Your Solar Return and Solar Return Meditation

Toolbox Rituals

© 1995 - 2009 by Joyce Mason

Once a year, the transiting Sun returns to the exact same position it held in the sky at the moment of your birth. This happens at a different moment each year, within a day or two of your birthday. This fun-omenon is known as your Solar Return, and it is a powerful time to put out to the universe what you want to manifest during your birthday-to-birthday (solar) year.

Why Meditatate?
Along with many other astrologers, I highly recommend that you meditate during this powerful time. Not only is it an excellent time to send your desires to the universe for fulfillment, but it is also an outstanding time to receive information. From his studies of the Mayan culture, Jose Arguelles, Father of the Harmonic Convergence, tells us that the Sun focuses information through the cosmos to us. If this is true, the Solar Return can almost be likened to the once a year you can count on a good connection for a two-way telephone conversation with God/Goddess/All That Is.

The value of knowing your exact Solar Return time is so that you can schedule your meditation to "peak" during the Solar Return moment. Some years, you'll be lucky. Your Solar Return will happen at a convenient time of the day or one that is not too disruptive to your normal routine. Other years, you'll have to set an alarm and get up in the middle of the night--or as one of my friends had to do once, you may find yourself taking a meditation break in the stall of a restroom at work, between meetings!

However you have to do it, don't lose this once-a-year day, and this golden (sunshine!) opportunity to transmit your most heartfelt desires to the core of Collective Spirit, from which all things materialize. Just as importantly, you don't want to miss receiving valuable information from the "heart of space."

I suggest that you open your meditation with the Sun Conjunct Sun prayer from Alda Marian Jangl's, The Astrological Prayer Book. This book is an excellent way to get to know your chart and to work with it. (Some people may find the terminology too Christian, if not of that faith. Remember, you can simply substitute whatever invocations of spirit you prefer.) If you like your Sun Sign prayer, I suggest you consider purchasing The Astrological Prayer Book for continued work. It also contains prayers for the various aspects between planets in your natal chart and for aspects formed by transiting planets (where the planets are today compared to their positions when you were born). Alternatively, you might enjoy this Solar Return Prayer:

Solar Return Prayer

Sun, Source of life and
warmth:

You are my vitality.
You are the spark of me.
You assisted my birth
from the Sky.

Your special spot
in the heavens
is my hint of how
to be myself.
We are called human
beings, not human doings.
I will:
Be!
Shine!
It’s birthday
time.

--Joyce Mason

You are a shining star,
No matter who you are,
Shining bright to see
What you can truly be.

--Earth,
Wind & Fire

How the Solar Return Meditation Works
For starters, you, an astrologer, or an astrological chart service needs to run a chart of your Solar Return. (Purchase information to the right in the sidebar.) This map is based on your date, time, and place of birth as well as the place you intend to be during those days around your birthday.

For example, if my Solar Return time were 3:23 AM on September 21st this year, I would set my alarm to be up by 2:45 and awake by 3:00, when I would begin meditating. I'd devote at least a half-hour to this special meditation time, with the exact moment of 3:23 AM landing somewhere in the middle of the meditation. (We must also account for the possibility of your birth time being slightly off. Few astrologers assist at deliveries or have coached birth attendants about the importance of accurate recording of the birth moment, during a time when a lot of other concerns have their attention.) By meditating with the "presumed time" in the middle, if your birth time is slightly off, you'll also hit the "real time" during this interval. You’ve padded your bets.

One important note. The Solar Return is so powerful, ask and you will receive. Often, in our eagerness to grow, we request things we're not quite ready for. Since we tend to be the least objective about ourselves, I suggest you use what I affectionately call "the cosmic escape clause" when asking for things from the universe or whatever you call Source: "This or something better."

By using this affirmation at the end of my wish list of things I want to happen during the upcoming year, I have always gotten everything I'm ready for during the 12 months from birthday to birthday. Whatever I didn't manifest, I still made some sort of progress toward eventually having it--preliminary steps or a change in attitude or growth that would build the foundation necessary to have those wishes fulfilled later on. Alternatively, I have sometimes been gently guided to realize that what I thought I wanted was hardly in my best interests. (Thank God for "this or something better," or I would have been stuck with it!) Pleasantly, I also discover the "something better.")

The Solar Return chart, cast for the exact moment of the transiting and natal Sun conjunction, is another way of looking at the themes and nature of your birthday year. Often, it echoes issues evident by progression and transit, giving a general preview of the nature of your learning during the next year of life.

As mentioned, Solar Returns are affected by where you are on the map at the moment of your Solar Birthday; therefore, where you are at that time can have an influence on the upcoming year. Astrologers vary in their views on this. I think the Solar Return location is the primary influence, but if your magic moment happens away from home, the place where you live will determine your “secondary chart,” where you spend most of your time. An analogy: Your birth chart is always your birth chart, but wherever you live, your secondary chart is your relocated chart, cast for the same time as your birth, but at your new locale. Yes, I consider going away for every birthday! Sometimes that has yielded spectacular Solar Returns.

One of my favorites was my 1993 birthday in Questa, New Mexico--chosen because I felt strongly drawn there and my Solar Return chart “looked good.” A friend, a professional psychic, was my hostess in the gorgeous, Sangre de Christo Mountains, in an adobe house by a babbling brook, whose beauty alone was one of the best birthday gifts I had ever received. My Solar Return time was close to 10:30 p.m. My best laid plans to meditate to the babble of the brook went down the drain as a storm came up. (Even on a quest in Questa, I had enough sense to come out of the rain.)

My friend suggested I relocate to the protection of the porch, where the mist blew gently in my face, the music of the wind chimes played, and the lightning made fireworks on the backs of my closed eyelids. As the clock ticked toward My Moment, I got this overwhelming urge to open my eyes. Before me, in the sky, was a rainbow of moonlight. Later, I learned that lunar rainbows are rare. Nothing will ever convince me I should have been anywhere but in Questa, New Mexico for my birthday that year. It was a good omen of healing from past storms, and it did indeed, presage a wonderful year to come.

