New Moon in Virgo - Reality #1 🌿

Back to reality! Wow what an intense shift of focus over the past few weeks as planets have started filtering into the mutable Earth of Virgo! Have you felt the need to sort through the chaotic energies that may have taken place over the last few months since eclipse season? If so, you are not alone! Many of us are coming back from "0 Reality" - which is the space of focus when we are in our heads, dreams and inspirations (or on the computer or Netflix) - and reconnecting with "1 Reality" - which is the reality that lives and functions in the real and tangible world.

Virgo energy, in general, tends to be very focused on health, purification, and the practicalities of everyday life. It is a sign that focuses on "embodiment" where we can take our ideas, passions, and emotions and combine the sum of those parts to become the whole. Grounded integrity is a trait to strive for within this energy, with the ability to be highly discerning and disciplined enough to master one's niche. Due diligence is now needed to craft and sculpt what is next, for Virgo is a mutable sign after all and a point of transition. If we were working with clay, we'd likely shave some off to create a more defined form, while also adding here and there to help perfect the shape to our mind's ideal.

Exact on Friday, August 30th at 3:37am PDT - this New Moon is helping us do just that, craft our realities in healthy and loving ways that resonate with our sense of integrity in the outer world. We are at a shifting point where cuts need to be made, as we harvest what has fully ripened and weed out what no longer serves us past this point. If "1 Reality" isn't how you'd like it to look, then we now have the chance to step fully into the here and now and root down the changes we'd like to embody moving forward. There are many cycles birthing anew, which adds extra punch to the seeding power of this lunation, so get clear on what you seek in your reality and get to work!

The Aspects - Welcome to the Land of Virgo 🌾

Below is a chart of our New Moon at the time of conjunction here in San Diego, CA. The Virgo party has officially started as we have the Sun, Moon, Mars, Venus, and Mercury all in conjunction while energies from Uranus in Taurus and Saturn in Capricorn form a grand earth signature. Yet Jupiter and Neptune both are in position to set up some friction! So let's not waste any time and dive right in...

The first thing that cannot be ignored is the amount of energy that is in Virgo at this New Moon, and with lunation ruler Mercury having just moved into one of his home signs, you can bet this lunar month is going to have a strong energy of Virgo and Mercury written all over it. Mercury, in mythology, was known as the "psychopomp" who goes between two worlds... the only god that has access to both the land of the mortals and the land of the dead. We know that Scorpio gets the rap around death, as it's the point in the season that the harvest has passed and crops shut down for the season and then the cold becomes fixated. Yet, there is something death-like to Virgo energy because it facilitates a mutable force that brings change and transition as energy wraps up with a sense of completion - and what we know as the harvest. The crop may or may not be viable yet the process of nurturing its existence has run its course.

As the fabulous Nina Gryphon pointed out in a recent IG post, Mercury is an old Mercury and is seeding in this New Moon right before it goes on to fuse new cycles of magical perception when the messenger makes its superior conjunction to the Sun, a conjunction to Mars (which is wrapping up a 3-part conjunction that was integral to Mercury's RX cycle) and then will go on to also seed with Venus. So there is a wisdom here, or a wrapping up of energy, as there is an understanding that there are things of a physical nature that are coming to an end (ie. a job, a way of relating to the health and the body, our routines and ways of being, mental patterns of discernment, etc). We are closing down to open to what is next, so this is the perfect time to honor endings as this liminal transition space initiates us into the next stage. Death always leads to new life, and Mercury as the Psychopomp, is the guide that enters us into this transition.

The entirety of this month's lunar cycle is really set up to move things along significantly, as Uranus trines into shake out the rotting fruit while also finding solutions to old problems or innovative life fixes. Saturn also trines in (accompanied by Pluto) to allow us to get serious and flow towards necessary boundaries as we make it clear about what we are committed to going forward. This season will also highlight this year's Jupiter / Neptune square, as both planets will create tension in our reality to reconfigure our spiritual and emotional ideals so that we may move forward on our journey. Where the possibilities may have felt endless before, we now get a necessary birds-eye view of reality so we can assess where the limit is within these boundary-less energies. Where things may have been up in the air during June and July, these aspects now bring everything down to Earth. I consider this the challenge and the blessing of this Virgo season, yet a necessary part of moving forward within a clearer sense of reality.

Lastly, I will say with this Uranian signature that is heavily embedded within this lunation, we are tapping directly into a pragmatic flow that is guiding us towards greater authenticity and individuality within our everyday existence. This is why this is not a time to compare ourselves to other people and what is going on in their lives, for Virgo loves analyzing and going back and forth between two things, so release the urge to nitpick the details in comparison. A better use of energy would be to take that detailed knowing of what you'd like to embody in the world into a form of self-mastery, for that is where Virgo energy can really shine. So the question is... "What unique personal signature are you setting out to master in reality?"

The Symbol - Regrouping 🏗

If you are a previous reader of my astroblog, you know I like to look at the Sabian Symbol of the lunation as it adds another bit of depth to the story that we are telling. As always, we take the degree and minutes and round up. Here we have the following:

7° Virgo - "A harem."

Keyword: Restraint

Theme: Retreat and Regroup

This imagery seems quite relevant in a lot of people's lives I know, and even within the world sphere as people like Brazil's president begin to change their minds about the preservation of the Amazon forest and its protection - or - the issues going on in the UK over the Brexit chaos and a recent severing of democratic order. For when you have disorder and contention such as that, it is necessary to find the restraint necessary to retreat and regroup in order to move forward. You see that in Hong Kong as well, with all the protestors haven taken to the streets in the past few months. The people have spoken loudly and have gathered (very harem-like) in record numbers to push back on the current order, so those in power will have no choice but to regroup in the face of this pushback.

This symbol also speaks to a tradeoff of some sort, where we give up one advantage to get another. A harem on its own can show a lack of personal freedom and restriction as part of a unified group yet by banding together there is a sense of discipline, control and a respect for the rules and regulations of the order. We can strengthen ourselves through the group experience and sometimes limitations are the key to building great strength. So now is the time to make plans for the future, get your priorities in order, identify what you can and cannot do, and then as Nike says... Just do it!

New Moon Blessings to All!! 💫

Well this is bound to be quite the lunar month as our outer realities go through a state of shapeshifting as we gain greater discernment around where we are moving forward. Don't be afraid to change things up or step further into the authenticity of who you are, for the work of the Cancer / Capricorn eclipses and Leo season could be a waste if we don't go on to make the necessary real world adjustments in this period. So set your sights on your personal perfection, give yourself the flexibility of a little wiggle room, and go out there and make some magic!

Wishing everyone a fantastic lunar month!

May the stars be with you!!! ✨✨✨

💜 Mel