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Saturday, October 12, 2013

Mars in Virgo: Our Harmony Within


A spectrogram showing a note and the perfect fifth
(the harmonic fifth) above it
(image credit: Omegatron, using Adobe Audition)
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All on its own, Mars in Virgo is the energy of doing for a given purpose and getting things done. It’s about the need which drives us to do something (whatever form that takes) and the effectiveness and efficiency which gets things done.

It's even about learning how to get something done.

Or learning that something needs to be done.

Mars in Virgo promotes gets in touch with how we feel about things and gaining a better perspective on what doesn't work - and why it doesn't work.

And why it may not be moral. Or ethical.

Yet while it is tempting to think that Mars in Virgo is about 'the rules' and the 'way it ought to work,' that's not true either. Virgo is an earth sign. And therefore, Mars in Virgo is about the evidencing of how our existence - be that our corporeal bodies or our life here on Earth - how healthy that is, or isn't.

So it's not about 'the rules' or 'the protocol' except in the sense that said rules or protocol have to do with real people living real lives. 

It's about the process of learning to be human...a real human being living in a world which often does everything it can to get us to deny our humanity...our humanness...and our instinct to be humane.

All of this will be enticed out of us through challenges and events which take place while Mars is in Virgo (from October 15 - December 7), no matter what else happens.

And much will indeed happen.

For one, let’s just remember that the ruler of Virgo is Mercury. And Mercury is not only currently in Scorpio (symbolizing the stirring up of all those intense situations and personal challenges we’ve all been dealing with)… but Mercury will BE in Scorpio until December 5th.

Which yes, does seem to hook these two influences together. Funny how that works, eh?

This Virgo-Scorpio connection is something I talked about in a previous post – the one about the Sun moving into Virgo back in August. Remember that one? Not to worry…here’s the link:



As with any two signs, there is a two-sided symbiotic relationship. The first (the one written most about in the Sun/Mercury Virgo post) is how Virgo is the 3rd derivative sign from Virgo…which because the 3rd derivative sign from anything is always about mentality, choice, communication, priorities and the ability to follow through productively on things rather than overcommit or scatter ourselves or just build some castle in the sky (of our mind) which then falls apart in reality.

In short, the ability to learn is the heart and soul of the 3rd harmonic (that 3rd derivative sign thing). And because Scorpio is the 3rd harmonic to Virgo, that’s why Virgo placements (and Virgo people) react to many things in life in a Scorpio sort of way: they glom onto things which trip their desire triggers and often shy away from that which asks them to face their own fears and any underlying issues with self worth.

Meanwhile (back at the mental Mercury ranch) there’s also the derivation from Scorpio TO Virgo to consider here, since Virgo’s ruler (and hence a great influence on Mars’ passage through Virgo) is in Scorpio...and is going to be in Scorpio right up to the last few days of Mars’ traverse through Virgo.

From Scorpio to Virgo is an 11th derivation. Thus all things Virgo represent Scorpio, this deeply emotional sign which challenges us so intensely to experience our own security and self worth through our relationships and choices of where to (or not to) invest ourselves in life, in its ‘fitting in role.’

And that’s all about functionality and morality and health and whether what we do or don’t do actually serves to support our greater goals…which is why no matter how much we want something to work or be true (that being the Scorpio thing)…that when it doesn’t, it throws everything into chaos.

Virgo is, after all, one half of the Virgo/Pisces polarity. And whether or not your version of ‘chaos’ is at the physical/operational (Virgo) end of the spectrum or the emotional-rejection-failure end of the spectrum (the Pisces side), chaos is chaos – and when the originating point is Scorpio, the result is demoralizing, sometimes shame producing, and often the source of continued dysfunctionality…the Virgo-from-Scorpio legacy.

Scorpio defeats hurt. And while it’s easy to say they hurt at our self worth or self respect level, what’s harder to cope with is putting the pieces back together – the ‘making it work’ again thing.

The Virgo derivation…the harmonic within which defines the harmony within.

