Virgo is famous for nitpicking. If there is a flaw or mistake anywhere in their orbit, their sharp minds can’t help but notice. This is textbook astrology. But I think this is a Mercury function in general, showing up especially in the signs of Mercury’s dignity or exaltation. That would be Gemini, Virgo, and Aquarius.
While this may not be immediately evident, try watching TV with anyone heavy in these signs and you’ll see what I mean. For them, critiquing the show, finding plot holes and mistakes, is a time-honored tradition. And it doesn’t mean that they dislike whatever entertainment they’re consuming! Quite the opposite! Their minds are so active that they simply can’t help it. In fact, if they’re nitpicking, they probably love it. It is their way of engaging with the content, however irritating it is to other people.
Having a Gemini Moon myself, I am frequently guilty of this, much to my partner’s frustration. My favorite example is a few years ago, when he was playing a new Super Mario game. In the game, Mario, in all his cartoonish glory, is navigating a world of relatively realistic-looking humans, and is able to jump into their bodies to control them. The conversation went a little like this:
“Oh wow. If this is what normal people look like, Mario has problems.”
“I guess so.”
“Why is no one reacting to a living cartoon just walking around Tokyo? Do they just think he’s a mascot?”
“I have no idea, babe.”
“Oh my god, is he possessing people?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
“How does that even work? Does he just tell their soul ‘Move over, I’m driving,’?”
“I don’t know, okay?”
“Can people see him? Can they see him possessing people? Do they care? WHY DOES NO ONE STOP HIM?”
“You know what, I’ll just play later.”
I know, I know. I feel for him, I really do! I can easily see how annoying it is. But it is also a real, genuine expression of my soul, and it is not meant to take away his enjoyment. To the contrary – I’m actually trying to share it with him. I’m trying to show that I’m engaged.
So the next time a Mercury-heavy person in your life starts pointing out that your favorite sitcom character has been pregnant for over a year, or that or that Raiders of the Lost Ark would have ended the same whether or not Indiana Jones ever showed up, try not to pull your hair out. They’re just trying to be part of things.
Do you do this? What about people in your life? Where is your Mercury?
Yes, Yes, Yes, I do, do this Midara. Sun Aqua (10th), Mercury 0 degrees Capricorn (9th). I notice all the flaws!
oops, should read; Mercury 26 Capricorn (not 0).
My son can be that way about people. His sun is In Aqua, mercury in cap and moon in Gemini.
Not a fan of being criticized.. but I talk compulsively during movies.
I try not to watch movies with others cause my attention span is really bad and I start talking. I would talk during a video game as a dominance technique.. 🙁 I’m bored and nervous and someone is engaged and not paying attention to me. So I babble. Now I know I do this and I leave the room. I can’t really be quiet while someone is otherwise engaged and prefer to hang out by myself watching what I like. I become extremely compulsively chatty when ignored because I’m uncomfortable. If someone is standing near me but not interacting, just kind of hanging over me and doing their own thing I walk off not to disturb them. Everyone has different needs and my need for my own space or to have a two way chat is not always possible. But at least I’ve learned to identify when I’m talking out of discomfort and nervousness rather than a desire to interact. This is very hard with the people I have around me because they don’t mind hanging out in a pile. I don’t know if it’s about control or comfort.. but I know I’m not a bad person just a controlling not very adaptable one. I am trying to deal with and manage discomfort and not be so driven by it. I do a lot of things seeking comfort first and foremost. I think we all do. I’ve worked on a lot of it. But I tend to compromise other people. For instance, I wake up when people walk in and out of where I’m sleeping.
Compulsively chatty…. Yes. I certainly do that as well.
For me, it’s more about when I feel insecure/unsure/uncomfortable with the silence. Also, if I feel unsafe or insecure with the person I am engaging with.
I felt like this constantly with my mom, before our relationship got bad. I talked non-stop. I also did it to have her pay attention to me, when my sister was there. (We have had trouble with sibling jelousy in our past). So, this has been my Modus Operandi, but my mom’s Chiron is on my Ascendant, so … insecure much?
Thanks Annette. I also talk compulsively to my mom and did most of my life. Until my moon pluto transit when I realized she tends to respond by nitpicking or criticizing or changing the subject even though she feels for me. I needed a battery of music and podcasts to understand and reflect me. I tend to blabber especially when people ignore me. Where is your mercury?
I have Sun/Chiron and am really thinking a lot about my discomfort.
A lot of people think I’m just very chatty. It’s not true. I notice that’s not always the motivation. If I don’t like where I am or what we’re doing I tend to engage people who are being social but otherwise engaged. Better I don’t watch your videogame. I know being controlling, especially to mitigate something for yourself is not good, but there it is. Or when people near me are talking to each other but not engaging me.. I get nervous and bored. I try to use headphones to control it. But they have an exceptional tendency to get me out of the zone and randomly engage me again. Idk if it’s a failing. But I’m not as social as I seem.
I do tend to critique or neg people.. usually in a failed attempt to flirt. I’m very bad at that. A lot of times I don’t notice myself dishing it out then can’t take it. I don’t notice myself doing what I don’t like other people to do. Especially if I’m sexually attracted to someone.
