Midlife Transits

Every year in February, inner planets slide from your solar house of work and health into your relationship sector. During the first half of February (actually until the 19th), you get to do your Virgo thing and review how efficient and effective you are at your daily routines of job and personal maintenance. The pure Virgo type is the quintessential knowledge worker, because knowledge is what your sign likes to trade in. So this is when you ask yourself if you know what you need to know to do your job and run your life effectively. If you don’t, then in true Virgo fashion, you make a plan to correct any gaps. (more…)

Happy New Year, Virgo. January is the time of year when planets pile into your solar sector of risk-taking. While all the other signs are trying to force themselves to think of ways to be more disciplined when they don’t really want to be, Virgo is at its happiest, feeling free. A whole fresh new year beckons, not yet completely overbooked with obligations. This year your chart is feeling doubly frisky because daring Mars is in your own sign, egging you on to do something uncharacteristically bold. (more…)

Venus opens December in the sign of Capricorn, which is a good thing for you because that’s your love life and pleasure sign. Venus stays there until the 20th of the month, and as soon as she leaves, the sun enters. So let some of your holiday cares slip away while you cuddle with your significant other and enjoy some downtime. Enjoy the feeling of being loved, maybe even adored. (more…)

The key astrological event of November is the new moon eclipse in Sagittarius on November 25. Since eclipses can demonstrate their effects over a rather wide span of time, it’s possible that you felt it in October. Sagittarius represents your solar house of home and family, and eclipses in Sagittarius frequently relate to the gaining of some sort of insight. An eclipse in the 4th house may relate to some sort of recognition of your needs. Identifying your needs sets the stage for changes in your home and family situation or sometimes accompanies rapid changes. (more…)

The inner planet activity this month takes place in your solar second house of finances and your third house of conversations, texting, writing, and other forms of communication. The sign of Virgo normally has a deep respect for the power of words, and this month highlights that characteristic. If you choose to, you can learn at this time, or re-learn, the power of words to support those who need it. You may be on the receiving or giving end of the support this month, or both.

On the financial side, things may be a bit tight, as has been the case for awhile. You may be able to shop, but only on a budget. Be sure to look at the big financial picture, and be mindful of the potential effect of your financial decisions on your future.

Finally, once the sun enters Scorpio on the 23rd, you may be in for a bit of luck with regard to your love life. Jupiter will be in favorable angle to Pluto in your love life sector, and planets in Scorpio will be lobbying Pluto as well. What are the odds you’ll find the one? Hard to say, but if you’re looking to fall in love, it would not hurt to get out and about during the last week of October.

Finally, if you have joint financial interests with someone, including an ex-partner, you may be able to reach some kind of a resolution in an ongoing matter around the time of the full moon in Aries on the 11th.

Your birthday month opens with a nice peaceful trine of planets in compatible earth signs and no planets in any of those annoying other mutable signs that occasionally get on your solar chart’s nerves. There is still an excess of energy in pushy cardinal signs, but at least at lot of it is in harmony-seeking Libra. So let’s break down what the planets are doing this month.

The Virgo energy of the month comes from the sun, Mercury, and Venus. That energy is supposed to represent you and your personal interests. You can use that energy as you wish. Your birthday wish new moon this year actually falls in August, on the 28th. Virgo energy gives way, round about mid-September, to Libra energy that is supposed to represent your finances, values, and expenses.

Saturn has been in Libra for awhile now and will continue to be so until October 2012. Saturn favors the tried and true when it comes to your finances, wanting you to rely on financial habits that have been effective in the past or that offer the promise of reliability in the present. If words like ‘effective’ and ‘reliable’ do not normally describe your financial practices, the time to turn over a new leaf is at the Libra new moon on September 27.

Saturn’s also a super-big fan of concepts like ‘truth,’ ‘reality,’ ‘facts’ and other non-imaginative, non-denial-enabling practices that give Saturn its reputation for being depressing. Reality isn’t necessarily depressing though and dealing with the reality of your financial situation is ultimately empowering. However, if you get a wince-y look on your face when you check your bank balance, you might want to wait until the 14th to gather the facts. At that point, Venus moves into Libra, which generally softens any financial blows that Saturn has to deliver. Remember that in the long run, Saturn is your friend.

