Goodbye Forever, Cheerios. Just Say No to Glyphosate!

Though I am a Leo, my chart is chock full of Virgo. Years back the grain turned on me, that is to say I developed a very strong gluten intolerance. My genes don’t show any evidence for Celiac disease so I am in the somewhat new category of ‘non celiac gluten intolerance’.

I avoid all gluten and dairy which seems to keep migraines, joint pain and all kinds of malaise and brain fog at bay. But in the back of my mind I always wonder, why is this so?

This week I think I have finally found an answer that makes sense. It makes so much sense in fact, that it has awakened a somewhat dormant side of my Virgo energy. It has awakened my genuine care for agriculture, and an awareness of how closely this ties to my future and the future of humanity.

Her name is Dr. Stephanie Seneff. For the past several years she has dedicated her time to researching and exposing the dangers of the world’s most popular pesticide, Roundup. Roundup’s active ingredient is called glyphosate and it deals a deadly blow to plants by disrupting an important enzyme and pathway. Monsanto has assured this to be safe for humans because they state that we do not possess this pathway. But Dr. Seneff points out that our gut microbiomes do have this enzyme, and we use this enzyme to make essential amino acids that are incredibly important to many biological processes in our bodies.

This spoke loud to me.  The Virgo in me was all ears.  Of course this makes sense.  We are part plant. We are more microbe than human. There is no divorcing our lifeline from the earth. If we poison the earth we poison ourselves. The question becomes, where do we draw the line?

We are in fact more plant than human. Microbes outnumber human cells 10 to 1.

Glyphosate is implicated in the rise of these strange gluten and dairy intolerances, drawing attention to the smoke not the fire. This nasty chemical causes leaky gut by destroying the integrity of the intestinal lining.

GMO foods are engineered to resist the roundup, therefore they can be soaked in this poison and not die. What we are left with is poison on our plates and on our children’s plates! If the GMO food was grown organically this wouldn’t be so bad, but the problem is they are made to resist this weed killer, and therefore they get saturated in glyphosate.

Cheerios was the innocence of my childhood breakfasts, and that of my son’s. After reading that it consistently tests sky high for glyphosate in the trash it went. The innocent breakfast world of Cheerios went with it. The innocent Cheerio breakfast world was a place where our government cares about healthy breakfasts for our children. I realize now that in this country, that world is a lie.  Despite countless lawsuits against Monsanto for the many maladies associated with Roundup (autism and cancer to name a couple), the government is doing nothing to stop this. How many more lawsuits will it take before it will be labeled a poison like lead?

Virgo’s strategy is simply to respect the earth and our bodies which are of the earth. Eating organic food is not only the answer for your health and the health of your family, but it is also the answer for the health of the future of humanity.  As informed individuals it’s time to turn our backs on these toxic farming methods.. ‘Big pharma’ walks hand in hand with ‘big farma’. Our health in the US should be far better than it is, with all the money that goes into it. But we are poisoning ourselves. We are buying poison at the store and serving it up.

If I can help spread the word with this post it will be the least I can do.

As my son and I seek out small independent organic farms near us on our drives I am reminded of another Virgo gift: leisure, that is to say the simple leisure to be drawn out of going about our daily affairs.  We dole out the old fashioned basket. We drive along sleepy roads with autumn leaves fluttering in the sunlight. I now feel more connected to the food, through flavor and meaning. My microbes no doubt feel this too.

Next year I want to finally try and grow something myself. Because now, I finally have the perspective I need to truly listen to my gut, and honor its wisdom.  

Cheerio, Cheerios! Hello dirt!

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Timing is Everything; Virgo’s Magic

Metaphorcast for 9/6-12, 2021

Listen to this episode here

Labor Day comes this year on a New Moon in Virgo, a sign that like no other, knows the magic of timing.

If it weren’t for timing, no one would have ever figured out how to grow things from the ground.  Plant seeds at the wrong time and nothing will happen, harvest at the wrong time and the bounty is lost.  Through her diligent observation of nature’s timing, Virgo flourishes alongside her craft.  

