Sun in Virgo: The Sign of Healing

Dear Friend and Reader:

Saturday at 11:45 am ET, the Sun entered the mutable earthy sign Virgo. This begins a disseminating phase of the Sun, moving through the last sign of a season as it leads to the next. Apropos of Virgo, we are in a time of global crisis, supposedly brought on by a medical issue.

What is actually happening is that the fear of being unwell is being used to gain control over people on a mass scale, and also in individuals and families. Note that fear itself is seen by many as a kind of preventive. That is not what you could accurately describe as a holistic view.

Yet unless it's intuitive to a person sensitive to their own reality, even understanding the holistic view would seem to require setting aside many old beliefs that all say essentially the same thing: healing comes from outside of us. The natural intelligence that created our DNA, our immune systems, our many abilities to adapt, cannot handle the oldest thing on Earth besides a rock, which is a virus.

The Holistic Principle

Virgo represents the holistic principle: that all of nature is integrated as one living system. This includes all forms of life and all forms of intelligence, many of which we are not aware of. This can seem like a radical idea in an era of separation and specialization. Yet if you sit quietly in the woods for a few hours, it's easy to notice that all of nature is working together.

Read a book like Silent Spring and you can witness these interrelationships in detail you will never forget. You also get to see what happens when a chemical is introduced that disrupts all of the natural cycles.

We create problems when we declare some forms of life enemies and attempt to kill them. Yet to be sensitive to this condition requires a level of spiritual awareness: that is, awareness that goes beyond the physical. The result of such awareness would be a life-affirming rather than life-destroying condition. You could call that a state of integrated balance. At its best, that is the idea of Virgo.

Nearly every factor in our society drives awareness in the other direction, to an extreme. Notice all the ways we are told to interfere with the body's natural processes rather than to support them. Various approaches to medicine and healing were competing and available into the early 20th century. They included allopathic, homeopathic, osteopathic and the right to do absolutely nothing, preferred by some religions.

They were pushed out of the way largely due to the "oil consciousness" of John D. Rockefeller, who essentially bought out the medical profession with massive grants to medical schools, and then imposed petroleum-based drugs on much of the world. It was at this stage that natural medicine and homeopathy were pushed into obscurity. (Chiropractic came under attack in the 1960s and 1970s, fought back, and was accepted and accredited.)

Modern Medicine versus 'Old Wives' Tales'

This then dismissed as "old-fashioned" or "old wives' tales" or "crude" thousands of years of knowledge about natural healing that we brought with us from the hunter-gatherer days. Homeopathic and chiropractic approaches were relegated to quackery. Herbalism was largely forgotten till a revival in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet the real miracle is the body's ability to heal itself.

We still innately possess all of our abilities. There is a reason cones in the human eye are more sensitive to green frequencies than any other color, which is so we can distinguish the many kinds of plants, for both food and medicine (which are innately related).

Society places constant pressure on people to give up our instincts, and our inherent abilities, and our sensory input, and yield to what we perceive as superior power. This essentially separates us from ourselves, and convinces us that somehow, our very existence is wrong. Yet even when under assault from every direction, the immune system usually manages to do a good job keeping us out of trouble.

We do not need more drugs or medication. The world is so medicated that drugs are turning up in drinking water. What we need is to learn how to care for ourselves, and get out of the way of our body's natural ability to heal.

We need to respect our immune system, which is how our body relates to the world around us. We need to recognize the ways environmental toxins specifically interfere with this — and the damage they do cannot be repaired by yet more toxic drugs. This will be a big step for many people. What it amounts to is allowing our inner authority to run our lives, rather than handing it over to others.

Demanding the Right to Take Care of Ourselves

We have come to the point in history where revolution means demanding the right to take care of ourselves. This is sketchy because so many people have refused to do so, think they lack the resources to do so (intellectual or monetary), or do not have the motivation.

Wellbeing is not a hostage situation, though some would have it that way. Today, the state of Virginia was the first to announce that a Covid vaccine would be mandatory. Some form of this is likely to come to every state. Australia has been prominent in the news over the past week for its "no jab, no job" policy.

