The other day a woman was talking to me about getting a reading. I asked her what was it she wanted to know, because I wanted to determine whether I was the right astrologer for her. I have my particular skill set and I also know my strengths and weaknesses. She said she wanted to know how to get rich so that she could be secure in her old age. From what I could see, she was already in her old age, but, I did not mention that.
This was the day after the suicide of Robin Williams. I told her my emphasis was on helping people find peace of mind, which, to me is the greatest form of wealth there is, for without that, you actually have nothing as his death clearly showed. Couldn’t we say ‘he had it all’? And yet, none of that worldly stuff mattered – not wealth, success, acclaim, relationship, children and who knows what else….none of it satisfied whatever was in him that made him so unhappy. So, isn’t peace of mind better?
I have come to the conclusion that without inner peace, nothing else matters. But we are not born with it. It has to be learned.
She was still saying she wanted money. Okay. Fine. I think I will refer her to someone else. She won’t be satisfied with any reading I would give her and then she would add me to her complaint list.
So now we get to New Moon in Virgo. How many times have you heard “Virgos are critical”, or “Virgos always find fault”? Is Virgo inherently critical or is there something motivating that perfectionism?
In Evolutionary Astrology, we say that while Leo represents the top of the pyramid (the ego), when we get to Virgo, we turn the pyramid upside down, and Virgo is the nadir, the opposite of the apex. After the excesses of Leo, Virgo says wait a minute, can we do better, be better… What needs to change? What can be improved upon? Virgo ruling the intestines, separates the nourishing elements from the waste. It processes everything seeking the jewel in the stone. What’s wrong with that?
As it comes at the end of the bounty of summer, during the harvest, Virgo looks at everything to see what is useful, saving some seed for the next planting, processing some of the food and enjoying the rest right now. It seeks the best, the most useful, then either recycles or composts the rest. Just what we all need in our lives both on the personal and the global level.
In my youth I went through a phase as an existentialist. At that time, I thought that suicide was a noble choice and that one should have the choice about ending their own life. Until a friend of a friend did it. I had only seen this woman twice, had heard a lot about her from my friend, her roommate, but that death affected me deeply. I realized that death, especially suicide affects so many more than just the person’s friends and family. We are all connected. What we do affects strangers far away and decades later. Twenty years later, by total coincidence, I found out she was the former best school friend of another friend who had lost touch with her and always wondered what happened. I was able to share what I knew. Another ripple.
We said “I am Travon Martin” when he was murdered. Now let’s say “I am Robin Williams.” People are hurting all around us. And they can be really good at hiding it.
I no longer see suicide as an option. In fact, I am totally against it. My current belief system includes reincarnation and I feel that suicide sets up lifetimes of challenging karma. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not judging anyone. But for me, it’s not an option. I don’t want my friends, family or circle of associates to wonder what they should have/could have done to prevent it, which is what everyone does. I learned I have to deal with it right here, right now.
So what do we do with our pain? We take the time and make the effort to process it, no matter what it takes. We do the Virgo work. It’s not by accident that the 6th house, ruled by Virgo is about health and work. It is also the house of service and methods. What is the connection between these things? They are all about making an effort. They are not necessarily about achievement and they are not static. They are all things that require regular effort…putting one foot in front of the other, showing up and doing it. The daily routines of life.
A friend said yesterday, “They say all you have to do is 20 minutes of this a day. But with 20 minutes of this and 20 minutes of that…the whole day goes by and I don’t see anything done.” Ah, but even if you filled a bucket one drop at a time, it would eventually get full. One of our problems is that we get bored before the bucket gets filled. Life has become so full of distractions that we cannot focus on the long haul. Television trains us to have a short attention span, by switching to commercials throughout the most intense dramas. I have not had a TV for 20 years.
We have all heard the expression ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ If they only worked on the Coliseum 20 minutes a day…yes, it would have taken much longer to build. But we abandon the project way before completion because we get bored with it. Suicide is kind of like abandoning the project before it’s done.
With the Sun’s ingress into Virgo on August 22 and the New Moon in Virgo on August 25, we are in the season of harvest and processing that harvest. In the old days, people would be canning, making jams and jellies, drying, making pickles and preserving as much of the harvest as possible to prepare for the winter. This was the time of the year when you would know how your winter would be. You would know if you were going to make it through the winter because you would see what was produced during the summer. If the crop was poor, it was going to be a hard winter, with little to eat.
Few of us spend any time examining our lives. We go along for years then, one day suddenly look around and wonder how we got to where we are.
Virgo can help us establish and follow through on developing daily routines that result in accomplishments over a long period of time. Virgo helps us develop a plan for getting things done. Virgo keeps us on track and the inner voice of conscience need not be harsh or shrill.
It is interesting that the last Pluto/Uranus conjunction in the mid ‘60s was in Virgo. Now, 50 years later, these two are squared. We knew what many of the global problems were at that time. But, no plan was established, no routine created to work on it…and here we are. The environment is in crisis, civil rights issues are out of control, people are murdering each other over resources, religion, politics, economics. The world is in turmoil. We could have made such a difference. And we still can.
It is not too late for you to make a plan. No matter what stage you are in your life, you can still set goals, make an action plan and then work on it day by day. Find ways to remind yourself, stay motivated and keep at it.
And finally, taken from Stephanie Austin’s article in The Mountain Astrologer:
“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Be the artist of your own life.
