Full Virgo Moon – March 1 – Are You a Willing Victim?

March first will bring a full Moon.  The Native Americans called the full Moon of March the Worm Moon because the worms begin to push out through the Earth when it appeared. Because we will have another full Moon later in the month, March is another Blue Moon month.

The Moon will be in Virgo during this Worm Moon. Be on the lookout for feelings of victimization bubbling up. I call Virgo the Cinderella of the zodiac. She is always sitting by the fireplace making everyone else pretty for the ball but never thinks she can go. Virgo often considers themselves last to the point of allow others to bully, boss and ride over them.

If you have a Virgo Sun, Moon or ascendant by birth you will feel this even more than most but we all can be aware of the ways we allow others to use us. How can you emotionally take yourself away from the fireplace and into your ball gown?

Mercury in Retrograde in Virgo!

OK all of you Mercury Retrograde lovers this is your chance! The planet has just retrograded in the constellation of Virgo. Now this is an interesting combination. Mercury, of course, is the communicator – the ancient messenger from the gods. Virgo can be quite reticent. Virgo does go for “blab and show.”

What better time to assess words that don’t need to be sent? What better time to check your words before you send them out into the universe? Apply the Virgo precise analysis  to the words you are about to say and see if you will regret them once they are let loose.

Wouldn’t our crazy current world all be better if we watched what we said before we said?

Backdrop design of sacred zodiac symbols signs geometry and designs represent concept of astrology alchemy magic witchcraft and fortune telling

 

 

Vesta Enters Virgo Today

Virgo is Vesta’s happy place. Most modern astrologers give rulership of Virgo to the asteroid Vesta. This transit is all about devotion to duty. Vesta’s domain was hearth and home, similar to the Greek Hestia. She kept the fires of the temple burning and was dutiful, almost narrow minded in her task.  ”

Virgo and Vesta have general domain over the body – how we feed, care and work the body – our health and our work habits. Even if you do not have much Virgo influence in your chart, this would be a good time to run a “check-up” of these areas. Do you need to make that doctor’s appointment, get that test? Is your desk a mess? Do you have a thousand years’ worth of paper work waiting to be recycled? Work with Vesta now to make these things happen.

Vesta in Virgo is also about finding the sacred in daily life. It is a very a very grounding, nitty-gritty placement and a time not just to smell the roses but find the mysticism in their design. No matter how mundane, try to see spirit in all you do. 

 

Partial solar eclipse on Sept 13

 

In Virgo. While it will only be seen will only be visible from South Africa, Antarctica and locations in Indian and Atlantic Oceans, we can all tune into the energy. Virgo energy is most concerned with being in service to the body. Virgo wants to care for the body, feed it well, and exercise it properly. She asks us to do work that benefit both ourselves and those around us.

It is important to know where in your natal chart the eclipse will happen. For instance, if the eclipse is in your first house, then your personality energy will activate. Questions will be around how you present yourself to the world – what are your reactions to life? You can also examine your body, your health – are you taking care of it the way you should? If it happens to be in your 10th house then the energy will be around your career. Are you doing what you want the way you want? Are you getting the proper reward for your work? In the 12th house, issues of connecting to spirit in a way that services your needs will be in the forefront.

Don’t let this eclipse go without tuning in. If you want to know where the eclipse will be in your chart, drop me an email at joansastrology@gmail.com and I will send you a chart with a little interpretation.

August 25 – The New Moon – No More Excuses.

We have a new Moon coming up today. The New Moon is a good time for setting intentions and decide on ways we will manifest those intentions. This New Moon is in Virgo – the worker bee of the zodiac – and the health maven of the zodiac. Think of Virgo as the one who has control over how you feed, work and care for the body. SO – what a great time – as we head into fall – to make the intentions for better health – avoid winter overeating — and better work habits.

