Flower Remedies for Practicing Astrologers

Shooting Star

© 2011 by Donna Cunningham

Guest Blogger

All Rights Reserved

Flower remedies can be an excellent support for the astrologer, especially when just starting out. Those early days are so filled with self-doubt, as well as the inevitable challenge of synthesizing the multitude of factors in the horoscope and determining what is important. Here are some:

Shooting Star: Excellent for astrologers—helps in attuning to and understanding planetary factors. Also helps with the feeling of not belong on the planet that many of us have.

Madia: Helps concentration and focus, so one is able to deal with details without becoming distracted.

Shasta Daisy: Aids in synthesizing the chart, going from the bits and pieces to an overview of the whole. Helps integrate ideas from many different sources. Combats an overly-analytic approach, bringing intellect into balance with emotional understanding.

Yarrow:  Psychic shielding and protection, so that one doesn’t take on too much negativity from the client or become drained.

Yellow Star Tulip: Developing empathy and the capacity to truly listen to and understand the client’s suffering, putting oneself in the client’s shoes, in terms of how events or the reading itself might be impacting him or her. Compassion and caring is enhanced.

Rock Rose: Releases the panic that sometimes comes up before a reading, exam or talk. (Stage fright or performance anxiety.) Part of Rescue Remedy, but can be taken singly from the stock bottle (concentrated form) before the event.

Goldenrod:  Combats social pressure or disapproval from family, society, and peers to follow the path you know is right for you. Here, helps deal with the negative press, skepticism, and scorn astrology and astrologers sometimes face.

Sources for These Remedies

Most of the above remedies are available from:

Flower Essence Services (FES)

