All love eventually becomes help.
~Paul Tillich remix.
Mars enters Virgo September 24th at 10:18 PM EDT, conjoining the fixed star Regulus and squaring Saturn immediately upon entry.
Mars and Jupiter now occupy the same sign. The sign Virgo now has two planetary bodies in it, doubling the dose of Virgo energy being emitted toward the earth.
When it comes to understanding how planetary energies work in astrology, I always remember something from my philosophy undergrad days. It’s a little tidbit from David Hume about causation. You may know it — that correlation does not equal causation.
Taking that statement at its face without hyper-investigating it, we can say that although it’s not entirely apparent how the planetary energies work on/with us, we do know that when the Moon is full, energies are at high tide, and when the moon is waning in light to darkness, our energies go underground with it. There is a healthy amount of consistent correlation that can be observed, and this is what makes it possible to say predictive things like “discipline your energetic output” when you’re having a Saturn transit to your Mars, or “make sure to allow plenty of space and time to rest and reflect” when you’re having a major Neptune transit.
As two planets traverse the same sign, the themes of that sign are also amplified in life here on earth. The fiery inner planet Mars and the social planet Jupiter, are expressing Virgo’s energies through the function they each demonstrate.
Jupiter’s function is to magnify, expand, and even bless Virgo themes, while Mars’ function adds energy and gusto to the same themes.
Jupiter is a benefic planet. Even though traditionally he is not the strongest position in Virgo, his benefic status as a planet remains. Part of the reason he is in detriment in Virgo is because the Jupiter nature is to joyously expand, while Virgo is very aware of minute details. Piecing those ideas together in a straightforward way would look something like over-stating minute details, or emphasizing the parts over the whole, or being very concerned with looking at something very closely so that differences of hair-splitting dimensions can be discerned.
Jupiter’s year long stay in Virgo is an invitation to bring healing to criticism that is petty, so small as to be negligible, but that cuts like glass. This transit is about the blessing of being able to see the big picture while still maintaining focus on the importance of a small, very focused, and narrow vision.
Two of Virgo’s shadow expressions have to do with the experiences of shame and guilt. These are complex and powerful emotions that deserve a thorough analysis in their own right. Searching the web yields many competing definitions, but acknowledging them as a shadow expressions of Virgo as a jumping off point for considering Jupiter in Virgo is a start.
Jupiter’s rulership over Sagittarius and Pisces brings in the concepts of healing and forgiveness, seeing the big picture, and successfully living with paradox. This natural association also as to do with moving forward. Sagittarius carries on because there is always the horizon to look forward to, and Pisces knows that the scenery along the way is there to be savored.
Jupiter’s presence in Virgo is an invitation to exercise profound forgiveness, with the self and others. Jupiter supplies the optimism and joy required to rearrange self-hatred and harsh criticism. Mars in Virgo helps to literally work these toxic emotions or mental states out of the internal ecosystem.
Using the combined energies of Mars and Jupiter in Virgo might look like making a commitment to forgiveness by giving it an outer expression. This can be by doing a craft representing healing, composing a meticulous piece of music, writing a poem, committing to a consistently clutter free space, deepening and expanding a skillset, sharing your work with others, committing to a higher quality of living whatever values are important to you, committing to completing what you begin, allowing yourself to enjoy the process in all its grittiness, and allowing yourself to experience the forgiveness that is required to live life in this way.
This creates the ability to keep on moving, perhaps the most characteristic feature of the mutable signs.
Remember: moving is one thing. Moving forward is another thing altogether. It’s important not to move in unhelpful circles, especially analytical circles. One big part of the Virgo symbolism has to do with the progress that comes with doing the work for the sake of the work, and not for the sake of ego gratification. That means there is a lot of unpleasant, unglamorous, straight up toil to deal with on the way to doing something well, or making an accomplishment, or upleveling any standard you hold yourself to.
Mars in Virgo
Mars arrives in the sign of the harvest. This is an incredibly industrious Mars sign. And this is doubly the case because it now meets Jupiter in this sign. Jupiter has already been tilling, sowing, and planting the fields of Virgo. Now Mars can come through and really begin to work the land to produce something effective.
Upon Mars’ entrance into Virgo it conjoins the fixed star Regulus at 0 degrees Virgo, the first degree of Virgo, and squares Saturn at 0 degrees Sagittarius.
This article is a great piece on Regulus in Virgo, and I can’t help but to recall it as Mars crosses over Regulus in the sky. This speaks to me of changes in discourse and action among women now — something that might be called a movement: the increased healing and bonding of ties among women, increasing references to sisterhood, increasing encouragement to heal criticism and judgement from woman to woman, increasing authority and self-possession among women of themselves, whereas for millennia women were possessed and ceded power and authority, and where in many places in the world today, women still are property, where 3 out of 10 Millienum Development Goals had to do with advancing women’s causes, the more prominent discussions of healing of sensuality and sexuality, of being aware that our bodies are chemistry sets and whatever we put in them alters us and how so much of what we put in our chemistry sets today alters us so drastically, and how care of bodies has for a long time been something that belonged exclusively to the domain of women — And yet astrologically, we can understand the care of bodies has to do with the symbolism of Virgo — the self-possessed woman. Despite gender, Virgo is yin. And so the anima is not just something you find in your female partner.
This is preparation for a whole lot of mutable energy coming our way in the last quarter of this year and through 2016.
Mars’ entrance into Virgo with its immediate square to Saturn is a call to get knuckle down and get to work. To energetically make mental processes available to the conscious mind, sift through them, and discard the processes that don’t serve. It is a call to get going on what is important to you, to produce fruits of your love in copious amounts, to care for your body and your life on an uber practical level. It is a call to make certain that your deepest ethic shines clearly in every effort you exert, down to your cells, down to your mitochondria.
With love,
Ichrak
