Between the Moon - 6. New Moon in Virgo Magic in the Mundane with Susan Lipshutz

Episode Date: August 24, 2022

In today's episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Susan Lipshutz from Everyday Medicine Woman to discuss and explore the themes of Virgo season and this particular Virgo New Moon. We look at the personal and universal expressions of the archetype and address some of the labels and stereotypes of the Virgo energy. When considering the inquiries for this mutable earth sign in combination with the upcoming Mercury Retrograde, you might consider asking:What's the health status of my relationships?What do we need as a remedy for what's going on?What wants to support the healthier practice of my life?Susan and I also do a kind of planetary roll call of checking in with Mercury and Venus in particular towards the end of the conversation. You can find Susan at her website: www.everydaymedicinewoman.com or on Instagram @susanlipshutz. Susan Lipshutz, LCSW has been a pioneer trailblazer in the field of Integrative Psychotherapy, women’s empowerment and soul level mentoring for over 35 years. Consultations are tailored to the needs of the individual offering a blend of her training in a wide range of clinical therapeutic approaches with a deep exploration that widens our understanding of the greater self via an astrological, spiritual and mystical perspective. Devoted to building meaningful communities that reawaken and integrate the sacred feminine into daily life, Susan invites a reclaiming of each woman’s ancestral wisdom, inner guidance and innate understanding of true beauty via a weaving of practices and teachings inspired by many years of dedicated work with global wisdom keepers and evolutionary teachings. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit themoonismycalendar.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome, dear listener, to Between the Moon, a podcast about self-study in relationship with cycles. I'm your host, April McMurtry, founder of The Moon is My Calendar. In today's episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Susan Lipschitz from Everyday Medicine Woman to discuss and explore the themes of Virgo season and this particular Virgo new moon. We also do a kind of planetary roll call of checking in with Mercury and Venus in particular. I first learned about Susan's work through the Moonwise podcast that's hosted by Dorothea Royale and I was really drawn to the way that Susan weaves in story and and archetype and just really making meaning in a contemporary context,

both looking back and looking forward and being informed by the archetypes. She also works one-on-one in her practice in the field of integrative psychotherapy, focusing on women's empowerment and soul-level mentoring. and she really brings in this deeper understanding of the personal and the universal and connecting with the greater self through astrological and spiritual and mystical perspectives. Actually, for my birthday one year, I gifted myself a session with her, and it led to me going horseback riding, something I'd always wanted to do, this experience of freedom and connection with such a beautiful animal and was just encouraged

in so many ways to take the symbols and stories into lived experience. And so that crossing over from the conversation into waking life. So I am so grateful for her perspective and guidance and just the shared love of the moon. So I hope you enjoy our conversation and find the inquiries helpful and also just remembering that Virgo really is making the mundane sacred in our daily lives through this lens of what we repeat over time we become and we embody. And so taking a look at What are the things that you really want to shift into and begin to embody? And Susan gives some great, really wonderful ideas and suggestions. So without further ado, I want to welcome you, Susan, to this conversation for between the moon.

The intention really is to have conversations in that liminal in between space, what the new moon offers. us is this space between the worlds. One cycle is ending and we get a little bit of time before one really begins before the moon shows herself anew. And so this is our first new moon recording since the podcast have been released on the full moon with the kind of energy of visibility. So I'd love to just explore this season. of Virgo, when the sun moves into Virgo, then the new moon that follows is in the same sign. So we get this Virgo chapter. And then all of the other astrology that that weaves its way in and out that's unique from year to year in season to season that we get these unique signatures. And what I found

that you are so good at and so skilled at weaving those archetypes in a way that can be applied and understood in our lives to help us possibly make sense of some of what we're experiencing and to give some guidance for, you know, what is some of the big picture, some of the themes that might be coming up and really just get a chance to kind of be in conversation, feel into what are the messages that the moon might have for us now? As I was preparing and thinking about our conversation, it's almost like doing roll call, like in the classroom. Like, all right, Pluto, are you here?

Where are you? Neptune, are you around? Okay, raise your hand. I can't see you. Each of the planets. I don't know. Do you do this for yourself tuning in and paying attention to astrology? There's so much to keep track of because we're constantly everything is in motion.

And so doing this little roll call of like, I do that with the moon, like, where's the moon right now? Okay. What phase? What sign? Where am I right now is sort of this grounding way of grounding? I'm wondering where you might want to begin in exploring some of that roll call about sort of the whereabouts of the weaving of this time. Well, first of all, I want to thank you so much for including me. inviting me in to this beautiful space that you're creating. And I know that there is a community

that you serve, which I think is a really keynote word for Virgo and that you have a Virgo moon. So honoring your deep understanding of the relationship between, you know, how this particular sign really imbues itself onto that inner luminary that lives within you. And then, you know, also touches us in a deeper way. We have this experience, a rich experience, with a new moon. Because, again, we always have, as you say, touching in to getting kind of a, just with regularity checking and seeing what sign is the moon in and what phases the moon in. With, you know, the blessing of these apps, it's a very easy, like a three second thing that we can do.

