CURRENT MOON moon info

New Moons are times of new beginnings, planting seeds and of setting intention. The New Moon in Virgo will highlight issues of health , healing , service and preparation. Virgo is the sign of the virgin (maiden), but if we look more closely ay mythology we find the virgin goddesses were not virgin in the sense of sexual innocence. The word virginal means whole , single , possessed by no man and servant to no one for meaning and autonomy. Many of virgin goddesses were sacred prostitutes who ruled over the mysteries of sexual union, birth, death and renewal. The value placed upon virginity is a man’s idea , and that’s how men and the patriarchy controlled woman. As if virginity was a wonderful thing in the first place.

We need to make a distinction between the virgin goddesses and the vestal virgins. The vestal virgins were the keepers of the sacred flame and took vows of chastity. If they broke their vows the were buried alive, entombed. They were released from service by the age of forty four , which coincides with a Neptune opposition . Poseidon/Neptune had forty four wives.

This New Moon also makes a conjunction to Saturn in Virgo. The phrase it’s never too late to become a virgin comes to mind. The woman who is virgin, one-in-herself , does what she does , not because of any desire to please , not to be liked , or to be approved , to catch his interest or love , but because what she does is true . She is what she is , because that is what she is . Virginity is a process of being true to oneself , and most importantly if one has not been true virginity is renewable. Through the rites of Aphrodite (Venus) they can renew their sense of intactness and integrity-virginity. Aphrodite would annually renew her virginity bathing , cleansing and ritually purifying herself bathing by the sea. The Sabian symbol for this degree reads: A five year old child takes a first dancing lesson. Keynote : Learning to use one’s capacity for emotional self expression according to cultural standards, It is a symbol of initiation.

This is the best New Moon to take greater responsibility for our health physically, emotionally and spiritually. To get serious ( Saturn ) about dietary changes, exercise routines and addressing medical issues we’ve been putting off. Saturn is about always about commitment, especially commitment to body, mind and spirit. When we follow the bliss and act from our hearts, that commitment seems to energize the world. Goethe says,
Until one is committed ,there is hesitancy , the chance to drawback , the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
The New Moon in Virgo is the right time to deal with the inner critic and perfectionism. There is an indigenous saying that goes, Is the good, true and beautiful in my nature as strong as the whispers of my demons and monsters. We must answer yes to that on a daily basis in order to be healing agents and creative catalyst for change in our families, groups and communities. One of the keys for Virgo is to learn when to put the microscope away.
Virgo wants to over analyze, over process , cut up and dissect things in to a thousand different pieces, and thus become lost in their own palace of mirrors. Stop obsessing with the small and sometimes trivial details, learn to step back and take a deep breath and examine the big picture. To move out of the microscopic into the telescopic.

One other mythic figure that has a strong link to the sign Virgo is the Goddess Hygeia. The goddess of health and herbal medicine. Hygeia was the daughter of Asclepius the renowned god of healing, whose famous healing temples were found throughout Greece. The people would come to the temple for healing, would cleanse themselves, then make a sacrifice to the gods ,and then participate in dream incubations , where they would have an oracular or healing dream, where the gods/goddesses would appear and tell them what they need to heal themselves. In later myth Hygeia became known as Goddess of mental health, perhaps another Mercury/Virgo connection ?

Keeping with the Virgo theme of health, healing , sacrifice and service , there is also a strong link to the planet of healing, Chiron ! It is this astrologers humble opinion that the sign Virgo reflects the themes of Chiron better then the sign Sagittarius . Keep in mind that Chiron’s original placement was located in the Shaman centaur , not the archer centaur. He is also dancing with a she-wolf (Lupus) holding the magical and sexual thyrsus held by the centaurs. This was revealed to me many years ago by shamanic astrologer Daniel Giamario. The area of the sky was far more elevated in the southern sky in antiquity , then due to the precession was pretty much lost from view in the northern latitudes , and thus the Chironic mysteries lost until on November 1, 1977 when the asteroid/comet was found called Chiron. Not only was he a healer, mentor, teacher but despite his own wounding and suffering he continued to help serve, assist and heal others. In the words of Robert Bly, it is out of the place of our wounds will come our greatest gifts.

The Greeks believed that sickness was the result of divine intervention, not in the sense of retribution ,but in the sense that something profound was being asked by the divine powers. The gods and goddesses were thought to be the cause and cure, for illness. Carl Jung put forth the idea that the “ gods are diseases”, He was saying that we humans are so alienated from the sacred dimension of life that the divine energy, in desperation ,has chosen our bodies as point of entry. That so many people have become alienated from their own souls, that the only way the divine can enter our consciousness is through the body in the form of illness. Jung also says, “ that just because we live in a culture that has demythologized itself, doesn’t mean the gods and goddesses do not still exist”.

Jupiter trines Saturn and goes direct in motion on September 8 at 13 degrees of Capricorn
Inner visions and truths begin to take form and become reality. Where Jupiter has the vision to feed the hungry, Capricorn is determined to build a center to feed the hungry. Jupiter in Capricorn symbolizes the wisdom from experience. Pluto makes it’s station the next day after 15 years in Sagittarius. This is Pluto’s last gasp in Sagittarius before moving into Capricorn on November 27, 2008. Pluto stations are often very powerful and potentially explosive. The Oklahoma City bombing and the first World trade center bombing occurred during a Pluto station. Pluto’s entry into Capricorn may suggest the death of corporate capitalism as we know it ? So until next month, May the Manitowaks (spirits) watch over you and keep you strong !

Sources :
Jean Shinoda Bolen ~ Goddess in Everywoman
Patricia Reis ~            Through the Goddess
Daniel Giamario         Shamanic astrology

 

Only when the last tree has died
And the last river poisoned and
The last fish been caught, will we
Realize that we cannot eat money.
 ~ Cree Indian

Your religion was written on tablets
Of stone, ours in our hearts.
  ~ Chief Seattle