As we move from the age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius, one grand stage of activity culminates to make way for the next. As such, the relationship between Pisces and its polarity point of Virgo has been calling for deeper consideration, as those dynamics are craving to be understood while their collective dance works to a close for the next dance to begin.

Traditionally, Pisces correlates to the collective soul of all beings and the equalization of all parts to transcend boundaries and express as one oceanic whole. Virgo, on the other hand, represents the physical activity and service one provides that leads to personal humility and self-improvement as attention is focused on the specific pieces of a whole, while increasing the efficiency of how those parts systematically work together. However, these are only two dimensions of these energies. There are deeper currents that suggest other existential themes that are worked out through the archetypes of the virgin and the fish.

Both signs have connotations related to being of service. Pisces is the sense of selfless service rendered compassionately to ease the suffering of others. Virgo is our work place, co-workers, and method of working. However, while Virgo is enmeshed in serving others, it’s a little more “for itself.” Its key agenda is SELF-improvement, while Pisces is articulated to improve the whole, sometimes from a place where it must simply do things that need to be done without understanding how one thing connects to another except by faith. (Virgo likes to see and understand the connections.) Virgo’s chief symbol is the virgin, and while many see the virgin in purely sexual terms, it implies much more beyond that level alone. To be “virgin” is indicative of the period before being “married off” to another (in Libra). As such, the virgin is someone (male or female) who is totally for themselves--their work, their skills, their improvement, their life. They realize the need for these components to intertwine with others in the environment, but they ultimately are refining and perfecting THEMSELVES. It’s the last stage of the first half of the zodiac, symbolizing the transition point where the realm of one’s self switches over to concern itself with others in the larger world.

The concepts of refining and perfection and purification may also seem to be the sole/soul territory of Virgo, but Pisces embodies them also (as do the remaining mutable signs of Gemini and Sagittarius…but I’ll have to get to touch on that later…) For Pisces, the soul undergoes lessons of having compassion for others, often catalyzed by one’s own self-suffering, or a deep empathy for the existential suffering that is undergone by the collective. It refines itself by selflessly offering its service to others in need. Thus, it sees itself helping to chip away at the pain in others. (Subconsciously, other things are also operating…but that’s coming.) As such, Pisces follows a vision of glamorized perfection of the universe, where everyone is all-loving and compassion reigns. This ideal, when it runs away into imagination land, is what causes the Piscean energy to become confused, leading to a savior/martyr complex that invites disillusionment. To contrast, Virgo’s perfection is concerned with being right, exact, and having its part played out with no notable error. However, this too is an ideal that can never truly be actualized, causing Virgo’s infamous dissatisfaction in attempted efforts due to the inevitable flaws, no matter how small. Both signs are thus working towards a goal of purification: Virgo purifies the self, the body, the actions, the skills, the vessel, and the present while Pisces purifies the whole, the soul, the intent, the emotions, the inner contents, and the past (all of which pair respectively). It is through these two signs that one can most clearly analyze the operation of “atonement” that we all go through as citizens of life.

On one level, atonement simply means to be redeemed for wrong-doings through reparation. Pisces is often granted the archetype of “redeemer” (Jesus Christ’s concept/archetype is mixed in those waters…), but Virgo is seeking redemption as well…from the imperfections, for how it could have been better than it just was, for not getting it EXACTLY right…(Curiously, Virgo would also be the house for Mother Mary’s archetypal concept as the physical vessel that had to be “just so” in order to house and bear the Christ…) Another level of the word atonement, which material such as A Course in Miracles has pointed out, is that it can be broken down into at-one-ment, to then be defined as the act of making everything one. This level also leaves a valid insight with regards to Pisces and Virgo. Both of these signs ARE concerned with making everything one! Pisces, with its famous associations of dissolving boundaries and blending all things together as one whole makes this quite clear. To go deeper, through such action, it is ultimately working to equalize all beings according to their same divine origin by various forms of compassionate service rendered to emotionally saturate the whole with the truth of LOVE being the truest constant for all life, individually and together. For Virgo, making everything one comes as the concept of syncing up all the parts so that the machine’s running efficiently as one whole, complete in itself, entity. It’s the self-improvement of getting ourselves all together. It’s learning to perform our job as we sincerely best can. It’s understanding the specific connections between the parts of our body (and our mind, more as a noun [versus mind as a verb…to address later with the active ends of the mutable cross]) so as to build up and maintain optimum health. Virgo puts the INIDIVIDUAL together at one with itself, and Pisces puts the COLLECTIVE together at one with itself…Paradoxically, the collective aspects are also reflected and experienced through each individual, while the individual component is equally of monumental importance towards initiating the collective fulfillment.