that just lets us kind of have this relationship of understanding those, the different kind of way in which we can help get feedback and get information that also can inform us. You know, in like you say, that placement of ourselves as not only in, where am I going today, but kind of what are the different ways in which I can collaborate or I could see could be a way in which I need to reset myself, you know, in those sense, in the way in which we're being informed kind of like a weather app, you know, the moon app and all those as the closest to us. And so the one that we have a real relationship with in that way, you know, because it is

accessible and we can so easily see the moon. I always laugh and you see that when I post. I'm just, you know, I have to hold myself back not posting the phases of the moon. It's like, I think we can all remember that first time. we looked up as little kids and saw the moon and what it meant to us. And it just gets no less magical. And I know for me, I mean, it always stops me and I stare when I, like I'm seeing the moon for the first time. And it's so exquisite for that, depending on again, everything that's happening around that experience. So it's compelling. And I think the more we develop this

relationship with the accessibility of the moon. And so with that in mind, it keep like the sense of the entire life cycle happens in the course of one month, right? And so with the new moons, I think that they're, as you said, and I love the way you always call us into this saying, this is a moment when the moon is hidden. And that really is a natural time for us to go within into our inner sanctuary and to allow that to be the case. And so we have such active lives and so on so many different levels that to keep in mind the importance, it doesn't matter what we do, but that we really acknowledge these new moons as

reset moments and the balsamic where it's like that day before where everything is dissolving but the essence of what we've been through. And it's like a time between worlds, like before we're born or after we pass. You know, it's really that moment of being essence and essence and then kind of the reset of what might be some of the, like you say, the key themes that we want to kind of get a sense of how it's going to work with us through the course of the month. And then to keep in mind as we begin, meaning the lunar month, that we move through. And even though every year we have a new moon in, you know, in Virgo,

just like in every sense of chapter of the book, it's unique. It's unique because of where it falls and the dates. It's unique about the interaction and the dance of all the other planets. And like you said, the roll call of what's happening in the sky and where is everybody? And I think, you know, especially those outer planets because the outer planets are invisible, they're further away.

And so their impact on us, you know, again, depending on how much we study and we kind of have that understanding, which I laugh because every time I learn more, I know less. But I have an experience of all this. So, you know, I think that all of that makes a difference, you know, as you say. And so for me, with the new moons, when it's the sun and the moon coming together and just looking at sometimes we can have these experiences where we'll have, you know, five planets. We have those a couple times a year, right? Or five planets will be in the same time with the new moon because it's the sun and the moon and sometimes mercury and we'll have, you know, lots of planets and we'll have asteroids. And I think this time, Mercury's even gone on to Libra because Mercury is getting ready to retrograde.

So I think this is a time where it's really the sun and the moon together in this moment of Virgo, you know, and in this moment of the experience of coming together and starting this limination. So if I can and just keep going just for a minute, if that's okay with this in this conversation, you know, Virgo to me, I just, the more I get to know and really surrender into the wisdom and the magic, I really love, I just love and appreciate and bow to the Virgonian kind of impact and signature and medicine because Virgo really draws the life map. And Virgo really holds us to, it's, you know, it's that, again, in that polarity of what's on the other side of Virgo, which is Pisces, which is all that is and the great philosophies

and the spiritual understandings and, you know, and great faith and pontification. But, you know, Virgo has kind of got hands crossed going, okay, and what are we going to do about it? Are we going to apply this? Are we going to make it real? You know, and I think about the indigenous perspective of if you can't grow corn with the teachings, if you can't make them applicable so that you can't, they are real and they're sustainable and they offer the world something or your communication. or your community, what good is it? You have to get out of your head or out of the dream and create

the dream into form. So I think Virgo really holds us to that. And so I think that's really important, although it often results in everybody feeling or the people around the Virgo, you know, either kind of looking to Virgo to handle it for them or, you know, or the sense of the Virgo not really, you know, because it is so much to serve, to be of assistance, to be valuable, that ultimately can really, you know, self-sabotage because Virgo's just keep giving and giving until they got nothing. And then there can be that, you know, kind of experience of really being on fumes and some, dare I say, resentment for, you know, how did it get so far? And it's like, well, you didn't ask or you kept giving or we thought you were okay. So it's, you know, it's kind of an

interesting dynamic. But Virgo to me, again, when you're saying like do the roll call, when we have this moment where they come together and have this conversation of the sun, which is that, you know, sense of that which sustains with the luminary of the moon that's saying, okay, and we're going to bring this forward. You're going to bring sun this forward in shining the medicine or the experience of Virgo through the, through the lunation is everything. else is going on and then the moon is going and we'll have the emotional tone of this or as we grow whatever we seed you know in this new moon and plant those seeds and that soil that mutable earth which is fergo right so it's mutable earth and and and ruled by mercury and so applying what we've

shared and what we know and what we want to communicate so i think it's just a beautiful sort of next step right with between Leo, which is Sun, going, I'm here. And it's like just this blossoming season of growing and being creative and playful and out there. And then, you know, Virgo going, okay, now let's kind of get us ready for the invitation of the changing of the seasons. And let's gather everything we've grown. And let's make something, you know, let's can everything that we have. or let's, you know, kind of gather all the seeds or put the flowers together. Let's make it so there's a legacy and let's really use everything for the benefit of everyone. So when you grow a lot, it's like, you know, coming over to everybody's house with basil and tomatoes and going, you know, you want this?

