In the Virgo Arena 2014

For the next month, we are guided by the Virgo touchstones of reason, reality, restraint, and responsibility. The Sun shines in Virgo from August 22 through September 22

Virgo specializes in practical intelligence and adds a healthy dose of reason to the situation at hand. Pragmatic Virgo downsizes our dreams to manageable proportions and then attends to the details involved in taking care of business. Realistic Virgo helps us assess our resources, establish priorities, and get the work done.

August 25 – Virgo New Moon

7:12 AM PDT, 14:12 GMT
Virgo energy makes it possible to focus and to pay attention. One of our Virgo lessons is to use our discrimination faculties to be in service, and not for finding ways to criticize ourselves and others or to complain about lack of perfection.

Mercury in Virgo

August 16-September 1
Mercury in Virgo strengthens our mental capacity to perceive, process information, and communicate with precision. Mercury can help open our mind to fresh perspectives and alternate approaches.

Venus in Virgo

September 6-29
Venus in Virgo gives us time to assess what is the best use of our energy, time, resources, and talents. Where do we desire to be in service? How can we make healthy life style choices that enhance our physical and emotional pleasure, increase our well-being, and upgrade our divine connection?

Pisces Full Moon

September 8-9 – 6:38 PM PDT, 1:38 GMT
At the Pisces Full Moon, the Moon, Chiron, Neptune are in Pisces. The Sun and Venus counter balance in Virgo.

Water Trine

September 7-9 -The Full Moon in Pisces forms a water trine with asteroids Juno in Cancer and Vesta in Scorpio. In line with the highly sensitive nature of the water signs, the mood September 7-9 (while the Moon is in Pisces), can be emotionally both nurturing and challenging. However, the easy trine formation offers us a chance to relax and go with the flow.

Our emotional body, activated by the water signs, is forever seeking emotional security and comfort. Acquiring the capacity to feel safe and secure in an amorphous liquid environment is not an easy task. In water we cannot build a dense protective wall. We cannot light a fire. And we cannot disappear or escape into our minds to avoid feeling.

The water element forever engulfs us in emotional currents that change without notice and for no apparent reason. Strategies that try to push hard against resistance won’t work when dealing with our emotions. Delicate, subtle, kind, and loving are key guidelines that help us deal with emotional energies. Heighted emotional sensitivity gives us an opportunity to find the feeling that nurtures us and to relax and let go so we can flow with the current that takes us where we want to go.

Virgo/Pisces Polarity Pair

At the Pisces Full Moon, practical Virgo is in opposition to the Moon, and Neptune and Chiron in Pisces territory of metaphysical reality. Chiron represents our core wound and how it can be healed. Chiron is our teacher. Pisces defines the nature of the process that creates inner healing, taps into our gifts, and leads to wholeness.

Virgo offers us techniques and modalities for healing. Pisces identifies the attitude that makes the techniques effective. Pisces teaches us that deep healing happens with the power of unconditional love. To heal our heart, we must find love within and love ourselves.
The formula recommended by the Virgo/Pisces polarity pair is compassion in discipline, service, and work. Pisces adds heart to Virgo’s efficiency. Virgo warns Pisces not to let fantasies undermine common sense.

Neptune/Pisces

Key Pisces terms are forget, forgive, and fantasize. Pisces and its ruling planet Neptune live in nebulous territory, where in unawakened states, distractions, dreams, and imagination rule. Virgo reminds us that the above are not useful for dealing with the facts. A disconnected, escapist dream state can mislead us with illusions. On the other hand, a connected meditative state can open the space for cosmic assistance, strengthen our divine connection, and give us hope.

Pisces invites us to take a break for a quiet moment to connect with the silence and the stillness within. The tricky part is that we must go beyond the deception and delusion of unhealed emotions that weaken our will with mistrust and feelings of victimization. Under the chaos and pain, we enter a tender space, where in the face of vulnerability, we are able to be kind to ourselves.*(1)

September 13 – Saturn and Vesta conjunct in Scorpio
September 13 – Mercury in Libra opposes Uranus in Aries
September 20 – Venus in Virgo opposes Neptune in Pisces
September 19 – Mercury in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn

Emotional Undercurrents

Below we look at the nature of some of the planetary influences, including the above astrological events, and how they affect our mood, energy level, mental attitude, and ability to work, concentrate, and be effective.

It is important to keep in mind that the Moon, which activates and expresses our emotional body, changes signs every 2 and a half days. Consequently, it impacts our mood in many different ways as it moves through the zodiac and interacts with all the planets. Because of its fast movement, we witness that our moods can change within a few hours or days. One moment, one day, we feel one way, another moment or day we feel another way. When we accept this fact as the way it is, it is easier to honor our feelings, not be so self-critical, and go with the flow.

Our body, mind, and emotions are continuously being impacted by the constant bombardment of energies/information from both external input and internal biological and brain responses. Our level of awareness, our physical and emotional state, and the filtering mechanism of our mind determine what we consider important and true, what we focus on in the moment, and how we respond or not.

One constant is the heightened sensitivity of our being to all this activity. The summary below helps us understand the nature of some of the many energy currents that (1) challenge our sanity, (2) provide openings for transformation, and (3) make it possible to experience expanded levels of consciousness.

The Uranus Factor

Uranus springs surprises, testing our ability to adapt to challenging situations. Uranus likes to break the rules, not to follow them. However, innovation, not contrariness or being weird, is the goal. Under the Uranus influence, we can feel edgy and think that our mind is unraveling. The key is to stay awake so we can be neutral and receptive to helpful intuitive flashes, insights, and inspiration.

Uranus and Pluto

The ongoing Uranus/Pluto square continues to impact us through the first half of 2015. Together Uranus and Pluto unearth secrets that shake up the psyche and challenge emotional and physical order. Pluto involves us in power struggles, which in reality reflect our own demons and reveal deep fear and doubts. Beware of overreacting to uncertainly with dogmatic positions. Reflection, not fanaticism is required.

The Pluto/Scorpio factor is prone to secrecy and suspicion. However, we can use the probing faculty to deepen our perception and to consolidate our will to be honest and to be authentic with ourselves and others.

Saturn and Capricorn

Saturn is the no nonsense planet that doesn’t tolerate deviation from routines and rules. We can use Saturn energy to avoid distractions and to concentrate on the essential tasks at hand. Saturn reminds us that there is strength in discipline.

Feel underpaid, under-appreciated, or lonely? Accountability helps us make sense out of the confusion and set limits that we can work with. Saturn can guide us into maturity and define appropriate boundaries that make self-restraint and self-protection possible.

Fire Signs and Mars

Fire gives us the energy required to initiate action and to sustain the necessary momentum.
We need fire to make things happen, but we can get burned out with exhaustion if we do too much.

Earth and Virgo

The earth signs temper excess fire and invite us to slow down, to enjoy the moment, to not be in such a hurry, and to give up our obsession with putting out fires. Virgo is about integration and wholeness, which becomes possible when we witness Spirit within ourselves, others, and in daily life. At the end of the day, Virgo can deliver us to self-trust, quiet self-confidence, and a clear sense of purpose for our unique life.

*(1) There are many heart-opening kriyas and meditations in Transitions to a Heart-Centered World. Get the new revised edition.