Tag Archives: Virgo

Weekly Forecast September 6: Venus Direct, New Moon Eclipse in Virgo

After the Rain. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

After the Rain. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

The sun emerged Sunday afternoon after three days of driving rain and a windstorm that hurled tree branches through the air like missiles. I could hear the cracking as they split off the trunks – a terrifying sound when you live at the bottom of a slope covered in tall trees.

The sun stayed out just long enough for me to go for a short walk. It clouded over again before I was back at my computer, with showers in the forecast for the rest of the week. As I was walking, I was thinking about the approaching winter. We don’t get a lot of snow in the Seattle area, but it’s cold, wet, dark, and dismal. The memory of it begins rising Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast August 24: Sun Conjunct Jupiter, Full Moon in Pisces

Dismaland brochure. No joke. More info at dismaland.co.uk

No joke. More info at http://www.dismaland.co.uk

The Sun is now in Virgo, and after this week’s Full Moon in Pisces, we’ll be counting down to the third eclipse of 2015.

The Sun’s tour through Leo is vacation time for many in the Northern Hemisphere, with summer picnics, barbecues, and days spent at the beach. But there has been a decided lack in festiveness, in part due to the record-breaking heat. We’ve also been under a blanket of Venus retrograde in Leo. Venus in Leo normally is the party girl, but in reverse, she’s not in a partying mood. We’ve got two more weeks of this to go.

In the meantime, the Sun’s shift into Virgo signals the time to get back to work, focus on diet and health, and start thinking more critically about important issues rather than forming opinions based on something we read on Facebook or in the mainstream news. Continue reading →

Weekly Forecast March 2: Jupiter Trine Uranus, Full Moon in Virgo

The Sky Is Not Blue. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

White Sky, Gold Trees. © Pat Paquette, 2015.

Right on cue, the whole world seems to be going crazy as we enter the most astrologically tumultuous period of 2015.

Amid so much chaos and confusion, how do you find out what’s really going on? There’s no such thing as objective, unbiased media anymore. Comment sections are filled with the ranting of paid trolls intent on shutting down any meaningful debate. Hell, we can’t even trust our own eyes. Is that dress blue and black, or white and gold? Maybe the sky isn’t blue?

The Full Moon in Virgo on Thursday brings some much-needed discernment, critical thinking, and rational analysis. It’s hard to Continue reading →

Virgo Rising: The Virgo Soul

Zemnya, original artwork by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie. See end of article for more info.

Zemnya, original artwork by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie. See end of article for more info.

The sign of Virgo is associated with health, healing, wholeness, the harvest, purity, the divine feminine, the Mother, Mother Earth and service, one’s vocation or spiritual calling. The simplest way to summarize the purpose of a Virgo Soul is “to be an expression of Divine Love through one’s vocation or dharma.”

In other words if you have Virgo Rising, you can consider yourself to be a Virgo Soul, and you Soul’s purpose is to bring greater degrees of love into the world through your sacred work.

In modern times, the meaning of work becomes distorted when we think we have to accept jobs that are soul-destroying because we need the wages. In contrast, our true vocation is actually our spiritual calling. It is our divine work and our very reason for being. It is the purest expression of our life and soul, and finding our vocation, discovering the place of wholeness where we can fully be and express ourselves through our life’s work, is the highest purpose of Virgo. Before we can do this we have to purify the fear-based expressions of Virgo and access the highest love-based expression of this beautiful sign.

Ruled by Mercury, the Virgo mind is perceptive, discerning, detailed, incisive, and analytical. These attributes combined with an inherent desire for perfection can lead to many of the challenges that our Virgo friend experiences at the fear-based personality level. If left unchecked, your mind can go into overdrive, run you around in circles like a dog chasing its tail, and leave you feeling jaded, anxious, disheartened, and somewhat overly critical as you become cynical about the “imperfect” world around you. Yet ironically, in Esoteric Astrology, Mercury is also associated with the development of higher mind. The action of Mercury may seem to be Virgo’s downfall, yet it actually indicates the pathway to the higher purpose of Virgo. The real purification that Virgo needs is purification of the mind, and the true perfection that you seek is perfection of your soul.

The word “pure” comes from the Latin purus, which derived from the Greek pyr, meaning “fire.” The words pure and pyre (as in a funeral pyre) originate from the same root. Originally, the word “purification” meant cleansing by fire, and this is a clue to the deeper esoteric mysteries of Virgo and her highest soul purpose. The cleansing that happens when the soul is in Virgo is a spiritual cleansing, and the fire of which we speak is the cool spiritual flame of awareness that burns off all ignorance and reveals the light of awareness.
[quote cite=”~ Osho”]Once your awareness becomes a flame, it burns up the whole slavery that the mind has created.[/quote]
Once the flame of awareness has arisen in Leo, it is Virgo’s job to bring that pure awareness into the real world in practical ways. At the personality level, Virgo has a brilliant, sharp, analytical mind. Let’s pause for a moment and (in true Virgo style!) examine the word “analyze.” In the 1600s, the analyse meant “to dissect.” So when we are analysing something, we are “cutting it up.” Figuratively speaking, and sometimes even literally, we are taking it apart so we can examine all its component parts more closely. While the sign of Virgo is often associated with brilliant research and detailed analysis, the true gift of Virgo (and her association with healing) lies in the way she puts things back together again!

