27th August 2022
The new moon can be thought of as a window in time when the higher-self initiates specific lessons or personal growth intentions for the coming month, and we can use the lunar cycle as a way of decoding evolutionary forces at a more granular level than the solar cycle or the transits of the slower moving planets. This is particularly useful for enhancing spiritual practice.
For the spiritually minded person, the new moon is a time to receive the seed impulses for one’s personal evolution, and specifically those impulses toward bringing something new into conscious awareness. Each moon cycle fits into a larger cycle, which begins at the Aires new moon, and if you seriously want to track the unfolding pattern of higher-self guidance, it is a really good idea to record a log or journal of key messages and impressions received in the few hours before and after the new moon, roughly 4-5 hours on either side. During this window of time, make space to be more meditative and pay attention to your thoughts, inspirations, psychic messages and so on, as these will tend to correspond to the archetype the new moon is re-birthing in at the time, and correlates to the growth themes we are meant to work with during the month. At the full moon quite often more information can be received as well.
At some point in time (after a few months) you can look through your log and begin to see a pattern unfolding, which can stimulate further insight in terms of life purpose.
The new moon in Virgo draws in new lessons in the coming month connected to problem solving through analysis, learning to see where things are going wrong and how to fix them, throwing a critical eye on existing systems and those that operate within them, understanding how all the pieces fit together to create the issues we currently face in the world, and an emphasis on remediation, healing, purification & detoxification on all levels of mind-body-spirit, adjustment, improvement, and attending to the Sacred.
The previous Leo new moon was what I call a ‘birthing’ moon. The seed impulses at that time will probably have had an orientation toward something you were invited to co-create and make real in your life. Whatever insights you had last month, can now be grounded further through this Virgo “Earth” moon cycle. For example, if the essence of the Leo impulse was to step up into a new level of sovereignty, through opening the heart more and allowing in more self love from which new creative impulses to make something happen could then be actualised, then this month attention may be drawn to healing processes that need to occur first, in order for more self-love to flow into your life. In order for these healing processes to happen, you may need to ask some deeper questions about yourself, and to analyse whats really going on inside, in order to come to terms with the need to make some kind of adjustment or correction, and this then might lead to some form of therapeutic process.
Let's look at the key patterns in the chart cast for the Virgo new moon, which in astrology is a sun/moon conjunction, to get a more nuanced idea of what is on offer in terms of self-realisation and spiritual growth this month.
Chart cast for the Virgo New Moon 27th August 2022 - 9.17 am BST (4.17 am USA Eastern Time) showing key patterns
For a guide to the astrological symbols click here
Astro Technicals:
New Moon in Virgo (Sun and Moon conjunction) opposing Gonggong in Pisces (red line)
Pholus and Ixion in trine with the New Moon (green line)
Typhon and Hygeia conjunct the Lunar South Node opposing Uranus conjunct the Lunar North Node (red lines)
Chariklo in Aquarius inconjunct the New Moon (pink line)
Jupiter in Aires inconjunct the New Moon (pink line)
Jupiter and Chariklo in sextile (purple line) forming a Yod with the New Moon
Mars in Gemini square the New Moon (red line)
A collective overview:
Ixion, Typhon and Gonggong - the archetypes of destructive and disruptive forces, turmoil, chaos, wrong-doing and evil.
Of significance this lunation, are the archetypes of Ixion, Typhon and Gonggong in key positions in the pattern, indicating that the Shadow is more active within the evolutionary process, showing up as an opportunity for integration, which when resisted or ignored will tend to express in negative and destructive ways.
Typhon represents destructive psychic forces stirring within the collective field, connected with shadow aspects, and these forces have the capability of capturing whole groups of people, especially those with an unintegrated personal shadow, and adding to the disruptive energies affecting society. These Typhonic forces are arising from the depths of the unconscious, and are causing a higher than normal tendency within individuals to mis-use energy, abuse power or play out their shadow side in destructive ways. We are seeing evidence of this across the board, especially within institutions like the police force, judiciary, school systems, and health-care systems, where the rights of the individual are clearly being undermined or taken away, via Orwellian style actions, in many places in the world.
Another key expression of this type of eruption of the shadow can be seen in the more recent rise in knife crime in the UK, and the ongoing pattern of ‘shooters’ in the USA.
In a recent UK news story, a gang of 10 teenagers were sentenced to a total of 124 years for surrounding and then murdering an 18 year old at a fun fair in broad daylight, observed by many witnesses. All gang members once arrested took a self-interested strategy of defence, cared not for the victim or his family, showed no remorse, and 9 of them will appeal the decision.
The judge stated to the accused “You decided to put the interests of yourself and your co-defendants before those of Jack and his family. You did everything you could to deny them justice.”
Most of us are familiar from news headlines with this pattern of violence; all 10 gang members in this case dominated by the Ixion archetype, and driven by powerful shadow forces reaching outward from the unconscious. One can’t say for sure what background story the offenders have, but typically most come from unstable family situations and abusive environments, who are themselves highly traumatised individuals, and are as such greatly receptive to collective shadow possession, where there is a loss of control and perspective, with a marked incapacity to restrain base impulses.
In March 2014 the UK knife crime was at a historic low point, but from 2017 the number per year had suddenly doubled. Typhon incidentally entered into Scorpio in 2017 and will continue there until the end of 2026; facing the shadow will be an active process throughout this time whether we like it or not.
Typhon's presence conjunct the South Node activates a collective need to unveil the nature of the human shadow and its effects on the world, especially in relation to the past. These shadow forces have been generating toxic psychic effects in the collective field, which for those more sensitive, has been both palpable, challenging and exhausting. With Hygeia, the goddess of healing, also conjunct the South Node, there is tremendous scope for humanity to work with the shadow more productively toward healing and integration through holistic modalities.