This is for a vaccine that does not exist yet, and for an illness where case fatality is 0.65 at maximum and is likely to be as low as 0.1 to 0.2, meaning fatality in 1 to 2 in a thousand cases. Early in the crisis, a panic was caused when we were told case fatality would be 1% to 7% and that the number of infected could be 30 times higher than it actually was in most places.

To get a sense of how problematic a mass vaccination program can be, particularly for a rushed preparation, take a look at this edition of 60 Minutes about the Swine Flu hoax (yes, an actual mass-scale, government-sponsored hoax — there were no cases, as in zero) and rushed vaccine disaster of 1976. Many who took the shot (about 20% of the American public) experienced neurological symptoms, some crippling in the manner of polio.

Now, in addition to learning how to take care of our health and specifically our immune systems, we are being placed in a position where we must fight for the right to do so.

Where to begin? If we take this through the filter of Virgo, the beginning point is knowledge. That means self-knowledge of a kind that is not popular these days, and it also means knowing the status of your environment. Later this year, the emphasis moves to Aquarius. We will need to work together on this, and mount an effort like none other. This will seem, at first, like an impossible task.

As the poet Adrienne Rich wrote, "There are methods but we do not use them."

It's time to get busy.

With love,

PS — Last week, I asked my Facebook readers whether they would take the Covid vaccine when available, voluntarily. The results were 130 no to 12 yes, with a few hazy maybes and I'll wait and see if it's really safe. The comments and resources are worth looking at. You may find the thread here. The Story of I AM — Mars Retrograde in Aries

Dear Friend and Reader:

For a little while I was on the line about doing an autumn reading. Then one day I woke up and said to myself: Mars retrograde? Are you kidding? There is no way we're sitting out that one.

So — there shall be an autumn video reading, released in late August, called The Story of I AM.

Mars retrograde in Aries is the final transition, the emotional, psychological and experiential bridge, to the last event of 2020: Jupiter conjunct Saturn in Aquarius. Mars retrograde represents the work of individuation and of self-actualization that will make the group experience in Aquarius more relevant and more easily workable.

Borrowing a line from Lou Reed, "Self-knowledge is a dangerous thing — the freedom of who you are." Dangerous perhaps to a way of life that involves allowing yourself to disappear and be insignificant. Mars retrograde in Aries invites boldness and embodiment and the exploration of your will.

We are pleased to announce the pre-order for this reading, for all 12 signs. You will want to see more than one; you may share them with the people close to you. These will provide some excellent serialized video therapy that will take you through the autumn season and into the 2021 annual edition.

You may pre-order here. Delivery will be in late August, which could be Aug. 31, or it could be sooner.

Thank you for your business and for trusting me as your astrologer.

With love,

PS — You may order by phone at (845) 481-5616. I answer personally when I can. Otherwise, someone will get back to you soon. Chiron Return, our nonprofit arm, publishes Covid19 News every day, in fact several times a day. We have updated about 740 times since we began publishing on March 3. This old-style news weblog takes a panoramic view of the virus situation. We offer news and viewpoints from a wide diversity of sources, science news, international reporting, videos and other resources to help you see the wide diversity of information not making it onto television or major websites. We are tracking the vaccine and testing issues carefully. Each Friday night, Chiron Return publishes Planet Waves FM. Running since 2010, with roots into Radio Woodstock in the 1990s, Planet Waves FM covers current events, current astrology, science history, personal growth and other themes, and includes original music by Vision Quest, the in-house Planet Waves orchestra. Planet Waves publishes daily astrology and birthdays through the week. This feature includes a daily extended birthday reading and ongoing commentaries on developing astrology as it happens. Check in whenever you want — no password required. Monthly Horoscopes and Publishing Schedule Notes

Your extended monthly horoscope for August was published on Monday, August 3. We published your extended monthly horoscope for July on Thursday, July 2. Please note: we normally publish the extended monthly horoscope after the Sun has entered a new sign.

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The Journey of You and Chiron | A New Reading by Eric Francis

Anyone who has encountered it is curious about Chiron. Planet Waves provides one of the few dependable online sources of information on this unusual planet. For the 10th anniversary Astrology Studio reading, I will be covering Chiron in Aries — a momentous event for all those born under this sign, and of high interest to everyone else. Get instant access to this reading here.

