Mercury in Virgo

This is the placement where the old tables pile up. Ptolemy (Ashmand's 1822 translation) assigns Mercury Virgo as a house and as his exaltation, and his reason for the exaltation is seasonal: Mercury is the dry planet, and autumn's first dryness shows itself in this sign, opposite the moist Pisces where Venus is exalted.

Lilly 1659 fixes the exact degree at 15, adds Mercury's term in the first seven degrees and a face in the last ten, and calls Virgo the house and exaltation of Mercury in one breath. In his sign chapter he remarks on understanding when Mercury is here and the Moon in Cancer, although that passage is rough in transcription. Adams 1928 observes that Virgo alone has its exalted planet for its ruler.

Alan Leo 1899 describes a Virgo mind as precise, careful and methodical, self-correcting and hardest on its own errors. Heindel 1918 says Mercury's double role here brings out whatever good might otherwise come from the Sun. Phrases like own house and exaltation rank the position, and a person's actual thinking lies outside their scope.