Meanwhile, if it’s close to the anniversary of your incarnation, Happy Birthday, and Many Happy (Solar) Returns!

~~~

Photo Credit: SUN © Anchesdd Dreamstime.com

Learn your Solar Return time for your meditation this year - Send $5 US via PayPal. (See purchase button in sidebar below Blog Catalog/My Communities.) Joyce will determine your time and send you a PDF chart of your Solar Return moment. No chart interpretation. (Joyce is not doing readings at this time, but referrals are available, just e-mail her for referrals or questions.)

Want to celebrate your birthday, not just once a year on your Solar Return, but 12 times, once a month? Read Do Something Different Day on my other blog Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights.

The Radical Virgo

Copyright ©1992-2010 by Joyce Mason


Virgo/Pisces and Chiron
In my article, “A New Look at Virgo: Shifting from Mercury to Chiron" (The Mountain Astrologer, April 1990), I presented an updated image of Virgo with Chiron as its new ruler. Positive responses (and synchronistic connections) poured forth when I put out my concept of what Virgo is becoming. Certainly, Virgo ruled by Chiron was not new. Barbara Hand Clow developed this idea fully in her 1987 book, Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets.


Now I want to expand some of my more revolutionary ideas about Virgo, especially its connections to sexuality (which needs to be healed in order for us to fully evolve), work, and enlightenment. Mentoring the hero within (our positive male energy), just as Chiron mentored countless mythical heroes, will save our planet in these turning-point times. This means finding our right work in the world. It also means incorporating the Pisces portion of the Virgo/Pisces continuum, a word I now use instead of polarity. The key to the times is marrying the extremes within us: virgin/whore, masculine/feminine, peace/war, form/formlessness, Virgo/Pisces, etc.

Pisces and Virgo, never exactly the stars of the zodiac, have much to teach us about correct service and giving, leading to the balance of Self and Other (Aries/Libra, the next continuum). Virgo and Pisces must learn the lesson of all “professional givers”—to let someone else have the joy of giving for a change. This paired sector of the zodiac must master learning to receive, and to give to themselves in the same unabashed way they give to others.

Within two years of writing that article, my ideas had shifted and refined. I now lean toward the concept that Chiron rules no sign in particular, since his humble nature would be inconsistent with being King of Anything, even classically modest Virgo. [1] Some say the astronomical confirmation of Chiron as a comet supports this conclusion, since comets have not been considered ruling bodies in astrology up to this time. [2] But Chiron acts like an outer planet, despite its shooting star origins, captured between Uranus and Saturn—if only temporarily. I still believe Chiron has the most resonance with Virgo for now.


So, why Virgo, and why now? Because there is so much work to be done to clean up this planet, the skill for which Virgo is notorious! The work needed is both on and off the face of the Earth—to mend our ecosystem and the broken souls that have neglected it. To do this service, the key Virgo/Pisces lesson requires learning not to give ourselves away completely, or we are like the comet that gives totally, burns out fast, and abandons humanity and ourselves with still so much left undone. The new Virgin must overcome the early savior complex she shares with Pisces and become savvy enough to save herself.


Virgo is the last sign before we come to Libra, the Other. We cannot give ourselves without first possessing Self—that is the lesson of Virgo. Pisces is the last sign before we come to Aries, the Self. The Pisces lesson: Until we lose ourselves, we cannot value ourSelves. How to make these seemingly circular ideas make more sense than two fish swimming in opposite directions? Let’s look to the Chiron myth for hints.


Pisces is Virgo’s “shadow.” (I prefer the term “recessive sign,” which can incorporate both its light and dark traits.) If the Virgo affiliation with Chiron is lit up now, it is probable that the Pisces parts of the Chiron myth have been the most overlooked to date by astrological writers.


The Pisces imagery in the myth comes from Chiron’s maternal lineage. Born of the sea nymph, Philyra, Chiron doubtless shared his mother’s gifts of prophecy, as the sea nymphs were known to be extremely psychic. Along with his talents as an astrologer, Chiron likely used his channeling abilities [3] when guiding the many heroes under his tutelage toward finding their proper place in society.

Seldom mentioned are Chiron’s musical talent and his use of art as a medium for healing. He played the kithara, a predecessor to the guitar. Based on his original research on the Chiron myth, astrologer Dale O’Brien proposes that Chiron mesmerized and enthralled his visitors in the forest with both storytelling and song. [4]


So, what does the Pisces portion of the Chiron myth suggest that the “radical Virgo” incorporate into his/her evolution in order to become the best this sign has to offer? I believe it is a balance between practicality and dreams, between mundane tasks and soul expression, between form and formlessness. A good illustration came up recently: When we’re still relatively new astrologers, some of us tend to over-prepare—to run the chart in several house systems, to stack up pile upon pile of transits and progressions, and to Virgo/analyze ourselves into a near dither. Then we meet the person behind the chart. The original plan for approaching this reading may be totally inappropriate once we hear the client’s concerns and/or sense the level of information he or she is open to receiving. If we are an “old Virgo,” we’re likely to cling to Plan A like our life depended on it, but the “new Virgo” is ready to chuck form at a moment’s notice, shift gears, and trust intuition.


In order to do this, we must trust the Piscean gift on the other end of the Virgo/6th house continuum—our 6th sense. It’s as though the Virgoan side of Virgo is an expert at rehearsal (which is why Virgos tend to love classical music with all of those predetermined notes). By contrast, the Piscean underside of Virgo is the improviser—the person who plays by ear (which is why s/he can hear Spirit). Each talent is appropriate at certain times, and complementary, but either can be useless noise if taken to extremes. In that case, there is form without feeling or feeling without form.

From this place of enlightenment, not only does your gift itself help heal the world, but also your bliss permeates everything and everyone you touch. Enlightenment has a divine domino effect. Take care of Number One, get yourself to heaven, and the chain reaction will heal the world.

What is a Radical Virgo?
At the beginning of this article, I promised to discuss the “radical” Virgo’s connection to sexuality, work, and enlightenment. Before I do that, let’s define the word radical. I mean it in these dictionary senses: positive Virgoness carried” (1) to the utmost limit, extreme; or a Virgo known for (2) favoring or effecting extreme or revolutionary changes…. [5] I would modify definition #2 to say, A radical Virgo favors and effects extreme evolutionary changes. S/he does this especially in the areas listed below.


The Radical’s Realms

Sexuality. The Radical Virgo is beyond whether or not she has sex and onto whether or not sex has her.

There is nothing like watching a young Virgo’s struggles with virgin/whore syndrome. Virgo is, after all, an earth sign. Combine earthiness with a mission to learn discrimination, and one is likely to see a pattern of wide swings between promiscuity and celibacy, as s/he gets beyond the struggle and puts sex into proper perspective, as just one way of expressing the life force.

As discussed in my previous article, the concept of Virgo as prudish is absurd. The term virgo has been corrupted over the years by the patriarchy. These powers-that-be control both men and women through spoken and unspoken admonitions. Woman as evil is potent storytelling, beginning with the fall of Adam and the whole human race because of the first woman’s disobedience to a male Supreme Being. And the Beginning was just the beginning!

The control is more complete when it is invisible, secret, and the consequences are a threatened abandonment by God Himself. In her book, “The Liquid Light of Sex: Understanding Your Key Life Passages,” Barbara Hand Clow presents the idea that our Eros or life force energy rises naturally at the opposition of transiting Uranus to natal Uranus (the Uranus Opposition). The Hindus named that energy kundalini. The Church has had an invisible leash around our energy bodies, in the genital zone, making sure our kundalini does not rise naturally to empower us with our own Eros or life energy. Sexuality is one important, expression of that vitality. Hence, the handy separation of Virgin and Magdalene (whore), and the withdrawal of the very love of God for being erotic or alive. Since I originally wrote this article, the Church’s own sex scandals highlight how subversive it is to misuse spiritual power over others. It’s more than “do as I say, not as I do.” It is mind- and sometimes physical rape. It is soul control and power over who gets the best things in life, including aliveness.



In the preface of The Liquid Light of Sex, Clow talks about cultural historian William Irwin Thompson’s concern about her thesis--that kundalini rises in all people around age 40, timed with the Uranus cycle. This means all people could attain enlightenment at that time. Clow and Thompson agree that it doesn’t necessarily accomplish enlightenment. Both feel enlightenment cannot exist without compassion and the opening of the heart. [6]


The Radical Virgo knows that all people can reach enlightenment eventually—this is the perfection s/he strives for. S/he evolves naturally to expand the kundalini energy beyond the sexual center, through the heart and upper chakras, to harvest his or her life force through the fruits of service. Consequently, s/he ultimately learns to choose her partners carefully. As astrologer Jackie Hoag has said, Virgo is concerned with efficiency in relationship. While at first that may sound cold, it really isn’t at all.


Virgo is a tender, sensitive soul. S/he is also very focused on service, and when s/he can find a love who looks in that same direction, or even shares his or her work, that’s the ultimate. Otherwise, service and relationship will always be rival loves. The Radical Virgo simply has too much to do to flit from lover to lover. S/he couldn’t be him or herself without performing those works, and a monogamous relationship that supports his or her reason for being is “it.”

To sacrifice Self, s/he has learned, is too painful. Martyrdom has been done before. S/he would prefer not to be in a relationship at all—yes, even give up sex—rather than give him- or herself away. This means only one thing: a relationship with someone mature who doesn’t rely on this Virgo for sole sustenance, one where mutual growth and support is the keynote. The lucky soul who teams up with a Radical Virgo will find, despite all fears to the contrary, that this person has plenty of time to devote to their relationship, and plenty of erotic energy, for Virgos are recharged by sex within the boundaries of consensual commitment.

Work. The Radical Virgo is beyond “workaholism” and onto work as holism.

This person has worked on him- or herself. S/he knows s/he’s okay and doesn’t have to perform constantly to prove it. What an entirely new perspective that places on work! Work becomes not an arena to pump up self-esteem, but the place to contribute one’s gifts. The Radical Virgo simply does not hang out where s/he is not appreciated, or where his or her gifts are not valued by the powers-that-be.

Work becomes a canvas for self-expression and positive giving. If s/he is particularly Chironic, s/he may have several jobs and need them all because they express his or her multifaceted nature. This is different from work as addiction—doing to feel worthy. It is work that supports expression of self in a positive way. Often, work is play for these folks. (“People actually pay me to do this?”)

Enlightenment. The Radical Virgo is beyond which toilet bowl cleaner deodorizes best and onto saving the world from going down the toilet.

