Insights for Virgo

These insights are offered as contemplations on the astrological aspects of the moment. As we consider and contemplate what we might call sky writing we invite the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but each and all may be awakened by the same images.

August 22
Full Moon: 29 degree Aquarius 08:01 AM EDT
Sun enters Virgo:  05:34 PM EDT:

The Full Moon at the very last degree of Aquarius reminds us that our planet, our living, breathing planet which sustains all life equally, is on a precipice, a ledge, an edge, a point of radical shift. Some of us know this directly through our experience of the moment, others not so up close. We all feel it. Full Moons offer the possibility of seeing in the dark. What do you see from your particular vantage point? Are you willing to be an agent of change? And if not, then what? The will is a funny thing. It cannot stop the change, it can only align with or resist it.  

Later, this same day , the Sun enters Virgo. Astrology is a story, constantly, incessantly telling itself. Virgo is a mighty sign, much diminished in a world of hierarchy and dominance. Virgo is also a sign of high anxiety and timidity. Ten thousand years of suppression can do that to an archetype. It can twist it out of shape but it cannot eliminate it. As hierarchal systems continue to crumble Virgo will find its strength once again. The distress and the strength of this archetypal signature can be seen in how we have treated the people who serve, from the wait staff in a restaurant to the nurses and the people who stock the shelves, tend the gardens, process the food and heal the sick. Essentially the ones who keep the show on the road.
What is it about dominance mentality that insists on treating these folks as worth less than those they serve? And now, as we wend our way through various disasters is this changing? Because change it must. When Virgo can get down to the work it is meant to do without the humiliations everything changes.
The Sun as it travels through Virgo will trine Uranus, conjunct Mars, trine Pluto and oppose Neptune. You can follow along below.
Meanwhile consider this bit of Virgo wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen:
“Helping fixing and serving represent three different ways of seeing life. When you help, you see life as weak. When you fix, you see life as broken. When you serve, you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego, and service the work of the soul.”        

August 23
Venus trine Saturn                         

We weigh and measure things to see if they have substance, to see if structures will hold. ‘Measure twice, cut once’ as the saying goes. Now is as good a time as any to do this, maybe better than good.

August 24
Mercury opposite Neptune

To putter around in service to your dreams: To let go of how important it is or you are and how you must achieve goals: To notice where you actually are, how you actually feel: To find the flow and trust it. Somehow these things make more sense than futilely attempting to beat dreams into submission.

August 26
Venus square Chiron
Mercury trine Pluto       

The inconvenience of other people’s problems is not to be ignored. Even so, we show up and help out when necessary. Human beings are inherently paradoxical. When we show up with awareness of this kind of complexity we won’t undermine the good we offer. There is no shame in paradox, in fact it fascinates and compels us to learn and be more - more fully human and therefore more fully alive.                

August 30
Mercury enters Libra

Does Mercury mind leaving their power place (Virgo) for one less suited to their nature? It’s hard to say what planets feel or think, so we imagine. We might imagine, in this case, that we have brilliantly figured something out while Mercury was in Virgo. Now, as Mercury changes perspective, it’s time to dialogue and debate as we weigh the myriad of options before us.

September 2
Mars opposite Neptune

Back-to-school didn’t used to include quite so much angst regarding contagion and fear of the future. We cannot hold back the tide – even for the ones we love the most. Neptune can feel like a wave about to break. Mars can shake a fist at such a wave, and make not a bit of difference or… We can turn Mars in Virgo away from anxiety and rage born of fear and toward the vital energy of adaptation. We can use the terrain upon which we stand to anchor ourselves as best we can, not because we accept some kind of ‘new normal’ but because in this particular time and place energy flows in one direction and makes things worse in another. Your barometer is your body. Listen to its messages as it is wise in the way of adaptation.

September 4
Mercury trine Saturn

What do I know? What do any of us really know? Whatever it is, there is no doubt that it’s a mere fragment of all that can be known. And yet, should we trust the machine, the algorithm to guide our knowing? Can we even tell the difference any more between our own thoughts and those we are being directed toward? Now would be an excellent time to cultivate the beginner’s mind; to open to the multi-dimensional world surrounding us that has much to teach. We all need to learn to fish.

September 5
Venus square Pluto

Here is a hint of winter at the end of summer. In December Venus will appear to turn retrograde as it conjuncts Pluto. This last square before the conjunction is a precursor activating themes which will intensify during the retrograde period. Much has been lost since January of 2020 and much has been revealed. Shedding the skin of old ways of evaluating and valuing our lives is not done lightly. As we look around we see that we are not the only one. Acknowledgment and discussion about loss offers some ease in times of such intense change.

September 6   
New Moon: 14 degrees of Virgo: 12:53 AM EDT
Mars trine Pluto
Venus trine Jupiter
Sun trine Uranus

If you are making an intention for this New Moon, inhale deeply, exhale fully and consider that the world is not broken and doesn’t need fixing. A better image is that this world of ours is in the throes of giving birth to a new age and what is needed are midwives: People who can witness and serve at a crucial moment in the process. Whatever our personal brand of privilege is has little to do with deserving it and lots to do with offering it to these times of Great Change. Maybe it’s always been chaotic for some of us all of the time but now it seems chaotic for all living things all of the time. “Change or bust” might be our bumper sticker.

September 8
Mercury opposite Chiron

Justice is best when it bows to wisdom. Wisdom is hard to define. The greatest wisdom seems to come from experience combined with reflection which leads to awareness. Our sufferings have a gift (which we don’t want, generally speaking, at least in the moment). The bridge that stretches between suffering and wisdom opens the way for compassionate justice. Otherwise its just vengence.

September 10
Venus enters Scorpio

Is Venus really in a detrimental  position in this sign or is she just too much for a patriarchal world? Detriment implies that she is unable to function properly, that she is wounded. We all know the history of what happens to women who don’t behave as prescribed – from witch burnings and systemic abuses of all kinds to glass ceilings. Maybe in Scorpio she’s just far from her home in Taurus where things are pleasurable. Maybe in Scorpio she understands the value of loss and difficulty and how these things make us fully human, how there is no avoiding it and that this is just true, not bad or good.

September 14
Sun opposite Neptune
Mars enters Libra

It is said that somewhere someone knows every grain of sand, every strand of hair and even every little sparrow. Whoever that is, it’s probably not you. If you’re annoyed by every little thing try a bit of reverence, even awe, for each and every tiny widget that holds the world together. As you go about your business, know that you’re a widget too.
As Mars slips into it’s astrological detriment in Libra we find Mars and Venus in mutual reception for a while. Which is to say they can, if prompted, receive each other in their home places. This only happens if we allow it. In the face of passive aggression (Mars), or intensity of attachment (Venus) you could step back into prescribed social behaviours (Venus in Libra) outwardly even as you deepen your willingness for radical self-awareness (Mars in Scorpio) on an inner level. It’s a dance and requires balance and strength. What does it take and is it worth the effort to choose to act competitively or co-opereratively? Without application which the mutual reception offers be prepared for desire to be more trouble than it’s worth when Mars or Venus activate in the coming weeks.

September 16
Sun trine Pluto                     

As you contemplate the ever changing sky that astrology shows us, you might marvel at the endless combinations of influences that we can interpret. As the saying goes, ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes’. One day, confusion, the next solid ground. It is more like the turning of a kaleidoscope than a straight line from some imagined start to finish. Today’s turn of the wheel encourages us to stand our ground. Seasons change and so do we. It’s always good advice to Be! Here! Now!

September 17
Venus square Saturn

There isn’t simply a right way and a wrong way. There is always a third alternative. The best held theories are subject to disruptions once they hit the forces of reality. The frustrations and messiness of the real world are worth accepting if we are to accomplish anything today.

September 20
Full Moon: 28 degrees Pisces 07:54 PM EDT
Mercury trine Jupiter                        

We have come to the last full day of summer here in the northern hemisphere. Seasons changing teaches us that everything changes. We cannot hold onto yesterday or even something that happened an hour ago. But we can celebrate the simple powerful truth that we are here, in this life at this moment with one another and that we know how to laugh. We are and we do!