By Len Wallick
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At 1:27 am EDT today, the Sun left Leo, the sign it rules, and moved into Virgo. That significant change will be followed in quick order by the Pisces Full Moon tomorrow.
Even without the Mercury retrograde and the cardinal T-Square going on, it could be considered a challenge to process the synchronous events of a sign change of the Sun and a Full Moon. When you add those things all together the bar could well raised to the level of intimidating, but by now we’re used to it.
The implied theme for the week is therefore gaining and keeping functional orientation; which means balancing the emotions of Pisces with the mental base of Virgo. That orientation will begin by taking what is essentially a concurrent set of events and breaking them down: conscious ananalysis. Today the focus will be the Sun’s ingress to Virgo. That will leave Sol’s opposition to Luna as tomorrow’s subject.
Part of that orientation is being able to use, honor and enjoy astrology without being caught up in the hype. Consider this simple example. You pick up a hammer in one hand, a nail in the other and you use the hammer to drive the nail into a piece of wood. It is not necessary to believe in the hammer. It is a tool. It works if you use it correctly. If you don’t know what you are doing you bend the nail, split the wood, injure your thumb or some combination of the three. Same with astrology. It is a tool. Practice helps.
Another way of getting your bearings is something we have already made a start on in previous weeks. Understanding astrology in your physical body. We started by having you draw a cross inside of a circle so as to understand the cardinal T-square with your own hands. Last week we asked you to go outside to locate Jupiter with your own eyes, then use your entire body as a kind of compass to locate Saturn and Pluto in relation to Jupiter so as to understand the current rendition of the cardinal T-square.
These exercises make sense. You are made of the same stuff the planets are made of — stardust, literally. It’s not just the material either. It seems that the basic templates that govern how we are put together are not necessarily exclusive to the Earth but rather part of what our planet has in common with the rest of the cosmos. We are related to what we see in they sky and we are better off if we develop and deepen that relationship in our physical being as well as symbolically.
This week we are asking you to continue and build on those exercises by developing a conscious orientation to your own planet. Assuming you sleep in the same place on most nights, do you know what direction your head is pointing towards when you lie down? If not, find out before you go to sleep tonight. Then tomorrow morning, wake up thinking about it. Before getting out of bed, spend a moment on your back asking yourself. In what direction is your head? Where are your feet pointing? What direction is to your right and to your left? Try it with your eyes open as well as closed. Roll to one side, then the other to see how it feels then. See if the feeling changes from one day to the next. You may even want to experiment by changing the orientation of your bed, just to see what happens.
For just as it was sensible to connect physically with the sky, it is just as important to orient yourself with the Earth, especially with the Sun once again in Virgo. You see, Virgo is among other things, an Earth sign.
The zodiac is a circle of time. One might consider it much like a calendar. One time around the zodiac for the Sun corresponds to one full orbit for our planet around the Sun, a year. Instead of months, the zodiac is divided into signs, twelve of them. Given that a circle constitutes 360 degrees, each sign represents 30 degrees. The Sun moves just a little less than a degree per day.
Besides a name, derived from a constellation of stars, each sign has a basic identity derived from every possible combination of four elements and three qualities. Four times three equals twelve. The four elements are those of the ancient natural science and the more recent alchemy of the western world: fire, earth, air and water.
The three qualities of cardinal, fixed and mutable have to do with the progress of the seasons. Get a piece of paper and draw a circle again. Draw the cross in the circle. As you recall, the four pieces of the circle created by the cross are the seasons. The lines themselves represent the beginning of each cardinal sign. The cardinal signs are followed by the fixed signs. Think if it as the pattern begun by each new season being fixed into place. Imagine (or draw) the cross in the circle rotated 30 degrees to the left and you are looking at the lines that begin the fixed signs.
The fixed signs are followed by the mutable signs. Think of it as what was fixed into place is now being deconstructed so that a new season can be born. Imagine (or draw) out the original cross in the circle rotated 60 degrees to the left and you are looking at the lines that begin the mutable signs.
Our modern zodiac begins logically enough with Aries on the Vernal Equinox, hence a cardinal sign. Aries is somewhat arbitrarily (but sensibly) assigned the element of fire. From there we proceed counterclockwise around the circle logically from cardinal to fixed to mutable and starting over again with a new season. At the same time we proceed arbitrarily but sensibly from fire to earth to air to water and starting over again with fire. By the time we are done, every one of the twelve signs will have a unique and progressed identity combining the logical quality and the intuitive element.
Because Virgo follows the fixed sign Leo and precedes the cardinal sign Libra, it is a mutable sign. Mutable earth — at first glance an oxymoron, upon contemplation an essential part of the whole. That’s Virgo. Consider that and you will see the idea of getting oriented to the Earth when you lie down to sleep and when you awake is a timely and practical protocol to incorporate right about now.
