It is Virgo season, the Sun having ingressed into this mutable earth sign on August 22. The Virgo New Moon occurs on September 6 at 5:52 p.m. on the West Coast.
This year, the Virgo New Moon coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and beginning of the holiest season for Jews. Rosh means head. Hashanah means the year. It begins at sunset on the September, wherever you are.
At every lunation, the Sun and Moon make a particular set of angular relationships, called aspects. The charts for those moments set a tone for the subsequent period of time.
Virgo is an archetype of scrupulous attention to detail. It’s about making things right, even perfect, and not just to be obsessive, but for the sake of skillful service. It’s a time in the northern hemisphere for harvesting, separating the wheat from the chaff, getting ready for fall. Virgo is about discriminating wisdom, and ethics. I equate this sign with simplicity and even purity. Doing good and being good.
At this New Moon, the Sun and Moon will be conjoined with Mars, also in Virgo. Mars is a force of assertion. With Mars in Virgo at this lunation, and with the Moon making a tight conjunction with Mars the day after the New Moon, you might feel like you’re striving toward perfection. Mars in Virgo speaks of conscientious, grounded action, with intentions for the good. Doesn’t that sound appealing?
At the lunation, the Sun and Moon will be in a nearly exact trine (a 120-degree aspect) with Uranus in Taurus. Trines are formed between planets of the same element. It’s like they speak the same language. They are harmonious.
Uranus brings unexpected twists and turns. Whatever one is focusing on at this New Moon may yield surprises and even break-throughs. You might have a flash of sudden insight about something you’ve been crunching on.
At this lunation, the Sun, Moon and Mars are opposed by Neptune in Pisces. Neptune’s a way-out-there planet having to do with spiritual inspiration, dreams, visions. Virgo, where our Moon, Sun and Mars will be on September 6 and 7, is realistic and orderly. Pisces, the opposite sign, can be anything but grounded. Neptune in Pisces correlates not just with the lofty mystique, but also with fog, mist, and blurry lines. There may be illusions and deceptions, confusion and even chaos. It’s nothing new: Neptune has been in Pisces since 2012 and will remain there until it moves into Aries in 2025.
While the Sun, Moon and Mars are in get-it-done Virgo, they are facing off with Neptune. All our best laid plans for Virgoan service and scrutiny may fall short with the lunation opposed by the boundarilessness of Neptune. It doesn’t mean we can’t get things done. It might mean we don’t want to, or that it’s hard to wade through foggy realms outside of our control.
One way to synthesize the Virgo-Pisces axis is to contemplate the best of both signs: humble effort and intentions for the good of all. And to just keep things as simple as they can be.
Blessings for the New Moon and for Rosh Hashanah!
~ Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
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