Speaking of friends and Saturn, Mars in Cancer in your friendship sector will stop being in a bad mood with Saturn by the time September opens. You have until September 18 to be as friendly as you’d like without interference from Saturn and with the help of active Mars. Mars is a conflict planet, but it is also a planet that helps build strong bonds 12 ways! Doing things with people you know could turn them into closer friends than they were before.

As for your ruler Mercury, he actually starts the month in Leo, lagging behind the other planets due to previous retrograde motion. He enters your sign on the 9th. While he’s in Leo, he’s snoozing. While he’s in your sign, words can be used for getting things done. He moves into Libra on the 25th. At that time, words can be used to connect people and ideas.

Now let’s take a look at your year ahead. In February 2012, Neptune will move back into your 7th house of committed relationships. He spent about 4 months there this year, from April through July. Whichever things and people were important during those 4 months will most likely become important again next February as part of a long-term focus by Neptune on your relationships.

As already mentioned, Saturn will continue to hover over your financial sector for the next 12 months. Saturn’s job, in general, is to take each sector of a person’s life, in turn, and root through it like an auditor. It looks specifically for what is the matter in that sector of life. This is something you can actually appreciate and benefit from. If there’s nothing the matter with your finances, then I suppose you won’t get much benefit. If there is, though, which is pretty common in this economy, proactively asking yourself what’s wrong and how it should be fixed is really worth your while.

Jupiter in Taurus until June 2012 is a help in this regard. Taurus as a sign really values security, safety, and cozy freedom from danger. This is exactly what Saturn values in your finances right now and this mirrors the philosophy of Virgo when Virgo is paying attention to its philosophy.

In other big planet news, Pluto continues to try to transform your love life, your relationship with your children, your creativity, or all three. Uranus in Aries in your 8th house is probably just being flat-out annoying. Uranus may mess with your taxes, your joint finances, your divorce, an inheritance or your peace of mind. Take heart in knowing that it’s not the least bit personal. Uranus in Aries is going to try to annoy as many people as possible over the next 12 months, sometimes all at once.

He will generally attempt to do this through world events, most likely, or through irritating but not ultimately significant personal events. Uranus is doing this because he is in charge of valuing the opposite of security–valuing change, danger, excitement, freedom, force, anger, and other disruptive things. Uranus action is necessary, but there’s no harm in ducking if you see a bit of threatening energy headed your way over the next 12 months. It’s really not aimed at you and you don’t need to take it to heart.

If you haven’t gone out of state for a little summer vacay, August is the time to do it. Jupiter, the vacation planet, stations toward the end of the month–and when he stations, he tends to be powerful. If you have school schedules to contend with, plan ahead of course, but Jupiter sure would love to have you get away before he retrogrades. Just saying.

Before you go anywhere, you’ll need to check with Saturn, who is jealousy guarding your finances. You are not in a planetary cycle wherein you can get away with financial foolishness. Be prudent in your plans, though, and you should be fine.

Love and relationships are moving from simmering on the back burner to boiling on the front burner. That is, they’re doing that if you’re responsive to Venus moving from your back burner 12th house to your own sign on the 21st. Venus makes a particularly nice trine from your sign to Pluto in your love life house on the 25th. Take advantage if possible. You might be able to combine the travel energy with the love energy by scheduling a quick romantic getaway before the month ends.

If you’re not romantically involved, the last third of the month with the sun and Venus in your sign is still good for all kinds of relationships and people contact. These nice energies take the sting out of the periodic dustups between Mars in your friendship house and Pluto in your romance house this month. Don’t let any minor bouts of conflict get you down; they’re temporary and probably not meaningful.

Your ruler Mercury does go retrograde in your 12th house. The retrograde officially begins on the 2nd and continues through the 26th. Transits through the 12th house sometimes feel like they last a lifetime, and Mercury does spend an extra long time in Leo this go-round. He doesn’t re-enter your sign until the 2nd week of September.