Some say that timing is everything.  Miles Davis famously said, “Timing isn’t the main thing.  It’s the only thing.”  Some credit their success to being in the right place at the right time.  

One thing is for sure: nature has certain right times and right places.  What is also true is that human nature has the right times and places as well.

Rightness is embedded in our very anatomy, as feelings inform our moral reasoning.  It has been said that Pythagoras believed the entire cosmos to be constructed of right triangles.  

Time is cumulative, like character, like meaning.  It builds upon itself, like good music.  Just as a crowd can’t help but join in on the chorus, sometimes a time becomes so ripe that one can’t help but join in on its promptings, sing along, jump into a strong moving current, do that thing that your nature is screaming at you to do.  

Everyone longs for those right moments, when the stars align and things go right.  As a matter of fact, on Labor Day 6 planets will be in trine aspect, an aspect that favors easiness, smoothness, even luck!

Virgo has another key to the puzzle, however. In her natural humility she does what is so often forgotten to be done.  She listens.  Just like the original farmers listening to the land, she listens to what her surroundings are relaying to her own nature.  The right angles of the cosmos are the right angles of her body’s feedback.  The sphere of her surroundings include the cosmos.  The growing circle of her timing, which may also be called a spiral, includes what Emerson called “the cumulative force of a whole life’s cultivation.”

It’s not so much that she prays for luck, or right timing, but rather she enjoys a certain interplay; between the motions of her surroundings and how they speak to the motions of her inner life.  Her dance partner is the arena of life.  Her own control comes with her dominions over time.  She makes a humble pledge to cultivate timing, and thus cultivate her life, her character.

Timing is alive in the present which is beyond description. 

Timing is at your disposal at any moment.  Pause even a word in a sentence and you can  change a whole meaning, as any actor or comedian knows.  

There is power in timing, but it won’t come without listening.  True power is relational not dominating.  True power comes with listening as much as acting.

By Friday Venus will move into Scorpio where she will travel until October 7th.  Venus relates and in Scorpio she relates with power.  Use the gifts of this Virgo New Moon, and remember the power of timing.  A power that comes with listening- to the promptings of your surroundings as much as the promptings of your mysterious nature.  

If timing is everything then you must be timing too!  

From one timing to another,

Happy astro pondering   

Always You; Virgo and Cyclic Time

Metaphorcast for 8/23-29

Listen to this episode here

It is the first week of the new Season, as we shift from the bright and definite world of Leo light to the chiaroscuro of earth-magic Virgo.  The original “green thumb” of the zodiac, Virgo plays with earth and sky.  She blends the depth of deep earthly substances with the instant expanse of light, revealing the miracle of growth and the beginning of evolution. 

She holds bushels of wheat and corn, plants that reach straight up to the day of sun.  With her gift of contemplation she strives to be plant-like, always reaching for the light of new meanings, bringing them back to the deep dark roots of past experiences.  The Virgin birth is the shimmering texture of the present, cultivated by this union of light and dark. 

Virgo has a special relationship to memory.  With special pieces of texture, like that dress she wore, or the way the sun was setting, or that cold snap in the air, meanings sprout up like crops from the deep earth of the past.  Her garden extends from past to future but it only exists in the illuminated texture of the present.  

For Virgo, time moves in cycles.  It folds in on itself producing a Virgin birth of meaning.  Like a fibonacci pattern, this kind of time makes meaning grow in spiral form.  Extending outward from seemingly infinitesimal roots of self-similar experiences.  It was always you there, in those different places, at those different moments, always you.

Experiences shape who you are in order for you to shape future experience, in order for you to find a frequency worth cultivating.  

What texture does your present have now?  Can you hear its signature frequency?  Would you like to change it?  

You may have to roll up your sleeves and take it to the field, so to speak; a place where the deep substance of soul can meet the broad expanse of light.  A place where memories work unconsciously to mold ideas out of the mysteries of inspiration. 