The first person to read down to the bottom of this post and make a positive comment will get a free 1 hour reading (no repeat clients). Make your comment then send me an email and we will go from there. United States only.
This was the day after the suicide of Robin Williams. I told her my emphasis was on helping people find peace of mind, which, to me is the greatest form of wealth there is, for without that, you actually have nothing as his death clearly showed. Couldn’t we say ‘he had it all’? And yet, none of that worldly stuff mattered – not wealth, success, acclaim, relationship, children and who knows what else….none of it satisfied whatever was in him that made him so unhappy. So, isn’t peace of mind better?
I have come to the conclusion that without inner peace, nothing else matters. But we are not born with it. It has to be learned.
She was still saying she wanted money. Okay. Fine. I think I will refer her to someone else. She won’t be satisfied with any reading I would give her and then she would add me to her complaint list.
So now we get to New Moon in Virgo. How many times have you heard “Virgos are critical”, or “Virgos always find fault”? Is Virgo inherently critical or is there something motivating that perfectionism?
In Evolutionary Astrology, we say that while Leo represents the top of the pyramid (the ego), when we get to Virgo, we turn the pyramid upside down, and Virgo is the nadir, the opposite of the apex. After the excesses of Leo, Virgo says wait a minute, can we do better, be better… What needs to change? What can be improved upon? Virgo ruling the intestines, separates the nourishing elements from the waste. It processes everything seeking the jewel in the stone. What’s wrong with that?
As it comes at the end of the bounty of summer, during the harvest, Virgo looks at everything to see what is useful, saving some seed for the next planting, processing some of the food and enjoying the rest right now. It seeks the best, the most useful, then either recycles or composts the rest. Just what we all need in our lives both on the personal and the global level.
In my youth I went through a phase as an existentialist. At that time, I thought that suicide was a noble choice and that one should have the choice about ending their own life. Until a friend of a friend did it. I had only seen this woman twice, had heard a lot about her from my friend, her roommate, but that death affected me deeply. I realized that death, especially suicide affects so many more than just the person’s friends and family. We are all connected. What we do affects strangers far away and decades later. Twenty years later, by total coincidence, I found out she was the former best school friend of another friend who had lost touch with her and always wondered what happened. I was able to share what I knew. Another ripple.
We said “I am Travon Martin” when he was murdered. Now let’s say “I am Robin Williams.” People are hurting all around us. And they can be really good at hiding it.
I no longer see suicide as an option. In fact, I am totally against it. My current belief system includes reincarnation and I feel that suicide sets up lifetimes of challenging karma. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not judging anyone. But for me, it’s not an option. I don’t want my friends, family or circle of associates to wonder what they should have/could have done to prevent it, which is what everyone does. I learned I have to deal with it right here, right now.
So what do we do with our pain? We take the time and make the effort to process it, no matter what it takes. We do the Virgo work. It’s not by accident that the 6th house, ruled by Virgo is about health and work. It is also the house of service and methods. What is the connection between these things? They are all about making an effort. They are not necessarily about achievement and they are not static. They are all things that require regular effort…putting one foot in front of the other, showing up and doing it. The daily routines of life.
A friend said yesterday, “They say all you have to do is 20 minutes of this a day. But with 20 minutes of this and 20 minutes of that…the whole day goes by and I don’t see anything done.” Ah, but even if you filled a bucket one drop at a time, it would eventually get full. One of our problems is that we get bored before the bucket gets filled. Life has become so full of distractions that we cannot focus on the long haul. Television trains us to have a short attention span, by switching to commercials throughout the most intense dramas. I have not had a TV for 20 years.
We have all heard the expression ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ If they only worked on the Coliseum 20 minutes a day…yes, it would have taken much longer to build. But we abandon the project way before completion because we get bored with it. Suicide is kind of like abandoning the project before it’s done.
With the Sun’s ingress into Virgo on August 22 and the New Moon in Virgo on August 25, we are in the season of harvest and processing that harvest. In the old days, people would be canning, making jams and jellies, drying, making pickles and preserving as much of the harvest as possible to prepare for the winter. This was the time of the year when you would know how your winter would be. You would know if you were going to make it through the winter because you would see what was produced during the summer. If the crop was poor, it was going to be a hard winter, with little to eat.
Few of us spend any time examining our lives. We go along for years then, one day suddenly look around and wonder how we got to where we are.
Virgo can help us establish and follow through on developing daily routines that result in accomplishments over a long period of time. Virgo helps us develop a plan for getting things done. Virgo keeps us on track and the inner voice of conscience need not be harsh or shrill.
It is interesting that the last Pluto/Uranus conjunction in the mid ‘60s was in Virgo. Now, 50 years later, these two are squared. We knew what many of the global problems were at that time. But, no plan was established, no routine created to work on it…and here we are. The environment is in crisis, civil rights issues are out of control, people are murdering each other over resources, religion, politics, economics. The world is in turmoil. We could have made such a difference. And we still can.
It is not too late for you to make a plan. No matter what stage you are in your life, you can still set goals, make an action plan and then work on it day by day. Find ways to remind yourself, stay motivated and keep at it.
And finally, taken from Stephanie Austin’s article in The Mountain Astrologer:
“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.” (St. Francis of Assisi)
Be the artist of your own life.
The first person to read down to the bottom of this post and make a positive comment will get a free 1 hour reading (no repeat clients). Make your comment then send me an email and we will go from there. United States only.
RSS Feed