Mars enters Virgo ’round midnight EST (11:15 pm). It will remain in Virgo for nearly eight months, four times the usual tenure, because of a retrograde period early next year. We won’t need to wait that long, however, to know that Mars has changed signs. Over the next five days, the red planet moves through three powerful aspects. You may experience those aspects as something analogous to a dance — a first dance. Whether through conscious intent or unanticipated consequence, that first dance has the potential to open a new phase in your life. The trick will be to get into the rhythm after an awkward start.
In the words of Robert Hand, Mars “rules the energy that an individual uses to maintain himself in the face of pressures from his environment.” The optimal employment of that energy is dictated by the sign that contains it. The transition from fiery Leo to grounded Virgo entails a change of emphasis from expression to purpose.
It is one of the more drastic departures astrology has to offer, a challenging stage of growth. The first Martian aspect from Virgo may likewise feel like the first steps with a new partner not of your choosing.
The sign opposing Virgo is Pisces. In the first degree of Pisces, Chiron has recently resumed direct motion. The day after Mars enters Virgo, Earth will be positioned directly between Mars and Chiron. That physical arrangement is called an opposition. Oppositions represent you and another face to face with a choice, conflict or negotiation. Because we often feel Mars aspects in advance, your volition may already have encountered such an option. You would know it as something that cannot be ignored.