994, 6:25 a.m. | January 6, 1995, 10:16 p.m. |
| December 12, 1995, 2:57 a.m. | January 1, 1996, 6:06 p.m. |
| January 17, 1996, 9:37 a.m. | February 15, 1996, 2:44 a.m. |
| December 4, 1996, 1:48 p.m. | February 9, 1997, 5:53 a.m. |
| November 30, 1997, 7:11 p.m. | December 13, 1997, 6:06 p.m. |
| January 12, 1998, 4:20 p.m. | February 2, 1998, 3:15 p.m. |
| January 7, 1999, 2:04 a.m. | January 26, 1999, 9:32 a.m. |
| December 31, 1999, 6:48 a.m. | January 18, 2000, 10:20 p.m. |
2000s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| December 23, 2000, 2:03 a.m. | January 10, 2001, 1:26 p.m. |
| December 15, 2001, 7:55 p.m. | January 3, 2002, 9:38 p.m. |
| February 4, 2002, 4:19 a.m. | February 13, 2002, 5:20 p.m. |
| December 8, 2002, 8:21 p.m. | February 13, 2003, 1:00 a.m. |
| December 2, 2003, 9:34 p.m. | December 30, 2003, 7:52 p.m. |
| January 14, 2004, 11:02 a.m. | February 7, 2004, 4:20 a.m. |
| January 10, 2005, 4:09 a.m. | January 30, 2005, 5:37 a.m. |
| January 3, 2006, 9:26 p.m. | January 22, 2006, 8:42 p.m. |
| December 27, 2006, 8:55 p.m. | January 15, 2007, 9:24 a.m. |
| December 20, 2007, 2:43 p.m. | January 8, 2008, 4:46 a.m. |
| December 12, 2008, 10:13 a.m. | January 1, 2009, 9:51 a.m. |
| January 21, 2009, 5:36 a.m. | February 14, 2009, 3:39 p.m. |
| December 5, 2009, 5:24 p.m. | February 10, 2010, 9:06 a.m. |
2010s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| December 1, 2010, 12:10 a.m. | December 18, 2010, 2:53 p.m. |
| January 13, 2011, 11:25 a.m. | February 3, 2011, 10:19 p.m. |
| January 8, 2012, 6:34 a.m. | January 27, 2012, 6:12 p.m. |
| December 31, 2012, 2:03 p.m. | January 19, 2013, 7:25 a.m. |
| December 24, 2013, 10:12 a.m. | January 11, 2014, 9:35 p.m. |
| December 17, 2014, 3:53 a.m. | January 5, 2015, 1:08 a.m. |
| December 10, 2015, 2:34 a.m. | January 2, 2016, 2:20 a.m. |
| January 8, 2016, 7:37 p.m. | February 13, 2016, 10:43 p.m. |
| December 2, 2016, 9:18 p.m. | January 4, 2017, 2:17 p.m. |
| January 12, 2017, 2:03 p.m. | February 7, 2017, 9:35 a.m. |
| January 11, 2018, 5:09 a.m. | January 31, 2018, 1:39 p.m. |
| January 5, 2019, 3:40 a.m. | January 24, 2019, 5:49 a.m. |
| December 29, 2019, 4:55 a.m. | January 16, 2020, 6:31 p.m. |
2020s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| December 20, 2020, 11:07 p.m. | January 8, 2021, 12:00 p.m. |
| December 13, 2021, 5:52 p.m. | January 2, 2022, 7:10 a.m. |
| January 26, 2022, 3:05 a.m. | February 14, 2022, 9:54 p.m. |
| December 6, 2022, 10:08 p.m. | February 11, 2023, 11:22 a.m. |
| December 1, 2023, 2:31 p.m. | December 23, 2023, 6:17 a.m. |
| January 14, 2024, 2:49 a.m. | February 5, 2024, 5:10 a.m. |
| January 8, 2025, 10:30 a.m. | January 28, 2025, 2:53 a.m. |
| January 1, 2026, 9:11 p.m. | January 20, 2026, 4:41 p.m. |
| December 25, 2026, 6:22 p.m. | January 13, 2027, 6:06 a.m. |
| December 18, 2027, 11:58 a.m. | January 6, 2028, 5:58 a.m. |
| December 10, 2028, 9:12 a.m. | December 31, 2028, 2:49 p.m. |
| January 13, 2029, 12:14 p.m. | February 13, 2029, 5:52 p.m. |
| December 3, 2029, 10:47 p.m. | February 8, 2030, 2:04 p.m. |
2030s
| Entered | Left |
|---|---|
| December 1, 2030, 2:27 a.m. | December 10, 2030, 3:11 p.m. |
Find your own Mercury
Your chart is free and takes a moment: the wheel, your Sun, Moon and rising sign, and where Mercury sits in it, to the degree.