The Virgo New Moon at 7:36 am EDT Thursday will likely correspond with something for you to grow into. In a sense, it’s simply that time of the month. It’s also about the time of year. This particular conjunction of the luminaries (Sun and Moon), however, will feature something more: a functional sextile to Jupiter, astrology’s planet of growth.
It may very well be its relationship to Jupiter that ultimately distinguishes Thursday’s New Moon, and you, in the long run of your lifetime and history. That relationship will have several levels.
As Robert Hand put it, “At the most fundamental level Jupiter signifies the individual reaching out to include more and more of the universe and its experience within himself or herself.” Those same words could also be used to describe forms of growth that require conscious intent and initiative to undertake. Hence, Jupiter is emblematic of such growth, and with the Virgo New Moon, the largest planet will also be well positioned to support it.
Earlier this year on June 25, just four days after the Sun entered cardinal Cancer to initiate a new season, Jupiter followed suit. The Jovian ingress to Cancer started a new season of its own — a tenure of more than a year in the water sign ruled by the Moon.
In addition to being the place where the Moon is dignified as ruler, Cancer is also where Jupiter finds another, and very ancient, form of dignity called exaltation.
A planet in exaltation is distinguished, standing out from the crowd as it were. Just as with any person who distinguishes herself or himself, an exalted Jupiter is considered symbolically influential. One of the ways planets express their symbolic influence is through aspect, the angular relationship with other objects or points on the zodiac wheel.
When the luminaries conjoin later this week, the Moon will be a few hours away from making an exact sextile to Jupiter. The Sun will be but two days away from making the same exact sextile to Jupiter. That means the Virgo New Moon will be in a functional sextile aspect with Jupiter.
Most astrologers consider sextiles to be supportive of initiative. The aspect works very much along the lines of scholarships or grants, which support those who have consciously and intentionally undertaken to distinguish themselves through a new cycle of growth — something every New Moon represents.
Every month the Moon catches up with the Sun to initiate a new cycle of growth you can witness with your own eyes. It begins on the day of a New Moon, when Luna is between Earth and the Sun.
From our point of view that means the Moon is at once conjunct with the Sun (starting a new cycle) and invisible to the unaided eye because only the side of the Moon facing away from Earth is receiving solar illumination at the time. Then, a day or two after every New Moon, Luna becomes visible again. At first it’s a thin crescent close to the sunset. Then, with each passing night, it grows and gradually separates from the Sun until the Moon is full.
Nearly every passing year includes a New Moon in Virgo. It is is distinguished by not only beginning a new luminary cycle, but also by anticipating the start of a new season before the luminaries next conjoin. That’s because nearly every Virgo New Moon sets the stage in a way, for the solar initiative of a Libra equinox. Not every New Moon, whether in Virgo or otherwise, however, receives the expansive support Jupiter will provide on Thursday.
That’s how Jupiter will, in its own way, set the stage with this Virgo New Moon — for the new season to follow, and for you — to grow into something more than routine experience would dictate. Something that will plainly distinguish you a little more with each passing day. Something that will support you in creating a new season in your life, and a new place for yourself in the world. It’s not too soon to start looking around to see what that will be, and step into shoes that may feel a little big at first, knowing that the time will soon come when you will fill them.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Strawberrylaughter: I’m slowing down and catching up all the same time. I meant to post this link to one of my favourite quotations for you earlier in the week. Better late than never, or maybe now is the right time. All best, nilou.
“The map is not the territory”. Alfred Korzybski
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map%E2%80%93territory_relation
Indeed, Chief Niwots Son. I feel like all this has taken me a bit off the map. I’m beginning to think it was just an old map. 😉
PS: Doesn’t Jupiter rule the hips and legs? I sure hope so………………
Mariapadhila: Thanks for the support and your beautiful descriptions! I was watching a PBS show filmed from the eye view of migratory birds tonight and I thought about the paths they travel in the air across huge continents. How air currents and ocean and river currents travel their paths to keep life going. P Sophia, Len and DivaCarla, thanks to all of you, my knees and hips and back appreciate the good thoughts!
