 |
 |
| |
| Departments |
Home
Columns, Special
Topics & Features:
The Columns:
Angels, Guides, &
Loving Spirits:
Angel Blessings:
with Dr. Doreen Virtue
Ask Valerie Morrison,
Internationally
Acclaimed Psychic
Trust Your Vibes
By Dr. Sonia Choquette, PhD.
Internationally Acclaimed Psychic Healer & Author
Astrologer's Notes:
Carin Martin,
Astrologer
Donna Cunningham, MSW, Astrologer
Basil Fearrington,
Astrologer
Diana Stone,
Astrologer &
Huna Shaman
Jeff Jawer
Astrologer
Glenn Perry,
Astrologer
Ray Merriman,
Financial Astrology:
MMA Market Week
Noel Tyl,
Astrologer
Daily Aspect Calendar
by Care
MoonWatching with Dana Gerhardt and Friends
Creating Bridges:
The Spiritual &
Philosophical
Act of Power
Discovering the Key to Living Your Sacred Dream
by Lynn Andrews
Avant-Gardening:
Insights
by Frank & Vicky
Giannangelo
From The Heart:
Alan Cohen
Teachings from the Western Mystery Traditions: The Esoteric "Paths of Return"
by Jacquelyn Small, Eupsychia
Spirituality in Daily Life: by Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron
The Conscious Column
by David Ault
Spiritual Mastery
for the 21st Century
Dr. Gwen MacGregor
Pearls of Wisdom:
with Care & Aeon
Encounters on the
Shaman's Path with
Dr. Hank Wesselman, PhD.
Anthropologist, Zoologist, Author, Shamanic Healer & Teacher
The Divine Human
by Ornesha De Paoli
Awakenings
by Karen Johnson
Worshipping by Wondering with
Sankara Saranam, MA Founder of the Pranayama Institute
A Woman's Beauty
by Robin Rice,
Shaman & Author
Wisdom Walks
In Circles
Margaret Lewis,
Shamanic Practitioner
The Awakening Generation
by Ann Marie Judge
Crystals, Minerals
& Gemstones
My Love of Crystals, Minerals & Gemstones
by Raven,
Raven Crystals
Divination Systems:
Be Your Own Oracle
By James Wanless, Ph.D.
Creator of the Voyager Tarot Deck
Feng Shui & Chinese Metaphysics:
Inside Chinese Metaphysics
by Barbara Finch,
Feng Shui &
Chinese Astrology
In Practice:
Juliet's Marketing Wisdom
by Juliet Austin, MA Marketing Coach, Author & Consultant
Kabbalah:
Kabbalah Revealed:
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, Kabbalalist
"Letters from Heaven:" Spiritual Guidance from
the Hebrew Alphabet
by Avigayil Landsman
Numberscope Forecast
by Vincent J. Barra
Pet Care:
Dr. Carson's Holistic Animal Care
by Dr. Kathleen Carson, D.V.M.
Tarot:
Moment to Moment
by Gigi Miner
Author, Tarot Consultant, & Teacher
Reviews:
Tarot, Cartomancy,
Oracle Decks,
Books, & Software.
by Bonnie Cehovet,
Tarot Master
Humor:
Wake Up Laughing.Com:
Swami Beyondananda
Features:
Blessings & Messages
Event Calendar
Historical Notes & Data
The MetaPersonals
Opinion-Editorial
News Briefs
Symbols, Seals,
Amulets & Talismans
The What in the
World Department
Trivia & Life's Other
Novel Moments
Interviews:
Watch for Upcoming Announcements
Healing & Alternative
Health:
Living in Harmony-Astrology, Yoga & Ayurveda:
Venkat & Christine Machiraju
"Spirit and Practice
of the Wise Woman
Tradition"
By Susun Weed
Tai Chi & Qigong
by Bill Douglas
The Holistic Mystic,
by Lonny Brown
Medical Intuition: Tune
in to Your Body and Improve Your Health
by Caroline Sutherland, Sutherland Communications
Transformational Healing through the Violet Flame!
by Eva Kettles
Herbs for Health
with Kami McBride
Lose Weight Permanently: Stop the Endless Cycle of Dieting
Rena Greenberg,
Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming & Hypnotherapist
The Directory
The Book Nook
Archives:
Past Issues
|
|
|
|
|
|
Astrology:
MoonWatching with Dana Gerhardt and Friends
|
|
|
by Dana Gerhardt |
|
|
VIRGO NEW MOON/SOLAR ECLIPSE
Friday, September 22, 2006
4:45 am PDT / 7:45 am EDT
Sun and Moon joined at 29.20 Virgo
Virgo New Moon:
Go Deeper
By April Elliott Kent
My desk is overrun with work, and it’s kind of freaking me out.