This place might be an actual place.  Your “field” might be your backyard, your stairwell, your kitchen at dusk.  For who knows what reason,  this place puts you in an optimum balance of blending deep substance with the broad expanse.  Inspiration becomes real and reality becomes inspiring.  

Your “field” might also be an activity, like yoga, reading, playing music or sports.  The field may take many shapes.  Most importantly It  is and always has been yours.  Visiting it and cultivating it seems to bring back magic to your fingertips.  

As Voltaire famously said “you must cultivate your own garden.”

Happy cultivating and as always, happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Transcendent Triangles. Full Snow Moon in Virgo.

A Full Snow Moon comes our way, reaching it’s peak around 3 am on Saturday, February 27th EST, so look to the sky on Friday evening.

Falling in the detail-loving sign of Virgo, lets zoom in close to the phenomenon of snow.

Photograph of a snow crystal by Wilson Bentley

Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley captured more than 5000 snow crystals on film. He was born in 1865 on a farm in Jericho, VT. His mother took note of his curiosity for nature and managed to pull enough money together to buy him a microscope. Just before his twentieth birthday, Wilson took his first photograph of a snowflake. He called these snow crystals “miracles of beauty”.

Snowflakes are (for the most part) hexagons, with each one being completely unique. Hexagons have 6 sides, and can be created with the interlacing of an upward and a downward triangle. Virgo is the 6th and most humble sign of the zodiac. Humility to look closer at common things (like young Bentley did) is a doorway to the miraculous.

This Full Snow Moon in Virgo is an invitation to, in the words of my favorite astrologer, Alice O. Howell,

“be humble enough to study the obvious“.

In her book, “The Web and the Sea”, O. Howell draws attention to the fact that a triangle is the first way that space can be enclosed. She goes on to muse about how angles of triangles always add up to 180 degrees, so if two triangles were to get together, as they do in a hexagram, we would have the full 360 degrees of a circle.

The triangle, as the first possible enclosed space, opens up the whole concept of inhabited space, something that Philosopher Gaston Bachelard delights in writing about. He says,

“Inhabited space transcends geometrical space”

Inhabited space can be intensified. When a snow storm rages outside, the intensity of inhabiting your own house is likely increased. Add a cup of hot cocoa and a good book and it increases ever the more!

Bringing more awareness to how space is inhabited does wonders to soothe the soul. Gaston writes:

“Our soul is an abode. And by remembering ‘houses’ and ‘rooms,’ we learn to ‘abide’ within ourselves.”

The sight of a Full Moon can evoke the satisfaction of well-inhabited space; a feeling that there’s no place we’d rather be.

Maybe it is the inhabited space of a Full Moon, or someone you love, or a blooming flower that serve as that that second triangle. In hexagonal bliss, the full totality of the circle is experienced. Virgo’s humility to look closer and deeper into her everyday world unlocks the wellspring of wholeness from her opposite sign, Pisces.

Happy soul-abiding!

And as always, Happy astro pondering!

Astro art by Johnnie Day Durand

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for 9/7-9/13, 2020

On the heels of a Labor Day weekend, Virgo Season is in full swing.  Labor Day appropriately falls on the Season of the Maiden, herself deeply associated with work. But her work continues just as well off the clock.  Her work is motivated by objective feedback, and most importantly a growth mindset, a mindset that embraces failure as useable information to find new ways of succeeding.  She worries less about appearing to be smart and puts more energy into learning.  As Michelangelo said at 87 years of age “I am still learning.”

Whether at home or in public, students are now preparing their brains to stretch and change as lessons are grappled with and new abilities are formed.  The humility of the Virgin is truly an evolutionary strategy- always with an eye turned towards improvement, she understands the true dynamic plastic nature of the brain, and it’s natural evolution that supports further freedoms.

Cerebrum and cerebellum have a root prefix of Ceres, the grain goddess, a character who in Greek myth went through profound spiritual an emotional change through the challenging turns of her life.  Ceres is latin for wax, a synonym for growth, as well as a precious substance that furnishes the leaves of an evergreen tree- keeping it forever young and vital.  Ceres motto may as well be resilience through change!  Which brings us to another word for education, a German word, popularized through the writings and lifestyle of Goethe.  Its a fantastic word that is fun to say.  The word is: Bildung! 