Hey Strawberrylaughter- let’s cut to the chase, the “I can’t” is in no way part your your life energy stream. The “I can” is fundamental your your true nature. Since you have studied energy healing, you know how to release the “I can’t” from your energy matrix- no analyzing, no blame, no self-loathing- just breath that old energy out of your light body. It’s not yours, it belongs to your lineage of ancestors, and as you let it go you are healing those who came before you, releasing the “I can’t” of generations.
“I can” is the song of that which has always, despite the negative voices, been the very life force of your being carrying you from moment-to-moment into this very now. With no effort on the part of your personality, “I can” has always made it happen.
PS- Our roles within the Tribe are closer than I had realized. 🙂
Hello Len
To wish you a cycle of the Moon in Virgo more cheerful and optimistic it will take to enjoy widely
@ soon
Thank-you for your kind words & wishes, Strawberry. Yes, we do get to take credit for bucking up & being strong when necessary.
Nilou, thank-you for the idea of flipping the “I can’t” into a “You can’t”. It’s a brilliant trap for the negative messages from the past! After all, our “I can’t”s are there because somebody, a parent or other adult, a peer, or the culture at large planted them long ago.
I’m hoping to snare a few of mine.
Lizzy, thank you so much. I’d just been talking with my husband about how there has to be a way to balance all of this important shadow work with light. I love your idea of the list. I’ll try that one of these mornings 😉 You’re a treasure. A buoyant, beautiful treasure 😉
And Bette, your strength is inspiring. I know we’re only told we’re strong when we are/have been going through Hell, but we do get to take credit for the strength, at least. I continue to be moved by your stories. Thank you for sharing, and my very best wishes go out to you for light & laughter as Jupiter initiates this new season.
nilou, interestingly, the 3 of Swords almost never comes up, for reasons I think I can understand. I do love the idea of tracking where the limiting voice is coming from–it gives us some tangible reason to tell it to fuck the fuck off. (while I do, obviously, enjoy employing the f-bomb, I hope to be able to ease off of it as the madness of this year sorts itself into something more…sane? Til then. 😉 ) And thank you for the poem the other day. I continue to carry it with me.
…and can we all please send “should” back to the hell from which it came? Maybe if we all work together on it, it’ll go for good.
My love to you all.
I had shed loads of trouble with the ‘i can’t’ and the variations (shouldn’t, haven’t, won’t, may not, shall not, ought not to…..): now i just trip over them (frequently)….i suppose that’s progress. I have found affirmations useful, but only after daily repetitions for a few or more years, and only re-programming with them one at a time. A more efficient way through for me has been changing the ‘i can’t’ to a ‘you can’t’ and checking where it was coming from and what it was referring to: and then i heard some very distinctive voices, family, ‘friends’, teachers, etc. the usual suspects (!); but also backgrounded by the whole culture and society…and then i didn’t feel so bad about it. Now at least if i catch a ‘you can’t/i can’t’ i can just tell it to F-off. It’s still tricky catching them sometimes though, but a whole lot less energy-consuming than beating myself up.
Strawberrylaughter: Yes, I know those cards; but no three of swords? It’s been plaguing me for years! 🙂 And that voice telling me i can’t sort it can F-off! Swearing, blaspheming and whistling are all in my vocal range now…
Ah, yes, I too could use some positive Jupiter energy! At this new moon (which is in my 4th house), Jupiter has just crossed my ascendant. I’m hoping this will help me “lighten up” a bit.
Strawberry, I can relate to “where’s the levity?” – the “I-can’t”s lurk in so many corners of my history & my psyche, despite significant “proof” to the contrary. Four years ago, I was in dire financial straits, close to losing my home, emotionally battered & drained, after a decade-long bad relationship. I worked really, really hard at getting back on my feet materially, emotionally, spiritually, & have evolved a very frugal but workable lifestyle, my home secured (but in need of all the repairs resulting from years of poverty/neglect).
