Origin
Hermes is the son of Zeus and the nymph Maia. He is born at dawn in a cave in Arcadia, and his very first day shows what he is capable of: quick, inventive, cheeky and irresistible.
The story
By noon he has made the first lyre from a tortoise shell. That same evening he steals fifty cows from his half brother Apollo, making them walk backwards to cover their tracks. Caught out, he plays his lyre: Apollo is so charmed that he lets him keep the herd in exchange for the instrument.
Zeus makes him his messenger. With winged sandals and a caduceus in hand, Hermes guides travellers, protects merchants, leads souls to the underworld and, now and then, looks after thieves. The Romans called him Mercury, a name linked to trade.
The symbol
Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and the fastest: it goes around it in 88 days. Seen from Earth, it never strays far from the Sun, and seems to move backwards several times a year: these are its famous retrograde periods.
In astrology, Mercury stands for the way you think, learn and communicate. It rules Gemini and Virgo.