The Virgo-Pisces Opposition - Selfless-Service

The symbolic meaning of the opposition aspect (180 degrees)  symbolizes the balancing of two opposing energies. The opposition is considered a difficult aspect in natal astrology. However with this aspect in particular, the elements are complimentary and water and earth can sustain one another. If you are willing to work with your opposition you can get this conflicting pair to work together, and you can achieve a more balanced state in your life. One analogy used to describe an opposition is, the see-saw. With a see-saw when too much weight is placed on one side/sign it throws the other side out of balance. An extreme emphasis on one sign can create the need for the opposite sign to apply greater force to re-balance the situation. Both opposing signs appear as disconnected spurts of energy. Yet, they need and depend on one another for greater harmony and balance.

Pisces is a mutable water sign and is classified as emotionally giving without “thinking” or judging. They have enormous compassion and sensitivity for all types of people. Weakness lies in the inability to use clear discrimination. Pisces often needs to recognize that to help-less, allows an individual to stand on his own two feet. If they could develop their critical faculties and clear judgement, this would allow them to see when help is genuinely needed. Often people use them as a human crutch. 

Hitting rock bottom forces an individual to fix the problem using his own logic, skill and resources. Basically to sort his own mess out (Virgo). A wise verse says “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Another phrase that describes the Virgo-Pisces opposition is: “Heaven helps those who help themselves." Virgo's focus upon self-help and analysis is all in aid of self-development. The 6th house (ruled by Virgo) signifies the ordering of the personality. 

One of the fishes biggest problems is: finding the heart to say no. Virgo is far more discriminating, but both signs are kind and helpful, and they form part of the selfless-service axis. Virgo will not lend his sympathy to those people who are only looking for handouts and they understand the value of hard work, but they can also be overly critical and nit-picking in their assessments.

Virgo -“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.”


Pisces - “Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.”


Virgo - “Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.”


Pisces - “He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help.”

The Art of Doing Nothing

For of Virgo's self-analysis, editing, evaluation and engaging in repetitive manual tasks, it can leave them over-worked and soul-less and perhaps even joy-less at times. Pisces retreats from the physical world in order to refill their spiritual selves and indulge in their dream life. Virgo would benefit from learning the "art of doing nothing" and take breaks from their day-to-day work in order to relax.

"You can always find reasons to work. There will always be one more thing to do. But when people don't take time out, they stop being productive. They stop being happy, and that affects the morale of everyone around them". --Carisa Bianchi

Pisces has a hard time dealing with the mundane world and repetition is not appealing to the psyche. Waking up to the same routine is the number one soul killer. Nonetheless, it offers security on the earth plane and a sense of natural order.  Many of us stuck in "daily routine" often talk about “breaking out of routine” and refer to it as a prison with no release. We complain about getting those dreaded chores done! 

Inactivity allows the soul to rest and recuperate. In balance, taking too much time off to daydream can cause us to lose reality. Daily work still needs to be attended to regularly and it provides our lives with order. Routine is vital to our sense of well being and this is balanced by allowing us to have "time off" and attend to our spiritual self.

Psychic Deliberation

Virgo helps to ground Piscean dreams and make them workable. Whereas Pisces can bring the spiritual into the mundane world, especially if we are caught up in the daily grind of life. The axis is learning how to balance the mind, body and spirit. Virgo compartmentalizes life and everything has its place, function and use, they are mutable and earthy and so are adaptable to earthly life.

According to Liz Greene, (Astrology for Lovers) "Virgo is not a perfectionist, to be a perfectionist you have to be idealistic. And Virgo is more of a realist. No perfectionist ever accepted reality." The problem with Virgo is that they find it difficult to look beyond the horizon and get caught up in physical reality. Pisces sees the whole picture and knows when to let go. However,  it would help greatly if they understood the small parts of the engine that keep life functioning.

Pisces has difficulty being in the physical body and they must learn practical ways to ground themselves through routine, work, and a tidy environment, this enables them to exist in the here and now. Problems should not be allowed to build up into bigger ones. Pisces will offer unconditional love and compassion to those in great need, but true Spiritual work also involves doing jobs we don't like. The saviour (Pisces) image is often overly glamorised in society and the "real work" of helping is often extremely tough. Keeping grounded is vital, otherwise you would lose the self in the mist of grief, sorrow and misery and be pulled down with it.

Work is also an excellent tonic and can lift the spirits, especially when we feel that we are being useful and helpful . However, when work is over it helps to learn the art of “forgetting” (Piscean skill) and put aside unnecessary chores. The soul can often feel caged and imprisoned in the body especially when ill, tired and run down, care and attention needs to be given to body, mind and spirit.

“The victory of success is half won when one gains the habit of setting goals and achieving them. Even the most tedious chore will become endurable as you parade through each day convinced that every task, no matter how menial or boring, brings you closer to fulfilling your dreams.”