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The 2023 Virgo New Moon reaches its maximum phase at 6:40 p PDT on Thursday 14th September 2023 at 21°58’. This is a very pragmatic and purpose-driven New Moon, which may find you looking at the functionality of your everyday life, and wondering how you can either make what isn’t working for you work, or how you could make it what is working work better.
Virgo is mutable earth energy, meaning it’s like mud. The mud’s consistency is key – it can be loose and fluid, giving some substance to what would otherwise flow like water… but it can also be thick and slow things down. We’re experiencing a bit of both right now, as there are quite a few things which feel almost stuck, and others which feel like they’re an inescapable flood of realities coming to head all at once.
There’s some debate as Mercury is Virgo’s traditional ruler, but the centaur-planetoid Chiron seems to be taking the mantle as its modern Zodiac representative. Either way, this sign addresses the functional and practical application of our resources which takes both intellect and skill to maximize in effective yet efficient ways. Whether you’re feeling stuck in the mud or overwhelmed by the flood, this New Moon is encouraging us to seek pragmatic solutions to these problems.
We are still working with eight retrograde energies at the time of this New Moon’s maximum phase –Mercury in Virgo, Jupiter in Taurus, Saturn in Pisces, Chiron in Aries, Uranus in Taurus, Neptune in Pisces, Pluto in Capricorn, and Eris in Aries. Our minds and communications are definitely focused upon the functionality of our lives; we’re seeking ways to improve and/or expand the quality of our lives; we’re becoming more disciplined and focused in pursuit of our visions and dreams; we’re learning how to heal our self-identities; we’re recognizing how our social and societal values and norms may not be so popular after all; we’re learning which aspects of our dreams are real and which ones aren’t; we’re redefining what it means to be successful in our society and world; and we are learning that our individual “otherness” – what we’ve been told makes us different and worthy of being outcast – is actually a superpower, and we’re learning to take action in ways that embrace it.
There is also very little water energy in this chart except for Saturn and Neptune in the idealistic and sometimes delusional Pisces, a tiny bit of Cancer energy thanks to Vesta’s recent ingress into that sign, and the Moon itself being in Virgo. This makes our ideals, dreams, and/or visions the focal point of our efforts at this time. So, what is the vision or dream you are working to realize? And are you emotionally invested in realizing it?
This question is especially important as many of us are working hard, yet not getting the results we’re “supposed” to be getting. As result, we’re now either looking for jobs we may enjoy because they could make the most of our unique talents and abilities… OR we’re forgoing traditional jobs altogether, seeking new ways of applying our efforts, talents, abilities, and skills in new ways to generate the resources we need to sustain ourselves. We’re seeking and finding new ways to put our work to work not only for others, but for ourselves.
Many of us are also seeking new partnerships of all kinds – professional and personal – which encourage us to be more of our truly and fully-expressed selves in our everyday lives. As we’re beginning to understand the importance of our unique self-expression and self-initiative, there are serious reassessments of relationships in process right now.
However, the biggest theme of this 2023 Virgo New Moon may be a shift in our individual and collective awareness of the social and societal systems we live within. The energies present during this moon phase have begun shifting our attention to the way these systems influence the way we relate to each other and ourselves.
We’re starting to realize how many of our everyday systems and structures we’ve taken for granted. There are many things that we’ve always assumed would always be there, or continue to operate the way they’ve always operated. Yet recent events have been showing us otherwise, and many of us are starting to understand that if we truly value certain people and things in our lives, we must tend to them. We must make sure they feel physically, materially, and emotionally cared for, that they are nurtured, protected, defended, and supported. We must be as dedicated to their existence as we expect them to be dedicated to ours…
…and therein lies the challenge if and when we realize that others may not be as dedicated to us as we are to them. Will we still give as much of our effort to our roles in their lives and/or in their systems if or when we realize we are (also) being taken for granted? Balance is of paramount importance in these relationships, and as imbalances continue, we best be prepared for the extreme measures that may come in order to force balance where trying to be pleasant and diplomatic hasn’t worked.
