This post was written by community partner Hands of Mercury
Sharpen those pencils, ready your red-light mask, and nab that new Notion template. It’s Virgo season! As resident Virgo Beyonce reminds us, this archetype really is THAT girl. Virgos are some of the hardest working folks in the game, exemplified by Queen Bey, Zendaya, Kobe Bryant, Bernie Sanders, Ava Duvernay, and Keanu Reeves to name a few. Virgos know that consistent meaningful work, efficient systems, and personal refinement bless us with greatness that raw talent can rarely match.
In Western astrology, Virgo is the sixth sign in the zodiac cycle and represented as the virgin or maiden holding the shaft of wheat. Virgo has associations with the Greek goddess Astraea, the story of Demeter and Persephone which connects to the four seasons, the harvest season, and the goddess of the hearth fire, Vesta. The thread between these stories is the devotional aspect of Virgo. Virgo is devoted to the purification of soul and environment. Virgo is devoted to the routine physical offerings in service to the spiritual plane as seen through the hearth and the historical Vestal Virgins of Roman time.
This sign is connected to physical health and wellness, day to day maintenance, and the work we do as part of a greater team or network. Many born with Virgo placements will find themselves in healing and helping professions, as well as attracted to the spiritual space as a priestess, ceremonialist, or teacher. Virgos are detail oriented and analysis wizards. These placements are a natural fit in lab coats and khaki shorts out in the field. When they’re not in work mode, Virgos need ample self-care and solitude. Their Tarot archetype after all is the Hermit.
So what’s the scoop for Virgo season 2023? We have a double feature of the ongoing Venus retrograde in Leo and the arrival of Mercury retrograde the same day the Sun moves in, August 23rd. PSA: It is normal for the outer planets to be retrograde around this time of year, as they are Rx for a large portion of time every year. Don’t let sensationalized astrology persuade you that lots of retrograde planets = total chaos! However, with Mercury, Venus, and Mars, we feel their retrograde periods more acutely since they are closer to Earth. Their retrograde periods are a necessary and healthy cycle for us to turn inward and review the archetypal themes of that planet. Nature reminds us that it is unnatural to constantly try to move forward, onto the next always. Retrogrades are here to help us course correct and tweak aspects of our lives.
From August 23rd – September 3rd, the overlap of Mercury and Venus Rx calls us in to recalibrate when it comes to our relationships and our projects. Venus has been working on us since end of July, so those lessons around relationships, finance, and values should already be engaged and starting to make sense. Mercury will be retrograde until September 15th, fortunately in its sign of rulership and exaltation in Virgo. Mercury is giving editor in chief extraordinaire in the sign of Virgo. Mercury Rx always gives us a gift to revise, review, and reconsider, but this season we have Mercury in its power position. Once we clear retrograde on September 15th, we have Mercury still in Virgo boss mode all the way until October 4th. You’ve got the juice this month to smash your paperwork piles and tedious work tasks.
If you feel like it’s been less hot girl summer and more self-development summer, you would not be wrong! The opportunity to embody a wiser and stronger version of ourselves is available to us all by embracing the pivots we are being handed now. We will really see the major redirects kicking up for us this summer take hold come eclipse season this October. Mars moves into Libra on August 27th and starts to set the stage for our first south node eclipse. Mars is far away from its fiery and assertive home of Aries. This Virgo season Mars wants us to act in ways that bring balance and involve the consideration of others.
The usual Mercury Rx recommendations stand: Try to hold off on large electronic and technology purchases, signing contracts, and triple check travel plans. Squeeze the juice of this season by revising budgets, reviewing workspaces and projects, and revisiting your favorite self-care and movement practices. Simplify! How can you redirect your precious time to more nourishing experiences by tweaking your routines? Virgo is sandwiched between Leo and Libra, two social signs. This season is a natural time for more solitude, healing practices, and expansion of knowledge. If this feels right for you, lean in and let your loved ones know you are taking time to devote yourself to these spaces for a bit. Revisit your local library programs, research new technology and apps that can streamline your life or business, or finally take that astrology class you’ve been eyeing (More details for Astro 101 below!)
Grounding is also an important and beneficial theme to this Virgo season. We see the Sun and Mercury in opposition to Saturn, our taskmaster planet of karma, time, discipline, and commitments. Saturn asks us ground some of the frenetic and rebellious energy that Leo season brought us (Looking at you, Uranus!). This season rewards our more pragmatic and practical efforts. We also have a supportive trine aspect to Uranus and Jupiter from our fellow earth sign Taurus. Earth signs reminds us that we can only build a dream and a vision on a steady foundation, that it’s also a good idea to return to the fundamentals occasionally. This Venus Rx has impacted many financially, so we must look at our foundation on both a personal and collective level. Being well resourced is inherently connected to our health and wellbeing. Take time this season to sit or lie down on the bare earth or engage in root chakra work, as well as show up for community service, an essential Virgo practice.
Our lunar highlights of the month are the Pisces full moon on August 30th and the Virgo new moon on September 14th. Both transits are steeped in a sobering Saturnian tincture. The Pisces full moon can bring up themes around grief, forgiveness, and endings. Collectively it can also shine a light around events pertaining to the ocean, water, psychedelics, addiction, spirituality, film, hospitals, and jails. Pisces reminds us that our mental and spiritual health are inherently connected to our physical health, and analysis only goes so far when pondering the Great Mystery of life and what lies beyond. The Virgo new moon bring us a new cycle in the Virgo house of our natal chart and takes place on the same degree where Mercury stationed to move retrograde. We now get to initiate the tweaks and revisions we have been working on during the Rx period, and with Saturn and Uranus in the mix we have this beautiful blend of conserving what always works and progressing forward with new techniques and innovations.
To recap, we are not sweating this season and instead working with the retrograde periods. We will be ready to implement and engage on our projects, plans, and goals with full zest the latter half of the month. We are learning and growing from these review periods and cycle of getting nitty gritty with the details. We can bypass the common Virgo trait to nitpick and sweat over the mistakes. This is the gift astrology can provide for us. May this Virgo season usher in a Renaissance of mind, body, and spirit for you (and maybe Beyonce tickets too!)
In the Virgo spirit of back-to-school season, I am hosting an Astrology 101: Coming to Consciousness through the Birth Chart class here on Conscious City Guide. Whether you’re Astro curious or looking to brush up on the fundamentals, this webinar is for you!
- Saturday Jan 6| Online
Astrology of 2024: Cosmic Insights for the Coming Times
During this 75-minute virtual class, we will look at the natal chart from a western tropical astrological perspective. We will go over the basic archetypes of each of the twelve zodiac signs, houses, and planets, the importance of the elements in the chart, how to interpret the angles or the “math” of the chart, and more. We will weave between these concepts to understand which areas of our chart may be more conscious and integrated to us, and which areas may be unconscious and waiting for us to explore and evolve through.
More about the Author: Samantha created Hands of Mercury out of her passion for the power of storytelling and intentional gathering to inspire personal growth and collective progress. Her mission is to provide personal and group offerings as a multi-disciplinary guide and facilitator for deeper self-inquiry and earth-focused community healing. She has been studying Western Astrology with a Hellenistic focus since 2015. She is a Reiki III practitioner with study through Santa Monica College and Minka Brooklyn, as well as a cacao ceremonialist under the guidance and initiation of Mayan wisdom keepers Tata Izaias and Nana Izabel of San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala.
