For most of June and July, the planet Mars (action) is in the zodiac sign of Virgo (wholeness through service) – making this a time to work and play with purpose. Not just any old purpose, mind you, for the challenge of Virgo is to be of service not to oneself, but to the whole of mankind.

We’ve all seen the self-centred side of Virgo – the prissy schoolmistress and the nagging, know-it-all boss.   Instead, what we’re aiming for here is something more elevated – and if you didn’t realise Virgo had a spiritual side, look again.  Virgo represents the archetype of the Virgin, pure and intact as newly fallen snow.

You might think that here in Virgo Mars, the archetype of the warrior, has met his match.  After all warriors and virgins do seem to be an ill-fated pair.  But strangely, the two can get on tolerably well if approached in the right way.

Mars corresponds to the fifth major arcana tarot card, The Chariot, which depicts a crowned charioteer keeping tight reign on duality – symbolised by one white horse and one black horse pulling each, in the opposite direction.

With all tarot five there always be division and strife – it is the lot of the warrior to conquer and divide.   For certain, this is the nature of Mars.   For by definition when we choose one course of action over another, we leave the road not taken behind – or do we….?

Contrary to this Western concept of reality, Eastern philosophies teach that duality is a mirage, an uncomfortable illusion.  According to these traditions,  there is no right and wrong or black and white – the world is a unity, with each man and woman representing a single drop of water in the universal pond.

In Virgo, we have the unique opportunity to experience this unity where black melts into white and back again and to make something of it.*  Yet as suggested above, this  certainly will not be achieved if we work for ourselves alone, for such self- focus is the very foundation of duality.

Instead, to get the best from Mars in Virgo focus your efforts to benefit others and in doing so stop yourself for a moment to glimpse of the forest for the trees.

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* We can also experience this unity in Pisces – but there find it much harder to to make practical use of the experience.