We’re blessed again with another sweet lunation this week with the new moon in Virgo on September 17 (9pm EST) offering more rich opportunities to grow into our power. Jupiter, the Great Benefic, god of providence and good fortune, has finally gone direct, and although he’s still debilitated in Capricorn his movement forward sweetens the feeling of relief we receive from a trine with Uranus in Taurus and the new moon in Virgo. With a bit of effort, it promises the birth of something truly new and improved in important areas of our lives relating to work, health, and the rituals of our daily living.
New moons signal the initiation of a new cycle of growth, and in Virgo, this one focuses our sights on what we can improve, reorganise and refine in order to live a more beautiful life. Virgo focuses on perfecting the gifts we’ve derived from the harvest of our lives. What do we have in our storerooms that needs to be processed, refined and preserved? What rotten material needs to be composted and returned to the earth? How we can improve the systems we’ve set in place for getting stuff done in order to make them less menial and gruelling and more supportive of the rich and nourishing lives we want to live?
Virgo’s associated with the ancient harvest goddesses, with the work of gathering crops, sorting produce and discerning for quality and practical use. She pays attention to detail, asks critical questions, notices the source of problems and develops better systems in response. Although Virgoan energy is often criticised for this tendency towards criticality, in her highest expression Virgo is focused on the goal of making things better for everyone. Virgo reminds us that nothing in our experience is wasted: the fat olives are preserved for eating but the small tough ones can still be pressed for oil; first virgin pressings are luscious and pure, but subsequent pressings make delicious shallow-frying oil; even rotten refuse makes for rich and fertile soil.
In her highest manifestation Virgo is also associated with health, with a strong body nourished with the fruits of the earth and physical work. But with retrograding Mars in Aries squaring the power planets in Capricorn, she may be calling us to pay more urgent attention now to the causes of ill health, pressing us to transform and improve our diets, exercise regimes and work habits, to eradicate what’s harmful and enhance what nourishes us at all levels. As the ruler of Virgo, Mercury also highlights the ways in which our thoughts directly impact our health. With the new moon trining Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter we’re being encouraged to contain and eliminate negative thoughts and to establish more generous patterns of relating to ourselves.
As Mars continues to face off with the Capricorn planets in a crisis of action, Mercury squares them in a crisis of consciousness. Mercury the messenger compels us to pay close attention to the information coming in this week. It may function as a kind of status report on our progress. Depending on how honest we’ve been with ourselves, communication from another may bring issues to the surface that we’ve been sweeping under the rug. Although this may be difficult to face, taking responsibility for our actions will expand our perception of a situation that leads to enormous growth. If on the other hand we haven’t been speaking up for ourselves, Mars retrograde provides extra impetus to do so now. It’s crucial to avoid violence, angry outbursts and aggression, however, because the initiators of such action always lose during a Mars retrograde period, and because Saturn still has the upper hand, he’s likely to come down with repressive force. But there’s extra help here for those who need to speak their truth. Mercury in Libra answering to Venus in Leo promises good fortune if we can find a way to communicate creatively with a loving intention for mutual growth.
This dynamic feeds into the work we’re being asked to do at a collective level too. Mercury rules the north node in Gemini, which indicates that our positive forward trajectory for the next year ahead will depend on our ability to critically reflect on unconscious, habitual, long-standing, deeply held beliefs to determine whether they really hold up in the light of all the available information. With the new moon squaring its own nodes (the points where the moon’s orbit intersects earth’s), we’re being offered an opportunity to rectify an aspect of our collective karma, which relates to belief. Our success moving forward will depend on how curious we can be about other points of view and how willing we are to relinquish the idea that we’re right.
Because this new moon occurs in the latter degrees of Virgo, there’s a maturity to these energies, which is reflected both in our greater ability to understand what actions are necessary and to implement them more effectively with joy, integrity and a deep and abiding respect for ourselves. With so much emphasis on the work needing to be done, Virgo also reminds us to stop and enjoy the fruits of our labours, to bask in the warmth of the sun, to honour ourselves for the gargantuan efforts made thus far and to express our gratitude to those who have served us in all areas of our lives.
The new moon quinquinx to Mars could also see us reprioritise our commitments for the coming month so that we don’t become overburdened by taking too much on. But with visionary Neptune quintile Venus in Leo what we do choose to commit our energy to now is likely to result in something truly beautiful, and possibly even transcendent.
Untitled, 2020
Ink, gouache and Japanese watercolour on paper