The fog is lifting after some time in cosmic hyperdrive with its heavy, emotional dips. Two things that are helping. Venus went direct — the planet of love, pleasure, our tastes, and money — some tension has released regarding those areas of our lives. Mercury goes direct on Friday, September 15th releasing extra tension around technology, communication, travel and health.
We are upon the New Moon lunation, the cycle of 2.5 days where the Moon goes dark, things quiet down internally and we plant our seeds of intention for a future harvest. This is when the cycle turns to renew itself, like tilling the soil to prepare for seeding a new crop. We have this New Moon in Virgo while the Sun is in Virgo — Double Virgo sky.
The grains have emerged in this late Summer season of harvests — in the Northern Hemisphere, anyhow! Virgo, the Maiden, the goddess of grains, surveyor of systems, ruler of the intestines, discerning how to use energy most efficiently. Refinement, purity and Divine Feminine energy is exuded in Virgo season. This year has been tumultuous for many in the areas of health, technology and tending the fields (as well as climate, culture and calamity) — between retrograding planets and our own Earthly issues, globally things have been hectic. Nonetheless, the Maiden offers you solace and comfort in her arms of abundance and compassion.
Emotions are high. Bursting into tears upon reading a post about a celebrity whose father just passed — that’s me. But it was powerful information. I quickly realized I wasn’t crying just for her, but for myself — for the relationship I never got to have with my Dad, for never really having the level of relationship with an adult (save a few elders) who provided innate protection and a being-ness that this person received from their father. It was moving and sad and overwhelming and sublime.
Some very noteworthy people have been passing away this year, left and right. They’re getting out early. After all, we are at the beginning of a new century, a new set of 100 years that we are just over two decades into right now. We are turn of the century Souls who are witnessing the Great Shift. Not every soul can stay while we shift — their work is done and they are leaving the space for everyone who is staying put to continue in the work of Enlightenment. Beloved characters, artists, musicians, icons, friends, family — the other side of this life is very close. Death is a universal experience while also being very individual. Just as we come into this life, we also go out, reborn once again in Spirit form to recapitulate, review, to measure the weight of the last journey before carrying on to the next. With new Purpose self assigned, and on we go to yet another new beginning.
I’ve felt a lot of loss lately, both peripherally and close to home. I’ve cried over a few of the famous folks who have left us recently — feeling pretty bummed, in fact — but the collective love and sorrow is a salve in itself, sharing tears and love, happy memories and heartbreak — all beautiful pain.
An ending is a beginning and a beginning an ending — always both/and. My mantra lately - everything is Both - And. To say goodbye to one life is to say hello to a newfound appreciation for your own life and the ones still here and now. That is hard to appreciate in the midst of grief, but it’s a helpful lifeline to truth. We are not just our bodies, we are so much more. This experience of life here on Earth is but a mere blip in our Boundless Spiritual Awakening.
The Great Awakening is here and now. It’s not a bad word or a silly joke (in general) to be a Witch, an Astrologer, a Psychic or Medium, a believer in mysticism and the occult — to discuss spirituality and souls and ancestry and karma and what we are and why we’re here. Those of us who love the “woo” are out of the closet once again — and even those who want to cling to secular topics as the only means of logic and reason, cannot ignore the wave of interest in Ancient Teachings. We don’t call it “new age” anymore, we are now in a Metaphysical renaissance. It’s mainstream — thanks in big part to the expansion of Mysticism and Esotericism in the 20th Century. Religion is not cutting it anymore because it only offers tiny pieces of the real story — but we can see the holes in the story, the dogma.
There are ancient texts, Hidden Knowledge, lineage knowledge that has been around for thousands of years. This is the wisdom of our collective psyche. Our modern world needs a swift lesson in how things really work, what we really are, not just bodies, not just brains, not just mechanics and cells and atoms. There is a design and purpose to everything. The mystics, the myths, the tales of old, the symbols are all part of the Collective Psyche, which contain the Truth of what we really are and more information than scholars could ever produce. Wisdom comes in infinite forms and we now have limitless ways to communicate with each other.