Bildung means learning and education but also implies a maturity that comes from the cultivation of self.  The classroom is the arena of life, that teaches through experience.  It is existential and poetic!

Just as grapes that struggle produce the finest wines, brains that struggle and embrace learning produce the finest minds!  As Voltaire said, “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”  Sticking with something, despite it’s challenges or difficulties actually changes the game! New pathways are constructed and new neurons are born.   

New and true as the wide open blue.  Not a feeling, an objective truth!  The brain is like wax.  

Growth is inevitable- but because the brain is like wax, there is an invitation to intentionally sculpt this growth- and begin your Bildung!  As Goethe said, “By seeking and blundering, we learn.”

Mercury, the sign of perception is moving into new air this week, in the harmonizing sign of Libra.  It’s a fresh breath of air, a call to a harmonizing of the mind,  alluring and intriguing.  As Marcel Proust wrote, “My destination is no longer a place, rather a new way of seeing.”

Venus moving through the early degrees of Leo, the love Goddess in the warm sign of the heart.  The togetherness of growth, be it an herb or a thought- that which grows together goes together, and that which fires together wires together!  The romantic reality of cultivated growth!  Goethe said, “Love does not dominate, it cultivates.” 

Mars in the late degrees of Aries and taking a turn for the retrograde on Wednesday.  The warrior of will, headstrong with intent, taking another look at the map- is his forward true forward? 

Jupiter the sign of education, moves direct  on Saturday, after being retrograde for 4 months!  In real-world Capricorn, the Archer will wait no longer, to turn setbacks into learning opportunities.  Discontentment has a purpose- and that is to feel that urge to grow!  

Let the Bildung continue!  As it will soon come into conjunction with both cold-snap Saturn and underground Pluto- a growth mindset is key!  As an African proverb goes, “Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.”

Uranus in Taurus- the widening awareness of your abilities, from the Maiden’s growth-oriented viewpoint.

Neptune in Pisces- the sea of subjectivity, often un-smooth, to make for skillful sailors, on their paths of Bildung.

The Moon

The Moon begins the week in Taurus, waning gibbous like a luxurious sigh- complimenting Labor Day with it’s heavy earth vibes.  Enjoy the education of doing nothing if you can!  As the Italians call it, Il Dolce Far Niente!  The sweetness of doing nothing. 

Waning still in Taurus on Tuesday, by the early evening she shape shifts into Gemini, sparking curious subconscious questions that move about like fireflies.  The forest of subconscious mind is open and a glitter in the sign of the whimsical Twins through Wednesday and Thursday.  Some of these fireflies might stand out, and seek integration into the Bildung.  GK Chesterton said “The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to close it again on something solid.”

Friday and Saturday host a thinner yet Cancer Moon, the sign of Mother, the original teacher.  Patience and sensitivity are her best tools, tuning-in to her children to best support their budding individuality.  A tuned-in Mood will accompany Jupiter’s forward movement on Saturday.  Tuned-in to a burst of optimism, that knows the brain by its true name- Ceres!  Wax!  Resilience through growth!

Sunday midday we have a waning Leo Moon, cozying up to Venus.  A real Sunday.  Bright with appetite.  An appetite to know and grow.  Unlike the Moon, the Sun never wanes. Unlike a mood, life always remains- devoted to growing, and learning and knowing.  From this perspective, a Bildung starts flowing! 

As always, happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for the week August 31- September 6, 2020

<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">Summer days are numbered to the tune of 3 more weeks as we head into the month of September- the question arises, can we make it a <strong>September to remember?</strong>Summer days are numbered to the tune of 3 more weeks as we head into the month of September- the question arises, can we make it a September to remember?

