Mercury in Virgo

Employees of Foundry Department working in 1937 to pour molten metal into molds

(photo credit: US Navy Yard, Mare Island, CA, Sept 1937 National Archives and Records Admin ID296870)

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There’s a pretty noteworthy list which goes with  Mercury’s entering Virgo on August 15th at 4:43 in the afternoon (UT/+0 time).

That list would start with the fact that Mercury in Virgo is all about the process and the processing of whatever we need to get done. Virgo is the sign which connects the determination with the goal, in serving as that engine, linkage and challenge also tests our morality.

Mind you, that morality...? That can come in any form, shape or size and it can pertain to any time frame - that we have done, that we still need to do, that we should have done but didn’t... whatever, whenever, however, now is the time to think about what to do about some things, how certain things require more attention than others - and how if we’re not going to devote the proper amount of attention to the task we need to deal with whatever it means to be responsible for our own lack of availability (interest, time, ability, etc.).

Typically a busy sort of time, Mercury in Virgo is often trying to those who have problems with boundaries or realistic priorities (which is to say putting the need before the want!) - a fact which is unlikely to be any different this year apart from the fact that with so much personal energy still vibrating along our Leo and Scorpio pathways the world is likely to look very black-and-white over the next couple of weeks as we perceive those that are weak, those who display strength and those who are sufficiently aware of the relative values of ‘good’ as not to judge, presume, project or covet.

Another little factoid about this year’s just-over-two-week stint with Mercury in Virgo: it’s going to take us from relatively neutral celestial waters (yes, you heard me - this was neutrality you just experienced) into the next two-month ‘break down’ period preceding this coming October’s solar eclipse.

And I know you’re looking forward to that, right?

(insert: sounds of jeering crowds)

Yes, of course you are.

With Jupiter’s ongoing Leo-based inconjunct to Neptune in Pisces coming to a head as Mercury enters Virgo, there’s a lot of clear need and a lot of confusion in terms of how to make many factors fit together in a way which is both sensible and capable of supporting what needs to be done.

And let’s remember - the Sun is in Leo, so ‘need’ is likely to be a relative term (ahem) with a lot of people veering towards seeing their wants as needs and their preferences as oh so important but your stuff? You know, all those things that you think are so important?

That may not rank.

Still...Mercury moving into Virgo is the beginning of a shift which will by the end of the month have us working on moving past our current sticking points, whatever they may now concern. Moreover, by the beginning of September (as Mercury is about to move on into Libra) we may even have realized what we have led ourselves to learn over this past few months.

No, it’s not guaranteed. But it is possible that some of us will - as Mercury moves into and through Virgo, even in advance of the Sun and (ultimately) Venus joining the Virgo parade - it’s entirely possible that we’ll become more inclined towards the sort of pragmatism which typifies those most famous Virgo keyword: health, work, service. Whether this means we’re considering how we need to think, act or operate as to support our own greater aims or dealing with the need to look at or take care of the ‘health’ or ‘healthy status’ of some project, person, place or physical process.

Which yes, would include becoming aware of the fact that something needs healing, or coping with same.

Associated with responsibility, Virgo often manifests as that which is (not so) affectionately known as “the daily grind” or that which we need to learn/learn about (or learn how to manage effectively) in order to take ‘the next step.’ And as Mercury - representing the mental organizing we would need to do in order to make that step happen - moves into Virgo, most of us will simple move into our ‘how to get (something) done’ mode with relatively little fuss. On some subtle (if realistic) level this signals a start to the letting go of thinking about everything in terms of the ‘idea of it’ in favor of practical factors and more grounded, analytical and coolly goal-driven thinking which sorts things through in terms of what deserves priority in the grander scheme of things.

We know of course that with fixed (and royal) star Regulus currently positioned at 0 Virgo, its ‘rule’ that success can be ours providing we don’t act (or haven’t acted) in the spirit of revenge says motivations for our choices (particularly those which dictate what, when and how we do things) come into operational play. Some matters - for whatever reason - now need correction, and why we do or don’t react to such needs is less about the external than the internal except in areas where we have violated the needs, rights or security of others. But let’s be clear here: Virgo is less about ‘the other’ or the external situation than it is about our greater relationship to others, the values we bring to doing whatever it is we do in life and our ability to separate what we’d like the truth to be versus what exists, what could exist or what would come to function successfully in real time, whether in our personal life or otherwise.

With Apollo at 1 Virgo, some of us are going to be finding out that they have bought into some measure of flattery or have been fooled, willingly or otherwise. Added to this is a nuance described by Moon conjunct Mirach at 0 Taurus, a mélange of qualities which generally point to kindly and supportive attitudes and feelings which may be unrealistic... and then again, may be signaling an incapacity or lack of resources which may simply be about a lack of capacity to do things, change things or get things done. There is plainly a [Ceres/ asteroid Pax] need to find a well-balanced means of interacting and moving forward, and to make our efforts work there is going to have to be some sort of [Juno] management and discipline of [Cancer] native instincts. Juno-Mercury speaks to ‘regulated actions’ and the need to regulate (manage, organize, lay out) things in one’s mind with the combining of these (Cancer-Virgo-Scorpio) influences pointing out the need for detailed and accurate coordination with regards to what needs doing - even if that’s only about getting things organized in our head before we walk out the front door or raise our hand in class.

One other thing to note here: given the ‘chain’ of three sextiles involved in this ingress (Ceres to Mercury, Mercury to Juno, Juno to Mirach/Moon) this image is also four-sixths of a grand sextile - that six sided astrological figure representing the linking of fate and free will (otherwise known in more spiritual terms as ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’). So for anyone - or any entity, in the case of corporations, partnerships, nations and otherwise - in the case of any chart which has planets (dwarf or otherwise), axis points or nodal positions between...

a.) 28 Aquarius and 2 Pisces

...AND...

b.) 28 Sagittarius and 2 Capricorn

...that will turn this relatively minor astrological event into something far more telling and/or far-reaching: a grand sextile. Commonly known to manifest as situations or realizations which change us in mysterious and far-reaching ways, grand sextiles are seldom dramatic in the moment but rather a sign that something ‘big’ is going to change in an inexorable and evolutionary manner. 

To be clear here, even without the additional points there is a quality of something which is already in motion with much now having to do with what we are going to choose to do with regards to such ongoing matters. But with October playing host to that previously mentioned solar eclipse at 0 Scorpio and with 0 Scorpio being a degree which fits in with this Mercury/Virgo ingress, while this transit will function in its own right in the here and now, there's also a hint about things in present tense having something to do with social, societal and economic factors (reflecting the October eclipse) which are about to become far more thoroughly known.

On a personal level, Mercury in Virgo is the sound of efforts, personal lessons/learning better and getting things done.

On a more global level, Mercury in Virgo asks whether what we’re going (or the manner in which we are going about doing it) is ethical on a truly global basis.

Not our definition of global, but truly global. With the polarity sign to Virgo being Pisces, whatever we face now is best dealt with thoughtfully. But since being really thoughtful now is going to force us to face our feelings, it is entirely reasonable (and therefore Virgoan) to bear in mind that there are any number of people (and entities) whose unfeeling natures or unwillingness to feel are going to manifest in anything from callousness to malice, malice being often nothing more or less than an  indignant retaliation for having been made to feel something beyond our ability/willingness) to cope with.

What we do about that is a test of responsible thinking. Fortunately Mercury is entering Virgo - a fact which says we may not like what we need to think about over the next few weeks, but we still need to do some thinking nonetheless.


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