Your Words Are Creating You: Mercury Magic and the Spell of Identity | The Seven, Episode 19
In Episode 19 of The Seven: Living with the Planets, Lucy Baldwin explores Mercury magic, language, identity, money stories, complaining, humor, and the way words shape the realities we keep living inside.
Mercury is the planet of language, communication, cleverness, trade, trickery, humor, story, commerce, and mental fluidity.
That makes Mercury magic especially useful for one of the most ordinary and powerful spells we cast every day:
“I am.”
I am broke.
I am bad at this.
I am unlucky.
I am not the kind of person who gets what I want.
These statements may feel casual, but they are identity spells.
They do not merely describe a mood.
They reinforce a self-concept.
Mercury magic helps us hear what we are saying, question the identities we keep repeating, and choose more empowering words that open new possibilities.
Watch or listen to Episode 19 of The Seven here:
Key Takeaways
In this episode, Lucy explores:
Mercury magic as the magic of words, language, identity, and story
why “I am” statements are powerful identity spells
how saying “I’m broke” reinforces brokenness as an identity
why identity language can shape beliefs, choices, and behavior
how to replace disempowering phrases with more spacious ones
the difference between “I can’t afford it” and “I choose not to buy that right now”
why complaining can reinforce unwanted realities
how humor and irony can loosen stuck stories
Mercury as the planet of play, cleverness, commerce, and mental flexibility
a simple Mercury practice for choosing new identities
Mercury Magic Is the Magic of Words
Mercury governs speech, writing, messages, language, trade, cleverness, jokes, commerce, negotiation, and the quick movement of thought.
So Mercury magic begins very simply:
Listen to what you are saying.
Not only in ritual.
Not only in prayer.
Not only in affirmations.
In ordinary life.
In casual comments.
In complaints.
In the repeated phrases you barely notice anymore.
Because the words you use are not neutral.
They teach your unconscious who you are.
“I Am” Is a Spell
One of the most powerful forms of language is the identity statement.
“I am.”
When you say “I am broke,” you are not only describing a financial moment.
You are creating an identity around brokenness.
You are saying:
This is what I am.
This is who I am.
This is the box I live inside.
That matters because identities come with beliefs.
If you identify as a broke person, you may unconsciously carry beliefs like:
People like me never have enough.
Money disappears.
I cannot receive more.
I am always behind.
I do not get to choose.
The words create the box.
The box creates the pattern.
Why “I’m Broke” Is So Powerful
“Broke” is not a precise fact.
It means different things to different people.
For one person, broke means no cash flow this week.
For another person, it means no savings.
For another, it means debt.
For another, it means owning assets but feeling stretched.
So when you say “I’m broke,” you are not stating an objective reality.
You are stepping into your own private meaning of brokenness.
Your unconscious knows what “broke” means to you.
And that is the spell you are casting.
Change the Spell Without Lying
This does not mean you should pretend to have money you do not have.
Mercury magic is not denial.
It is precision.
Instead of saying:
“I’m broke.”
You might say:
“I’m choosing not to spend money on that right now.”
Or:
“That is not where I am putting my resources today.”
Or:
“I am being careful with money.”
Or:
“I am good with money, so I am not buying that.”
Notice the difference.
The first creates identity collapse.
The second creates agency.
The facts may be similar.
The spell is entirely different.
“I Can’t Afford It” vs “I Choose Not To”
“I can’t afford it” may sometimes feel true.
But it often reinforces helplessness.
“I choose not to buy that right now” creates a different posture.
It may still be financially necessary.
You may still not buy the thing.
But now the statement contains choice.
Agency.
Discernment.
Power.
Mercury magic works through subtle shifts like this.
A small sentence can create a different nervous system state.
A different identity.
A different pathway forward.
The Identities You Choose Matter
Identity can be useful.
But it is also dangerous.
Every identity creates a boundary.
If I am this, then I am not that.