Like I've grown too much. So I think it is a time of the year, too, where we're assessing all of that. So, yeah, so I think Virgo, some of those key notes that we think about when the new moon is happening in Virgo is. is to me it's healer and it's what is the healing crisis sometimes that occurs so we can awaken to our medicine that Virgo wants to help us alchemize into something that works for us into rather than deplete us. Yeah. And I could keep going. So let me pause and see what this means for you as I'm just beginning and that idea of what I was feeling into and then what we might think about for this lunation. Yeah, that's, it's beautiful, just in that way that you're speaking of

the relationship and speaking of both on the, you know, in one hand of being of service and, and really sharing the abundance of whatever harvest is coming through, you know, seasonally in the northern hemisphere of what do I have excess of that I can, that's the overflow of the giving. and also what happens to over-identify with one's value and worth coming through being the one who helps others, you know, and looking at the ways that Virgo can like flare up. You know, that can, because also being ruled by Mercury and my understanding, too, of like, how to alchemize that earth element that's immutable. So there's an energy of wanting to shift and change things.

I often think of this in my own life of like, I need to rearrange the furniture. Shake things up a little bit. Things feel just too stuck or heavy in that mutable earth is how do things get rearranged in a personal sphere, at least. And then the flare up being the overactive mind of what Mercury can do when things start to really get momentum and get going. You know, how beautifully the earth is there to balance that. but it is holding attention of how does that more air-like quality exist within an earthiness? And this is some of, you know, the beauty of seeing the astrological signs through that lens of their elemental nature.

Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think as you were, you know, talking about that in terms of flare-up, also, you know, with mercury in the mind. and then also the immature brain that's also talked about in the gut and that Virgo can be associated with the esophageal and the abdominal and digestion. It's like, yeah, of course. So that, again, mind-body flare up of when you're, you know, Virgo really, again,

asks us to process what we've learned like from the Gemini Virgo, you know, that Gemini Virgo connection with Mercury. And then it's like what we haven't had a consciousness. of what we're processing. So in some ways, it could be the gut wisdom, but the other end of that is, you know, flaring up in that area of digestion or the ways in which we're not processing and what aren't we processing.

And then what's the impact that, like you say, in that mind-body connection, when it's one way conscious and then the other way, you know, we're not kind of keeping in touch with it too. The ways that the body or the minds kind of can really, this can be a season or a little. in that way, that that can really go on. And, you know, something else I think about when we get back into like Virgo is

Virgo is the woman. It's a goddess, the goddess of the grain, you know, the goddess of the wheat, the goddess of the harvest. And so, you know, how beautiful that is because then it really speaks of Virgo, the Virgin. And when we take that into more of the mystical, it's the Virgin whole unto herself. And so when you talk about the new moon and Virgo being go within, you know, I really think about where is our inner goddess that we reset with and that we really understand not so much that

high priestess goddess, but she says this is the goddess of the grain, you know, the, the goddess that holds court in the every day. And so this is maybe that, you know, the goddess that lights the candles for or the torches for the temple for the high priestess. But, you know, there would be all darkness if she didn't tend to her daily functions. You know, the mundane, Virgo can really get that bad rap. Like, oh, it's the mundane. It's so heavy. It's like, it's the daily ritual, you know.

It's so spiritual, you know, and the value of the daily ritual. And that sense of reconnecting to that inner goddess for ourselves. that rejuvenation of wholeness and the sacredness and the sanctity of wholeness, you know, in that earthly way and the self-care way, right? Like she's the goddess of the grain. So it's like, absolutely. So of digestion, of self-care, of tending to the self. And like you say, the irony is Virgo so often is the overfunctioning, which can move

unfortunately into like a victim martyr mode. if it doesn't have that signature of boundary and self-care. And I think that's sort of like the shadow aspect and the greatest element of, you know, kind of watchfulness, wherever Virgo is in the chart and for individuals who have, you know, a little bit more significant placements throughout their life with Virgo. Yeah. I'm thinking, too.

I'm like two things just to kind of loop back to of that, even just using the word processing, both that inner processing of digestion, of breaking down something into smaller pieces, Virgo being able to handle that kind of minutia, the very most detailed granular, which is what happens in our digestion of what gets broken down really to be what is the nourishing parts that then we get to assimilate. And that just, yeah, connects back to you're saying of that, what is it, that the wholeness that's, that's always, just like with the moon, there's, the wholeness is always, that's always the intactness. And yet we get shown and seen from the different angles, these phases that seem like less than whole or parts of the whole,

that the container is always there, but we get the maybe the only visibility of parts. So that inner process and then the outer process of like you said of the canning of the making medicine of what are you know what's in abundance are there i was on a walk the other day and so all these rose hips and it's a california wild rose and the bright red juiciness of these rose hips that haven't yet dried out just so drawn to that abundance of this offering yeah i guess i just had this moment of like, oh, these rose hips want to be processed into something, into medicine, into some form. That can be that call for Virgo to see what's available and what form it might want to take to