Nevada City, CA - USA

(800) 548-0075 or 530-265-0258 

Remedies from FES will be in stock (concentrate) form and need to be diluted. Mix in one-ounce dropper bottles, like those used for nose drops. (Get them from a local drugstore, health food store, or order them from FES.) Fill the dosage bottle with spring water, then add four drops of each concentrate, upt o five remedies at a time. Shake 100 times. Take four drops, four times a day.

~~~

This is an excerpt from Donna’s book, Flower Remedies Handbook (Sterling: 1992). You might also be interested in  Donna's ebook, Flower Remedies: How Plants’ Energies Can Heal Us.

Donna Cunningham, MSW, is an internationally-respected author of books, articles, and columns about astrology, flower essences and other metaphysical topics. For the past 11 years, she has co-created Vibration Magazine and Blog with Deborah Bier. Her insights reflect her dual background in astrology and psychotherapy. She has a Master’s degree in Social Work from Columbia University and over 40 years of experience. Her ebooks can be found at Moon Maven Publications  Visit her blog, Sky Writer.

Note: This article is provided purely for informational purposes. Readers are asked to make their own determination regarding the quality of the services and products described above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.

For more on Flower Essences:

Astrology and Flower Essences

Flower Essences for Pluto and Resilience: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”

Flower Essences: Emotional First Aid, Boomer Edition

A Collection of Articles About How to Combine Astrology with Flower Essences 


30 Articles About Essences and Astrology from Vibration's Archives


Photo Credit:© Lijuan Guo | Dreamstime.com

Chiron Quiz: How Strong is Your Chiron?

© 2010 by Joyce Mason

Donna Cunningham has been encouraging me to create a Chiron quiz to complement her other planetary quizzes that have been so popular on her blog, Sky Writer. Although she has quizzes on most planets including the Moon and Mercury, I’m focusing in this article on how Chiron fits into her quizzes on the outer planets. As the bridge between Saturn and Uranus, Chiron fits smack dab in the middle of the mix. We need this Chiron quiz!

My perspective? I consider Chiron to be an outer planet—or at least half-outer. In its bridging position between Saturn and Uranus, Chiron is anchored in both worlds of the inner and outer planets. But before we get going, for those who want to take their quizzes in sequence, I’m starting with the links to the outerplanetary quizzes on Donna’s site:

Donna Cunningham’s Quizzes on the Outer Planets


How Strong is Your Saturn?


How Strong is Your Uranus?


How Strong is Your Neptune?


How Strong Is Your Pluto

I’ve designed the Chiron quiz to parallel Donna’s structure on the other quizzes as much as possible, so you’re using a similar system to compare your Chiron score to the other outer planets. Particularly if you’re what Donna and I both call an OPP (an Outer-Planetary Person) or what I call a PUNC (Plutonian, Uranian, Neptunian and Chironic—all the outers emphasized), you’ll navigate your personal overload of evolutionary change planets better if you have some idea which one is your leading planet, so you can salute him and follow his direction.

When it comes to the outer planets, the quiz on which you score the highest is the engine in the string of influences that nag you to morph at light speed. Not to mention, while we're talking about Little Engines That Could, Outerplanetary People are desperately needed in the current, intense change cycle involving the outer planets in chronic tension. You know who you are and that you've received your intuitive draft notice! Remember, if you think change is challenging for you, imagine how difficult it is for people who aren't having a dialogue with these Gods of Change every second of their lives. We are the way showers.

And now for the one who helps keep the outer planets more on track and easier to navigate in his role as a go-between, Chiron.


What’s Your CQ (Chiron Quotient)?

As Donna always points out in her quizzes, it’s impossible to consider every single influence when creating a planetary “weighting” system, especially without complicating it so much, it’s no fun. You may find you feel more Chironic than your ultimate score would indicate. That’s when you have to consider more subtle nuances. For example, the Moon is my most elevated planet, it’s out of bounds, [1] and closely square Neptune. I have a very “sensitive” and overemphasized Moon, to which Chiron has a nearly exact sextile. Chiron acts as a safety valve to the high pressure of my lunar overload; thus, I have become that sweet centaur’s devotee in undying gratitude for the relief! These particulars jack up my Chiron Quotient, as any close aspect between Chiron and a planet with similar prominence might intensify its strength. Don’t take these quizzes as the Ten Commandments, etched in stone. They’re guidelines to weigh emphasis. Adjust according to personal experience.


I use orbs of up 8° for major aspects (conjunction, opposition, square or trine). For minor aspects, I use 3° for quintile, semisquare, and sesquiquadrate. I go up to 4° on a quincunx  and 6° for the sextile. (The last two are a little generous compared to some astrologers.) As Donna also does in her quizzes, I consider 10° for conjunctions to the Midheaven and ASC based on the research by Michel Gauquelin.

Suggestion: Be radical and don’t even resemble a traditional Virgo nitpicker when it comes to orbs. If you feel it at 9°, count it. If you say “huh?” and don’t relate to the aspect whatsoever in a degree of arc you're "supposed to," then a smaller orb is the one for you. Our sensitivity to the planets is personal and varies somewhat. The whole idea here is to make you more aware of your comparative planetary sensitivities. It would be "off" to deny your actual intuition as you examine the issue. If you do major comparisons with others, you'll need to agree on an orbital definition, but for your own purposes, do what feels right consistently across your outerplanetary quizzes.

Now, hang onto your horse half. Here goes!


The Quiz


___ Chiron is conjunct, square, trine, or opposite the Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven (10 points each)

__ Chiron is conjunct, square, trine, or opposite other planets (5 points each)

__ Chiron is in minor aspect (sextile, quincunx, quintile, semisquare, or sesquiquadrate) to the Sun, Moon or other planets (2 points each)

__ You have Sun, Moon, Ascendant or Midheaven in Virgo (5 points each).


Note: This comes from my theory about The Chiron Sector, the part of the zodiac from Virgo through Sagittarius that I associate with Chiron. Virgo is the pivotal sign between the planets that deal with “I” and the planets that deal with “Us and Them or Others.” Its bridging nature, just as Chiron bridges us from the inner to the outer planets in its orbital position, makes Virgo the most Chironic sign in my mind. Virgo is the last “I” sign, but it starts the transition to Libra/Other by focusing on service.


__   Bonus Points for Chiron in Virgo, Chiron in the 6th, or Virgo on the 6th House cusp (5 points each)

___ Other planets in Virgo (3 points each)

__   Other planets in The Chiron Sector (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius) – (2 points each)

__   Sun or Moon in the 6th House (5 points each)




Total your points. A score of 0-14 is a relatively low Chiron Quotient (CQ). A score of 15-25 is moderate CQ. If your points total more than 25, you’ve got a high CQ and should really start looking for a farrier—one of those folks that puts shoes on horses, because you’re a centaur through and through!


Sharing Feedback

It would be great to hear your scores in the Comments and whether or not you think the test is relatively accurate. This is an experiment, and your comments will help make the CQ Quiz better. In case you’re wondering, my own score is 43, without adjustment for Chiron’s role in releasing my lunar pressure. (My hero!)

Please let us know what you learn! Maybe we can start the equivalent of Mensa for people with high CQs. I know what you’ll say. “Hold your horses!” We’d never get any one of us off our figurative Mt. Pelion, away from helping others long enough to attend a meeting. (By the way, there’s a flower essence for serving others to a fault. It’s called Centaury! No kidding.)

That’s what’s so cool about the Internet. The High CQ Club can come to your mountain through The Radical Virgo and other Chiron-friendly sites, and you can read them between sessions—healing, teaching, mentoring—those things we Chironics do, sometimes over-do.