Now here is the trick. We now have a very strong – Mars/Saturn conjunction in the very intense sign of Scorpio. Mars and Saturn is one of the true malefic in the zodiac because they bring about the intense force of Mars, the god of war, and Saturn, the cold task master. It is the classic smash up of hot and cold. If I see Mars and Saturn clashing in marriage charts I always have to raise the touchy question of abuse. Think militaristic task master! Yes, this is activating Issus, Ferguson – you name it.

Ah, but you know how I hate to talk about the negatives only and we can use this force for good! IF the tragedy of Ferguson leads to a constructive change in police tactics and the militarization of police forces and finally to some racial understanding – that we can make an evolutionary jump.
If Congress can stop bickering and help the President address Issus and Syria – well, I can hope can’t I?



For each of us personally – think of where you need to be a task master with your health, your body, your eating habits, and your work. Where have you been slacking off? Where do you need to make some hard decisions? Scorpio is the sign of going within and making deep and profound changes. Mars used to the ruler of Scorpio before poor beleaguered Pluto came into our view – as was Saturn long ago.  This is a time to make WONDERFUL changes that you have been avoiding. No excuses anymore.

Here is my Pluto in Capricorn note: I get so many questions about the world falling apart around us and keep having to say Pluto in Capricorn gang – so I decided to add a little periodic Pluto note to my blogs. Pluto in Capricorn brings changes to authority structures. We saw that with President Obama’s election and the subsequent Tea Party backlash. We saw it with the banking system collapse. Now we are seeing it with the police. Change is not always good – I don’t’ think any long term good has come from the banking collapse – we are still destroying the middle class. Will that be the change or will we adopt more populist movements in the upcoming years? That is up to us! 

The Astrology Of Downton

The last episode of season four of “Downton Abbey” aired in the United States. (Darn those short British seasons.) Despite starting a bit slow for me it ending in full Downton splendor and it got me to thinking about the astrological makeup of the main characters. All great fictional characters have strong astrological characteristics. I mean, is there a more perfect Aries than Scarlett O’Hara?
So, who are those people of Downton? Let’s start with my favorite character and the matriarch, The Dowager. Shooting from the hip with all due and undue honesty yet able to be rather sneaky when needed, she is a good example of a Sagittarius rising with a Scorpio Sun.
Her son, “His Lordship,” being stubbornly stuck in the past and very much in love in opulence is a double Earth sign influence. I vote for Capricorn rising and a Taurus Sun.
Cora Grantham, his wife, the American who is very comfortable in English peerage has many planets, Sun and Mercury at least, in the 9th house – the house that deals with foreign travel. That Sun is in Aquarius, which gave her the impetus to move far from her roots. However, what attracted her to Lord Grantham was that shared Taurus because that is her rising sign.  Her gentle elegance and her true love for the land has to be from Taurus! Cora’s mother, is another Sagittarius rising – which is why she battles the Dowager. However, she is all Aries sun – she never backs down from, in fact searches out a good fight.
Mary has got to be heavily loaded with Leo. Her regal haughtiness, her ability to be self-centered all point to Leo rising. That fuels her love of money but her love for Downton itself and her insistence on formality and rules makes her a good candidate to be a Capricorn Sun.
Her hapless sister Edith is so Pisces. She just doesn’t “get it.”  Living is so complicated and she is so good at being victimized she can be nothing but Pisces rising. With her self-doubt and self-criticism, Edith is someone with a strong Virgo Sun.
What about some of the more colorful servants. Mrs. Patmore is all Cancer – motherly, warm and a great cook – Cancer rising with a Libra Sun that helps her balance between the upstairs and downstairs so easily.
Mr. Carson – is nothing but Virgo. Come on! He is disciplined, persnickety, and organized to his Virgo core. However, I think his budding romance with another Virgo Sun, Mrs. Hughes, will bring out his softer side no matter how deeply buried. Carson may have Virgo rising and a Virgo Sun but I think he has a Libra Moon that makes him a bit human – sometimes.
Tom is a confused Gemini rising with a Cancer Sun. He is very good at being vocal about his causes but when he lost his heart after his wife’s death, he sought comfort in her family.