If I am a “light worker,” does that mean I cannot work with darkness?
If I am a “broke person,” does that mean I cannot become wealthy?
If I am “bad at money,” does that mean I will keep acting from that story?
Mercury invites more fluidity.
Instead of gripping identity too tightly, ask:
Does this identity expand me or trap me?
Does it make me more honest or less honest?
Does it help me become who I want to become?
Empowering Identity Spells
Some identities are worth practicing.
Not because they are fake affirmations.
Because they create more empowering behavior.
For example:
I am good with money.
I am capable.
I am willing.
I am able.
I am powerful.
I am learning.
I am someone who follows through.
I am someone who tells the truth.
These phrases matter because identity shapes behavior.
If you become “someone who is good with money,” you may start making different choices automatically.
The identity becomes a framework for action.
Complaining as Spellcasting
Complaining can also become a spell.
When you repeat what you hate, you reinforce the reality you claim to want to escape.
This does not mean you should never speak honestly about difficulty.
Honesty matters.
But Mercury asks:
How are you telling the story?
Are you making yourself smaller?
Are you hardening the identity?
Are you repeating the reality as permanent?
Are you creating more options or fewer?
The story you tell about the problem becomes part of the problem.
Humor and Irony as Mercury Medicine
Mercury loves play.
Mercury loves tricks.
Mercury loves wit, irony, wordplay, and clever reversals.
Sometimes humor can loosen a painful story more effectively than solemn self-improvement.
When frustration becomes rigid, irony can create space.
Not by dismissing the problem.
By making the story more flexible.
A joke can interrupt the spell.
A playful reframe can make the psyche less trapped.
Mercury does not always heal by going deeper.
Sometimes Mercury heals by making the pattern slippery enough to escape.
The Mercurial Mind: Everything Is More Changeable Than You Think
Mercury understands that meaning is fluid.
Words are fluid.
Stories are fluid.
Identities are more negotiable than they feel.
This is why Mercury is such a magical planet.
Mercury does not accept that the current story is the only story.
Mercury asks:
What else could this mean?
What else could I call myself?
What other sentence could I speak?
What other door could language open?
In Mercury magic, the world becomes less fixed.
More changeable.
More playful.
More alive.
A Simple Mercury Magic Practice
Try this for one week.
Listen for disempowering “I am” statements.
Write down one to three phrases you catch yourself saying.
For example:
I am broke.
I am bad at this.
I am terrible with money.
I am always behind.
I am not creative.
I am not disciplined.
Then rewrite each one as a more empowering identity.
Not fake.
Not inflated.
More spacious.
For example:
I am learning to handle money well.
I am becoming someone who follows through.
I am choosing where my energy goes.
I am good with money, so I choose carefully.
I am capable of learning this.
Then speak the new sentence daily.
This is simple Mercury magic.
A Mercury Ritual for Releasing an Identity
If you want to make the practice more magical, turn it into ritual.
Write the old identity on paper.
For example:
“I am broke.”
Then write the new identity beneath it:
“I am good with money.”
Light a candle.
Call on Mercury.
Ask Mercury to help you release the old wording and become more fluid, clever, playful, and free in your language.
Then tear, burn, bury, or otherwise dispose of the old phrase safely.
Keep the new phrase somewhere visible.
Repeat it with attention.
Let the words become a new track in the mind.
Words Create Worlds
Mercury magic is not only about speaking nicely.
It is about understanding that language forms reality.
The words you repeat become grooves.
The grooves become beliefs.
The beliefs become identity.
The identity becomes behavior.
The behavior becomes life.
So listen carefully.
What are you saying you are?
What are you making permanent with your words?
What are you casting into reality?
And what new story are you willing to speak?
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Lucy Baldwin (00:01.496)
Hello, my dear friend. Welcome to another episode of The Seven at Living with the Planets. Today, I'm talking about Mercury and Mercury magic, specifically how the stories that you're telling, the words that are using, might be creating and reinforcing the realities that you are trying to escape. So this is a pretty simple idea, right? Words have meaning.
