After all the strum und drang of Venus and Mars in Leo, and the unstable facedown earlier this month between Mars, Saturn, and Uranus in the fixed signs, in which poor Venus seemed forced to run damage control, it comes as something of a relief as she enters Virgo on July 21st. Entering the mutable earth sign of Virgo from the illuminating fire of Leo lowers the temperature a bit, which we could all use (see: the Pacific Northwest).
But, Virgo is the sign of Venus’ depression, opposite its sign of exaltation, Pisces. This means that Venus struggles in Virgo to express her venusian nature, which is to connect and harmonize. Ruled by Mercury, which finds its domicile and exaltation in Virgo, the sign of the virgin is prickly territory for the goddess of love and beauty. Clever, adaptable, and (always and forever) practical, Virgo leads with its head, but in an organized and data-based fashion that is distinct from Mercury’s other domicile, Gemini, which operates in a more haphazard, social way.
In Virgo, love, romance, connection, the arts — they all become projects with an endless and wonkish to-do list. In terms of archetypes, Venus in Virgo is the matchmaker, like Sima Taparia (or Sima Auntie, as she’s known to her clients) from the Netflix series Indian Matchmaking, a connector figure who facilitates marriages (and ideally, but not necessarily, romance) through working her database of connections.
Sima Auntie’s “bio-data” is her go-to tool, a spreadsheet of the features and attributes of her marriage-seeking clientele, as well as their conditions for would-be mates (she also uses a helpful astrologer, as well as a “face reader”). Does her tireless work (Virgo keyword) succeed? The results seem to be mixed at the end of the series, though she clearly has no shortage of clients.
Even though the series seems to pose the question — does matchmaking work? — through charming interviews with older couples who recount their successful arranged marriages, it leaves it open, particularly among her more romantically-inclined clients. The point seems to be: once you’ve brought in a matchmaker, you shouldn’t expect to be swept off your feet, which is Venus in Pisces territory. That could happen, of course, and if it does, lucky you. But don’t expect it. As Sima Auntie would say, “you have to be flexible” (Virgo keyword).
Artistically, Venus in Virgo seems to produce artists known for steady, detail-oriented work and a strong work ethic. I found a surprising number of jazz musicians among this group, which makes sense, as jazz is a cerebral music form based on structured improvisation, itself a combination suggestive of earthy (Virgo) and mercurial attributes.
A short list of notable artists with this placement includes Miguel de Cervantes, Marc Chagall, Emily Brontë, Edgar Degas, Buster Keaton, Ray Bradbury, Le Corbusier, Alexander Calder, Louis Armstrong, Ginger Rogers, Gene Kelly, Diana Rigg, Louis Vuitton, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford, Lynda Carter, Catherine Deneuve, Sophia Loren, Julia Child, Julie Andrews, Luciano Pavarotti, Ingrid Bergman, John Cage, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Leonard Cohen, Joan Jett, Roger Moore, John Lennon, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams, Eminem, Mick Jagger, Kate Winslet, Sean Penn, Audrey Tautou, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Sting, Vin Diesel, Patrick Swayze, Simon Cowell, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Natalie Wood, Will Ferrell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lucille Ball, Amy Poehler, M.I.A., Guillermo Del Toro, Wesley Snipes, Anjelica Houston, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Viola Davis, and Michelle Yeoh.
Venus enters Virgo on July 21st, to stay until August 16th, when she enters her air home sign of Libra, where she has all her social and artistic resources. Almost immediately after entering Virgo, Venus opposes Jupiter in Pisces, retrograding back to the earliest degree of the sign of the fishes. This is humbling for Venus, like a former diva (back in her Leo days) suddenly relegated to a costume changer in the wings, embarrassed by her loss of status when the impresario stops by the theater.
On July 29th Venus in Virgo squares the North Node in Gemini at 8 degrees of their respective mutable signs. This brings renewed attention to the recent terrain of the eclipses in Gemini this spring. There may be a recurrence of whatever came up then, but framed as a relationship or artistic challenge.
Venus makes a nice trine to Uranus in Taurus on August 3rd, at 14 degrees of their respective earth signs, providing sudden insight into a relationship or artistic matter and a nuts-and-bolts plan of action (the speciality of earth signs).
The picture clouds, however, on August 9th, when Venus opposes Neptune, retrograde in Pisces at 22 degrees. This is a challenging aspect for practical, data-oriented Venus in Virgo, when data becomes nebulous in Neptune’s whimsical water park. It’s not the best time to do anything Mercury-oriented, as Neptune may turn everything on its head. On the flip side, it could be an imaginative, upside-down opportunity for writing something completely unique. Think Alice in Wonderland / Willy Wonka / The Wizard of Oz as inspirations for this artistic energy.
Finally, on August 11th, Venus trines Pluto in Capricorn at 24 degrees of their earth signs, tipping her Mary Poppins hat to the lord of the underworld. Pluto has been annoyed that he’s mostly out of the action this year, after his deadly star turn last year, though the sun’s current tour through Cancer, where it opposes Pluto in Capricorn, is continuing to highlight plutonian themes. All around us again we see inequality, hierarchy, and the excesses of the plutocracy (billionaires launching themselves gratuitously into space, anyone?).
So, Pluto welcomes Venus’ hat-tip and curtsy since it validates his existence. This trine is less fun for Venus, though malefics (and I definitely categorize Pluto as a malefic, even though it’s not one of the traditional malefic planets) are said to not be able to do harm through sextiles and trines. Nevertheless, there may be a seriousness suddenly to Venus’ work or progress, a chill of some sort, as issues of power and control come up.
Wherever the whole sign Virgo house is in your chart will receive an infusion of busybody, fixer-upper energy, a combination of Sima Auntie and Marie Kondo, here to organize and clean up this part of your life. The main downside of this transit is Virgo’s general Achilles heel: overthinking everything to death. Virgo focuses on the micro, which annoys Venus, which indulgently sees the bigger picture. If you find yourself falling down an OCD rabbit hole of Virgo detail overload, try to pull back and lean back into Venus’ sensuality, which can get you out of your head and help balance out the minutiae.
Personally, I love Venus in Virgo as it falls in my fourth whole sign house of home and family. Whenever Venus passes through here I find myself engaged in detail-oriented home organization and improvement. But, with Virgo generally a frugal-minded sign, my improvements tend not to break the bank, which is more associated with Venus in her luxury-minded home signs of Libra and Taurus (as well as pretty much all the fire signs, which can definitely overdo anything).
Here’s one of our Venus in Virgo jazz musicians, Charlie “Bird” Parker, demonstrating the cerebral beauty of this placement. Enjoy the opportunity to get your relationships and artistic projects into shape!