And let’s not forget the solar eclipse. (Yes, that again.) The reason not to forget it (even if we’re tired of thinking about it) is simple: Mars entering Scorpio is going to either fire up our ability TO mend things in life and in our life…or it’s going to represent an upsurge of forces of disruption getting into action.

Mind you…it’s to think through (in intensely Mercury-in-Scorpio fashion, no doubt!) whether or what is really at stake, no matter what really happens. The way metaphysics work, things will happen to us and we will be involved in situations (of whatever kind) which evoke our issues. Considering Scorpio’s presence in this mix, boundaries may be an issue. Considering Virgo’s presence in this mix, questions of whether something is ‘healthy’ may arise. That may be about you. Then again, the issue may be someone else and their Scorpio (power, control, boundary, investment) issues.

Or it could be both of you.

Or it could be what you’re both involved in – or how you’re involved, or the process you’re involved in (or with), regardless of how innocent and well-meaning you both may be.

So…how to know what is what and whether you’re on the right track?

For one, considering that as Mars enters Virgo it encounters Regulus, ask yourself whether there are emotions involved, and if so, what kind of emotionality is in play. Having emotions is fair, of course – everybody should have feelings! (If you don’t, that’s defined as a Virgo functionality problem right there.) And it’s perfectly okay if someone is presenting you with a choice, so long as they’re not threatening you with anything but the repercussions of your choice with regards to the outcome.

Example: the boss who says 'never mind what the laws are or aren't, this is MY law and if you don't obey it, you're out of a job.'

Particularly in today's difficult job market, the tendency may be to toe the line, kowtow or assume some bent over position which puts your hands in touch with your ankles.

But if you know that what your boss is demanding is unethical...or some law they claim exists doesn't actually exist...then you are stuck very squarely in exactly the sort of convolution this Mars in Virgo passage is designed to elicit.

Mars in Virgo is about 'cleaning up our act.' And in that, what may be 'easy' is not always right. The right thing to do is to prioritize being the human being you are. And if there's something unhealthy about that, such factors will require Mars in Virgo efforts too.

All of this requires a bucket load of being honest with ourselves. And that sort of honesty is a definite Virgo/Scorpio issue in which Mars in Virgo will play the part of a heroically villainour energy which will drill through the basics of ‘what works’ to the 'are you out of your mind to be doing this?' level.

It's easy to say Mars in Virgo is about goal orientation. It's harder to tolerate the Mars in Virgo effect linked (through Mercury in Scorpio) to the eclipse and all which goes with the solar eclipse.

And oh, by the way...if you're thinking that you just have to hold on or hold out until November 3rd and then everything will be rosy? Uh, no. That's not how it works. 

Part One: when we avoid, evade or deny the work the energetics of a solar eclipse are aimed at (which generally having to do with peeling back our defenses and getting us to be ourselves at a far more nakedly genuine level) we end up locking ourselves into a pattern which in time becomes the 'bad choice' which cripples our life. You may call it pragmatism...at least for now. But down the life you'll recognize your lack of courage and your unwillingness to be uncomfortable for a couple of months or so has pretty much compromised your life.

Part Two: solar eclipse energetics are FAMOUS for representing our eventual downfall - a downfall which will play out at the next eclipse in a much "bigger" way. In this sense, eclipses are cumulative...and eventually they indicate the process which will take you out.

Yes, that kind of 'take you out.'

Metonic cycles...which is to say, the eclipse cycle...is 19 years long. But before you go shrugging your shoulders about how 19 years is a really long time, allow me add two items.

One: eclipse cycles don't start when we're born. They start at some point at or before we're age 19...GENERALLY. (There are exceptions.)

Example: I had a really bad bicycle accident when I was a child. It happened at age seven. And since then, every 19 years, as that eclipse cycle comes around, something very physical and difficult happens in my life.

So look back. Somewhere back there, there's probably a moment or a passage about which you can say 'oh, there was this really AWFUL thing which happened at age such-and-such.' Solar eclipse effects change our lives at some level. And yes, effects will vary, depending on what they hit...Sun, Ascendant, Nodes...it varies.

But we know the feel of a 'hit' - particularly to our Sun.

