4 zodiac signs with the most to lose when Mercury enters Virgo

Your inner critic is getting amplified, and heads will roll this week when Mercury, our planet of communication and exchange, transitions from the jazz hands and glitter spackle of Leo to the exacting knife-edge of Virgo where it shall stay from September 2-18.

Here, the energy shifts to inspired improvement.

Mercury is both exalted and at home in Virgo. Here, Mercury gets an erotic thrill from challenge and loves the summons born from being underestimated. In kind, and under these skies, we are supported in thought and action to make difficult choices, have hard conversations and live loud and proud in the unfettered fullness of our intellect.

Virgo is the zodiac’s resident detective (sorry Scorpio) and this transit encourages clean truth, thorough analysis, and direct communication.

Virgo is the sign of divine discernment, and Mecury here is well versed in dividing the necessary from the excessive. Cutting the fat and the bulls–t, Mercury here can be harsh but rarely unfair or off base.

Use this energy to clear and/or cull any areas of your life or people within it that feel sticky or expendable. Cleaning house, literally and metaphorically, will offset any significant complications from the upcoming eclipse cycle.

Preparedness makes us ready, and no one does readiness with more vigor than Virgo.

However, the danger of Mercury in Virgo is a near-sighted relationship to details, a refusal to ask for help, and a punishing need for perfection, and a slice-and-dice approach to relationships

Sometimes, nay, most times, it needs to be bad before it can be great, and the space between is where Mercury in Virgo truly shines. Thus, my dudes, grant yourselves the glorious freedom to fall short so that you might yet rise above.

As the brilliant astrologer Alice Sparkly Kat notes, “As pessimistic as Mercury in Virgo behaves, deconstructing all of the things that we take for granted, in its nature lives a true optimist. The cynic is the only true optimist. The cynic is the one who believes that we are capable of being better. It believes that we are so capable that all we require, to be better, is the right instruction.”

As Virgo is a mutable sign, the mutable signs Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces stand to gain the most ground and feel the effects of this transit most acutely.

Read for your rising sign.

Ahoy, Gemini! Mercury in Virgo brings a welcome focus to your wandering mind and a freedom from your established patterns.

Virgo energy is not risk-averse but risk-calculating, and when Mercury, your ruling planet, flits through the sign, it’s highlighting your fourth house of roots and inherited patterning.

When and why do you think/do/say the things you do? Are your yes’s and no’s born from genuine desire and thoughtful boundaries or base fear and bad habits?

This transit encourages you to explore how your cognition and communication are influenced by and intertwined with the past, and how these cables can be unwound to create a clearer, kinder future.  

Your ruling planet returns home to your first house of the self this week, Virgo, delivering a welcome hit of clarity and confidence.

Your mind is on fire for the next few weeks, and your words land with both tact and actionable impact.

You can reap the benefits of the controlled burn by writing letters, business or romantic proposals, napkin poems, PowerPoint presentations, or job applications; anything that lets the lead and the light out.

Go ahead and roll out that brain boner without hesitation.

Mercury’s move through Virgo highlights your tenth house of legacy and public standing, Sagittarius, and you are gifted with the power to persuade.

This is not the time for cheap charm but actionable honesty.

What you speak now will seed, so only say what you would be proud to be remembered for.

Ahoy, Pisces!

Mercury’s move through Virgo influences your seventh house of trusted partnerships.

If you’ve been hesitant to open the floodgates on talking about your feelings, hesitate no longer.

With Virgo in the mix, your words will be cut free from schmaltz and better able to stand and deliver your true message.

This is also a great time to begin or recommit to a therapy practice as your ability not only to feel but also to articulate is at an all-time high, paving the way for healing.

Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture, and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.