What degree is your moon, midara? If you don’t mind me asking. Do you have more Gemini than that or just your moon?
Also, do people with only mercury in air do what you describe or people with other air planets like you?
Also, I really enjoyed your post as always 🙂
I don’t have many air personal planets.
Oh yes. I have Virgo moon and rising. My favorite show ever is Mystery Science Theater 3000, famed for providing running commentary and riffing on old cheesy movies.
A Date with Your Family (a PSA from the 50s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NtRnGryjBY
I yak through stuff all the time. The poor guy I was sitting next to at the bar during the Lions game!
omg LMAO
Don’t forget to add extreme eye rolling. This is me. ?
My husband rented a movie for a flight a couple years ago, “Noah”, I think. He told me, It was pretty good. You might like it except for one part.
What part?
Well, the angels are moving huge rocks and I know you’d have something to say about that.
I said, well, if it makes sense to the story, I’m sure it’s fine.
Haha. We watched the movie together later. What the hell was I thinking? They didn’t even try to make it realistic enough to make the angels move gigantic, mountain-sized boulders. My husband said, I told you you wouldn’t believe it.
It is really annoying because I wish I could just enjoy everything at face value and accept that fantastical things happen. It has to be absolutely right though ?.
I have the Virgo stellium, Aquarius sun, and I also believe that Mercury in Capricorn is a hardass, too. Skeptical.
I have always thought about it another way. I am a very literal person. One of my earliest memories of this is being a kid and being given a highlighter for the first time, asking what it does. The response, “It makes the words brighter.” I stared at the words for a long time, but that black ink under the highlight didn’t look any different than the black ink on the rest of the page.
Gemini sun, Venus, Chiron, NN (I was meant to be this way); Taurus moon conjunct Mercury in the 6th, Virgo MC (yes, you better believe I think in this amount of detail at work lol)
My son who has Mars in Virgo can be like this. Plus he has a Scorpio Moon so his outrage can be off the charts lol. The things he gets lit up about crack me up. Luckily hes also a Libra rising so hes very cute. If it was anyone else, Id probably want to strangle them.
alot of virgo suns and moons seem to like Hugh Laurie’s tv series, “House” … i think cause he “thinks” of ways all the time and Hugh Laurie is very mercurial. >_< My husband likes Hugh Laurie but not House though, so he's the odd one out. lol cause he has virgo too, although he does like Hugh Laurie's British tv series in the old days, "black adder" lol i actually think both series are fine, but it bores me too much that it doesn't keep my attention long enough. i fall asleep during these episodes next to him on the couch, if my husband watches these type of series.
wow i just looked up. Rowan Atkinson, the famous british actor is a Gemini moon. who played alot of roles,especially “black adder” he’s so mercurial 😀 and funny and entertaining.
He’s a Capricorn and it fits with the motif of comedians either being Capricorns or having Capricorn moons or moon/Saturn.. less of a pattern with British comedians tho
I like Blackadder and a bit of fry and Laurie sometimes..
But I like Peep show and David Mitchell and James acaster more 🙂
I’m watching black books to calm down
My mom has this energy and just told me I can’t go around smelling like a stable 😀
(My deodorant is a bit weak and I keep sweaters on when I’m hot lately)
She has Jupiter in Sagittarius so she’s pretty unintentionally funny
Aquarius sun. Mercury in Aquarius in the 11th. Yes sireee , this is me. I cannot sit with my partner while he watches adventure/sci fi/ super hero rubbish. My eyes perpetually roll and I scoff out loud, and naturally he finds this offensive ?. Needless to say, we have seperate entertainment areas.
Mercury in Virgo here. The time gaps in That 70’s Show bug me. The show was filmed for 8 years but only actually covers about 4. So the kids appear to age faster than they actually would.
Shiny Taurus had Mercury and Moon in Gemini. He was quick to remind me that the violence horror movies was pretend every time it bothered me. “Baby it’s not real!” Same with adult movies. I’d complain that there was no way I could match the stamina of those women or perform like they did. He kept informing me that those movies are heavily edited and the women don’t last that long in bed. ?
Oh yeah. Mercury in gemini virgo moon. I just wanna know Why. WHY. Why everything is the way it is and why people act the way they do. Is that too much to ask? Guess not
Gem moon+chiron 2nd house sextile mercury+Venus in 12th. I ruin everyone’s movies cause I already know whats gonna happen. Of course mercurial friends love it! On the other hand, I can see where your relationship is going (or not going) and peoples hidden agenda (sometimes not the agenda itself, but surely that there is one) towards you. Sometimes I tell people about it and they don’t believe me. So usually these days I keep it to myself. I do denial too in my own life, so that’s why ?
Oh man, you’re right about predicting endings!
When The Sixth Sense came out, I went with my parents to see it in theaters. I had heard there was a twist ending, but didn’t know what it was. About halfway through, I turned to my mom and asked, “So, is the twist going to be that the dead guy the kid is talking to is actually alive?”
Hahaha beautiful! We’d make awesome screenwriters!
Mercury in Sag and I totally do this. I can accept even the most fantastic premise but the actions that follow then have to be plausible. Or else! (Or else there goes my big mouth!)
Yep! Packed 3rd house including Mercury ?