At first it was all easily contained in a tidy sheaf of neatly labeled colored manila folders, arranged in chronological order. It was intensely satisfying to label those folders and organize everything in them just so, and they looked so crisp and inviting on my desk, like new schoolbooks on the first day of class. Each day I opened up my office door, picked up a folder from the top of the stack, and happily set to work.
Then, smaller bits of work began trickling in. Revisions to earlier jobs. Inquiries about new jobs. Stuff I could mostly keep stored in an out-of-way corner of my brain without fear of losing it, or remember with a hastily scrawled note on a post-it or on my desk calendar.
But sometime last week, I noticed it was taking me longer and longer to settle down to work each morning. I found myself feeling anxious when I opened my office door. I’d glance at the stack of folders that never seemed any smaller, no matter how many hours I worked each day, and sigh. I picked nervously at the scraps of work I’d stowed in my short-term memory and wondered if I were forgetting anything. I rearranged the post-it notes on the side of my computer monitor as if I were doing something productive. Somehow, I managed to meet my deadlines; but for what seemed like hours each day I sat at my desk, surfing the web and playing with the cat, all the while feeling anxious and dull all at the same time and wondering where my energy and inspiration had gone.
Eclipse Ennui
Looking at the chart for this Virgo New Moon/Solar Eclipse, I grasped the source of my ennui: a raging conflict between the New Moon in Virgo and Pluto in Sagittarius. Virgo’s gift is for the work of the everyday – work that is never-ending, self-perpetuating, like washing the dishes or trying to keep your closet organized. Work that will never, ever be finished, because it’s the work of supporting and sustaining… what, exactly? That’s the question Pluto in Sagittarius insists we answer.
And it’s a tricky question for our Virgo natures to grapple with. Virgo is ill at ease with both the abstract philosophy of Sagittarius and the unquestioning faith of Pisces. Virgo is a foot soldier, and remaining steadfastly earthbound can limit one’s perspective. And when our Virgo natures lose the sense of connection to a larger purpose, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and disheartened by work that is never-ending and repetitive.
But our Virgo selves needn’t feel as though life were a series of meaningless tasks and rote servitude. Nor is it necessary to abandon analytical rigor or worldly pragmatism in order to find a sense of meaning in life, some cause deserving of Virgo’s deft and graceful talent for bringing order out of chaos. It is only necessary to ask, as Pythia did at last month’s New Moon in Virgo, "Whom do you serve?" At the last New Moon the world seemed full of options, a buffet of worthy people and causes awaiting our Virgo talents. But now, the New Moon is in the last degree of Virgo, square Pluto, and a decision must be made: How will you use your Virgo gifts, and in the service of what larger cause?
This Solar Eclipse signals an opportunity to release Virgo’s more negative expression in our lives. It’s time to release the tendency toward busywork that distracts us from the real work at hand; the urge to criticize the efforts of others; the complete denial of life’s poetry and magic, in favor of a rigid, rational approach. This Solar Eclipse lies close to the Moon’s South Node, drawing a line that connects us to a long pattern of this kind of such negativity in our lives. Where, in the previous years when eclipses fell in Virgo (most recently 1997 and 1998), were you to quick to criticize, too slow to notice the beauty around you, and too busy sweating the small stuff to keep your eye on the big picture?