The numerological energies of this 2023 Virgo New Moon reflect this potential divergence. For the Caribbean nations, the Americas and all point west of them, this New Moon reaches its maximum phase on a 3 Universal Day of learning, growth, and expansion; while the rest of the world experiences the max phase on a 22 Universal Day of community, collaboration, and emotionally-invested comradery. Both of these day energies are occurring under a 7 Universal Month and a 7 Universal Year energy of intellect, analysis, assessment, reflection, and planning.
For the 3 Day regions, there is a steep and rapid learning curve underway. Many of the people in these regions are just now beginning to understand the wave of change that is rising around the world, and why it is rising. For the 22 Day regions, there is now a clear understanding of why it is important to come together around their common interests. The double 7 energies combined with the retrograde energies are asking us all to be cognizant of the shifts and our individual and collective places and potential (or real) roles within those shifts.
The 2023 Virgo New Moon asks us to make changes and take steps that truly establish or reestablish the functionality of our lives through efficient, effective, and authentic application of our efforts. This is an opportunity to make a new beginning through which we can truly live healed and healthier lives.
Here are the astrological transits within 3° orb at the time of the 2023 Virgo New Moon’s maximum phase:
(Virgo 7 Sun conjunct Moon) trine Taurus Uranus Retrograde (21-22°) – Empowered to make changes to social or societal values and norms and the systems and structures that uphold those values, plans not only have intellectual strength but emotional investment behind them.
(Virgo 7 Sun conjunct Moon) quincunx Aries White Moon Selena (21°) – There’s difficulty in finding alignment between the desires of one’s Higher Self and the real-world experience right now. Spirituality and practical reality seem very different – too different – from each other for many people right now.
(Virgo 7 Sun conjunct Moon) quincunx Aries Chiron Retrograde (18-21°) – There’s also difficulty in finding healing right now as individuals feel like they are failing right now, as if they’re working so hard, yet their work isn’t producing positive results.
SEQUENCE: Leo Black Moon Lilith semi-sextile Virgo Pallas Athena semi-sextile Libra Ceres (29-0°) – Egos are driving individuals to seek acknowledgment of their efforts, which leads to those same individuals to begin recognizing certain patterns in the way their work or efforts are received, which leads to reassessments of the value of certain relationships and connections in one’s life.
GRAND TRINE-KITE: Pisces Saturn Retrograde trine Cancer Vesta sextile Leo Black Moon Lilith sextile Libra Ceres (29-2°) – It’s time to focus your visions and dreams. Discipline will be needed in order to make this happen. But what are you focusing on? As you are being called to “get serious” if you want your dreams to manifest, you may find yourself being emotionally invested elsewhere, especially in matters of your unique self-expression and whether or not people are seeing you for who and what you really are.
DOUBLE NODAL T-SQUARE: (Aries Eris conjunct North Node) square Capricorn Pluto Retrograde square Libra South Node (25-28°) and Libra Ceres (25-29°) – The more you feel called to embrace your uniqueness and “otherness”, the more challenging it becomes to align with the societal standards for status and success. This also challenges people to reconsider who or what they aspire to be in their lives as their heroes may no longer be heroes to them. The collective definition of success in our world is shifting, and individuals are shifting their self-image as result.
Aries White Moon Selena semi-sextile Taurus Uranus Retrograde (21-22°) – Greater awareness of one’s Higher Self leads to greater awareness of the evolution humanity could be making right now.
Leo Venus conjunct Juno (14-15°) – People are committed to forming partnerships of all kinds which support and encourage their unique and individual self-expression. The relationships which encourage these will also
Pisces Neptune Retrograde semi-sextile (Aries Eris Retrograde conjunct North Node) (25-26°) – Reality may be taking the rose-colored glasses off of our dreams, but instead of causing us to feel defeated, it’s inspiring many of us to begin recognizing our individuality as what gives us power rather than as what makes us weak.
The 2023 Virgo New Moon phase will be felt from Monday 11th September through Sunday 17th September 2023. During this time frame, make it a point to at least identify which elements of your everyday routine may need to be completed and replaced with healthier or more functional approaches. Much of this new approach is rooted in self-acceptance and self-care, and most of all, self-worth.
It’s great if your work serves others well, but your work also gets to serve you well, too.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light and Blessings,
Grace