then become something that's nourishing or healing. Yeah. And I see that. And, you know, as you're speaking about it, it makes me think about, you know, because the mutable sign as you spoke about, you know, is really like the grout or the bridge. between the fixed signs, which are the endurance of the center of the seasons. And then we have, you know, the cardinal, which are the call to action for the change of the season. And here, like you say, it's like what wants to be utilized. And so in a way,

you're offering that in the spirit of a Virgo kind of, you know, offering in the sense, is like, okay, like you said, briar and seller, like I want to bring these. This is, this, this can be utilized. And if the birds aren't able, if they're not using it and the two leg is needed or there is someone that we can offer this to, you know, I want to be able to facilitate that.

So that's a very much of a sense of how to bring this so that it's available to those in need, which again has a quality of healership. You know, and I think, you know, I think about to that notion of Virgo and where does it live. Like if we get into the minutia of like the house systems and going the sixth house, right, is the natural house of Virgo. So kind of what's transiting that.

But I think with that experience of when we have experiences with Virgo transits or planets or science, or in this, we talk about the Virgo season starting with the sun moving through and the new moon moving through with Virgo, it can be a time because it's a time to cleanse. It's a time to purify. It's a time to purify. It's a time to to take health status and that can be like you say physical status. It can be mental health. It can be spiritual. It can be emotional.

But with that in mind, I think these are great questions as we begin the new moon is what is the health. And we do have, as we're talking about the uniqueness of this particular lunation is on the ninth. So a little bit further in, in the lunation, we will be having the beginning of a mercury retrograde. cycle. And that will begin in Libra and then it'll back up, I think I'm near the end of the month

to moving into Virgo. And so I feel like it's going to begin because Libra is so much about relationships that it's going to ask us, what is the health of our relationships. You know, but I think in general, Virgo always. And it's great if it's academic, right? Like we can sit down and go, oh, yes, I'm going to ask these prompts. But a lot of times the way, you know, just the way the planetary energies move is that it presents with some form. Again, I'm not using necessarily the word crisis, but attention to the element and area. Like for me, I'm noticing already the area that Virgo is showing up. And I think this returates going to be my lessons is what is the health of the minutiae

of my business because I noticed that with technology and areas that I just took for granted that are really showing up right now that I didn't tend to. And they have nothing to do with the work because that's the area. I always got like, you know, what is the quality of the work? You know, I'm changing where my office is. And so it's like, gee, I neglected before I canceled the phone to let Google know before I change the phone. So now I'm in Google jail because they won't change my phone.

It's like, seems silly, but it's like this is a big problem. And I really feel like Virgo and then the, you know, that feedback mechanism is like you're not tending to the garden, you know, some aspect of your garden. And this is going to then require a lot of attention to that area. And I often think about like our bodies or our minds. And it's like it can be anything in the purview or scope of our life that the beauty of, so to speak, of these these lunations in transits is that they go where the need is. They spotlight that, right? Yeah, the spotlighting the need. And so for people, and thinking about, you know, their familiarity with their own chart.

So one of the places to look then is what house Virgo rules. And then also where in particular, in the personal way, where is the Virgo? In your chart? Yeah. Yeah. Where is the Virgo in the chart? And then the noticing and the seeing what unfolds and what gets our attention, whether we like it or not, whether we're going to try to resist it or not,

or see the opportunity of really in the way that each sign in each house invites us, this invitation of maybe what has been set aside or not given, not tended to. It's like the yearly, if we imagine going through the areas in our life, it's like the yearly time to address the Virgo concerns and then the particular their house concerns. I like to think of these four stages of awareness that have been spoken about by different people in other ways, but this understanding of being blindsided by something where it seems

to come out of the blue and wreak havoc and then getting to a place of a little more, okay, hindsight, oh, now, okay, I can look back and see and understand that's what was happening and then moving into that a little foresight of the planning of, okay, this is the Virgo season. It's the changing of the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere. It took me many years to realize, you know, one of the things I associate with Virgo is that rhythm. It's the daily rhythm. You know, some people can call it routine. I have an aversion to things that are routine. So I needed another word that I could embrace. And that is rhythm. that there's a resetting of the rhythm of that whatever the rhythm was of summertime.

It's a slow movement, but when it's like all of a sudden, it's when that hindsight or blindsided of having the season come all of a sudden, and then in my household at least, everyone would be sick. We'd all have something because there wasn't attending to the change of rhythm, the change of the season and that gradual nature that can kind of sneak up. So that's just, that's sort of one thing to then have the insight. That's kind of the four stages as I've experienced them and like to think of them as then having some insight to be able to look ahead and see, oh, this is my pattern. This is how I need to address things.

situations are going to come up in life that will challenge those that skill set to hopefully become more skilled almost like in all of these archetypes and I imagine there's maybe a way that you relate to them too is like that Virgo skill set that whether or not we have particular placements or planets in the sign there's a skill set that goes along with Virgo that really has can have to do a lot with what are the healthy daily rhythms that tend to the health of whatever it is, whether it's a relationship, the physical body, the health of the details of business. But yeah, I wonder if there's anything else in thinking of that that comes through for you. You know, for me, what I've been noticing, I've been approaching this idea of what I don't know or what I'm curious about in almost like the nuance of each sign lately in a way.

