New Moon in Virgo Horoscopes

The "tragic miracle of consciousness" & medicine for perfectionism

Hi witchy kids!

There are thousands of us here now, can you believe it? Spanning dozens of countries, reading this through time travel as we wake between countless time zones. Thank you for being a witchy kid with me.

"Witchy Kid" witch·y/ kid/
noun 1. A person of any age, embodying the playful and intuitive power that resides within, to channel for the betterment of all.

If you’re here, that means at some point in your life you realized when you talk to the stars, they talk back. We share a love of learning this language — of timing, synchronicities, karma. And if our bones are truly made of stardust, that makes us children of the cosmos. Or witchy kids, for short.

While the New Moon peaks at 9:55pm EDT on September 2nd, it descends into Virgo late in the evening on 9/1, and stays in Virgo until Wednesday morning, 9/4… giving us ample time to integrate.

I believe that to know ourselves is to be of service to the world. (How much pain and suffering has been dealt at the hands of those who were strangers to themselves?) Intention, accountability, follow through — all decisively steeped in the essence of Virgo — require practice and diligence. My mantra for this moon:

Through my service of self-knowing, bestow upon me the path of impact I arrived here to carve. Give me the grace to know what is needed, and the courage to become it.

In Mary Oliver’s collection of essays woven together in Upstream, she wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” To be known is to be loved. Like Virgo, we can see the details from a place of devotion, not drudgery — devotion as a careful examination of the human condition, a promise to fulfill, to tend and solve and carve our own purpose out of marbled potential.

This felt oddly relevant to John Steinbeck’s exploration of what he called “the tragic miracle of consciousness” and mused that our “species is not set, has not jelled, but is still in a state of becoming” (Steinbeck and Ricketts 1941). However intangible he made it seem, consciousness does beget refinement.

When I returned to this draft for editing, I curiously Googled both of their birthdays. What are the odds that Mary Oliver was a Virgo and John Steinbeck was a Pisces? Opposite signs chipping away at the mystery of what it means to be alive.

Their observation of the human experience is a beautiful polarity; Mary, a Virgo, with a keenness to capture the devotion of the human condition, while John, a Pisces, found it to be a tragically beautiful miracle.

Let’s honor the unspoken, the miracle of inner knowing; then put to words what next steps your personal evolution must take. This is how we weave them together. Virgo reminds us that the quality of our inner world magnetizes the outer landscape, and the conditions of our material world can either protect or sacrifice our peace.

In other words, are you building houses down the block while there’s a leak in your own roof? Are you turning people into projects to avoid your own shadow? Are you giving advice your own soul is seeking? Are you finding room for improvement to avoid starting anew? Is perfectionism the easy answer for why you haven’t finished?

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Japanese philosophy of kaizen, which means "continuous improvement." The goal to get 1% better each day. It’s the idea that small improvements over time are what actually makes the bigger changes possible. 1% better each day is also the remedy for perfectionism and the procrastination that follows; let each day be devoted to placing a single brick, instead of the impossible task of an entire house overnight. (How many nights have I lost to the daunting distance of a finish line, when I could have been covering short distances?) A mile isn’t so far to go when the birds are singing and you can pick flowers along the way.

Use the Virgo New Moon to identify which area of life to commit to getting 1% better each day for the next six months. (1% of your day is approximately fifteen minutes.)

What routine can you add to your life for just fifteen minutes a day, to increase happiness and purpose? Locate the house of 11 degrees Virgo in your birth chart. This New Moon is exact on September 2 at 9:55pm Eastern Daylight Time.

1st house: Fifteen minutes of sweat-breaking cardio everyday. You can do the 40 seconds on / 20 seconds off method. This exercise kicks my ass. Do as many of these as you can in that time and notice your energy boost through the roof! Embodiment, fire, first house magic… they all activate when you’re connected to your body.

2nd house: Fifteen minutes of nature break each day or time spent on financial literacy. Dow Janes has a financial literacy course that you could do 15 minutes a day of. Imagine your relationship to abundance in six months if you took the time to learn all about your finances! Imagine feeling more grounded by prioritizing a break outside everyday at the brink of overwhelm. Small moments, big changes.