~~~

Note

[1] There’s a good discussion of Moon out-of-bounds (OOB) and OOB planets in general on the post, Moonwalk: Cancer.

Photo Credit: Posing strong female © Smagal Dreamstime.com enhanced by Joyce.

Radical Reminders: Personal consultations are still 25% off through Labor Day, September 6. See sidebar.

Don't miss another New Moongram!  Sign up at the top of the sidebar to receive extra information, including a mini-meditation for each New Moon, and special discounts on new publications.

Comments Are Now Closed for This Post. Thanks to everyone who participated—some 50 people!—in this lively discussion.

Take the follow-quiz on your Chiron Resonance!

The Astrobabble Quiz

What’s Your AQ – Astrobabble Quotient?

© 2010
by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved
 
April is National Humor Month. Of course, if you’re a regular reader of The Radical Virgo, you know that every month is humor month here. Witness Quotes for the Signs and Auntie Joyce’s Astro-Aphorisms, not to mention my general inability to pass up a good pun, no matter how serious the subject.

Donna Cunningham, on her fabulous blog Sky Writer, notes that the astrologically-inclined like quizzes. She is also an expert on the Tower of Astrobabble. English for Astrologers—No Astrologese, Please will give you a direct experience of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of such gibberish, clueless about a single word that's being spoken to you. I remembered Donna’s talk on this topic at a United Astrology Congress (UAC) in the ‘90s. That memory and her report about our astro-quizzical nature gave birth to the following self-test. Be painfully honest!

One point for each YES answer unless otherwise noted:

1. You have changed your name to Celestial, Starr, Venus or some other astro-inspired moniker. (2 points)

2. You cannot introduce yourself by name alone. It goes something like, “Hi, I’m Athena—double Aries part of a four-planet stellium, Grand Water Trine including Mars, Venus, and Uranus, Cap Rising … in my second Saturn Return.”

3. At astrology conferences, you can’t give it a rest, even at lunch or dinner. You throw out verbal chart details for people to project on the planetarium of their minds till they’re dizzy. By dessert, they’re nauseous with Information Indigestion.

4. You have the chutzpah to use words like quincunx and rectification in front of strangers you’ve never met, people who are highly unlikely to speak in star tongues. They're probably wondering if some of your lingo refers to other body parts. (3 points)

5. You refuse to talk to, much less have relationships with, people who don’t know their exact birth time. (3 points)

6. You don’t just go to Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) to look up the stars in every movie you see; you go to Astro Data Bank to look up their charts. Then you talk about it to everyone you meet, as if they cared.

7. When friends have a baby, you can’t resist giving them your two-cents’ worth on the kid’s future, even if your information was (a) not requested, (b) they’re not particularly believers, (c) astrology might be against their religion, and/or (d) the kid’s a Scorpio and you don’t use filters to tell them what they’ve got in store. So what if you contained yourself enough not to say “my condolences.” (6 points.)

8. You don’t leave home during Mercury Retrograde, you blab about it for weeks before and afterwards to strangers on street corners, and you send all your friends the Murky Retro dates with your annual holiday letter so they’re prepared for the New Year.

9. You have never forgiven the State of New York (or wherever you were born) for not recording birth times—or your mother for not writing it down to the second in your baby book. If she’s still alive, you still remind her—often. (2 points.)

10. Your answering machine message includes the daily planetary positions. When Aunt Tillie calls, she thinks you’re “talking dirty” and in some kind of sex code with those positions, numbers, and funny words. She’s heard of that book, Men Are from Mars and Women Are from Venus! That’s why she hangs up without leaving a message,


Your AQ Score

0-2: You are a great astrological ambassador. You don’t pollute the air with a lot of astrobabble. You make star talk just intriguing enough that newbies are curious about learning the language of astrology.