Perhaps this week’s Full Moon might get us started.  This Full Corn Moon will enchant in Pisces- watch for its signature hue of mystical indigo!  Indigo, cobalt, azure and even turquoise find their expression in the  Corn of the Hopi Native Americans. The Hopi’s tradition of planting Corn is truly deep rooted.  For 2,000 years they have brought their children out to the fields to teach them the ways of cultivating corn in the hot and dry Southwestern climates.  They plant their corn deeper, to catch the moisture from the winter’s melted snow, which lies further below the surface.  The Hopi corn has learned to shoot one strong root downward, searching for water.  

Perhaps its this deep and forgotten water in which the Piscean fish swim that bestows in it that gorgeous blue– that health of blue- those anthocyanins that bring about new neurons in the mind- new life into life.

The daily ways of the Hopi are more than routine- they are ritual.  Seeing the world as a gift, and time as experienced, not used.  They are rich with ceremony- Stable in their existence- united in community and in harmony with their environment.

Virgo Season is a time of paying more attention to the day in and day out.  Her strength is in knowing what is of significance- so the mundane can be transmuted to the magnificent.  So roots can learn to plunge ever the more downward in search of water- and existence can be stable and purposeful.  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said “Life is not intellectual or critical, but sturdy.” 

Mercury moves through its final days in Virgo- perception is hungry for simple significance- keys that fit into the right locks- and open doors to a lifestyle more sturdy, that ultimate integrates the farthest yearnings of the heart.  As Muhammad Ali said “Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

By Saturday the trickster trades in its notebook for a colorful scarf, and glides into Libra- the sign of conceptual beauty.  Look for synchronicity in places of complimentary relationships.

Venus, the Love Goddess in her final week of Cancer- and in tense relationship to serious Saturn and fiery Mars.  As a truck I recently spotted displayed in big bold letters “Feel your feelings baby”- Don’t miss the opportunity for deep water to reach that downward root- nourishing a life more sturdy.  The Hopi have a proverb: “Don’t be afraid to cry.  It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.”

The Goddess just wants you to hear her song- that speaks in Ocean about where you belong. By Sunday, water dries on sunny rocks as the Goddess ingresses golden Leo.  Refreshed, renewed, and ready to be seen.

Mars in the latest degrees of Aries, The alpha of the A- the A in the day- the beginning as well as the centrality- the Life of the day in the daily ritual.  As the Hopi have said “Take a breath of the new dawn and make it a part of you.” 

Jupiter Saturn and Pluto retrograde and near each other in Capricorn- Learning from the past to make room for rebirth.  

Uranus in Taurus and trining the Sun- a stable existence, a day rightly begun!

Neptune in Pisces- the new life in the blue

The Moon

The Moon starts the week off in Aquarius, where it spent most of the weekend.  Bigger now with its prized gift of awareness, this Moon sheds light where light seldom gets shed.  Eyes wide open, it bids adieu to August!

By Tuesday our Mother Moon waxes towards fullness- exact on Wednesday 1:22 am, which makes both Tuesday and Wednesday’s night sky an excellent backdrop.  The Full Corn Moon- Full in Pisces, the sign of the Mystic.  A wealth of ancestry as experience continues to accumulate into what Carl Jung called the collective unconscious.  Consider putting a bare foot to the Virgo ground one of these nights, and even if this ground is as landlocked as can be, see if you can, in Van Morrison’s words “smell the sea and feel the sky”.  The Hopi have a proverb, “all dreams spin out from the same web.”  There’s that sturdiness again.  Sturdy with life and connectedness, we can sail into the Mystic with barefoot on solid fertile ground.

By Thursday, a young Aries Moon raises it’s head, a bit wobbly with its sea-legs, but eager to get started on the day, and choose a ritual that supports his dynamic state of becoming.  

By Sunday, the same day that Venus enters Leo, we have a stable Taurus Moon.  Love is in the Sun and the Moon grows with slowness.

Slowing down to spot those places of magnificent significance!  The mystical simplisticty of the day in day out.  

Will it be a September to remember?  And were we borne before the wind?  

As always, happy astro pondering!