To an analytical mind, the characteristics of Virgo themselves may appear as separate things. Yet when we reverse the analytical process, they lead us back home through a process of purification or spiritual cleansing. We return to the Mother and reap the harvest by becoming healed, healthy and whole, from where we can be of true service in the world. This process of putting things back together again is called “synthesis.”

For synthesis to happen, there must be separate parts that require synthesising, so we can see that by nature, during the process of synthesizing there is still a sense of separation. Once the separate parts become whole again, the highest octave of Virgo has transcended separation and returned to wholeness. The very word “heal” comes from the Old English haelan, which literally means “to make whole.” That which makes things whole is pure awareness itself. At the highest level, your Virgo Soul already knows that all things, all phenomena in material existence, arise from pure awareness (or consciousness) and resolve back into pure awareness itself.
[quote cite=”~ Dr. Amit Goswami, The Self-Aware Universe“]Consciousness is the ground of all existence.[/quote] Your Virgo Soul knows that it is pure awareness itself that resolves all. So we can see that it is not analysis itself that heals (because by nature analysis dissects and separates), but rather it is the quality of the awareness that we bring to something that heals, because it brings us back to an awareness of wholeness, and in this wholeness, we find love. Cold analysis, without the presence of love, only increases separation and dis-ease. One of the deepest sacred mysteries of Virgo understands that it is actually our loving awareness that heals. We heal by bringing our loving, aware, conscious presence to something. By doing so, we return to the wholeness from which all arises and therin we find the purest divine love. Flowing this pure divine love into the world by bringing pure awareness (presence or consciousness) into our everyday work is the highest soul purpose of Virgo.
[quote cite=”~ Anya Sophia Mann”]We bring the Being to the doing.[/quote] Some spiritual traditions refer to a “Mother and Son” awareness. The “Son awareness” would be our everyday fear-based mind made up of thoughts, stories, fantasies, ideals, concepts, strategies, plans, emotions, and so forth. The “Mother awareness” would the ocean of pure loving awareness from which, and within which, everything else that we know (including ourselves) arises. In meditation, as we observe the activity of the everyday mind rising and falling, we may come to realize that we are none of those things, and that who we really are is the ever-present pure awareness that observes all. At this point it is said that the son has returned to the mother’s lap. This succinctly points to the process experienced by the soul in Virgo. In Esoteric Astrology, this process of “all things returning to the mother awareness” is reflected in the soul keynote for Virgo:
[quote cite=”~ The Tibetan, Esoteric Astrology”]I am the Mother and the child.
I, God, I, matter am.[/quote] So now we can begin to see that when we talk about our vocation or spiritual calling, we are not talking about searching high and low until we find some special kind of perfect sacred work, but rather it is about making the ordinary things that we do sacred by bringing the purest quality of our loving awareness to them in deep recognition that all things really are sacred. We purify the things we do, with our conscious awareness. This is the true meaning of Virgo. This reminds me of the Zen proverb:

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water!

If you have Virgo Rising, your soul’s purpose is to bring divine love into the world. When you become fearful, it is too easy for you to become lost in mental activity and exhaust yourself by trying to find perfection in the outer world. The key is to recognize, through your brilliant clear direct perception, that the source of your exquisite discernment and analysis is awareness itself, and within that awareness is love. When you realize that you are that awareness, you also know without doubt that you are love. You realize that you are the embodiment of loving awareness. At that point, all work becomes your vocation, as the quality of your loving awareness brings perfection to everything you do by making it sacred. This is the soul’s journey through Virgo.


Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Karen MacKenzie is working on a series of astrology inspired paintings using goddesses from different cultures. For more information about the symbolism in this print and to view other works in her ongoing series, check out her website, Karen MacKenzie Art.

Mercury, the Moon, and The Inner Journey of Virgo, Part II

Zemnya, original artwork by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie. See end of article for more info.

In Buddhist teaching, the highest perfection is said to be the perfection of wisdom.

There is an ancient Buddhist scripture called the “Holy Heart Sutra of the Perfection of Wisdom” (often just called “The Heart Sutra” for short). This scripture tells of a conversation between the historical Buddha and one of his heart disciples, Sariputra. In this scripture the Buddha says to Sariputra:

Form is emptiness, emptiness is form
Emptiness does not differ from form,
and form does not differ from emptiness.
~ The Heart Sutra

This speaks to the deepest mysteries of Virgo, and it is important to understand what is really meant by “emptiness” in this context. It doesn’t mean “nothing,” but rather refers to space, which is “empty” of physical forms but filled with spirit, filled with love – filled with all that we value, yet cannot see or touch. It speaks to the synthesis of spirit and form that happens in Virgo.