3-6: You could afford to learn some empathy. Visit a neighborhood or country that speaks a language other than English or whatever’s your usual. Do not take a translation phrase book with you. And don’t be a wuss. You must, at minimum, ask directions, haggle at a market, and make small talk at a coffee shop.

7-9: You’re broaching the realm of giving astrology and astrologers a bad name. Go wash your mouth out with soap and start learning to translate all this crap into something John or Jane Q. Public can comprehend.

10-20: You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You make us look terrible! You are obsessed, possessed, and need to go to AA—Astroholics Anonymous. They offer a 12-Step program—and don’t even think about how that that parallels the 12 signs and houses, much less talk about it.

PS ~ See you at the next AA meeting!

~~~

Photo Credit: All Talk - Sign Series |© Mediaonela | Dreamstime.com 
Slightly astrologized by the author

Don’t forget the gift with purchase of Chiron and Wholeness: A Primer through April 30!

The 1st International Astrology Day Blog Carnival

Welcome the Aries Ingress

The Cardinal T-Square

Personal Challenges - Practical Solutions

A 3-Day World Wide Web Blog-a-Thon

March 19-21, 2010

Keys to Effectively Handling the Cardinal T-Square Challenges

Find out how you and your loved ones may be affected by the T-Square!

A blog carnival is an internet-based event featuring a large, permanent collection of informative articles on a given topic. Several blogs host pages with article descriptions linked to sites where articles are posted. This particular carnival celebrates International Astrology Day and presents a variety of useful essays about ways individuals can contend with the cardinal T-Square during 2010-14.

The three host bloggers showcase articles on how transiting Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto will affect individuals’ lives and what they can do to integrate the useful side of each of these energies. Authors for each day give readers ideas and problem-solving tools to tackle the inevitable challenges and get back on solid ground.

Friday, March 19:

So you’ve STILL got Pluto Problems?

Saturday, March 20

Take Care of Saturn and Saturn Will Take Care of You

Sunday, March 21

Uranus in Aries: Claiming a Self-Reliant Future

For more information or to submit articles, contact: either of the Coordinators:

Donna Cunningham at moonmave@spiritone.com

CJ Wright at auntiemoonmail@yahoo.com

The Radical Virgo is joining the festivities.  Look for a special post here during the event.

Winter Astrology Reading: Five Astrologers Share Their Faves

Recently, the owners of my favorite spiritual bookstore in Sacramento, Sunlight of the Spirit, asked for my recommendations in stocking some “good astrology books.” I was more than happy to oblige, but it occurred to me that the list would be a bit slanted as my sole personal opinion. That’s when I decided to invite some of my other friends and colleagues to get in on the act.

The next natural step? Share the list with The Radical Virgo readers. I had no idea that Gavin Carruthers would mention the importance of “reading some good books” on astrology in my interview of him in my last post. These synchronicities were like stars aligning to bring you this bookworm Winter Solace article!

Your Book Panel


Participating astrologers in this collective reading list were Gavin Carruthers (US/Arizona), Joyce Mason (US/California) Georgia Stathis (US/California), Anne Whitaker (UK/Scotland), and Lana Wooster (UK/England). While we admittedly comprise a small opinion pool, I believe our combined years of experience and diverse perspectives have resulted an interesting and eclectic list.

How the List Works

Books are listed alphabetically by author. For your convenience, titles are linked to Amazon, the author’s site, or other online stores where they are available, in case you want to purchase them. The number of stars indicates how many people on the panel recommended that particular title as part of their “half dozen or so” favorites.

I limited the main list to 25, figuring I’d lose you much beyond that number. I hope you’ll bookmark or print out this post and keep it, not just as a winter reading list, but also as a reference for years to come. Personally, I can’t wait to dig into some of the books that are new to me!

Your Astro-Bibliography

*Arroyo, Stephen ~ Chart Interpretation Handbook (1990)

****Arroyo, Stephen ~ Astrology, Karma and Transformation (1992)

*Arroyo, Stephen ~ Person-to-Person Astrology (2007)

*Baigent, Michael; Campion, Nicholas; and Harvey, Charles ~ Mundane Astrology (1992)

*Bell, Lynn ~ Cycles of Light