There’s a remedy for that, though, or maybe even a lesson. Simplicity. Simplicity isn’t always the easiest mode of operation for Virgo to master because it feels insufficiently busy to the sign. But for the time being the KISS acronym (keep it simple, sweetie) could prove marvelously healing to the chronically overbooked Virgo native.

Mars spends the month in Gemini at the top of your chart, in the career house. Uranus in Aries is in your 8th house, which can sometimes indicate supporters behind the scenes. The upshot is that you may be able to use covert support from higher ups this month to advance a career agenda. Covert is important here, as opposed to loud, enthusiastic, aggressive support–as the 8th house is the site of covert action. Your supporters can be aggressive and enthusiastic, so long as they are discreet about it.

This configuration could also mean that you are the one connecting others with each other, or coordinating a project. Virgos who work with words (lots do) should be especially busy this month. There’s a delicate balance of willpower and push  combined with working with others to be observed here. The formula is caution plus boldness. This transit ends in early August, and Mars will not be back to your career house for approximately another two years.

Meanwhile the long-distance travel planet Jupiter is in the long-distance travel part of your solar chart. Double symbol for putting some distance between you and home base. This influence actually began in June and continues for a year, so you might not be hopping on a plane this month. But…it is summer vacation time and there’s no harm in mentioning that you’ve got the planets for a good one.

There’s also a solar eclipse in the sign of Cancer this month, on the 1st. It’s the last eclipse in a series of ones in this sign and in Capricorn. Some of the eclipses in this series have been quite rough but this one should hopefully be friendly. Literally. It may bring a new friend into your life, one that may be a part of your life for quite awhile.

I should also mention in Saturn in Libra, still chugging along in your 2nd house of money and material objects. Saturn in the 2nd house normally tries to convince a person that he or she does not have enough money and that he or she should take corrective steps to build a better financial future. Saturn also encourages investment in things that are well-made, beautiful and going to be useful for a long  time. Keep this in mind when perusing summer vacation souvenirs. Especially if you go at the end of the month (28th on) because Venus in Leo will be whispering in your ear that you need to treat yourself to luxury items.

Perhaps fortunately, Mercury will move into your own sign on the same date, encouraging rationality. If you are having trouble with joint finances (astrologically, you might be), take steps to be more independent and prudent in your decisions. Bottom line: if you’re going to spend a lot of money on something, make sure it will be truly worth your money. On the love and partnership front, Pluto in your 5th house of romance and Neptune in your house of committed relationships are both peacefully retrograding reducing the chances of action in this area.

Jupiter moves from Aries and your dark and mysterious solar 8th house on the 4th of June and into the more supportive sign of Taurus and your solar sector of travel and education. Uranus is still in that dark and mysterious 8th house, though, and gaining strength. The good side of this is that Uranus is in useful angle to a whole bunch of planets in Gemini in your career sector. It may not be easy to see the help you are getting in your career from circumstances, but it is there.

This help will supposedly be most dramatically revealed at the solar eclipse in your career sector on June 1. In reality, you may have experienced an unexpected and useful boost as long as ago as late April. Or you may not see it until mid-July, when Uranus will station and become particularly powerful. But one way or another, a lot of Virgos are scheduled to get some sort of a career bump from this eclipse.

Eclipses come in pairs, solar and lunar. The lunar eclipse occurs on June 15 in the sector of your chart relating to your home environment. This eclipse could be a bit dark and mysterious itself. It could relate to a surprise regarding someone in your family or it could have to do with your private self.

The eclipse in Gemini on June 1 is partly about your image as well as your career. The eclipse in Sagittarius is more about the shadow or the effect your image has upon you. Your solar 4th house, which is where the lunar eclipse will fall, is also about your sense of being grounded or not grounded. Sometimes an eclipse makes things seem temporarily unstable.