Linking onto the issue of work, this new Virgo tends to have "big picture" jobs like ecology and counseling, jobs which help the macrocosm by profound interatctions with the microcosm. His or her jobs have purpose, or s/he won't play.


Clow calls the 6th house, traditionally ruled by Virgo, “the awakening point for most people.” [7] She entitles the 6th and 12th house sectors of the zodiac, “Be here now” (6th) and “Bliss” (12th). [8] I love her title for the 6th house because of my belief in Chiron’s current resonance with Virgo. Chiron has so much to do with coming into incarnation. As Clow has stated before, Chiron teaches us “not to jump out of our bodies.” [9] If Chiron were a movie, it would be called Being Here.

Paradoxical as it seems, it is through being here in our work that we ultimately get to bliss and enlightenment. “ … Most people first discover how to be in the moment during engrossing work projects that enable them to filter out all their conflicts as well as the undeveloped aspects of self.” [10] Anyone who has ever been deeply focused, “losing themselves” in their work knows just what this means. It is the antithesis of what I call Worrygo, hovering over every detail. For the Radical, work instead becomes a mantra and mandala for letting go. Emptied, we have made sacred space so that light can flood in.


This reminds me of the word avoidance. Until we commit to the temporarily painful path of growth, most of us do “a void dance,” dancing as fast as we can to avoid the void, the empty space where we might (God forbid) really have to look at ourselves. Thank God for work, where the void might just sneak up on us with a blast of bliss, tempting us to sign up for the entire trip to enlightenment.
So, the 6th/12th house and the Virgo/Pisces continuums are intimately connected: the reward of right work is ecstasy. To get there requires Radical P and V (Pisces and Virgo), an evolution to the highest expression of these signs versus being stuck on false roads to heaven (like drugs, alcohol, and romantic co-addiction). Usually, these are temporary highs but long-term hells because they deplete the life force for giving.

Clow also talks about the seeming contradiction that to get to bliss and timelessness, we must fully enter into time. “The way to move into the present moment is to give your gift … every time you totally offer your gift to the cosmos, you go into bliss.” [11]

How to Recognize a Radical Virgo
 
A Rad is likely to have Chiron prominent in his/her chart with a good dose of Aquarius planets or aspects to Uranus (to ignite already radical tendencies). Radical Virgos are not limited to Sun Virgos, but can be found among anyone with strong Virgo, Chiron, or 6th house emphasis, or any Virgo planet (or Chiron) in the first house or on the angles. Radical tendencies seem to come especially from the latter degrees of the sign. While any of these factors may point to a Rad, they don’t guarantee it—it’s a question of evolution. I know Virgos born days apart where one is a Rad and the other is far from it, simply because of differences in development.

What to look for: good at many things (versatile); is often described as “one of a kind” because of a totally unique perspective on life. He or she tends to “get away with a lot,” bending the rules with authority figures or telling the truth to those who usually will not hear it, often because of humor or some unique perceptual skill that enables him or her to push to the limit without going over the edge.
The Radical may be so busy creating new order in the world that his/her household is in constant disarray. S/he might have a strong tendency to be buried under papers, books, and magazines, because of Virgo’s love for words (and the need for all Radicals to be highly educated and up-to-date). This person is committed to healing the planet and may literally be a healer. A Radical Virgo is a heart person, and yet able to detach and see the larger patterns in life.


People think this person knows everything, so they come to him or her for counsel. This comes from two characteristics: a Radical Virgo’s versatility and wide-ranging knowledge, and a strong sense of commitment, which puts much power behind his or her words. This tendency for people in trouble to come to them for help may have begun at a very early age, and led naturally to a career in the helping professions.


Finally, this person is not only perceived as one who knows everything, but one who does everything. A litany from those around this Virgo is, “I don’t know how you do it,” meaning accomplish so much. The Radical Virgo is so attuned to synchronicity, and so comfortable in the Pisces alter ego, that s/he can do so much because Spirit takes care of a lot of the details; most old Virgos would still be obsessing over them, and therefore, accomplishing nothing. S/he knows when to put down the day planner and tune up the heavenly hearing aid.


And speaking of Pisces, s/he draws them like bees to honey. Perhaps in the past, before owning his or her own Pisces flip side, only the drugged, drunk, or spaced-out variety applied. Now, he or she is blessed with a number of Radical Pisces—the enlightened variety, those who see their oneness with all and approach life with beauty, sensitivity, myth, ritual, and song. The real giveaway to spotting a Radical Virgo is that this Virgo has gotten over cringing at the mention of the 12th sign and has “gone Fishing.”

Radical Virgos We All Recognize
 
The three that jump to mind instantly are Michael Jackson, Lily Tomlin, and Madonna. (No, Madonna isn’t a Sun Virgo like the others, but with Moon, Mercury and Pluto conjunct in the V-sign, she definitely belongs to this club. This explains why she sang, Like a Virgin, Like a Prayer, and shares a name with the most famous Virgin of them all.)


Michael Jackson. Born in Gary, Indiana, August 29th, “on a late summer night in 1958,” according to his autobiography, Michael is a Moonwalking, talking example of the Virgo/Pisces continuum—his Sun/Moon opposition.

His struggles to balance masculine and feminine were so overt that they make many people downright uncomfortable. One article about him is entitled, “Blurring the Boundaries of Gender,” [12]. Few people could deny that his androgynous persona was radical,and  his moves like poetry on stage. His talents over time have been extraordinary gifts he lost himself in giving.


In 1988 one writer stated that despite links with actresses like Brooke Shields and Tatum O’Neal in the past, “ … he has apparently not established any long-term relationships, and expression of his sexuality seems limited to the stage.” [13] Michael’s controversial autoeroticism in his “Black and White’ video is a good example. Since the original writing of this article, Michael’s failed marriages and child molestation charges give the following statement an even more painful echo:

“My dating and relationships with girls have not had the happy ending I’ve been looking for … They want to rescue me from loneliness, but they do it in such a way that they give me the impression they want to share my loneliness, which I wouldn’t wish on anybody, because I believe I’m one of the loneliest people in the world.” [14]


Not all Radical Virgo’s have an easy job of dealing with the balance of erotic energy, revealed in Michael’s chart by a Mars/Venus/Chiron T-square. Although he was found not guilty on all charges in his 2005 child molestation
trial, he remained a symbol, until his early death at his Chiron Return, of the Radical Virgo struggle to synthesize the extremes of sexual innocence and corruption. Surely, everyone has an opinion about what really went on in Neverland. The irony is that his exoneration still left him the poster child for sexual ambiguity—and those who observe him still left wondering.

Lily Tomlin. A Chiron-in-the-1st Sun Virgo (Detroit: 9/1/36), Lily has been making us laugh and enlightening us for years. Considering Chiron’s connection to “meaningful coincidence,” I love the start of this description of her magnificent one-woman show, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe: “If you believe in synchronicity, which Lily Tomlin surely does…” [15] Jane Wagner, Lily’s long-time writer, says, “The concept behind the show was to talk about consciousness in a way that hopefully nobody would know we were talking about higher consciousness.”


Lily the Rainbow Bridge more than succeeded. In a versatile performance that spanned a wide assortment of characters from Agnes Angst, a teenage miserable, to Trudy the Bag Lady (who talks with ETs and claims she didn’t have a nervous breakdown but a nervous breakthrough), Lily is at her best in the realm of sexuality. Her portrayal of a woman’s first love experience with another woman in the early days of the feminist movement is tender and uproariously funny. Equally well, she portrays the wife in a full-circle story of a happily married, hippie-esque, heterosexual couple—from their first meeting to their divorce.


I cried at her ability not only to find the signs of intelligent life in the universe, but also to flash them in neon and strike tender chords of oneness with the modern struggle for meaning. Called a “passion play about metaphysical fitness,” [16] here’s a woman whose kundalini/Eros is definitely on full-tilt boogie.


Madonna. There’s a lot I could say about Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone (Bay City, MI: 8/16/60), but I’ll stick to what’s obvious. This woman makes the powers-that-be squirm because she undoes their evil deed of separating sex from spirituality. In her wonderful irreverence, crucifixes and cleavage bared, she not only thumbs her nose at her strict Catholic upbringing, but also provides a delicious parody of why society is so screwed up, pun intended. With her Sun in Leo, she channels her Virgo planets in an outrageous way.

She’s bawdy, unpredictable, and prefers a man able to acknowledge his feminine side. Madonna says, “I think I have a lot of masculinity in me. Macho guys don’t really go for me. They’re frightened of their own femininity.” [17]
Aside from the fact that the above quote is from an article with the Chironic title “Magnificent Maverick,” the Material Girl has always wanted to be a patron of the arts, and in this same interview, she says, “Having money is just the best thing in the world. It gives you freedom and power and the ability to help other people.”


Others. Some Radical Virgos are more “under construction” than others. If the above Virgos aren’t your cup of herb tea, try: Blues great BB King (9/17/35); controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone (9/15/46); or Shirley MacLaine (29 degrees Virgo Rising).

Reasons to Become Radical
It’s good for your love life. Rads strive for a kind of relationship we’ve never had before, based on equality, maturity, and concern for the world where their love must live. Since the old ways of relating haven’t worked worth a darn, this is definitely worth a try!


We are so wounded in our sexuality that it should be no surprise that Virgo and the 6th house of healing are becoming the Masters & Johnson of the zodiac. So many of us have been damaged in this energy center, especially by the splitting apart of sex and spirituality by religion and patriarchy. This is the primary cause of our more direct grief: molestation and rape as children, sexual (and emotional) dysfunction, and AIDS as adults. We need to get well in the way that we give ourselves and our “fertility.” We need to learn Virgo discrimination, saving ourselves for the right kind of soil and weather in relationship.


Heart and sexuality are biologically connected—in the Chinese medicine system, both are a part of the fire element. When we heal our inner fire, we will revolutionize the world. Full of our own Eros/Life Force, it is impossible to be a victim.


It’s cutting edge and it’s TIME. As we increasingly live the megatrend of information overload, the Virgoan talent for separating the insignificant from the germane will be a key survival skill. When we purify our decision-making process, choosing more often what is helpful, healthful, and whole as opposed to harmful, and when we heal our sexuality and bring our work to the level of gift-giving, the harvest is enlightenment and a whole new world.



We are strong, we are invincible, we are Virgos. What other sign could single-handedly accomplish a global reorganization? So, Virgos of the world, UNITE! Get radical. After all, it’s your job.