In Esoteric Astrology, the Tibetan refers to the Moon as the “Mother of All Forms.” In certain Buddhist traditions, reference is made to the “mother void” and the “son awareness.” This is referring to the karmic cycle through which physical forms arise from the “void” (or space), then awareness (of self) arises through form, and then divine awareness (soul) returns to the void (space) through synthesis, after the dissolution of form. Esoterically this is described as the synthesis of father (spirit) and mother (form) which gives rise to the birth of the child (Christ consciousness). At a higher level, the unified mother-father is simply referred to as mother. The deeper mysteries of this divine process lie within the Virgo-Pisces cycle of arising, awareness, synthesis and then resolution. This is how the deeper mystery of Virgo, symbolized by mother (spirit/form) and child (awareness), leads to the expansion of divine love.

After the Moon has done her earlier work in Cancer, creating the conditions for us to transform negative emotions into positive altruistic states such as compassion, she returns in Virgo to teach us how to flow the subtle physical energies of compassion through the subtle channels that have been created by Mercury. Again, this is a two-way street that speaks to the highest purpose of Virgo. Through the channels created by Mercury and under the conditions created by the Moon, we experience a greater expansion of divinity into physical form and come one step closer to experience our soul – that droplet of divinity which resides within each of us.

Likewise, as a result of the expansion of the human heart and a greater flow of human compassion, there is a greater experience of human potential within the divine. Heaven travels to earth, and earth meets heaven. Interestingly, the ruler of Virgo at the hierarchical level is the expansive, magnifying planet Jupiter. So we can see that the expansion of love on many levels and throughout many realms is deeply connected with the highest soul purpose of Virgo.

Virgo stands for the “womb of time’ wherein God’s plan  (the mystery and the secret of the ages)  is slowly matured and – with pain and discomfort and through struggle  and conflict – brought into manifestation at the appointed time.
~ The Tibetan, Esoteric Astrology

The Moon is a bit of an anomaly, an enigma, in astrology. Technically, she isn’t really a planet at all (for moons are not planets). Indeed H.P. Blavatsky (author of the earlier esoteric works The Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled), Alice Bailey (channel for The Tibetan, Author of Esoteric Astrology), and mystic Vera Stanley Alder all agree that the Moon is “dead,” having no life force or vitality of her own. Yet the magnetic pull of the Moon affects the Earth’s tides and likewise the emotions of humanity. So here we have the esoteric symbology of the Moon, something that is dead and connected to the past, yet is still tugging at us. The Moon symbolizes those aspects of our past that are no longer useful or beneficial for our spiritual progress, yet we collectively and individually (in our personal natal chart) haven’t released them yet.

The Moon thus creates conditions of human experience that are womb-like in the sense of being deep, dark, and quiet. In Virgo, she creates the conditions for “the valley of deep experience wherein secrets are discovered and eventually ‘brought to light’; [Virgo] is the place of slow, gentle and yet powerful crisis and periodic developments which take place in the dark and yet which lead to light.” (The Tibetan, Esoteric Astrology)

Esoterically, the Moon veils Vulcan (according to Esoteric Astrology, Vulcan is a hidden planet), and Vulcan is known as the blacksmith of the gods. In the alchemical fiery furnace of Vulcan, physical forms are transformed like molten lead into gold. It is this alchemical action of Vulcan that conditions the physical form to be more receptive to light and thus enables the synthesis of spirit and matter in Virgo.

The Moon/Vulcan conditions the form, while Mercury lays down a connective network of light on all levels. With this dual action of Mercury and the Moon/Vulcan, the physical human form becomes a pure and suitable vehicle for light and the subsequent birth of Christ consciousness.

This time of year, under the influence of Virgo, we all have an opportunity to deeply contemplate our life and ensure we are fully aligned with our divine purpose or vocation. If you have Sun, Moon or Rising Sign in Virgo, it is important that you be aware of your physical energy and stay grounded. You are here to radiate love into the world.


Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

About the artist: This oil painting, the sixth in the Empowered Feminine Zodiac series by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie, features the Lithuanian harvest goddess Zemnya as the representation of Virgo. She is dressed in traditional Lithuanian embroidered clothing. For more information about the symbolism in this print and to view other works in her ongoing series, check out her website, Karen MacKenzie Art (her prints are very affordable).

Mercury, the Moon, and The Inner Journey of Virgo, Part I

Zemnya, original artwork by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie. See end of article for more info.

Virgo season is upon us once again, bringing with it the opportunity to focus on our true vocation, or divine purpose. Virgo is associated with purity, purification, health, healing, well-being, the Virgin Mother, mother and child, the physical human form, and divinity in form.

It is no accident that it is harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere, as Virgo is also associated with the harvesting, or results, of what was sown. This is the time of year that we realize the practical reality of reaping what we sow, and if we don’t like what we see, it gives us an opportunity to prepare the ground to plant a different crop next year.

