Impulse to Purify: Mars into Virgo

1903 engraving of St. Joan of Arc by Albert Lynch

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Just two days after squaring Uranus, Mars moves into Virgo.

This square, exact on June 15 (tomorrow as I'm writing this), coincided with several large Mars/Uranus headlines simultaneously: Israel’s attack on Iran, the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army parade, the political assassination of an American state lawmaker (and the attempted killing of another), and the nation-wide “No King” protests across America.

Needless to say, Mars is in much need of some respite; but more broadly, respite because of just how long Mars has been in the same part of the sky.

It’s taken Mars almost ten months to move through just Cancer and Leo due to the grueling Mars retrograde over the winter. That long trek through these signs and houses in our charts was likely a tumultuous back-and-forth of inner/outer tension and release on the homefront.

The loud and proud maximalism of Mars in Leo is behind us, and as that noise settles, we’ll see more clearly what needs to be tweaked, minimized or eliminated altogether, especially in the Virgo part of our chart.

Mars is the god of war, and Virgo offers Mars a quiet, orderly war room behind the scenes to work out strategies and next steps. Mars is eager to move into new territory and Virgo will be providing it from June 17 until August 6, 2025.

To understand how Mars might behave during this period, let's take a quick look at what Virgo is about.

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Mars is moving from Leo, a fixed masculine fire sign ruled by the Sun, into Virgo, a mutable feminine earth sign ruled by Mercury. This means Mars will soften a bit and become more quiet and inward.

Virgo is symbolized by a young winged woman in white robes holding a stalk of grain, and sometimes the caduceus, or wand of Mercury. Sometimes identified with the goddesses Demeter, Persephone, Isis, and Astraea, within Virgo are interwoven the deep archetypal themes of Harvest, Underworld, Fertility, Justice and Purity.

In the ancient world, at harvest time, winnowing fans (a basket or cradle) were used to separate the edible from the inedible parts of grain by tossing the stalks into the air and letting the wind blow away the husks.

In zodiacal symbolism, Virgo sorts the pure from the impure and then presents it to Libra where it will be weighed upon the scales before entering the Underworld. She is the great winnower of the zodiac and ushers summer into autumn.

Pisces, the polar counterpart of Virgo, ushers winter into spring. Together they signify important transitional periods in the solar year when the light is in the process of dramatically changing. Because of the earth's secondary motion, the Virgo/Pisces axis correlates to both the hours right after sunset and right after sunrise, and the months right before autumn and right before spring.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury and is the only sign in the zodiac where a planet is both in domicile and exalted at the same time.

Much different than the airy, springtime Mercury of Gemini, the Virgoan version of Mercury is an autumn messenger who transforms into the psychopomp to guide souls beyond the equinox and into the realms of the Underworld.

This role and function of Mercury ties Virgo back to it's identification with Demeter, Persephone and Isis, and for me, hints at one reason why Mercury is considered exalted in its own domicile when in Virgo.

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A Mercury-ruled earth sign, Virgo has a sensual relationship to matters of the mind, as if thinking and sensing are fused together in a way that bestows a powerful, intuitive ability to see what others cannot see but are in plain sight.

Virgo excels at being able to discover the essential by eliminating the inessential, with bright-eyed speed and clarity.

Virgo is about optimization, not perfection as is commonly said; and as an earth sign, is realistic and practical enough to understand perfection is an impossibility. Yet, Virgo is deeply sensitive to imperfection and acutely aware of what is missing and what does not belong -- whether that’s an architectural schematic, battle plan, haiku or sock drawer.

Verbs with “dis” as prefix help to understand Virgo: discern, discard, distinguish, distill, disperse, disentangle . . . Now, add Mars-like adverbs to these and you get an idea of how Mars in Virgo might operate: impulsively, eagerly, assertively, bravely, violently, brashly, quickly, courageously, competitively, boldly, preemptively, etc.

Mars in Virgo is likely to amplify our urge to cut away what seems unnecessary, unworkable, or useless in the Virgo area of our life. But be careful Mars doesn’t make those powerful Virgoan gifts harsher than necessary. Mars in Virgo can be very cutting with language, hypercritical and demanding of flawless execution.

Mercury is in Cancer now, co-present with Jupiter. This sweetens Mars moving into Virgo and ties Cancer themes into this ingress. Energy could be more focused on communication with home and family, or home improvements are happening. Maybe you’re re-arranging a home gym or office, organizing the supply closet, or cleaning out the garage.

Take advantage of this time to clear away, optimize, refine what needs it most in your life.

Use this time to improve, prepare and be of service to your future self.

Once Mars enters Libra on August 7, you’ll be very glad you did.

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This is a general reading. If you'd like to learn more about how Mars moving into Virgo affects you personally, please consider booking a reading.