~~~




NOTES
[1] This concept was well-articulated by
Dale O’Brien in his June 1991 presentation at Planet Camp, “The Myth of Chiron.”
[2] Zane Stein, Essence and Application—A View from Chiron, Third Edition, Preface.
[3] Barbara Hand Clow, Chiron: Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets, p. 4.
[4] O’Brien, “The Myth of Chiron,” Ref. #1.
[5] The American Heritage Dictionary, Second College Edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, p. 1021.
[6] Barbara Hand Clow, The Liquid Light of Sex: Understanding Your Key Life Passages, Bear & Company, 1991, p. xiv.
[7] Ibid., p. 33.
[8] Ibid, p. 27.
[9] Clow, Chiron … see Ref. #2, p. 197.
[10] Clow, Liquid Light of Sex (Ref. #7), p. 33.
[11] Ibid., p. 30.
[12] Nicholas Jennings, “Blurring the Boundaries of Gender,” MacLean’s, July 23, 1984, p. 44.
[13] Quincy Troupe, “Michael Turns 30!” Essence, July 1988, p. 54.
[14] Michael Jackson, Moonwalk, Doubleday, 1988, p. 162.
[15] Tracy Young, “Tomlin/Wagner,” Vogue, November 1985, p. 396.
[16] Ibid.
[17] David Ansen, " Magnificent Maverick, “ Cosmopolitan, May 1990, p. 311.


This article has minor updates to the original, first published in The Mountain Astrologer, April/May 1992.

Photo Credit: PEACE SIGN © Thehurwich... Dreamstime.com

The two-fingered “peace” sign has also been used to convey the V for Victory. It is literally the sign for the letter V in American Sign Language.

Chiron’s Keyword Corner: Ecology

By Joyce Mason
© 1993-2009,
All Rights Reserved



This is an update of an article that appeared in Chironicles in 1993. I am running it between Earth Day and Mother’s Day in honor of Mother Earth.

Astrology owes a great debt to mythology for our interpretation of the planets and planetary objects. Planets are named after the characters in these universal, archetypal stories.

