Mars is about to station retrograde in Virgo (right on the Aquarius New Moon, which begins the Year of the Dragon). This is the first all-Virgo Mars retrograde since 1965. Rx Mars has touched Virgo a few times since, though not spent the whole retrograde there, nor the total of eight months in Virgo facilitated by that fact. This is the kind of astrological experiment we will notice.
The famous perfectionism and technical acumen of Virgo is focused by Mars, and turned inward and toward the past with the retrograde. The feeling of this transit is a systems check, a phase of testing, of working out and re-establishing basic concepts. This happens between now and shortly an energy wave gets going in mid-May.
For Mars retrograde as with any event, every sign will orient from a different angle of approach. For Leo we will see the science of self-esteem at work. For Taurus the erotic path explores the healing of desire. For Aquarius, there is waiting out, or being the more patient party in, a longterm situation that will benefit from careful negotiation. For Scorpio, there is the need to balance individuality with the need for popularity, and not trying too hard to convince anyone of much.
There exists an energy circuit from Virgo to its opposite sign Pisces in the form of Chiron. Virgo’s best qualities take form in Chiron — precision, awareness and an obsession with service that often manifests as the drive to excellence. In Pisces this is focusing some soft, sensuous and most of all imaginative light that’s now easily seen for its qualities. Chiron’s emphasis on healing is directed at the level of imagination and soulful love. As of this weekend, Venus is also in Pisces, conjunct Chiron; and in about a week, Neptune arrives for a journey that will last through 2025. This grouping in Pisces is the perfect counterbalance to impeccability-seeking Mars in Virgo. What’s unfolding in Pisces is an astrological rendition of ‘don’t dream it, be it’, from the inside out.
The aspects of the next few weeks are distinctive features in the timescape of 2012; their themes will emerge in new forms frequently, offering us many viewpoints on the Virgo-Pisces axis. It’s fair to include the theme of healing desire as an emotional opportunity for everyone, though each in a little different way; and the presence of Pisces plants an invitation to a softer world, where you might consider what’s possible based on your imagination rather than any limits you’ve encountered so far.
