Insights for Virgo
Virgin means wholeness, unviolated, unadulterated; not chaste.
August 22
Sun enters Virgo: 10:18 PM EDT
The essence of Virgo reminds us that this world with its wind and its weather is still a beauty and a wonder to behold. It speaks to us with the power and the confidence of cycles and elements, the essential tools of Nature’s art. Virgo is the enemy of hierarchy when it’s allowed to express itself fully. Not that it is looking for a fight, more that it refuses to recognize singularity, mono-culture and relentless striving as the purpose of life. But Virgo needs time to sort and to process. This is the one thing (among many) that dominator culture refuses. Domination reveres mechanics, Virgo has a deep understanding and inclination toward the sum of the parts: the Whole, which is always greater than any particular part. Virgo’s secret, the one that has never been lost, is that everything mundane is a manifestation of the sacred. In the details, the specifics is where the quality , texture and ultimately the meaning of living is found.
In dominator country Virgo has many tics. These are not an indication of some inherent neurosis of this sign; rather a reaction to thousands of years of slavery, abuse, repression, denial and most importantly violation of the body. Anxiety is a very reasonable response to relentless domination. Virgo wherever it land in your horoscope wheel remains to remind us that, when we are ready we could inhabit the world as if it is sacred, every grain of sand, every beam of light, every woman, child and man, the four leggeds, the two leggeds, the winged ones, all that lives and breathes as well as the elements and their manifestations as rocks, rivers, wind and weathers.
As the Sun wends its way through Virgo this year it will conjunct Mercury (although not retrograde) and square Uranus in close succession and toward the end, sextile Mars.
August 23
Sun trine Chiron
Each and every experience holds a teaching. Not because it happened but because it happened to you and somewhere between your body and your mind, through or in the river of emotion that connects them to each other, is the raw material for wisdom. Your very own brand: hard-won and never forgotten.
August 25
Mercury enters Virgo
Mercury trine Chiron
As Mercury approaches the heart of the Sun (Cazimi) tomorrow it follows in the Sun’s footsteps as it too trines Chiron. It’s a story, fleeting but nevertheless, of a pilgrim who comes with questions to the classroom of the Wise Teacher, and asks:
Why this and not that?
How come?
What for?
Why me?
Why not me?
We are the pilgrim as well as the Wise One. Sure we consult others, we ask for their understanding however for wisdom to truly land, it must land in the body which is a very distinct and personal place.
August 27
Mercury Cazimi (conjunct) the Sun
The pilgrim has arrived at the heart of Wisdom. Mercury is not retrograde (just to be clear). Mercury conjuncts the Sun six times in a year. Three of these times it is retrograde and three direct. If you plot them on a circle you can see the geometric shape of a six pointed star. Long before this symbol represented a people it spoke to humans as a sacred geometric reminder of the connection between Above and Below, heaven and earth. One of the triangles points up, the other points down. We live at the center of these triangles. We are wise when we know this.
(Next month Venus will go retrograde. Sacred geomancers of the ancient world knew that if they plotted the stations of Venus over 8 years they would see a pentacle or 5 pointed star. This star tells a different story to tell.)
August 28
Full Moon: 04* Pisces: 12:18 AM EDT: Partial eclipse
Mercury square Uranus
Sun square Uranus
An eclipse, even a partial one, opens a gate to another reality. As the Moon is eclipsed by the shadow of Earth it reminds us that agitation and anxiety are fostered in the crucible of perfectionism. The possibility of being a viable part of the solution requires us to calm our own nerves before stepping into the fray. Just like putting on your oxygen mask before putting one on someone else.
Whatever was named or uttered for you yesterday at the cazimi moment isn’t static. Truth is a real shapeshifter. It speaks to each of us uniquely, adapting to our ability to hear. Of course that means there as many expressions of truth es there are people. Imagine your truth as an ingredient in the simmering, bubbling cauldron of history or maybe herstory, possibly ourstory. Today the cauldron is agitated, sensitive, as it attempts to accommodate all ingredients at once. It’s a process, not a finish-able product. Let it cook.
August 31
Jupiter trine Saturn
(Venus enters the shadow of the coming retrograde)
Agitation is soothed. Take appropriate risks, ones that are anchored in your abilities. Creativity doesn’t demand stardom or great reward to be viable. We create most effectively when we understand that we were created by an unkowable hand : unknown, unseen and fathomless. Creative risk taking is the work of the cosmos. Today’s challenge is to do what you do and do it well.
September 1
Mars square Saturn
Mercury sextile Mars
If it’s worth doing it might require some heavy lifting, some effort. Know your limits. Ask for help and, most importantly: read the instructions that come with the package. Follow the recipe if you never made it before. Expertise is built upon the scaffolding of experience.
September10
New Moon: 18* Virgo: 11:26 PM EDT
Mercury enters Libra
Venus opposite Chiron
Uranus stationary retrograde
Taking effective action requires common sense. Combined with a true inclination to serve others, our intentions have more value. Notice the turning of the wheel of the year as summer becomes autumn. Even in these times of climate changes we continue to resonate with this rhythm. What brilliant awakenings regarding the changes in society have occurred to you since late April. Might they require some reflecting or refining over the next months?
September 12
Mercury trine Pluto
Mercury opposite Neptune
Remember the astrolgical ‘basket’? Has it delivered all that was promised? Likely more that you imagined… maybe not what you expected: a world in crisis. What about your corner of the world? What do you know? What do you need to learn? Where are you confused? What is your dream? Mercury is full of questions.
September 13
Mercury trine Uranus
Questions open doors. Anything can happen. Use your ingenuity. Think outside the box of limitations that hold you hostage to the way things were. The Big Idea for anyone who isn’t a psychopath is to benefit the living, breathing, beating world; not to maximize profits.
September 14
Sun sextile Mars
Aspects to the Sun always matter. A conjunction starts the story rolling and the aspects which follow develop the plot. Astrology is always on the move. Mars will be retrograde from January to April of ’27. It’s gearing up, getting ready, rolling up its sleeves. The conjunction was back on January 9th in Capricorn, a sturdy sign of excellence and mastery which can show some of the best qualities of Mars. This conjunction, the seed of the retrograde to come which will ask us to journey deep into the heart of all our projects, to ask the hard questions in order to prepare and meet the second half of 2027. What muscles might you strengthen so as to be ready for the tasks of your future self?
September 15
Venus square Pluto
Neptune sextile Pluto
When Pluto is in the news we need to polish the mirror and know that what we see there is about us, not them. Time to step off the notion of blame and consider the inevitability of necessity. What is, is. However it came to be we can only deal with it as best we can. We surrender but we don’t capitulate. We accept but even as we don’t agree with conditions. Pluto transits lend themselves to metaphysical, metaphorical, and mythical perspectives. One of my favorites is the notion of mercy and the way Psyche experiences this as she petitions Persephone, the queen of the Underworld for the treasure she needs to placate Venus in the upper world. What about you?
September 17
Chiron enters Aries
Remember the threat of 50% tariffs back in July? How did that make you feel? The Gordie Howe Bridge? The pain of being ripped off for all the world to see? Being bullied and having limited options with which to respond? Who’s in charge of this playground anyway? As Chiron slips back into Aries for the next while be careful about reactions to things you can’t control.
September 18
Mercury opposite Saturn
If you really want to understand something you must listen to someone or something that you are not familiar with, that you don’t like or that you can’t accept. It will allow you to have a more realistic understanding of the situation which then allows greater understanding and (tomorrow) a real opportunity to use what you heard creatively.
September 21
Mercury sextile Jupiter
Here, at the last day of summer we look ahead. Equinox is the root of many celebrations. A time of thanksgivings for the harvest. All of creation is a gift as are our abilities to create the world, over and over again. What world are you creating?