There is magic—at minimum, synchronicity—in the way astronomers name planets. Most astronomers are “hard scientists.” Yet, the myths behind the names they choose offer whole galaxies of metaphorical information. When various aspects of the myth are applied to interpreting a planet in an astrology chart, insights abound, as luminous as a starry night. The Chiron myth is no exception.

As the tale goes, passed on through the millennia, Chiron lived in a cave on Mt. Pelion. Yet he was far from the stereotypical hermit-like mountain man (more accurately, half-man.) He was different from the wild centaurs. The latter were untamed beasts at best, known for raping and pillaging both women and the forest. They galloped through the woods, tromping trees and had no regard for the beauty around them. The wild centaurs were so hellish; they even appear in Dante’s Inferno in the section First Ring, the Violent.

By contrast, Chiron was kind, nurturing, and trustworthy. He lived in the “upper half” of his dual nature of composite man and horse. The mentor and teacher of so many Greek heroes preserved the forest and nurtured the local ecosystem. In Midpoint Keys to Chiron, astrologer Chris Brooks cites Chiron’s affinity with the environment and environmentally related diseases, suggesting that Chiron is associated with the human immune system. Immunity is the ability of a system to protect itself and fend off invaders that leave it weak and subject to attack. Similarly, the ozone layer protects the Earth from the ultraviolet rays sent down by the sun. If the ozone layer is depleted by human activities, the effects on the planet could be catastrophic.

Our environment is the crisis currently bringing out both the best (heroism) and worst (the wild centaur consciousness) in humanity. Going green has gone mainstream since I first wrote this article, a sight to behold after having worked in the reuse and recycling field for nearly 30 years and wondering if I’d ever see the day. On the other hand, the idea that there are people who still think global warming is a hoax makes me want to throw up my hands (or maybe just throw up!).

Chiron teaches us that nurturing is of the utmost
importance, and that the forest is sacred.

I have lived for 36 years in or near Sacramento, California— the City of Trees. Now I live in a stand of oaks in one of its suburbs. Living in an “urban forest” increases my sensitivity to the wholeness and whole-li-ness of living close to nature.

Unfortunately, there are those who haven’t come far from ancient Thessaly and destroying the forest and each other. There is a time for righteous indignation—an issue of boundaries—where to draw the line. A stray arrow in a fracas with the wild centaurs at a wedding reception caused Chiron’s incurable wound. Innocent bystanders can get hurt when the wild centaur energy runs amok. It destroys even the most beautiful of occasions—or planets.

The year 2008 was rife with weather disasters. There were 220,000 fatalities due to extreme incidents. In “2008 – A Year of Weather Disasters,” author Cat Lincoln calls last year’s weather weirder and worse than 2007, which was bad enough. Among the evidence that it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature: earthquakes, cyclones, cold snaps, low-pressure systems, typhoons, and hurricanes. “Most show a frightening connection to the changing world climate.”

Even though God told Noah He’d never again destroy the world by water after the Ark Incident, I can’t help but notice how many of these weather disasters involve the element water. In astrology, the water element is connected with emotions. It feels like Mother Earth is crying, heartbroken.

Before Chiron was discovered, Dane Rudhyar predicted that a planet “like a second Moon” would be discovered between Saturn and Uranus. This is exactly where Chiron was discovered in 1977. The great astrologer Rudhyar was onto something. It is our feelings that need release and healing. Chiron’s wound may have been physical, but his deepest wound was about fitting in, turning the isolation of extreme uniqueness (not a wild centaur and not really human) into finding his treasured role in society. That role was mentor and catalyst, training heroes who went out to save the day in a divine domino effect of sharing talents, skills and knowledge.

Ecology is everything—balance inside and out. Within an ecosystem, everyone’s thoughts, words, and deeds affect everyone else. High time we got it: We are each other. In these turning-point times, our upper (human) and lower (instinctual) parts of ourselves can be balanced at the heart center through love. Chiron’s myth helps us reconnect with nature and nurturing.

Celebrate Earth Day and Mother’s Day every day of the year. Love your Mother. We owe her our lives.

~~~

Photo Credit: SUNRISE AT MOUNTAIN PELION © Nkoravos Dreamstime.com

Soapbox Saturday: This post is also a response to Pop Art Diva’s Saturday Soapbox, “Do You Believe in Global Warming?” Click on the Global Warming link to learn more. Additional responses to Soapbox Saturday can be found on The Radical Virgo’s other blog, Hot Flashbacks, Cool Insights.

Up Next: In honor of the upcoming Mercury Retrograde, May 6-30, The Radical Virgo will start doing some of the things that Mercury Rx is good for—recycling and reposting. (Anything with re- in front of it—revise, redo, reconsider—are great activities during this time.) Joyce Mason’s key articles will be reproduced here, starting with “The Radical Virgo,” the article this blog is named after. This baker’s dozen collection will run over the next several months.

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.

New Moon Manifestation Ceremony

Toolbox – Rituals

By Dana Stone, Guest Author

Note from Joyce: Each month we have a Golden Opportunity to capture the energy and natural cycle of the Moon. The lunar cycle is our vehicle to create what we want in our lives for the next 28 days. By putting forth our desires at the New Moon, the time of new beginnings, we align with heavenly forces to co-create what we want to manifest. Our desires ripen at the Full Moon, when they peak to fulfillment. Then we watch those desires wane as we absorb their resolution into everydayness. Other issues soon surface and drift to the front burner for the New Moon Treatment!

Dana Stone is not only my dearest friend of 30 years, her metaphysical know-how and this New Moon Ceremony, in particular, are invaluable to me. Enjoy Dana’s recipe for getting what you want out of life, and more insight than a Full Moon could ever illuminate.

Items needed to create your sacred circle:

· 1 white mini-candle
· 1 red mini-candle
· White sage wand (or incense preferred)
· Earthen (clay) or crystal bowl filled with spring water
· An offering (a piece of fruit, coins or article of clothing etc.) for donation
· Bound notebook or creativity diary
· Colored pens, pencils, paints, art objects, pictoral magazine clippings
· One to four tarot decks or oracles

Here are the basic steps for my New Moon ceremony (about 60- 90 minutes long):

1. Smudge or sage your sacred space in a large circle.

2. Center yourself, see and open your seven chakras.

3. Light two mini-candles: one red to energize and one white, representing wisdom and vision. Say an invocation prayer of gratitude for all blessings past, present and future.

4. Sit quietly and reflect on what is most important to you right now in your life and what you would like to create or have manifest in the next 2-3 weeks. Focus on the end in mind. Where do you want to be or what you want to have changed or manifested in your life?

5. Write down what you'd like to manifest in the current moon cycle. The more specific and clear, the better. (For example: I want to be clear on my passion and purpose, without hesitation or reservation; or, I want laser clarity on the next steps I must take to discover my passion and purpose.)

6. Next, make two colorful drawings: one reflecting or representing how you are feeling now and one reflecting or representing how you will feel when you manifest or achieve your goal. Your drawing can be abstract, a picture of or impressions of your goal, creating or coloring in a mandala, making a collage--whatever comes to mind and occurs to you spontaneously.

7. Now, while holding your intent on the goal or manifestation, in your mind and in your heart, shuffle four different tarot decks. Draw one tarot card from each deck (or select four runes), to aid you on each of the four levels of body, mind, spirit and emotion. (All four tarot cards can also come from one deck or you can use a deck representing each level of awareness...follow your intuition...do what “feels” best!) I interchangeably use SARK, Voyager or Motherpeace decks for the body and spirit. Goddess Cards and Medicine/Animal cards work well for the mind and emotions. However, I often switch them around, or I'll introduce another deck that I am attracted in the moment.

8. Next, reflect and write about the impressions, messages or insights that you receive from the cards or runes images in your notebook/ lunar diary. Write freely and do not stop writing for at least 5-10 minutes.

9. Place the four cards or runes on your altar or nightstand so you can stay focused during the next two weeks on your creation. This visual reminder also allows more awareness and insight to filter through your consciousness and your dreams.

10. (Optional) After reflecting on the cards or runes and recording information obtained, I pause to allow a musical representation come to me. I jot down whatever comes to mind. It can be a song, lyrics, or one or more vibrational notes. Initially, what you hear or what comes to mind may or may not make sense, but the lyrics, notes or rythym are usually clear by the Full or Disseminating moon. If nothing immediately comes to mind during the New Moon Ceremony, do not force it. Often the music or song will come to you in another way…usually in the dream state.

11. Finally, write a clear affirmation for your manifestation, say a prayer of thanksgiving and drink the water in your bowl, imagining the flow of your wish and its outcome into each cell of your body. (Optional: use the water as the base for a flower essences combination.) Do not blow out the candles and allow them to go out naturally.

12. Give the offering as guidance or insight directs, at the first available opportunity.


© 2009 by Dana Stone. All Rights Reserved.