What I catch myself doing is berating myself for having taken that destructive dive years ago – I think I’ve forgiven him more than myself – & feeling that I “should” be able to do more. I need to be reminded to give myself credit (thank-you for that reminder the other day, Len), in this case for the considerable positive distance I have travelled.
Lizzy, you are so right about the value in contemplating & making lists of the good things we have. In truth, I am so very blessed. Good health, home (albeit a bit rickity, a work-in-progress), garden, beautiful landscape/skies around me, & art that waits for the quiet winter months when I can get back at my easel.
In the meantime, a few particularly inconvenient “I-can’t”s that I’ve been tripping over need some scrutiny. I’m hoping to connect with some of that Jupiter energy (& my Mars return in Leo) to overturn some of them & move onward.
I greatly appreciate everyone in the PW community – your wisdom, experience, honesty, & understanding really do make a difference, & we’re all thus a little less alone in our journey.
Good for you, Strawberry! As well you know, I’ve been chewing over this joy/levity business for a while, and a had a real breakthough last spring. I had dug myself into a pit of despair after losing my job and not being able to find other work for months. But then I sat down and did a meditation where I made a list (which I actually wrote down) of all good the things I had (and was) in my life. It shifted things greatly, turned me away from despair and towards the sun. Things are still very up and down, but the sense of buoyancy is coming in again. The problem with healing work is that we tend to focus so much on our pain and suffering. I think this has to be balanced with looking at the good we have and are – otherwise we stay in that negative mindset that we grew up with. It’s something I haven’t worked through properly yet – but I decided to start reading Hillman’s The Soul’s Code, as I’m really curious about his take on all this. Have just started and he talks about how much we concentrate on the negative aspects of ourselves and our lives when in therapy, in order to heal. At the same time, I know how very necessary it is to acknowledge, work on, bring to the light all our crap – that it’s a fundamental process of purification and a necessary part of the healing process. As I said, haven’t really worked it through yet . the balance between the two, Forgive for these confused ramblings. But you have so much joy in you Strawberry. EnJOY it!
When I took my first energy healing course, the big takeaway for me personally was how huge an obstacle my “I can’t” was. “I can’t” showed itself everywhere that very intense week. Since then, I’ve worked my way toward an “I can do that” which has felt real, but a lot like stepping into an oxen’s yoke and preparing to pull a massive, massive weight. Still, an improvement over the ubiquitous “I can’t.”
Journaling and working with the tarot lately, I’ve begun to wonder where the levity is. These past months have been amazing, but they’ve been so damn heavy. I’ve spent the year in the Tower, the 9 & 10 of Swords, the 10 & 7 of Wands; I’ve drawn the Tower so many times I wonder why I bother reshuffling it back into my deck. All shadow, All the time…. Progress aside, the interface with that much self-loathing has been a fucking drag. Where’s the lightness? The sense of relief? The ability to appreciate success? To even give myself credit for all this hard fucking work I’m putting in? Jesus, Kari, why are you even doing all this if it just creates more avenues for self-flaggellation? Sigh.
I look to my 5th House, where the only major energy is Jupiter–awesome!–Retrograde–meh.–square Pluto–yyyyikes?–on the Capricorn Aries Point–…okay…–eyeing the Galactic Core–hunh. Not much levity there.
I don’t know how many of you have worked with Elisa; I love the woman. She’s fantastic at helping you see what you’re up against & find your tools for working with it. She’s recently helped me see how this “I can-I can’t” business is tied to something very ancient and considerably self-destructive in me. We (I, and I’m not able to even see who all is in on this with me) are now in the process of liberating my “I can” from the purgatory I’ve had it in for so very, very long. Liberating my intrinsic strength. My power, if that’s not a dirty word. My Mars.
Breaking down the Saturn-in-Scorpio rigidity around owning my core strength, and doing so without blame or self-loathing. Without all that weight. Allowing my 5th House Jupiter to inject some levity & play & enjoyment into all this Plutonian-shadow-fuckup-ery.
