New Moon in Virgo & Intentional Engagement: Astrology of 9/16 – 9/22

A New Moon occurs in the later degrees of Virgo, and at the end of the week the Sun will enter Libra. The lunation trines Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn in Capricorn bringing in some cold, dry, pragmatic energy, just before the Sun enters a Venus-ruled sign which highlights connection and sociability. This has a similar energy to the innerwork we might do to be intentional and aligned with our values to make way for more fruitful, reciprocal connection with others. When we do personal development, work with our shadow, and truly claim our desires rather than putting them into shadow – we diminish the frequency at which we would project these things onto others, which enhances the quality of our relationships. Innerwork allows us to engage more intentionally with others.

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Along these lines of Virgo’s transition to Libra, and a more conflict-prone sky (Mars retrograde), I reflected on what intentional engagement means to me, so I have an example.

For some time I would become friends with people who had a good number of stories about how the things that had gone wrong in their lives were other people’s faults. I was the kind of person to believe and sympathize with them – see the underdog in them and want to champion them like no one else had (rescuer energy, oops). When some time would pass and inevitably I became the next person who was at fault for something in their lives, I learned the pattern and learned discernment. When I meet someone whose interpersonal narrative continually centers them as the recipient of everyone else’s wrongs, I relate with them differently than I would with someone who I perceive to be taking more responsibility for themselves – in a way that protects my energy (unnecessary conflict is exhausting) and is discerning about how I can or can’t be available.

Discernment is a Virgo keyword. Virgo is a highly independent sign – the virgin not necessarily as a symbol of sexual chastity but of non-involvement, and being one in herself. It is this kind of independence that grants us the capacity to be discerning about whether or not we choose involvement, which brings us to the next sign Libra, which is all about relationship.

There are ever more subtle threads of engagement and involvement, places we feel hooked or compelled by more mysterious drives and motives. Mercury in Libra squares Pluto in Capricorn this week, bringing a potential for sharp clarity in the mind around what these subtle agreements are we make – like when we sacrifice our integrity to be liked, or diminish our personal expression to fit in, or any number of under-the-surface trades we make to get something we feel like we need badly enough to make those sacrifices.

Going without that quick fix (by disengaging and not having that need fulfilled immediately) can be a cold/dry experience. It does make space however, for something more aligned to enter our experience. Being involved, and synergizing and collaborating with others is a profound source of joy and fulfillment in this life. It’s different when it comes from a place of addiction and compulsion, however, and when it is a genuine choice. Not all choices are perfect, either – but choosing 100% allows us to be authors of our lives instead of victims, when we do encounter consequences from our choices and then seek to re-adjust and learn.

This week may have a way of bringing our attention to these subtle dynamics and choice-making and involvement, but also there is some opportunity to imagine a new way, or to rewrite the script. Becoming aware of a pattern often precedes re-writing it.

Welcome back! Or in case this is your first time here, I’m Sabrina Monarch and I’m a soul-centered astrologer. I love providing perspectives on the opportunities of transits and putting into words what the vibe feels like at this moment in time, to support you on your path & open a dialogue between us and the cosmos. If you would like to receive these weekly forecasts to your inbox and be notified of upcoming educational opportunities, sign up for my mailing list here.

Here’s our week after a few announcements:

Astrology Reading Bookings FULL: I am booked out for a little bit, but still taking new clients for ongoing mentorship/coaching (6 month – 1 year commitment). If you’re interested in working with me in that capacity, send me an email at sabrina@monarchastrology.com. And make sure you’re on my mailing list if you’d like to be informed of when my books open again!

NEXT EVOLUTIONARY ASTROLOGY INTENSIVE

We’ve just begun the current intensive, but I’m going to announce the dates for the upcoming one sooner than I normally do, so you have time to plan. I’m also going to make the next one friendlier to European time zones. Stay tuned, and make sure you’re on my mailing list to be informed. View the course page here for more information on this amazing learning opportunity.

Here’s our week:

September 17, 2020

Mercury in 17 Libra square Jupiter in 17 Capricorn: 3:34 AM PDT

New Moon in 25 Virgo: 4:00 AM PDT

(Image: Ingrid Baars)

The Sun and Moon square the nodes of the Moon in Sagittarius and Gemini. This lunation will also oppose Neptune in Pisces, and trine Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn in Capricorn. The New Moon also forms an inconjunct to Mars retrograde in Aries. At the upcoming Full Moon October 1st, the Moon in Aries will form a tight conjunction to Chiron in Aries.