It is the Soul purpose of Virgo to purify and prepare our physical form so that it is more receptive to light and becomes a suitable vehicle for the cultivation and gestation of the Christ consciousness that will be born in Capricorn. Whether we have planets in Virgo or not, at this time of year it is an ideal time for each of us to contemplate our divine purpose and check whether we are fully aligned with our true purpose.

Following the journey of the soul through the 12 signs of the zodiac, after the completion of the individuation process in Leo, the individual now prepares for service by ensuring that the physical vehicle is ready to receive the light. Virgo has two planetary “space-holders” (rulers) that create the conditions necessary for this crucial stage of our soul’s development: Mercury and the Moon. We explored Mercury’s role in Gemini and the Moon’s role in Cancer, and here in Virgo, both planets create different conditions, because Virgo is an Earth sign, so they are more practically and tangibly conditioning the physical form rather than feeling and thought.

Mercury creates connections and pathways for communication, or communion. Esoterically, Mercury creates the ultimate pathway to connect us with higher mind, the antahkarana or “rainbow bridge.” Although we are strictly speaking in terms of energy and energetic pathways, it is helpful to think of the analogy of mercury as liquid metal. Imagine the speed and fluidity of liquid metal as it creates tiny sparkling rivulets, then streams and then rivers, spreading and branching out wherever needed to create pathways of light.

At one end of the bridge Mercury connects with the light of the divine; at the other end of the bridge Mercury is sending roots down into physical form, enlivening and stimulating the growth of neural pathways – nature’s own communication network for consciousness – so that conscious awareness can travel deeper into physical form. This is a two-way communication. Through the activity of Mercury, consciousness “communes” with form, and form becomes awakened, aware of consciousness. As a result, somatic awareness (the felt-sense in our body) deepens in Virgo, and the fully integrated Virgo soul can feel when they are flowing pure Love through their physical work and/or actions. Using your nervous system as a medium for communion, Mercury sensitizes you to spirit, awakening you to subtler and subtler levels of energy and consciousness.

Whereas in Gemini there is still duality, a perceived separation between form and spirit, between the divine and the personality, Virgo is a sign of synthesis. So in Virgo, the action of Mercury prepares the physical form to receive. The connections made by Mercury prepare for the synthesis of spirit and form, so that ultimately there is no separation. Spirit is form and form is spirit.

This is not an easy stage of our developmental process. Part of the process involves cognitive stimulation, the stimulation of thoughts and cognitive processing, and it is this side-effect of Mercury that leads some people with Sun, Moon or Virgo Rising to feel edgy, anxious, or worry to excess. If you are experiencing this, it is because you need to ground this Mercurial energy, and that is easier said than done. Having said that, it is part of your divine purpose as a Virgo to be a kind of cosmic lightening conductor! Do whatever you need to do to connect with your heart center. It can be yoga, Reiki, or even gardening, but do whatever you need to do to feel the physical flow of energy through your heart center radiating throughout your body and down to earth. Once you have done that, your energy will become grounded into the physical, rather than having too much energy in your head!

As we saw in my previous article on Cancer, the Moon rules physical form. So it makes sense that once Mercury has created the pathways, the Moon would step into a higher role in holding the space and ensuring the conditions are ripe for spirit to be fully imbued into physical form. The sign of Virgo is associated with perfection. This leads the Virgo personality to misguidedly seek perfection in the outer world, where the Virgo soul seeks perfection of the inner world.

In Part II, we’ll go deeper into Virgo’s connection to the Moon – the “Mother of All Forms.”


Ruth

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

About the artist: This oil painting, the sixth in the Empowered Feminine Zodiac series by Seattle artist Karen MacKenzie, features the Lithuanian harvest goddess Zemnya as the representation of Virgo. She is dressed in traditional Lithuanian embroidered clothing. For more information about the symbolism in this print and to view other works in her ongoing series, check out her website, Karen MacKenzie Art (her prints are very affordable).

Pisces-Virgo: The Healing Heart, Part I

Pisces SoulThe sign of Pisces is associated with illusion, delusion, glamour, suffering, sensitivity, bondage, captivity, prisons, hospitals, religious orders, renunciation, detachment, self-sacrifice, and death.

Sound like fun? If you thought Scorpio was intense, welcome to the oceanic depths of Pisces. Having journeyed through the previous 11 signs of the Zodiac, spending up to eight lifetimes in each, the Soul in Pisces has been around the block. No wonder your Piscean friends sometimes seem to be carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

Having learned to flow the energies of love and life consciously, accurately, and consistently in Aquarius to become a World Server, the Pisces Soul becomes a liberated, radiant expression of Christ Consciousness, a World Savior. A developmental cycle is complete, and the Soul is now fully mature and ready to fulfil divine purpose.

In Aquarius, the sign of world service, the lesson is finally learned
that produces the world Saviour in Pisces.  ~ Alice Bailey1

Does every Piscean we meet have the saintly qualities of a World Savior? Not quite. As we shall see, there is a big difference between the personality vibration and the Soul expression of Pisces. The gap between the lower octaves and higher octaves of this mysterious sign is the biggest in the whole Zodiac, and the difference is one of fear and love. Bridging this gap is the longest journey humanity will ever make.