~~~

Dana Stone is an International Coaching Federation Certified Empowerment Coach with over 30 years of successful managerial and executive leadership experience. A graduate of the University of California, Davis, she holds several leadership and teambuilding certifications along with extensive training and experience in energy principled therapies including metaphysics and quantum healing. Her unusual combination of executive leadership and experience in the intuitive healing arts enhance her value as a catalyst and coach in both business and personal matters. Dana brings a unique perspective and blend of art, science, business and intuition to help all clients achieve personal and professional success." Visit her Astral Coach website.

Photo credit: NEW MOON © Zuboff Dreamstime.com

Next New Moon: Apr. 24 at 8:23p PDT. Adjust for your time zone in the US or World.

DREAM DATE: Don’t forget Joyce’s appearance on Paranormal Connection on Monday, 9:00 pm PDT.

Get Guidance from Your Dreams!

Mark your calendar for your “dream date!”

April 20, 2009 @ 9:00 pm PST

Watch Joyce Mason’s lively interview with Dänna Wilberg, host of the Paranormal Connection in the Sacramento area on Comcast Channel 17.

Anywhere else, watch on the web on Access Sacramento. Click on WATCH 17.

Here's a hint: Log on early! The web stream only holds
2000 viewers - if you are unable get online, call Access Sacramento: 916-456-8600. Let them know you want to watch "Paranormal Connection."

Topics covered include tips on remembering, recording, and deciphering your personal dream code. Hear some amazing results that speak for themselves about why you might want to play with your “Dream-Doh.”

Can’t make the web- or telecast or want supplemental information on this topic? Visit Joyce’s Dreamwork page on her Writer Joyce Mason website.

DREAM © Adpower99 Dreamstime.com

Chiron’s Key Word Corner: Hero

This is the first in a series of periodic posts on Chiron’s Key Words. Since Chiron is my astrological specialty, I am delighted to share materials previously printed in “Chironicles” newsletter (1992-95) and newly developed writings about the centaur planet. Some astrologers believe Chiron is Virgo’s ruler.

Chiron was a mentor of heroes. The New American Heritage Dictionary (NAHD) defines mentor as “a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.” Among the future heroes taken to Chiron as boys for his sage guidance were Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who brought the Golden Fleece from Colchis; Hercules, renowned for his great strength; and Asclepius, the Greek god of healing.

Although the key word, here is hero, it is important to remember that behind every hero is a mentor. Hero and mentor are tightly interwoven terms that need to be taken together to enhance our understanding of why the Chiron myth was rediscovered in 1977 at a crucial juncture in human history—and what it has to tell us about our own lives.

Heroes aren’t born, they are cultivated … Behind every hero is another hero.

NAHD contains three definitions of hero that can help bring home Chiron’s message: (1) In mythology and legend, a man, endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods; (2) Any man noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his life; and (3) A person prominent in some event, field, period, or cause by reason of his special achievements or contributions.

Mythical Chiron himself fits all these definitions.

In other words, behind every hero is another hero. It might be your mother, who sacrificed her life and own pursuits for her children. One of mine was a priest who told me my conscience was my most important authority, even when because of it; I disagreed with the Church.

Your hero may be a special teacher, aunt, or uncle who somehow showed you the ropes, taught you to do your best, and how to live life to the fullest. An excellent example was the teacher played by Robin Williams in the 1989 movie, Dead Poet’s Society. The hero behind the hero teaches us how to seize the day and make the most of our gifts. He or she identifies and nurtures our special skills—what, deep down, we’re really good at and absolutely must share to feel whole. Even the suicide of the young man in Dead Poet’s Society, whose father would not let him express his acting talent, is a strong metaphor. It parallels Chiron’s message:

If we do not do what we love, we die—if not literally, we die in spirit, bit by bit.

Mentoring is what astrologers are supposed to do for their clients. Even though Chiron was an astrologer, this assignment isn’t just for stargazers. We’re all supposed to get it and pass it on—develop our ability to cope creatively, to become living examples of overcoming, not just for ourselves but also for those less experienced. Heroes in training are those who have not yet conquered what we have managed to overcome.

Living on this planet is a heroic adventure, and in the School of Life, the roles of teacher and student are intertwined and ever reversing. Often, teachers learn as much from their students as they teach them, sometimes more. Their dance is a pas de deux.

Now, for the new definition of hero (mine). It is a spin-off from Barbara Hand Clow’s synthesis of the Chirotic energy and what it does for us at best:

A hero is someone who acts unselfishly from his or her Higher Self in urgent circumstances.

Nowadays, everything is urgent. As just one example, time is running out to heal our ecological crisis. Heroism is the epitome of being in the now (one Chironic concept) and fully in your body (another of Chiron’s concepts). Heroism is the ultimate right/left brain merge. It is a product of developing intuition, what Clow calls “…our lost oracular and divination skills reaching a holistic level of integration where we act without the intervention of conscious thought.” (Rainbow Bridge, p. 7.)

Imagine going through life knowing that whatever comes up, you will know instinctively just what to do—when and how to do it.

Instinct doesn’t mean you have to become Nostradamus. Instinct combines knowledge, wisdom, and those signals you get from the pit of your stomach. If you could trust you’d always know just what to do, what would there be to fear?

Life without fear is Heaven on Earth.

The real reason for heroes isn’t to create some sort of idealized knight in shining armor, a Neptunized, mythologized god we always expect to save the day and keep us codependent. Rather, heroes are there to reflect the best in us—our own magnificence. They shine the spotlight on the superlative nature of our own masculine/feminine merger, where we save ourselves by being there for ourselves and trust inspiration to flow through us the very second it is needed.

