Insights for Virgo

A Virgin Mom… which isn’t to say chaste… Virgo’s big secret.

August 22
Sun enters Virgo 10:55 AM EDT
Venus square Mars  
In this world of wonder and woe Virgo reminds us that diversity will save us, that the mind and body are one thing - not two - and that how we get where we are going matters. Virgo has taken the biggest hit from dominator culture which strives to create monoculture; which strives to be more, have more, want more, make more.
On the handle of the shopping cart at Loblaw’s it actually says, ‘crave more’, subliminal garbage meant to groom shoppers to consume more than they need. One more reason to boycott them.
Virgo has had it with the violations, the misappropriations, the waste. It doesn’t understand the desire to conquer a throw-away world, a world riddled with fires, floods and the insanity of aggression. Most of us don’t get it either. As we enter the last month of a wild and wooly summer we might choose to live in ways that stitch what’s broken and allows for whatever shows up, as best we can.
On a day when Venus and Mars are at it, it may seem impossible to do anything to the satisfaction of our desires. It’s still worth trying to crave less and want more of what is wholesome.
The Sun will be busy in Virgo this year, squaring Jupiter, opposing Saturn and at the end of the month, meeting up with all three of the commonly used trans-personal planets: Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, as they edge toward the cusp of change.

August 23
Mercury (Rx) trine Chiron
If there’s ‘no success like failure and failure’s no success at all’ then what?

August 24
Mars sextile Mercury (Rx)
Mars sextile Chiron    
And then along comes Mars which was there all the time. Not interested in success or failure for that matter Mars just wants to play the game. You put your left foot in, you put your right foot in… Time for some Hokey Pokey.     

August 27   
Venus trine Uranus
The world is full of ‘things’: inanimate things as well as sentient beings who aren’t actually things. If you believe or sense that Gaia is sentient, conscious, alive as you and I are at the moment then everything is alive, including the wind and the waters, the fire and even the dirt beneath your feet. We just might be alive in a living world that has myriads of ways to express that living.

August 28
Venus opposite Neptune
Mercury stationary direct
Every day is a threshold, a cusp. Change is constant, immutable. Some of are ready to get going on our creative projects others are living amidst catastrophe and the creative demand is an overwhelming need to rebuild their world – from scratch. As Venus becomes more and more visible (look for her in the western sky after sunset) her radiance reminds us that creativity demands adaptability. We use what we have at hand to create the world. Look around.

September 1    
Uranus stationary retrograde
Pluto Rx returns to Capricorn
Consider the state of the world since the Full Moon in July. Over the period of the last two Full Moons all eyes were on the USA although much has been happening all over this planet. Although we are affected by these events we have our own dramas and traumas, joys and disasters to keep us busy. Some days it seems that we are but playthings of the gods or other more insidious and worldly forces; that we live at the mercy of influences that we cannot see or control. Other moments feel blessed with free will and the agonies and ecstasies of choice. Of course there is the Middle Way. The way of the witness, awareness, less reaction, more connection. On the day before a New Moon there is generally nothing to do if you haven’t already done it, nowhere to go if you haven’t already been there. Even if we are doing and going it generally works best if we are flowing like rivers toward the Great Big Seas of time and space, or bobbing like tiny boats in the vast oceanic swells and troughs we inhabit. A great moment to be witness to all that has unfolded since the last week of July.

September 2    
New Moon: 11 degrees Virgo: 11:55 PM EDT
Mercury trine Chiron
This New Moon triggers the Jupiter/Saturn dance reminding us that the way we do things matters. There will always be more that has to get done: more laundry, more meals to make, more tending of the sick and celebration of accomplishments. The Wheel of Life keeps turning. Align yourself with the turning knowing how sacred this wheel is and has ever been on fire .
Consider it a gift to be here, even for a short time, with this understanding. Light a candle, salute the directions, stand inside a circle and make an intention. Remember that the Moon is not actually new until just before midnight. Wait for the midnight hour to make your intention or any time after. Tomorrow is still the New Moon.  

September 03
Mars square Neptune    
It’s easy to focus on what has been lost. If you’re making an intention for the New Moon let it include the adaptability of life itself to keep on living. Destruction and creation are the front and back of each other. Mars in Gemini loves that notion.

September 04
Mars enters Cancer
Mars, whose nature it is to confront, to challenge, to disrupt is not quite comfortable in the realm of feeling, connection and bonding which Cancer represents. Or so they say. Is that innate or is it part of the patriarchal project which holds that the weak and womanish qualities of tenderness and concern are not things a man should feel? Along with all the other deconstructions happening in our lifetimes we might give consideration to the notion of a world in which Mars could feel. At least while it visits the sign of Cancer.

September 07
Mercury square Uranus
Proudly we bring our creative expressions to the altar of change in a world that isn’t what we were expecting. To risk expressing our best talent in a swiftly tilting, crashing, burning, wild and liberating, prolonged moment takes heart.  

September 08 
Sun opposite Saturn 
A planet opposite the Sun basks or cringes in the radiant light of awareness. The fear is that it will be burned to ash. The challenge is to stand tall and speak for your accomplishments. It happens once a year for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. When it comes to Saturn in Pisces (as it has) the questions might be:

·      How have you helped?

·      Whose way has been eased on account of your efforts?

·      What is the difference between healing and curing?

September 09
Mercury enters Virgo
Déjà vu all over again as we come to completion of the shadow of the recent Mercury retrograde. What problems or situations have you been chewing on since August 5th when Mercury went retrograde in Virgo? Hopefully you have had sufficient time to learn and consider the way to integrate the parts and conditions rather than a simple fix. And so we continue to continue on our way.

September 11
Mercury sextile Mars
A perfect day to walk your talk. Your talk might be in your mind and your walk might be through a world where you can’t help but notice high levels of distress and need. We are here for each other.

September 12
Sun square Jupiter 
It is all too easy to be overwhelmed. Our vegus nerve is the conductor of the entire nervous system orchestra. At the moment it hears and resonates with cacophony. Take five. Breathe in four and out six a few times. Restore your inner harmony which helps restore the outer. Gaia’s orchestra plays on.

September 15
Venus trine Jupiter
Hopefully it worked and you are in harmony with your world. The melody is sweet. Beauty is quite something other than glamor. See it. Be it. Awaken it. Enable it.

September 16
Venus opposite Chiron
There is a great teaching in the realization that each and every moment is a mirror, reflecting you back to yourself. You are alive in a living world. The getting of wisdom never lets up.

September 17
Full Moon: (partial eclipse) 25* Pisces: 10:34 PM EDT
This getting of wisdom continues whenever you see your reflection in the mirror of the mundane. The sacred nature of this pulls and tugs at our presence in the world. Let it blow your mind while brushing your teeth, cleaning the cat litter or engaging in relationship. Feel the sense of holy gratitude for legs that take you to the bus stop, the first taste of your morning caff and the living beings you encounter. We live in a temple of mirrors. The sky above, the earth below and all that surrounds and inhabits our innermost parts. It matters that we see it.

September 18
Mercury opposite Saturn
Be thorough. Take time and do it right. Clean behind your ears. Fact check before pontificating. Nobody understands everything. Do your part. Your best is good enough.

September 19 & 20
Sun trine Uranus, opposite Neptune
(soon to trine Pluto)
The Full Moon continues to shed and shine light on our connectedness. We are cells in the body of a world which is itself a cell in the cosmos: existing in the micro as well as the macro. It’s all relatives: Every creature, all creation. Every part makes the whole. Every part matters.

These insights, are meant as contemplations. Astrology is sky writing which invites the muse. No two perceptions are exactly the same but any of us can find insight through the images if we look. These are mine, happily offered for you to reshape and fashion into something of your own. Follow the links, where you find them for further musings on the planetary aspects.