The sign of Pisces embodies oceanic consciousness. Water signs are all about mastery of emotions, and mutable signs are all about change, so that gives us a clue to the higher purpose of this sign. Collectively, under the influence of Pisces, we are here to transform through our emotions. As the sign of oceanic consciousness, Pisces is aware of and experiences the consciousness of humanity. This is why Pisces has the reputation of being the most sensitive sign of all. It means sensitive in the sense of being aware of and able to use all of our senses – not, as some people unfairly presume, in the sense of being a wimp.

Indeed, our Piscean friends can really step up to the plate when the chips are down and stand their ground as good as anybody. You wouldn’t want to cross a Piscean who is standing up for what they believe is right. The real sensitivity of Pisces comes from their ability to sense everything. Now think about that. Would you really want to feel everything that everyone is feeling? All of the time? Pisces does. And with that comes great sadness and great responsibility.

Pisces feels and lives with the truth of suffering every moment of every day. No wonder they drink – and many do! All forms of escapism are a very real risk for our Piscean friends: movies, TV, computer games, drugs, alcohol – anything that numbs the pain is a big temptation for them. For Pisces, the suffering of humanity is a real, lived experience, not a mental concept or idea. Pisces feels the interconnectedness of us all and feels your pain. In a sense, they really are carrying the burden of humanity. If you have Sun, Moon, or Rising Sign in Pisces, you’d be wise to avoid the temptation to numb yourself. Learn about the higher power and purpose of your magnificent sign, and know what you can do to ease the pain for yourself and others, by using the “medicine” of your opposite sign.

The challenge for the Pisces personality is one of identification. Water signs tend to become identified with their feelings, and the Pisces personality all too easily becomes identified with deep feelings of sadness, self-pity, and low self-esteem. (Low self-esteem comes from the illusion that negative and painful feelings are yourself). Blinded by glamour and desperate to escape from their fears, the biggest life lesson for a Pisces personality is to learn that they are not their feelings.2 Your fears will dissolve like morning mist when you to realize your true spiritual nature. But to do this, you first need the laser-like discernment of your opposite sign, Virgo.

The Piscean personality often confuses self-sacrifice with people-pleasing, which leads to the mistaken thinking that you are either a victim or a martyr who has to continually neglect your own needs and defer to the whims of others. This misguided thinking is part of what you are here to transform and transcend. At Soul level, Pisces knows the deeper spiritual significance of self-sacrifice, in the sense that the deeper meaning of the word “sacrifice” means “to make sacred.” The “sacrifice” is of your lower, fear-based self, as you awaken to your sacred heart energy and align with the Self that knows all are one.

What do we mean by a sacred heart? We are not talking about the physical heart, but a very subtle and powerful energy field. The sacred heart is the subtle connection between us and the divine, which, when awakened, allows us to flow divine energy into the physical world. All you need to do to awaken it is to continuously and consistently place your attention upon it. Before this can happen, the pure focus and discernment of Virgo is needed: first, to cultivate somatic (body) awareness and then to discern subtler and subtler energies within our whole being. The word “sacrifice” refers to the practice of bringing loving attention to the subtler aspects of our being, so that we realize our own spiritual nature, our “Sacred Self.” Our sacred heart lies at the center of our Sacred Self and is that which connects us all.

The fluid, sensitive, temperament in Pisces – mediumistic and psychically polarised – must be stabilised in Virgo, in which sign mental introspection and critical analysis become possible and serve to arrest the fluidity of Pisces.  These two signs balance each other. ~ Alice Bailey1

When the oceanic consciousness of Pisces accesses the pristine purity and loving awareness of Virgo, something miraculous happens. Rather than being numb, the focus and precision of Virgo helps you to feel more deeply and precisely, until you identify and access your sacred heart. You experience the transformation of negative emotions as you breathe through your own heart. This felt experience in Virgo brings Pisces to the realization that when you make just one small change within yourself, it changes the whole. This is the true power and mystery of Pisces, and it comes from a real-lived experience, not from a belief or an idea. It is the knowledge of how one transforms the many: that one pure droplet, changes the whole ocean.

It is in the sign of Pisces that humanity’s greatest spiritual achievements are fully realized, and so it makes sense that our greatest challenges also lie in this sign. Before we can realize the spiritual heights, we have to acknowledge the depths. Acknowledging the truth of the ocean of human suffering, rather than trying to escape, avoid, or run from it, is the greatest challenge our Pisces friends will ever face. Yet it is only by fully examining suffering with the critical eye of Virgo that we begin to fully understand the cause.

In Part 2, we explore the whole purpose of human incarnation. We will see the mechanism through which the highest octave of Pisces transforms an “ocean of suffering” and becomes a World Savior.