While each sign is clearly seeking a level of perfected oneness from one perspective or the other, each is also “doomed” to perpetually notice its incompletion (and inherent imperfection) through its continual state of “becoming.” This is the side of the coin that reflects the frustration and tension within each, which becomes psychologically relevant as the experience of guilt. Both of these sides are where we all store the fallacies of our inherent badness/wrongness that we each carry around in and from ourselves ultimately, but also experienced through “wounds” we perceive coming from “others.” Pisces energy (along with all the water triad) is famous for its association with karma, and it is the emotional weight of the karma that we hold in that dimension. However, all of life (and all elements in some way) will bow down to Law (and it’s agent of Karma) and pay respect in some form, and for Virgo, as representative of the earth, it does so along the lines of personal experience, bodily nature, and the physicality of the environment. Ultimately, the poison and the cure is within ourselves, yet the drama of life will reveal this distillation of truth only after we’ve purged all notions to the contrary…

Returning to the sense of guilt that both signs can be subjected to as they note their seeming shortcomings distancing them from their ideals of perfections, it is refreshingly relieving to understand that it is the fantastical drama and illusionary vision of such which helpfully propels them towards undertaking the necessary roles that they MUST still do, and the gates that MUST be passed through, along the way of growing, evolving, and becoming further along the way. For Virgo, it is the noticing of the areas of improvement that allow adjustments to be considered for more complete wholeness. Sometimes, this entails seeing a better way of working, or something to implement in the process that could optimize efficiency. Other times, it could be the self-noticing of defeatist or sabotaging tendencies that are preventing one from getting the most that’s possible out of themselves. For Pisces, it is noticing the needless pain and cruel deeds done by others that cause one to reach out towards compassionately helping those so wrongfully victimized by others. In another way, one may notice their own personal feelings sometimes reflecting inner tendencies to resonate on the emotional side of a situation that’s not in alignment with one’s ideals, and that then may also prompt one to take action towards engaging the ideal more so in order to wash away the insidiously residual residue. In any of the above methods, the dramas of our guilt move us forward until the drama is no longer desired…

Having guilt is akin to having and knowing suffering. In Pisces, one suffers by either seeing that others receive poor treatment or by receiving poor treatment from others. Or, they suffer internally by realizing that they aren’t as good as they would like to, and may pretend (or imagine themselves), to be. They are angry at themselves for essentially lying/deceiving themselves and others about their “goodness.” While Pisces may be seen internalizing the anger more, it may also be projected onto those who have “wronged us” when not seen in the big picture of karma’s repayments. Seeing villains creates victims. Victims imply the hero/savior, and these illusions rarely encompass the whole story behind things, thus leading to disillusionment when not examined in a broader context. Thus, Pisces suffers emotionally from its perceptions. In Virgo, one suffers by either harshly criticizing the shortcoming of others out of anger, thus turning others against them, or by severely criticizing oneself to the degree that one is overly insecure and too depreciated to offer further effort towards progress. As such, their suffering will physically actualize as they experience the resulting ineffectiveness of their skill level or their bodily constitution/health. They may feel anger at seeing how everything is not working out due to their lack of detailed attention to matters that need addressing or their level of competence with how things are put together. Otherwise, they may project this anger onto others that they feel are working “below” them or their standard of excellence. In all cases, Virgo suffers physically (and mentally). This can be reflected in their health, as it will degrade to the level it is not kept up according to its necessary or optimum requirements. This is also reflected in an environment that is sloppy, hard to work in/around, and others that we experience as “difficult.” It also may include the idea of one either serving us or we serving them, without regard to the underlying truth of both simultaneously occurring. (Getting along with the others together in our environment also becomes a prerequisite for getting along with someone in a one-to-one engagement later through Libra also. How the challenge is met through initiation in Virgo may setup others to be experienced as either a partner or an enemy at that point.) Virgo is thus made to suffer from and through its physical actions and experiences (or lack of such). Through suffering, we’re all moved to learn, adjust, and grow, as we seek ways to alleviate it. This is the mutable intention of Virgo and Pisces.

This sense of guilt inherent to the learning and refinery of the Pisces and Virgo archetypes is also reflected in sadomasochistic psychology, which is prevalent across life to various degrees of accentuation. I have Jeff Green’s Evolutionary Astrology perspective to thank for bringing this dimension into the light for further consideration. If one is to reflect into the nature of ANY paradox, a polar schism into a binary pattern is always the first step away from seeing a total of one. If we have the ultimate truth of all things being One (one universe, one whole, one mind, etc ), then it is when we begin to move away from this that two is suggested. We have a “this” and “that,” yin and yang, good and bad, right and wrong, us and them, and further out.

The conceptual archetype of any such split or schism, for any and all perspective(s), is fiercely felt in Pisces and Virgo, as well as the other mutable signs. Here though, the original accompanying idea of guilt that it was suggested these two signs seem most geared to poignantly work through gets “pretended” in a sadomasochistic fashion as one of dominance and submission, and (to various extremes) the guilt translates as anger at others and anger at self, and that can cause one to essentially abuse while the others invite/allows the abuse and/or abuses themselves. There is also a superiority/inferiority split, and across time, this story has been most perpetuated through the Garden of Eden myth and its indoctrination effect upon the roles of the masculine vs. feminine, as well as flesh/world of form vs. soul/world of spirit. This “original sin” is what adversely pits the world of form AGAINST spirit, as it also demonizes and condemns the desires of sensual/sexual gratifications and all ideas housed as “earthly pleasures.” Life incarnate is then cast to be a toiling punishment to repay a grievance, while the goal of Heaven is set up as all that matters, only equally considered through the avoidance of further exacerbating one’s punishment to post-mortem Hell…All this stems, through the misunderstood wielding of the myth, from tasting of the “forbidden fruit.” As Eve eats the forbidden fruit (from The Knew of Knowledge of Good and Evil or the Tree if Life…might they be one in the same, but experienced differently under different lights?...), there is guilt for doing what one was told not to, and so woman is written to make up for this for all eternity in service to man. For Adam, there is also guilt for doing what one was told not to, and a sense of inevitable continual reparations needed. However, the flavor is compounded with a second anger projected on Eve/woman for tempting him to do the “wrong” thing. However, this is only a PROJECTED guilt, because the inner responsibility is still within the individual, despite the temptation…if the act was TRULY wrong (which only the utilization of Wisdom and Understanding could ascertain…) With too much simplification of this myth, it’s easy to see an emerging pathology of women who feel as though they must atone through self-deprecation in service to men, and men who feel angry and justified in holding/beating down women, or at least seeing them as inferior. Both characters on this level are overly primal and lacking in perspective. If one is told not to “eat the forbidden fruit” (whether it be “don’t touch the hot stove!” or “don’t eat those [poison] berries!” or not to have sex [or experience certain drugs and/or altered states] before certain maturation, or not told the truth about death and mortality until one is “old enough”), it can originally be told to one for “their own good”…perhaps with just justification, perhaps not? The questioning arises as the serpent uncoils…If one examines the unfolding of life, eventually, there will come a time when one comes to question and seek to understand the reason behind the commandment or imperative. If it’s judged and evaluated that it is a safety issue, we will likely adopt to continue operating under that law. However, if it’s assessed to be something that we’ve been stopped from in our “youth” (perhaps through some illusionary story to grab our more infant-like reason), we will likely seek to rebel (Aquarius) and experientially experiment with it as we begin to mature and come into our own. Along that journey, we may discover new truths that create new directions (Uranus), or we may discover new reasons for discontinuing further experimentation and settling into what did truly work well and continues to truly work still (Saturn). (In short, we may go “beyond ‘God’s’ law” as it is or was while we experiment with how it could be and become(Uranus). We may also find ways that we simply discover it was “classically” right in ways of its own inherent definition (Saturn). From this perspective, Eve was just experimenting in rebellion against what was originally established. Perhaps the timing was a bit “ahead of its time” (according to some standards…), and the true “sin” was only that of eagerness. Regardless, the “serpent” made her question what it was like, and the idea of something so “WHOA!” that was being held back from her was too much to bear…Adam too—he just got the message more second-hand…In this light, even this myth has a possible redemptive side to itself, but the “damage” we can see from its misuse lies behind the superiority/inferiority complexes across countless systems of Two and all duality that is pitted as a “versus” situations rather than being “complements.”

Up to date, the drama of this split has seemed to most prevalently play out in a more “versus” style, which is what I will be referencing through the sadomasochism of Pisces’ and Virgo’s archetypes. For both of these signs, the following single words can now be clearly associated: purify, atone, guilt, anger, service, redemption, pain, suffering, and humility(or humiliation...). There are also a host of complementary words that can then be seen below this umbrella, represented by Virgo and Pisces in turn. For each of these sets of words, while one may be most traditionally or outstandingly associated more with one of the signs than the other, both seem to play out each end in different ways, times, and forms. Some examples are: ego/ego-less, body/soul, power/powerless, control/no control, forcing/allowing, order/chaos, dominance/submission, master/slave, etc. Much of these dichotomies teeter-totter back and forth along the Pisces/Virgo axis, and can also quite clearly be seen through the sadomasochistic theme that permeates there. Let’s examine some implications.

For Virgo, there is a drive to hold onto control, keep order, and sometimes even force it to be so when we fear it slipping into disarray. We are perfecting the ordering, organization, and system of our individual self--our ego. Before, in Leo, we blew our horn pretty loud, blared ego’s specialness on full blast to be recognized, and the last step requires Virgo to initiate humility by sacrificing any excess pride by learning of, and acknowledging, the essential equality with others. (We all simply have jobs to do.) Sometimes this humility is initiated by doing “humiliating” work that undermines our skills and abilities. Sometimes we are “humbled” by finding that others are truly more superior to us in ways we thought ourselves to be the best. In any case, we must strive to purify and improve ourselves through the practice of our continual service. Thus, the self-importance pyramid structure of having ourselves at the top (in Leo) is inverted to put ourselves (humbly) at the bottom as we realize our room for growth. Along the way, we recognize varying degrees of being in positions above or below others, with varying degrees of power, and the physical actions we employ in the handling of that spectrum determines to what degree we must be made more humble (essentially humiliated) in order to efficiently equalize ourselves as one just like everyone else. Thus, we may have to serve others by doing the menial tasks others have accrued the power to displace, or we may have to serve below others who clearly have less skill that we’re aware that we possess. Regardless, serve we must, humbly and equally, as we learn and petition through apprenticeship for more power and work to be given to us. In essence, here the individual is humbled by having their ego deflated proportionately to how aggrandized it may have distorted through the Leo experience. Such is necessary to propel one towards working harder towards achieving a better self-perfection, and the concept of offering increasingly more service is followed to ameliorate anything not offered, or offered ineffectively, before.

For Pisces, there is a need to let go of control, embrace chaos, and sometimes allow it to encroach whenever we fear having things becoming too “locked in.” In a sense, the letting go reflects the selfless act of sacrificing our ego and individuality so that a whole may be expressed beyond it. In fact, beforehand, in Aquarius, the last ambitions and ideals of an individuated (and altruistic) nature must finally, in Pisces, be let go so that one can transcend the limitations of particularization. As such, that letting go of the last piece of individuality (no matter how well-intended collectively) is what constitutes a true humility in that there is no attachment to the need to derive having the efforts and work acknowledged as a particular identity. The work is done for the sake that it’s called to be done. This humility can also be activated in a few different ways. One may humbly undertake positions of service for which there may be little to no compensation or recognition out of selfless compassion. One may also be humbled by experiencing their own suffering and the loss of control felt over life in some aspect or way. Contrastingly, they may experience this humbling by recognizing their own good fortune as related to the situation observed of another. The idea of being humbled, and potential humiliation, can also be experienced through various levels of disillusionment as one is inevitably forced to face the truth behind one’s self-deceptions, sometimes also via the deceptions of others. It is these associations that land Pisces in the realm that also deals with scandals and false appearances. One may be humiliated if they present an image that is not quite true and fitting, deceiving others into seeing them in a particular light that is not completely honest and true unto their true, complete nature. In such a way, when the truth is revealed, and the individual is exposed for the deception, a humiliation and a “fall from grace” occur. Also, humiliation can conversely be engineered externally through dealings with another person in which trust is established in someone else and work is done on their behalf to help them, only to find out that one was being deceived, used, and taken advantage of the whole time by someone that was not truthfully representing themselves in full. One is then humiliated from being “hoodwinked.” In these ways, compassion is born within as an individual is able to recognize that others may fall short of an ideal in the same way that they may themselves, and so doing no (or more minimal) bad/harm continues to be an ideal that expands in scope to ameliorate the “sins of transgression” that occurred from misunderstandings, confusion, and seemingly blurred lines of grayness, before.

From here, it can be seen that these two energies take it upon themselves to restore to accuracy any sense of distortion as it relates to physical actions and emotions. This is done in varying degrees and forms of service, as improvement takes place through the refining repentance. As this is enacted across the drama of life, our story is often intertwined with that of others, as others are a primary vehicle for understanding one’s Self until a true equalization occurs with dissolution of the “many” to be seen as the “One.” With regards to these other people in our life, as projections of various levels of distortion, both Virgo and Pisces will reap different sides. Virgo may accentuate distortions of inferiority and superiority among various people. Pisces will accentuate distortions of good and bad among various people. Thus, Virgo will play out its service across a backdrop that sometimes cast itself, and others, as “above” and sometime “below.” Pisces’ backdrop will play out the same with regards to how good or bad itself or others are.

Pisces also includes the connotation and connection to “secret enemies,” as well as “illusions” (or maya) and karma. This adds a whole new spin on things collectively. In one sense, the reference of “self-undoing” compounds to show that it is ultimately ourselves that have caused our own suffering through our misunderstanding and confusion (Pisces) as well as our misaligned actions (Virgo). As such, we reap the consequences of those distortions until understanding takes places and correction is made. On another level, in situations where it may be more difficult for us to see our suffering as coming from within, it’s facilitated by others. In this way, we may find that others work against us or block our efforts, often without our knowledge or understanding of the dynamic behind why—as if it’s held secret from us. (Sometimes, the underlying cause may even stem from past lives and karma, which make it seem all the more confusing in our present incarnation when the “evening out” occurs.) These dynamics can be revealed by exploring the inconjuncts formed to both the signs of Pisces and Virgo.

For Pisces, the two signs that form an inconjunct are Leo and Libra. With Leo, an adjustment is suggested pertaining to one’s ego and sense of inflated self-importance, specialness and aggrandizement. When Pisces is overly glamorized, it may feel as though it is a savior, and an all-important figure that is more special than others. This is inherently a lie. However, when the Piscean current gets too swept up in such a notion, a humiliation occurs to “burst the bubble” and bring one back into an understanding of equality. The specialness cannot be accessed in fullness when it is dependent on being a separate ego. There’s an ironic paradox present though, the one individual IS actually very special, important, and a healing agent of salvation…it IS true, but it’s can’t be true as long as you’re saying it’s YOU…As long as it’s individually identified, it misses the mark and distorts. However, our inherent understanding of a permeating specialness within ourselves can also be a factor that helps remind the Piscean energy that it is not so unimportant that it should sacrifice itself by overextension. To the contrary, whatever IS special about one’s self becomes part of the reason for continuing to honor one’s self and shine forward. However, it can also be an incongruency that pits others against one’s efforts because the fallacy and distastefulness of one’s ego aggrandizement makes the egos of others assert themselves in a contrary fashion. Hence, “secret enemies” can be implied. Until our specialness is able to act from a truly humble place, we will be our own worst enemy, and our ego-inflation will attraction the inflated ego of others until our own can be put into check.

The other inconjunct to Pisces comes from Libra, and this deals more directly with our perception regarding our relationships with others. If we over-glamorize others, putting them on a pedestal of righteousness, we may find ourselves humiliated when their idealized image is exposed to not fully measure up, if we’ve put too much stock in their particularized expression, ego, and self. We are thus made to question our own degree of sacrificing ourselves at our own expense for some other. We may also mistakenly overly condemn others as being inherently wrong or bad, setting up a direct link for them to be a conscious, “known,” enemy (which Libra governs in addition to partners and partnerships). Humiliation may occur when these others are later discovered not to be as bad as we’ve made them out to be, calling our own judgment into question. On both hands here, seeing an illusionary form of others is an aspect that must be adjusted in consideration for the Piscean standpoint that all are equal, of one source, and worthy of unconditional love and compassion. Our relationships will evolve through shedding layers of disillusionment until such a truth is distilled.

To now consider Virgo, the two signs that are inconjunct would be Aquarius and Aries. With Aquarius, an adjustment must be made between the needs of the self (in Virgo to be the most efficient, superior worker) and those of the whole, which will sacrifice the individual’s vision if the collective good of the group demands it. (Virgo can also remind Aquarius that even if their innovations are unique, they may not work in the context of functioning system.) Both archetypes support a framework of service. However, Virgo is, no matter how humble, simply concerning itself with itself at a core level. When the systemization and efficiency of one part/person becomes too much of the focus, Aquarius will toggle an adjustment to balance that by detaching and objectively assessing the situation in order to ensure that a social security for EVERYONE is upheld, even if one, seemingly perfect, part must be amended and cause temporary disruption (which Virgo may be forced to humbly endure). It’s as if Virgo gets the machine running so smoothly and consistently sometimes that it doesn’t want to change anything, even if something new is discovered that could enhance the bigger picture, because that would entail stopping its current (and seemingly perfected) form of working, and/or suggest that it has been doing it poorly, or not good enough, prior to any suggested change. Aquarius’s adjustment then again becomes a force to humble the superiority or selfishness that may still need to be purified from the Virgo energy.

On the other side, Aries also forms an inconjunct. Here, the adjustment to be made relates directly to one’s sense of self-identity, actions, and desires. One the one hand, the Aries interaction may prompt Virgo to see how it is either not taking enough action or is taking too much action, and an adjustment must be made accordingly. (In this way, Aries can either focus Virgo’s drive, or indicate too much of it.) If it’s not doing enough, a false inferiority may be active that prompts the Aries energy to give it a kickstart to the rear. To contrast, if the Virgo’s sense of superiority has caused it to over-reach, attempting to control and order compulsively out of hand, Aries may help to realign its focus in a more direct path towards its core, primal, instinctual desires, rather than a sense of selfish superiority, as Virgo can often get lost in the web of connections that it finds between things in need of being juggled. Aries will also help to ensure that, while Virgo must undergo a humbling, it must NOT completely sacrifice its core individual nature, identity, and desires, in a state of OVER-humiliation that renders it completely ineffective in regards to serving itself. If Virgo’s perfectionistic streak becomes too critical, they may feel so inferior so as to feel “why bother” with regards to maintaining momentum and a reaching towards progress. Aries will ensure some level of instinctual self-importance continues to operate so that Virgo does not allow itself to be crucified for its seeming imperfections, but it also must be kept in perspective of ultimately working WITH and FOR others, not just for itself.

Putting things all together know, in the style of our individual (Virgo) and collective (Pisces) atonement, service is rendered to others, and suffering must be managed simultaneously. With a framework of karma and past lives to consider as well, an interesting angle as to how this is orchestrated can be acknowledged. We are ALL subject to various degrees of shortcoming, confusion, missing the mark, hurting others, and playing “this” against “that.” As such, we’ve been collectively coming out of the “sadomasochistic trance” for as long as time has been. Across the board, as we’ve played both sides of the fence, being both right and wrong, good and bad, powerful and powerless, victim and perpetrator, dominant and submission, superior and inferior, male and female, and on and on, there is a need to dissolve all those boundaries and express the truth of the unconditional love beyond all appearance of separation. We are atoning towards freedom as we come out of (an ultimately self-imposed…) slavery. We’ve all been the master and we’ve all played the slave. These roles have often correlated, and switched between, lovers, boss and employee, parents and children, siblings, and all other essential pairings of one with another. We’ve dramatically enacted various “characters” and to the degree that we over identified with certain roles to the exclusion of others, we must be prodded towards seeking a balance and harmonization….but who would ever seek such out on their own? And how?

Across time, if I must be subordinate to another individual in order to understand how they functioned through subordination to me, or I must be on the receiving end of my “bad”/ “wrong”/ “evil” in order to understand why it should not be a chosen course, then life will orchestrate circumstances to create it…And it does so as lovingly as possible, with as much allowance for us to “get it” with the minimum of suffering we’re able to allow ourselves to undergo. When we hold onto guilt too heavily, or refuse to see the truth despite its proximal appearance, that’s when the suffering must increase in order to get our attention and focus more pointedly. Still, in an overarching way, Life calls us to atONE for our “sins” (done to ourselves and to others) by flipping the roles as necessary.

The concept of entitlement also comes into play as we realize the illusions of separation (us/them, superior/inferior, right/wrong). In short, we’re all entitled to the abundance of life through our Source. Entitlement from Source is infinite. However, seeking entitlement through "other" avenues is limited because it is essentially taking from one's self, via "disentitling” (or diminishing) another. It is done vicariously to perpetuate the drama of life in the loving service vein of Virgo/Pisces that allows the inferior/superior (connected/separate) illusion to operate in various ways to various degrees. We each allow this “feeding” upon one another, ultimately realized as exchanges occurring within/among the One whole, as part of the interconnectedness of life. However, when the illusion becomes too grandiose to either extreme, believed to be true in a ultimate (rather than relative) manner, life responds along a sadomasochistic spectrum of "atONEment" to put things back into proper perspective.

When one entitles themselves a) at the other's expense or b) without including the other to equal entitlement, the entitlement because a suffering, projected upon the one hurt/excluded, and inevitably reflected in the one casting such an incongruent/incomplete projection. Thus, by entitling through other "separate" sources, one enforces their own inevitable sense of separation, and inherent frustration, until the misunderstanding is acknowledged, addressed, and resolved/dissolved. One core root of the false sense of entitlement has to do with feeling “better” than others (as opposed to equal) in some way. We may have a very developed earth dimension (strong body, lots of money, finely honed skills), water dimension (good relationships, emotional sensitivity, psychic ability), air dimension (intellect, social contacts, reasoning ability), or fire dimension (confidence, strong identity, sense of specialness). If we allow our area of high development to become a ladder on which we stand above others, entitling ourselves to more than we afford others, eventually a “humiliation” will occur to help balance the over-inflation.

Within this flipping, the master/slave archetypes have been some of the most heavily abused under distorted pretenses of superiority and inferiority. This dynamic reflecting through the gender of male and female has also been a gross distortion. As such, our love relationships and/or any identification with one “side” over the other comes back around for re-addressing. Across time and space then, since we probably would never (from an individual ego perspective) CHOOSE to be made submissive, or weak, and we would never CHOOSE to help out another individual who once severely hurt us and caused us great pain, the soul has to play “dress-up”…cause we DO all choose those experiences in spirit for our ultimate growth and unfolding. But in order to “stick to it” down here in the world of form, our enemies and oppressors from past life experiences will sometimes be cast into roles in our life that orient them to be very close to us emotionally. Those relationship issues that HAVE to be re-examined are done so as the other side is activated in relationship to our incarnate mother, father, brother, sister, lover, boss, employee, etc. I once served you, now your serve me. I once hurt you, now your hurt me. I was once above you, now you’re above me. I was once under you, now you’re under me. And so on and so on. We’re conditioned into whatever configuration will allow the humblings to take place in a way that our soul can digest and integrate together with our past experiences. In this way, our “secret enemies” secretly work to help us make soul progress. Our “loved ones” can also help us to exercise our past condemnations and aggressions that we may have enacted through distorted perception. And all along this spectrum, since we’re bound to accumulate connections of all sorts of complexity along the unfolding of our becoming, we each may play more than one side of the story for a variety of individuals. Who used to be who is more or less “hidden” from us through the veil of illusion as karma weaves to ensure that we each “play our part.” As such, we each “meet our masters” (and those we were “master” to…) through various facades that allow any preexisting extremes to be exercised out to the best of everyone’s understanding and ability.

For Pisces, this translates to the emotional pull towards or away from someone we’re made to feel, and thus render service, as a result of current perception. For Virgo, this translates towards the necessary physical actions of service that must be gone through regardless of one’s position in order for the work to get done. If we were able to see the good side to our enemies, we might not carry forth a needed position in the present that could be called to cause a tension promoting change and growth in them and ourselves. If we were able to see the horrible side of those we love that existed in past lives, we may not choose to love and serve them as the mandate of truly unconditional love urges us to experience. As we mature, and we come to understand the ultimately relativity of all these labels, eventually we MAY come to see glimpses of these “behind the scenes” truths in order to help us achieve a clearer perspective of the big picture, but that can only be when we’re clear about our roles of service and atONEment that remain necessary whatever the case of our histories may be. In short, we will all takes turns playing the victim, savior, villain, master, slave, etc. until those roles lose all meaning and are able to be objectified in a totally collective context. Only then are we truly able to put the pieces of life together and realize a true sense of atONEment.