I can already feel the dawn breaking on this and the sensation that comes with it is, for once–thank the gods!–not fear. Something, perhaps, akin to the 3 of Cups. I could (and will) cry.
be: Thank you for giving us the big picture so very well, and please be sure to look after your own well-being as well a the outcome of your project.
Lizzy: You are very welcome. My thanks to you in turn.
Hazel1: Congratulations on the achievement of expanding your physical abilities and your contact with the physical world at the same time. It is not a silly thing, and no small thing either.
P. Sophia: Thank you for your excellent observations and questions. Yes, Jupiter is (among other things) highlighting the Cancer-Capricorn axis in a way that will allow us to do a lot of exploring between now and next July – it promises to be a rich experience as regards to social and family roles. September 20 and thereabouts is a complex time, between Full Moon and Libra Equinox, and the Pluto station emphasizes the “stationary” in its subtle and gradual reversal of momentum as a background to more pronounced and ephemeral changes.
aword: You are most welcome. May transiting Jupiter conjunct your natal Ceres bring ever greater confidence for you.
DivaCarla: Thank you for sharing your conceptual breakthrough regarding the New Moon and the pitch-perfect insight from a great musician.
mariapadhila: Thank you for your sublime perceptions and for your support of Hazel.
Carrie: Speaking of sublime, thank you for sharing how amazingly things have come together for you. Ass the best to Dave for is procedure.
Chief Niwots Son: All the best to you as well regarding the outcome of your enterprise, and many thanks for your continued support here.
Thanks Len, I am beginning an important new work project tomorrow morning, and I am pleased to learn that Jupiter lending his energy to the venture. As this project includes may folks, whose efforts will touch many, many more in turn, this feels auspicious.
Blessings to y’all from the Land of Enchantment.
These birthdays all happened this year. Amazing; we didn’t plan that when we tried so hard with fertility treatments to have them.
Thanks Len. Thursday Dave has a procedure and I am glad the skies are looking good right then. There’s also setting intentions; I will keep that in mind for that evening. The next day, Sept. 6th, is my 26th anniversary with Dave. I still feel like the luckiest person in this relationship we have. Mabon (and a calling I did back in 1986) brought him into my life; this is my favorite time of year. My oldest (twin daughters) turn 21 on Oct 21st completing this magical year for my kids. My youngest daughter turned 18 on February 18th, my son turned 11 on March 11 and now my daughters achieve their 21st birthday on the 21st. Dave turns 61 in November. So much to be thankful for and to look forward to!
L’shanah tovah tikatev v’taihatem to any Jewish readers out there for Rosh Hashanah!
Lovely, inspiring comment, Maria. Hazel, I experienced what you described, many moons ago; even though i don’t run any more, I get a thrill out of watching the plants and birds change with the seasons. You write about it so beautifully. Happy running!
This is the first new moon in a while not to be surrounded by void of times–so a good time right after new moon to set intentions if you do that practice–know I will–
Hazel it was great to read that. Watching the plants change when I run is very healing to me. I get that same sort of falling in live with my routes and trails, a fascination. As if you’re creating something–and you are–seeing the plants and breathing them is an act of co-creation. I also think path-making and path-treading is a magical act. Roads and trails fall where they do for a reason–animal paths, water paths, and deeper than that, geological features and maybe ley lines (which auto correct wants to call key limes).
All that to say yes it may make you tougher and happier, I believe you’re also creating something mysterious and powerful.
Len, I am tickled along with everyone else to have Jupiter blessing this New Moon. Reading your post today, I remember how magical it felt not so long ago when I got that the invisible new moon is not just dark, but it is accompanying the Sun on his journey through the daytime sky. It was a simple shift in paradigm from night to day. Rather than an absence of moon at night, I could feel the presence of invisible moon during the day. The tug of gravity is palpable. I am going to rest up. I am a veritable beanstalk this week in the growth department. Fee Fie Fo Fum, says gas giant Jupiter!
