Sensitive viewers may find it difficult to watch the The Cove, the documentary that exposed the slaughter of dolphins in Japan, but the tears shed are well worth it if it means that through creating awareness, something can be done to halt this atrocity.

It is a tragic and heart-breaking story which exposes one of the many consequences of man’s desire nature, filling you with a sense of shame that rocks you to the core; yet it is thought provoking and insightful and offers a glimpse into the ramifications of the senseless slaughter of innocent animals entrusted into our care by God.

The Mercurial thread that dominates these events cannot be ignored from an astrological perspective. The ruler of thieves and tricksters rears his ugly head throughout, and his rulership over speech, communication, the hands and the nervous system is highlighted in the diseases depicted as most likely to manifest in man as a result of the ingestion of dolphin flesh.

The essential nature of Mercury

It is rare for any situation to display one over-riding planetary signature; a signature that is depicted in almost every facet of the circumstances that surround it and which rules the majority of the individual events and threads. The story that is told by The Cove which won the Academy Award for the Best Documentary Feature in 2010 displays just that.

Mercury, the only androgynous planet (although essentially classified as masculine), is the natural ruler of thieves and tricksters and is never to be trusted, even when displaying positive essential dignity. Mercury rules journalists, all forms of communication (and our ability to communicate), depression and all mental illness (he rules the brain), lies, deceit, trickery, secrecy, money and trade thus commerce, the metal mercury, poisons, sonar and all sound, technology, speech, the arms, hands and fingers, the tongue, logic and cognitive thought and the nervous system and he is the ruler of messengers as the messenger of the gods in mythology.

I allot dolphins to his rulership due to their advanced level of intelligence, their playfulness (Hermes was a mischievous child-god), the speed at which they travel (dolphins can swim up to 25 miles per hour), their dexterity and acrobatics (additional Mercury signatures) and their heightened desire to communicate using sonar/ultrasound as their primary means of communication.

Dolphins communicate using frequency modulated whistles, burst-pulsed sounds and clicks and are able to communicate identity-information through these sounds, something which still baffles scientists. These whistles are used to coordinate the pod when hunting and dolphins convey cultural knowledge to their offspring which is transmitted through the different forms of communication they use.

The head of the dolphin contains the melon, a round organ used for echolocation and dolphin echolocation clicks are amongst the loudest sounds made by marine mammals. The dolphin brain is large and highly complex and although it is extremely difficult to compare intelligence in different creatures, dolphins are regarded as one of the most intelligent (animal) species on earth.

The eco system relies on dolphins to maintain balance as they are apex predators, controlling the populations of fish and squid and the Bottlenose dolphin has been called the sentinel of the coastal marine ecosystems; when consuming copious quantities of fish and squid, they ingest high levels of contaminates which are generally not harmful to them and thus protect the environment from contamination. It is for this reason that ingesting dolphin meat is deadly to man.

Killer whales and sharks may eat dolphins, but except for humans, dolphins have very few enemies. Dolphins are curious social creatures and are drawn to man just as we are attracted to them and it is this longing for interaction between the species that has led to the demise of dolphins today. Some dolphin species face an uncertain future and the Amazon, Yangtze and Ganges River dolphins are seriously endangered, even appearing to be functionally extinct.

The slaughter of Dolphins

The Cove exposes the mass slaughter of dolphins each year in Tajii, Japan through dolphin drive hunting which commences in the month of September each year. Dolphins are herded into a hidden cove by boats aboard which are men banging contraptions from which emanate the death knoll for these dolphins who speed towards the cove to escape the noise. Dolphins can hear frequencies ten times or more than the upper limit of an adult person so this cacophony of noise terrifies them. Their confusion, desperation, panic and pitiful calling to each other again elicits tears and disbelief as I write these words and my shame for the human species knows no bounds.

Once trapped the more ‘suitable’ dolphins, specifically young females, are sold to aquariums and marine parks world-wide, fetching up to $150 000.00 per dolphin, and the rest are butchered to death by men using knives, clubs and spears. The ocean turns a bright red as the blood of the innocent seeps into the water; the cove is transformed into a crimson basin in which divers are waiting beneath the surface to catch any mammals which may still be floundering in their death throes or who are desperately trying to escape.

The dolphin corpses are then loaded onto boats and transported to another cove where they are chopped up and sold to retailers for human consumption - a dead dolphin is worth approximatly $600. The documentary states that 23 000 dolphins and porpoises are killed annually in Japan, far exceeding the number of whales killed in the Antarctic.

The Cove was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos and renowned dolphin trainer Ric O’Barry (of Flipper fame) is the power behind the disclosure. Portions were filmed secretly during 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras (all under the rulership of Mercury) as any attempts to approach the cove during the killing-season are blocked.

Ric O’Barry states that he spent a decade training dolphins in captivity thus helping to create the largest slaughter of dolphins on the planet, and has subsequently invested in excess of thirty five years fighting for their release; he remained ignorant of the negative impact of captivity on these highly intelligent mammals for as long as he could, even ignoring their obvious symptoms of depression, until his favourite 'Flipper-dolphin' committed suicide in his arms by refusing to take another breath and he could ignore the situation which had become dire, no longer.