Ruth

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Footnotes:

1. Esoteric Astrology, the wisdom of The Tibetan (Master DK) as channelled through Alice Bailey.
2. The Piscean Age is called the “Age of Glamour,” in which our suffering is very real indeed, yet the causes are rooted in illusion and delusion. To understand the mechanism of this and how it relates to Pisces, see my earlier article, “Pisces-Virgo: Completing the Age of Spiritual Redemption.”

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website, <a title="Soul Astrology with To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Virgo-Pisces: Returning (Part II)

© Vasili Poliakov for Dreamstime.com

The Virgo personality is very much concerned with work and may even have workaholic tendencies. However, this is a misapplication of the highest vibration of Virgo.

The higher purpose of Virgo is concerned with vocation rather than just “work.” It is important to have a spiritual motivation and purpose, rather than merely a mundane or ego-serving purpose. The word “vocation” comes from the Latin verb “vocare,” meaning “to call.” The Virgo Soul hears her spiritual calling and is ready, able, and willing to serve. She knows her spiritual power and purpose and is willing to pour forth her energy in the service of the Light. However, in order to hear your spiritual calling, you have to be able to listen to your true inner guidance, and that is where the higher vibration of Pisces is needed.

The highest octave of Pisces resonates with Universal Mind, Christ Consciousness and Oneness. Virgo needs to lift her head above the parapet and reconnect with her Spiritual origin. Then she can align with her true purpose and power, and flow that energy into her everyday life. This is how the lower personality-focused Virgo vibration becomes transformed through her opposite sign Pisces, and reaches the peaks of the higher octave of Virgo who knows how to flow “Love in Action.”

Yet there is even more to this mysterious sign of Virgo. The Soul keynote for Virgo is:

I am the Mother and the child. I, God, I, matter am.1

This speaks to Virgo’s vital role in the reintegration of the Divine Feminine into the planet at this time. Yet, one could be forgiven for thinking Virgo is a masculine sign. This is because, at the personality level, Virgo’s urge to serve can become distorted if her energy is inappropriately channelled into enterprises that serve the collective ego and support mundane structures that no longer serve humanity’s highest good, rather than her highest octave of bringing sacred energy down to Earth. Bringing the sacred into the everyday is Virgo’s real work.

The Mother and the Child refers to our dualistic nature: the Mother being our highest Divine Wisdom and the Child being our lower self, or ego. The challenge is to integrate these two, bringing Divine Wisdom to bear on the affairs of the mundane world. Imagine a world where our politicians and corporate leaders were required to have spiritual intelligence on their person specification, and to demonstrate practical skill in emotional intelligence and the ways of peace. What a different world that would be!

The Virgo Soul brings the spiritual into the physical through Higher Mind. Mercury is the personality ruler of Virgo, but also plays a key role in the development of Higher Mind. This is another clue to Virgo’s higher role. Like a lightening conductor, the Virgo Soul brings higher mind down to earth in very practical ways, imbuing all physical matter with enlightened wisdom, compassion and power.

If you have Sun, Moon and/or Rising Sign (Ascendant) in Virgo, your challenge is to still your busy mind enough to hear the soft voice that arises in the stillness. Herein lies your own inner wisdom; indeed it is the Wisdom of The Ages. Will you hear your spiritual calling in the stillness, “return” to your true vocation and devote your energy to the creation of Heaven on Earth? Or will you worry yourself (and possibly your friends!) into an early grave? The potential, and the choice, is all yours.


Ruth

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Footnotes:

1. In “Esoteric Astrology” the wisdom of the Master Djwahl Khul channelled through Alice A. Bailey, a soul keynote was given for each zodiac sign. Meditating upon the keynote for your Soul Sign (Rising Sign, or Ascendant), supports you in aligning with your Soul vibration.

[All of Ruth’s soul astrology articles are now archived in her Tea Room, the newest addition to the RealAstrologers home. ~Pat]

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Virgo-Pisces: Returning (Part I)

As we head deeper into Virgo territory, Ruth continues her soul astrology series with Virgo and its opposite sign, Pisces. (In case you missed her take on Pisces from the other perspective, you can find it here). ~Pat

© Vasili Poliakov for Dreamstime.com

As the sixth sign, the Soul in Virgo has reached the mid-point of its journey through the developmental stages of the Zodiac. This is the point where the journey home, the returning, begins. The essence of the Virgo Soul is the Divine Feminine, Mother Earth, purity, one’s vocation, spiritual calling, and Divine Purpose.

From its starting point as a “point of light in the mind of God” in Aries,1 the Soul has now reached the farthest point of its journey – the deepest level of immersion in the material world. This is evident in the characteristics and concerns of the personality oriented Virgo: work, discernment, precision, perfection, health, the physical body.

Yet the true purpose of the Soul in Virgo is not to become overly concerned with mundane affairs but rather to bring spiritual energy into physical matter, to imbue our mundane world with spiritual energy through sacred action. To the Virgo Soul, work is sacred action, and its purpose is to elevate our world – to literally bring heaven to Earth by making the world sacred.

