Virgo New Moon (Solar Eclipse) - September 11, 2007

A Solar Eclipse occurs during a New Moon when the Moon's path intersects with the ecliptic, or the apparent path of the Sun from our perspective on Earth. In essence, the Moon is near-exactly between the Sun and Earth, like a game of monkey-in-the-middle. Luna blocks Sol's light for a moment, and the Sun's rationality is "eclipsed" by the Moon's unconscious, emotional drives. Virgo agrees with Apollonian logic, as this Mercury-ruled sign loves to analyze and organize. Virgo is not so comfortable with the illogical Moon. This sign is too quick to rush in and make sense of the Moon's dreamy images.

The Moon is the body, though, and health-conscious Virgo feels at home improving the vessel that contains our soul. But if you're thinking that this Virgo Solar Eclipse provides the perfect opportunity to start a new exercise regimen and eat healthy, you are sorely mistaken. In fact, any efforts you make towards spending a peaceful hour or two alphabetizing your vitamins and herbal supplements will be sabotaged by Uranus, whose sole intent is to make you take Ginkgo when you meant to ingest Guarana.

The planet of surprises and sudden turnarounds is in Pisces, opposite the Virgo New Moon. Uranus lives to disrupt, and control-freaks like Virgo are one of this planet's favorite targets, for rigidity is anathema to the principle of revolutionary ideas and unconventional acts. Yes, it is time to think about ways to improve your health and attend to workplace issues (especially now that Saturn has entered this sign), but Uranus wants you to work in a novel twist to your approaches. Don't just follow the latest diet fad or rely on tried-and-true tips on how to get along with your colleagues. Think outside the box! If you don't, Uranus will find a way to subvert your plans. An offbeat spoken-word artist will sit in the cubicle next to you, spouting inventive rhymes while you're analyzing your spreadsheet. Take a step back and imbibe the images emanating from your LCD screen. Your Excel document is nothing more than pixels which are recognized as patterns by your Virgo mind. Cells, borders, numbers ... once you see they're just dots, you're free to read the Microsoftian Illumunita on your PC, and you're a click away from Nirvana.

The Fine Print: This New Moon occurs at 18 Virgo. Natives with planets or angles between 16 and 23 degrees of mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) will feel this the most. Mars in Gemini is also involved in a T-Square with the New Moon and Uranus -- Uranus-Mars squares are notorious for impulsivity and recklessness, so wear a helmet when you ride your bicycle.

Note to Commenters: I am unlikely to respond if you include your stats and ask what this eclipse will mean for you. There are usually just too many inquiries to respond to, and I already give away enough for free. You are more than welcome to share your fears, expectations, reactions and experiences. Just be aware that I'm more likely to be engaged in comment section dialogues about the general meaning of the eclipse.

Pisces Full Moon (Lunar Eclipse) - August 28, 2007

It's eclipse time, y'all! Eclipses are uber-powerful lunations, as the Moon and Sun are conjunct the Lunar Nodes, which are the points in the sky where the Moon's path intersects with the Sun's apparent path (ecliptic). (The astronomy's kinda confusing, I know!) All you really need to know is this: If a regular Full Moon makes people crazy, a Lunar Eclipse requires that twice as many looney-bin paramedics be on call than usual.

Speaking of psychosis, this Full Moon is in Pisces, the sign of crazies and mental hospitals. After all, when life gets too stressful, you either drink, do yoga, or disassociate from reality altogether. The problem is that rigid Virgo Sun, always trying to analyze and compartmentalize.

Virgo is the nurse practitioner at Bellevue, trying to ascertain whether your psychotic episode is due to mental illness or if it's just alcohol-induced. She's completing a five-page assessment while you're in la-la land, wondering how those bunnies got into the room with the cushioned walls.

The Virgo part of you creates obsessive-compulsive rituals to stave off the anxiety of Piscean boundlessness. If you check that the front door is locked -- three times -- then your home just might be safe! That is, you might be safe. But not really, because you know that you're just this close from the edge of the cliff of consensual reality, and your rigid habits only create the illusion of control.

