Quintile Mercury – Venus
(Transit. Mercury → Natal Venus)
Avesalom Podvodnyi. Aspects
Mercury quintile: Mental flourishing hinders the blossoming of thought. This aspect bestows in the spheres of the Planet liveliness of mind and speech, which, if Mercury is afflicted, can cost the person very dearly, as their words may provoke sharply negative reactions from backward forms. At a higher level, this is the aspect of the satirist; with major harmonious aspects to Mercury — the humorist, who may be not particularly humane in expression (“for a sharp word, won’t spare even one’s father”) — this distinguishes the quintile from the decile. Affliction of Mercury brings difficulties in adequately verbalizing the natural quickness of thought, which will manifest in the person’s life areas governed by the Planet; expressed thoughts will initially appear inappropriate or outright foolish, though sometimes unconventional and amusing, which the person will find hard to bear, even if they don’t necessarily show it. If the Planet itself is also afflicted, creating difficulties in its expression, the quintile will carry a heavy burden — either the person adapts their lively mind to difficult planetary issues and learns to resolve them, or their intellect loses inventiveness, freshness, and natural talent fades. In the harmonious variant, this quintile grants great mental abilities in the Planet’s spheres — when the person chooses to apply them, ingenuity and constructive thinking emerge, but also a general passivity that will gradually drown them out. Venus quintile: When there is no love in life, there is no life. This aspect imparts in the Planet’s spheres liveliness in social contacts and aesthetic preferences, as well as spontaneity in love. In these areas, the person will be literally suffocated by routine and backwardness, typical of society as a whole, so even a minor affliction of Venus will create difficulties in social interactions: on one hand, liveliness and spontaneity in others will attract them, while on the other, their own expressions may seem less vibrant than awkward; a strong affliction of Venus may lead to psychological blocks and complete rejection of any spontaneous behavior. At a low level, the Venus quintile produces a socially stereotyped attitude toward expressions of life within oneself and others, and a tendency to parasitize on such expressions in social situations of the outer world, especially if the person has low energy levels; examples include many educators who feed (often with sadistic elements) on the emotions and spontaneous energetic expressions of children and adolescents; similarly, art critics of a lower octave play an analogous role (representing parasitic life). Harmonious aspects to the quintile bring affection from others due to natural vivacity of expression and creative impulse in the Planet’s spheres, though realization occurs only through careful development.