So does this mean that all Virgos embody the qualities of an earth goddess? Well, not exactly. Earth signs are concerned with mastery of the physical, and as the mutable Earth sign, Virgo is concerned with change – changes in the physical. In the case of the Virgo personality, this often means concern with the physical body and physical health. The personality ruler of Virgo is Mercury, which means Virgo has the unenviable task of trying to ground Mercurial energy into a physical body. This relates to the deeper spiritual significance of Virgo. The Virgo Soul is somewhat like a cosmic lightening conductor, here to ground higher spiritual energies into the planetary body.

This Mercurial effect can lead to some of the so-called negative qualities of Virgo. Mercury’s stimulation of the mental or cognitive aspect of mind can lead to restlessness, nervousness, worry, criticism, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies, especially in relation to health and/or sickness. It is no accident that Virgo became known as the sign of the stomach ulcer! At the personality level, this can also lead Virgo to nag their friends and family about health and wellness issues.

For any of us, one way to distinguish if we are personality-oriented or Soul-oriented is to check whether we are internally or externally focused. When we are internally focused, we align with our Soul path and have an inner focus. We are conscious of our thoughts, words, and actions, our inner motivations and drives, and we follow our inner wisdom. When we are externally focused, we are like a leaf blowing in the wind. We are driven by external motivators, seek external validation and externally-conferred status, and are motivated by acquiring wealth and position in external society.

This external focus keeps the Virgo personality entangled in the outer world – in the world of work, the affairs of others, the health and well being of others – and this can lead to criticism of others’ choices and behavior, especially with regard to health, wellness, nutrition and fitness. This also leads Virgo down the fruitless path of seeking perfection in the outer world. Virgo’s Soul journey is to discover spiritual perfection by becoming internally focused, and for this, Virgo needs to experience the oneness of her opposite sign, Pisces.

In Part Two, we will explore how the higher octave of Virgo’s opposite sign, Pisces, opens Virgo to her true vocation, or spiritual purpose.


Ruth

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Footnotes:

1. Esoteric Astrology, The Wisdom of the Tibetan (Master DK or Djwahl Khul), as channelled by Alice Bailey.

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

Pisces-Virgo: Completing the Age of Spiritual Redemption, Part II

© Vilmos Varga for Dreamstime.com

In Part I we began to review the current Piscean Age and ponder what we have really learned of the higher spiritual potential of Pisces. Here we explore why Pisces is also the sign of self-sacrifice, and what this really means in terms of our spiritual journey.

As the last of the 12 Zodiac signs and 12 developmental stages in human consciousness, Pisces is the most mysterious of all and the most difficult for us to comprehend from our current state of consciousness.

With our minds as fogged as they are by ignorance, delusion and illusion, it is little wonder that our current idea of self-sacrifice is itself a misconception. Self-sacrifice does not mean we are either a victim or martyr who has to continually neglect our own needs to defer to the whims of others. This is a false understanding so typical of this Piscean Age.

To deepen our understanding, we need to use the discernment of Pisces’ opposite sign Virgo* to bring order to the confusion and chaos of Pisces. Virgo discernment would have us analyse: what is self-sacrifice? Is our understanding correct?

If we look deeply in analysis, we discover that the word sacrifice comes from “sacrify” – to make sacred. What does it mean to make something sacred? It means to spiritualise something: bring Spirit, Divinity, or God into it. To allow that which is holy (or whole) to prevail. The true path of self-sacrifice, which is the higher vibration of Pisces, means recognition of our sacred self: our “Higher Self” or Soul. To really come to know this truth for ourselves, we need to analyse the nature of our Self, by going deeply into our inner journey, until we recognise our own Soul.

[quote cite=”Byron Katie”]Who would you be without your story?[/quote]

When we let go of the false self that we project from ego-personality, we realize the true path of Pisces: oneness with “all that is.” This is a process of recognizing that which already is; when we let go of fantasy, on all levels, we begin to see the underlying reality. The truth is that we are already sacred, and it is our own mental “fantasies,” our strong attachment to mental concepts, that keep us from recognizing that fact. Our strong attachment to our ego-identity (who we think we are) blinds us to the reality of who we really are. The difference is one of believing in something we have never experienced, versus really knowing the truth for ourselves.

[quote cite=”Osho”]Belief is always shaky, afraid, because deep down you are aware that you don’t know: it may be right, it may not be.[/quote]

The role Virgo plays in this process is vital, because the higher Virgo vibration infuses physical matter with Divine Love. Think of the Virgo herbalist who pours loving energy into her herb garden. Eileen Caddy, co-founder of the Findhorn Spiritual Community in Scotland (and a Virgo Soul) would often speak of “flowing love radiances” into her work and garden. For a Virgo Soul, Love is not an abstract mental concept but a very real physical energy that is to be poured into the physical realm to promote healing.

[quote cite=”Anya Sophia Mann”]We are all flow-ers of energy.[/quote]

Knowing how to flow our energy in beneficial ways is a skill that comes with deep awareness of our underlying true nature as Divine energy Beings. This knowing comes from lifetimes of spiritual practice, leading to grounded, practical, spiritual experience, and not from the imagination. Virgo invites us into deeper, practical, spiritual practices such as Yoga to deepen our inner knowing.

