Sun in Virgo/Mars in Scorpio: A Cake Walk Life

 The Harvesters by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

 (1565, Metropolitan Museum of Art,  courtesy of Google Art Project)

Whether you live in the northern or southern hemisphere, the sign of Virgo is about the idea of the harvest at two different levels.

On one hand, Virgo represents the actual harvest – that which we create through thoughtful effort put in over a period of time. As the second of the zodiac’s three earth signs, Virgo is not the ‘mission accomplished’ that Capricorn represents. Rather, it’s the process of making sure that accomplishment comes to be.

Being earthy, Virgo deals in the tangible. It’s focus is on what we CAN do about anything, which implies using the tools and resources you have on hand and knowing (or learning) how to use those tools or resources.

Like each of the zodiac’s elemental cycles (earth, air, fire and water), Virgo is ultimately about getting where we want to go…where we need to go…where we will feel fulfilled by going. And lest you think otherwise, that goal doesn’t stop at Capricorn. Like all things zodiac, elemental cycles are continuous….think of them as a spiral to ascend through success not in society’s eyes, but in our own self-regard.

What this means is that we start with all the Taurus self worth and self regard…the willingness to take hold of something and try it on, the native attributes of whatever kind we bring to the task. That move through the Virgo ‘application’ phase, during which we figure out how to ‘make things work’ so that we can reach the desired (Capricorn) goal.

Think of it as baking a cake. Taurus (which by the by, is the sign of food resources in your pantry, restaurants to eat from and the whole farmer-grocers-grocery stores chain which gets food to us)…the Taurus phase is the deciding that you’re hungry for a cake (or that there’s an occasion which calls for a cake) and that you’re going to bake one. (Whether you’re a pastry chef or a novice doesn’t matter.)

You go to the cupboard and sort through what you have (very Taurus) and what you need in order to have your cake and eat it too (also Taurus).

The link between Taurus and Virgo is the going to the store…the setting things in motion. Taurus is a fixed sign, so all it’s deciding and sorting and making lists is a ‘static’ sort of operation. Virgo, on the other hand, is a mutable sign – and mutable signs do this, try that, go here, go there. Mutable signs are all about connecting the dots and moving the process along, replete with course corrections and wiping stray flour off the counter.

The cake comes out, you worry about whether its any good while it’s cooling on the rack, then you gather up your wits (and decorating tools) and go to town with the frosting.

That’s all Virgo. Virgo is whatever the process is which connects the making a decision that something is worth doing to the having it done. So if you bake the cake and put it out on the platter, we’re all good with that – you’ve reached the Capricorn goal and you have a cake to show for your efforts.

Eating the cake is the enjoying the accomplishment, the goal…or to put this in standard Capricorn parlance, the ‘what you have built through your efforts.’ In Capricorn we savor our accomplishments – whether alone or in the company of cake devotees with whom we have decided to share.

This is the ‘societal’ or ‘commerce’ aspect of Capricorn: who you would invite to partake of your cake depends on a.) who you like, and b.) who you think will like your cake. If you don’t like them or value them enough, you won’t invite them to partake. If you think they might not like your cake you’ll invite them to attend and tell them they don’t have to eat it, but you’d like them there to celebrate the creation of your caloric masterpiece.

And once the scene (and table) are set, that’s where Capricorn vaults leads back to Taurus – in the tasting of the cake, the fulfilling of our hunger.

But when we taste that cake, one of several things happen. Either we get all filled with cake and after the inevitable sugar high get all dozy with satisfaction that we have ‘done good’ and fulfilled our aims…or at that first bite of cake we realize we have a lot to learn about cake baking.

Or maybe that first cake is so much fun we want to start making plans to make other cakes.

We are now back at Taurus, and we will begin a new round of ‘hungering' – whether that’s for another cake, for a cheap source of milk to go with that cake, for an exercise routine with which to work off the calories taken on eating that cake, or better skills (or equipment) with which to make cakes in the future.

In other words, so long as we’re alive, we’re never satisfied in the finite sense. And whether it’s learning how to make cakes (plural) to the point of being a master of all things pastry, whether it’s developing an exercise routine to compensate for all those slices of cake we eat, whether it’s trying to work out a schedule which will get us to the market on a regular basis to pick up our ingredients (or to the dentist to inspect our teeth, since we’re eating a lot of sugar)…all the processes which connect the initial concept and decision to do something we think would be satisfying with the accomplishment – those processes are Virgo.

(We will now pause while I clean up the kitchen.)

Truly the glitch with Virgo is not carrying through on the job. That can happen when we spin our wheels thinking or talking about the thing instead of doing it, that can happen when we don’t keep ourselves focused enough to carry through and get the project from start to finish…or at least through to where our yeast dough needs to rise for a while.

(I know…that yeast thing applies more to bread than cake, but just go with it please?)

There are those of us who like to be ‘eternally’ doing. They don’t want the job to end. You may have heard of fear of failure, yes? Well the ‘eternal doer’ is another interesting human quirk – namely the fear of not having anything to do.

You’ve maybe heard that Virgo is prone to worry and nattering endlessly over details? This is because Virgo energy is motion oriented. (Just ask my cousin the Virgo who never sits down!)

