In a small town in Midwest, near turn of century, a boy named Robert grew up on wrong side of tracks. He wore hand-me-down. His parents couldn’t afford to get him a haircut. The other kids teased him. People whispered that his father was irresponsible and had too many kids.

Robert wore shame of his father’s poverty and yet he was very spiritual. One day a revival came to town. His grandparents took him to revival tent where many people heard Jesus call them personally for. The energy at a revival is “contagious”. After a few people get ball rolling, rest will join in. Sometimes it’s a genuine calling but sometimes it’s just so as not to be left out.

Back at revival, people were getting call, but that night nothing happened to Robert. Rather than going along with crowd, Robert did not join throng of people who came forward for baptism because he did not feel Jesus call him inside.

This would be a matter-of-fact story except for one thing. On way home, Robert, who genuinely believed that something authentic had happened to all others in revival tent, came to conclusion that Jesus had not called him because he was not worthy.

Robert didn’t check out his “thesis” with anyone any more than most children do and for rest of his life, he felt rejected and shamed. Even Jesus did not want a poor boy.

There is a happy ending to this story. Robert grew up to be a well known and successful psychologist in La Mesa, California. He had a great professional and personal life, a very long and happy marriage. Robert was well to do and was respected in community. He often spoke at big Unity (metaphysical) Church in San Diego. I am not telling you a story he has not told publicly many times. Robert went through a healing process to understand that as a boy he had added 2 + 2 and gotten nonsense.

As children, we put world together as best we can. As adults, it is our gift to ourself to return as an adult to some of our bigger decisions and connect dots again properly if necessary.

I would like to give you another example that is a little more sophisticated. It has to do with way being unconscious can keep us from seeing things plainly before our eyes.

In 40s and 50s, it was considered glamorous or “manly”, to smoke. I know I could hardly wait! Louis Armstrong, King George VI of England, Betty Davis, Clark Gable, Babe Ruth and Humphrey Bogart all smoked heavily in public and in their films. They died in their mid-fifties of smoke related diseases such as lung cancer and emphysema. In a horrifying and ironic twist of fate, even Wayne McLaren, celebrated “Marlborough Man”, died of lung cancer at very early age of 51. Smoking was considered glamorous and I planned to start as soon as I could.

Like boy Robert, I did not have eyes to see. I looked at Humphrey Bogart and was told how sophisticated he was rather than noticing what was plainly before my eyes. “This man is a walking cadaver.”

The planet Mercury is a complex and enigmatic planet that has much more to do with our lives than just "communication", like faxes, emails, answering machines, telephones and media.

Mercury in ancient astrology was Winged Messenger of Gods. In Iliad and Odyssey when someone had a bright idea, instead of a lightbulb appearing over their heads, Greeks and Romans sketched in an imaginary god, Mercury, who had just arrived on scene with inspiration from "on high". After all, how could a mere mortal think of some of these brilliant solutions?

MERCURY HAS A CONNECTION WITH WILY ULYSSES

Ulysses in Odyssey, whose familiar epithet was "wily Ulysses" is a typically mercurial character. The Greeks greatly prized qualities of flexibility and ingenuity which Ulysses exhibited. The next time you're in a jam, think of some unusual and clever way out of your circumstance and you are honoring god Mercury. People born in Oriental Year of Monkey are great at this!

The Greeks and Romans, at a different stage of evolution than us, externalized some of their urges, desires and powers which they couldn't explain in ordinary terms. For example, Socrates was depicted with a "daemon" always at his side that spoke to him. His "daemon" was a "gift" he had had since childhood, that acted like a cross between an alter ego and a guide.

SOCRATES' EVIL TWIN WAS A "DAEMON"

Rationalists and academicians can have a terrible time dealing with Socrates' "daemon" precisely because it is so irrational, but that's exactly point. In all of us there is a committee which reaches our decisions for us. There are many voices. Many votes. Some people would like to think we arrive at our decisions through logic but rarely is this case. Certainly any important decisions in life are made based on values, emotions and instincts and then later justified with reason.

Mercury and sign Gemini symbolize duality within us. Sometimes this is experienced as a conflict between our head and our heart, sometimes between our better side and our worse side.

Gemini is sign that deals with "duality" in its most basic terms: good and evil. The humorous statement "my Evil Twin did it" is very close to psychic truth of this sign. Many Geminis keep their evil twin out of view or even their good one, but you can be sure they are at some level mortally engaged in process of reconciling good and evil in world but most of all within themselves.

THE BATTLE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

This battle between good and evil is also characteristic of introvert temperament group which is called infp or Healer. Myers-Briggs and Keirsey Temperament Theory describe characteristics of introverts in 8 different categories that are similar to Jungian personality theories and infp is one of them.) To learn more, visit my website www.theintrovertzcoach.com.

This dialogue between opposite viewpoints and forces of good and evil go on inside all of us at certain times but Geminis and infp's deal with this on a lifelong basis. If you doubt me, find one and ask them about problem of good and evil. They will laugh and have much to say or in case of introverts, much to write!

In ancient times, inspiration from outside self which was very valuable was attributed to god Mercury. This is kind of information that comes from "stepping outside yourself" for a few minutes to get another viewpoint on things.

THE HERM

There is another aspect to Mercury which is less known and actually more important. The god Mercury also ruled crossroads. The Greeks erected little phallic statues (no pun intended) honoring god Mercury along side of road and at crossroads to honor god of travelers.

TRADE ROUTES

There were a few very well known major crossroads or Trade Routes in ancient times. For most part they are clustered around east end of Mediterranean Sea in an area also called Levant.

Let's take a look at them.

The King's Highway was route from Egypt to Euphrates River The Silk Road was route from Baghdad to Kashmir in China The Way of Sea was route through Palestine along coast of Syria The Lower Road was a later version of Royal Road The Amber Road was route from northern Italy through Yugoslavia to Danube in Hungary NOTE: If you'd like to get a real feel for these trade routes, visit a fascinating site which attempts to give you a virtual experience in photos: http://www.ancientroute.com You can see what it is like to really travel one of these routes.

IMAGINARY TRADE ROUTE BETWEEN AMERICA AND RUSSIA

To make it easier to imagine, suppose for a moment that a road could connect America to Russia and that people walked back and forth on it. Sooner or later it would be discovered by people to south and north as well. Eventually there would be crossroads joining this major route with roads leading "up" from Middle East, Italy and Spain and "down" from England and Scandinavia.

The crossroad where Middle East connected would have different energy than one where Italy connected or Spain, England and Scandinavia. People would be differently dressed, riding different animals, speaking different languages and hawking different goods.

Information is exchanged at crossroads as well as language, customs and commodities. People get along well with one another. In ancient times there were often special rules governing "host" and "guest" and giving crossroads people such as ambassadors, messengers, tribunes and native guides safe passage through certain territories. Crossroads people have a flexibility that is often missing in village or city where everyone and everything is same.

LINGUA FRANCA AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES