Men and Astrology – Part I

Understanding the male ego, and patriarchy, means understanding the Sun. Men were raised to shine. To be at the centre. How easy or difficult this is for them depends on the relationship they had with their father or stepfather. Sometimes, a grandfather. The Sun shows what kind of father they might be – and that in turn depends on how they were fathered. The Sun has always been ‘father’ in astrology just as the Moon is ‘mother.’

Mars is also very important. To understand a man’s masculinity, look to his Mars sign and aspects to his Mars. I am talking about old-school masculinity here. Team sports and the military. Aggression and macho men. The Navy, Air Force and Army. Football and baseball. Wrestling and boxing. Some men are ‘very’ Mars. The actor Russell Crowe is a Sun Aries, ruled by Mars (that planet rules the sign) and he is a successful actor because he portrays traditional he-man archetypes so well. You get the picture. Mars by sign and house shows you where a man will ‘do’ his Mars. Aspects to Mars tell you if he struggles with this ancient archetype of maleness or finds it easy. Some men boycott it.

In modern astrology, which uses 34 factors in a chart, there are many male symbols apart from the Sun and Mars – including Mercury, Cupido, Vulcanus, Jupiter, Bacchus, Apollo, Chiron, Aesculapius, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Men act out these horoscope symbols depending on how easy or difficult they find it to express in their charts. The other motivation is – what they have to gain. By sign and house, and aspect, the male symbols in the chart, based on the old Roman gods, tell you a great deal about a man.

Let’s talk about stelliums. Does he have more than three planets in the same sign? Then he’ll project the qualities of that sign in an obvious way, even if his Sun sign is different. A Taurus Sun sign man, for example, might have the Moon, Ascendant, Jupiter and Mars in Gemini – in which case he’ll remind you more of a typical Gemini type than a Taurean. He has a Gemini stellium. In a modern astrology chart with 34 factors, you would expect an average of 2-3 factors in a zodiac sign. More than three is a stellium.

Is the man in your life well-known, even famous? Does he have a position of leadership and authority? Does he have star quality? Chances are that his Sun sign will be the most striking thing about him. If he’s a bit of a show-off and likes being the centre of attention – if the world revolves around him – chances are he has a high stake in his Sun sign.

Is the man in your life a dedicated father? Does cooking, homemaking and DIY really matter to him? Is his family a cornerstone of his life? Chances are that his Moon sign will be the most striking thing about him. He may choose to express his female side. Rather womanly or even effeminate men live out the qualities of their female planets, like the Moon, more obviously.

Jamie Oliver was born on May 27^th, 1975, at 4.35pm in Clavering, Essex. His natal chart is held at astro.com where it has a Rodden Rating of A so it’s not perfect but it’s pretty reliable. Jamie has the Moon, a female symbol of mothers, at 5 Capricorn exactly quincunx his Sun at 5 Gemini. Mars is close by at 4 Aries, so Jamie finds it easy to ‘do’ his Moon. Cooking with an apron on, shopping for groceries and being a co-parent to a big family is classically lunar, even if you are a bloke with a motorbike.

Is the man in your life a born communicator? Does he work in a profession where his ability to use the written or spoken word is paramount? Chances are that his Mercury sign will be the most striking thing about him. Men who cannot live without the worldwide web for a single day are Mercurial. The element for Mercury is quicksilver. They can be fluid, fast, and fluent with languages. This is the man who is your one-man television station on Twitter.

Is the man in your life noticeably well-dressed? Does he have a natural feeling for art, photography, architecture or design? Is he diplomatic and tactful when he wants to be – a natural PR person? Chances are that his Venus sign will be the most striking thing about him. He is seductive. Complicated. Rather vain (Venus’s symbol is the truncated hand-mirror). A charmer and a looker.

Turning to the chart for Julian Clary, with a Rodden A rating, at astro.com, we find he was born on May 25^th, 1959, at 9.00pm in Surbiton. Why do Rodden ratings matter? They were named after the astrologer and data collector Lois Rodden, who was a stickler for birth certificates and proper, accurate times and dates. That 9.00pm time is probably wrong for Julian Clary, because so few babies are born on the hour, or half-hour. Julian Clary, the ‘Mincing Machine’ as he calls himself, has Venus at 16 Cancer and the Moon at 19 Capricorn. Had he been born at a different time; he would have a Venus-Moon opposition. We are friends on Twitter; I may have to ask him.

Is the man in your life into sport, or does he have an action-man job? Is he noticeably masculine, in an old-fashioned way? Is he tough and energetic, with strong attack and defence mechanisms? Chances are that his Mars sign will be the most striking thing about him. And it may genuinely be about striking, too – going on strike and taking strike action are Mars activities. A man who strikes in board games, or strikes on the football field, may have a strong Mars.

I mentioned Russell Crowe, before. He was born on April 7^th, 1964, at 2.00am (another suspect round-hour time) in Wellington, New Zealand. He has Mars at 6 Aries in the First House of self-promotion. It is exactly quincunx Uranus at 6 Virgo in the Sixth House of work. The North Node of karma is at 6 Cancer in the Fourth House of home and family; the South Node is at 6 Capricorn in the Tenth House of ambition.

As you read on, you’ll see how the man in your life is using his planet signs. Some men ‘play’ their Mercury sign extra loud, for example – or they might show their Venus sign more than any other horoscope factor. I mention Venus, because she is of course a female symbol and men act out their womanly qualities through these planets or asteroids. This is why it’s pointless to ask an astrologer if she can guess your sign. She cannot unless she is psychic. Men can sometimes skip expressing their Sun sign or zodiac sign, but strongly express (say) the sign of their Venus, Minerva, Diana or Ops.

Look for exact aspects (same degree) when interpreting a chart for a man. You can literally take just one pattern, like this, and define a man’s character and life. Now, let’s look at stelliums. What does it mean for a man to have more than three factors in a sign, in his modern astrology chart?

MEN WITH PLANETS IN ARIES

Sport often rules if the man in question has a stellium in Aries. That means watching it or talking about it… never mind playing in it. In the original Aries myth, Mars, the God of War, rules this sign.

In times of peace, the fighting spirit is channeled through competitive sport. Most Aires-influenced men like to see a bit of muscle definition. Some of them head for a yoga class or a thrashy session in the pool. Others aim straight for weekend passions and pursuits that are going to result in a defined bicep – or two.

I have known a few armchair-bound men with Aries planets, but they were always tuned to the football. Elton John is an Aries Sun. Biceps are not his thing but managing a soccer club is. In truth, if the man in your life has a planet in Aries, he really should be out there, doing something sweaty. Otherwise, he’ll be blocking off a whole side of his personality, and men with this sign in their charts really need a physical outlet for stress. If you Aries-influenced man is the sedentary type, you may want to lob a cricket ball at him occasionally in the interests of his psychological wellbeing (and his biceps). Some of them are athletic supporters; some of them just wear the gear. Call it the leopard-skin underpants sign and leave it at that. But underpants with a built-in jockstrap.

Basic aggression is at the core of Aries, yet a lot depends on the life and times of the man in question – if it’s not acceptable, or even remotely wonderful, to be aggressive in his world, then he’ll cut this side of Aries off completely. Still this core hostility has a strange way of leaking out. There are many men out there with an Aries Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars who are unconsciously aggressive. So, they needle you, then claim they don’t know why you’re upset – or find other ways to provoke. The evolved types play-act their warrior side through sport or a creative outlet. The less evolved types deny having this in-your- face Arian side at all but end up leaving a trail of fuming people behind them. The most tragically troglodyte Arian types are bullies. Raised in an environment where they were told it was both acceptable and masculine to be an invader, raider, gun guru or lout, they end up feeling like men out of time.

Assertiveness skills are what it’s all about. Many Arian types seem to have them automatically, but there are a few who still need to do a swift exchange and turn Mars, the God of War, into something a bit more constructive. A man with an Aries planet has a need to declare war on something, but there are worthwhile goals and wasteful goals, and there are any number of ways of handling a fight.

Being born with an Aries planet is like having a Neolithic caveman chained to your leg. So how do men deal with it? Sport or yoga is often an outlet for the energy. Alternatively, a Bobo the Clown punching bag works well.

MEN WITH PLANETS IN TAURUS

What is the single most obvious thing about a man who has a stellium in Taurus? It has to be his passion for music. Any sign which turns up in the charts of members of the Beatles, the Who, the Beach Boys, the Ramones, Nirvana, the Jam, the Doors, U2, ABBA, the Sex Pistols, the Smiths and the Rolling Stones has to be worth a closer look.

Here’s one reason why so many Taurus-influenced men get into music: money! Lots of capitalists are both with planets in this sign. It all depends on his values, though. If he’s left-wing or alternative, he will make radical career choices based on that, and leave cash rewards behind. This is where the famous cliché of the music business comes from: selling out. To get big sales, you have to sell your soul; you have to sell out. When you sell your song for an advertising promotion, you are selling out.

Many musicians I have known are on the dole. They sacrifice a proper income for music and daydream about having a hit (but not selling out) and making a ‘forever fortune.’ As you would expect, Taurus stelliums turn up in the charts of businessmen and big fundraisers, and self-employed men too. It’s not enough to say that a Taurus planet produces an astute businessman, a natural accountant or a stock market genius.

Taurus planets do lend an amazing awareness of the price of things, but it may not always be in dollars and cents. There are many ethical business success stories represented by this sign – just as there are also a fair number of Taurean types paralysed by these questions: Am I selling out? Am I selling my soul? This is rather similar to the musical Taurus stellium type.

If a Taurus-influenced man hits a financial crisis, destiny says that it will have an extreme effect on his value system, his philosophy of life and the price he puts on the priceless commodities of life. Having a lot of money achieves the same effect. Having a stellium in Taurus is like having an accountant in one ear and your conscience in the other.

Two famous Prime Ministers, Tony Blair in the United Kingdom, and Scott Morrison in Australia, were born with the Sun in Taurus. At first glance they appear to have nothing in common, as one is left-wing and the other is right-wing, politically. Upon closer inspection though, they certainly know how to look after their money and have been accused of using their power to do just that.

Taurus is about greed as much as it is about giving money away to a good cause or worthy person. It is about grasping and hoarding, as much as it is about fundraising or donation. Adolf Hitler has an AA Rodden rated chart at astro.com. He was born with a Taurus stellium on April 20^th, 1889, at 6.30pm in Braunau, Austria. He had the Sun, Venus and Mars in Taurus, the sign of the bull. We associate Taurus with gold bullion and bull markets, an observation made by the astrologer Sue Tompkins.

Children today wonder why there was a Second World War. What caused it? The answer is written in the stars. Greed and money. Desperate poverty. On September 3^rd, 1939, when war was declared, the Moon was in Taurus, the South Node was in Taurus and Saturn was in Taurus.

The odds of that pattern triggering Hitler’s chart were well against, but in astrology, life is all about jaw-dropping ‘coincidence.’ On the day war was declared, after Germany grabbed Poland, the Moon was at 0 Taurus, the South Node was at 0 Taurus and Saturn was at 0 Taurus. Hitler was born with the Sun at 0 Taurus. Transits can show what sort of Taurus type a man is.

MEN WITH PLANETS WITH GEMINI

A man with a stellium in Gemini has a way with words, images and ideas above all other things, and a set of neurons that appears to fire twice as quickly as everyone else’s. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the messenger of the gods. He was fleet of foot, had wings on his heels and helmet, and is today represented by the email or the FedEx courier. Men with a Gemini chart overload tend to end up working in professions, where their quick wit, strong command of language (or the internet) and ease with communication earn them a good salary. Even if they are in the wrong job, strongly Gemini men will spend their free time writing, podcasting, broadcasting, public speaking, acting, debating and so on.

Gemini stellium men usually have a central cousin or brother/ sister in their lives for better or worse. Why? Gemini rules language. Strongly Gemini men tend to have ‘babysitters’ in the form of siblings or close relatives, and of course they teach each other new words. There is another reason for the close (love or hate) relationship between strongly Gemini men and their siblings, the myth behind the sign.

In the Gemini myth, Castor and Pollux – the heavenly twins – had to play alternate parts. These Gemini-influenced men also live their life with alternative or ‘twin’ names, careers, identities, nationalities – even relationships. Some of them have even ended up with three different titles – their christened name, their working name and their unofficial nickname. If you know a man with Gemini planets, you may have noticed that nicknames just grow up around him. Like twins, Gemini presents two faces to different groups of people, which is why Gemini funerals can be such a confusing business, as friends and family often have different names or nicknames for the person in the coffin!

The brother-brother or brother-sister relationship is key to the Gemini type too. Love them or hate them, because the very formation of their brains goes back to childhood and adolescence, in the company of their siblings – they are powerfully influenced by their unofficial ‘English teacher’ or ‘language teacher’ – their cousin, brother or sister. Some of them even lose a sibling (perhaps through an earlier miscarriage in the family) and find that the ghost of the brother or sister who never was also dramatically influences their own life.

In the original Castor and Pollux myth, sibling rivalry may be part of the package. But the sibling relationship can be productive as well. Don’t be surprised if a conversation about a brother or sister is one of the first things that comes up as you get to know the Gemini type better. They define their own lives and personalities, for better or worse, through their siblings.

Here’s another thing about a man with Gemini planets – he knows how to work the language. Even if your Geminian man never makes it to publication, he will still be:

a) endlessly quotable;
b) witty;
c) well-informed; and
d) inventive with language.

Some of them speak at warp speed, like my friend Murray. Some, like my friend James, even know how to talk backwards. My other male Sun in Gemini friends Fergo and Peter actually invent words – and they’re much better than anything I’ve found in the dictionary.

Without Gemini types, the world would have no Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Simpsons, no Monty Python, no Goons, no Seinfeld and no Blackadder. The men behind these shows all have the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and/or Mars in Gemini.

Why is a Gemini stellium funny? Well, it sells the message. Gemini is the sign ruled by Mercury the messenger of the gods, and in order to get the gods to listen, and also act upon his message, he had to sell it. Being witty helps. Other kinds of ‘selling’ with images, film, television, sound effects, a gift for prose, propaganda (it happens) or copywriting are also linked to this sign.

MEN WITH PLANETS IN CANCER

I can image that men with Cancer planets might migrate to another country – but forget their accent, their roots, their heritage, their national anthem? It’s unlikely. The man with a well-developed Cancerian side identifies, needs, thinks about or relishes the homeland far too much. In astrology, Cancer rules the Fourth House of the horoscope, which is where people develop their sense of history and trace their roots. Men with planets in this sign are often strongly identified with their national or cultural roots.

Something also seems to happen to strongly Cancerian men overseas – they develop a marked affinity for their homeland. The become countrymen. One thinks of them, and their nationality, in the same moment. Cancer-influenced Americans I have known in Australia really hit those NY or LA vowels, and the English contingent can emigrate to Australia and still sound like the cast of Creature Comforts fifty years later!

Whether they are aware of it or not, Cancerian types are always flying the flag for their country – or their culture – on some level. A stellium in Cancer in the Fourth House typically produces intense patriotism at the deepest, irrational, emotional level. The World Cup brings it out. Or the Olympics.

Cancer-influenced men are caring by nature and make fantastic nurse, doctors, cooks, babysitters and fathers, if this sign is positively developed in their charts. If the sign is not finding a proper place in their personalities, then there is probably a big problem to deal with, which you can trace way back to their family experiences. If something wasn’t quite working in the family system of this man when he was a child, the Cancer planet energy may result in someone who seems needier than the rest – hungry for care, rather than able to give it. Most Cancerian types, though, have a fabulously sympathetic quality, which they like to express in a practical way.

Men strongly influenced by Cancer planets make expert home brewers, chefs, cooks, winemakers, cappuccino kings and bakers. Heavily Cancerian men feel quite comfortable with pots and pans, oils and potions. If you partner has Cancer planets, he may also be a homemaker in the literal sense. This is the brick- laying, land-surveying, extension-building sign. They can rent, but they can’t hide. Most men with a Cancer planet want to own their own place or build an empire.

Having a planet here is like a homing signal for men, as they often identify their sense of comfort and security with the physical familiarity and stability of a place to call their own. They can be classically house-proud too. They really need a base, if they are typical of their Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus or Mars sign, and being rootless can have a hazardous effect on their whole way of life. Even if they are globetrotters, they need a place to return to, or a home to phone.

This is an emotional sign, strongly associated with the family. For that reason, family issues are deeply emotional issues, and the Cancer-influenced man can try to be logical or utterly rational about it, but feelings will rule the day.

When this sign is being channeled easily and just flows through the chart, you will end up with the classic family man. He puts his clan and his children before everything. Even the permanent bachelors will find someone or something to adopt – usually someone else’s child, or a lost soul in need of protection.

Should you be in a relationship with a Cancer-influenced man whose family feelings are basically cut off, frozen out or alienated, think carefully about it. Something fairly painful must have happened to stop the male maternal instinct, and it is likely to be a super-sensitive subject with your Cancer influenced partner.

The mother-son relationship is absolutely crucial for men with a planet in Cancer too, and with some of them it’s the key to everything that’s right about them – as well as anything that’s wrong. Some of them have clingy mothers; some of them have lost their mothers (and worship them). Some hate their mothers. All of them have mater issues. Occasionally this can be the stepmother or grandmother.

Cancer is an emotional water sign and a stellium in Cancer means, there are certain areas you just do not broach in a ‘rational’ way with a strongly Cancerian type. His mother. His family or ancestors. His house or apartment. His hometown and homeland. He feels what he feels, about it all, and that’s the end of it.

Cancer stellium men don’t really come into their own until they settle down with ownership of a house, apartment and/or block of land. Renting with its unreliability is not really for them. They can have other signs like Sagittarius or Gemini influenced in their charts and be natural wanderers, but they don’t really thrive until they have a strong sense of ‘my place.’

MEN WITH PLANETS IN LEO

For a man with a stellium in Leo, creative self-expression, sport or entertainment involving younger people is vital. Fashion, planks of wood and tubes of glue? Paint and canvas? Camera and film? Pen and paper? It doesn’t matter – they all need a nice for their creativity and self-expression, tied to a younger generation. You can see this in the Royal Family, where the sign Leo dominates so many charts. They ride together. They shoot (unfortunately) together. They save the planet (better) together. There is an emphasis on shared activities between the generations. Royalty depends on dynasty and dynasty depends on security within the family. These ‘kidult’ activities help the royals bond.

This is where the Leo link with the entertainment, sport and hobbies of children and young people comes from. Everyone reads Harry Potter together (written by Sun Leo J.K. Rowling) or everybody goes trout fishing together or watches the cricket together.  Nothing is sadder than a Leo-influenced man who has never tried to experiment with this side of himself. The Leo planet man who ‘doesn’t do anything really’ is often battling depression, or so out of touch with himself that he appears quite lost to those around him. It is the Leo type’s right and birth-right to pour himself into something with confidence and style, that connects the generations – even if he does save it for the weekends.

For a Leo type who is really living the life, there is no such thing as ‘just’ a job, or ‘just’ an interest, hobby or enthusiasm. Once he has found the right space to be himself in, you may as well just let him go off and get on with it. It’s a classy version of what he did as a boy – the old ‘Hey, Mum! Hey, Dad! Look at me!’ routine. But if Leonine talent, style and self-expression is a by-product of sophisticated showing off, then so be it.

This sign turns up in professions where men must make it their business to stay in touch with younger people. Teenagers or young adults. Sometimes it is a hobby, football coaches with teenage teams, for example, or part-time band managers.

There is also an incredible dignity which goes with this sign. It has no room for anything common, mean embarrassingly petty or vulgar. There are certain things beneath a Leo type – and, in this day and age, Leo planet men simply glide over the trash and the cheapness as if these distasteful parts of their world did not exist. You can try to drag a Leo type down to a lower level or make him part of a less gracious environment. He will never succumb. It’s not his style. And he won’t make a fuss about it – he’ll just look the other way until the world has readjusted itself. It’s what the Americans call class and the English call good breeding. Having a stellium in this sign is a guarantee that at least one side of this man will be expressed in a courtly, good- mannered, practically medieval way. Again, this goes back to the ancient association of Leo the lion with monarchy. One has to behave properly, on the throne. One must set an example to the heirs to the throne, too.

It is not enough for a Leo-influenced man to be classy, inspired or commanding. He must have an audience. He can express himself to the bathroom mirror if he wants to, but Leo basically needs some kind of collective ‘you’ to impress. Awful Leos are showy and pompous for this reason: they grandstand even when there is nothing worthwhile to grandstand about. Leonine men who have developed in the right directions can be show-stopping once they truly have something worthwhile to offer, display or give. Usually, it is a little of themselves. Sometimes, it is all of themselves.

But nothing done in the name of creativity or self-expression with children, teenagers or young people really seems to count for the Leo-influenced man until he has the compliment confirmed, the feedback registered, or the sound of at least two hands clapping in his ears. The King must have his court and his adoring crowds. Even if it’s just online, the strongly Leo type is triggered by praise and attention. Criticism, they really don’t want to know about.

Leo-influenced men often have an instinctive feeling that they are the right man to take the reins, at the right time. It is not a decision motivated by vanity, although there may be a certain pride in their own accomplishments when their leading role has got them somewhere. Usually, it is the Leonine man’s gut feeling about the need for someone, somewhere, to have the courage and the inner conviction to show others the way. This is the captain of the team, the coach, the leader, the mentor, teacher, guide and president.

Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, both Leo, became presidents to reckon with. Often, a Leo stellium boy will assume leadership positions at school, as training for more serious leadership later in life.

That constellation up there (the smaller and larger lion) could be strung together to mean anything. The Ancients associated planets passing through this sign with the lion – both a symbol of jungle supremacy and divine kinship. Even modern observation proves them right: planets in Leo include their owners towards a leading role. It is the sign of the captain, king, prefect, chairman, chief, boss, head, director, manager, prime minister, front man – the old school style of leader, in fact. If he can’t be at the top of his particular network, group, team, business or company, then he’ll be head of his own one-man show. Very few of them can stand being second or third in command for long, no matter if it’s work or play – and even if he has just one planet in Leo, it will show.

MEN WITH PLANETS IN VIRGO

Virgoan men can always give you intellectual arguments for vitamins, workouts, skipping nicotine or avoiding toxins. This does not, however, lead to the image of the Virgo-influenced male as a paragon of good health. Some are, and some aren’t – but those who aren’t spend a lot of time worrying about it! This is the sign associated with the body, mind and spirit as one ‘machine’ and as Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the planet of the mind, you should never discount anxiety or depression, when thinking about this sign.

Of course, Virgo stellium men are also very much about vegetarian food, or allergies, or perhaps bodybuilding. I have known them to be heroin addicts. You can’t really assume ‘healthy’ with this sign, in abundance in a chart, but you can certainly say that the mind influences the body (so much) and what goes into the body, and what one does with it, also influences the mind. Rather like a dog, a Virgo type is all head- and-body together.

There are many different ways a Virgo-influenced man can get in touch with his body. Some of them throw themselves at gyms and health-food shops. Others enter the health professions.

Still more become dietary faddists or enjoy a lifelong cycle of neglect-and-purge. Virgo-influenced men are stuck with an uncomfortable situation – if they are seen to be too concerned with iron supplements and muscle definition, it delivers a message that the body is existing at the expense of the intellect.

The other extreme is equally wrong, though: cigarettes, sloth, alcohol, drugs, sugar and fat offend Virgo’s sense of logic. For this reason, it can take a Virgo-influenced man quite a long time to sort out where he and his body fit into the scheme of things.

Illness – mild or serious – is the one time that Virgo planets tend to leap forward into full consciousness. The traditional quest for purity and perfection that is associated with this sign seems to take centre stage when the Virgo- influenced body falls down. Episodes of illness or poor health are frequently the stepping stones to the classic Virgoan lifestyle seen later on – one in which every day is dedicated to the understanding that the mind needs to be served by the body, and that the body requires intelligent handling by the mind.

He’s a data, word or digital freak too. Few signs enjoy absorbing information as much as Virgo. If the man in your life has planets here, he will be a lifelong student, either formally or informally. It is not just the need to know, it is the need to know exactly.

The Virgo stellium man asks, ‘Is that the whole story?’ every day of his life. Virgo planets make a researcher of every man, and anything – a recipe book, a magazine, a computer game, a philosophical treatise – becomes fair game for Virgo’s mental microscope. This is a nitpicking, fact-checking, detail-loving, mistake-slashing, eye-straining, page-turning sign. Google is a Virgo – strange, but true.

Part of a Virgo planet’s function is to communicate – and to make connections. Like Gemini, Virgo is associated with the written or spoken word. As I mentioned, Mercury is the Virgo ruling planet. The mass media, computers, education and academia all have an overload of Virgo types in their ranks. This sign worships the right answer, the perfect definition and the best of all possible words. Virgo-influenced men enjoy working the language – but playing with it is equally important.

Virgo rules the Sixth House or the horoscope, associated with the work ethic, routine, ritual, responsibility and duty. If you know a man with planets in this sign, he will express part of his personality through work, which can make him wonderfully productive, but also burn him out in quite a spectacular way.

Workaholism is where the famous mind-body split manifests itself first. If a man who has a strongly developed Virgoan side turns into a machine (endless lists of things to do, obligations to keep, weekends to ‘use’), the body will intervene. This sign can only life in the head for so long before the rest of the system starts yelling reminders. Virgo-influenced men can be prolific and productive beyond belief, but they need a balance in their lives too.

Strongly Virgo people can have chronic health conditions which are a pointer to what is unresolved about the life as a whole, or the personality. In some way, what they suffer with, defines what they can and cannot do, especially in the context of work. It happens enough to make it worth mentioning. They can also become healers (Reiki or otherwise) and learn about the mysterious world of the chakras and the aura, in relation to the human body.

Something that I have found to be true for Virgo stellium men is that their body is the off switch, if they dislike their job, or their project, or they don’t want an unpaid role. Their sense of duty is so strong that they cannot bear to slack off, or take a day off, or turn something down. Yet – there they are with the flu, or a migraine, or a sore foot, or anything else that will make a particular task impossible. The very, very Virgo man does best when he realizes his body will intervene if his mind is ignoring his spirit.

The story continues… Read on in the second part our series Men and Astrology.

Edited extract from The Secret Language of the Stars by Jessica Adams.

Images Courtesy of Unsplash.com and Pinterest.