• Rewriting unconscious or self-limiting beliefs is so often emphasized in the spiritual and personal development worlds – since these beliefs really do inform how we move through reality and what we think is possible for us, therefore what opportunities we will take or initiate, as well as how we will respond to events that occur in our lives. How we respond to events informs the consequences we create, and then we respond to those consequences, and on and on it goes. Our beliefs are not only cognitive, but karmic, as they are informed by our past and they write our future.
• With the South Node currently in Sagittarius, we all have the opportunity to recycle and surrender stale beliefs. Or stale karmas, if you want to look at it that way.
• The activities represented by the North Node in Gemini can help us do this – writing, speaking, working with logic. If we write or speak about what is going on in our consciousness, we are often confronted with an actual transcript of our mental stories, instead of just being inside of them. Once we have this transcript, we can ask questions like, “what is this pattern that I keep replaying were different?” “Is there another way?” 
• This New Moon in Virgo can represent a new cycle of discernment around our mental scripts and internal dialogue.
• Virgo is known for attention to detail and craft. Virgo possesses a faculty for sensing error and misalignment, so it can be fixed and re-aligned. In overdrive, or without a graceful context, Virgo’s attention to craft can turn into excessive self-criticism (and critique of others when projected outward).
• The operating question that leads to excessively self-critical answers goes something like, “but what if I really am fundamentally bad? What if it is true that I am inherently flawed?” And the mind scans for the evidence.
• We can always liberate ourselves from the dogma of self-diminishment when we choose to stop believing in the the thought of being bad, in whatever way that shows up in our lives.
• Virgo’s conscientiousness and attention to craft can be then, re-allocated, toward something more productive or life-enhancing. It can be helpful to think in story and narrative, and context for this story. If we are living our best lives (external circumstances being whatever they are), then how do we author that into the details? Life becomes more of a craft and an authoring journey than it is an improvement project… even if improvement is still a natural byproduct of the story.
• All of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) have a special connection with magic. The mutable signs shift easily, can be chameleon-like, are adaptable, and fluid. One of Virgo’s magical properties is detail, and the way that altering details creates shifts in our lives. Many of us have a complex or strained relationship with “detail”. Details can be overlooked, obsessed on, and can be a trigger for overwhelm and stress. But have you considered what it would be like to be in harmonic relationship with details, and the magic they represent? Details each correspond with ripple effects, so when we change one small thing we can create a huge impact.

(Image: Rebecca, 1940, directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

• It is not possible to be full-blast Virgo in every single area of life, just like it’s not realistic to expect that every room of your house is clean, every drawer organized, and you are perfectly groomed/manicured, your mind is clear, all your routines are on point, and your relationships are 100% thriving. The reality is that some areas of life gain more focus than others, and that there are always things to be done.
• Virgo can humble us to do our best, take one thing at a time, and focus more on the task at hand than on everything else that is not happening.
• Sometimes, we must also step back and discern what it is we are avoiding, distracting ourselves from, and lean into that. These areas of life ending up being pockets of energy – where blockages occur (from neglect) and liberation may be found (through tending).
• When we find union and flow, or zen-like states through the tasks that we undertake, we greatly free our consciousness, and we begin to plant seeds in basic moments throughout the day that are harmonic, instead of stress-driven.
• This lunar cycle may be a beginning of a new relationship with detail, and some healing of our self-concept in relation to all those details. Can you balance simultaneously the aspiration to strive for more/better with a fundamental feeling of already being enough?

Sun in 25 Virgo trine Saturn retrograde in 25 Capricorn: 2:36 PM PDT

September 20, 2020

Mercury in 22 Libra square Pluto retrograde in 22 Capricorn: 10:21 PM PDT

(Image: unknown)