But while we are here in this body we experience this dense, physical state, it’s so real, in our face — and experience it we must. Along the way we realize the glitches in the system, the stories that don’t add up. The matrix has bugs, and collectively we are all waking up to the fact that life does not have to be so hard.
We are now at the crescendo where nobody can ignore the speeding transition taking place. Psychological therapy is not enough on its own, not by a long shot. It’s absolutely vital, but it’s also just a piece of the puzzle of our psyche, of our whole human story. We are all hearing terms like “reparenting ourselves” and “emotional authenticity.” We are all tired of pretending and of pretense, of some “other” authority telling us how things are. We have awakened to self-authority. That is not the same thing as refusing to accept reality, but instead of realizing that as a human — I decide and make choices for myself, nobody else. I question and think critically and listen to my own inner wisdom to determine how I am receiving the information. Does it make me expand or contract?
So what am I rambling on about? The same thing as always — Life’s Journey. We are all on the Hero’s Journey to find our treasure and live our dreams. The varied and multi-faceted experiences add color to our journey. Part of the journey is to have resistance, to have traumas and dramas to mold you into a stronger force, where you “fix” yourself and find your own power. Realize nobody can give you your power nor can they take it away, not really, not from the YOU deep down inside, the YOU that is your Soul the YOU that is Spirit. That is the seed of power, the keys to the real journey — which is the inward journey to Know Thyself. There is no greater task and we all must participate. There can be no spectators, one way or another we make choices and take actions in life that turn the wheel of fate toward or against ourselves.
We either have to reparent ourselves or deprogram from societal data that has flooded our brains since birth — usually both. Either way — happy childhood or terrible — there comes a time to stand up for yourself TO yourself. To not allow yourself to make excuses, deny, pretend, or self destruct because you think that pain gives you license to not live up to your potential. We’ve all been victims of something, and it is hard to feel the pain, but our society has taught us to be numb or to deflect, instead of feeling our way through our emotions. And it’s cost us all dearly, both individually and collectively. Of course there is the other side of that — feeling too much can be overwhelming. Wallowing in the same mind frame is unhealthy. Finding balance with the two (neither denying nor inflating our feelings) — finding harmony between the highs and lows is where the sweet spot of life is. Expecting the best, expecting love, expecting positivity — not saying in your mind or out loud that you “don’t care about…x, y, z” or “why are people so terrible” or “the world is going to shit.” Negative reinforcement of ideas by thinking, saying and actually believing these statements only add to the collective pain we all feel. An increase in anxiety and pain and fear creates a higher frequency of discord. If it’s true we get what we expect (and it is) then perhaps it would help to believe in the possibility of expecting better of yourself, of others, of our world? That is not to avoid — absolutely feel what you need to feel — simply don’t let it make you BELIEVE that these feelings are all there is. Life is Yin Yang, Sweet and Sour, Dark and Light. Your emotions, while they do offer insight, are fickle and dense and ridiculous when left to the devices of your lower/small ego. The lower ego tries to play tricks on you through your emotions. It takes discernment to feel your authentic feelings and ask yourself what is going on at a deeper level, or if the “gremlins” in your head are simply messing with you. It’s the job of the gremlins (aka the lower ego) to keep you safe and in the same place. It’s your job to listen to the higher part of yourself that has true wisdom so you can expand.
We need time for grief, and sure, it’s no fun feeling sad and bummed out. But since emotions are telling you something bigger, it’s important to sort them and allow the process to unfold rather than trying to avoid, stuff, numb or self-destruct.
We all have tragedy. My Father died when I was 12-years-old. He was killed in a freak boating accident that should not have killed him — he wasn’t even going fast, the boat hit a huge boulder that was just under the surface of the water in a Mississippi lake. The crash him out of the boat where he hit his head on the rock which knocked him out, and he drowned. He could swim just fine, but being unconscious in the water is deadly. He was with his cousin, the only person who knows what happened that day. He was also thrown from the boat and all beat up, and most likely couldn’t find my Dad because when you drown you go under water very quickly. My Dad was only 35-years-old, in fact, he had only been 35 for a month when this happened. It nearly destroyed my grandparents and that side of my family (my parents divorced when I was 9.) It’s a forever hole in my heart. Talk about daddy issues, but yeah, it’s awful and terrible and all those things. Yes, I cried writing this. It’s not something I like to remember but it’s what happened. And here I am writing about how we have to see the good in life, to persevere and expect the best.