Sometimes, on the other hand, such an eclipse is more about you taking control of some situation and bringing an undesirable circumstance to an end. Lots of possibilities, including the possibility that you’ll experience no effects from either eclipse. Not all eclipses affect any given individual, and it’s possible that your current life is stable enough that you don’t need much of a change.

If you’re sick of changes by the way, and I wouldn’t blame you if you were because Virgo has seen more than its fair share over the past several years, you’ll like Jupiter in Taurus. Jupiter in Taurus loves for things to remain exactly as they are, exactly as it likes them. Taurus is the patron sign of the phrase “I just got things all arranged the way I want them; don’t move anything!” And sometimes there’s something comforting about that.

Lovers and love remain hot topics for the Virgo chart. There’s still a lot of Aries energy as the month opens, and Aries energy represents your solar 8th house of sex. Neptune in Pisces is also attempting to swallow up your committed relationship house, although you may not see this right at first. In fact, Neptune as a general rule is all about things you can’t see, and as Neptune gains in influence over the coming years you are going to get well acquainted with all the things you can’t see about your lovers.

Eventually you will see them, but first Neptune will have to bring it to your attention that you haven’t been seeing them before. It’s all very mysterious so let’s switch back to the more straightforward Aries energy. Aries in the 8th house is partly about demanding or learning to demand that those you are in love with hold up their end of the deal. The traditional pattern for Virgo is to start out being attracted to people who won’t hold up their end of the deal because that allows Virgo to hog up the reliability niche.

Then as true intimacy develops, Virgo is supposed to learn courage by darting into situations in which it becomes important that other people start displaying their hidden chops and stepping up to the plate. The sudden escalation of demands can be alarming to people Virgo is involved with because they didn’t necessarily see it coming. At one point in your life, the process of moving from commitment to intimacy would have been alarming to you too, but you just lived through Uranus in Pisces for 7 years and now you know that it is just too exhausting not to lay things out on the line early. So this month you are going to use the Aries energy to connect with someone (or maybe even a group of people) in an equal way by being straightforward about your demands, dealbreakers, and trigger points.

You may even get a little possessive if the situation calls for it. And, if at all possible, the planets would like you to actually be in love. Being in love with a person would be nice, but if that’s just not realistic given your circumstances at least display a passion for something, even if it’s Facebook. You need to connect this month, so connect away.

Next month, Jupiter moves into Taurus and the focus shifts to how much knowledge you have. Not as exciting as Jupiter in the house of sex, so use the energy while you got it!

Ah, Virgo, the month of April is packed with more Aries energy than you can stuff a bus with. This is an energy your sign loves, hates, or alternates between loving and hating. You may find it narcissistic or inspiring or both at once. It can overwhelm you with stuff like taxes, insurance matters, investments, joint finances, divorce proceedings, even matters related to death, such as inheritances and wills. These are all 8th house matters, which is where the energy will be concentrated in your solar chart.

On the other hand, the 8th house is also the house of sexual intimacy, and all the Aries energy can also overwhelm you with love and passion. Especially after the 20th, when Venus will be transiting Aries, you may find the love and passion outweigh all the other stuff that might be going on. Mars, the planet of sexual desire, just so happens to be transiting your 8th house as well, making this a month to be with someone, not alone. Add humongous Jupiter to the mix (yeah Jupiter is there too), and you’ve got both light and heat at your disposal when it comes to sexuality.

I should warn you that Uranus is in your 8th house, too, in for a long transit of 7 years. Uranus has a reputation for being a bit kinky and adventurous and it may suddenly seem like a good idea to engage in lovemaking in places that you would normally be too prudent to consider. Just saying.

The kicker in all this is that Neptune moves into Pisces on the 4th, lugging his big nebulous self into the part of your chart that governs relationships. This is the kind of influence that makes it hard to tell if you’re coming or going with regard to relationships–a sensation that may make the Aries energy all the more poignant.