In conclusion, as we each individually undergo various stages of this humbling adjustment and equally “leveling out,” collectively, we are experiencing a culmination of this on a grand scale as we move through the final stages of the Age of Pisces. We have each played, and been subjected to, so many roles across our incarnations through space and time, and as a result, the veil of illusion casts a complex configuration of harmonization and equalization as these roles are balanced. It’s not as simple as “I was this and you were that.” Instead, we’ve each been so many different things to different people that we’re now playing multiple roles in order to help tie up a collective variety of “loose ends.” However, as we make this last big, grand stretch to access, know, and express the unconditional love that binds all things while perfecting our individualities to the best of our ability, we will reach an approximation of these ideals that we have not been able to access at any point prior. We reach our most Christ-like potential collectively, and individually, as well hopefully. Once this all culminates, the stage will be set to more fully activate the archetypal experiences inherent of the Age of Aquarius. At that point, with all boundaries in the way of knowing our collective equality dissolved, the humanitarian ideals of a collective utopia that’s best for the WHOLE group of living beings can more readily be worked towards without the hang-ups that result from the superior/inferior or good/bad or connected/separate baggage that blocks and thwarts a unified effort. With such out of the way, Aquarius’ Age can more clearly work towards solidifying a theoretical, social, and structural goal of service to All for All without individual agendas or power discrepancies poisoning the collective vision. Hopefully, as the Pisces/Virgo axis of our age issues its grand atONEment, we will have the stage clearly set for the Aquarius energy to objectively understand the needs of the collective whole, while also being able to showcase the unique distinctions among individuals, each with their inherent specialness (from the polarity of Leo) without those considerations being subjected to the over-inflations that were more problematic when used to put “us” versus (or over) “them.” In allowing everyone their equal role in which to shine forth from, everyone can play their part while serving both themselves and the whole.

AFTERWORD

Without going into too much depth, while Pisces and Virgo certainly refine and adjust our emotional perceptions and physical actions, the other two mutable signs (Gemini and Sagittarius) also house a refining operation geared to learning and improvement. However, instead of determining the way in which one ACTS towards themselves and others out in the worlds, (or experiences the actions of others) and the host of relationships we initiate, based on perception, feeling, and sensation, the Gemini and Sagittarius energy transitions between how we SEE (and understand) ourselves and others or the outer world at large, based on our logic, thinking, beliefs, and understanding.

Gemini refines our mind’s logical, rational, factual knowledge. We learn more facts and details as we’re exposed to more and more ideas, opinions, expressions, and perspectives ( each of those with their own implied opposites), which continues to expand the realm of what could be so, based on the information we accumulate. Our logical understanding may subscribe to one particular train of reason until another side is exposed for consideration, causing us to examine an entirely new realm of possibility. Thus, our understanding of ourselves is able to change and adapt in accordance with the influx of information as ideas are analyzed, split, consolidated, expressed, and identified with or dismissed.

Sagittarius refines our spiritual understanding and of philosophy of life as our belief systems get adjusted according to our expanding view of the “big picture” for how all life acts together according to natural, collective laws. As we see one dimension, we may get set into a mode of believing that we identify strongly with, yet it may not include some other/larger angle. As our scope expands, a new level comes into view, and our belief system expands to account for the new aspect. In this way, our vision for what entails the collective whole of life changes and adapts in accordance with how much we can synthesize various frameworks of life together, while also seeing each smaller whole as a system of its own, feeding into each broader system for which it is under the umbrella of until the natural laws that run throughout all are able to be more properly assessed.

Both of these signs, but specifically Gemini, can correlate with our mind as a verb. While Virgo dealt with our mind as a noun, and the thoughts we hold that dictate our actions, Gemini can deal with the activity of our mind, and the various directions with let it run in. Thus, we may direct our mind to explore this or that according to the sense of necessity and importance we feel regarding the information to be gained. Gemini can get run away in one direction (or the other) and must sometimes get to the “end of the road” where it falls on its face due to not having all the facts, or siding too strongly with one particular course of thinking, which will spawn an inquiry in another direction to fill the void.

Sagittarius, on the other hand, will concern itself, and the utilization of its capacity for activity of mind, to seek truth not through the facts (as Gemini does), but through the intuited truth regarding ethics and morals of what’s right and wrong according to what supports or negates natural law. As this understanding of natural law continues to be refined, expand, and grow, so will its understanding of ethical/moral right and wrong, and ultimately, truth. Thus, Sagittarius may dogmatically make declarations of one nature, only to later have to consider an adjustment in light of a broader understanding. Also, the discrepancies can come into view in cases where the Sagittarius energy declares a truth to be so, yet they may embody a hypocrisy that shows their incompletion as they fall short of upholding their own vision. This would set into motion a necessary adjustment for them to make further adjustment to right their own nature into accordance with what such exposure would indicate was lacking.

In these ways, the airy Gemini and fiery Sagittarius of the mutable cross are responsible for actively adjusting our modes of ACTIVITY in ways akin to how earthy Virgo and watery Pisces are responsible for passively allowing adjusting to our modes of BEING that will all ultimately serve to help us atONE to the best of our overall capability and potential.