People die. People get sick. People disappoint us. That’s about them. It was my father’s destiny to die young. It’s part of my destiny to lose my father as a child and have a tumultuous upbringing with my mother and step father. There was plenty of love, but not a lot of understanding and prioritization of my needs over the needs of the adults in my life. It’s not like actually being abandoned, but it certainly felt that way emotionally. It’s that moment when a child knows they’re on their own and a parent won’t take up for them or put them first.
The process of forgiveness has taken my entire life but I am finally at a place where the love and healing is more important than the past, than keeping the pain and resentment held close — it’s more important than making the people who hurt me wrong forever. It’s not about condoning or excusing — what happened happened, the pain was real, it sucked, but that was then and I am here now. There is no glory in staying resentful — only dis-ease and sadness. I refuse to allow myself to manifest illness in my body because I’m holding onto anger from my childhood.
Harvesting my own authenticity means facing what I am feeling, admitting where I am refusing to let go, where I am responsible for my own suffering, what parts I played in all the happenings in my life, reflecting and releasing. Being in service to yourself means being in service to what makes you expand your heart and feel happy to be here on this planet, even in the midst of apparent crisis. It’s trusting your vibes, what you feel, as insight rather than overriding them based on your own insecurities or what others say. As I’ve said all my life, it seems every era thought it was the end of days, that things couldn’t be worse, that humanity was on the brink of certain disaster. And here we still are through it all. Humans seem to come back one way or another.
Admitting that we don’t know so much more than we know, as a species, is truly the path to knowledge. The only path that matters is to Know Thyself. Through that you can know all of Creation because that is what each and every one of us is — the seed of creation — the seed of Endless Energy — the Source of All.
New Moon Blessing — Virgo
The New Moon in Virgo begins on September 14th, giving us a Double Virgo sky. This is a moment to plant the seeds of Virgo to refine the parts that you want to keep and discard the ones you don’t. But this Lunation is even more important!
At the beginning of this year, the first New Moon we had was a Virgo Moon, which set the emotional flavor for the year to Virgo. What successes can you acknowledge and champion, what needs more refinement and devotion to finish or move forward from a stuck place, and what can you discard from the past? Whatever has happened this year that has been a loss or a failed attempt, thank it for what it taught you and let it go as you plant New Seeds of intention to finish out 2023.
Instead of criticizing and beating yourself up for not being further along yet (one of low-road Virgo’s favorite criticisms is that you should be this or this or this by now), take small steps each day to show yourself you are committed to your good. Exude the energy of high-road Virgo upon the New Moon — compassionate, patient, in service to your ideals and to others, refined, healthy, and pure (connected to light).
September 14th and 15th are perfect days to plant these seeds of intention.
My favorite New Moon ritual is to light a ceremonial candle, the smaller tapers that only burn about 90 minutes. You can find them almost anywhere nowadays, crystal shops, any mystical shops, apothecaries, etc. I also take some dried flowers from my garden or any leftover from bouquets (I keep them) and ground them into bits to be able to spread them over an area, bury them, burn them or release them into a water source — based on the element the Moon and Sun are in at the moment. Since they are both in Earth, I’ll opt for burying or spreading them over my garden. Write out or speak your wish/intentions for this Virgo New Moon to carry you the rest of this year. Light the candle and then go spread your flowers or leaves in your garden or bury them under your favorite tree. Feel free to add your goals and intentions to the following affirmation, below.
Virgo New Moon Affirmation: I acknowledge that I am doing better than I think. I now recommit myself to my personal growth and development. In gratitude, I offer this blessing to the Divine Feminine and that within us that seeks authentic experience and love.
The New Moon will move into Libra on Friday midday, adding the flavor or cooperation, partnership and harmony. Blessings to you. May your seeds of intention grow into the actualization of your dreams!
Happy New Moon in Virgo!
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Images from Pixabay
Barley field - KBCH
Cosmos - Pexels
Sad girl in woods - Enrique Meseguer
Grain field - Albrecht Fietz
Virgo graphic - Dorothe + Darkmoon_Art