Thinkers and communicators, chameleons, shape-shifters, adept at adapting, Mutables crave variety and novelty. An overload in Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces tends to bring high nervous tension, quick thinking and hyper-alertness along with restlessness and a tendency to scatter attention in too many directions. Concentration may be lacking, indecision can a problem along with suggestibility, given Mutable’s tendency to bend in the prevailing breeze. Finding ways of calming the mind is crucial. A touch like Mercury on steroids.
Mutable heavy charts were standard through several years in the 1960s with Uranus Pluto in Virgo and Saturn in Pisces with some like J.K.Rowling having Jupiter and North Node in Gemini plus Moon Venus and Mercury in Virgo as well.
Charlie Sheen 3 September 1965, is of the same vintage with Sun Uranus Pluto in Virgo, Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Gemini opposition a Sagittarius Sun – he has been open about his struggles with substance abuse and erratic behaviour.
Stephen Fry, 24 August 1957, was part of the Saturn in Sagittarius square Pluto in Virgo year with his Virgo Sun, Mars all tied together plus Mercury in Virgo. He has been open about his struggles with his mental health and in his Bi-polar documentary interviewed another sufferer Carrie Fisher, 21 October 1956, who also has Pluto in Virgo square Saturn in Sagittarius, plus Venus Jupiter in Virgo opposition Mars in Pisces.
It is too simplistic to say that an overdose of Mutable leads to mental imbalance. Richard Dreyfuss, 29 October 1947, whom Fry also interviewed in his bi-polar doc has a staggeringly fixed chart with Mars Saturn Pluto in Leo and Sun, Mercury Venus in Scorpio with a Taurus Moon.
But there is no doubt that Mutable is a nervy energy, constantly on mental alert and if the neurons go into overdrive and can’t be calmed down then it could lead to mental stress. Tennis player, Andy Murray, 15 May 1987, is a classic example of a high stress Mutable type with Moon, Saturn, Uranus in Sagittarius opposition Mars in Gemini and Mercury also in Gemini – luckily his Taurus Sun will help ground him.
Thank you again for this wonderful article, Marjorie! So enlightening, as was your piece on the people with planets in mostly fixed signs
I have Sun, Moon, Mars, Saturn and Uranus all in Mutable signs, they are a stellium in Gemini opposite my Sagittarian Sun. It seems I get my curiosity from all the details Gemini supplies and use them to incorporate into my Sagittarian quest for wisdom. I even have Chiron in Virgo forming a T-square with this opposition, so plenty of mutable energy there. Thank goodness for my Fixed Venus in Scorpio, and Jupiter, Pluto and the North Node all in Leo to help to stabilise me! I also have Cardinal Asc, MC, Mercury and Neptune to give me some drive and initiative… otherwise too much Mutable can make you very scattered. Thanks for this very interesting article, Marjorie, and for everyone else’s comments. This how we learn.
Of the four mutable signs, two (Gemini and Virgo) are ruled by Mercury and two (Sagittarius and Pisces) are ruled by Jupiter (as traditional rulers anyway).
Jupiter expands/enlargens that which it surveys.
A highly mutable chart would likely have a stellium in both signs ruled by Mercury and by Jupiter. The stelliums would be very likely in either a square or opposition formation.
Thus, it makes sense that the effects of planets in the signs ruled over by Mercury would be amplified by the signs ruled by Jupiter.
Thus Mercury on steroids. Quod erat demonstrandum.
Hi MM, I can confirm from personal experience your theory about Virgo-Sagittarius types. I have Sun & Mercury in Sag and Jupiter/Pluto/Uranus in Virgo. Mentally highly active and prone to going into mental overdrive. Which leads to sleepless nights and tiredness. Luckily I have Moon in Taurus and can find solace in nature, at least if I have the discipline to consciously pull myself out off the headspin and take myself for a walk.Pulling weeds can also get me out of my head!
Definitely think getting my hands in the soil gardening winds down my 3 Virgo including Sun, 2 Gemini including Moon planets.
Especially good for Virgo’s I should think, Narjorie! Gardening is so grounding.
Will just add to that … the Mercury ruled Gemini and Virgo like facts and details … the Jupiter ruled Sag and Pisces like to step back and look at the context. Gemini gathers info; Virgo sifts it; Sag sees all the pieces of the big picture; Pisces intuitively knows how it all fits together without being able to say why. If you can get those four working together, you become an information powerhouse. The trouble is with the squares and oppositions – people are either detail or big picture; they’re fact or abstract.