Like how does this so, not assuming, right? So it's this sense of, oh, I'm so curious to, you know, kind of have an experience of how this individual embodies Capricorn or how this individual. you know, because I think we all get either defensive or protective or falling in love. Like I think even, for example, you know when periodically those articles come out saying, the signs have changed. There's another sign now. I don't know if you ever see that. Like in the, you know, and Google. Like the 13th, like there's another. Yeah, there's some sign. And everybody all of a sudden goes, no, you're not letting go. I'm a centurias or whatever it is. Even though most of the time

they want to be, you know, you want to be something else. It's like all of a sudden, when someone gives you an opportunity to change your, your reference point or identification. and then it's like, no, no, don't do that. But I think it gets back into a lot of times, either we romanticize like anything else, right, a sign. And sometimes we feel that another sign is we've got either like anything else a bias. And so I do hear that a fair amount with stereotyping about Virgo.

And I'm sure you do too, just in a sense of perfectionistic or controlling or something of that nature. and so someone will then talk to me about their Virgo placements like, in a sense, or themselves in that way. That might feel like self-conscious or it's a bad rap or defensive. A little of what you were saying when people come to you and have those stereotypes of a particular sign, whatever it is, how potentially damaging that can be for our own sense of self to be labeled in a way or have this association with something and not, quite know what to do with it or do about it or where it may stem from. And something like, you know, what's labeled as hypochondria, not to make light of it because there's something that's

very deep there that is a concern for health and a concern for well-being and a wanting to know, how do I come to a state of equilibrium or come to a state of acceptance of what is and what are the tools that are there that whether it's plant medicine or through crystals or through Western medicine or whatever that might be is like what can I work with what's available to support health and well-being? What I've come to really sort of appreciate about Virgo and really offer individuals that I work with that are that either a sun or moon or rising in Virgo is just to to really appreciate and own the beauty of Virgo and the importance of Virgo. Because I look at Virgo as like the wheel, the water wheel or the windmills or they, you know,

they really have that ability of kind of just bringing everything together. And like you said, the erration, even though it's an earth sign, because it's got this assignment to be, to apply what we know. And so whether it's the map or it's making things work. And so I think in the desire for that, what happens a lot of times is that the Virgo's that I work with often will present as those that might be the most that feel, you know, kind of caught up in repetitive action or really have a lot of anxiety that's worry. And it's just because it's that sense of it kind of gets like a wind tunnel. or again, it doesn't have the ability to appreciate that everything that they can see that might need to get done or perfect isn't necessarily a possible when we factor in the human circumstance. So then they kind of hold the burden, almost like a library of information, again, Mercury around, but there's so much else that can be done.

So a lot of times they'll say, I'm not perfect. You should see how messy my houses. And I'll say, yeah, but I think it's more the idea of how much better anything could be. So the idea of perfecting like a verb as opposed to being perfectionistic. And so that's sort of a little bit of a relief for them to hear, you know, and that you've got to keep this moving and not stay in that wind tunnel that and then inevitably often, like you've said, because it is ruled by mercury, the default mode is it goes either to the gut and they feel always perpetually like I'm allergic or I don't feel well. or I'm not digesting well and and or like the mental kinds of, you know,

repetitive thinking or intrusive thoughts or things of that nature. And so how to how to work with that. But I think Virgo, you know, Virgo perfect. So I know that the greatest amount of work I ever actually got into something that was a written form that was usable was when the person who was my assistant at the time and coordinator was Virgo. And she just, she didn't push me in a, in a bad way. It was just like, let's keep going. This is great. Send me more. Let's keep going.

Right. I'm sending this back to you. But it was just, you know, really cut my feet to the fire in a beautiful way of I'm with you and I'm going to, you know, work this out and then we're going to get this done. So and it was really attending, like you say, to the detail that enabled me to kind of, you know, kind of get it to the other side. And so I think Virgo, if we look around, like I said, you know, in that notion of, you know, the goddess that lights the torches, that that's such an important, beautiful kind of assignment. So, you know, I think with Virgo, that's the way I've been looking at it is if we can reframe it.

And so in this Virgo season, if we can look at something, at this opportunity to say, if I had a seed in my hand, that was for my physical well-being or my, my, my mental well-being, my familial well-being or my relational, like what needs attention from me? And how can I serve that? Because Virgo is to serve, you know, and how can I serve others and how can I serve myself? So sometimes reflecting back to when those last full moons or new moons were in Virgo, give us a real key into either our, and like you said, there's something about that rhythm that I really love to. So it's that wheel of life, right?

Like, okay, every year we know we're going through the mutables and the, you know, the cardinals and the fixed in every element. And then also the new and the full moons as they correspond with one another and talk to each other, then we can kind of get a sense. Because I think, you know, I look at astrology a lot of the time is we learn where we, we need to know where we've been and know where we're going. So it's a study about historical or, you know, ancestry as much as where we're going. If we just keep going future forward and predictive, it really is only half the story.