Thoughts have meaning, no, thoughts don't have meaning. Just delete that completely, the part where I said thoughts have meaning, just delete from there to here. Words have meaning. When we say things, we are casting the spell of that reality. And more specifically, we can create identities through our words. So I talk about this all the time. I feel like a broken record, but I'm gonna do it again.
The best example of this, my go-to example of this, you've probably heard me say this, I'm broke. I'm broke. When you say I'm broke, you are genuinely casting the spell of brokenness forever. You're saying that you are broke. That is what you are. English is a real fucker like this. Okay, so you are literally creating an identity.
around brokenness. What's an identity? It's what you are. It's who you are, right? We have a real fascination with identity right now in this country, in the world, okay? We're really into identities. I do not recommend. do not recommend. Identities are something to be so careful with, right? So careful. You want to only give yourself
the identities that are going to be the most empowering, the most aligned with your truth, with the truth that you actually want to carry. Even something like, I'm a light worker, okay? I have always bristled at that, okay? I have bristled at that because you're saying I'm a person who works with own light, right? Light.
Lucy Baldwin (02:26.058)
And you know, it's like we can do light work. But if a light worker is what I am, I'm putting myself in a box that kind of says, and I can't handle the darkness, or I won't work with the darkness, or I won't approach the darkness, right? There's like a weird thing that happens there with identities where we kind of inadvertently other any alternative to the thing that we have become.
when we take on an identity. Does this make sense? So when I say I am broke, I'm literally saying that that's what I am, is broke. That's what I am. And so it's really hard to become wealthy if you are a broke person, right? The tooth, like broke and wealthy do not coexist. They are mutually exclusive.
And broke, of course, it's an abstract term. What does that even mean? To some people, it means like they own a mansion and they have like tens of thousands of, but they only have like a little bit of cashflow. To them, that's like broke. And then to some people broke means like they don't have any extra money coming in every month. It's like no disposable income. To some people broke means like they have
no money at all. They have no money coming in. It's very subjective, yes, and we all have our own beliefs around what brokenness is. And so that's the version of brokenness. That's the box we're putting ourselves in. It's our own box. It's our own beliefs about what that word means to us. And that's the box we're putting ourselves in when we say I'm broke. So what I'm saying is the Mercury magic here is
thinking about what are you saying? What are you casting into reality by speaking it? And I think the place, and I'm really swept up here with identities because I think identities are the most powerful place where this happens. Cause it's like, I could say all day that like, I have a million dollars, I have a million dollars. And that's a totally different kind of spell casting. There's no weight to that. There's no meaning to that, right? Because it's like,
Lucy Baldwin (04:51.339)
It's a binary thing. Like I either have that or I don't have that. And what does it even mean to have a million dollars? Does it mean like having a million dollars in cash? Does it mean having a million dollar net worth? Does it mean having a million dollars? I mean, you could see how like, it's all very expansive. It's all very mercurial. What does it all mean? Right? But identities are so clutch because you can, you can take on
identities through what you speak. It's what you tell yourself that you are, that you become. It creates the sort of framework for how you live your life, right? Because if I believe that a broke person blows all their money, they never get to get what they want, whatever those beliefs are that I have around what it means to be a broke person.
that's the reality that I'm going to create for myself. Like unconsciously, right? This is what magic is. It's changing those beliefs. It's rewiring those identities. So when you change the identity, all the beliefs that come along with that identity, like each identity has a whole lot of baggage in the form of its beliefs, right? So if you instead say something like, don't have the money for that right now, or
you know, like, I'm not going going to choose to buy that right now, right? Or like, I'm not... It completely changes the dynamic, right? Because suddenly it's choice. You're telling yourself, maybe you really like, maybe you really can't afford it, right? Like, there's no way in the world that you could possibly get the money to buy like a Maserati, right? And you really can't afford it.
