The Reliable Magic of Process

New moon at 11° of Virgo

Nun and legendary pop-artist Sister Corita King is a fountain of Virgo inspiration. All the art in this newsletter is hers. If she were sitting with you right now, she would say, “Life is a succession of moments, and to live each one is a way of succeeding, “ or “Love is here to stay and that’s enough.” Then she would bribe you into making some art.

Monday evening, September 2nd, at 6:55pm PST, the moon goes dark and renews herself at 11° of Virgo, high priestess of exactness and intelligent earth. The Virgo new moon is the last new moon of summer in the northern hemisphere. In the great alchemical cycle of transformation, this timing corresponds with the end of the final phase of transformation, the rubedo phase. In the natural world, whatever fruit that last cycle has born, it matures and ripens so the harvest can begin. Psychologically, the rubedo is an integration phase, and at the end of this phase, we solidify our own new internal sense of who we are now, after this last cycle of change and growth and experimentation. We update our personal story. Spiritually, this Virgo rubedo integration moment corresponds with an ability to see and feel the holiness of where we are in our process, and of the process, and from there, to actually enjoy and even revel in the mundane tasks of daily life and the unglamourous, exacting work of creation.

In the past, I have mostly experienced Virgo season as a massive relief to my whole system. Like this calm, cool, collected energy just settles over me and everything, after the emotional and bodily reckoning of Cancer and the messy/ecstatic fever dream of Leo. Virgo season arrives and I suddenly have both the permission and the capacity to put myself and my life back together. I feel an impulse to reorganize and repair, to upgrade my practical systems, to edit my shit, and generally notice how I could be working smarter-not-harder. It’s energy is essentially analyzing and refining. That’s Virgo—the healing powers of flexible, mutable earth being led by Mercury’s brilliance for form. It’s the part of us that knows how to bring order to chaos and complexity. It’s the part that knows how to balance an ecosystem, by exquisitely attuning and noticing what’s needed, and applying those insights in just the right way to steady what’s flourishing and help what isn’t.

This year we rolled into Virgo season mid-Mercury-retrograde. Mercury is Virgo’s ruler, it’s where Virgo gets her clear analytical sight, so neither energy has been fully free or available. Mercury’s been back in Leo the last few weeks, unraveling and rewinding our experiences in late July and August, so rather than relief, we might have felt, not mired, but definitely still “in it” from the summer’s big turns. I personally felt some Virgo organizing urges when the Sun entered Virgo, but also an equal impulse to indulge the messiness, to marinate in the grief and confusion and joy, to just leave things be. Then Mercury stationed direct last Wednesday, and by Friday, I could feel it more clearly — the Virgo in me lighting up, focusing its attention, orienting around my outer and inner spaces, slightly horrified, slightly delighted at how undone I’ve been, and how much there is to do.

You may be feeling your own version of this. Now that the Virgo new moon is here, a current of liberation is completing its work of loosening and releasing, and a new current of manifestation is ready to begin. Fresh limits and fresh forms and fresh ways of going about it all are drawing our attention. We have changed in the last six month, in ways we know about, and in ways we might still be realizing. A reset is possible, from the perspective of who we are now, and what we need and want now. A new kind of discipline in your daily life is possible, one that will make greater energy and ease and creativity possible.

There’s another significant thing happening. At the same time, just a day before the new moon, Pluto is leaving its liminal standstill at 0° of Aquarius and clocking back in to the final degree of Capricorn. This is it’s final move back into Capricorn, where’s it’s been transforming our lives since 2008. This will be somewhat brief, and then Pluto will re-enter Aquarius on November 19th and stay there. So this new moon marks the start of a final, two-month integrating pass through those profound lessons. It’s all feeling like some kind of earth-sign final exam, both personally and collectively. What have we learned about our old, unhealed stories and structures? About the dangers of imbalanced and corrupted power dynamics, the dangers of unrecognized and untended mother and father wounds? Have we created enough consciousness, honored and processed the past well enough? Are we actually open to having a brand new experience now? Pluto is trying to deliver on a big rebirth, but it needs us to show up for it.

That’s all a lot, and I think we are all aware of what’s playing out on these themes in the collective. On the personal level, I hope it feels like a moment of much-needed clarity, before eclipse season, before the fall and its high drama. I think this is a lovely new moon in that way. And, one thing to be aware of, the shadow side of Virgo is always a kind of hyper-critical and draining perfectionism. So whenever Virgo energies are activated, we need to be extra on-guard about our tendency to notice everything that’s wrong, rather than everything that is right, and good enough. Especially when its accompanied by a harsh inner voice trying to motivate us using judgement and fear and shame. It’s a lifetime of work to get into a loving relationship with our own mind. We have to devote ourselves to being aware of our own mind, to develop that awareness that is not our thoughts, or even the part of us listening to our thoughts. We have to cultivate another inner voice, the voice of the inner witness, the voice of the loving awareness, the one that speaks to us with warmth and care and a sense of humor. It’s a practice. I’m just throwing this out there as a reminder to anyone else who needs it. Should you be dealing with some extra internal criticism or judgement right now, one of the only things I’ve found that works to interrupt it is saying thank you. Thank you to the other critical voice. Thank you my judgement and fear and shame. Thank you to my body holding it all. It’s like a crack of gratitude opens, and then it widens, and then I remember, like wow, I’m human, I’m learning, I’m actually doing so great!

We can also, of course, listen to voices that model that kind of radical love and encouragement. I’ve been returning in the last few days to all my most beloved art teachers — artists who teach are some of the holiest beings I know. One of them is Corita King, the nun / pop artist / activist who made art and taught a generation of artists in the 60s and 70s. I think Corita just really embodied the highest frequency of Virgo, and over and over again I just soak in her colorful joyful art and her work ethic. Her artist guidebook Learning By Heart, written by Jan Steward after Corita’s death, serves up antidote after antidote to toxic perfectionism and its stuckness. She was very into structures and restraints and rules for limiting the creative life force, because, “what you can build within restraints is almost limitless. You will be forced by them to open up and see things within these limits, things you might have passed over if you had been free to wander the world or do anything you felt like doing.” She touted the importance of rigorously following a set of rules, but also establishing new rules regularly, like weekly, so that the creative process doesn’t get too rigid, so we stay flexible. Her ultimate rule, the rule to rule them all, was simply: work. If you work it will lead to something.

Virgo wants us to remember: there is real magic possible when we dedicate ourselves not to manifesting a particular goal or outcome, but to manifesting a harmonious process. And it has something to do with approaching work as play, creativity as a serious responsibility, limitations as perfect opportunities. Every year I learn more about what that means for me personally, which leads to less unnecessary struggling, and more ability to be with what’s really happening, to work with the currents in this chaotic, changing, emerging world, and to work with my own creative life force. When a creative process is rigorous enough, and strange enough, and beautiful enough; if it nourishes you and applies you in equal measure; it really doesn’t matter where you end up—you’re going to want to be there when you get there. On this new moon, may we all get dosed with some of that wise, work-loving, process-loving Virgo spirit. May it flow into all the places in your life that need tending and repair. May it strengthen you in this moment, and for the road ahead. May you be the high priestess you need.

Ritual & Writing Prompts

For paid subscribers, some shortcut links to the archive of writings on Virgo in In the River of What’s Happening Now, and some specific suggestions on how to work with this new moon, including inspiration for rituals and a creative writing prompt.