Natal Wheel › Guides › Planets in houses › Mercury › 2
Mercury · house 2 · succedent
Mercury in the second house
Mercury in the second house thinks about resources. The mind works on money, value and practical use; talents are inventoried, priced and put to work, and income often comes through writing, speaking, trade or the handling of information. Opinions about worth are held firmly and revised slowly, which is unusual for Mercury. Learning sticks when it has an application. Negotiation comes easily. The demand here is to separate what is valuable from what is merely marketable, so the mind is not spent entirely on things that can be counted.
What the second house covers
Money, movable goods and the resources a person holds and can dispose of freely. The full second house →
Which sign holds it
Under whole-sign houses the rising sign settles every other house at once. If you know your Ascendant, this is the sign your second house holds and the planet that rules it.
| Aries rising | Taurus · ruled by Venus |
|---|---|
| Taurus rising | Gemini · ruled by Mercury |
| Gemini rising | Cancer · ruled by Moon |
| Cancer rising | Leo · ruled by Sun |
| Leo rising | Virgo · ruled by Mercury |
| Virgo rising | Libra · ruled by Venus |
| Libra rising | Scorpio · ruled by Mars |
| Scorpio rising | Sagittarius · ruled by Jupiter |
| Sagittarius rising | Capricorn · ruled by Saturn |
| Capricorn rising | Aquarius · ruled by Saturn |
| Aquarius rising | Pisces · ruled by Jupiter |
| Pisces rising | Aries · ruled by Mars |
Quadrant systems such as Placidus cut the houses by the angles instead, so a planet near a cusp can land in a different house from the whole-sign answer. The chart page shows both.
Reading it in context
A keynote is a starting point, not a verdict. What Mercury actually does in your second house depends on its sign, its aspects, its dignity, and whether it is in sect. Two people with the same placement and different charts around it live it differently.