But you could still, but just by even saying, I'm not gonna choose to do that right now. I'm not gonna choose to buy that right now. I'm not gonna choose to put my energy towards that right now. It changed, rather than saying like, I can't afford it or I'm broke or something like that. It's a really different feeling. It's a really different spell that you're casting and it's an empowering one. And so this is something that I really want to, this is like simple mercury magic.
Lucy Baldwin (07:18.505)
Listen to the words that you're saying specifically. What are you saying that you are? And then What do you believe about what those things that you are right? Like I'm a I'm a good mom. What does it mean to be a good mom? What does it mean to be a good mom? You know the beliefs that are associated with that identity of good mom Are going to dictate how you feel like you should be. It's there's a whole series of things that come along with that
And so telling the story of the reality that we want to create starts to shift things. If you've been carrying the identity of broken, of being a broke person for your whole life and you start to have, you know, relinquish that identity, let it go, like just even see that you have been doing that, even just see that you've been putting yourself in that box, you can start to like,
free yourself and climb out of that box. Now, having said that, conversely, there are amazing identities that we can spell cast our way into. Like, I'm abundant, or I'm powerful, or I'm capable, I'm willing, I'm able, I'm worthy. You know, those aren't
Like we want to create, you know, I'm successful. What does that mean for you? That's what that is going to create. You know, I'm good with money. I'm good with money. I'm someone who's good with money. I might not, like, you know what I mean? You can see how it's like, I might not make a lot of money, but I'm good with it. So I'm good at like, you know, having making it seems like I have even more than I do. Like I can, I can make a little bit goal, you know, I'm good with money. There's
you can see the expansion that's possible within that, right? Because you can not have that much money coming in and do a lot with it, but you can grow your money. You can get better at making money. There's so much available to you if you're just like, I'm good with money. I'm good with money, so I'm not going to do that right now. I'm good with money, so I'm not going to buy that thing that I quote can't afford, right? So then it's not...
Lucy Baldwin (09:43.153)
So I'm going to choose not to buy that. I'm going to choose not to do that thing. And you actually start to behave in ways automatically that support the identity that you're taking on. Now, there can be more to identity work than just like what we're saying, but this is simple Mercury magic. identities can be formed and built upon repeated language. And what we say has weight, what we say has a value.
we can speak realities into existence, especially within ourselves. You know, that's a lot of what ritual is. It's verbal. It's speaking things into our unconscious, speaking things into our psyche. So, you know, these beliefs are kind of like the hidden stories behind those identities. It's like, and you can investigate those for yourself because it's very idiosyncratic. You're going to have certain ideas around what it means to be broke, what it means to be a good mom, what it means to be good with money.
and you even have the ability to question those and update them and become really conscious about what those beliefs are and Investigate your hidden beliefs that you're maybe not aware of like just even asking yourself What do I believe about this or what do I believe about myself or what do I believe that I should be doing? You know, I think that especially like smart people we get really trapped in these like really clever
things. And this is just like really simple spellcraft to release those identities. Like even just saying, I'm not broke. Instead of every time you want to say I'm broke, just say, I'm not broke. I'm good with money. Just say that instead. And this is where also like complaining. So, you know, we're just talking about the power of your words, the power of speech. Complaining reiterates the experience that you don't want to be having or do you?
you know, if you're, if you're, sometimes complaining is like, we're pretending that we don't like it, but maybe there's a little bit of like juice in it and we kind of do. And so like, if that's the case, great, go with that. You know, watch my podcast, Penetrate Radio to learn more about that. but
Lucy Baldwin (12:05.857)
Okay. If you're going to talk about things that you don't like, how can you frame it in a way that's more empowering, more playful, that gives you more expansion, fluidity, options to opportunity to enjoy, opportunity to play, opportunity to have fun. Mercury loves to play. Mercury loves to have fun. And Mercury, by the way, is extremely mercantile, right? There's a lot of like trade and sleight of hand and
business and, and yeah, like.