Yeah. As you were speaking, I was thinking of this echo in the way you're like how new moons and full moons talk to each other and having that practice of self-study and having the practice of self-study in relationship with cycles, you know, not isolated from all of the other cycles that are happening. to listen to that echo of what was kind of brewing or being planted or coming into form, that there's always this development or exploration between seed and flour and fruit and what happens in between. I think that that call and response, like you said, around really getting a feel, when you were talking about, you know, kind of collaborating is what I was hearing. We never, like when you say things come out of the blue,

sometimes, you know, even like we're having a new moon, but the new moon is never the same new moon. We never step in the same river twice. So we know that there's a new moon in this particular sign. And we understand that there's going to be a particular kind of conversation and, you know, a quality to it as it relates to the concentration of the fact that the sun and the moon have come together to, to, in a way, collaborate. and our opportunity to focus on just what's going on in the most naturalistic way of, like we said, preparing for the season of fall, the invitation of the cardinal air of Libra that says,

okay, we're going back into the world from, you know, summer. And so we have these experiences, and this Virgo helps us get ready for it and help us to renew ourselves. At the same time, we just, we don't, you know, kind of the uniqueness of we've seen in this particular year that there have just been so many out of the blue things with particular other transits that we won't even get into, you know, that have to do it, Uranus and like you said, Pluto and, you know, major outer planetary conversations, squares and oppositions and ways that they're expressing themselves that also make the uniqueness for. the season very dynamic in its own process or has its own experience with that. But I think when,

like you say, to say, oh, okay, so I'm feeling like something is going on that is overshadowing or having an impact that I can't quite put my finger on my day-to-day life. Like you say, why are these things happening out of the blue? And then we lean in and then we look to see what's going on astrologically as simply as where is what's the moon. What's the, what's the sign the moon's in or how far is this lunation in play or you know how's that affecting my chart and what house you know vergo is in my chart and so that that sort of thing we we got a bigger cue in we can't stop it we can't outsmart it much as i've tried on many occasions but but what we can do is say what's the opportunity what am i really what am i learning here as long as it's happening

and how can I utilize it? And so, you know, two things. So one, I was thinking of when you were talking about burgo traits, you know, not only as adults, but I always think about particularly because they do one-on-one work with individuals. And so we're tracking the origin story or the source or the characteristics of an individual in their storyline and so forth. But their experience as children with that particular, you know,

really more significant, signature. And I think that a lot of times Virgo presents itself with kids. They can be sensitive kids and can be sensitive in the body or somatic experience. Because again, healing, healer, you know, that gut wisdom that they don't have the ability to communicate, even though it's ruled by mercury. And they need time out. They need to like be sensitively heard and sometimes have assistance with body translation, meaning the body saying something. And I think because a lot of times we're so busy and a kid doesn't feel well. And so then it's like we have to figure out what's wrong. Or we think, you know, there's nothing wrong. And it's like it's not about being wrong. It's about

they're trying to express and the body speaking for them, which is why I think in these circumstances having body workers that work with them that because that's what I found my children weren't Urgo, but I found with one in particular, it was having a body whisper that really helped go, okay, your body's trying to tell us X. And that was such a relief for the child because that we can't sometimes translate with our kids, you know, in that sense of how do we translate, help them with that, help them to translate it eventually for us. And so especially with kids, I think, that have strong Virgo features, they will often say to me that as children, they felt really what they needed was like they actually would disappear into libraries or books or organizing

their books or like a library you know it was like order out of chaos was soothing for them yeah um you know and i think those little like we talk about those rituals but a lot of times could end up feeling like there was an ailment that started to express itself and then they would get tagged as having like oh you have this or you have that ailment and i think we do that less than we did you know generationally I think we're getting wiser not to do that per se or to identify a child's conditions as limiting or weakness or yeah, or who they are. But I think that in some ways, because like we said, Virgo is really does. I mean, not only has a, I think has a mercury element, but has a chironic or chiron element in terms of if we got like really out there for a minute and said, okay, is this even blending through lifetimes that. something is longing to be healed or brought into form or expressed itself through a lifetime

to evolve, then a Virgo transit or a Virgo placement in a chart, like wherever Virgo is, can be a way in which we're trying to work it out or bring it forth. And so in that way, it's something that really deserves to be, like we talk about, Virgo wants to be applied, it wants to be the point come out, it wants to be the minutia, it wants to be understood, but not in a really complex psychological or even intellectual way. It wants to do it. And it's not about getting it over with. It wants a process. It's like it wants it to be organized and beautiful. Like I think so much about, you know, Leo seasons like again, like, you know, like the sunflower, right? It's so gorgeous and it's right out there. Whereas to me it feels like

Virgo is the cornstalk, which can seem so unromantic, you know, but it is the beauty of, you know, how you have to actually plant that cornstalk. Because if they're not in rows and they're not really well ordered, like the beauty of when you look at a cornfield and how it grows over time, it's the only way that it can be grow high and well over, you know, yearly and then it gets harvested. And so, and it's for everybody else. It has to be, can't just sit there, it'll die.

