Virgo New Moon: Coming Clean

Most of us will remember Don Henley’s 1982 smash hit “Dirty Laundry.” The catchy tune was a scathing send-up of tabloid journalism, which was then on the rise. To air one’s dirty laundry means to discuss or argue about unpleasant or private things in front of others. And although the practice has never gone away (it’s actually increased since the advent of social media), we often see a particularly virulent form of it around the time of major elections. If you have ‘snoozed’ a few old friends lately whose posts were repellent and/or downright false, join the club.

Virgo is the sign we associate with coming clean – and getting our act together. As I was searching for a story to illustrate the upcoming Virgo New Moon, I came across one that’s a bit antiquated but still quite relevant. It goes like this: Just after a young couple moved into a new house, as they were eating breakfast, the woman spied her neighbor hanging out the wash. “That laundry is not very clean,” said the wife. “She doesn’t know how to wash correctly.” Her husband looked on but remained silent. The wife continued to make snide comments each time the neighbor hung her washing out to dry.

Then one day, a month later, the wife was shocked to see a nice clean wash on her neighbor’s line. She exclaimed to her mate, “Look, she’s finally learned how to wash correctly! I wonder who taught her?” And to her surprise he replied, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

It’s time for all of us to clean our windows – literally and metaphorically. And the Virgo New Moon (Sept. 2, 6:56 pm PT), is the perfect time to do so. Mercury, Virgo’s ruler, will have just turned direct on Aug. 28, so things that may have been unclear during the Messenger’s three-week retrograde are starting to make sense. As my dear friend and colleague April Elliott Kent recently pointed out, there’s a crisp “back to school” feeling in the air, making this a great time to buy pens and notebooks, write down what you intend to accomplish, and scrub away any detritus that might have been obscuring the path ahead.

Yet the ultimate destination is not a straight shot. As the Sun and Moon join in Virgo, they oppose Saturn in Pisces. And, Mars in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces. This is a double whammy of dreamy Neptunian energy, calling for faith and compassion. Cast your anchor into the depths of feeling and intuition (Pisces), to navigate through any fog. And watch for startling flashes of insight around Sept. 6, when Mercury makes its third and final square to Uranus, bringing closure to whatever began around July 21 and returned around Aug. 18. By Sept. 8, when Mercury enters its home sign of Virgo, things should become more predictable (at least until the Sept. 17 Pisces lunar eclipse – more on that next time.)

Pluto makes a final pass through old-guard Capricorn from Sept. 1 through Nov. 18. That transit, which began in 2008, represents a breakdown of old power structures, including governments (particularly for the U.S., which is having its Pluto return). Once Pluto re-enters Aquarius on Nov. 19, it will have 20 years to transform our societies and consciousness.  Of particular interest is Jan. 21, 2025, when the Sun joins Pluto within hours of Inauguration Day. Let’s hold the highest vision for this event that we can imagine.

Old ways die hard. Some folks will need time to adjust to the new Aquarian Age, and some may never do so. But hopefully at some point we’ll be able to put our differences aside and see our common humanity, including that of friends and family members we temporarily snoozed. I’m reminded of 13^th Century poet Rumi’s vision of meeting each other in a field “beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing.” He muses, according to one translation, that when we lie down in that transcendent grass, ideas and language fall away, and even the concept of “each other” makes no sense. How beautifully Aquarian is that? Let’s use this Virgo New Moon to cleanse any grime from our own consciousness and begin to see our oneness.