The word of the month is probably connection. The energy of the moment is centered around your solar 7th and 8th houses, both of which signify connection in one form or another (formal or intimate). Human connection is scary by its nature, and Virgo would have some excuse for being a bit afraid of it, given the angst that Uranus in your 7th house may have caused over the past 7 years. But the essence of bravery is facing scary things and doing them anyway. And the universe wants you to connect. With a person. Scary or not.

You have Jupiter on your side to protect you, in the spiritual yet carnal 8th house. You had Uranus in the 7th house, and now, as of the 11th of March, you’ll have Uranus in the 8th house as Uranus moves into Aries for about 7 years. Aries energy is nothing like Pisces energy. Aries energy is much more dynamic, much less emotional. Aries energy moves toward a goal, whereas Pisces energy often thinks goals are irrelevant. Pisces is about feelings; Aries is about action and performance. So Uranus in Aries is intent on moving toward really being with someone. If you’re already with someone, the goal might to be with them more authentically. If you’re not with anyone, the goal would be to bring someone new into your life to accompany you on your journeys.

So the task of the month is to not say no to connection.

This month your chart is probably getting used to the influence of Jupiter in Aries, in preparation for the return of Uranus to Aries next month. Aries is one of those signs that’s in an odd angle to your own, what’s called an inconjunct or quincunx, 5 signs away. In your solar chart, it falls in the rather healing oriented 8th house. The 8th house often deals with past wounds and the memories we carry around of them.

The implication is that Jupiter has decided that it’s time to look at whatever has burned you in the past, in preparation for a more vigorous bout of examination coming from Uranus. If you have time, now would be a great time to take a little trip down memory lane to see if you can recall your very first memories and what you learned from them. Jupiter loves to contemplate general principles, and he wouldn’t mind an opportunity to work his healing magic on buffing up the principles that have been guiding your subconscious mind from an early age. His goal in such an endeavor would be to make you more optimistic or more courageous in your approach to life.

If you are feeling super-astrological, you can apply what you learn from Jupiter to your job or your health conditions with the help of Mars in Aquarius through February 21. In plainer English, slough off some past fears and take a bold step at work or toward better health. Start a new project or endeavor.

After the 21st, the focus shifts to relationships. Here, Mars is more likely to get irritated with your significant others and want to give one or more of them boot and end an unproductive or unsatisfying association. You’ll need to decide if Mars is just being cranky or if this is indeed an opportune time to pull the plug on something you don’t want to see again except in your rear-view mirror.

Eclipse month! Yes, the new year starts out with an eclipse in Capricorn (new moon) and it should be a good one for you. For single Virgos, it could signal a new romance or dating relationship or a new chapter in your social life. For creative Virgos, it may mean a new project. For parenting Virgos, some good news regarding your children. Since this eclipse happens around the same time that Jupiter and Uranus are being rambunctious in your 7th house of relationships, figure on surprise news from someone else. Whatever this time period brings, follow your instincts.

The full moon this month takes place on January 19 at the very end of Cancer. This is a pretty happy full moon, too, as full moons go, since it occurs on the same day as a sun/Jupiter sextile. It takes place in the part of your chart that deals with allies and friends.

Venus and Mercury also slide through your 4th house of home and family in January. These are also generally good influences, although quite frankly any influence in the family sector can be a bit stressful. This is an area of your life where you are scheduled to see changes in 2011 anyway. That’s because the new eclipse series in Sagittarius and Gemini (the first one was on December 21 in Gemini) hit your roots and career sectors. The 4th house also represents some of the more unconscious and subjective elements of our psychology. Some of you will learn that you love and are more loved by your family than you realized.

As far as 2011, overall it’s a pretty relationship intensive year. That’s not big news for Virgo; the universe has been staring at your relationships for so long, it’s like it’s got binoculars perched on its nose and it’s parked itself across the street from your house. In 2011, the relationship theme gains some new nuances. Uranus will soon stop bugging you and Neptune in Pisces will soon start smothering you. Jupiter and Uranus will move on from contemplating the nature of committed relationship to contemplating the mysteries of deep intimacy. Pluto will continue to worry about your love life. If there’s one thing the universe doesn’t want for you in 2011–it’s for you to be alone.