Dolphins as Messengers of the gods

The interaction between humans and dolphins is so old that it’s rare to find a culture whose history and mythology doesn’t make mention of these beautiful marine mammals; Greek mythology is full of stories about dolphins who always appear as helpers to humankind and according to the ancient Greeks, the sighting of a dolphin riding a ship’s wake was a good omen. Dolphins were messengers of the Greek god of the sea Poseidon and many myths portray dolphins transporting messages to mortals directly from the gods; dolphins were also sacred to Apollo and Aphrodite.

Many mythological heroes were saved from drowning by being lifted onto the back of a dolphin and carried safely to shore and numerous ancient coins and seals depict a man or boy riding a dolphin. Reports of cooperative human-dolphin fishing date back to Pliny the Elder and a modern-day human-dolphin fishing partnership still exists in Laguna, Santa Catarina, Brazil.

In Hindu mythology the Ganges River dolphin (now virtually extinct) is associated with Ganga, the deity of the Ganges River. The dolphin is said to be among the creatures which heralded the goddess' descent from the heavens and her mount, the Makare, is sometimes depicted as a dolphin. The Boto dolphins in the Amazon River are believed to be shape shifters, or encantados, who are capable of having children with human women.

While Zeus was the most notorious shape shifter in mythology, shape–shifting ability is mercurial in nature and falls under the rulership of Mercury. As the messenger of the gods Mercury was able to convey their messages to mortals (and between the gods themslves) using whatever disguises were required to ensure the message was received and understood. Dolphins can understand how to manipulate situations, how to communicate with humans and how to assist them in healing; it is therefore not difficult to understand why dolphins were allotted the same credentials as Mercury. In so far as I can see dolphins were always revered and appreciated by the ancient cultures and their flesh was not deemed fit for human consumption for many reasons – spiritually, morally, emotionally and practically.

Mercury poisoning

Dolphins are considered mass waste dumps due to the amount of fish they consume which contain contaminants, the primary one being mercury, and consumption of dolphin flesh will inevitably result in mercury poisoning. The governments that allow the sale of dolphin meat in their supermarkets are fully aware of this health risk yet for the most part, this is ignored.

Minamata disease was first discovered in Minamata city in 1956. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory, which continued from 1932 to 1968. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated in shellfish and fish in Minamata bay and the Shiranui Sea. The seafood ingested by the local population resulted in mercury poisoning and while cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued over more than 30 years, the government and company did little to prevent the pollution.

This neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning includes symptoms of ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet and damage to hearing and speech – all signatures of the planet Mercury. In extreme cases insanity, paralysis, coma and death are the result and the most vulnerable sector of the population to mercury poisoning is pregnant women. According to the facts depicted in The Cove, it is only a matter of time before babies are again born deformed in Japan and other dolphin-eating countries and before the many horrendous symptoms of Minamata disease start afflicting those who consume the flesh of the dolphins so brutally and unnecessarily slaughtered in Tajii.

Managing our Mercury

Mercury is the executive suite of the central system; our ability to comprehend information, utilise it correctly and to apply logic. However Mercury does not operate alone, he works in close tandem with our Moon-part which is our emotional nature, our (collective) subconscious and our ability to nurture and feel compassion; this combination is what makes us ‘human’ and what sets us apart from the animal kingdom. When Mercury operates independent of the Moon, the consequences of the trickster, the liar, the negotiator and the ruler of money functioning on his own makes a travesty of the species that is top-dog in the pecking order.

While many people display behaviour that is entirely contrary to that portrayed in The Cove by spending obscene amounts of money on animals, specifically on their domesticated pets and which could be used to save human lives instead, treating animals as dispensable commodities is atrocious and displays man operating at his vilest – all compassion and humanity is removed. The subject of animals is a sensitive one but an undeniable fact is that animals were placed in our safe keeping and are to be afforded respect as living creatures while utilised for our purposes in the most humane way possible.

A middle ground has to be found between elevating animals to the status of humans (which in the hierarchy of life they most certainly aren’t) and viewing them as possessions to be tortured, abused, degraded and butchered for our own selfish purposes. This has nothing at all to do with culture; it has to do with being human which means that we have a logical as well as an emotional nature. Many people interviewed in Japan were unaware that dolphin meat was sold in their supermarkets or that dolphins were slaughtered en masse in their own country each year. If the consumption of dolphin flesh is part of the Japanese culture why are the activities at the cove in Tajii shrouded in secrecy?

If dolphins were the last food source available to man and consuming their flesh would prolong the life-span of our own species, then by all means, they would serve a (highly debatable) noble cause. The test of our humanity at that time would be whether we herded the frightened, confused and pitiful creatures into a cove and bludgeoned them to death to satisfy our hunger or whether we ensured the last breath they took was as stress-free as possible.

The footage in The Cove is possibly the saddest and most depressing I have ever witnessed and the collective cry of the dolphins is so melancholic that it tugs at your soul, ripping open any façade of logic; their cry bypasses the Mercury side of your brain and penetrates your vulnerable and emotional Moon-side because the only reaction to their pain is an emotional one, a cerebral one is impossible.

We are all to be held accountable for atrocities such as this one – and there are others perpetrated against many other species of animals. If we ignore what is happening in Tajii we are as guilty as those slashing open the soft dolphin flesh with their picks and then we have all betrayed one of the most intelligent animals on our planet with whom we have had the most profound affinity for centuries.