• Mercury in Libra by itself is a light, tactful, charming energy, but we have Mercury square Pluto and opposite Mars, bringing some teeth to the conversation potentially.
• One way Libra and Capricorn work together (for better or worse) is judgement. Together, they can keep a running score card of who has given and taken what. This dynamic does in some sense support and facilitate reciprocity in relationship through distinct awareness of what is being exchanged.
• However, Pluto relates to the unconscious and what is hidden (among other significations). We are not always totally aware of what we are giving and what we are receiving. We might give something for a while, only to realize it taxes us. Or we might be receiving something from another, and not notice it or we take it for granted. This can relate to exchanges which don’t feel good (for one or both parties) and therefore conflict, which can simmer below the surface or emerge into an argument/hurt feelings.
• At a low level, this escalates into victim and persecutor dynamics. At a deeper level of personal accountability, we might consider what we think we are trading or exchanging in situations we feel compromised in. What did we think we were “getting” from the situation? If we are entering into situations transactionally or with hidden motives we’re not necessarily proud of, what is there to be surprised about when there is something problematic or fraught about the whole dynamic? (This type of thinking is not meant to ‘excuse’ anyone nor throw blame at anyone, but to consider one’s agency in disentangling from undesired dynamics, and being more intentional about one’s desires and needs.)
• When blame is not the instinctual response (that has been grown out of, there is more personal accountability, etc.), then conversations around needs tend to be more collaborative, mature, ‘adult’. 
• This transit can correspond with some deeper reflection about how we relate to our desires and how we ask for what we want (or don’t). Claiming our desires can be a powerful catalyst for deeper self-worth, better communication in relationships, and all-over personal growth.
• This transit relates to some deeper reflection on the impact of our words and actions, and how we balance knowledge of that impact with changes in behavior.
• When conflict emerges in relationships due to these hidden dynamics explored above, we can cycle through the drama itself or see through it to a bigger revolution in personal maturity. We are learning about the agreements we make and hold ourselves to, and potentially having breakthroughs in how we relate to our desires and hidden desires.

September 22, 2020

Sun enters Libra: 6:31 AM PDT

(Image: Unknown)

• In addition to charm, charisma, and interpersonal grace that Libra represents, Libra is also cultural grace – experiencing art, film, and music, and the pursuit of justice whether in a broader political sense or a more local communal/familial sense.
• Spending quality time (solo or with others) to enjoy art or the making of art would be a beautiful way to engage Libra Season. Beauty restores and energizes the heart and inspires us to look at ourselves and the world in new ways. It is also balancing to spend time with art as it offers some reprieve from normal life and may change how we interact with normal life, in perhaps more inspired ways. Just as we need to sleep between waking, the mind entertains abstract concepts in between being present with what is immediately, concretely, there – and it is in that space of abstraction (considering art, what we value, what we think is fair, what we think is beautiful) that informs how we interact with what is present.
• This would be a great season to reflect on what and who we want to be in relationship with (what energies, what kinds of people, or who specifically). Libra is represented by the scales and is a sign of negotiation and balance. Knowing where we stand or what we desire can help us make negotiations accordingly, instead of feeling swept away in another person’s plans or in the passions of a moment. Being swept away isn’t all bad – it can be wonderful – but it’s not great if it involves consistently compromising our values. Simply put, we have to know what we value and be willing to align with that, even if that means saying no to something that is ‘almost’ it but really isn’t.
• In Libran experiences, these judgment calls are not always swift (they only are swift if we already know where we stand). We spend time deliberating. In fact, the plotline of Libra Season could be that – deliberation. Since making decisions can be stressful (and we may have many memories of them being stressful), I invite you to consider what decision-making looks like from a place of love rather than fear, or ease rather than stress. Consider dropping into your heart space, and feeling into what right action looks like from the heart. Considering acting in a way that is harmonic to your core values and to the integrity of your heart.
• Libra Season will intensify as the Sun gets into the later degrees of Libra, bringing the Sun to a form a t-square with the Capricorn planets and Mars retrograde in Aries. At that point, the stakes might seem higher, but the heart will still be an important guide.

Thank you for meditating on the planets with me this week! If you would like further guidance, I have been increasingly focused on longer-term 1:1 work with my students and clients, in the form of mentorship – helping people form a depth relationship to their natal chart and personal transits over time, to develop themselves, to heal, and to reach their goals, all through the soul-making lens of evolutionary astrology. If you’re interested in working together in that capacity, I am currently accepting new clients. Send me an email at sabrina@monarchastrology.com to start a conversation and set up a free consultation call.

Find me on Instagram @sabrinamonarch and Twitter @Sabrina_monarch, get on my mailing list to stay apprised of all upcoming offerings and events, and I’ll see you next week!

With love,

Sabrina Monarch

(Top Image: Shinji Aratani)