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for the week of Monday August 24th through Sunday August 30th

Virgo Season has begun, with its specific charm so homespun.  In the evenings you may notice an increase of space between the crickets chirps as the temperature starts to drop.  Count the number of chirps in 15 seconds and add 37- the number you get will be an approximation of the outside temperature.  The complexities of nature become astonishingly simplified by Virgo and her science.  From her close-up and studious vantage point, she peers into eternity.

Teilhard de Chardin describes evolution as process that leads to increasing complexity, and with this increase of complexity also comes an increasing of the “within”, a certain interiority, which forms the basis for all our knowledge- a consciousness, a spirituality, call it what you may.  On Virgo’s opposite end swim the fish of  eternity- the place of poetry and dreams.   Science measures the treasures of mystery- and the complexity finds its unity in simplified understanding.  Poetry does a similar thing but in reverse- as it takes the likeness of a moment, simple as it may be, and elevates it to what feels like a rightful divine status.  From mundane to miraculous.

Virgo Season is ripe with moments- small little droplets of time- measurements of life itself.  As novelist Cesare Pavese wrote “We never remember days, only moments.”

Moments are absorbed into memory, as sure as nutrients are absorbed into the body.

Moments are classified by the most authentic of scientists, who are in touch with the sacred privacy of their own interiority – their own inner space- constantly expanding as an appetite for learning increases.

Virgo days are comprised of complexity and simplicity.  In the most modest of moments may come floods of understanding- in the most complicated of scenes may come tranquility of thought.  Simple and complex- she wouldn’t have it any other way.  As Virgo Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said “Everything is simpler than you think and at the same time more complex than you imagine.”

The science of that space between the crickets chirps may measure the temperature, but the poetry of the space elevates the moment- as the silence caresses a busied mind.

As Rumi said “In silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.”

Mercury, the planet of mind is strong and adaptable in its seasonal sign of Virgo.  Moving into a supportive trine aspect with the great awakener Uranus- a flexible outlook may lead to a breakthrough in understanding- as you make headway with the powers of Virgo-adaptability.  As writer Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand wrote “Like a kingfisher I have made my nest on the waves.”

Venus moving deeper into the waters of Cancer and receiving supportive aspects from both Jupiter and Neptune- the Goddess supported by Sky and Sea- is there nothing that love can’t do or be?  Chardin saw Love to be the agent of universal synthesis- and that with every increasing evolutionary complexity comes the growing unity of Love and consciousness.    

Mars representing the only fire in the sky- burning hot in the late degrees of Aries and making a dynamic square to Saturn.  An eager Will in a barroom brawl with Time itself.  Who will win? Maybe time will tell.  Maybe will will will.  Will ultimately comes out pretty strong over the dominion of time as long as we hold true to the power of the moment.  As Abraham Maslow said “I can feel guilty about the past, apprehensive about the future, but only in the present can I act.”

Jupiter Saturn and Pluto all in Capricorn and retrograde- Pattern, Law, and Transformation all in the sign of Standards. A growing human race of complexity, a growing center of compassionate unity- Laws and Patterns that are in need of timely transformation.

Uranus in Taurus- the value of a moment

Neptune in Pisces- the growing space of within.

The Moon

The Moon starts the week off a waxing crescent in Scorpio, the sign of magic.  In the Season of the Maiden, this is simple magic, everyday magic, the beyond-logic realm of connectedness- encircling everyone with its web homespun.  Choose a thread, any thread, look at it but don’t tell anyone!

By Tuesday the Moon reaches its first quarter in Sagittarius, the high-flying horse of zest.  The sense of unity that comes form these elevated vantage-points, when patterns are perceived in full, and the business and noise seem so far away.  Such  a lifted perspective encourages optimism and sense of unity- The upward nature of fire and the cohesive nature of Love. 

By Thursday afternoon the Moon continues to wax gibbous in Capricorn, the sign of time and mastery.  Thomas Mann said “Order and simplification are the first steps towards mastery of a subject.”  In these late days of Summer, Virgo lights our sight with a snap of attentiveness- deeply absorbed in her orderly instincts- she flows naturally towards a goal of mastery, just as water molecules form beautiful hexagons under the influence of the cold.    