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Aries (March 20-April 19) — Only you can turn career challenges into personal and professional breakthroughs. If you find yourself at a limit, a glass ceiling or some kind of impasse, turn your quest inward. That's the only place you will find relevant information, which would be about yourself and your true calling. You will not find that in the outside world. Conflict with authority figures can serve a purpose, but not if you push it. If you find yourself in a tense situation, study the dynamics. They are likely to reflect other areas of your life, particularly from the distant past. This is one reason why you don't want to pursue the issue with the present seeming source of conflict, but rather look at your own life and assess what is going on. Experiment with ideas like which of your aspirations and personal qualities your parents approve of, and which they did not. This would extend to your ideas about society: what is it actually possible to do in the world, and does that include who you are, and what you want? This is a truly fundamental life question.

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You can now get instant access to your 2020-21 Taurus Astrology Studio here for just $44. This reading focuses on a professional breakthrough toward the end of the year, and preparing you for this development. Venus retrograde in the spring is preparation. Mars retrograde in the autumn is preparation.

Ultimately this is a spiritual development, yet in reality we are talking about aligning your purpose with action, with a calling, and with an opportunity. Elements of the reading go out to a series of power steps in 2021. Read more.

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Taurus (April 19-May 20) — Your idea is simpler than you think. At least there is a through-line from idea to expression, which goes right past all of the seeming complexities. Most of these exist in your mind rather than in some version of objective reality. The best way to move through the obstacles, wherever they may exist, is to go from idea to expression without thinking about it. Actually doing the thing is your concept test, rather than thinking it through sixteen ways from next week and back again. You have the idea; conduct an experiment, on a limited budget but one big enough to accommodate it. Then, observe carefully what happens, and try again. Ideally this is not about proving something but rather a sincere experiment to see what results you get under what conditions. You don't need to draw conclusions but rather make observations. Your chart describes precision, which would mean keeping a sort of lab notebook where you record what you see down to the details you might not think you need. Art, science, life and inventing games are all experiments.

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Your 2020-21 Gemini Astrology Studio, The Sacred Space of Self, is now available for instant access. The reading covers Venus retrograde in your sign, Vesta in your sign, Saturn in Aquarius, and the momentous astrology at the end of the year.Thank you for your business and your trust.

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Gemini (May 20-June 21) — Move with the music rather than obsess over the details, particularly if the thing you're considering has emotional roots. You can avoid frustration if you don't try to impose logic on what you feel, or how others feel, or even what they say to you. And don't let them impose their logic on you. That is the sure way to go temporarily insane. If you feel the need to put the pieces together, collect them as you find them, rather than searching for them and assembling them obsessively. What I'm suggesting is that in all things, take as laid-back of an approach as you can, and ride with the flow of time rather than pushing it in any way. If you are feeling obsessive inclinations, I suggest you clean your house. You will find this to be a relaxing activity, because it will siphon off the abundant mental energy you are running at the moment and put it to constructive use. Meanwhile, pay attention to what you're thinking as you do this. You will probably encounter various souvenirs of the past, which you might want to collect in a little box for future review.

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Your 2020-21 Cancer Astrology Studio is available for instant access. This year, the time of Cancer began with an eclipse on the solstice, as well as Mercury retrograde in your sign. This is astrology that points to you in a personal way, describing a transition you may not feel ready to make but have been preparing for over long years. Chiron in Aries is also a prominent factor, pointing to some pioneering developments in your professional life. I cover these aspects, and much more.

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Cancer (June 21-July 22) — Keep your sense of proportion and you will do fine. Proportion means scale, which relates to size, priorities, and how much emotional energy you devote to something. Ideally this would not be solely an emotional assessment. You will benefit from some analysis, particularly working with the idea of sketching out different possible ways to assemble the fact pattern. Rather than look for the right one, look at the different possibilities for how the same information adds up. Make sure you factor in the potential for what missing data might include — which will leave possibilities open rather than closed. At the bottom of all this paper is a belief that is influencing you, which is in effect a negative attachment or expectation. It could be either. You don't need to resolve this, though it will help if you're aware of it, which is more likely to come in a series of small clues rather than one enormous revelation. You might notice a little hint of its scent on everything. Ask yourself where it came from, and more to the point, notice how you feel when you pick it up. Follow the trail.

