First up on this week’s astrological agenda, Mars is very slowly moving toward Virgo (ingressing at 7:05 am EDT Tues. Oct. 15). Planets late in signs can add an edgy, antsy feeling to the air, and since Mars is the planet of action, the sensation could be intensified — so notice what parts of your life are making you impatient.
Mars in Virgo tends to be goal-oriented, practical and inclined to multi-task. It can feel restless and can take on a ‘nervous energy’ quality or get overly critical. With Mars representing physical energy and Virgo associated with mental energy (it’s ruled by Mercury), idleness could feel frustrating. At the same time, however, watch out for taking on too much — Mars in Virgo can get scattered.
Mars will be in this sign until Dec. 7, so you have almost two months to harness this energy. If you have any urges to make things work optimally, fix what is broken and heal what crosses your path, you’ll be getting the green light starting tomorrow — with a short-term caveat.
Right now it behooves anyone called to action to double- and triple-check details first. We seem to be experiencing a more shadowy Mercury shadow than usual. (Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio Oct. 21; it stations direct Nov. 10.) Consider this a welcome reminder to stay present and focused, and you’re more likely to be able to use any delays, hiccups or miscommunications as tools for sharpening your awareness. With Mercury in Scorpio, this goes doubly true for sexual communication and financial transactions or conversations.
Speaking of sex: Mars is opposite Neptune in Pisces. It’s exact Oct. 19, but given Neptune’s wide orb and the tendency to feel Mars aspects strongly as they’re applying, it is in effect now. A Mars-Neptune opposition, especially between earthy-yet-mental Virgo and imaginative, dreamy Pisces, can fuel sexual experimentation, sensual appetites and intense fantasy.
What have you been wanting to try sexually (even by yourself) but haven’t yet? Just how ‘out there’ can you allow your fantasies to be? Bear in mind that if you do choose to involve a partner, the general housekeeping rules of Mercury approaching retrograde still apply: communicate clearly; check that your desires are understood and that you understand those of your partner.
It’s also possible that Mars-Neptune could manifest as difficulty trusting in your ability to accomplish the tasks that Mars in Virgo will be bringing to your attention. It can be hard to trust one’s instincts when one’s imagination is running rampant.
There’s a tricky dance between taking each step toward a goal deliberately enough to check in with yourself, versus getting so hung up in the planning/envisioning stages that you never actually do anything. Take solace in the fact that Mars will have a good long run through Virgo after it completes its opposition to Neptune — so you can afford to take your time now and let your imagination feed you while you respect Mr. Mercury’s upcoming change of apparent direction.
Simultaneous with Mars approaching Virgo, Venus in Sagittarius is squaring Chiron in Pisces.
This will magnify any desire to escape your ‘demons’ — those wounded parts of you that act out when you feel threatened. It’s a variation on that last version of the Mars-Neptune theme: you want to move forward but those demons keep popping up.
What exactly do they want from you? Where did they come from? Perhaps most importantly, what do you get by giving in to them?
(Another possibility with Mars-Neptune is that resentment could brew if you tend to give up your power to others. What does that resentment ‘do’ for you? Does it feel like ‘righteous anger’, justifying your ‘victimhood’? Because there are far more productive and ‘righteous’ ways to align your energy.)
Consider, as you ask these questions and meditate on the answers, that we’re getting very close to the eclipse zone. The first of the series will be this Friday, during the Aries Full Moon (which is exact just before 7:38 pm EDT).
This will be a lunar eclipse spanning late Aries and Libra, and it’s just within range of being square Jupiter in Cancer. (The lunar nodes — those calculated points hypothetically marking where the Moon’s plane of orbit around us intersects with Earth’s planet of orbit around the Sun — are actually in Taurus and Scorpio. The companion eclipse to this one will be a solar eclipse in Scorpio, on Nov. 3.)
Eclipses can be points of acceleration in your life, and they are pattern-setting events. With Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, it’s another reason to keep your thinking clear; honor your feelings; communicate to partners, coworkers and family members patiently. And just as importantly, communicate your intentions to the universe by focusing energy into activities that bring you joy. We’ll have more on these eclipses later this week, so do stay tuned.
