On July the 10th, the planet Mars moved to the sign of Virgo. For about a couple of months, the planet which represents action and our Inner Warrior will bring its go-getter energy to the sign of mastery and control (which rules the 6th house, the domain of the day to day). Virgo is mutable Earth energy, and, I have a confession to make my least favourite energy in the Zodiac. One of my best friends is a Virgo Rising and I often tease her by calling her Medo-san (Miss Maid in Japanese) because she is all about service. Still, that speaks more of my shadow than anything else.
Virgo is my South Node so it feels like a plot line that’s dragging on too long. Or one with more flashbacks than plot (if you know, you know). However, the themes of the 6th house are themes that are valuable to me as a person, and especially as a business owner, and the slower Summer season is a good time to look at the building blocks of our life (if you are in any seasonal industries peaking now, I salute you). Routines, habits, how we spend our time, what and how we eat, exercising and so on.
I heard this on the Moonbeaming podcast a long time ago and it made me think of the sign a lot differently: “Virgo is the sign of belonging to ourselves first and foremost.” It shouldn’t have been that shocking, I know. The name, from the Latin for virgin, indicates the wholeness of someone who does not depend on others. Sacred virgins, to which the sign refers to, had a legal status that differed from just a pre-married woman.
Virgo season just felt dry for someone as spiritual as me, who also has mixed feelings about the sign’s penchant for servitude after the compulsory self-sacrifice and excessive altruism of being raised Catholic. Part of undoing Good Girl Conditioning is getting in touch with the part of yourself that is genuinely kind and unattached to the outcomes. The one that takes action out of compassion and not fear of what people would think. That’s something my friends insist I have no matter how many times I quote the Demon Lord from the Rejet otome game Dot Kareshi (who is the kind and goofy parody of a RPG Demon Lord so, really, it was a joke to begin with).
Thinking of Virgo energy in terms of putting ourselves first felt radical, but also right. As entrepreneurs, we are our businesses’ most important asset, so putting ourselves and our needs front and centre in our lives makes good business sense.
Virgo is mutable earth energy, ruled by Mercury. Mutable signs mark the end of the season and the completion of a cycle (we cycle through the modalities 4 times, and Pisces ends the whole Zodiac), and as such bring with them the kind of reflective vibe that is almost philosophical. Their role is to bring together the lessons of the seasons before it, in order to prepare us for the season to come.
The element of Earth brings back this exploration from the realm of the mind (which is Mercury’s territory) into the realm of the physical. It’s the perfect energy to tap into to reorganise something or somewhere. Decluttering our homes, or our inboxes (or our photos hard drives…you get the gist…), reorganising our routines (or doing away with them) or how we go about our work tasks, even looking at who we need closer or further away in our networks. Mercury is now in Virgo too, and the Sun will enter the sign in 3 weeks at time of writing. A lot of areas of our lives are being illuminated by this energy of efficiency this summer.
Mars in Virgo can be an opportunity to assess whether our self-care practices specifically are still relevant to our current season, and see what adjustments are in our power to make. Mars is the principle of energetic force and therefore very physical. It’s outward, aggressive, compelling us to action, impulsive even, and it’s connected to the giving role in sexual polarity (the masculine, or yang). In Greek and Roman mythology, it was the god of war, husband of Venus. That’s why this transit, more than Virgo season itself, is good for taking action to foster change.
Sometimes, however, the demands of having a good lifestyle can become a stressor and a burden that makes them go against the wellness they were meant to bring us, so I’m of the opinion that the best choice is always the one that makes our life less stressful. If that’s microwaved food rather than cooking whole foods from scratch then so be it. Peace and nourishment first, there is no prize for who succeeds at being a Goop stereotype (which is bad, because I would win it and I like winning).
Speaking of Goop, an article they published in 2022 really struck a chord with me. It was about the 7 types of rest we need when we tend to only think of rest as physical and maybe mental. For many of us, the energy of Mars is to be channelled not in the impetus to do more, but the forceful and prideful commitment to ourselves that allows us to put our needs first and do less.
In my personal life, I’ve been using the variables in the system of Human Design to play with different ways to manage my energy (my 6th House is ruled by Aries, which is Mars’ own sign). In my business, I’m working on SOPs for when I will hire my first virtual assistant (or, as I call it, Professional Virgo) as well as spring cleaning my offers and how I present them to the world. I’m not going to do a branding MOT, but if you have had yours for a long time it could be a good time to look at it too. If that’s the case, keep an eye out for more content on the subject.
If you are interested in looking into the variables and how they apply to wellness, check out this playlist on the SimplyCa Youtube channel.
