Exploring Oppositions - Virgo and Pisces
In honour of today's Mercury ingress into Virgo, where it will join Venus and Mars, I want to focus on signs in opposition, unpacking the relationship between Virgo and Pisces.
In brief, oppositions are 2 signs, 180 degrees apart. Different elements, same modality (cardinal, fixed, or mutable). In chart readings, oppositions are usually interpreted as push-pull. Something is lacking so we swing the pendulum in the other direction to find it. A healthy management of the aspect is to find a balance and learn to integrate qualities of the two. The lesson I have chosen to explore on the Virgo-Pisces axis is 'Service'.
Virgo is the sign most typically associated with service. It is mutable Earth, sturdy and dependable, yet willing to bend to someone else's will. The perfect helper. Ruled by Mercury, Virgo is particularly good at getting to the heart of a problem. It can examine a situation from all angles and come up with a practical solution. Most importantly, Virgo wants to help. To be of use is its deepest desire. This is why many healers, particularly of the naturopathic variety, have strong Virgo placements. The shadow of Virgo, however, can be that it gives until it is depleted, and, if its efforts aren't appreciated, it can become resentful.
As mutable water, Pisces is the most fluid, the most changeable sign of the zodiac. Whilst Virgo comes from a position of groundedness and chooses to serve, Pisces serves unconsciously. It can be incredibly porous and without boundaries, absorbing others' desires and becoming the perfect container for them. Virgo's service is tangible and calculated (think blending herbs or building a cabinet), but Pisces’s service is automatic, as it literally takes in others problems. No solutions are offered, but energy is integrated and transmuted, or space is held without judgement. This may be why many creatives have strong Piscean energy - they take all the dross of our collective unconscious, internalise it and spit it back out into art, which can elevate, inspire or heal without physically doing anything.
Like Virgo, Pisces has a tendency to give so much it becomes depleted, however whilst Virgo will start to resent (which in some ways serves as a catalyst to establish boundaries), Pisces will martyr itself, so deep is its desire to achieve unity with those around it. From Virgo, Pisces can learn the skill of energetic protection, and from Pisces, Virgo can learn that not every problem needs to be solved, and sometimes the best medicine is simply being present.