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You can now get instant access to your 2020-21 Leo Astrology Studio, Notes on Love and Courage. The two giants of the solar system meet up at the end of this year in your opposite sign Aquarius. Eric explores what this seminal conjunction means for you, and much more. Get your copy here for just $44.

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Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) — The Sun's recent exit from your sign has taken off some of the pressure you've been under, which at times seemed like a rolling crisis. You handled it well, and now the Virgo Sun will give you greater access to your personal resources, especially your knowledge and your ability to take care of yourself. Decisions that may have seemed difficult or impossible three weeks ago will seem right in reach now. Yet you will have to extend yourself just a little to get access to what is yours. It may only come to you as option or opportunity that you must actively take. You have about four months to make a series of important adjustments in the work and wellbeing aspect of your life. The timing is planets in Capricorn working out the final stage of their retrograde movement and entering your opposite sign Aquarius. This is something you have to work out for yourself, and it involves coming to certain recognitions, making decisions and acting upon them. With the Sun in Virgo for the next few weeks, you have extra power and leverage to accomplish this.

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Tailored for Virgo Sun and rising, this new audio reading by Eric Francis will introduce you to your astrology through the autumn of 2021. We will take maximum advantage of the power you are drawing from the Earth signs at the time of your solar return: Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, as well as Uranus in Taurus. This is a grand earth trine, and the thing to do is gather momentum in the direction you want to go, and then point yourself there. Eric will describe the influence of Jupiter and Saturn ingressing Aquarius later this year. The reading will look closely at Chiron in Aries, accompanied by Mars retrograde in Aries — your most important relationship house. We anticipate the reading being ready by the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 25. Reading includes a transcription. Pre-order now for best price. This reading is included with the Backstage Pass.

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Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) — The Sun entering your sign must feel like moving from the hot Sun to sitting under a shady tree. Cool off for a while, take a breath, and focus your mind inwardly. You have your options open, though to make the right choices, you will need to be in touch with yourself. That is not easy in this world, and there is a risk in thinking you're self-aware when really what you're picking up are the many distractions of our times — particularly anxiety. Know this when you feel it, and address it first as an internal matter rather than making changes in your environment. The time will arrive for that, though what counts the most now is your inner awareness and your ability to be flexible. You will emphasize what you are aware of. That, in turn, depends on your vibrational state. Said simply, the world you perceive is dependent entirely on your state of mind (which includes your emotions and other psychic factors). Therefore, don't be too convinced that what you perceive is real. If you want to see and experience something different, start from inside yourself.

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Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) — Do not allow relationship dramas to distract you from your inner life. Rather, allow any situation with any other person to guide you inward. Assume in the first instance that it's some form of projection, particularly if it involves conflict. This is not necessarily the truth, but rather a mode of assessment, and of taking responsibility for what you perceive in your environment. The thing you really want to own is your desire. This is easy for you to farm out to others. Yet with your desire, you would also be delegating your priorities, because they are really the same thing. What you actually want is important to you, and what is important is what you know you need and want. But it's easy for you to give this power away, when it's the thing you need to keep and work with the most consciously and actively. It is rightly your driving force and your power of manifestation and therefore does not belong in the hands of others, or under their control. Break the taboo. Want what you want. Need what you need.

Pre-order your full 2020-21 Libra reading by Eric here.

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Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) — You may be struggling to come to terms with yourself about something. You could skip the crisis or drama if you were to admit to yourself who you are. Usually when people try to do that, it comes packed with exceptions, situational necessities, self-modifications made in relationships, and most of all, tailoring yourself to work. Yet the most significant thing you as a Scorpio (rising or Sun) can know about yourself is that the work you do is the most important expression of not just your identity but also your true inner being. The next major episode in astrology involves your ruling planet Mars making a retrograde in Aries, where you strive to focus your connection to existence on a daily basis, through your most basic activities. What could manifest as a crisis is really an invitation to get to the place where you can do what you actually know is right for you, and which you will do the best. You may discover there is no room for compromise here. That would be a positive development.

