The Moon begins a new phase with the Sun on September 10, at 8:26 pm Pacific time. This lunation comes one evening before Erev Rosh Hashanah, the evening that begins the Jewish New Year and the High Holy Days of Awe. It is a time to make amends for one’s missteps over this past year and to vow to do better as time moves on.
The Virgo New Moon coincides with summer winding down in the northern hemisphere and with the start of a new school year. This strikes me as fitting each year as Virgo’s style is one of careful attention to detail and the work needed to master skills for the sake of service. Virgo is our mutable/changeable earth sign, grounded and yet willing to adjust.
In popular astrology, a Virgoan personality is often portrayed as critical and self-critical, a nitpicker, a fuss-budget. This characterization may come from Virgo’s drives for perfection. Virgo wants to be good and do things the “right way.” Virgos can be scrupulous about health regimes and ethics, both areas that lend themselves to critique and self-critique.
The time just after a New Moon, especially when a tiny crescent of light is visible in the sky, is optimal for setting intentions for the coming month or, as it is Rosh Hashanah, for the next 12-lunar-month cycle. Virgoan intentions might include committing to better habits of health, work and study, as well as scrutinizing the areas of life where holding firmer boundaries is advised.
The glyph for Virgo is a letter M, with what is said to look like a sheaf of wheat tucked under an arm. Virgo’s totem is the iconic Harvest Maiden, one who separates wheat from chaff to find what’s useful. To be “virgin,” as in wool or olive oil, means to be unadulterated, i.e. pure. In pre-Christian times, a virgin woman was one who lived independent from what men are thinking or doing, free from male approval.
A virgin is sovereign, complete and self-sufficient. This notion of sovereignty relates back to ethics and perfectionism. To be sovereign is to act with power and integrity, to not be subject to external corruption.
Virgo’s ruling planet is Mercury, which on September 10 will have just moved out of the sign of Virgo and into the first degree of Libra. Mercury (thinking, communications) in the diplomacy-seeking air sign of Libra makes this is a time for speech that negotiates, that is pleasing and relational, that puts the needs of others on a par with one’s own.
Mercury, the ruler of the Virgo New Moon, is “applying,” or moving toward a harmonious, 120-degree trine aspect with Pluto in Aquarius and with Uranus at in Gemini. Together, Mercury, Uranus and Pluto are forming an uplifting Grand Trine in the air element.
This abundance and ease among planets in the air element may bring mental clarity, verbosity, wit, and social engagement to the forefront of the collective atmosphere at this time. Particularly for people who have the Sun, Moon, or personal planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars) in the early degrees of air signs, this September New Moon time may be optimal for setting intentions in realms of inter-personal communications.
At the September 10/11 New Moon, Uranus will be “stationing,” about to change directions and go into one of its regular periods of retrograde motion from September 10 until February of 2027. A planet that’s stationing isn’t weak. It’s metaphorically more like a revving engine, with its symbolism buzzing. Uranus (disruptions and break-throughs) in the curiosity-driven, verbal air sign of Gemini (from late 2026 until 2032) is a long transit correlating with innumerable instances of words and ideas shocking our systems. There are openings for surprising changes of mind. There are also dangers of technological and verbal things going haywire.
At this lunation, the closest aspect the Sun and Moon will make is a 60-degree sextile aspect with Mars (assertive action) now in Cancer (nurturing). Mars in Cancer is like a mother bear who will do what it takes to protect her critters, before she gratefully retreats back with them to their cave.
A sextile, like a trine, is considered an easeful aspect. Whereas a trine brings an abundance of planetary energy in a single element and can be “too much” of a good thing, a sextile involves planets two signs away from each other, not in the same element, but in the same polarity. Virgo and Cancer are both yin signs, “feminine,” or introspective. A sextile between planets is like an invitation, not a foregone conclusion.
Whether one is formally enrolled in a brick-and-mortar school, or if one is a student in the great School of Life, Mars in Cancer sextile to the Virgo New Moon is an invitation: to act fiercely and lovingly in ways that are not corruptible—but which are inherently good.
Blessings for the Virgo New Moon, and Shanah Tovah!
~ 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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