by Robert Wilkinson
At 10:19 pm PDT August 17, 6:19 am BST August 18, Mars will enter Virgo. What does this mean?
It means that how we generally “attack the problems of life,” or how we “take the initiative” is now expressed through the practical analysis and self-adjustment of the sign of the faithful spiritual servant, the humble Mutable Earth of Virgo. This begins the occupancy of Virgo this year, promising many conjunctions as the Sun, Mercury, and Venus all conjunct Mars and TransPluto in late August and early September.
Virgo is where the energy of Leo must be expressed in practical methods. Mars is now at full speed, after its slowdown when it danced between late Capricorn and mid-Aquarius between April and October 2018 allowing us to undo, re-do, or re-plan our lives with an eye to leaving behind old projections. We navigated deep feeling waters and saw the need for closure in old parts of our lives during its time in Pisces in November and December 2018.
January and the first half of February 2019 Mars transited its home sign of fiery Aries, so we had more energy helping facilitate direct action. This led us to its transit of Taurus between mid-February and late March which stabilized our forward momentum and helped us enjoy simply doing what we had to do. Its transit through Gemini and Cancer in April, May, and June opened a time of discovery and sensitivity to doing what we had to do to gather what we needed to support our continuing growth. Its transit of Leo between early July and now has opened new initiatives wherever we have Leo in our charts.
Mars in Virgo also means that any planets or angles we have in Aries or Scorpio have moved out of a fiery expression into an earthy expression. This also impacts the houses where we have these signs, and puts a huge focus of activity in the house where we have the first 10 degrees of Virgo through the end of August. The first half of September Mars will put a focus of activity in the house where we have the second 10 degrees of Virgo, and the last 10 degrees of Virgo during the last half of September and beginning of October.
The Mars Challenge Since January 2019
When Mars was in Aries, it brought new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Aries, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Capricorn. It puts the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Libra, and fulfillment to those with Sun or Ascendant in Cancer.
While Mars was in Taurus, it brought new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Taurus, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Aquarius. It put the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Scorpio, and fulfillment or public activity to those with Sun or Ascendant in Leo.
While Mars was in Gemini, it brought new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Gemini, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Pisces. It puts the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Sagittarius, and fulfillment to those with Sun or Ascendant in Virgo.
While Mars was in Cancer, it brought new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Cancer, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Aries. It put the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Capricorn, and fulfillment or public activity to those with Sun or Ascendant in Libra.
While Mars was in Leo, it brought new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Leo, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Taurus. It put the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Aquarius, and fulfillment or public activity to those with Sun or Ascendant in Scorpio.
While Mars is in Virgo, it will bring new beginnings to those with Sun or Ascendant in Virgo, and new emergent developments to those with Sun or Ascendant in Gemini. It puts the focus on relationships to those with Sun or Ascendant in Pisces, and fulfillment or public activity to those with Sun or Ascendant in Sagittarius.
Obviously within these transit spans there are other “phase relationships” between transiting Mars and all the planets in our charts, but to go into all of them would make this article a book. For example, Mars makes aspects to your other planets which are different than aspects to your Sun and Ascendant. All aspects, waxing and waning, fall within “The Whole Cycle” of each planet to every other planets and our Ascendant. You can find out more about the Whole Cycle in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, where I explain the various phases in the planetary cycles in terms of the Whole Cycle for various generations.
Mars Links to the Past, Present, and Future
While Mars now initiates a new time of activity wherever we have Virgo, it will “come to life” when the Sun transits Virgo, and given value or appreciated when Venus transits Virgo. When Mercury enters Virgo, it will make its third and final conjunction with Mars since June. You can find out more in yesterday’s article on Mercury leaving its Shadow Zone.
This begins the end phase of Mars as the “herald” for the inner planets, since it’s already been touched by Mercury and will soon be conjuncted by Venus and the Sun. Mars in Virgo will move the Virgo force out and into the world of events, activating that sector of our charts to be more expressive. All of this momentum will be vitalized and “lived out in the real world” after the Sun and Venus enter Virgo.
This begins a new cycle of expression related to the “liberating ordeals” and “venerable standards” we accepted in 2008-2009 when Saturn was in Virgo. These were expanded into something related to our greater life path between mid- August 2015 and early September 2016 when Jupiter was in Virgo.
In October 2015, the Sun conjuncted Jupiter at 4 Virgo, Mars conjuncted Jupiter at 15 Virgo, and Venus conjuncted Jupiter at 16 Virgo, setting different 12 year themes related to that degree into action. Those larger Jupiter in Virgo themes were renewed each year after that via the transits of the inner planets through Virgo, with a new 2 year “pulse” set into motion during Mars’ next transit through Virgo in September-October 2017. They are now about to be renewed again in a big way by all the conjunctions in Virgo happening in late August and early September.
That means all the truths, potentials, opportunities, adventures, and visions of the future we opened to between August 2015 and September 2016 can now be acted upon in new ways, or ways that renew that pulse. It can also bring completion to those things set into motion during any of those previous periods. As the planets transit Virgo this year, we’ll certain see the Light, Value, and Understanding to the promises opened by Jupiter in Virgo back then.
