This retrograde season has been an intense one, and it’s as though we didn’t really get much of summer fun time this year. A new lunar cycle in Virgo is starting now, and we’ve got some opportunities to turn things around. But we must grab the reigns.
The New Moon Itself
New Moon Virgo hits peak intensity at 21 Vir 58’42” on September 14th, 2023 at 6:29:46 PM PDT / September 15th, 2023 at 1:39:46 AM UTC. This New Moon is in on of Mercury’s domains, and Mercury is finishing up its retrograde cycle within the next day. As Virgo is also the sixth sign of the zodiac, this lunar cycle will be challenging us to analyze our situations carefully, and to revise and review our obligations, our health concerns, and the mundane day-to-day tasks.
New Moon Virgo is in the third decan of Virgo as well, coloring this with a Taurean influence. Grinding away to pay the bills will be one focus of this lunar cycle, as well as our relationship with money and other resources, and how these themes play into our day-to-day concerns.
Sun conjunct Moon is the ever-present primary aspect of this New Moon. It’s a time for new starts, beginning new ventures, and dusting off those plans that have been sitting and waiting for awhile now. It won’t be as easy with Mercury still in reverse at the time of this New Moon, but the post-retrograde shadow phase will be in effect for much of this lunar cycle coming up. So set some good intentions and see what you can accomplish for the next four weeks.
Shifts Occurring Around this New Moon and Lunar Cycle
Mercury Retrograde Ends
Mercury retrograde will finally end on September 15th, 2023 at 1:21:09 PM PDT / 8:21:09 PM UTC. This will be doubly important as Mercury rules Virgo, and it’s been retrograde in its own sign this entire time.
The revisions and rethinks we’ve had to endure, especially since part of Mercury’s retrograde cycle coincided with the recent Venus retrograde, will start playing out more over the next few weeks. Themes that have required our attention will begin their conclusions up until around the following Full Moon as Mercury will exit its shadow phase on September 29th/30th.
Ceres Enters Scorpio
Ceres will enter Scorpio around 6:00 AM PDT on September 15th, before the Mercury direct station. Ceres is home and hearth, the bountiful harvest, and thus indicates the homestead and where we lay our head, so to speak. With it entering shadowy Scorpio, we’ll be facing themes within our home lives of debts, hidden matters, some occult vibes (appropriate with Halloween/Samhain season coming up), and of course the more steamy side of seduction, so perhaps some “marital bliss.”
Dejanira Retrograde Ends
157 Dejanira stations direct around 5:00 PM PDT on September 15th, making this a major day for reversals. Dejanira is the victimhood asteroid, and with it turning direct in Capricorn, we’ll need to keep an eye out for any off signals regarding our reputation and careers, as well as that stemming from institutional and governmental bodies.
Where we may have self-sabotaged before, now we must be more aware of external parties seeking to take advantage of us. Be on the lookout for government intrusion, micromanaging bosses, bossy clients, and those who would diminish us publically.
Other Aspects to the New Moon
Opportunities to be Seized
The New Moon in Virgo apexes an Earth Grand Trine from itself to Dejanira and Pluto in Capricorn, Uranus retrograde in Taurus, and is kited by a wide opposition to Neptune retrograde in Pisces.
There’s a lot going on here, so to break it down: an Earth Grand Trine is a Grand Trine in all earth signs (Virgo, Capricorn, Taurus). There’s a greater element of easy in terms of earth-elemental concerns such as stability, health, longer-term reputational concerns, and foundations.
Dejanira and Pluto are far enough away to not really be conjunct by themselves, and Pluto is very wide in its orb to the New Moon, but it’s close enough to be trine to the Sun, so I’m counting it. Pluto retrograde in Capricorn is unmaking and remaking matters regarding government, career when it comes to overseers and being managed, and of course our reputations. Dejanira here warns us not to let ourselves become victims by these very concerns. But the trine smooths this over somewhat at best. At worst, there’s an increased chance of inaction and letting things slide without addressing concerns.
Uranus retrograde in Taurus, meanwhile, is debilitated in this position normally. Uranus is an upstart, the rebel, and likes to change things up. Yet Taurus is stability, and shaking things up here can knock the house off the foundations at worst. The trine here to Uranus smooths that over as well, yet at the same time warns us to not ignore signs of unrest and disruption regarding our money and resources.
Neptune retrograde in Pisces draws the more expansive and deeper mental concerns, such as hopes, fears, and intuition inward. With the wide opposition to the New Moon, we’ll need to trust in our own abilities and power to take action where it makes sense to, while also being open to our gut feelings about matters.
There’s opportunity here for growth and getting new ventures off the ground. But we have to do the work. After all, one of the downsides of the grand trine is letting things slide and missing out on chances to make things better. Don’t slack.
Staving Off Retribution
New Moon Virgo sextile 128 Nemesis in Cancer is worth mentioning. We’ve probably had some worries and concerns on the home front and deep in our private lives regarding our health, our obligations, errands to run, and so forth. However, there’s less of a chance of a reckoning with the sextile here. Some consequences can be mitigated, and others smoothed over with this influence. Also, a greater chance of negating making enemies within the home is also highlighted here. Still, be diplomatic with others in your orbit.
