I was laying in bed a bit before dawn this morning, reading the news on my phone, which is a terrible habit that I have to stop because these days it bums me out before I even get out of bed. While browsing, I received a text from a friend who was panicked about a business deal that fell through at work, and lamenting their string of "bad luck" in their career as of late. They wanted to know what was going on, if it was going to pass soon, so like a good friend, I took a look at their chart.
My friend is the proud recipient of a stellium of planets in his 10th House of Career and Public Standing. A Stellium is a group of 3 or more natal planets in the same sign, and often though not always, occupying the same house. Whichever of the 12 signs that stellium is placed in will tell you immediately what that person is all about. Some examples:
Aries Stellium = Winning at all costs
Leo Stellium = Me, Me, Me, and are you paying attention to Me?
Gemini Stellium = Needs to talk like they need to breathe
Sagittarius Stellium = A rolling stone gathers no moss
Capricorn Stellium = Workaholic because money is God
And so my friend has a Virgo Stellium in the 10th House. This is also the workaholic stellium, but for a different reason than Capricorn stellium. For Virgo, being of service and doing a good job is incredibly self-satisfying. They need to know that they have done good work and that their performance is better than what anyone else could have done. It is about being better than everyone else but in a much more subtle way than Aries and far less dramatic than Leo. It is about perfectionism and comes with a heavy dose of self-criticism and a willingness to put in the work to improve and excel. Not a bad idea to always have a few of these people on staff!
His stellium is close in degrees, and being squared by Saturn at the moment. Things that used to come easily now feel like a constant challenge (transit Saturn square natal Mars), his thinking has become depressive and pessimistic (transit Saturn square natal Mercury) and he feels his standing in his company is being called into question (transit Saturn square Sun). And in a few months when that Saturn transit squares his natal Pluto, there will indeed be power struggles in the workplace that have to be addressed.
Hard Saturn transits (squares and oppositions) are difficult times for everyone and no one escapes them.* The added difficulty of heavy transits when you have a stellium is based in the fact that several of your planets are being hit hard at the same time. There is little relief or escape until the transit lets up, and the best way to handle this period is to commit yourself to doing the work the transit is asking for. You are being tested but it is not for naught - Saturn always brings great rewards at the end of his stay, compensation for work well done. But if you don't do the work or run from it, the next Saturn transit will prove more difficult. These are karmic lessons and we all must go through them to leave this life much more competent and spiritually improved than our last.
Back to stelliums - they can be a wonderful blessing to those that carry them because it allows for unadulterated (sans transits and other natal aspects) energy in the area of life their stellium is placed. If you are ambitious and career focused, having a stellium in the 10th House will allow you to focus all your internal might into achieving your aspirations.
But there is a price for all that focus, and it includes missing out on other areas of life that go unoccupied in your chart. Which is why relationships - balancing relationships - are so important for people with these signatures. You don't need more of the same energy in the sign of your stellium. You can actually benefit greatly from being with someone who has one or more planets in the sign opposite your stellium! This helps you create balance in your life and gives you a connection to other parts of your chart you can't access on your own.
* At the time of writing, Angelina Jolie has just filed for divorce from Brad Pitt to the shock of pretty much anyone who cares about popular culture. On the day it hit the press, transit Saturn was sitting right on top of Brad Pitt's Ascendant in Sagittarius. The same transit was opposing Angelina Jolie's Sun. These are incredibly hard times for both of them.