Aspects in Play
We’re now going to experience a renewed Virgo promise in the house(s) where we have that sign in our charts. Mars enters Virgo just in time to biseptile Jupiter, trine Uranus, and sesquisquare Pluto before its binovile to Jupiter which takes place just as the conjunctions by Venus, the Sun, and Mercury in late August and early September happen. By early September Mars will be square Jupiter and opposed Neptune forming a T-square along with a trine to Saturn. This opens favorable Taurus energy to be released through healthy Gemini function.
The Mutable T-square also involves a sesquisquare to Uranus, generating 4 points of a “Great Octile,” an 8-pointed Star configuration which is a very frictional energy field associated with excess and confusion challenging us to see the big picture and stay on track while giving things a nudge so they’re in our continued interest and benefit.
In late August and early September Venus will conjunct Mars at 5 Virgo, the Sun will conjunct Mars at 10 Virgo, and Mercury will conjunct Mars at 11 Virgo. All of these will form conjunctions with TransPluto, the planet symbolizing Divine Mother, at the end of August. These will all begin new cycles of redemption through discovering powers within, as well as the power of angels to bring us help when it seems human efforts have failed.
During the last two weeks of September and first 4 days of October, Mars makes a favorable trine to Pluto, a tredecile to Saturn, a binovile to Jupiter, and a biquintile to Uranus. This should give enhanced discernment, an ability to figure out what in our culture is meaningful to us personally, and unique interactive gifts and circumstances to those with planets or points around 1-5 Scorpio-Taurus, 7-11 Sagittarius-Gemini, 13-17 Capricorn-Cancer, 19-23 Aquarius-Leo, and 25-29 Virgo-Pisces.
So during the many conjunctions to Mars, as well as the immediate aftermath when Mars will be part of the Rhombus Diamond energy configured in an augmented T-square, go slowly and stick to the practical plan. Don’t get confused or try to “push the river” and detach, seeing the big picture of the larger flow. Be a good servant to a greater good, whether of yourself or your world. It is a time to be practical, cultivating Divine Discrimination (Viveka in Sanskrit) and humility as we observe what is core and what is peripheral before we enter a new time of education on the personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal levels from September 10 through October 4.
What Do Mars Oppositions Teach Us?
At this point in its cycle, Mars is done with being the nozzle of “focused activity” for all the other planetary energies which it was during the Spring. It made its oppositions from Gemini to Jupiter in early May, and from Cancer to Saturn and Pluto in June. The June oppositions had Mercury joining Mars in Cancer, giving us FOUR different ways to become more aware of how to transmute dysfunctional Mars energies into healthy Mars expressions.
We’ll have more major spiritual Mars tests when it opposes Neptune in September and Uranus in November. Different Mars oppositions require different skills, since the “Tension of Opposites” between the planetary expressions in the signs they’re in entirely determines the spiritual tests to learn and demonstrate.
As I noted in Chapter 2 in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend,
Mars' duality is Grace/Sin. This is the aspect of consciousness that shows whether our responses are manifesting error or truth, maladjustment or beauty. By our Martian function we force things before their time or confront abrasive, aggressive, or hostile energies in ourselves and others, and thus we learn how to sever what must be severed, and further what must be furthered, quickly and directly. (As an aside, the original meaning of “sin” had nothing to do with moral failure. It was an archery term meaning “to miss the mark,” or not hitting the center of a target. I use it here in that sense.)
So from May through November 2019, we all are getting major tests in how we become skilled in expressing the realizations which surface at Mars oppositions. May and June gave realizations about Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto. September and November will give us realizations about Neptune and Uranus. Of course, the September oppositions will also have strong stabilizing trines from Virgo to Capricorn, which should help us get organized and grounded in our self-expression.
Anyway, after last year’s Mars retrograde and its incredibly long 8 month stay in the span between late Sagittarius and late Aquarius, up to now in 2019 Mars has moved quickly through Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, and Leo, activating those sectors of our charts. Now that Mars is in Virgo, it moves the emphasis away from Fire and into Earth, transforming dynamic self-expression into grounded, practical plans!
With the aspects, this one begins as a grand compression with Divine Mother energy, and then moves through rough terrain with the T-square and sesquisquare to Uranus. This brings us new plans or the ability to adjust old plans, new methods or ways to make old methods more effective. We are all growing into a new life by awakening to a new quality of life rendering the old patterns obsolete.
By late August we’ll understand why we trained as we did in 2018, and be able to enjoy playing a role we were born to play by September. Open to revelations of the future by returning to “ancient sources of Being.” Be alert to ways of transforming the physical into the spiritual, unlocking your powers and letting your “will to wholeness” break up old complexes.
During this time of Mars in Virgo, pay attention to details, and if appropriate, learn how to be a healer or guide for others. Avoid excess, put yourself out to offer your skills to make things work better, and keep integrating everything so your Higher Consciousness can sing its song. See life as a great classroom to learn self-discipline and practical service, and keep it simple, enjoyable, and natural as we rock on down to the maximum compression of early 2020 leading us to the Grand Mutation in Aquarius.
“All play and no work make for an ungrounded life…..”Copyright © 2019 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks Robert
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | August 17, 2019 at 02:34 PM