Ah, the politician’s Mercury—the Mercury that knows the party line but refuses to say it until it’s precisely the right time, the Mercury that peels into what everyone else thinks, the Mercury that has trained itself to stay smooth and true even when there’s a tumult of nervousness beneath its veneer.

When in doubt, Mercury in Libra speaks as satire. It gives into self mockery like a cattail in the breeze. But then it snaps back. Mercury in Libra is quite capable of giving one the impression that it doesn’t quite believe in itself. It doesn’t want to take itself too seriously, after all. That would be an embarrassment, being caught taking itself too seriously on the right or wrong issue.

This is a self aware Mercury. Its holder always knows how they are coming across. This, too, is self protection and it demands respect if not recognition.

Simply put, Mercury in Libra knows what you want to hear from them. However, they also know what that guy over there wants to hear from them too. And then Mercury in Libra makes a choice. It makes the choice to choose itself which is a choice that can take many years to make and can take a lot of experience to make. This experience can look like a game of swaying from the outside but, from the inside, is nothing but a fervent exploration of the self.

Mercury has triplicity in Libra, you see. This is one of those Mercuries that seem to gather people almost casually. It knows the notes to hit that will make everyone laugh. Hell, it knows the difference between a quiet chuckle and a roaring scream and it knows when one is more necessary than the other. This is a Mercury that knows what makes you tick, a Mercury that will watch all of the youtube videos you’ve recently become obsessed with without complaint.

Mercury in Libra indulges you. They laugh when you laugh. They know that your jokes are funny. Around them, you feel smarter, funnier, and more charming. You almost forget that they have been watching you very, very closely.

When you look up the word “diplomacy,” the definition is “the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way.” We often forget that efficiency is integral to the meaning of diplomacy. Diplomacy has a goal. It’s not willy nilly. Mercury in Libra is not just sensitive to the changing currents of the day. They are also efficient at getting all of you to the place where they want you to go.

You see, Mercury in Libra doesn’t shy away from conflict as is popularly believed. In fact, you’ll sometimes look around and find that there is much conflict caused by many a Mercury in Libra. However, Mercury in Libra won’t escalate a conflict that is also pointless. They’re slow on deciding how to engage and how to avoid. They inch around, rationalizing gut feelings and empathy into contradicting decrees of right or wrong. Then, they’ll make their judgment. It’ll be a judgment that moves the group along. They will remain flexible in this judgment in case a better judgment, a judgment that moves the group along far easier, shows up as circumstances change.

Mercury in Libra cares about moving forward. The purpose of an idea is not to justify itself but to move people into the future. Mercury in Libra cares about the future. It understands that, for any idea to truly live and not just survive, that it must have a social context and home. Mercury in Libra understands that ideas are nothing without the love of people.

This social context or home does not need to be a consensus. That would be totalitarian and we are talking about the sign of the teetering scales here. No, this social home must be engaging and interesting which means that it must always be changing and flexible enough to hold its own contradictions. This is why it is a faux pas to demand that a Mercury in Libra tell you what they believe in. They’re not interested in believing in things. They are interested in collaboration. Ask a Mercury in Libra what they really think and they will tell you all of their self-contradicting thoughts, if they trust you enough to be honest, not to fool you but to embrace themselves.

Mercury in Libra makes a simple demand. It wants us to build trust with those we disagree with. It wants us to build trust with those parts of ourselves that we disagree with. It wants to build home for more than one type of person. This demand is sometimes banal and more often so controversial that it sends everyone into circular debates on consideration.

Mercury in Libra will always communicate something the way that you need to hear it. You see, this is a practiced Mercury. It has the apprenticeship of the great artists of our day. It’s a Mercury that loves to hear people talk and loves to read. It can recognize the talent of the trickster when it sees it. Mercury in Libra knows how to understand you. It has spent years teaching itself how.

Here’s to the Mercury that is goofy when it needs to be, solemn when it needs to be, and resists the didacticism of a too obvious mission because it understands that its goals lays elsewhere. Here’s to the Mercury that understands they are not who you think they are after they have acted in that ideal’s shoes for a moment too long. Here’s to the Mercury that changes other people when it changes itself. This is the Mercury that knows that strategy beats strength and that thinking something through twice will always land you more results than thinking it through once.