Discernment allows us to tell the difference between belief based on fantasy, or an idea we have heard about, and spiritual truth based on our own experience. There is a difference between imagining we are flowing love (Pisces) and really flowing it (Virgo)! The personality-centred romantic love of the Piscean Age is really about being “in love with an idea of love.” It is a fantasy that is far removed from the reality of Love. It is necessary that this brings dis-illusionment; otherwise we would never be motivated to seek and find higher Love.

The path of Virgo brings necessary dis-illusionment as it dissolves lower Piscean illusion through deeper analysis. This releases the grip of fantasy and allows higher Piscean connection to very real, Divine, energy. The highest spiritual message of Virgo teaches us that when we bring our awareness to something, we access the highest Divine qualities of Pisces. This allows us to bring a real loving energy to whatever we place our attention on which, in turn, brings healing:

[quote cite=” Jack Kornfield”]When we honor the body with our attention, we begin to reclaim our feelings, our instincts, our life… opening the heart begins by opening to a lifetime’s accumulation of unacknowledged sorrow…[/quote]

All are paths leading us within, to discover Divine Union and oneness, through experiencing our personal healing journey. Thereby discovering our inner Self, which is connected, “holy” (whole) and not separate from Divinity. As Aries begins the outward journey as “a point of light in the mind of God”, the journey of Pisces ultimately represents our returning.** Our spiritual homecoming. This is the true path of Pisces-Virgo-Pisces.

[headline h=”5″]Sin and Redemption[/headline]

Spiritual leaders of the Piscean Age have been emphatic that we understand the concepts of sin and redemption, but why? Why are they particularly Piscean themes? The English word “sin” was translated from the original Greek word Harmartia, which literally means “missing the mark.” The more we try to live up to a manmade idea of who we should be (trapped in a glamour-fantasy) the more we miss the point of who we really are underneath. The word redemption means “re-claiming.” In theological terms, “redemption” is a metaphor for what is achieved through “atonement” or “at-one-ment.” It simply means re-claiming who we really are.

In other words when we let go of the struggle and pretence of trying to be what we’re not (the “sin” or mistaken illusory self), we can get down to the very real business of being who we are (redemption).

[headline h=”5″]Pisces and the Mystery of the Sacred Heart[/headline]

Through the path of Virgo, we will discover the highest truth of Pisces: the mystery of the Sacred Heart. Once we have discovered, through our own experience, the truth of ourselves as living Souls, we begin to flow our energy differently into the world. Through conscious connection with our “Sacred Self,” we activate the Sacred Heart energy. In Esoteric Astrology,** Pisces is known as the sign of the “World Savior.” The deepest mystery of all is how this comes about. The world is “saved” once our collective Sacred Heart is activated and the whole of humanity’s hearts beat together as “one heart.”

As this Piscean Age comes to completion, we can at one and the same time see both the results of our missing the point (in terms of increased suffering) and the simultaneous awakening of a collective heart-centred humanity. Author Gregg Braden*** has written much about the potential of the human heart to influence the magnetic field of our planet and affect our climate. He is a great advocate of the Global Coherence Initiative, the aim of which is to “unite people in heart-focused care and intention, to facilitate the shift in global consciousness from instability and discord to balance, cooperation and enduring peace.”

We are living on the cusp; as the seeds of the new age are being planted, we also are experiencing the fruits of the closing age. It is a time of overlap – yes, we’re planting seeds for the Aquarian Age, and we are also reaping the “good” with the “bad” of what we sowed in the Piscean Age. The choice is ours. Our future depends on our ability to choose where we place our attention, and that requires the discernment and concentration of Virgo.

We have an amazing opportunity, and given that we still have another 150 years or so, there is still time. We need not “miss the mark.” All is not lost. Setting all our mistakes and misperceptions aside, we can still reap a beautiful harvest from this Piscean Age, if we utilize the practical energy and discernment of Virgo to look deeply within and recognise the truth of our own Being.

We still have an opportunity to experience the reality of Divine Union. If this is to come to fruition, we need to get real, use discernment and choose wisely to focus our energy on our inner experience, our heart-centredness and our Soul awakening.


Ruth

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Footnotes:
* The opposite sign is Nature’s medicine that stops us polarizing to the egoic extreme of any sign. See footnote at the bottom of Part I for a complete explanation.

** Esoteric Astrology (1951), by Alice Bailey. Lucis Press, London. The work of The Tibetan (Master DK) as channeled through Alice Bailey.

*** Fractal Time: The Secret of 2012 and a New World Age (2009) Gregg Braden. Hay House, Carlsbad.

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Ruth Hadikin, Soul Astrologer

Ruth Hadikin – Soul Astrologer

To get your personal Soul Sign/Life Purpose Report (FREE with a consultation), contact Ruth via her website. You can also request a FREE mp3 download, “The Energetics of Soul Astrology.”

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