I feel this can be one of the most difficult degrees of the zodiac.  Since the person who possesses this degree in their chart is aware of factors that others miss, often those factors are ones that people have overlooked on purpose, because they don’t want to have to acknowledge them, or are intimidated by them, or can’t comfortably fit them into their world view, or are downright afraid of them.  Often these are areas of shadow – ugly or horrific aspects of human experience.                 This degree sees what’s been left out, expunged from the record, glossed over, abandoned by the wayside.  Making the effort to re-integrate these factors back into human consciousness can evoke strong negative reactions in others.  A way to resolve this problem is for this degree to find ways to communicate these things that are more soft, sympathetic, gentle, diplomatic, and which help to render these difficult truths less bitter and threatening.  Also, providing positive suggestions as to how they can be dealt with can greatly help people to assimilate them.                 But since people often do not want to listen to such unsavory things, the one who is trying to communicate them may be ignored and/or rejected.  Then they may become more emphatic about trying to get these ideas across, which can lead to even stronger rejection from other people.  The best way to deal with this would be to leave the ego out of it, but, of course, that can be very difficult to do.  One way to help it along is to realize that people are rejecting what you have to say, and not really rejecting you, even though they may be seeming to do so.  You are merely the source of the information, and not the information itself.                 The Omega Symbol for this degree is “A woman boiling clothes in a cauldron with shavings of lye soap.”  She is going to clean it all up.  As clothes are the outer covering of the body, they symbolize the first house – identity.  Our clothing expresses our identity, in that we wear clothing with which we identify.  She is cleaning the dirt out of our identity, purifying how we label ourselves.  She is attempting to renew our identity, and when she accomplishes this then there can be joy and happiness discovered inwardly, even in the midst of outer desolation, as shown by the fulfillment degree for Virgo 4, which is Capricorn 13, “Singing and dancing in a desert oasis.”                 The Pleiadian Symbol for Virgo 4 is “Children dancing with a shadow.”  There is something innocent and naïve about the way in which this degree points out these dark things, and if they can stay in this childlike innocence they will be protected.  They need to not allow the negative responses of others to shake their faith in their own truth and perceptions.  Also, if they take a more light and less heavy-handed approach to their communicating, this can make what they have to say less threatening.  I am reminded of an old Sufi saying:  “Think twice before trying to wake someone up – they may need their sleep.”                 Which brings up the Azoth Symbol for this degree, which is, “A message waiting to be received.”  Just because someone seems to not be taking in what you have to say doesn’t mean that they won’t eventually consider what you’re saying and see the truth of it.  So often when one initially hears something they may find it hard to accept it, and may take some time thinking about it before they come to realize its value.                 This degree is about cleaning out the 12th house.  I see people’s reaction to the 12th house as being along a spectrum, one end of which loves to delve into what’s hidden there and then allow their consciousness to grow into an understanding of it, while at the other end of the spectrum there are those people who want to deny, conceal and repress the contents of the12th house because they feel it will only cause trouble and worsen situations if they attempt to look into such things.  Or, put in simpler terms, some people approach the 12th house with the belief that delving into it can and will further the evolution of their consciousness, whereas others lack a belief in the possibility of evolution, which results in a dedication to keeping 12th house energies contained by using repression and control tactics to confine them.  The spirit of Virgo 4 aligns with the former approach, the way of evolution, but of course, since we live in a society which mostly still does not believe in the possibility of enlightenment and the evolution of consciousness, Virgo 4  people are likely to have a hard time of it if they’re overly intent on fitting in socially and being accepted.                 A wonderful technique that can be used to clarify how degree symbol energies are functioning in a chart is to look at the degree that the ruler of the degree’s sign is in. In this case, since Mercury rules Virgo, you will want to consider the degree of Mercury in the chart, for that will color and modify how the original degree, Virgo 4, is operating.  I’m looking at a chart that has Saturn in Virgo 4.  As Saturn signifies difficulties, it is easy to see that the person whose chart this is, is going to find that all the issues I’m talking about here are core life challenges, and will be challenges they work through slowly and gradually throughout their life.  This individual’s Mercury is in Cancer 12, “A surgeon carefully beginning the dissection of a corpse,” signifying deeply exploring what went wrong in order to clear a space for improvements in the future.  It clears protocols that are no longer needed so that all of us can move on to better, more clear and effective ways of thinking and accomplishing tasks.  It is also interesting that Mercury and Saturn in this chart are in a Septile aspect which is 32 minutes off of exactitude, showing that now and then they are intuitively compelled to dwell on certain things for some reason that they can discover as long as they follow that impulse – even if at the time they may not know why they are doing so.  But once again I want to say that because of the Virgo 4 Saturn signifying the uncovering of things that might not be accepted by others, this deep thinking and careful reasoning could fall on deaf ears, and it’s very important that the individual not react negatively to this, that they do not allow such rejection to plunge them into negative thinking or let it reinforce negative beliefs. Saturn in this chart also makes a novile aspect (40 degrees) to the Sun, with a 12 minute orb.  Noviles are qualities we are working on developing in this lifetime, and as Saturn is the most spiritual of the planets (According to Vedic astrology), the novile between the Sun and Saturn can signify the spiritualization (Saturn) of the ego (Sun).  Another way of saying this is that in this lifetime this person is working to overcome a lack of self-confidence, and to recognize life’s deepest most profound purpose.