By Saturday night the Moon goes into Aquarius- the only air in the astrological line up!  The sign of Man- the water bearer- the consciousness sharer- the awakening awarer- Separating from the crowd while at the same time merging with a greater humanity- Complex with originality, simple with a shared human flame- As an interiority increases so does a range of response, an expanding spontaneity, a freedom of vision. Maybe in moments, we can experience shifts towards the Aquarian Age, as Consciousness grows and unites.

As Colin Wilson wrote, “Man does not yet exist.”

As Always, happy astro pondering

https://www.happyastropondering.com/

Metaphorcast for the week of Monday August 17th through Sunday August 23rd

The poet Robert Graves famously said “theres no money in poetry, but then there’s no poetry in money either.”

Leo Season will be coming to a close this week- but as the Lion looks back over his shoulder, and a New Moon approaches, the eternal Cat comments; there used to be at least a little more poetry in money- 

For money used to by tied to gold- before Nixon abandoned the gold standard in ’71- and gold possesses a poetic and lustrous authenticity that has captivated hearts for centuries. The soft reflections of gold seem to light up from within itself- mimicking the Sun- hinting at the divine- gleaming like eyes do when love is being shown.

Graves himself was a Leo- owning the heart of a Lion, a heart that is clear on its need for authenticity.  Gold is authentic, unless its not, in which case its fools gold that a fool must have bought. But to be real it must be authentic.  To be truly valuable it must be true to itself.  It must be known to itself, as echoes the words inscribed above Apollos Temple of Delphi. 

The dimming of Leo Season is the brightening of a New kind of Light- that of Virgo- the sign of humility, who’s Season begins on Saturday!  With Humility, true authenticity can rise- like a good leader, like an open heart.

Humility invites transparency- with nothing to hide- the light of the gold is shining forth from within- like Truth itself- wholehearted and sincere- effortless in its radiance.   

Gustav Klimt, who’s gold-infused painting The Kiss will continue to steal countless hearts into the future, said “Truth is like fire; to tell the truth means to glow and burn.”

Throughout history people have trusted gold to be worthy..

To trust in your own heart is an investment like no other, as you humbly listen to the authenticity of your dreams, the soft-glow of your heart’s truth.

Virgo Season knows that behind the Lion’s loud roar is an inner voice of the heart- gold with authenticity- just needing to be listened to.

As Leo Tolstoy said “Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.”

The truth of gold finds real meaning in experience- and thus has the capacity to transform the past into something of real worth.  In this way, the future can change the past. 

Sometimes the luster of meaning can’t be readily seen in an experience.  It may take looking at it from another angle to catch that dashing gleam of light.

As Emerson said “A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.”

Mercury will be conjunct the Sun early in the week, with the Moon closing in as well.  In Leo, The planet of mind in the fire of the heart. William James said “Seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive, along with which comes the inner voice which says ‘This is the real me’ and when you have found that attitude, follow it.”

With a trine to Mars in Aries, the mind is enthusiastically supported by the root in tooting Will- the true warrior of the Sun- the devotion to motion- no matter how small- your own shining dawn- that presides over all.

By wednesday- the trickster trades in it’s Mane for a farmers hat- and with humility, finds constructive work for the golden appetite of that inner voice.

Venus Swims on into the matrix of Cancer, the matrix of the matrix itself, the mother of the mother, origin of origin, gentle because there is no other way to get in touch with such sacred truth- The Silver of Cancer longs to trust the Gold of Leo- the subconscious of mind longs to be lead but the bright consciousness of day.

Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto all near each other in Capricorn and retrograde- a revisiting on our faith in standards- are they tied to the gold>?  Is there authenticity behind the rules we live by?  Are the most authentic of voices being heard? 