With additional research by Alison Levy
Lyd, thanks so much for the link to the Barbara Hand Clow article. This Pluto in Leo found it so validating – my 60’s ideals never went away, though I tried to be “mainstream” on & off for years. It never felt authentic for me, & now, as the heavyweights form & re-form their square, those ideals are increasingly top of mind & heart, & I am able to act more in congruence with those values.
I am not happy with the what passes as leadership for many of my fellow Pluto-in-Leo ‘boomers, but I see great hope in the re-assertion of values & actions & ways of living that cherish both our planet & all Her beings. Maybe it really is less about tearing down what we don’t want & more about creating what we DO want.
Holy smokes ‘ BE ‘ your comment on Pluto in Leo generation smacks of what I have just been reading in an updated article by Barbara Hand Clow…puts them duckies in a row so to speak.
http://www.handclow2012.com/News/PlutoInLeo.pdf
Amanda, you’ve triggered a thought regarding the month and 1/2 sojourn of Mars in Leo that will soon end and that is it’s “activation” of the Pluto in Leo generation, primarily the negative expression of Pluto in Leo. Transiting Mars was quincunx (adjust) transiting Pluto on September 11th, and sesquiquadrate (agitate) transiting Pluto on October 5th. Considering the weeks and weeks of agonizing over the (possibility of) shutdown of government and more, the theatrics displayed by (some) elected leaders and the masses who elected them has been “generated” by those who were born during that Pluto in Leo era.
Transiting Mars also squared trans. Saturn on September 9th and trined trans. Uranus on September 14th and finally, one week ago today was sesquiquadrate (more agitation) trans. Uranus, only to finally reach his opposition to the U.S. Sibly Moon on Thursday and Friday stirring up the public’s fury (see latest polls showing a shocking disapproval rating for the Congressional body as a whole, but especially the House Republicans.)
I dare say you have given me hope that Mars’ ingress into Virgo will be a huge step in transitioning away from the melodrama that’s been feeding the media frenzy and into negotiations (threats wrapped in compromise) for practical solutions to the government stalemate. Bless you!
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Thank you for the astrological interpretation. Indeed, the shadow phase of Mercury Rx is quite pervasive this time. I do have some paperwork that needs to get done, I have to be careful on the road, and there are some computer glitches at work (including the credit card machine for customers). I’ll make an effort to be patient (even though I have a lot of fire planets in my chart). I do have Mars square Neptune natally (and in fact, a cardinal Mars-Neptune-Chiron t-square), so I’m grateful for your description of the Mars opposite Neptune transit, Amanda. Well, I have added meditation to my martial arts routine and my overall exercise routine, which could be a good use of the Mars opposite Neptune transit energies since it combines the physical, the mental and the spiritual.
On a lighter note, I have also watched a hilarious Spanish movie (with a lot of Mars-Neptune themes throughout the movie) about the post-college graduation period, where recent graduates have no idea what to do with their lives. It’s called “El Año de la Garrapata” (The Year of the Tick/The Year of the Slacker).
This is a most helpful post, Amanda – thank-you. I am definitely feeling the push-push Mars energy, pretty much straight through since my Mars return (Leo) a while ago. Mars will enter my 4th house/square my sun & Uranus about the end of October.
So far, this is manifesting primarily in my efforts to finish fall work around home, & in my often frustrating attempt to arrange some needed repairs to my roof before the snow comes. I seem to be feeling the Mercury Rx shadow in the latter. I’ve also been finding I really need to collect my thoughts & structure my time, or else I find myself looking out the window & it’s getting dark & I’m nowhere finished my day’s agenda. It really is very easy to get scattered with Mars stirring the pot!
The coming opposition to Neptune, who is currently in my 9th & is ruler of my natal 10th, is no doubt contributing to the occasional bouts of regret (over past missteps or wiser roads not taken), & a necessity to revisit long-held dreams & test them against the light of my present situation. So the latter seems to be (so far) the inner process. I know I need to remember that if I like who I’ve become, & where I am on my journey, which I do, then regrets (& resentments) have no real relevance whatsoever.
“you want to move forward but those demons keep popping up”. Yes! Thank you for this great, helpful piece, Amanda. my Mars is in Virgo, so here goes….!