The Lunar cycle that began under the New Moon in Leo on August 18 comes to an end as the Sun and Moon meet in Virgo precisely at 7 AM EDT on Thursday, September 17, to kick off a new cycle. With her, the New Moon brings trines to Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn while her ruler, Mercury in Libra, squares Jupiter (now direct) in Capricorn. Soon enough, Saturn (9/28) and Pluto (10/4) will also station direct bringing more forward motion our way. However, Mars will continue Rx for some time and Mercury will enter his Rx shadow around the 23rd of September. By the time this lunar cycle is over and our two luminaries meet in Libra on Oct. 16, all of our big heavies will have turned direct and Mercury will have turned retrograde.
Mercury enters his retrograde shadow (24 Libra) on September 23. He travels to 11 Scorpio where he stations to retrograde on 10/14. He will re-enter the sign of Libra on Oct. 29th just ahead of our Halloween Full Blue Moon. Mercury will turn direct in Libra on Nov 3rd and exits his Rx shadow on 11/20 just a bit before we encounter the first Autumn eclipse on Nov. 29.
Mercury's retrograde journey will stir the pot in regard to harsh interactions had with the rest of the sky. He will make 3 squares to Saturn and 3 oppositions to Uranus during this tri-fold adventure. The main happenings of this are listed below:
9/23 6:38 AM EDT Mercury direct in Libra squares Saturn retrograde in Capricorn 25 Cap/Libra 22
9/27 3:41 AM EDT Mercury enters Scorpio
10/7 4:55 PM EDT Mercury direct in Scorpio opposes Uranus retrograde in Taurus 9 Sco/Tau 37
10/12 12:39 PM EDT Mercury direct in Scorpio sextiles Venus in Virgo 11 Sco/Virgo 34
10/13 8:58 PM EDT Mercury stations Rx at 11 Scorpio 40
10/19 10:54 PM EDT Mercury Rx in Scorpio opposes Uranus Rx in Taurus 9 Sco/Tau 09
10/25 2:23 PM EDT Mercury Rx in Scorpio is conjunct the Sun in Scorpio 2 Scorpio 48
10/27 9:34 PM EDT Mercury Rx re-enters Libra
11/1 2:11 PM EST Mercury Rx in Libra squares Saturn Direct in Capricorn 26 Cap/Libra 16
11/3 12:44 PM EST Mercury stations direct at 25 Libra 54
11/6 4:12 AM EST Mercury direct in Libra squares Saturn direct in Capricorn 26 Cap/Libra 31
11/10 Mercury direct re-enters Scorpio
11/17 Mercury direct in Scorpio opposes Uranus in Taurus
11/20 Mercury in Scorpio exits his retrograde shadow
This year's New Moon in Virgo ushers us into what appears to be the most trying and treacherous quarter of 2020. The road ahead of us is long but I have a feeling that it may seem to move by quite swiftly. This New Moon falls in square to the nodal axis. It's not untypical for such lunations to stir ecliptic-like energies and throw veritable monkey wrenches into the inner workings of our best made plans. October appears to be quite a confusing month which is followed by eclipses that begin in November and extend through mid-December.
During the building phase of this Virgo lunar cycle, we are tasked with merely Mercury's introductory to shadow stage. Then, following the Full Moon in Aries on the 1st of October, we will contend with his surprises and revelations as he stations in opposition to the destabilizing energy of Uranus in Taurus. and holds within orb of the same for the better part of the month. Also during the disseminating phase of this lunar cycle, Jupiter direct in Capricorn will sextile Neptune retrograde in Pisces for a 3rd time on 10/12. It is in November when Mercury is realigned and stabilized as he turns direct in square to Saturn at the first of the month. November also holds our next Jupiter to Pluto conjunction just prior to the kick off of the ecliptic and US Holiday season November 12.
