We’re about a week into Venus’s transit through Virgo, her sign of debilitation (August 24 - September 18). Venus delights in beautiful things that appeal to our senses and doesn’t care about function as long as it brings satisfaction and beauty into our lives. She’s a social planet ruling interpersonal connections and partnerships, whether those partnerships are in the spiritual or the physical plane. Venus’s pleasures can be found whenever you’re indulging in a delicious meal, flowing with the rhythm of dance, or moved by the beauty of a song or piece of art. A good cackle shared between friends or a knowing look that sends you into fits of giggles resides in her realm, too.
When Venus is in her exaltation (Pisces), she has all the tools and resources she needs to access the sensual pleasures of life, but in mercurial Virgo, she can get lost in the details and particulars. Venus prefers ease, but Virgo wants effort. Venus doesn’t want to sweat the details, but Mercury’s influence on Virgo makes them impossible to ignore. Under a Virgo Venus transit, we may feel nit-picky and dissatisfied with our surroundings, feeling a strong urge to purge our material goods or redecorate. Alternatively, that dissatisfaction may turn to our closest relationships, making us hyperfocus on the things our friends, lovers, or partners are doing “wrong”.
Like her mercurial sibling, Venus in Gemini, Venus in Virgo benefits from verbal communication and expressing needs out loud, but don’t make the mistake of becoming overly critical of others or yourself, especially with Mars in Gemini making a square to Venus in Virgo until September 3rd. With these two combined, we have all the ingredients we need to start petty arguments that create sparks but no solutions. We can use Virgo’s clinical precision to move beyond what we think is “wrong” with our partners or the people we’re in a relationship with before things get too hot and get to the root of our dissatisfaction. Once we release our grip on everything needing to be “just right”, we create space to breathe. One of the ways we can use Venus in Virgo’s energy during its transit is to remember that being able to see what is wrong means we’re also able to see what is right. Using Venus’s sweetness to express gratitude for the ways our relationships and surroundings feel good can take the edge off our criticisms to gently create healing pathways to better balance.
Herbal Ally: Peppermint
The square between Mars’s hot, fiery energy and Venus’s cooling, neutralizing energy reminds me of Peppermint’s ability to both stimulate and soothe. Peppermint’s sharp scent goes straight to the mind and awakens both our mental and spiritual senses and as an incense, its aromatic scent can be used to clear harmful energies in a space. Its ability to calm both the mind and nervous system speaks to its Gemini and Virgo correspondences, respectively. Peppermint, whether you brew it as a tea or nibble on the fresh leaves, can help loosen the grip on order (Virgo) and invulnerability (Mars) which can foster deeper connection without criticism. A cup of Peppermint tea taken a half hour before a meal can aid digestion, ease intestinal cramping, and release gas, all symptoms of an overstimulated Virgo. Peppermint is also a circulatory tonic and helps relax peripheral blood vessels, decreasing anxiety, elevated heart rates, and blood pressure1. Mars rules our adrenal glands and the blood, and in quick-moving Gemini, it can make us “hot-blooded” and quick to react. Peppermint’s cooling and relaxing properties can help us keep a cool head when the blood runs hot.
Mahdavikian, S., Rezaei, M., Modarresi, M. et al. Comparing the effect of aromatherapy with peppermint and lavender on the sleep quality of cardiac patients: a randomized controlled trial. Sleep Science Practice 4, 10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41606-020-00047-x