The conventional psychiatrist will just dose you up with a nice cocktail to zombify you. However, one of those wacko transpersonal docs may prescribe surrender. Just go with the flow, man! What do those bunnies mean, anyway? Can your dreams, however cockamamie, tell you something useful about either your unconscious or God's will? Maybe insanity is just a deviation from the collective's immersion in media and material consumption! If so, then -- PLEASE -- go off the deep end! Let it all hang out!

But if you see the men in white coats, do me a favor -- RUN!

The Fine Print: This eclipse occurs at 4 Pisces, so it will have the most impact for those natives with planets or angles around 4 degrees of mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces).

Note to Commenters: I will be on vacation the week of August 27, and am unlikely to respond to your comments. So help each other out!

Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo - March 3, 2007

Dear Virgo,

Whether it's the daily yoga routine, the weekly colonic or the three-times-a-day ingestion of multiple supplements and herbs, you get understandably upset when your schedule is disrupted.

Virgo, meet eclipse. You two should get acquainted, although I doubt you'll hit it off. Although the lunar eclipse is in your sign, you're being opposed by a Uranus-Sun conjuction in Pisces. I know that deep down you like Pisces, even though she neglects picking up after herself and plucks away at the guitar too often, singing in that longing, wispy voice. However, Uranus gets your goat. This planet's sole purpose in life is to upset the apple cart, to throw you off your equilibrium. The guy who surprises you from behind when you're perusing vegan cookbooks at the food coop, poking you in that sensitive spot on your waist, nearly making your flower-essence-enhanced spring water spill? That's Uranus.

Imagine knowing that Uranus can catch you off guard at any moment, over the next six months, but you don't know exactly when -- or how -- he'll strike. That's gotta suck, Virgo, because I know you like things just so. And do you know what's worse? There's absolutely nothing you can do about it. You can't tell him to go away. I mean, you can, but it will do no good. He'll say, "Oh, my bad. I'll leave you alone with your organic acai juice," but he doesn't mean it. He's just screwing with you!

So, what can you do to impose order on chaos? Unfortunately, you can't contain the uncontainable. As the astrologers say, "Expect the unexpected." Yet I know you're not going to stop your Virgo ways. You will continue to enter appointments into your Blackberry, consult with your nutritionist, meet with your personal trainer. But as hard as you try, everything will not go as planned. Pisces wants you to let go, and Uranus wants you to identify and dismantle all the rigid structures and attitudes in your life.

Loosen up! Because if you don't, Uranus will be the lightning that strikes down the tower of your carefully constructed life. It will come crumbling down ... but that's a good thing, because these bricks and stones you've laid are covering over your Authentic Self, and the only way to release this alive, thumping heart -- the beating Self constrained by your stratified ways of protecting yourself against Disorder -- is to allow the waves of revolution to wash over you.

The nitty gritty: This lunar eclipse occurs at 13 Virgo. If you have a personal planet or angle between 10 and 18 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius or Pisces, this eclipse will have a powerful impact on you. For everyone, look to the houses that contain the middle degrees of Virgo and Pisces to determine which areas of your life will be affected. Jupiter in Sag is making a T-Square to this eclipse, which exaggerates an already unstable situation.

Related posts:
How to prepare for an eclipse
Fear of an eclipse

Pisces with Virgo Rising -- A Grand Realization

I was responding to a commenter on my Seduction Central blog -- we both have Virgo Rising yet seem to hate some Virgo characteristics -- and I finally understand how my Sun sign and Rising sign interact.

I've been living with my Venus-in-Virgo, packed-6th-house girlfriend for over 14 years, and her need for order and cleanliness around the house sometimes drives me crazy. I'm not offended if the apartment is clean, but it's not a priority. She, on the other hand, can't function properly when the place is messy.

I could easily walk over cat fluff and hair bands, ignore the piles of unopened mail on a computer chair. (You should see my desk at work!) However, I am obsessive-compulsive about cleanliness and order during one hour of my day, and that is when I do yoga in the early morning. I have to sweep the living room floor, and line up my yoga mat so that the end is exactly aligned with the floorboards. If I sit down and see some debris on the floor, I feel compelled to get up and throw it in the trash.

Why? Because I'm a Pisces! My hour of yoga is the one time during the day when I can truly devote myself to spiritual concerns, and since I am very in tune with my immediate environment at that time, I need it to be orderly so that I can truly let go.