Be good luck with your project. What a cat’s cradle of aspects you conjure!
Hazel, happy running, and bless your hips and knees.
Everyone else: You’re gonna need quality shoes… Mark Knopfler
Indeed it’s a new season, Len. Transiting Jupiter is on natal Ceres, how appropriate.
While I am glad for the spacious shoe Jupiter makes available I am also grateful for Saturn’s continuing trine so that the shoe doesn’t contain so much vacant space as to become something to trip over.
Thank you as always, for your large thoughts and nourishing words.
Hazel1,
…”I don’t know how I feel other than that. I’m proud of myself”
Thank you for this. Your comment means and brings, more than you know!
Hi Len, thanks for the good new in your report.
It seems this New Moon sextile is already ringing bells of a favorable kind of time, “a new season in your life, and a new place for yourself in the world.” – Len
Just today I am starting to feel a boost of expansive support from Jupiter. Has he also started highlighting the Cancer/Capricorn Axis? With Jupiter positioned there naturally the opposition of 4th and 10th house, (although my axis on the wheel is housed in reverse) aspecting our ‘need to standout’, but at the same time I am still working through this balance and pull of feeling, ‘belong’.
Got me to thinking, what about our reclaiming of this, ‘to be ‘nurtured, and to be nurturing’, within ourselves, to and for ourselves. Would allow so much more ‘space’ for others. Now this is what I could really hold as ‘a growth’ a feeling of full encompassing expansion.
What say you Len, regarding September 20? Pluto will finally move from retrograde to direct motion. Will this continue to increase for us another very supportive initiative in aide of expansion in our roots, house of home and family? I guessing this may bring this axis in opposition to a feeling of moving forward and out- in comfort, from a new sense of inner security. We may really yet begin to find our stride in those new shoes ….Here’s hoping anyway! : )
About 6 weeks ago I “consciously and intentionally” took on training for a half marathon for no other reason than I thought “what a silly idea, I should try it just to see”. I’m up to 7.2 miles in my training this past weekend, headed for running 8.5 this coming Sunday morning. The last time I ran any distance at all was over 20 years ago and by now my various hips and knees protest a bit, but I’m plugging away at it. It feels surreal, I guess, is the way to say it, I don’t know how I feel other than that. I’m proud of myself, but I’m wondering what I’m doing all the way the hell out there at that ungodly hour too. I drive the route I run and kind of marinate in it every day on the way to work and I remember all the things that are blooming and growing that I see when I’m running that I don’t see when I drive. I actually think I can pull it off, but it is a long way. Hope Jupiter can keep me keeping the faith!
Those shoes are still big, but it’s a start! Lovely metaphor,dear Len, lovely piece. Thank you.
I wish you loads of luck dear be, though I’m sure you don’t need it.
Boy oh boy I’m counting on that Len. I’ve got a major (home) project I’m wrestling with, and the quincunx of the New Moon to Uranus and the opposition of Chiron to the New Moon just barely reveals the obstacles I’ll be dealing with. Then there’s Juno’s opposition to Mars that hit’s “home” too.
I’m keen on it being “the right thing to do” (my project) because the New Moon’s Vesta at 27+ Leo trines the Galactic Center at 27+ Sagittarius which trines my Saturn-conj-Vesta in Aries. However, there’s this little matter of the New Moon’s Pallas-Athene at 26+ Cancer. She’s could be the fly-in-the-ointment as she will quincunx the GC and square my Vesta-Saturn, although it helps that she’s sextile Mercury in Virgo!
Or, she could be what prods me forward into completing it, you know? After all, Venus in Libra is squaring her as she opposes Eris! Ironically (or maybe not), it has to do with my critter-feeding arrangement and in this New Moon Ceres-in-Virgo exactly opposes Neptune-in-Pisces. What are the odds (or where are the yods) of that I wonder.
Anyway, I’m counting on Jupiter being in exaltation to override any snafu’s and getting everyone into the team spirit; it’s the “Big Picture” I’m going for. Wish me luck!
be