You know, it'll be picked off. It has to be, you know, there's a relationship to it. And so in that way for a Virgo to be, I think, well expressed over the course of a life, they need to be of service like we just talked about. And so I think as a child, it can be really, I think, challenging if you don't have someone in your corner that is assisting, not putting something on you, but kind of giving you time and space to develop what your own signals are and what it is, how it wants to be expressed, and how it wants to be brought into service in the house even, like, has, you know, kind of, it's, to me,

I don't know if you would say this, that sometimes I think kids that are Virgo really want a job in the house, because it's calming for them to say, I have something to show up for and to be in service with, you know, that, again, not to put too much on them. But, and then also to be paid attention, too, because they take care of things. And then it becomes just like we, we just ignore it. And so I think that the way we function in community or in our family during Virgo season is time to spotlight ourselves. You know, like take what Leo was showing us and to say, you know, in those little ways, how we can really value, like tell ourselves all the beautiful ways we offer others that we are acknowledging that we want to tend to ourselves. And then what aren't we in order to take care of everybody? What if it may be like, you know, okay, we like you say, oh, there's such an abundance.

I'm going to give it to everybody else. And then to go, oh, you know what? There's a little, there's only a little left and that's actually supposed to be for me. And Virgo's have a hard time with that when someone else is in need. So it's like to say to ourselves, we're not being selfish and we're not turning a blind eye. We're not ignoring. We're care, self-caring. And then we're also giving that person an opportunity to show up.

we're always giving to others, they don't actually sometimes have that medicine or that information of saying, you know what, I also have to contribute my part to whatever might be. And how do we do that in that rhythm? So I think Virgo has so much to teach us. But it's, you know, I just again don't think that it's that, you know, kind of not a loud sign. it's you know it's it it just it's a it's it's we notice its input and its outcome but we don't kind of pay attention to what it really is which is the process. Something you said about even just acknowledging what is being cared for and how it's being cared for on that daily basis and I think about you know in my own home and also what's associated with the sixth house of animals, of the beings in our life that were also

caring for. And we already have one more cat than I had bargained for. And somehow it was just through this like this need that I saw for them to have something, someone to take care of that felt like they were relying on. They were, it was this like mutual kind of you help me calm down because you're a soft animal friend. They have another way of communicating, but yet there is this communication, taking a moment to acknowledge all that goes into that. There can be a tendency, and I see for myself, of, it's no big deal. Like, I want to do it anyway, or it comes naturally, or it feels good to have things organized. And so I'll show up for somebody else and organize their life. I'm like, well, my life, whatever, I can, I can, I can deal with it how it is. But oh, doesn't it

feel good to help someone up, like to see something just a process or a system or something, just be able to function and move more smoothly because attention and care has been thought into the right into the process. And I think for anyone, especially who's listening, who may have children that go back to school around this time or maybe already have the systems in place that are, you know, they are systems and structures that help things to flow, both in nourishment of what is the planning that's going into, what the meals are going to be. It just seems like at least what I've observed, the time of the year when that has particular, it's harder to let things slide without things really going downhill very quickly because of the

mutability and the changing and the need for shoring up and earth being that structure provider. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And I think that's why again, when we look at the set of sort of the gift of this time of getting us, like you say, when we're getting ready if we have kids or I think in a lot of ways, you know, because the fall has that, you know, the cardinal air of invitation of let's sweep forward into, you know, this, it's got more energy and it kind of aerates us and gets us moving into the changing of the seasons and Libra being that of relationship and interaction of that, you know, of the Libra of Venus, but Venus in that Venetian way of the of the engagement of one another.

And so Virgo says, well, in order to do that, we have to get our processes and our patterns and our, you know, get all of that habitual kind of tending to that will enable us to kind of make us successful, so to speak, in being able to then, you know, kind of move forward in that way. And again, just kind of thinking about this particular lunation, like we talked about, they're all unique.

And so I think a couple things, one, which tends to happen in the late, summer, early fall anyway, is that most of the outer planets, and I think the last one that went was Uranus before the new moon. But so all the outer planets are retrograde. So that evolutionary, big picture, you know, kind of really background, mysterious hallmarks that are going on, like an undertow, like, going, okay, you're not going forward. We're reviewing the beginning of the year. And as we're moving forward. And then we've got the, we've got mercury turning retrograde.

And we've got the other thing that I just want to make note of is before the moon went new, you know, that Mars went into Gemini and is going to be in Gemini for seven months. And so it's preparing for a Mars retrograde in the fall. But I'm saying that because Gemini is also ruled by Mercury and we're in Virgo. so and because when Mars goes retrograde, it has that slowing down of the fast planet in that area of Gemini. So I think we're going to have, again, this particular moment of the new moon in Virgo, because it's ruled by Mercury is saying, you know what, let's, like we said, let's really

pay attention to how you can establish yourself with patterns and rituals and processes and kind of a relationship with yourself, like your inner temple, if you think of your body as the temple of the goddess, and say, let's really see what needs to be, you know, tended to there, because there's going to be this ongoing review