There’s a hero in everyone. Chiron is here to turn each and every one of us into a star.

~~~

© 2009 by Joyce Mason. All Rights Reserved.


Photo Credit: SUPER DAD © Dragon_fan... Dreamstime.com


Coming Attractions on The Radical Virgo Blog

Chiron’s Keyword Corner is just one of several recurring features that will appear between stand-alone posts. To whet your appetite, here are some of the others. Many of the Toolbox Basic articles are beginner-friendly, yet still helpful to those with a lot of astrological savvy as a quick review tool when scanning for interpretations while reading charts. In fact, the Toolbox series, whether Basics, Rituals, or subcategories yet to come, will tend to require little prior astrological knowledge for understanding or use.

Hope this “preview” keeps you coming back for more at The Radical Virgo!

Toolbox Basics
Getting Your Chart Done
Signs & Houses
Aspects

Toolbox – Rituals

New Moon

Solar Return

High Signs
A series about how to bring out the best in each of the 12 signs and how they work together as a process for self-fulfillment.

The Gene for Astrology

I think I knew I was a Virgo in utero. I can barely remember a time that I didn’t know I was born under the sign of the Virgin. (That still seems like an oxymoron to me, Catholic upbringing and The Virgin Birth aside.)

My mom was especially good at remembering people’s birthdays. While she kept a calendar, I almost didn’t need one. Once I knew a person’s birthday, it was etched forever in my memory. To this day, I can tell you the birthdays of my first pen pal’s children, a dear friend, whose now 40ish kids I only met in person once in my life, when they were 5 and 7! This was one of my earliest hints that I had an aptitude for birth data.

When I went to my 25-year high school reunion in 1990, I reconnected with a good friend of my sister’s who had married a guy in my class. I was amazed at her dominant memory of me: “You were a free spirit, always looking for that something more.” The way she said it, I could see that far-off look in my eye as a teenager, a look that had an eerie similarity to a passage I later read in Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs.

Early Influences
Speaking of Sun Signs, Linda’s book, first published in 1968, the year before I graduated from college, had an enormous influence on me. Her description of Virgo was way more than the compulsive vacuum cleaning archetype. I know she planted the seed in me that would ultimately become “The Radical Virgo.” In something that could only be classified as a full-circle synchronicity, my article, “The Radical Virgo,” is linked on Conscious Evolution, a site that features the original Linda Goodman fan forums founded in 1999.

Linda never bought that Mercury was Virgo’s true ruler. She felt it was the distant planet Vulcan. Shades of Spock on Star Trek! He oozes Virgo. That series started in 1966. Maybe all this cool Virgo vulcanizing strengthened the image of the sign in our collective consciousness. No doubt the kick-butt conjunction of Pluto and Uranus in Virgo had a lot to do with this visioning of the V-sign at that critical time. Peace, love, and the words from “The Age of Aquarius”—harmony and understanding, sympathy and trust.

By my twenties, I was throwing zodiac costume parties. If I knew where to track down all my guests for permission to publish their photos, you’d see some remarkably creative costumes! (I love costumes.) How hard is it to dress like a Virgo? A white sheet and a shaft of wheat or a hyacinth in hand.

I think how we discover a passion or a gift is an important story. It is a developmental subtext in our memoirs we seldom consider. We tend to think more about where an interest took us rather than how it lured us and the pure poetry of its evolutionary arc.

Astrology lured me all right. It seduced me and sucked me into itself, like a comet being captured by the Oort Cloud. Once I moved to California in 1973, it was inevitable that I’d be pulled into astrology’s orbit. On the Left Coast, the ‘60s and ‘70s never died, and by 1980, I found myself taking classes with two fantastic teachers, Gavin Carruthers and John Ruskell. One of their most impressive classes was Family Astrology, where we saw themes carry from the charts of grandparents to the latest generation. There was a lingering rumor in my family about the paternity of one of my cousins. Once we put his chart up with the rest of the relatives, there was no longer any question in my mind. He was an astro-genetic clone of our grandfather!

In this early experience, I learned to hand-compute charts with a calculator, thanks to a special method Gavin devised. (Did you guess he’s a Virgo?). Since I was always math phobic, I was the happiest person on earth when computers took over this drudgework and I could concentrate on interpretation.

Gavin and John weren’t just great astrologers and teachers; their passion for the art was contagious, and their star school in Gavin’s downtown Sacramento apartment was always creative to the max. I was exposed to so many great people through their classes and workshops. This is where I met Donna Cunningham and the late Jim Lewis, inventor of Astro*Carto*Graphy.

Astrology Career Arc
That’s how I got hooked. By 1988, I hung up my shingle and became a pro. I did readings, wrote articles, gave presentations, went to conferences at home and abroad, published the international newsletter Chironicles (1992-95), and took 18 people on a trip to Greece in 1996 to share what we knew and to learn more about Chiron, my astrological specialty.

I also was guided to let go of it all, just as my work peaked. While this “stop work order” stunned me, I always listen to my inner guidance. My article on my Writer Joyce Mason website, Being Chiron, tells more about my long hiatus from astrology and my current return in a new way.

Listening to inner guidance—reading the signs all around me, not just the astrological kind—is what brought me back. (For those want more details, read my article, Your Cosmic Tractor Beam, if you haven’t already.)

Power Places
I have had some startling realizations along with this magnetic pull back to an old familiar place. My power, both as a person and a writer, is somehow inextricably linked to astrology.

On my birth father’s side, I am the great granddaughter of a Greek Orthodox priest. Our family is from the Island of Kos, Greece where astrology was transferred from the East to the West. Although I do not know of any family member who practiced astrology, somehow this bit of history of our family’s place of origin vibrated in my DNA.

I am programmed to astrology and to “bridge work” in astrology, which is probably why I fell in love with Chiron. Chiron is the archetype of merging from one place to another, or as Barbara Hand Clow called Chiron in her book title, the Rainbow Bridge Between the Inner and Outer Planets.

So, that’s my astrology story, and I’m sticking to it.

I would love to hear yours, whether you’re a new stargazer, an ongoing student, or a professional astrologer. Please comment and tell us how you started your star trek and what you’ve learned from it, so far.

~~~

Photo: Joyce as Virgo, 1969.

“God Is Not An Aries”

I coined this expression for a friend with five planets in Ram, whenever it’s obvious that she and God operate on different calendars. I told her once, “You need to practice the P-word.” She had no idea what word I was talking about.

Short on the P-word, Patience: Aries typically want everything yesterday. The Ram charges forward, horns first, bursting with exuberant, fiery energy.

God cannot be an Aries. The answers to our prayers and most manifestations take much longer than an Aries would wait. Unfortunately, most of us are pretty “Aries,” Aries or not. All America is on fast forward. Reminding my Aries friend to enjoy “getting there” has never been very effective. What may be better for us all, during impatience, is understanding why we “just can’t wait” and why we may want to learn, even cultivate this virtue.

Aries are visionaries. This goes for those who are literally an Aries and others, when they are acting like one. Aries begins at the Spring Equinox, the time for planting. Within each seed is contained the entire cycle of life. Aries sense the whole story. It must be murder to have to wait and see if it ends up like his or her considerable intuition is hinting.

So it is for all of us at the beginning of our creations, whether a new business, relationships, or project. Aries is ruled by Mars, the male, yang, or outgoing energy. Mars is “going for it.” We are all acting Aries or Martian when we initiate/create something, especially if it has never been done before. Aries are the pioneers of the zodiac; in their case, that’s often.

Americans move fast because of their affinity to the Ram. We expect Cup-a-Soup relationships, instant financial return, and spiritual enlightenment without the bother of meditation, prayer, affirmations, and study.