Turning Routine into Ritual
One of my favorite Virgo/Pisces parables is found in the movie "Groundhog Day", with its provocative thesis: What if you were forced to live the same day over and over again? And not a particularly exciting day, either, but a day full of minor annoyances and petty frustrations, neither better nor worse than a thousand other days of your life. Phil Connors, portrayed by Virgo Bill Murray, attacks the problem with resistance, cynicism, complaint, and nihilism – until finally, after repeatedly trying and failing to kill himself, he surrenders. He spends each day in devotion to good works and self-improvement – even though he knows that he’ll have to do it all over again the very next day. By the movie’s end, nothing much has changed in the town - except for Phil, who has become compassionate, accomplished, and beloved by all.
It’s not easy to reclaim our spirits from cynicism and our everyday routines from the tyranny of file folders and post-it notes, and particularly not when Pluto is the force behind the change. Pluto in Sagittarius – a sign representing the laws of society - insists that we temper even our finest Virgo/Pisces impulses with a commitment to the world as it is. As Phil Connors found, before we can hope to improve society (like Virgo) or transcend it (like Pisces) we must first commit to being part of it.
Pluto: Risk Going Deeper
When Pluto is involved, this commitment carries some risk. A neighbor recently shared the story of being unexpectedly confronted by an unfriendly dog that promptly took his entire hand into its mouth. Most people’s instinct would be to pull the hand away, and in doing so probably shred the flesh against the dog’s teeth. But my neighbor’s instinctive reaction proved much wiser: he pushed his hand further down the dog’s throat, and when the dog gagged, he opened his mouth. My neighbor pulled his hand out, uninjured.
At this New Moon, the answer to overcoming Virgoan ennui might be very similar to my neighbor’s approach with the dog: when you’re feeling trapped in the jaws of life, don’t pull away - go deeper. Maybe my worktime edginess, for instance, is a sign that I've been relying too much on past insights and would benefit from digging in and discovering new ones instead.
The problems of the world can feel much too large and overwhelming to be helped in any way by our small ritual gestures of help and healing. Probably, they are. But ritual and mindfulness remind us to operate in our immediate environment in a way that’s guided by larger principles of conviction, belief, and inclusiveness. And maybe that’s enough. There will always be work that needs to be done, and we can’t always change the outer world - but we can always change the inner one. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dana Gerhardt,
Astrologer
|
 |
Dana Gerhardt
A popular columnist with The Mountain Astrologer since 1991, Dana Gerhardt is an internationally respected astrologer.
She has lectured extensively and written for astrology publications on several continents. Her ongoing passions are the moon and living the intuitive life.
Dana worked for many years in the corporate sector, where she observed the undeniable influence of natural cycles. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude from Occidental College in Los Angeles and did graduate work in literature at Columbia University and CSULA.
She is joined on her Mooncircles website by a community of accomplished astrologers.
Jean Hinson Lall
Jean Hinson Lall is a professional astrologer and psychotherapist who has been in private practice in Baltimore, Maryland since 1975.
A former Peace Corps staff member and Fulbright scholar in India, she holds an M.A. degree in archetypal studies.
Her writings have appeared in Spring, Common Boundary, and The Astrotherapy Newsletter. She has lectured widely on astrology, myth and archetypal psychology and is Director of the Institute for the Study of Imagination.
Julia Bondi
Julia has been a busy counseling astrologer, intuitive, teacher and writer for more than 30 years.
With degrees in clinical psychology and esoteric philosophy, Julia draws her wisdom and dedication to spirituality from her moon rising on her ascendant, her 12th house stellium in Gemini and her Pisces midheaven.
Pythia Peay
Pythia Peay is an astrologer and inspirational journalist whose articles have appeared in a variety of publications, including "George" magazine," Common Boundary," and "The Utne Reader."
She studied and taught meditation with the Sufi teacher, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and is the editor of his book, Awakening: A Sufi Experience. She has also written Soul Sisters: A Sacred Way for all Women and Mercury Retrograde.
April Elliott Kent
April Elliott Kent is a practicing astrologer, writer, and web designer. Her writing has been featured in The Mountain Astrologer and Wholistic Astrologer magazines, and in Llewellyn's 2005 Moon Sign Book. Her specialty is wedding electionals. She recently graduated from the California State University at San Diego with a degree in communications.
http://www.mooncircles.
com/
|
 |
You'll find it in
The
Directory! |
|
|
|
|