Other Noteworthy Aspects During the New Moon
Watch Your Tongue
Mercury retrograde in Virgo apexes a Thor’s Hammer configuration with a sesquiquadrate to Dejanira in Capricorn, and North Node and Eris in Aries.
This is a little bit of a problem, as the sesquiquadrate functions somewhat like a square, but with more external factors. Other parties, particularly authority figures, will be challenging us much more than we’d like right now. This could also take place in the arena of litigation, employment contracts, targeting by HR, and so forth.
Eris conjunct North Node is already its own mess, what with a reported rise in Covid cases stemming form the Eris variant as one manifestation. (So far, I haven’t heard of anyone I know catching it yet as of this writing). This conjunction making a sesquiquadrate to Mercury denotes disruptive communications, documents, and perhaps some travel delays that will make getting our point across and errands we have to run more trouble than they need to be.
Overall, expect some pushback and delays in getting your more mundane tasks handled.
Mercury retrograde semisquare Nemesis also adds to this, as we may need to hash out communications and revise some agreements with adversarial figures. This could also be affecting our home life and our relationships with family members now, such as a past due bill rearing its ugly head. Work things out as best as you can.
Trouble in Paradise?
Venus and Juno in Leo square Jupiter retrograde in Taurus is another can of worms we have to watch out for. Venus and Juno both have to do with relationships in some way. Venus is more romance, idealized love. Juno is commitment, particularly marriage as an ultimate manifestation of this. Both of these together would normally be good for strengthening bonds, particularly in fun and sensual Leo.
That square to Jupiter, however, is messing things up for us right now. Jupiter is retrograde, forcing us to rely on our internal fortune and less on outward luck. And with Venus and Juno square Jupiter, there isn’t a lot of good luck to be found here. It could be setbacks, or missed opportunities. We’ll have to be more careful with how we approach things, and don’t expect to win the lottery with this aspect. And if you do happen to pull winning numbers, just be aware of how fast some lottery winners go bankrupt. So overoptimism and hubris is another potentiality. Be grounded.
Deciding on Some Fun
Venus in Leo sextile Mars in Libra is a little more fun. Mars is drive, passion, excitement, but it’s in Libra, a detrimental sign. So we have to be more aware of indecision and not being able to make up one’s mind. But the sextile to Venus helps smooth that over a bit. Some good fun may come to us, and maybe you meet someone. Getting them to make up their mind to go further, that could be tricky now.
Hidden Shenanigans
Black Moon Lilith in Leo continues to apex a Yod from Pluto retrograde and Neptune retrograde. Lilith is the hidden, the divine feminine, and female empowerment, as well as occult matters. There’s an element of fun that can be had in secret, or the desire to have fun and pursue recreation that’s buried. Some may be experiencing this by wanting “more.”
Pluto and Neptune in this yod suggests we need to be aware of structure not being stable and with governing institutions being unstable. Also, we’ll be seeing more signs that we’ll need our higher selves, our subconscious, and our deeper mental awareness to navigate. Be aware of societal shifts and changing social attitudes, and be ready to change with the times. This also denotes a time where women’s rights activism may need to do some of its work in the background, being ready later on when conditions are better. This may prove to be extreme, however.
Bonds Continue Trials
Pluto retrograde is still apexing a T-Square from the North Node in Aries and South Node in Libra. Even with Venus having gone direct now, there’s still heavy breakup energy here.
Aries North Node is interested in us pursuing and bolstering our own way in the world, to forge and strengthen our path to what we see as our greater destinies. Our goals, if you will.
Libra South Node is showing us where previous links and relationships have not worked out. Those weaker and fractured bonds are still in the process of dissolving, or probably should be dissolved if its doing much more harm than good and if there’s no hope of reconciliation.
Pluto retrograde squaring both of these indicates that we’ll be taking matters into our own hands and unmaking some bonds so we can advance our own truth and identities. Some of us won’t have a choice but to confront these issues.
Hoisted by His Own Petard
Chiron retrograde conjunct 1930 Lucifer in Aries semisquare Saturn retrograde and 3811 Karma in Pisces is an interesting set of aspects.
Chiron is the wounded healer, where we are wounded and also where we can heal. With it being retrograde in Aries, we’re examining and dealing with our own internal hurts, and hopefully moving forward from this past pain. And hopefully not inflicting more wounds to ourselves.
1930 Lucifer is pride. Pride before a fall is one theme of this asteroid. Combined with Chiron, there’s a potential of pride getting in the way and causing us to hurt ourselves. Conversely, we could be standing up with pride in ourselves and resolving to move on from previous pain.
The semisquare to Saturn retrograde in Pisces forces us to discipline ourselves and look at things realistically, instead of in a dreamlike state. Karma here with Saturn is doubling up on us reaping what we’ve sown. Sometimes our seeds were sabotaged, whether by ourselves or others. There’s also the possibility that we’re reaping some good rewards, but we don’t feel as proud about it. There’s a feel of the question “did the ends justify the means” here.
To Sum It Up
There’s some potential to recover and build for a new future with this lunar cycle. The question is, will we take the initiative and actually make the changes that we need to? Or are we going to be more idle than we need to be and let opportunities pass us by?
Let’s not be too proud to ask for help if we need it. At the same time, we do have to stand up on our own feet or however we’re getting around these days.
Make your own miracles this lunar cycle, and see what you can accomplish.
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