Nervy JKR maybe but she is stalwart and steadfast and very service orientated rather than changeable and flighty.
She follows through. The Leo Sun opposite Aquarius ascendant is anchoring her .
The mutable signs, apart from Pisces all have a human element to them. Sagittarius is half man, half horse, Gemini, the twins and Virgo, the maiden. Perhaps the reason why so many great writers, poets, singers and singer songwriters tend to have planets here. The so-called ‘humanities’ – definition: ‘those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture or with analytic and critical methods of inquiry derived from an appreciation of human values and of the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself.’
7 mutable planets here – I get bored easy, or find it hard to stick at things that don’t interest me. Yet I can become dogged and obsessive about something I believe in even through many obstacles. I have many interests and can see the value in many things. Magpie energy perhaps, I am able to synthesise information from disparate sources. Yoga, meditation are so useful and probably most of all a lot of alone time is super important to decompress and let other energies go and get back to centre, even though I can be be very social at times. I’m close to JK, but Sag sun and Gem rising. Cancer Moon app Cap Mars probably gives me stability, though has its own challenges, I need both sides of the opposition to function.
Quieting Mercury is simple but not easy – stop listening to your head and focus on your heart.
I realised a while back the mutables have issues with boundaries – they don’t like setting them – they often need others to set them. While that’s obvious with Sag (Jupiter likes to stretch the boundaries) and Pisces (Neptune dissolves them); the perfectionism of Virgo is another form of failing to set boundaries as perfection can never be achieved. Likewise where Virgo keeps measuring things against its ideal standard; Gemini is continuously measuring “this” against “that”.
That said, the lack of boundaries is what makes mutables so good at transforming situations which have become fixed (through ideas/information and communicating them) thereby setting up for the cardinals to initiate new projects.
Thank you for lovely expression of mutable.
Me, mostly mutable.
Well, I have 4 mutable planets – 3 of them in a t-square focusing through Mercury in Virgo – so I’ve had to think about this stuff and being Virgo to work on it not sounding too critical or harsh – as it drives my chart.
It was when Neptune went through the empty leg of Pisces that I learned to trust what I knew and stop trying to sort out and plan every detail.
It is one of my current lifegoals (with Saturn going through Pisces) to do less ‘fixing’ and let things be even when I perceive something as easily improved with a word of advice or offer of help. With Neptune in 7th/8th and Pisces on 11th – I find it hard to know when to step in and when to hold off where other people are involved – I often misread them because my Mercury in Virgo processes the words, not how they are said.
Good analysis, Gnarly Dude! Lack of boundaries is a common handicap the mutables have, I had never thought about it like that before.
Ronan Farrow has five planets in Sagittarius and just Venus in Earth as far as personal planets come. Mars in watery Scorpio.
Are there any upsides to mutable? I wish you wrote more about that side of things.
Plenty of upsides to mutable – I might be biased as one of my children is 5 x mutable. Mutable charts can achieve great things, often in a non-linear fashion, but they find a way of getting there in the end. As well as Andy Murray, Simone Biles has 6 mutable (I think?). Being African-American and coming from a poor background, she had none of the privelege that usually leads to success in an elite sport. And it’s true that rainy Scotland is not necessarily the first place you’d look for someone who is an elite level tennis player either!
Biles is neurodivergant, with ADHD, but is clearly able to hyperfocus on things that take her interest.I also don’t think any particular quality in a chart predicts ND or mental health issues; another highly successful athlete, Michael Phelps, also has ADHD but has a far more fixed chart. However, what was right for one was definitely not right for the other. Same ND, different ways of coping.
As the daughter of a highly mutable mother who in turn had a highly mutable father, I feel I would have missed out if it hadn’t been for my mother’s rich imagination, love of literature, poetry and music as well as her artistic talents and ability to create all kinds of wonderful dragons, mermaids and mythical creatures out of remnants of fabric. She, like Edna O’Brian has Neptune rising in Virgo, Jupiter on the Midheaven in Gemini, Sun/Venus in Pisces and Moon in Sagittarius reflecting my Moon/Neptune in the 3rd with the moon also square Jupiter. Mutable is the realm of literature, music, poetry, dance as well as ability with the hands.
Thank you