In general, the New Moon in Virgo marks a time of harvest, reaping, a gathering together of the fruits from the past year's labor and it opens a time of preparation. I think of squirrels scurrying about during Virgo season because in my neck of the woods, that's what they are doing at this time of year. As a matter of fact, there is a scurrying squirrel freeway currently happening in my driveway. It leads from walnut trees at one side of the yard and cuts over to hiding spots on the other.
This is also a time of pruning and preservation in the garden. The first frost of the season will soon be upon us. As the garden yields fruit, we begin canning, drying, freezing and preserving it in a way that will carry us until next season. My little path to the garden and back crosses the squirrel freeway in our drive. The irony of this has not escaped me.
The trine from this year's New Moon in Virgo to Pluto and Saturn creates a very fertile field for planting seeds or intentions. The energy grants us access to support, personal experience and maturity, a sense of fearlessness, focus and tenacity along with the general grounding energy of Earth. The New Moon in Virgo also finds Mars Rx and BML in Aries by inconjunct. If we are launching or further endeavoring to move forward in personal initiatives we can employ this Earth energy positively toward those goals. Mars Rx will call us to be patient and bear in mind that we may need to back up a step or two and adjust a few things so that we take full strides forward. Lilith's presence advises taking a few steps back anyway. Getting frustrated in our efforts is not going to help. So, know when to back off, cool down and give yourself time to figure out the re-route.
Mars Rx in Aries is going to continue being an instigating factor in our skies as we to continue move forward within this lunar cycle. As Pluto and Saturn station, Mars will be squaring them. This can signal periods of frustration due to encountering restrictions or blockages on personal levels. Plus, it's a continuation of the potential violent and insidious energy that's been hanging in the air since this past August with the first set of Mars to Saturn/Pluto squares. There is focus and tenacity to be had in that but there are extenuating circumstances to operate within as well. It's a time for careful stepping with precise and well considered moves. Plus, Mars Rx can make us feel weary, tired and heavy.
The ruler of our New Moon, Mercury, is transiting Libra. At this lunation we find him square to Jupiter in Capricorn. Jupiter was the first of our Capricorn big heavies to turn direct. His square to Mercury is a compelling aspect. It wants the truth and nothing but the truth. But, it will inspire double speak, rhetoric, boastfulness, sugar coating, corporate jargon and exaggeration. There will be loud voices that thunder out as Mercury holds in this square. At this time, though, what is said is really of very little concern unless it is something that may be of use to someone in need or struggling. Look beyond those merely standing and screaming about their own rightness and wonderfulness and look toward those who are unable to scream and rant and may be in need of help. This is not a time for words. This is a time for doing.
Virgo season is no time for delicate, clean and un-callused hands and busy mouths. Virgo is the time in which we need to get elbow deep in the nitty gritty of our lives and ensure our hands stay busy in service to our own household and encircling outward in service as we can. Virgo doesn't talk about working. She is too busy working. She can't hear your boisterous claims or check what's trending on Twitter. She's too busy helping, cleaning, healing and tending. She's a body in constant motion rolling from one task to the next, one step at a time, prioritizing and triaging as she goes. When this wave of service passes she may nap and tend to herself for a bit but then she's busy again preparing for the next wave. Restocking supplies and cleaning up the mess that service itself provides.
Mercy, I feel, is something we could all use right now. It is also something freely accessible to us all to offer to one another. Especially as Mars' retrograde will continue to manifest anger, hatred and violence as the poisons they are. His fires doused by weariness, sickness, exhaustion, fatigue and grief. Now is not the time for fighting, either.
This is the time for the helpers. The fixers. The doers. The angels on the battlefield. The humble servers. The healers. The prepared. The shelf-stockers. The workers. The clean up crew. It's a time for hands on efforts and employment of skills. It's a time for negotiation and compromise not salesmanship and campaigns. The New Virgo Moon in Virgo opens the door to wilderness in front of each of us and asks not for our opinion but only for our hands in service led by just and merciful hearts.
