September’s Virgo New Moon

By Johnny Mirehiel

We came under some taxing aspects as this week drew closer to Friday’s (Sept. 18) New Moon. The Saturn/Uranus opposition at 24 Virgo/Pisces was exact early Tuesday morning, Sept. 15, Venus opposed Neptune on the afternoon of the Sept. 17 at 24 Leo/Aquarius and then retrograde Mercury squared Pluto from Libra/Capricorn early on Thursday morning, all before this New Moon. Perhaps we might best view these stressful transits as having served to furrow the field into which we may now scatter the seed energy of this New Moon, the chart for which looks like this:

This New Moon is in late Virgo, the sign that is all about the necessary things we have to do to maintain daily life in a body, like seeing to our physical health, eating right, getting enough rest and exercise, and paying attention to the details of our daily routine and work. Virgo is also a highly intellectual sign, as it is governed by Mercury, the planet most associated with our thinking. In this respect it is also about our powers of perception and discrimination. It is meticulous, discriminating, down to earth, practical and very hard working, but can also be hypercritical, petty and nit-picky. As it is an Earth sign, it is slow to change and can throw a wet blanket on other people's enthusiasm.
Normally under Virgo's influence we are able to sort through the complex factors that tend to confuse us so that we may achieve clarity of purpose. However, this cannot be considered a “normal” New Moon.

Another Saturn/Uranus Face Off

In the first place, the Sun/Moon conjunction is joined in a partile (exact by degree) conjunction to Saturn at 25° Virgo while at the same time the trio is exactly opposite to Uranus at 25° Pisces. This Saturn/Uranus opposition has been with us since last November, on Election Day as a matter of fact. This one is the third of a five opposition series that will last until late July of next year. Now, Saturn and Uranus often manifest as radically different energies, with Uranus representing progress and Saturn representing the status quo. For the moment though, Saturn will hold sway as it is joined by the powerful force of the New Moon.

Add into this potentially volatile mix the fact that, at the time of the New Moon, the retrograde Mercury is also in Virgo, one of the signs it rules, at 29°. This last degree of any sign is important because it is the final or “summing up” point of the sign. Here, Mercury is returning to that penultimate degree of the sign it rules, asking us to rethink the issues that were on our minds some three weeks ago, in particular as they pertain to the stress of our personal Saturn/Uranus conflict between the old and new. Unfortunately for those of us with sensitive Mercury, the retrograde will be in effect for the whole of the month, and then some. In a sense, this is a final chance for us to sit on the fence before deciding on which side to jump.

On a strictly mundane note, this New Moon does not promise a rapid advancement in the area of (Virgo ruled) health-care reform; the topic of such heated debate in this country at the moment. While Saturn restrains the energy of the New Moon, retrograde Mercury clouds thinking. Lynda Hill notes that the Saturn/Uranus opposition represents “…the old guard … trying to scramble their way back — almost using 'castration techniques' (if you're interested, Google and read the myth of Saturn castrating Uranus) in an effort to destabilize and undermine the new President.” It seems that President Obama simply chose the wrong time to pick this fight. Where is Joan Quigley, Ronald Reagan’s in (White)house astrologer, when we need her?

Quintiles Galore

Quintiles, and their closely associated aspect cousins the Bi-Quintiles, first appear in Western astrology in the work of Johannes Kepler. They are based on the division of the 360° arc of the circle by 5, giving aspects of 72° and 144° respectively. They are also associated with what both Kepler and Da Vinci called the “Divine Proportion,” and when five of them are found, sequentially, they create a five-pointed star, which in turn is associated with the planet Venus¹, the archetypal Feminine creative and fecund energy.

In the image above, the gold-colored aspect lines denote the Quintiles in the chart. As you can see, there are several of them that that, combined, form coherent aspect patterns know as Quintile Yods. In this chart, they provide an interesting contextual background for this New Moon’s sowing and the challenge to meet the age-old conflict between the reluctance to change and the drive to do so depicted here by the Saturn/Uranus opposition.

The Quintile Yod, first identified contemporarily by astrologer Rick Levine, is the outstanding planetary aspect pattern in this month’s New Moon chart. Occurring no less than five times in the chart, these Quintile Yods are composed of the Quintiles between Mars (14° Cancer) and the Sun, Moon and Saturn, each at 25° Virgo, with each of those points forming Bi-Quintile aspects to Jupiter (18 Aquarius) and Chiron (22° Aquarius). The Bi-Quintiles, in particular, are seen as an aid to developing creative powers, which can find original solutions and throw a positive light on issues that initially appear problematic. Here they focus our thoughts and feelings on that inner source of creative talent, in which the joint, serious-minded and creativity energy of the triple conjunction and the active dynamic of Martian energy all work and play nicely together.

Taken together, these Quintile Yods suggest a call to action combining our Will and Emotions to bring forth a creative manifestation of a rare spiritual and healing energy to serve as the antidote for the stress inducing Son, Moon, and Saturn opposition to Uranus.

The New Moon Sabian

The Sabian Symbol for this NM is found at 26° Virgo:

Although not as central to the Mass as the priest, the altar boy nevertheless serves an important function in that ritual. The focus here is on the duty that he serves. Key words for this symbol are duty, simple tasks done with devotion, chopping wood and carrying water, burning incense and candles, rituals and apprenticeship. Once again, I would direct your attention to Lynda Hill’s excellent page on the currently active Sabian symbols.

The Pluto/Chiron Septile

This aspect, which we saw in last month’s Southland New Moon, is still in effect here, and will remain so throughout this New Moon cycle. It continues to offer:

As such, this Septile holds the harmonically resonant background “chord” for the new and transformative, grand and noble creation of Ourselves.

At times like these it is especially helpful to be centered in your own inner self in order to be able to withstand the current turbulence and to be able to catch the crest of this New Moon’s creative energies. The challenge this month is to be our enlightened selves in spite of the incessant yammering of the extremely nit picky perfection-seeking Virgo mind.

Johnny Mirehiel