The Legendary Life of Astrologer Walter Mercado
The late astrologer’s life and mythology is celebrated in the new Netflix documentary ‘Mucho, Mucho Amor’
The first 45 seconds of Mucho, Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado perfectly synthesize the core of Walter Mercado’s siren song. As opera music plays, he dramatically twirls and twists his body. His iconic blond hair is perfectly coiffed and a white cape majestically drips from his back. He stops and does his signature stare, the one that made millions feel like they were the only person in the world he was talking to. Then the film cuts to 1980s synthpop as clips of Mercado addressing each astrological sign play in quick succession: ¡Géminis! ¡Piscis! ¡Cáncer! ¡Acuario!
I’m transported to my late grandmother’s living room on New Year’s Eve, where the children would wait as the adults finished getting ready. Mercado would glow in her small TV, rattling predictions for everyone’s new year. My whole body stood to attention when he called my sign. “¡Sagitario!” He would promise a clean slate and growth, telling us to wear something red or white or turquoise or gold that night if we wanted to achieve that. I always secretly wished that my Mami would pay attention to what he was saying, and allow us to wear a token of the color he mentioned. That would feel like…
