New Moon in Virgo, that “Back to School” Vibe
On Labor Day, we have a New Moon in the sign of Virgo. Everything about this New Moon captures the bittersweet emotions we experience at this time of year when we feel the urge to hold on to the relaxed summer vibes while simultaneously feeling an itch to get serious—to “get back to work."
It falls in Virgo II, a part of Virgo that involves the rigorous hard work of creating things or processes that are both useful and give pleasure. It plants a seed for us to undertake a new project in whatever house Virgo falls in our chart. (I’ll chat more about this later in the post).
The Tarot card associated with Virgo II is the 9 of Pentacles. The image below carries the nuanced energy of this decan of Virgo. A woman of grace and beauty standing in a perfectly tended garden of mature grape vines, ready for the harvest. The deeper meaning of the card is revealed when we see beyond the perfection that appears on the surface to the reality of the long, hard hours of work that were required to yield the bountiful crop that appears in the image.
9 of Pentacles, Rider-Waite Tarot
People born with planets in Virgo II are often devoted to creating and perfecting things in the material world that are both practical and pleasurable. This could be the artisan who makes the ideal Chef’s knife which slices and dices to perfection at the same time it is pleasing to the eye, the project manager who spends hours studying workflow and creates a flawless process for handling customer orders that eases the burden on staff, or the parent who perfects the bedtime routine, creating a space for the family to “be” with each other at the end of the day.
This is my husband Michael’s favorite knife. He loves to cook and bought this knife when we were in Vermont touring the artisan’s workshop.
At the same time, the New Moon chart contains energy that suggests we may have to let go of some of our dreams of lazy summer days before we find the energy to launch a new project. Mercury, which rules the Virgo New Moon, is in Leo, a sign that carries a playful, childlike quality. Mercury rules our thinking and communication, so while our hearts may sense it is time to get to work, our minds may need time to catch up.
Neptune, the god of dreams, “zoning out,” and deep chill vibes, is also in an exact square to Mars, the god of war, assertiveness, and extroverted desire in the New Moon Chart. When Neptune squares Mars, we may lose motivation; we may lose our drive to get to work and want to settle back into the dream.
With Venus conjunct (right next to) the South Node in the chart, we may also have to do some letting go before we can settle into the task the New Moon calls us to undertake. The South Node is associated with our memories, the past, and patterns that feel safe and comfortable but may be holding us back from stepping into new opportunities.
New Moon, September 2, 2024, 8:55 pm, St Paul, MN
Saturn, the god of responsibility and limitations, opposes the New Moon. Saturn transits are a mixed bag; they give us the discipline to get to work and complete projects, but on a personal level, they feel challenging. Saturn calls us to be realistic about what we can accomplish and to work consistently over a long time, which can be difficult. At the same time, when we do commit, Saturn rewards us with lasting results.
The good news is that the Sun and Mercury are in a special relationship in the New Moon Chart (note the orange arrows); they are in what’s called “mutual reception,” which is a fancy way of saying the Sun is in Mercury’s sign and Mercury is in the Sun’s sign, allowing them to help each other achieve their goals. The Sun is the vision that helps us focus our attention and shine in the world. With Mercury, the god of communication, supporting its vision, you get the sense that once the fog of the Neptune/Mars aspect lifts, we will have the tools to work on whatever plan we seeded at the New Moon.
Take some time at the New Moon to sit with all these energies. Honor the part of you that hesitates to let go and may not want to move out of its comfort zone and start something new. Feel all the watery Neptunian longing around what you dreamed you would do this summer but never quite came to pass. If you’re like me, maybe you thought you’d get out on a lake or tune up your bike and go riding (never happened!!), or perhaps you dreamed of going to the farmer’s market every Saturday but only made it a couple of times.
Once you’ve cleared out what might have been, you’ll likely be able to let this New Moon Virgo “get to work” energy enter your life—the type of energy you felt when you were a kid going back to school shopping with your parents (lol, I’m dating myself). That feeling you had as you unwrapped your new notebooks, lined them up, labeled them with your beautiful new pens, and put them in your backpack, ready to start the new school year.
A few days after the New Moon, once the energy has sunk in, you may find yourself ready to take the first steps on a new project or task in the part of our chart where Virgo falls. If Virgo is your 4th house, you may find yourself taking on new projects around home and ancestry—fall cleaning, a home improvement project, or sitting down to do a deep dive into your ancestry. If it falls in your 11th house of groups and organizations, you may feel motivated to join a new group or start a new project with friends. If it falls in your 7th house of committed relationships, you may find something new blossoming in an existing relationship or new opportunities to partner with someone on a business project.
As usual, not all transits impact everyone in the same way. The New Moon will be more significant for you if you are a Virgo baby or if your birth chart has personal planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) at or near 11 or 29 degrees of a Mutable sign (Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces, or Gemini) or 5 degrees of a Cardinal sign (Libra, Capricorn, Aries, or Cancer). Feel free to reach out for a reading if you’d like to know more about Virgo in your birth chart and what this New Moon means for you.