Uranus in Taurus- a revolution of value- led by the quiet and resonant inner voice-

Neptune in Pisces- New visions of currency

The Moon

The Moon will be waning the smallest crescent on Monday, in Leo and by Tuesday it will turn transparent into novelty.  The New Leo Moon is the ability of gold to become transparent- as it is the most malleable of all metals.  The alchemists vision to turn lead into Gold- is the same vision to turn 11Time into something malleable- The lustrous lamp of Leo Light does just this- as it allows meaning to be unearthed- and seen- at the right angle- and thus transform time itself into a new history- one that supports the vision of the future- where the past is actually worth something- and the state of becoming is held lovingly in the maternal arms of the past.

By Wednesday, the same day that Mercury goes into Virgo- the Moon will as well- as the Season readies itself for the Maidens new Light.  The traditional color of Leo yellow turns yellow Green for Virgo- as, with humble eyes, the focus now shifts to the earth and its bounty- the keeper of the Sun- the breezy leaves that digest the Gold- for our starry senses to behold.  As Quaker leader William Penn said, “Sense shines with a double luster when it is set in humility.”

Friday welcomes a Libra Moon, which will continue to wax crescent through Saturday- the first day of Virgo Season.  Libra Moons bathe the subconscious in a thirst for aesthetics- Use the simple light of Virgo consciousness to quench this thirst with natural ease.  Get outside- of the house- of your head!  As Walt Whitman wrote, “A morning glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.”

By Sunday, a Scorpio Moon grows with intensity and sets Virgo Season off with a potent earth-magic atmosphere!  Look for the hidden signatures of eternity- the digestion and recreation of the Sun’s precious light- the fibonacci of relational power- as life allows itself to be influenced and inspired to create itself again, a little different, but with ultimate reverence to the Sun- a lustrous tune which must be sung!

As always happy astro pondering!

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Virgo Wisdom from Virgoan People

In celebration of Virgo Season, it couldn’t hurt to hear a few words from those who were born under strong influence of the Virgin.

Leonard Cohen’s Virgo Sun sits right on the Ascendant.  His Venus also in Virgo melds with Neptune in the ethereal 12th house.  Humility of character, and a willingness to be thorough is quintessential Virgoan wisdom.

 

D.H. Lawrence’s Virgo Sun conjuncts Jupiter, the planet of philosophy and overall pattern-seeing.  His words here clue us into the wisdom of selectivity, a Virgo virtue.

Ingrid Bergman has her Sun, Venus and Mercury in Virgo, with Leo Rising.  Virgo’s capacity to completely identify herself with her chosen skill is represented by her statement above.  Leo Rising would likely find much satisfaction in the skill of acting.

Richard Gere’s Virgo Sun conjuncts Saturn, the planet of commitment.  His words here show the power of Virgo being made of mutable earth.  Tangible, actual change is available to anyone who chooses to seek it.  The Virgin is always in a state of self-refinement.

 

Joan Jett’s Sun is saturated in the late degrees of Virgo.  Her words show a clear stamp of the Virgin’s delight in identifying whole-heartedly with her chosen craft.

Murder mystery Queen Agatha Christie’s Sun sits bright in her first house, along with Saturn and a Virgo Ascendant.  She is dedicated (Saturn) to a simple and practical Virgoan approach of method and logic to make things happen for her.

Do you have Virgo planets in you chart?  Even if you don’t, this sign falls somewhere in your natal chart, and that somewhere is current path of the Sun.  Let the Virgin inspire and guide you this season.  You’re bound to encounter some humble, helpful, powerful new knowledge.

Happy Virgo Season!

Virgo Season is Here!

It is the month of September, where the roar of the summer lion begins to fade and the air becomes a bit crisper.  Students head back to school with sharpened pencils and fleshed out schedules.  It is the month of the Harvest, where in true Virgo-fashion, crops are gathered and sorted to be stored for the long winter ahead.

The Virgin prepares for times ahead by organizing her resources.

Virgo paves the way for Libra to usher in the Autumnal Equinox later in the month, when for a brief moment, day and night are equal before night claims the upper hand.

Virgo season is here.  The question is, what does this mean for you?

Read you monthly Evergreen Astrology horoscope by clicking link below!

September Evergreen Horoscopes