I know I am going to get flak for this one, but I specialize in truth, as I see it, of course. My mother has an exact combust of Sun conjunct Mercury in Aquarius. It happens to be an exact conjunction to my Chiron and name asteroid in the 4th House. If you don’t know what that means, that is OK. I am going to explain the combust and why I feel as I do. If you have a combust, take what I say and apply what speaks to you. One must face all of one’s chart, the good and the bad, the ease and the struggles.
The combust of Mercury and the Sun is a very distinctive aspect, in that it confers certain distinct attributes on the native. Let’s break it down, a bit. The Sun is one’s basic sense of identity–The I Am. When you think about your most, basic and distinctive sense of self, it is the Sun. Think about your ego, the sense of “I”. I do not use ego in a pejorative way. Each person needs a health ego, and it is to this I am referring. That is why you can tell people’s Sun Signs. The energy of the Sun radiates more than the other planets, in the solar system and in the person.
Mercury is one’s mind. From the mind, we communicate. We speak and write. The mind is a function of the person, separate from the ego. The thinking process does it’s own thing and the ego does it’s own thing. The ego is responsible for making you feel you are separate from others. To be healthy, this sense of separation is necessary and crucial. Without it, you are mentally ill. Mentally ill is not being grounded in reality imo
Hence, with the exact combust, the person’s ego is wedded to his mind. There is no separation, so what is supposed to be two functions becomes one. This has very far reaching consequences, to which the person does not know, in all cases I have seen, The person cannot know because the combust prevents it. I come to one of the main problems with the combust. the person lacks objectivity about himself and his relationship to others and the world. Moreover, he does not KNOW that he does.
To view the combust, in a practical setting, I will give a few examples. We, all, get insulted. We, all, get dissed. The person with the combust jumps in, feet first, punching. This is the case because the person cannot pull back and asses the situation. The combust person reacts, very fast, to insults. Hence, it makes it hard to have a relationship with this person because you have to walk on eggshells. For the combust person, it is worse, than for the other person, because this level of reactivity is like a prison sentence.
Now, I must say that degree is everything, here. The exact combust is that to which I refer. Everything else is a lesser degree of this situation, until you hit 5 degrees and the combust ends. Then, you have the conjunction of Mercury and the Sun, which is an incredible blessing. It confers brilliance, as the Sun basks Mercury in it’s light, but does not burn it up.
Before I leave this article, I must say that mental illness is a complex situation, in the chart. There are many aspects which are linked to it. One is Mercury square Uranus, which I may write about, later. This is a classic aspect for mental illness. Neptune can play a role, too, as Neptune is the planet of fogginess and deception i.e unreality. Mental illness is living in unreality, to hone it down to a sentence. My heart goes out to anyone who is struggling with emotional and mental illness. I had sexual abuse, so understand deep struggles. I do not write these articles to disparage anyone, but to offer help. Truth is real love.
Sun conjunct Mercury at 6.59 yay!
That is super good!! Very intelligent.
Thank you Ami Ann. If only I have that confidence to believe in myself, workin’ on it.
I don’t have a great deal of confidence, either. You can read my articles on depression and see my struggle for self esteem. Come on my Forum, if you would like to talk more. You can comment on here, if you want. That is fine, but I have a depression support group. You can come and be yourself in a safe place. You can show who you are and grow. I won’t allow any jerks. I will kick anyone off who is mean because I know what it is like to be hurt and turned on and I will not allow it on my Forum! xx
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Thanks Ami ^^
I have sun conjunct mercury @8degrees.
That is good. I have it at 7. That shows a great deal of intelligence. It is just the combust that is not
Thank God! I am beginning to liken astrology to exploratory surgery.
Actually, it is LOL
However, God is bigger than any chart
That I rely upon!
Thanks so much!!!
Yep. God rules!
Hi. Do you consider a sun 12
5 degrees is at the outer edge so not as intense as a closer one.
What about “Cazimi”? I found this conjunction (within 1°) is the exception to the rule of combust planets.
Thank you!
x
I don’t agree that the Cazimi is positive. I think it is super negative, actually ime. I can’t see how they make this good based on real life experiences with it, Cami dear!
Hi amiann thanks for this post ,I am confused on the degree issue day u have sun a 2 then murcury at 7 now is it the degree between the two that is the mesurment? TY
That would be a 5 degree orb, Lissa. You subtract between the two to find the orb.
What could it mean or how would manifest having it really combust 0º in a solar return in house 7th? Mercury would be retrograde in this case.
I don’t really like solar returns. I find they are not really accurate but it could mean a relationship which causes mental problems for you. That is just a guess and really I would not want you to be freaked out, so I am reluctant to guess, but that would be one possible opinion, my Friend.
Omg my Sun Conjunct Mercury is at 5°17 wow so close
This is NOT the combust, L. It is the conjunction and shows great intelligence, so it is an aspect of a gift!
Hi Ami
My mom has Sun combust Mercury and now I get to understand her abusive behaviour towards me. But, it is late for me because I started to study astrology recently. She has Sun, Mercury and Venus all conjunct in Scorpio. And guess what, she has Moon in Cancer conjunct my Venus. That supposed to be a warm aspect but… Now I am far, far away from her.
One of my female friend has mercury combust sun at 2 degree in 5th house for leo ascendant she is in depression could you suggest any remedie please it will be great help.