3rd house: Be of service to your inner monologue. Take time to notice what your inner world is saying. Notice how helpful it can be to speak it into existence, with 15 minutes of journaling. Set a timer, no cheating, and use online prompts if you need inspiration. I really like this website for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry ideas.

4th house: Power clean! Clutter is your worst enemy. I’d imagine you feel blah when the house is a wreck. You’re not someone who can separate your mental health from your physical space; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. Commit 15 minutes a day to tending to your space or doing a power clean of your desk before you sit down.

5th house: 15 minutes of creativity. Do you have a guitar you never play that’s collecting dust in the corner? Do you love writing poetry, but haven’t in a while? Is your garden bed turning brown because you forget to water it? Maybe gardening brings you joy, or dancing with headphones ignites your creativity. Tend to that spark for a few minutes everyday and notice how the ideas start to come faster.

6th house: Lock down a firm skincare + wellness routine that only takes 15 minutes. How can you fill in the blind spots of your daily wellness? Do you have supplements you only take sporadically but forget most of the time? Do you drink enough water maybe two days out of the week, and misplace your water bottle the rest of the days? Perhaps a few more minutes of intentional routine will elevate the quality of your day.

7th house: “How can I make today feel more beautiful in just 15 minutes?” Make your bed, zhuzh up your morning latte with dried rose petals, organize your calendar by color, buy flowers, get a coloring book for adults — the options are endless. Find small ways to romanticize your life on a daily basis for the next six months, and notice what you attract in the process.

8th house: 15 minutes of breathwork. Tend to your inner world, nervous system, and personal practices of regulation. There are guided videos like this one. Create a consistent practice of honoring your own energy and emotions on a daily basis. Sit with them, make time for them, and learn how to source your intuition and power from this place of peace and reset.

9th house: 15 minutes a day of expanding your knowledge for the next 6 months. What is a skill that doesn’t just fascinate you, but could be a form of service later on? Want to learn natural medicine? Buy a book on medicinal plants found in your region. Want to give readings? Study an astrology book in bite-sized increments each day. Devote yourself to learning in digestible amounts. Use a website like this to learn anything for cheap.

10th house: What can I accomplish for my business today in just 15 minutes?” Set a timer and see what you can power through. Maybe there’s an email you’ve been procrastinating or you can race to inbox zero. Spend a little time everyday reminding yourself of your goals and dreams. Spend 15 minutes pitching yourself, refining your work or online presence.

11th house: 15 minutes of tending to friendships. Recruit a friend to set intentions with, and check-in daily on your goals together. Use the power of community to refine and improve something important to you over the next six months. (I’m in a pottery class at the moment that has a group chat and it’s so helpful to know we’re all in it together.)

12th house: 15 minute spiritual practice — oracle card pull, meditation, poetry, music, nature walk. Whatever feels divine to you; whatever brings you closer to peace, quiet, surrender, trust. Do that every single day for a few minutes at a time. We can have natural aptitudes for spiritual sensitivity, but it’s also a muscle. A powerful intuition can be measured by the hours put in listening to it. Train your connection to spirit a little bit each day.

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What is the point of refinement? Is it the act of refinement that makes us happy, or the outcome?

Since Aristotle, happiness has been thought of as consisting of at least two aspects: hedonia (pleasure) and eudaimonia (a life well lived).

To Virgo, pleasure is found through meaningful work.
Personal growth is fun.
Self-actualization feels comforting.

Is the highroad of Virgo actually just the secret to happiness? My existential woes lighten significantly when I decenter myself and find an outlet for service. If I begin to lose myself in the mundane, that’s a sign to return to pleasure, to get back in my own body and refill my cup to the brim. From service to self and back again.

Take time this week to consider what feels meaningful to you, and how you’re tending to it for greater pleasure, purpose, and room for growth.

Comment your commitment to the house of the New Moon in your chart; where are you committed to betterment by just 1% more each day? Use this comment section to pin your intentions!

To the moon and back (pun intended),
Ocean Pleasant