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Phase also has implications for dignity with respect to exaltation. The exaltations are of Babylonian origin, but those of Mercury and the Moon do not appear in cuneiform texts and would seem to be Greek innovations. Porphyry pointed out an interesting pattern: all of the exaltations, save that of Mercury, aspect a domicile: by tine if the planet is of the solar sect and by sextile if it is of the lunar one. Since Mercury is solar when matutine and lunar when vespertine, it should surely have different exaltations for the two phases, one in trine to Gemini and the other in sextile to Virgo. I would suggest Aquarius and Scorpio. The outward-looking, matutine Mercury is well placed in honest Aquarius, but can become opinionated in Leo. The reflective, vespertine Mercury gains depth in Scorpio, but becomes earth-bound in Taurus. This idea is not really new: Lilly described Mercury as strong in Aquarius and weak in Taurus, and in our own time Martin Seymour-Smith has claimed that Mercury is exalted in Aquarius. <
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