Uranus activated the North Node last month, and continues to do so this lunation, adding insight and revelation to the mix and at times amplifying the destructive expressions of the shadow at a global level. With Ixion newly ingressed into Capricorn, the onus is on all of us to take more responsibility for our own shadow going forward; we have to own bad behaviour, recognise when we are taking the lazy route and projecting the shadow onto others, and learn to control our inferior primal impulses.
Another example of this shadow projection issue can be seen in a recent bill-board posted on the streets of the London borough of Southwark stating “Hey Straight White Men, Pass the Power!”. Such statements are only going to provoke more conflict and division, and those creating them, are choosing to over-simplify reality, as a means to avoid personal shadow integration, in this case deep feelings of powerlessness and the projection of one’s personal power onto straight white males. Such strategies appeal to the ego because they reenforce separation, but they provide an inadequate solution to personal pain; the passage to power is an internal change, which always calls for deep soul work (Scorpio).
With this collective theme in mind lets delve deeper into the personal level of this lunation:
This lunation is energised toward healing trauma
As already suggested this is a key month for getting to grips with the nature of the Shadow and its relationship with unresolved trauma and the call to heal and integrate.
Self analysis is going to be a key tool this coming month; what do we need to understand better? What personal improvements can we make? Are we willing to turn a critical eye on ourselves, or take on constructive criticism from others, in order to adjust our approach for better outcomes? Are we willing to knuckle down and do the work in order to make progress? Are we called to be of more service to the world right now? Or do we most need to be of service to ourselves and get the therapeutic help we need?
The issue of the shadow and the more destructive elements of human behaviour is also reflected in the position of Gonggong in direct opposition with the Virgo new Moon, and a few weeks later the full moon will be in conjunction with Gonggong as well. Gonggong typically represents destructive forces we experience from others in our outer world, or destructive behaviour in ourselves that may have caused harm to others. For this reason Gonggong relates directly to generational trauma. The Virgo new moon initiates conscious journeys of development related to healing and self-development, and with Gonggong in opposition, this may well bring forward issues pertaining to past traumatic experiences to be integrated and dealt with in a therapeutic setting.
For example rapper Kendrick Lamar’s recent album release Mr Morale and the Big Steppers (13 May 2022) marks a courageous departure from his previous work into his own traumatic past, and in particular his struggles with his own demons and his call to shadow work. One wonders how many listening fans since the release will be inspired and emboldened to deal with their own shadow material? My suggestion is that for many, the call to shadow work may arise during this lunation, especially at the full moon, when outer events may serve to trigger awareness regarding unresolved trauma and an opportunity take more direct action to heal.
Kendrick Lamar’s words from the song Die Hard, sums up the opportunity to begin the healing process on offer this lunation:
My truth too complicated to hide now
Can I open up?
Is it safe or not?
I’m afraid a little
You relate or not?
It seems noteworthy that a highly visible public figure like Kendrick Lamar is stepping up and leading the way for others to follow in terms of shadow-work and healing. One can only hope that others will be inspired to work on themselves on a personal level, as this is most needed now in the world to help stabilise and mitigate shadow projection and its destructive consequences.
The trines with Ixion and Pholus are beneficial - it suggests that the impulse to heal will go hand in hand with maturation and self-responsibility toward shadow-work, and some of us may well experience radical shifts of perspective as well, or the loss of an old way of life as we move forward.
The Wisdom of Trauma documentary featuring Dr Gabor Maté is another indicator of an emergent collective impulse to heal. His new vision for the world calls for a trauma-informed society in which parents, teachers, physicians, policy-makers and legal personnel are not concerned with fixing behaviours, making diagnoses, suppressing symptoms and judging, but seek instead to understand the sources from which troubling behaviours and diseases spring in the wounded human soul.
(if you would like to nourish your understanding of trauma and its effects on the world, The Wisdom of Trauma is worthwhile watching - for those from other countries there are subtitles available in many languages)
Chariklo in Aquarius inconjunct the new moon speaks to the challenge of making space for healing and remediation to take place. The inconjunct is a tense aspect, it requires of us a degree of humility, and an ability to accept that we aren’t perfect and that its ok to be less than the ideal. For many new to the healing journey, pride can be a key obstacle, because in most circles healing is undervalued and unsupported. Will we be able to recruit in the right friends to hold space for us? Or the right therapist? Together with Jupiter, Chariklo forms a Yod with the new moon, and combined with Mars in Gemini in square, the key challenge may have much to do with over-thinking or lack of focus. Mars and the new moon cycle are ruled by Mercury, which represents linear thinking and informational processing. Will we rationalise away the need to heal? Will we be too obsessed with trying to stay in control? Or will we allow the intuition to guide us forward, and trust in taking steps that don’t necessarily make sense right away?
At the full moon, there is always an integration challenge, or an opportunity to see the process more objectively and become more conscious. Usually there is some minor stimulus from the outside - a challenge or irritation that gets us to question more whats going on for us, sometimes the full moon energy lifts us into new insight. With Gonggong in exact opposition with the new moon position this might be more disruptive than expected. Something may well have us spooked or disturbed. Either way it is beneficial to frame any emerging challenge as a stimulus to look within for answers, and to cultivate insight as to what is wanted by the higher self and bring it more into clarity. Limitations are generally frustrating, but they serve to focus our potential in specific areas; whenever we are blocked by outside forces in one direction, we simply attend to what we can and look for the opportunity to learn and grow.
If you are ready to heal or improve something in your life, this is an exciting lunation, as it has great potential for major breakthroughs.
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Aquila offers Self-realisation mentoring, Evolutionary Astrology, and Tarot sessions for those awakening to their true potential.