So as the Sun moves into Virgo on (Wednesday) August 22nd at 5:08 in the evening UT/+0 time, and throughout the solar month of Virgo, there is energy which needs using. It’s a good time to get things done and for figuring out how to get them done well.

Because Mars will be in Scorpio for the whole of this period, there will be opportunities to try things out and test your ideas to see if they’re edible.

Just don’t count on huzzahs and sugary compliments. As an isolated concept Mars in Scorpio represents that challenge to find the way (Mars is always an action verb) to get where we want to go. And at the level of Scorpio doings, there’s always the need to risk approval. Or to not get the response you want – all of which explains why in anything Scorpio we have a tendency to try to control the outcome. Or at least our input!

Whenever Mars transits (the fixed sign of) Scorpio we tend to be very focused – almost to the point of being myopic. We know what we want…with the challenge being whether we can take into account what other people’s aims (wants, values) are in the process of going about our business.

Plus there is that emotion thing, too. Scorpio is a water sign – so what’s at stake is our experience of our emotions. This is one of the really grizzly parts of Scorpio, seeing as that ‘risk’ thing plus the ‘emotion’ thing (which frequently leads to the ‘I’d really like to control what happens here’ thing) tends to have us all doing exactly what we shouldn’t do – that being getting defensive.

In Scorpio, particularly when what’s being put through the Scorpio lens is Mars-type assertions and assertiveness energy, what results is often that oh-so very human ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ thing.

Or the ‘how DARE you not like this cake I baked!’ thing. Never mind that the person is on a diet…never mind that they may be diabetic and your cake is solid sugar…never mind that they may just have eaten or that your cake is chocolate and they like vanilla…there’s just something about Mars in Scorpio which all too frequently fosters resentment. Or resentment’s snarky cousin, jealousy.

So, elemental baker, don’t be shocked if during the Mars transit of Scorpio….(which runs from 3:23 p.m. on August 23 through 3:22 a.m. on October 7, both times being UT/+0 calculations)…don’t be shocked if someone is jealous of what you’ve done. Or maybe just jealous that you’re doing something when they’re doing nothing even though they know they should be doing something.

And yes, this means that during this period you may feel daunted – even threatened in some obscure way – by someone who is really good or really accomplished in some area which you want to work in your life too.

It’s probably worth mentioning as well that Scorpio is also the ‘middle sign’ of an elemental triad.

That means that Scorpio is also the ‘processing’ sign, and therefore – because it’s a water (i.e., emotional) sign to begin with – it represents the processing of our emotions. (Hence Scorpio’s association with psychology.) And because this means Scorpio would ALSO represent all the things which entice, excite, provoke or evoke those emotions, that would be why Scorpio is the sign of death, taxes, conception, war, inheritances, the grieving process, power struggles, sex, debt, investments, violence…and so on.

So to have two of the five astrological ‘personal planets’ (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) in signs which are about ‘the process’ or ‘the process of’ or ‘processing’ means there’s a lot going on focus-wise, even in those moment or on days when or if it seems like not a whole heck of a lot is actually happening. In keeping with Sun in Virgo and Mars in Scorpio, these weeks ahead will a time when thinking through all the parameters – and not just yours, but yours and those of the people you’re likely to interact with – is the thing which is going to get you that Mars-in-Scorpio gate pass…approval…reaction you really want.

That Mercury will exit the shadow of its Leo retrograde on (Tuesday) August 21st before the Sun enters Virgo on Wednesday and Mars enters Scorpio on Thursday means we are also moving into a period when new (Mercurial) parameters will be tossed into our hats. With Mercury passing through the latter (3rd decan) degrees of Leo as all these new thoughts, approaches, attitudes and perspectives begin to arise means most of this ‘newness’ is being thrust at us, and the smart money is on listening and not reacting until you’ve figured out where such statements are coming from.

Why do people feel the way they do?

Once Mercury moves into Virgo with September’s arriving we’re all going to be more focused on the details and ‘how to get from here to there’ aspects of life. And that takes us roughly to mid-September, when a handful of other issues arise, all of which seems a bit distant to contemplate at the moment.

However…! One small word to the wise: before a planet changes signs and enters zero of the ‘next’ sign it’s at 29 maximal and critical degrees of the previous sign. That tells us that Tuesday the 21st (of August), which is when Mercury exits its shadow, is also the date of the Sun being at 29 degrees of Leo.

Expect a sense of ‘a push’…or maybe pushy, depending. Self-willed versus artistic versus courageous versus ‘when was it you decided to live in your own private world again?’ will be the theories of the day.

Life is setting us up to be hungry – for something! And life is always so creative!

Then, as the Sun enters Virgo on the 22nd, Mars is at 29 critical degrees of Libra – a curious combination of strong and weak. If you know people who like to undermine and overthrow (just because they can) this is one of those kinds of days. (And yes, they may be acting out!)

This can also be a day when weaknesses come to light. Or when someone overplays their hand.

And the Sun in Virgo now asks: yes, that’s all well and good, but does it work?

Ah yes…Virgo. Here’s to functionality, achieving goals and sharing with others, near and far!