Venus in Virgo
/On July 21, Venus moves out of bold and courageous Leo and into cool and refined Virgo. After such an explosive few weeks of transits in Leo, Venus in Virgo will hopefully help to bring some calm and quiet.
Venus begins her journey through Virgo with an opposition to Jupiter, which is a pretty loud — albeit short-lived — moment where we might feel extra materialistic, creative, and yearning for social connections. During the rest of her time in Virgo, she'll form a square to the Lunar Nodes, which are ending their time in Gemini and Sagittarius (sparking some of the themes of the eclipses) and also trining Uranus. She'll end her time in Virgo by forming a trine to Pluto, which will certainly be cathartic and emotionally, but not too dire. Overall, from an "astro weather" perspective, Venus in Virgo is a bit calm and chill amidst the chaos happening in the fixed signs.
Venus in its fall — wtf does that mean?!
Virgo is a mutable Earth sign, ruled by the planet Mercury. Ancient astrologers said that Venus is its "fall" in Virgo, while Venus is "exalted" in Pisces. These are ancient concepts that speak to "luck" Venus has while in these signs. When Venus is in Pisces, the romantic and creative waters of the Jupiter ruled sign helps to lift Venus up and gives it extra good fortune.
However, when Venus enters Virgo, the sign opposite to Pisces, this means it is now "cast down" — it has lost the good luck and blessings from being in Pisces and is instead at a disadvantage. If you have Venus in Virgo in your birth chart — don't panic! In the next section, we'll explore what this means for you. But first, let's talk about why Venus struggles in Virgo, aside from "an old dead white guy said so."
Venus and Mercury have different energies and purposes. Mercury is all about details and facts — it likes to learn, analyze, deconstruct into smaller pieces, and put them back together again. This is antithetical to Venus' signification, which is all about pleasure and connection and union. It is very difficult for Venus to enjoy pleasure and make people happy when it also has to be extremely efficient and critical and detail-oriented. Being swept away or emotionally moved by something is difficult when you're busy analyzing it for defects.
Venus in Virgo - an exploration of perfectionism
Virgo energy is never done. There is always something to improve, something to refine, something that could be more efficient. It's very difficult for Venus in Virgo to relax and chill the fuck out. When I talk to my clients who have this placement, themes of "perfectionism" and "control" come up quite a bit.
In the wheel of the year, Virgo is the season that prepares us for the autumn equinox. Like all mutable signs, Virgo combines the fixed energy that comes before it with the cardinal energy that comes after. For Virgo, this means we have one foot in Leo season and one foot in Libra. Virgo's job is to transition us from "bounty" mode into "harvest" mode. From "abundance" mode into "scarcity" mode. Without Virgo, we would starve in the winter.
That’s where the Virgon instinct to strive for improvement comes from. It’s not about you being annoying or naggy (even though some people might react that way). It’s about you having a very keen sense of what needs to happen, or else. The instinct comes from a very reasonable and well-intentioned place. The trick, of course, is to continually do your own work in interrogating this instinct and whether it is serving you in your daily life.
A little ritual goes a long way
Venus in Virgo is great at its ritual. As someone who works from home, I've realized that doing a morning ritual to switch into "work mode" is essential to my mental health and productivity. My morning ritual used to be rushing out the door to get to work before the train got too crowded, but since the pandemic, I've had to change rituals completely.
When Venus is Virgo, our routines, rituals, and daily practices have a chance to be upgraded, whether it’s beauty, food, wellness, or work. This is an opportunity to refine or improve our practices by focusing on the little details. What are the tiny tweaks we can make to improve our quality of life? Venus in Virgo doesn’t want you to start something new or go out and buy new things — it wants you to work with what you already have and see where there can be improvements. The trick is to not let this quest for improvement turn into self-criticism…
This is a great chance to get rid of clutter and embrace minimalism. How this will specifically come up for you depends on the House that contains Virgo in your chart. For example, Virgo is in my 4th house, and I am looking forward to using Venus in Virgo as a chance to finally do something with the huge pile of stuff we need to get rid of that's been sitting in a pile in the corner of the living room since we moved in October.
Venus in Virgo in the birth chart
When you are born with Venus in Virgo, you have a lifetime to explore what this placement means for you and how it appears in your life. It's important to note there are also a lot of other influences in the chart that will tone your experience of this placement. If you are a Taurus or Libra Rising, for example, you are going to feel the impact of this placement much more so than someone else might. The placement and strength/happiness of Mercury in your birth chart is also important to keep in mind if you have Venus in Virgo, because Mercury is “hosting” Venus.
Just because Venus tends to struggle to be happy-go-lucky in Virgo doesn’t mean you are doomed to a life of no romance or bad breakups. When we are born with planets in fall, it simply means we can expect the topics Venus rules in our charts (from the general significations of love, romance and beauty to the specific topics it rules in your personal chart based on Houses) to be a little more unstable. Planets in their fall tend to over-promise and under-deliver. We want certain things or aim for them, but often, we end up just shy of the mark, or there is some kind of complication.
That's why it's soooo important to book a live consultation with an astrologer you trust if you want to understand a placement like this. A lot of what you read on the internet is going to be extremely superficial and general, and might even be scary or harmful. That’s because every single birth chart is different and unique and context is very important. I can’t tell you what Venus in Virgo means for you, specifically, without seeing the rest of your chart.
That’s why I emphasize exploring the planetary archetypes and those themes and symbols tend to combine. It would be irresponsible for me to talk about how this placement can incline people towards "perfectionism”, because while that might be true, sometimes, it’s not the WHOLE truth. And there is way too much surface-level astrology out there. I don’t want want to add to the noise.
As I recently said to a friend who had Googled her Capricorn sun, "Don't believe anything you read on the internet about astrology... unless I wrote it!" I'm obviously joking about that last part — you should absolutely be skeptical of everything you read, even if I wrote it!!! I am just one person, with one opinion, doing my best to describe the energies as I understand them and as they have been taught to me.
I hope this approach to astrology — understanding the basic archetypes and then seeing how they intertwine — helps you feel more empowered and supported while engaging with astrology, so you can be more comfortable working with it in your everyday life.
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