around the health and well-being in lots of different facets of our life for the next months. And so I think this new moon, particularly with, you know, with the Mercury retrograde very soon, into it is is going to like you said maybe when we talk about what are the what are the things that might happen and we go all the things that can happen in a mercury retrograde but because it's starting in Libra it may start in what we discover I think particularly with the years we've you know we've had

gotten derailed with COVID as we're sort of reentering relationship more which is Libra and then going what's the health status of these relationships and these ways in which we now are interacting with people that we've gotten rusty with or uncomfortable by or need kind of want new patterns. Like there's just this, it's going to be interesting to compare notes after this particular time that this new moon wants us to be a little prophetic about what we're moving into and kind of open ourselves up to receive whatever will happen. Yeah. Yeah. One other thing that I have my eye on is Venus disappearing from the morning sky. So that is also going to happen this lunar cycle, having the Venus journey

around the sun to then disappear behind the sun. And that's until December. So when does that happen? That I have the dates of Venus disappearing from the morning sky, September 14th. Okay. Which will be just after the full moon and before. the equinox and then conjunct the sun October 22nd. So this journey behind the sun. And as we know, and as you and I spoke when Venus was disappeared in front of the sun, that's the retrograde time. And then this is the exterior or superior behind the sun conjunction, October 22nd.

and then returning as an evening star December 1st, just as our conversation began with, you know, talking about the new moon and speaking of the, even the outer planets and the things that we, that are in there, but we can't see. There is this theme and this feeling for me of what is hidden in plain sight,

what is actually presence, that there's a presence, but that the eyes, and that vision or faculty can't perceive or see. And I've just noticed how when Venus does disappear from the sky, I actually feel a closer connection to that the energy signature archetype of Venus during those times, during the disappearance. So it's an interesting time, I think, to feel into what's not visible.

but what is present and perhaps communicate through other senses and have a felt sense. I love that so much. And it reminds me of, you know, I think it's on the fifth that Venus goes into Virgo. And so it's again that feeling of the humble goddess that we're talking about with the goddess of the grain. And as you said, when you were talking about the mystery of the sky and that experience of what is the you know the what is is present but what can't be seen it's to me it's again what really what we're talking about with Virgo because Virgo is the body which we can't see in the body either right unless there's an x-ray or you know so it again is that as above so below so when you're talking about

you know it's like when it's you know in that invisible behind in similarly speaking when we're time, but even with Virgo children or that inner child within us, you know, in the sense of, I don't know how to say how I feel and with the body sensations or with what's going on, but I know something's in disequilibrium. And how do we translate that, you know, in a sense, or what is it we really need as the remedy for what's going on? And so a lot of times, whether we're on one side of it, where we're trying to decipher that for others or we're in it with ourselves, Virgo is another way to get to know that. And again, we think about the polarity of Virgo and Pisces. And Pisces is, you know, when we look across the polarity of it,

which will be the full moon, but Pisces is saying, yes, big and expansive and psychic and intuitive and no boundaries because we're all that is. And Virgo is saying, yes, and it's all in this body. you know, so, you know, as you're talking about these beautiful ways, it's that when we can appreciate, you know, what is all working together in accord. And then we also have this other side of it in our everyday 3D life, which can be like everything is working at cross purposes. And so it's like, well, how do I get straight with that?

And I think one way is the time out of the new moon. And saying, like you said, whatever's going on, especially like the day before the new moon. into the new moon and that day of the new moon, you know, just to really just consider it to be a day out of time. And asking that question that you posed and hopefully people listening have had some sense of inquiries that they want to have for themselves, what kind of, you know, whether it's a remedy or just a healing balm or a something that feels soothing or, or, you know,

can be worked with throughout the cycle. You know, as we've come to the closing of the conversation, I'm like, I want to go back and visit those rose hips because that's what has stood out to me. They called me. And so, you know, for each of you listening, seeing just even within your environment, the thing that wants to step forward that's calling to you that says, work with me. You know, I currently have, not currently, but I've built an aversion to the word use like use me use me only because it seems one directional of something being used um

of that how you want to work with the new moon how you want to work with whatever might be stepping forward in in support for that body mind um spirit absolutely and i think uh with that in mind you know again that's it's a great time especially with burgo with the um retrograde cycle of Mercury that reveals so much, of when you put the question out, and you then let the question be there, and you live in the unknown, like in living in which we're learning more and more,

the unknowable, how do we live in the unknowable? And so in that sense of what wants to support, like you say, what wants to support the healthier practice of my life, and then how I can be of service in whatever, in the, again, think about it, the systems. So my internal systems, my interactive systems, the bigger systems, that's very much Virgo and how we really become a student of the teachings and of the medicine and of the alchemy and all of that.

But, you know, Virgo is really saying it's an engagement at the most mundane level and that in the mundane is the magic, it is truly the practical magic of life. So just don't discount it. Thank you, Susan. It's such a pleasure. Thank you so much for this conversation. Oh, thank you. It's just such a joy to always be in your presence. And I always learned so much. So thank you. If you like this podcast, please subscribe, leave a review, share it with a friend, all the things to help it reach more people who will benefit in some meaningful way. I'm April, and I'll be with you next time on Between the Moon.