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Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) — Community is about to become the most important factor in your life. You have always had this idea, and it's about to manifest as a reality in ways you could not foresee. This is particularly true given the unusual quality of our moment, which seems to have drawn you into yourself far more than usual. When I say ‘community' what I mean is some collaborative experience focused on a solid purpose. This will require you to be solid and stable within yourself — and the planets are aligned perfectly for that adjustment. However, beginning when Jupiter stations direct on Sept. 12, you will feel the calling to come out of any seclusion or isolation. As this develops, you will become a social magnet. This will require you to move from your center, with an understanding of your purpose and a strong bond with your creative force. Work on these things now. Stretch your talents, your abilities, and your capacity to build yourself. You may find it challenging to actually connect with your self-confidence. Yet this is done through experiencing repeated challenges. And you may discover you arrived long after you got there.

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Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) — You may not have a tangible idea what is going on with you, and what kind of changes you're experiencing. The Sun's ingress into your sympathetic Earth sign Virgo will open a few windows and help you see yourself in a much wider conflict. If you're struggling with one thing now, it's likely to be myopia: difficulty seeing what is going on much past the boundaries of your body and your immediate environment. The Sun in Virgo is calling for you to take a wider perspective. That might mean thinking five years into the future, studying a world map, or going to a high-up place and thinking about your life while you are there. At the moment, many people are extremely short-sighted, whether this is from fear, from their perspective being constricted by the changes in society, or from a lack of creativity. You can afford none of these things, and you have the ability to step beyond them. This is unlikely to happen by accident or all by itself. The further your line of sight, the further you will be able to travel.

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Your 2020-21 Aquarius Astrology Studio is available for instant access. This coming winter, your sign hosts a major conjunction: Jupiter conjunct Saturn, the traditional ruler of Aquarius. That event is exact on Dec. 21, 2020. Eric also covers Saturn moving into your sign from Capricorn during the year, in this not-to-be-missed reading. Order your copy here.

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Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) — Your writing will tell you a lot about how you really feel — including noticing how you feel when you're writing. The art of journaling is a vital one for you now. This is writing intended primarily for yourself, preferably in physical and not digital form. You have a lot going on inside, as described by many retrograde planets in Capricorn, your 12th house of the inner mysteries. This could be arriving with inner pressure, a sense of feeling lost and maybe a touch of depression. Resolve to let none of this impede your progress. The direction of flow must be from your inner world to some expressed form, where you get to ask the big questions about your existence. Here is a clue about one of them. When you ask the question, "Why?" think of it as a statement. Therefore, "Why did I do that?" becomes, "That is what I did." "Why do I want that?" becomes, "This is what I want." The questions, who, what, when and where will be more tangible. It is the seeming reason for things that calls for translating direct to outcome.

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Astrology Studio for Pisces | A New Reading by Eric Francis

This is a momentous time in collective history, and a turning point in your life. As the year develops, most of the movement — including Pisces' ruling planet Jupiter, and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction — will be pointing into Aquarius, the most sensitive and innermost angle of your chart. I will also cover the retrogrades of Venus and Mars, and the forthcoming Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in your friendship sign Capricorn. Mostly, I will help you orient on your profound journey, and offer guidance how to harmonize with the world at this unusual time. Get instant access to this reading here.

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Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) — You may not feel like the flavor of the month, though it would be most unwise to give into the temptation to change your point of view for the sake of others. Rather, this is the time to hold your integrity, making any adjustments to your perspective based entirely on your own motives, and your own evaluation of the facts. People may think you're wrong; you may even see a point to their objections. Yet that is still not a good enough reason to rewrite your constitution or violate a personal law you hold. You always have the power to do these things, yet doubt must never be your motive. Make your decisions based on your ethics, and your sense of purpose. You are likely to be going against the grain of society in some way, and if so, then that is the thing to do. You are likely to be correct and your perspective vindicated. You have keen insight into what is going on behind the scenes, and also what is influencing people on a level that they neither notice nor understand. These days, that is a blessing.

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