Jesus is the answer to everything, my Friend
I have it.. 🙁
1 degree conj. In Capricorn 3rd house
What can I Do?
Just try the best you can to not take things as personally as you do like know that people may not be mad at you or critical of you. It may be them like their own issues <3
Hmmm. You answered a question to another person who has a similar Mercury conjunct Sun orb degree difference(My Mercury is in Sagittarius in my 3rd house conjunct by 5°11′ degrees to my sun). Here’s the interesting thing though. I have Neptune in the same house conjunct to my Sun by 3°51′ degrees so all 3 planets are within 9°03′ of each other.
I find that I do extremely well in standardized tests but my grades always underperformed in comparison. I am very unorganized(though I’m a Virgo Rising), I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was in the Army. I’m very absent minded, I can lose things as fast as I get things. I’m known to misplace things.
So what to you think of my Neptune, Mercury and Sun placements in relation with each other. Oh yeah, I was born with Mars Retrograde conjunct with my MC(in Gemini) by 1°09′ degrees opposing my Mercury by 5°’06 and MC by 3°56′.
5 degrees is wide so the combust would not be a real factor here. Neptune conj the Sun is super hard. It is a dad who was not there and makes the person very prone to escape due to how hard the world is to his sensitive nature. I would have to look at your chart to answer more, Curtis.
I don’t know how to sent my chart to you. But I’ll give you this tidbit, I never had my biological father in my life. Not that I remember because I was in foster homes from 2 years old until 9 years old when I was adopted.
Since I’m a fan of yours, I saw your article on the Asteroid Nemesis. Mine is conjunct to my Sun 0°16′. I don’t know what to say about this especially after what you said about my Sun/Neptune combustion.
If you want me to look at your chart, I would need to do a professional reading Curtis. I am so sorry for all you went through, my dear Friend <3
Wow this article is quite confusing and I do feel offended to a degree. I myself have an extreme case of everything you’ve mentioned above as I’ve been stricken with not only sun combust mercury at an orb of 0.45(under 1 degree) but I also have sun/mercury square uranus PLUS my sun and mercury also square jupiter from the other side of my natal birth chart. I do agree that both my mind and ego are insperitable throwing all of my objectivity out of the window but it has bestowed me with a keen sharp intellect as my conjunction of the two planets has landed itself in scorpio in the 7th house. Not only that but my venus is also scorpio in the 7th house and I have 2 grand trines as well. My entire chart is bonkers and suprisingly interesting in my honest opinion and note, my ascendant is in aries which gifts me with gallant leadership abilities. My 2 grand trines involve venus(scorpio|7th)/ saturn(gemini|3rd)/ moon(pisces|11th) and the other is jupiter(leo|5th)/ pluto(sagitt|8th)/ lilith(aries|12th) not to mention they form a merkaba 6 pointed star in my chart. My dob is 11/12/2002 at 3:33pm in juliet, illinois if your inclined to take a look. By all means invoke me with your hearsay of mental illness because I’ve had people call me that and worse especially due to my belligerent personality. I usually call myself dumb on a daily basis but it’s mostly for laughs with my buddies. To conclude and wrap this up, I’m quite happy with my entire chart and I would never occur to me to alter such a unique life experience I’ve had as of thus far even with the vast trauma that haunts me from my dreadful childhood. Thanks for reading if you made it up to this point but I just had to share since this article riled me up stupdendously and forced this response out of me.
OK, my Friend. You had your say and I wish you well!
Thank you ami for your insight. I love to read your input on different aspects, and asteroids.
Thank you so much, Rhonda!
Thank you Ami for this interesting article and your courage to share traces of your past with us.
I have a question regarding the degrees between the two planets at which Mercury would get combusted. I frequently read that the critical threshold for considering the Mercury-Sun conjunction as a state of combust is at 8 degrees and less. Sometimes it is even stated at 14 degrees (at 12 degrees if mercury is retrograde). Why is there this inconsistency in the degrees and what is you opinion on this issue?
Welcome J!
Well, each astrologer differs as in any field. I go with the combust as 1-5.
My bf’s daughter is Sun combust mercury at less than one degree. Super smart kid, but talks too much, and doesn’t listen to anything you say. You must repeat over and over or get super frustrated.
YP. It is an awful aspect socially
As I’ve said, I have Mercury Combust Sun, but I just realized I have my Sun Combust my Mothers Mercury. Does this mean anything?
About your mother, more of an understanding with her
OMG…this makes sense. I have Mercury combust Sun in 5th house, in Aquarius. They are incredibly close together…about 1/2 degree. I have struggled with reactivity, ego and mind stuff my entire life…still do. Even though I’ve been on my spiritual path for the best part of 30 years, it’s still there…loud n proud. We all have our karma and challenges, just like we also have our gifts. Reading his helped me to come to yet another understanding of how I’m wired
Thank you so much, R. Things like this really, really help!
What about if Mercury is in Retrograde? I feel this is sort of touching the point but I don’t react quickly -if anything I’m over analyzing (Mercury in Rx combust in Virgo, exact degree)
Also the fact that Mercury is home in Virgo must account for something more in its redemption from mental illness. I dii on agree there is something different mentally. I try to be objective and say “no, I’m not special it’s all in my head” but yet sometimes I’m so confused by the way certain people think. I feel like I draw myself to others who are combust, or close to it, too. Either way, enjoyed the article.