And that's another part of the point. Many of us have more than one eclipse cycle which is active in our chart.

And yes, there are a few of us who are never really directly hit by eclipses. That can be good, that can be bad. It was astrologer Chris MacRae who pointed out (in a most cheery, philosophical tone during a lecture one day) that lives which are never challenged seldom go anywhere...or at least very far.

Her reference was to t-squares, as I remember. But the concept applies. Good times are nice, but tough times and embracing the difficulty of the challenge are what lead to ultimate personal success.

That's the metaphysical teaching. Feel free not to like it...but that's still the teaching. And as far as anyone in the astrological quadrant can suss out from charts, it holds true.

The 'mutual reception' quality of Mars in Virgo plus Mercury in Scorpio will now pit us against the forces of control, emotionalism, manipulation and threat - particularly as those things are experienced within. But what Mars in Virgo is attempting to root out is why we react to those negative forces...be they inside our psyches, causing us to make bad choices or choices which cripple some facet of our being (particularly our feeling being and that which asks us to own our emotionality)....and all this is now likely to come to the fore through those who are at a guess, the least connected to the truth of how their emotionality needs to connect to and take into account the emotionality of others.

There are many, many ways we will see this surface. But they are all likely to have a single theme, that being where people point to 'the way it should be done' or 'the way we have always done it' as an excuse not to change. 

Also likely, those who say 'your feelings have nothing to do with anything'...which would be a direct violation of (or attempt to evade) the requirements being put forth by the Scorpio solar eclipse.

Manipulation will be rife. As we all know, this is a cause effect universe. So someone's attempt to manipulate you will create resistance on your part.

But is it really manipulation - or is someone calling you on your resistance and denial and how ineffective that really is.

Scorpio manipulation is a bad thing because it ends up compromising our feelings, and our ability to feel our Self being challenged by our feelings.

But beyond that (call it back at the Regulus Quotient), IF your reaction is to try to get back at them…that’s as bad as the boss whose evil is 'damn the torpedoes - success at all cost, who cares if it compromises real people (including us)?'

Money ranks, by the by, second only to sex/sexuality in the realm of Scorpio manipulative threats. The list appears to go sex, money and then pain.

Imagine that?

So be forewarned: the real question is whether someone tries to pin their effect on your causality.

Got that?

With Neptune still at 2 Pisces (retrograde), there is much afoot about which we all feel unsure. We don’t know how things are going to play out. We don’t know whether we’re on the right path. We don’t know if who we’re dealing with is who we think they are – or who we want to be around/invested with.

There are no quick fixes here. Nor are there supposed to be, as Mars’ shift into Virgo is just part of the greater eclipse process in progress. By October 23rd, Mars will have passed through the opposition to Neptune and be ‘bridging’ into an opposition to Chiron, making October 23rd through November 9th a time when we all will be faced with doing that we not only don’t feel we know how to do, but with things we can’t know how to do without doing.

Please note: this phase of Mars’ transit includes November 3rd, the date of the solar eclipse. Thus this evolving Mars/Chiron dynamic is part of the eclipse’s shift from ‘breaking us and our defenses against our own issues down’ phase into the letting go and beginning to move towards accepting that we need to be ourselves at an authentic level…and if we don’t, then we are by definition, limiting our lives.

Mars in Virgo is about getting things done and making our lives work.

The Virgo question this time around the Mars wheel thus becomes whether we want all of our life to work, or whether we’re content…or even wanting to shut some part of our Self out.

Considering that Scorpio is also the sign of purposeful denial, to take that path would be indeed very Scorpio… in which case, Mars in Virgo will show us if that ‘half-life’ works… or why for us, that really isn’t so healthy.

For some of us, Mars in Virgo is going to be our focusing on one very special thing. And provided that helps us get into better harmony with ourselves (as opposed to greater disparity through neglect of some part of our life or personal development) we can now indeed get caught up with…and even exceed our aims.

As always, the question would seem to be whether we’re doing or being done to – and with Mars in Virgo, some of that is now a choice we can think through and make.

Even re-make.
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