**Carruthers, Gavin ~ Astrology Course on DVD (2010)  (Not a book, but offered for those who prefer a different medium.)

 **Cunningham, Donna ~ Astrological Guide to Self-Awareness (1994) Original paper edition is out of print. Updated e-version (2005), with chapter by Joyce Mason on Chiron, can be purchased at Moon Maven Publications

*Cunningham, Donna ~ Healing Pluto Problems (1986)

**Cunningham, Donna ~ E-books: Any of Donna’s collection of practical e-books, including Outer Planets as Vocational Indicators (The Outer Planets and Inner Life, V.1), Outer Planet Aspects to Venus and Mars, (The Outer Planets and Inner Life, V.2), Aspects Between the Outer Planets (The Outer Planets and Inner Life, V.3), Counseling Principles for Astrologers, and Astrological Analysis: Selected Topics in Chart Interpretation.  Buy one of Donna's e-books by Saturday, January 23, and your purchase price will be donated to Haiti relief efforts.

*George, Demetra and Bloch, Douglas ~ Astrology for Yourself (2006)

*Greene, Liz ~ Astrology for Lovers (formerly Star Signs for Lovers) (2009)

*Greene, Liz ~ The Outer Planets and Their Cycles (1996)

*Greene, Liz ~ Relating (1978)

**Greene, Liz ~ Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil (1976)

*Hall, Judy ~ The Karmic Journey (1991)

Harvey, Charles ~ Anima Mundi: The Astrology of the Individual and the Collective (2002)

*Kempton-Smith, Debbi ~ Secrets from a Stargazer’s Notebook (1999)

*Levine, Joyce ~ Breakthrough Astrology (2006)

*Marks, Tracy ~ Astrology of Self-Discovery (2008)

* Oken, Alan ~ Alan Oken's Complete Astrology (2006)

*Organization for Professional Astrology (OPA) ~ How to Start, Maintain, and Expand an Astrological Practice (2001)

*Orr, Marjorie ~ The Astrological History of the World (2002)

*Rudhyar, Dane ~ The Lunation Cycle (1967)

*Schulman, Martin ~ Karmic Astrology: Joy and the Part of Fortune (1978)

**Stathis, Georgia ~ Business Astrology 101: Weaving the Web Between Business and Myth (2001)

Special Section on Chiron


Since Chiron is my specialty--and many people look for information on Chiron here on The Radical Virgo-- I’m listing three books that have influenced me in my Chiron studies:

Mini-Biblio on Chiron 

Clow, Barbara Hand ~ Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets (2002)

Reinhart, Melanie ~ Chiron and the Healing Journey (1999)

Stein, Zane ~ Chiron: Essence and Application (See bottom of sidebar)

And, of course, here’s another chance for shameless promotion of my new Chiron e-book and its hearty recommendations by other astrologers:

Mason, Joyce ~ Chiron and Wholeness: A Primer (Purchase here in Radical Virgo sidebar)

List Synthesis


In order to be properly Virgo-ized, the list must be synthesized! This post is illustrated with the book that “got the most votes,” Stephen Arroyo’s Astrology, Karma, and Transformation. You’ll see several authors’ names repeatedly—Stephen Arroyo, Liz Greene, and Donna Cunningham. These are by no means the only astrology books of merit out there. However, if you’re looking for a place to start or catch up on your astrology reading, I think you can’t go wrong with this list or any of the authors whose names appear multiple times.


Publication dates can be helpful in terms of getting “the latest” ideas on planetary influences … or the newest insights about more recently discovered bodies like Chiron and the other centaurs. However, many of the oldies are still goodies.


Other Astrology Blogs


Some of the greatest sources of current astrological information are astrology blogs. You’ll see some of my favorites in the sidebar, but you might want to bookmark this link to the Top 100 astro-blogs on PostRank and visit it often.


I can’t rave enough about Donna Cunningham’s Sky Writer. This is a frequently updated blog, and Donna’s treasure trove of vast experience as an astrologer, writer, and wise woman with a great sense of humor shine through her easy-to-grasp and completely engaging articles. She often introduces fabulous new talent as guest bloggers. I consider it a can’t-miss.


Your Turn


Please let me know in the Comments if this kind of post is helpful to you. If yes, I may do others like it in the future. And if you have other favorite astrology books, please share them with The Radical Virgo community.


Now curl up in front of the fire and have yourself a good read!


~~~

Can U Blog? What to Look for in the Birth Chart

©2009 by Donna Cunningham
Guest Author

I’ve been a blogger for just about five months now, and have actively sought out great blogs for longer than that as a way to determine if I have what it takes to blog. The sites I enjoy most share the quality of freshness—both in the sense of originality and in the sense of being a touch sassy. My role models write like newspaper columnists, informally and personably sharing their commentaries on life in this weird millennium.

