Overview

Between roughly August 7 — 23rd, 2023, Mercury and Mars will be travelling closely alongside one another in Virgo. This is a union between mental agility (☿) and active force (♂︎). In short, watch out for knee-jerk verbal reactions, overthinking, nitpicking, and petty arguments… but on the positive side, this is a good time to focus on organizing, planning, putting ideas/plans into action, and managing your time wisely. Though difficult to see, you will be able to spot the duo in the west shortly after sunset in early August.

It’s important to know, though Mercury and Mars will get very close to each other, they won’t officially meet until October 29th.

As Mercury and Mars journey side by side, edging nearer but never quite meeting, their presence is strongly palpable, like the charged air before a storm. This closeness, without culmination, can evoke a sense of restlessness.

This Mercury-Mars tension will dissipate after August 23rd. Mercury is gradually slowing down as it approaches retrograde station on the August 23rd, while Mars will proceed independently, entering Libra on the 27th.

Plans that we first envisioned Aug-Nov 2021 may be beginning to take shape now, as this was when our current Mercury-Mars cycle began.

These plans may now be emerging as something tangible, or those topics could be being wrapped up or renewed in a way.

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⊹₊⋆☁︎⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆☁︎⋆₊ ⊹

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Understanding Mercury and Mars

Mercury is the planet of commerce, communication, and intellect. It governs our capacity for communication, analysis, and intellectual exploration. It’s through Mercury that we engage in mental processes such as formulating ideas, problem-solving, critical analysis, and learning.

Mars propels us into the external world with its intense energy and determination. It is the planet of action, courage, and anger. Mars provides the impetus needed to transform concepts into concrete manifestations. Without Mars, ideas would remain dormant, just potentialities waiting to be brought to life.

Mercury and Mars together represent the relationship between ideas (☿) and their manifestation in the external world (♂︎). Mars is the active force that propels Mercury’s intentions into action.

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“The vitality of thought is in adventure. Ideas won’t keep. Something must be done with them.”

-Alfred North Whitehead

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Imagine yourself cradling a tiny seed. Though small, it carries the potential to become a flourishing plant. Ideas are the same: a flash of inspiration could turn into something life changing. However, just as a seed requires soil, sunlight, and water to grow, our ideas (☿) require action (♂︎) to bloom into reality.

At the same time, without researching (☿) what your seed needs to grow, its growth may be hindered. Acting on ideas without giving them too much thought can can lead to unfavorable consequences. A big theme with this ongoing Virgo Mercury-Mars transit is the importance of thought as a precursor to action.

Mercury and Mars in Virgo

Mercury and Mars are aligned within the realm of Virgo, the mutable Earth sign that marks the shift from late Summer to early Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere — the transitional (mutable) time of year when there is a shift from leisure to more industrious routines. Virgo nature is analytical, detail-oriented, efficient, and practical.

Virgo’s emphasis on practicality and organization elevates Mercury’s ability to process and convey information.

So, with these Virgo activations throughout August and September, detail-oriented activities are highly favoured, such as organizing, researching, planning, editing, cleaning, scheduling, budgeting, etc.

Despite Virgo’s innate precision and analytical prowess, there is a common pitfall: the tendency to overanalyze.

Virgo is opposite Pisces. While Virgo’s essence is rooted in the scrutiny of small details due to its Mercurial influence, Pisces is focused on the bigger picture with its Jupiterian influence.

Think of Mercury as “zoomed in” and Jupiter as “zoomed out”. Have you ever stared at a word so long that you realize how weird it is? That’s Mercurial over-analysis.

The Virgo-Pisces axis reminds us that while attention to detail is invaluable (♍︎), there are moments when stepping back and embracing the broader perspective can provide invaluable insights (♓︎).

The thing is, since Mercury and Mars together can potentially foster impulsive verbal reactions; with them being aligned in the analytical realm of Virgo – this can cause small disagreements to intensify unnecessarily; as Virgo Mercury can overly fixate on the details of something, and the presence of Mars can fuel the argument’s escalation.

“Think before you act; think twice before you speak.”

-Thomas Browne