The Zodiac needs Virgo

'The Sun has already been travelling through Virgo since 23 August, but only now does the Moon meet it there, making Virgo the flavour of this coming month.'

Now - that sentence is the same one that began the last New Moon letter, with 'Leo' changed to 'Virgo' and the date amended! Doing that could seem efficient (a good Virgo word), but to what degree does it ignore present time awareness, intuitive input, and appropriateness? Even asking these potentially irritating questions is a bit Virgoan, a bit picky!

And yet we have to be prepared to be seen as picky and irritating in many situations, for instance, where a restrictive law is sliding into place that no one else has noticed. Virgo has a difficult job in the Zodiac, but a very necessary one - noticing flaws and potential difficulties, correcting mistakes, making sure that nothing has been forgotten, de-cluttering usefully. All this is based on Virgo's desire for each and every one of us to have the very best.

The word that keeps this valuable work on track is 'appropriate', because the appropriate action at any time can only be discovered by being very much in the moment, and in touch with everyone's state of being and their needs, including one's own. With all that in the mix, one can go ahead and be efficient and careful, separate the ears of wheat from the chaff (that has held them safely while they grew, yet gets in the way when they are ripe). We all need to use Virgo traits from time to time, and we need to appreciate the finer quality of that work. Otherwise we find ourselves criticising others instead of trying to understand them, and judging difficult situations instead of helping. We also tend to criticise and judge ourselves in our difficulties, which is just as damaging and completely useless.

This New Moon prepares us for the next Full Moon

The second of the seven challenges between Pluto and Uranus (during 2012 to 2015) occurs around this New Moon. The relevant task is endeavouring to separate your sense of yourself from your everyday identity (Uranus in Aries). We tend to identify with how our life has been up to now and whatever we have 'made of ourselves'. To discover who you are, you need to check what you REALLY mean when you express yourself, and what you REALLY want. You need to get up-to-date with who you are now, being yourself in the energy of how you feel, so that your life in the world can change - which it needs to (Pluto in Capricorn). The tension between these two principles provokes your need to adapt to life's changes, in order to help you become more your true Self.

Diplomatic honesty

Mercury has been rushing through Virgo since the beginning of September, and goes out less than a day after this New Moon. So, for the last two weeks, you've probably found yourself getting on with tasks that have been waiting, so that you could be in good shape to focus on your relationships (Mercury into Libra). But the New Moon chart indicates that the flavour of this month is still about checking out what works best, what feels 'right', and what work is in tune with the spiritual path (Mercury sextile North Node providing a window on what is right for us all).

The first two and a half weeks, following this New moon, give us a lovely opportunity to get the balance right in our relationships with smooth and harmonious communication. As this time is following by some potentially turbulent energy, it would be a kindness to ourselves to make conscious use of this supportive energy. Have fun, and enjoy what arises.

Full Moon - Freedom vs Traps!

The next Full Moon on 30 September could be problematic (the Moon in Aries lines up with Uranus in its second exact square to Pluto, the Sun squaring Pluto from Libra). We will need to take care that we don't blow the wheat away with the chaff! Our desire to break free, to be ourselves, could cause us to blame circumstances and other people in our lives for our sense of being trapped.

It is the thinking mind that imprisons the soul by defining everything it meets, including an identity for the self. Once defined, our identity is fixed - 'That's just who I am!' - and its growth is impossible. We feel trapped by what we surround ourselves with because the soul must grow, and the surroundings no longer reflect who we are becoming. It's the trap of our identity we need to look at, not the relationships, or the home, or job. Those will change naturally to match us the more conscious we are as souls.

Storms at sea!

For the last three years, there has been an emphasis on talking about problems, and working together, in as much harmony as possible, focussing on social justice and cooperation (Saturn through Libra). As October approaches, we could find a growing frustration that 'niceness' isn't getting the results we need. This time is coming to a close on 5 October (Mercury and Saturn enter Scorpio), and we are likely to become aware of a deepening resolve to face any crumbling foundations, and go for replacing them.

Around the time of this Full Moon, we will have a strong drive to go for the truth, possibly at the expense of warmth and kindness (Mars in Scorpio on the North Node square Venus). Alternatively, we may try to laugh the underlying difficulties away, which will not go down very well at that time (Venus in Leo square Mars/North Node). What we will need is a bit of both - going for the truth, the real emotions underneath, in a diplomatic way, being prepared to laugh at ourselves. Perhaps a deep discussion followed by a shared entertainment, so that the serious and the fun each have their turn.

Connect with your inner guidance

As October approaches (Saturn approaching a trine to Neptune) our sense of time as a measurement of experience is losing its grip. We are generally aware of a difference in the ticking exactness of structured time passing, and our experience of how fast or slow time goes, and that difference is growing. We are more and more aware that our experience of the moment is where life is, so that our plans seem much more like imagined activities, which may or may not happen; they lack the importance of reality. The result is that we are forgetting arrangements from moment to moment. Memory isn't working so well, and we would do better to ask inwardly for reminders to pop into our heads when necessary. Intuition is perhaps the more reliable tool than memory just now, as all structures, like drawings on the beach, seem to wash away with the next wave across the sand - as though 'the sands of time' are no longer confined by an hour-glass. There are many who have always managed in the world by leaning on the inner, more emotional/psychic/spiritual dimension, and they may not notice the change. But if you have worked with your diary and a structured arrangement of activities, you may be feeling somewhat confused and at sea just now - life is encouraging this inner development.

One virtue of the dissolving structures, from 5 October until the next New Moon, is that we have a chance to experience our spiritual contact clearly (Scorpio trines Pisces). You can make the most of it by tuning in to (aiming your focus towards) your inner knowing, being open and prepared to receive inner teaching that is not what you 'expect'. It doesn't help us to just accept what others say. We all have a sense of what is true for ourselves, but we do have to listen for it. I call it 'unconscious inner awareness', although that sounds paradoxical. The work is to become conscious of it, so that you can be aware of what is true for you in the moment, and you also need to own what you get. The 5 to 11 October is a window of blessing on that work (Saturn trines Neptune in Pisces exactly).

We are all in it together

One of the most important things to remember during all this time is that what you are experiencing is not just yours. If the astrological take on life rings true to you, know that it must be true generally for the world. Each of us reacts to the energy of the time in our different ways and to a different extent, but we are all living through the same energetic field. That means that the person who is driving you mad, is being driven mad themselves by something you may not know about.

Let's have patience with each other. Go for the truth as gently as you can. Be prepared to step back, pause, reach out. Own up to what your feelings and emotions really are, rather than focussing only on what triggered the feeling. This month continues a wonderful possibility of healing (Chiron sextiles Pluto):

Surrender to not-knowing.

Allow changes to flow along without needing to understand it all.

Refrain from definitive statements about yourself or your world.

Let time be what it is without needing to apply it to your experience.

And let's see what happens . . .