They aren’t afraid to express controversial opinions in a light-hearted way or to share a joke on themselves. A good post isn’t fine literature for the NY Times Notable Books list, but it’s fun to read, teaches me something new, and piques my curiosity. The primo blogger is somewhat of an authority on one—or ideally, several—subjects, but can make an arcane field understandable and interesting. (You can find some neat examples on my blog roll at Skywriter.)

What placements in an astrology chart would go along with qualities like these? What planet am I describing? It would be people who are strongly mercurial in nature. They’d have a strong Mercury, maybe with a little jolt from Uranus. Mercury becomes high focus in a chart by appearing on the Ascendant or Midheaven or aspecting the Sun, Moon, or several planets. It is heightened by having planets in the Mercury-ruled signs Gemini or Virgo. Having the Sun, Moon, or two or more planets in the 3rd house of the chart, the house of communication and writing, also would help.

However, I know lots of people with several planets in Gemini—it’s what was happening from May-July in the early 1940s—and many of them have yet to write a single article. I had one friend who had six planets in Gemini, incredibly and irreverently funny, an exceptional raconteur, but despite all my urging, she didn’t write any of it down. Maybe they’re all starting blogs now—it’s the trendy thing, with millions of new ones every week. However, I’d wager you could find many of their sites in Blog Ghost Town, abandoned after a week or two of intense posting. There’s a collection of them at One Post Wonders.

What creates stick-to-it-iveness is some help from Saturn or maybe Pluto, good aspects or even bad ones. The Virgo side of Mercury is also more conducive to regularity…on the verbal level, though it doesn’t always extend to the physical level, if you listen to their chronic complaints about constipation. (I know, I know, I ought to delete that last remark!) Many of them are more driven to write because they want to be useful and they have many practical skills to offer and to set other people on the right path.

Note: I’ll be sharing more of my observations about writing signatures in a teleseminar on Sunday evening, May 3rd. Click on the announcement below. And I’ll be teaching a teleseminar series in mid-June that guides people step-by-step through creating a blog and posts for it.

Donna Cunningham’s Teleseminar May 3, 2009
Writing Signatures in the Astrology Chart


In case you can’t make the May 3 seminar, check Moon Maven Publications for writers’ materials and future class date announcements.

Wordgo: The Virgo Way with Words

Why are Virgos in love with words?

For years, I have used the Celestial Influences astrological calendars. There is a two-word affirmation for each sign every month. Examples: “I Am” for Aries; “I Have” for Taurus, and “I Think” for Gemini.

The I-statement for Virgo is “I Analyze.” That job would be really difficult to do without words—lots of them!

There are some main areas of life that Virgos work on: knowledge, health, and service. Note the difference between the I-statement for Gemini and Virgo, both traditionally ruled by the Thinker Planet Mercury. Gemini thinks, but Virgo analyzes. Analysis can often make the difference between information and knowledge, between facts and wisdom.

Gemini often likes information for its own sake, the reason why so many folks with a lot of Gemini in their charts are likely to beat your butt at Trivial Pursuit. They throw factoids, dates and data around like confetti.

Virgo, on the other hand, is not happy until s/he knows why the fact is important, what the data means and exactly why a date was significant. To a Virgo, this is not a party, and that Gemini can take his damned confetti and mess elsewhere. This earth sign literally wants to bring the data down to earth, to know what it’s good for, and how it will help people.

We all know the expression, “garbage in, garbage out” or GIGO when it comes to using computers or any other kind of data crunching mechanism, including our own brains. A Virgo would never put in garbage. You know how much Virgos hate dirt! “Garbage out” would never be an acceptable outcome. The Virgo’s need to sift and winnow, her proverbial job of separating the wheat from the chaff, is ever so much easier if she starts with a decent crop of wheat, preferably organic.

Mercury is also the quicksilver god of communication, the winged messenger. It’s fun to contrast the Mercury-ruled signs. Gemini would love the thrill of having to run the message to its destination lickety-split. He’d deliver it with clever conversation and perhaps report on the weather and interesting encounters on the way. Virgo would be much more worried that the right message got to the right person at the right time. She’d be looking for shortcuts to get there efficiently and the correct person authorized to sign for the article.