Symbols:
Sabian symbol for the New Moon at 26 Virgo (Rudhyar):
A BOY WITH A CENSER SERVES THE PRIEST NEAR THE ALTAR.
KEYNOTE: The first stage of actual participation in the great ritual of planetary evolution. Whether we think of the ancient mysteries, or of a Catholic Mass, or of some still more transcendent ceremony in which great Beings charged with planetary responsibilities are involved, we are with a type of archetypal activity. The ritual is archetypal in that it represents, in however small a field of activity, a portion of the evolving structure of the cosmos, as this structure is understood in its “sacred” sense. Every such activity is performed “in the presence of God.” Menial as it may be, it nevertheless acquires a sacred meaning. This is the first stage of the thirty-sixth five-fold sequence, which brings us to the close of the first half of the cycle. The individual is “e-ducated,” i.e. led out into the world of transcendent activity, the world of archetypal performance. He must learn to serve, humbly and with intense attention, in what as yet is beyond his spiritual understanding. He learns to perform every action superpersonally. He learns to PRACTICE IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD.
Chandra symbol for the New Moon at VIRGO 26 (Lonsdale):
An old man counting gold coins. Getting your bearings, determining your limits, finding a reality fix. Making sure that everything is there; checking out the manifest details over and again. Coming down to earth and becoming sober and straight and clear. You are overwhelmingly convinced that there must come this cleaning-up and clearing-up. Sick and tired of pretense and hype, hungry to get down to basics, and somewhat hooked on the quantitative intelligence. Blurring distinctions. Intent upon being viable, correct, and self-sufficient. If all these things are taken up with a twinkle of humor, they are digestible. But if they become self-serious and a little too proper, they are deadly and sickening. You learn to throw off the attitude and to cleave to the substance of getting things right, unapologetically and steadfastly.
Sabian symbol for the New Moon ruler, Mercury, at 18 Libra (Rudhyar):
TWO MEN PLACED UNDER ARREST.
KEYNOTE: A breakdown in the constructive relationship between the individual and society, and the expectable result. If it is to remain steady and consistent, every form of order must be able to protect itself by the application of sanctions. Both a society and a personal ego constitute forms of order. Any form of order excludes what the form cannot securely and safely hold. It excludes, or exiles, the alien, the unassimilable; if it cannot send them to outer space, it must isolate them in a special type of inner space, a prison. The individual whose actions introduce unacceptable principles into the established order runs the risk of being “punished” or re-formed according to this order. The problem for a society is how to include in its patterns of order agencies or channels for transformation — and particularly how to keep them truly operative; for individuals, it is how to make their transforming vision or impulse acceptable to society. The symbol does not reveal what caused the breakdown in the relationship between the individual and society; but if one also considers the symbols that follow, one’s thoughts may be led back to the image of the storm that wrecked boat landings (Phase 196). The suggestion is that whatever violence is released originates in unconscious pressures (the sea and the wind). A new step in the evolution of society — the Industrial and Electronic Revolutions of the last hundred and fifty years — caused a collective, world-wide upheaval which led to widespread violence. The fact that two men are pictured under arrest suggests a polarization and a purpose transcending a merely personal fit of recklessness. This is the third stage of the fortieth sequence. Negative as the image may seem, one may see implied in it the power in every individual to assume social risks in order to express his convictions or deepest desires. Nevertheless, one thing is needed: FACING THE CONSEQUENCES.
Chandra for New Moon ruler, Merucry at LIBRA 18 (Lonsdale)
A woman carefully counting the beans in a jar.
Taking outward phenomena literally. The utmost in naivete. You wander into every trap and pitfall with eyes wide open, wanting so badly for everything to add up and to make sense. Lacking a strong center of selfhood. Impressionable to recieved ideas and at the mercy of conditionings, wanting only to please and to make everybody happy, you are held within the circle of consensus agreement. Behaving in such exemplary fashion that it is too good to be true. All is from the outside in. Lessons in outlasting what you take on, and in showing up after being so far gone that nobody knew where to find you.
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