Mercury in the 1st house

The 1st house covers the self as others encounter it: manner, appearance, first approach. Mercury here leads with the mind. These people tend to talk early, ask questions and think aloud, and they are often read as quick, restless and younger than their years. Gesture and speech carry much of the impression they make. The nerves run hot, and a busy head is harder to quiet than it looks from outside. Mercury never strays far from the Sun, so an accurate birth time is what settles whether it falls in the 1st house or just over the cusp in the 12th.