Sep 8, 2010

The Virgo New Moon

Cross-posted from Aloha Astro



A gentle rain is falling outside my window. The field is full of tall grasses, goldenrod, and just a few white Queen Anne’s Lace – the rest have died, but their dark brown shriveled heads add an autumnal beauty and texture to the scene. The trees beyond the field look tired. In yesterday’s sun and heat, they still looked summery to me. Now the leaves on the branches seem to have thinned overnight and I can see touches of yellow and red. We are now in the Virgo season of harvest and attending to the details of hearth and home that ready us for the arrival of cooler weather.

Virgo rules the sixth house of service, service-related work, duty, health, hygiene, and dietary and exercise habits. Every year when the Sun enters Virgo, children return to school, parents must adjust their lives to the needs of the child. School supplies, school clothes must be purchased, schedules for after-school care and extra-curricular activities are made. For form haters like myself, the stream of paperwork that the school requires me to read and sign always gets me slightly frazzled – not to mention the demands for money that come trickling in – fundraisers, class pictures, etc. And then the shared classroom germs can begin to take their toll at home, despite the tissues and hand sanitizer the school now requires parents supply for the classroom. As I write this I am sipping a cold season herbal tea blend, intending to thwack some minor head cold symptoms.



Even people without children may find their heads filled with busy Virgo thoughts – “Will the cost of home heating rise this winter?” “Is it too early to put the summer clothes up and pull the cold weather clothes out of storage?” “Should I take the winter coats to the cleaners?” “Can I get off the road before it’s 3 o’clock and the school buses slow me down?” “What do I have to do in the garden before the first frost hits?”

Virgo is a mutable earth sign, traditionally ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication and thought. This makes it the most unstable and cerebral of the earth signs. There is a butterfly quality to a Virgo that sees an endless vista of knowledge and resources to visit and must flit from one to the next. “Perfection” and “discrimination” are words you may see used in many astrology books to describe Virgo. I prefer “functional performance” and “discernment.” I find my Virgo friends to be the best collectors of useful information. If you want to know what is going on in a group or office setting, ask the Virgo. Virgos also have the right wardrobe, tool, or accoutrements for whatever is on tap. Not all are as neat and organized as the astrology books also purport, but I can guarantee that if you need a specific tool or piece of information, the Virgo is your best go-to bet.

The harvest from the summer growing season is peaking now. For those who do garden, you are probably happy to be past the days of tomato sauce and steamy glass canning jars. Next come apples and pumpkins, which always make me feel warm inside when I think of them. I have a favorite food memory of eating a quintessential crisp, juicy McIntosh apple. The apple flesh was white as snow, veined with a rosy red. The cool September day with a brilliant blue sky was perfect for apple picking. When I see red apples on the trees now and big bales of hay in the fields, I feel an inner security that must come from an ages-old genetic memory: “Trees heavy with fall fruit = full stomachs this winter. Plenty of hay = animals have full stomachs all winter.” And all is right with the world. The Virgo nature is driven by a desire to put all things right.

There is an understanding of bodily needs in the sixth house, which is why many healers will have a planet or planets in the sixth house of the natal chart. An interest in diet, especially the value of natural foods and herbs, can go along with this. A Virgo will sometimes go off on a food or diet tangent. One Virgo friend of mine simply sacrifices the morning chocolate doughnut when she wants to lose weight. A past Virgo housemate of mine posted a list of healthy foods on our shared refrigerator that told us what to substitute when we felt the craving for salty chips, sweet candy, and other empty calories. In a spirit of lighthearted fun, I wrote the word “chocolate” after each food listing. Later, when my housemate was moving, she made it a point to let me know how much this had bothered her. When a Virgo decides to try, practice, or study something, they put their whole mind into it and take it very seriously. It is in little things like this that their earthiness shows.

This month’s new Moon in Virgo occurs during a Mercury retrograde period. I look upon this new Moon as a time to closely examine what works and what doesn’t work in your life. Take an emotional inventory and eliminate worn out thoughts and patterns that hold you back in any way. Take care of the practical and mundane. Use the energy of the new Moon to clear closets and drawers, and to complete small tasks you’ve been avoiding or putting off. Consider your health and the needs of your body. Design an exercise plan that you can easily stick to. Rather than making big diet and health plans that may overwhelm you, make several small goals and set up a long-range calendar that allows you to make small health shifts gently. For instance, rather than giving up caffeinated coffee, begin adding decaf to your ground coffee daily until you’ve weaned yourself off the caffeine. Rather than trying to do a full exercise routine several times a week, add a few standing exercises and do a few reps of each every time you stand up from a seated position. By the time winter arrives, you will have set some new healthier habits.

Virgo likes to be able to help, but Virgo likes best to help those who show a willingness to participate in the process. If they can’t help you personally, they will send you in the right direction to get what you need. To direct the current Virgo planetary energies toward manifesting what you need most, make a list of your needs. This demonstrates that you are actively participating in the manifestation process. Then let go and allow the Universe to be your ways and means committee.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Opinions and ideas expressed in the comments on this page
belong the people who stated them. Management takes no
editorial responsibility for the content of public comments.