So, how do we make the best of our Wordgo tendencies? Many of us are writers, editors, publishers, and composers. (Music is a more math-based type of writing, but if you’re a lyricist, too, what an impressive right- and left-brain merger!) The sign of Virgo has its share of actors and news personalities, all who make their living with words.

There are many potential jobs for Virgo, one of the most employable signs of the zodiac, because we love to work! But since this is the Radical Virgo blog, I hope you’ll comment and tell us your personal way with words, especially if you were a Virgin birth (born with Sun in Virgo); or if you have other Virgo planets that bless you with these proclivities. What do you do with words? How do you love them? (Count the ways.)

I’ll go first. Here are some of mine:

Writer, publisher, shameless punster, a word game player (Scrabble, Jumble, Spellbound) … and a person who loves words in art. One of my favorite artists ever was Corita Kent, whose words made beautiful became designs for posters, book covers, and murals. Her work includes the 1985 Love Stamp and Rainbow Swash, the 150-foot (46 m)-high natural gas tank in Boston. Her artwork, focused on messages of peace and love. That made it particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. (Have you noticed how the peace sign is coming back, and not just on The Radical Virgo’s new blog header?)

I also love to rearrange words on the Internet Anagram Server. Some of my faves for “Radical Virgo” are Caviar Do Girl, Garlic Via Rod, A Rival Doc Rig, and Vocal Rag Rid I.

Of course, I research the derivation of words, and wear word jewelry. For my croning ceremony when I turned sixty, I was presented with a Light Drop Jewelry necklace that says Heals on one side, With Words on the other. I covet a pair of earrings made to replicate old typewriter keys. Unfortunately, my Mercury in Libra can’t make up her mind which keys she wants. While my initials, JM, are obvious possibilities, I sure would like an exclamation mark (!) or a dollar sign ($).

Finally, I thought I’d introduce you to Wordle, if you haven’t already met—word collages that capture the essence of a blog or website—or any cut ‘n’ paste concoction of words you want to feed into it. This Wordgo Wordle (say that 10 times!) was created by The Radical Virgo on April 19, 2009—a picture in time of what’s happening on this blog. Check out the words that stand out most:

Astrology Chiron Moon New Life Hero One Want

Freely translated: Astrology can be a healing path to receptivity, new life, and becoming our own heroes, the one thing we all want.

The Word from On High!

~~~

Word-Class Reminder: Don't forget to mark your calendar for Donna Cunningham’s teleseminar on finding career signatures for writing in astrology charts, May 3, 2009.

Writing Signatures in the Astrology Chart

A Note from Joyce
Donna Cunningham has been my teacher, mentor, colleague and friend for nearly 30 years. As both a world- renowned astrologer and astrological writer, Donna is the perfect person to help you discover if writing is a potential career path for you or your clients. Join me on this call for a real treat—and to learn if the writing is on the Sky!

Donna Cunningham’s Teleseminar

May 3, 2009

This Sunday evening gathering will teach you to spot writing gifts in people’s charts—as well as barriers to writing success. Each author has a special niche that showcases the wisdom gained from their life experience, as well as a set of conditions that nurtures their creativity. The writing signatures in the birth chart give a clear picture of what those conditions are. Transits signal prime times for writing, finding an agent, and publication.

$15 admission includes a copy of Donna’s booklet, “So You Want to Write—Techniques and Tips from Miss Prolific.” The teleseminar will be held Sunday, May 3rd from 5:30-6:30 PM Pacific. No special equipment needed, just a phone and a willing mind. Long distance charges do apply, but inexpensive phone cards are available through the hosting service, FreeConference.

(Just so you know, we’ll be referring to the charts of famous authors rather than personal charts of those who attend.) To register or ask for more information, write to Donna at moonmave@spiritone.com.


About Donna Cunningham: Long one of astrology’s most prolific authors, Donna Cunningham’s current focus is on sharing her writing methods and experience—and her enthusiasm for the writing process—with professionals in the astrological and metaphysical fields. Donna has also edited metaphysical journals since 1984, including 11 years of Vibration Magazine, the free online educational quarterly about flower essences. As an editor, her special joy has been to seek out gifted practitioners of the metaphysical arts and guide them in writing about their experiences. She is teaching writing courses in teleseminar format. To see current listings—and some writing tips—visit her blog, Skywriter.

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Photo Credit: SKY WRITER © Pklimenko Dreamstime.com