Where the Sun is corresponds to the seasons of of our planet and our individual lives. Even if we know nothing about astrology, we feel the cycle of change. That’s how the Sun moving from one sign to another registers in our consciousness. Astrology only takes that very real experience and provides a tool to break it down. With Sol moving into Virgo, the energy of the Cancer solstice fixed by Leo is now beginning to deconstruct. It can feel a little unstable.
It is a good chance to practice the paradox of letting go and being grounded at the same time. Above all, it is an opportunity to reconnect with north, south, east and west in preparation for another equinox when the very Sun will spend a day or two once again sharing itself equally with us all. That’s our first day in solar Virgo.
Offered In Service
Graffiti,
Thanks for your words of encouragement and for sharing your experience of taking recycling seriously. I plan to discuss my idea at the September “Annual” meeting where most, if not all, owners will be present. Hopefully, the Board will let me put it on the agenda, a copy of which will be received before the actual meeting (which is after Mercury goes direct!) and that way it won’t catch anyone off guard.
Since I plan to do do most of the work myself, along with another co-owner, it won’t be met with the usual Saturn opposite Uranus energy. The Condo Association’s birthchart has Mars in Taurus and the Moon probably trine in Capricorn. With Mercury returning to it’s station retro degree in Virgo that night and Ceres conjunct the Galactic Center, I’m feeling pretty confident. Keeping my fingers crossed!
be
(Libra is my mother’s sun sign.)
oh now Im just having fun – there is a minor planet named Linda (my name) as well as one with my daughter’s name. They are both transiting Gemini with Chaos right now, and “Linda” is in direct opposition to natal Saturn.
Both Linda and daughter rocks live in natal Libra (r) and of course being “rocked” by a bunch of visitors just now.
Really fun, if not overly meaningful – although we’ve been doing a whole bunch of mom’n’daughter healing this summer.
Good Times.
xo
ha! I knew I’d find more exact conjunctions happnin in my chart.
Chaos on natal Juno 14 Geminii 11th house.
8th house is still Free Zone.
Too many trigger points to try to understand – I’ll just stick with the Wild Ride Theory.
Good Full Moon to all.
Len, interesting re position re sleeping direction, back when I was around forteen I remember my parents and myself hearing a speech in New Zealand by a visiting Yogi Master of older age, everything about his presentation left a powerful impression on me, one of the things mentioned was the way we must all sleep, the way all advanced Yogis sleep, this is always feet to the rising sun, East, no exception,any variation of this will have a very determental effect in time on the magnetic and spiritual makeup of the body rythem etc etc much more to the effect to this day many many years later I will not sleep any other way at least at home, this is the only way I can feel comfortable as I feel naturally aligned with the natural earth energies and can meditate with ease anytime.
Don downunder.
Congratulations on starting the recycling project for your condo complex, bkoehler!
I’m very happy for you.
One person at a time, we make a difference.
I will tell you that my friend at work and I both bring our recyclable garbage home with us, so we can put it in the recycling. She and I both live in municipalities where there is recycling, but our office is in a town where there is no recycling.
My friend started this process and as you can imagine, she was ridiculed by others at first. “Why do you have all that garbage under your desk?” and so on.
But now I do it too, and people aren’t laughing anymore. It’s amazing how much recycleable stuff I use during a day when I’m at work — the plastic cup and lid from my iced coffee, the plastic takeout container for my lunch, the plastic shopping bags from when I shop on my lunch break.
Now all these things no longer go into the landfilll but instead come home with me and go into the recycling bin.
xoxo GG
Len, Thank you for the lovely daily astrology post welcoming the Sun into Virgo. As a Virgo, this was a memorable and profound meditation for me at this particular time, in this particular lifetime. It also gives dimension to the “getting up on the wrong side of the bed” phenomenon, which, as you so subtly suggest, might be … um… controlled, deliberated, perhaps “worked out”, prior to getting up. Also interesting to track how we can feel one way going to bed, and quite another getting up out of bed when our slumber has concluded.
wishing you good, restorative sleep, sweet dreams, and freedom from those irritating bed bugs…
I salute you,
xo
L
Oh my, Mercury is at work. Somehow I posted my laundry list to the ‘oracle’ today although meant for Len’s piece.
Well, I will leave it there, as that’s where it wants to be.
Suffice to say, I was surprised to notice that I have at least one mostly-exact conjunction with transiting entities and natal entities in most every house today.
And since every planet in my chart has at least one aspect, that observation and subsequent laundry-list doesn’t remotely begin to lay out all the transiting activity.
I don’t know that that’s how it generally how charts are or not. This is the first I noticed. It kind of feels like a Wild Ride. And not Mr. Toad’s.
In the meantime – as far as sleeping orientation, I like my childhood way of finding the “right” space for any given night, although it’s a little tougher to “spin” and find the comfortable direction as an adult…;-)
Head North, however, seems to offer the most restful sleep most of the time. I’m Head West right now and dreaming is awesome!
Thanks Len. With Virgo rising and Pisces on my 7th this affects me a lot. My sun is 3 degrees Pisces and my ASC is 14 degrees Virgo. It is a busy time but soon to get a LOT busier in a week when my classes start and I start homeschooling my kids again.
