Why Knowing Your Mercury Sign Actually Matters More Than Your Sun Sign

Even if you're astrology obsessed, you probably only think of Mercury when it goes retrograde (fair, because yikes). But Mercury doesn't just determine whether or not you're going to have a bad day. "In the birth chart, Mercury represents the way you recognize patterns, absorb and process information, and exchange ideas and information with others," says Narayana Montúfar, a certified astrologer and the senior astrologer for Horoscope.com and Astrocenter.com. So, yeah, Mercury's a pretty big deal, which is why knowing your Mercury sign might be even more more important (gasp!) than knowing your Sun sign.

"Mercury dictates how you think, how you write, and talk to yourself and others," she adds. That means the first time you meet someone-whether it's IRL or online-you're actually meeting their Mercury sign, not their Sun sign. And, since your Mercury sign determines your communication style and represents your thought process, "it impacts every single aspect of your life," Montúfar says. From your work life to your love life to your stream of consciousness narrating it all, Mercury reigns supreme.

And, just like with any astrological sign, you can find your Mercury sign by looking up your date of birth in a birth chart online or using a Mercury sign calculator. Because Mercury is closest to the sun, your Mercury sign will always be in the same sign as your Sun sign, or the sign before or after, according to Montúfar. (For example, if you're an Aries, your Mercury sign will either be in Aries, Taurus, or Pisces.)

Once you know your sign, Montúfar says "the most important thing is familiarizing yourself with the pros and cons of that planet-sign combination, which takes a good amount of self-awareness." That combination, she explains, has always influenced how you think and communicate, so if you want to improve on that (not that you need to), Montúfar recommends deeply observing your interactions with others and consciously observing your thought processes. The more you understand your Mercury sign, the better your relationships with others-and yourself-will be. Here's everything you need to know about your Mercury sign: