New Moon Scoop: Moon in Virgo
The New Moon is occurring at 27 degrees Virgo on Wednesday, September 20th at 1:29 AM Eastern Time
What struck me most about our current lunar cycle is how openly it evokes the question of the management of the Virgo-Pisces axis. In Astrotheology, it is through this axis of the wheel that the narrative of the Virgin Mother birthing the Christ child finds its roots. Virgo, the Virgin, is a sign concerned with maximum efficiency. This is reflected in the sign's connection to work and health. Through work we arrive at the ability for organized execution of ideas and tasks and through the expression of health or dis-ease in the human body, it communicates to us how well we are managing our lifestyle choices for optimum function of the body's systems and organs. So the ultimate goal of Virgo's phase in our cycle is to refine, refine, into the most effective way of doing. The opposing energy of Pisces, however, demands a different kind of refinement. It is more focused on union and release of material attachments in order to connect us to the living, vibrating spiritual underbelly of our material reality. Through the purification of the physical body and thought process (Virgo), we prepare ourselves for the birth of the inner spiritual saviour, or Christ consciousness within (Pisces). The synthesis of opposites has been a common celestial theme lately, as with how the Solar Eclipse that occurred last month in Leo was in trine aspect to Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius (Leo's opposing polarity). These phenomenal happenings point to the importance of and strength in finding balance and avoiding any tendency towards extremity in thought or action. Curiously, this seems to be an increasingly important message to soothe the tensions of our times.
The Sabian symbol for this degree of the zodiac is:
Aristocratic elderly ladies drinking afternoon tea in a wealthy home
This image, according to Dane Rudhyar, hints at the "preservation of social and cultural values." The values that are in question take on a distinctly material flavour, being that a gathering of women, as the outward Yin polarity of the sexes, embody the grounding and descending materialization of spiritual reality, and also made obvious by the status and privilege of these women as they socialize in a wealthy, comfortable environment. Of this symbol, Rudhyar warns of "inward, unobtrusive superiority, or else pure smugness. Prestige of position." Clearly, we are on some level dealing with the danger of the divorce of spiritual law (denoting equality among all people) from its material manifestation on Earth. This is intriguing, as Virgo has a tendency towards pragmatism, stark realism and practicality, which reminds us just how inherently different this energy is from the sacrosanct flavour of the last Full Moon, which occurred in the sign of Pisces.
The natural tension between these opposing signs is further highlighted by the fact that Mars and Mercury (ruler of Virgo) are making an opposition to Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, at the time of the New Moon. With five planets in the sign of Virgo, the Virgoan energy is at its height during this period (Venus will also make its entrance into the sign on the day of the New Moon). However, Virgo season is clearly being challenged and guided by the Neptunian world that seeks to evade the materially oriented nature of Virgo's energy.
The keywords for this sign phase of the zodiac are "I analyze." Being a mutable Earth sign, Virgo is longing to adapt to its environment continually and effectively in order to generate the highest level of efficient output. A Mercury-ruled sign working through the elemental medium of Earth, Virgo uses critical thought and attunement to the inner messaging system (which culminates in the constant connection to and use of the intuitive faculties) in order to best serve the material world of which it is a part, both through work and relation. The difficulty of the sign energy, which is beautifully suggested by the word ''preservation'' in relation to the Sabian symbol for this degree of the zodiac, comes with the knowledge that preservation can often imply the maintenance of status quo; a certain inflexibility when it comes to improvisation or change, in order to maintain a structure that proved efficient at one time. Obviously, the true nature of reality is ever-changing, and does not slow its endless flux for the convenience of human efficiency.
In Caroline Myss' work Sacred Contracts, she uses four basic archetypes to increase our understanding of the zodiac wheel and unconscious influences that pervade our life decisions. The presented archetype of the victim is one that can be used to explain the shadow expression of the Virgo-Pisces axis in the wheel. The unevolved and practically-oriented mind can in times of adversity easily slip into a victim consciousness, in which the illusion of the self as an isolated entity, unsupported and unguided, takes hold of our perception of events and relationships (the shadow of Virgo's critical eye and of Pisces' attunement to the overpowering higher forces at work). This is likewise a symptom of the material nature of reality emerging as the ultimate truth, and of living divorced from the spiritual reality of unity without recognition of the divine support that is extended in all of life's endeavours. This idea is in direct relation to the Sabian symbol for the degree of this New Moon, however the divide which is being highlighted by Rudhyar has its emphasis on the social and cultural extensions of this materialistic perspective. In order to fuse the duality of this perspective, we have to acknowledge the essentially interconnected nature of reality, and in doing so accept we are both continually supported by the spiritual underpinnings of that reality, and that our actions and thoughts affect the reality to which we are thus connected. Because the Virgo-Pisces axis relates in large part to our ability to serve others, it is also necessary to observe our talents and message as being for the whole and in service to the human family, as opposed to for the egoic collection of wealth, prestige, power or superiority for the self.
Towards this effort at group awareness and group consciousness, we have the strong presence of Uranus (ruler of Aquarius) during this New Moon, which is coming into an exact inconjunct aspect with the Sun and Moon. It is the belief of esoteric astrology that the Moon is actually veiling a hidden planet in our solar system, from which it gains the bulk of its influence on the etheric (emotional-energetic) body of planet Earth and on the etheric body of man. It is said that the Moon is the esoteric ruler (or soul-ruler) of Virgo, and in this respect is veiling the influence of either Vulcan or Uranus over this sign energy. It is my belief that Uranus, as the higher octave expression of Mercury (the exoteric ruler of Virgo), is the veiled planet, and that in order to unlock the soul potential of this energy, the Virgoan individual must connect to the message of Uranus. As the Sun-Moon conjunction is in an inconjunct configuration to this planet during the New Moon, we are allowed entrance into the knowledge of how well or how poorly we are expressing Uranian strengths in our lives. Effectively, as the planet following Saturn in our solar system, Uranus is about breaking down the boundaries of material reality in order to unveil the organized magic that lay beneath the surface. It can function in ways that increase chaos and support the acceleration of breakdown of structure and system in order to literally shake us into new ways of being.
How well are you managing the fusion of these two polarities, the material and the spiritual, in your life? Have you worked towards the maintenance of a way of being that can serve you in the variegated hues of all life's circumstances and situations, or are you clinging to old perspectives or ways of doing things that are not longer as efficient as they once were? In order to properly manage the integration of revolution and the breakdown of old confining structures of thought or action, we must cultivate acceptance and release. Neptune here invites a gentle surrender to the flow of life that allows for our mistakes to be our greatest teachers. The Virgo individual often suffers from guilt, and this is another reflection of this inherent difficulty in letting go and accepting what has come to pass. In order to participate in the true progress of our inner and outer worlds, we have to release the emotions of the past and move forward into the light of our mystical reality, which supports us in love and intuitive knowing. Here is the opportunity to cultivate a new perspective that lessens the pain of not-knowing. Trust in what has come to pass and make space for a new system of doing that reflects more of the magic and divine merging possible inside of seeing reality as essentially supportive of your greatest good. You will find that steadily the Christ life inside you will then be more free to express itself.