I sleep with my head pointing west because in this rental house, that’s the only way our big, king-sized waterbed fits. It is a very wavey bed…the kids used to call it the “wiggly bed.” I LOVE sleeping on a waterbed. It is heated and cradles me when I sleep. If only someone could invent a rocking machine to make the bed gently rock me with waves……that would be sheer heaven. I have slept in many different directions over the years but I don’t seem to have any preferences based on direction. Maybe it is because we moved so many times when I was a kid that my body is used to sleeping in any direction; a sort of trained flexibility.
Most interesting … I go back and forth … I sleep headed NorthWest when I’m in the master bedroom (feet towards the door), but as I am a very very very light sleeper and my husband is a big snorer, I also sleep quite a bit in my meditation room, and then I face SouthEast to avoid pointing my feet towards my altar. The NW feels “right” and the SE feels “wrong” from a room orientation standpoint, but I overcome that by imagining my head in the lap of the Buddha (a female one, White Tara, who is in the big thangka on the wall over the altar). Also, in the meditation room, when the moon is big, I usually wake up when it shines right in my window, as the nearly full moon did last night, bright enough to read by. I love moon-bathing, and the orientation of the master bedroom doesn’t allow in the moonlight …
My very extra-sensorily sensitive teenage daughter asked us to reorient her bedroom a few years ago because she kept waking up with her head pointed SouthEast even though her bed had her head at the SouthWest.
And Len, I share your problem of not getting enough sleep … Three cheers for letting go while while being grounded in the groundless. Ahhhhhhh.
I’ve consciously changed my sleeping position a lot, I think it also ties in to what you are up to in your life in general. At first I slept with my head to the East and that worked for a few years, then I started having trouble sleeping, so I changed it to head toward West, that worked for a few years, then I changed it to North and that worked for a while, after a while I found that I dreaded going to bed and was generally out of sorts, so I changed it back to West, which is working beautifully right now. I have not tried “heading” South yet. I tend to go by intuition, if it feels right, I sleep that way. I also have made lots of different rooms my bedroom over the years, I used to sleep all the way at the north end of the house, now I’m all the way at the south end. I think I’ve had a bedroom in every room except the bathroom and kitchen over the years. One of the benefits of living in the country, by myself, so I can be as weird as I want. Cats make beds wherever, why can’t we?
Bkoehler- yes it does have something to do with Earth’s magnetic field. The flow comes out of the south pole and the surrounding antarctic and loops around diving back into the core through the arctic in the north. Here’s a picture that can explain it better-
http://www.scifun.ed.ac.uk/card/images/left/earth-magfield.jpg
Science says it has no perceivable effects on humans, but Chinese qigong has a different view. I tend to go with the Chinese view on this one since it’s closer to my actual experience. Of course you wouldn’t notice if you didn’t practice quieting your mind and raising physical awareness on a regular basis.
Still, I think local conditions can easily trump magnetic influences. If orienting a sleeping space with head to the north works in the space you have, great. South works better for me in the house I’m in because north puts my head next to the door. Consider qigong theory, adjust to local conditions.
Barbara – You and me both. East also works good for me. Of course, my problem is getting enough sleep, not falling asleep.
indranibe and Angie – your support is treasured, thank you.
Fe: So glad to read your comment. You are one of my greatest blessings ever and for you to be well means the world.
Well this explains alot.
This weekend I put up the following words on my bulletin board:
1) Meditate
2) Journal
3) Rest
4) Nourish
My ascendant is 1 Pisces in the 1st, and we’re at 0 Virgo. After nearly a month of being ill and or in treatment for gum surgery, I am feeling a burst of physical power. Like a mega shot of B-12. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Maybe I should take a samba class.
FYI – The head of my bed is south.
Thanks so much, Len. I appreciate you.
Thanks Len – the “paradox of letting go and being grounded at the same time” is exactly where I’m at. And you are right – it does take practice! Cheers :o)
Good morning Len,
The head of my bed points north, what about yours? Don’t remember why but was told it’s the way to go and it’s been that way for at least 30 years. . . something about the magnetic pull maybe? Sometimes I wake and my feet are pointed west and my head is hanging off the side of the bed. . .
This morning I woke very early just after the Sun had entered Virgo. Now I have 5 major planets that have progressed into Virgo, and Mercury just stationed retrograde on my natal Virgo Neptune. There’s a message here. Sometimes I think I understand what all that Virgo is about, but this morning I really, really, finally understood.
You see, living in a condo complex, there’s a certain amount of sharing that goes with it out of necessity. With great certainty, I woke knowing that I had to initiate a program of recycling for my neighbors. I knew we had to take part in healing the earth in a unified way and even though a lot of us already recycle, I knew there had to be a group or community process that would attract and include all of us by its simplicity. So then and there I worked out the initial details of how this would be implemented. Details. 3 AM. Recycling trash. Am I doin’ my Virgo, huh? Guess I will know when the Moon is full.
be