I don't know. I don't know. Just scrap that. But we can be really playful with our complaining and actually make it more fun for ourselves, right? By getting ironic or just getting into the juiciness of it. just, yeah, I think irony is actually really amazing. My husband has this whole spiel about how...
Americans specifically have like really advanced humor. Like we're so cynical because of our culture that it really takes a lot to make us laugh. Like we really, we have like really high expectations for humor. He's kind of like a comedy snob, but I think it's true. Like he says like, you know, we just have a particularly refined sense of humor. And I think there is some truth to that. And I think that irony can be really powerful, like medicine sometimes to just like,
let ourselves play with the frustrations that we're experiencing in life in an ironic way. It does just kind of like loosen the rigid, like...
Lucy Baldwin (13:57.038)
tension that we feel about the way things are about the things that we can't control because there's so many of them, right? So yeah, I would say like just thinking about specifically what identities are you holding on to? What are you creating with your words? What boxes are you putting yourself in? This is mercury magic just very simple mercury magic
Is choosing maybe like three new identities three more empowering identities that you want to shift into? So this is my homework for you for this for this episode is like what are one to three things that you say and just listen for them Where it's like I hate my job. I suck at this. I'm broke I'm a bad XYZ
Anything where you're using an I am statement in a disempowering way, how can you turn it around and create a more empowering identity for yourself? And maybe you want to do a little ritual with Mercury to literally relinquish that identity. Maybe you want to sacrifice something. I don't know. There's a lot of really good magic here. I love identity magic.
And I also do want to just let you know that my dear friend Laila Matthews who is an amazing Mercurial Gemini like magician we have a course called trickster that you can buy at any time and So you I'll share the link in my description of this episode Mercury magic is so cool because with mercury it's like Anything is possible right mercury understands
that the entire world is a projection of the mind. And so from the standpoint of Mercury, like anything can be changed. Everything is changeable. Everything is kind of up for debate. There's this fluidity that we can tap into. And it's kind of like the essence of magic. I feel like Mercury is the ultimate magician deity, right?
Lucy Baldwin (16:21.749)
So if you wanna like dive into that kind of mercury magic and go come on the ride with Leila and I, definitely check out that course. It's called Trickster and it's really, really juicy. So in the meantime, I'll see you in the next episode. Thank you so much for watching.
New to Lucy’s work?
Start with Lucy Baldwin’s complete overview of planetary magic here
This episode is part of The Seven: Living with the Planets, a podcast exploring planetary magic as a path of self-growth, ritual practice, desire, embodiment, intuition, language, and spiritual transformation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mercury magic?
Mercury magic is planetary magic focused on language, communication, thought, writing, trade, commerce, cleverness, humor, play, story, and mental flexibility.
Why are “I am” statements powerful?
“I am” statements create identity. Repeated identity language teaches the unconscious what role, box, or self-concept to organize around.
Is saying “I’m broke” bad?
It is not morally bad, but it can reinforce brokenness as an identity. A more empowering phrase might describe the financial reality without making it who you are.
How can I change my words without lying?
Use precise, agency-based language. Instead of “I’m broke,” try “I’m choosing not to spend on that right now” or “I’m learning to handle money well.”
How does Mercury help with manifestation?
Mercury helps by changing the stories, identities, and words that shape belief and behavior. When language becomes more fluid, reality becomes more changeable.
Next Steps
If this episode resonated with you, continue exploring Lucy Baldwin’s work here:
You’ll find current offerings, free practices, podcast links, and ways to go deeper.
A good next step is the free guided Existential Kink practice available there, especially if you want to explore desire, shadow, identity, receiving, and radical approval in a more embodied way.
You may also want to explore Lucy Baldwin and Leila Mathews’ course Trickster, which dives deeper into Mercury magic, play, language, identity, and the changeability of reality.