Oh and yes Mr. Bates, the self-admitted brooder who has a shady side despite being sexy as hell and often victimized by outside forces is Scorpio rising with Pisces Sun. Still waters do run deep and he is all water sign. His beloved Anna, Cancer rising, she needs water to appeal to Bates, and a self-deprecating Virgo Sun. 

Full Moon Tonight

Tonight, February 25th is the so called “Ice Moon,” the February full moon. Of course, if you live in the D.C. area  you get no snow or ice or winter…but I digress.

A moon is “full” when it is furthest from the Sun. As you can see in the chart below, the Moon is tucked away in the 12th house and all the way across the chart, the Sun is in the 6th. When the Moon escapes the light of the Sun it can shine most brightly over us.

The Moon is in Virgo in the 12th, the house of secrets. Remember too the we are in a state of retrograded Mercury. So please, please watch for communications missteps, words not said or words expressed in anger instead of peace. This is the time to think twice before criticizing and bringing up old hearts and to really, really think before you speak!

How Pluto in Capricorn is WikiLeaks?

courtesy of Arlenew.com

Whatever you think of the whole Wikileaks thing whether it is treason or the height of patriotism — from an astrological stand point it epitomizes the concept of Pluto in Capricorn. When Pluto moves into a new sign, something it does every 15 to 20 years, it brings change to society – to the world — in the area that sign fuels.For instance, when Pluto was in Virgo in the early 1960’s we saw the rise of environmental movement and the “feminization of the workplace.” Virgo rules health and healthy eating and day to day work situations. When it later moved into Scorpio we saw the sexual revolution. Then when it went into Sagittarius we saw the rise of the “New Age” and spiritual movement. Each sign also has a shadow aspect – to every yin there is a yang.  The rise of fundamentalism was the shadow of Pluto in Sagittarius, AIDS the tragic shadow of Scorpio.

Pluto brings to the front those things that were hidden. Women came behind the apron with Virgo. People with different sexual persuasions did during Scorpio’s reign and those with alternative religious beliefs during the spin in Sagittarius.

Now that it is in Capricorn we will see changes in structures that hold society together. First, we saw the collapse of the financial system, then, thankfully, we saw the election of the first African American President. What must come to the foreground now are those things that governments, banks and other authority figures wanted to keep hidden… ta da… Wikileaks.

Pluto just moved into Capricorn in 2008 and will be there until 2020 so it will be a long interesting ride. The  last time it was in Capricorn was during the American and French Revolutions. See what I mean?

Happy New Year all.

Vesta – The Fire Inside

The smallest but most determined asteroid goddess is Vesta. To the Greeks, she was Hestia who is actually the woman pictured in the Virgo the Virgin glyph. When the Romans took over the world, they renamed her Vesta and depicted her as the goddess of the hearth and the keeper of the sacred flame. (Remember the Vestal Virgins?) I, like a growing number of astrologers, assign Virgo rulership to Vesta. Poor Virgo doesn’t have its own ruling planet…Scorpio finally got Pluto but Virgo and Taurus are so far without rulers. However, Vesta’s dedication to a cause despite the hardship it causes her, the organized way she goes about keeping the fires burning – all sound Virgoan to me – and why else would the ancients make Virgo Virgin the picture of Hestia?

Simply, Vesta in a person’s horoscope indicates where their burning heart’s desire rests — some inner burning fire…for me it is in the 12th house. Duh — twelfth house our connection to the universe– astrologer – hello! Seen in the first house, it would be a dedication to self-goals -often to the exclusion of long-term relations with others. In the fifth house, it will give a dedication to artistic and creative goals. The eleventh house placement would lend a person to be dedicated to group humanitarian efforts — remember Jane Addams?

Vesta is the little but bright asteroid that keeps our inner passion and inner dedication burning. Someone with a strongly aspected Vesta will give up everything to achieve their goal – family, sex, society— everything! Now that doesn’t happen in too many charts but it gives you some idea of how intense she can be.

Girls will be girls. Don’t mess with them when they are set on something!