Speaking of Mars and Martians, I remember Robert Heinlein’s book, Stranger in a Strange Land. Stranger is about Valentine Michael Smith, the Man from Mars, who ends up a religious superstar in an obvious parallel to the story of Jesus. Smith was slow by Earth standards and often said, “Waiting is fullness.”

I’ll always find it amusing that Smith, the Man from Mars, preached patience. This shows that within all Mars-ruled Aries is the seed of their complementary or opposite sign, Libra.

Libra is ruled by Venus, the planet of love and relationship. Librans’ sense of values is crucial to them, and they are idealistic. So when we are most Aries, the prescription is to become more Libra-like and review our ideal.

In Edgar Cayce on Mysteries of the Mind, Henry Reed states that authentic will is approached not through willpower, but through a willingness to be influenced by an ideal. “Waiting is fullness” when we are willing not just to have something, but when we’re waiting for the outcome match our spiritual vision. Aries wants to be first, but the price may be settling for second best or something picked before it’s full bloom.

Next time you’re Rambunctious, waiting with Aries impatience, weigh these thoughts on your Libra Scales.

~~~


This bit of astro-humor ran in the April 1995 edition of Chironicles in celebration of the Spring Equinox. It honors the sign that starts the natural New Year and the beginning of the zodiac. I am posting it on an Aries New Moon! This article has been evocative in the past—angered more than one Aries who disagreed that God didn’t share their sign! Made others ponder: If God had a sign, what would it be? Since bearers of each sign of the zodiac claim theirs is divine, some more than others, that could be quite a debate! Whatever your sign, this is the time to celebrate Aries. And, of course, The Radical Virgo welcomes your Comments.

(Dedicated to Jessica Lynn, the woman who inspired it, and one of my three long-time, close Aries friends.)

Virgos of the World UNITE! Get Radical

Welcome to the launch and first full post of The Radical Virgo blog.

Let’s start at the endbeginning, because every ending melts into a new beginning:

“We are strong, we are invincible, we are Virgos. What other sign could single-handedly accomplish a global reorganization? So, Virgos of the world, UNITE! Get radical. After all, it’s your job.”

—The Radical Virgo by Joyce Mason (1992)

Maybe you’re wondering why I’m starting a blog inspired by an article I wrote so many years ago. “The Radical Virgo” is timeless, reposted numerous places on the Internet since its original publication in The Mountain Astrologer. I have gotten trickles, even streams of readers, who tell me how much the article has changed their concept of Virgo—even their lives, if Virgo is their Sun sign and/or they have an abundance of planets in Virgo. I have noted in web searches that the term “Radical Virgo” has been coined and propagated, applied to some of the world’s most Radical of Virgos, such as Amy Winehouse.

But why am I really here? It took just one reader named Phix, a Radical Virgo himself, who took me literally about that last paragraph in my article, highlighted above. He asked innocently enough, “Where do I sign up?” (Hey, is that an astro-pun? Sign up? Since we’re talking the upside of Virgo here, maybe it’s a double pun, and you can guess why I like to call myself a Wordgo!)

Back to Earth: In the intervening years, our tools for interconnection have become sophisticated and global. The ability for Virgos to unite and organize in a big way on issues of healing and wholeness are now literally at our fingertips. We finally have the tools. Now we just have to get organized.

Organizing Virgos—Piece of Cake?
Well, it sounds good in theory; in practice, it may be only slightly easier than herding cats, especially if the Virgos we’re talking about are Radical. But we do love words, ideas, and mind-shares. (Cats, too, in most cases.) That’s what I’m counting on!

Raise Your Hands

Humor aside, I’m not egotistical or Virgocentric enough to believe that the V-Sign alone can change the world. (Do note, though, that in sign language, the letter V is the same as the two-fingered peace sign!)

Each of us, regardless of our astrology charts or unique spiritual and genetic imprints, holds the destiny of the world in our hands. Each of us and all of us. Virgo is closely connected to the centaur planet Chiron, which rules hands, and folks, we need all hands on deck holding Planet Earth together at this time in our space travel through the Milky Way Galaxy.

There are symbols and patterns found in the sign and mythology of Virgo that represent the start of a cycle, culminating in wholeness. Virgo is the first of what I consider the four transitional signs: Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius. They take us from Self (starting with Aries and culminating in Virgo) to One Other (Libra and Scorpio) to Many Others (Sagittarius through the remainder of the zodiac). Read “Wholeness and the Inner Marriage,” my other oldie but goodie article, to get the details of my theory on the Chiron Sector (the four transitional signs), which pivots on learning the most evolved lessons of Virgo. We all have “something in Virgo,” even if it’s only a house in our chart that falls in the sign. Everyone has some part of their lives touched by Virgo, and now we can see how Virgos touching each other from the mind and heart can impact a planet that can use some hands-on healing.

Some Thoughts on Blog Culture
This blog will evolve to whatever it’s supposed to become, but here are some thoughts I’d like to offer as guidelines that make sense to me, open to comment and discussion:

• Let’s talk less about chart analysis here and more about symbolic meanings and practical applications of astrological ideas. I’d like a place where we talk more about the forest than the trees.
• Do not necessarily limit discussions to Virgo and/or Chiron, my astrological love and specialty, or Mercury, Virgo’s traditional ruler. Virgo may be our starting point, but wholeness is everything.
• Keep fun a part of the equation! Laughter is a great teacher, and when we’re having such heady conversations, we need a few laughs to bring us back into our bodies. After all, Virgo is an Earth sign.
• Share links to this site and help it grow. If you have the “Radical Virgo energy,” you’ll help draw in others who do, too.
• Let’s share ideas. There’s nothing wrong with differences of opinion, even heated discussions, but “The Radical Virgo” has multiple planets in Libra and lots of Neptunian sensitivity. She cannot bear unkindness, unfairness, or disrespect. She reserves the right to decline to post anything that does not foster word peace. (How did you like my imitation of Miss Manners back there? A Virgo? Probably. Radical? Not.)
• Remember, you don’t have to be a Virgo (Sun in Virgo) to play! (See sidebar, What Is a Radical Virgo?)

The Virgo Union
I envision this blog to be completely interactive—not just my blog but ours. I hope you will Comment often, and when you have a lot to say (longer input), contact me about guest blogging. My friends often call me The Queen of Synchronicity. I was editing some educational material today, just before writing this article. Within it, union was a glossary term: A group, especially an alliance or confederation of people, parties, or political entities, formed for mutual interest or benefit.

What could be more mutually interesting or beneficial than a better world? It’s up to us to see how this ongoing, online get-together morphs into its own identity and where we take it. Astrological insights? Social activism? Service projects? Changing minds to change the world?

Join me in this great experiment to harness the energy of becoming our highest Selves. Think about that quintessential characteristic of Virgo—to be self-reliant. Self-contained. Like snowflakes, each of us is programmed in a unique pattern—each one beautiful, needed, and transitory. (Put us all together, and you’ve got a White Christmas.) When we melt back into the water cycle (another endbeginning), we just come down to Earth again in another form. But before we can give our Selves, we have to be our Selves—to have a Self to give.

We don’t have to seek perfection; we just have to see the perfection that’s already there. The I, Thou, and Us of it.

We need to see it, sort it, and make bread from the remaining grains of truth.

Come. Union!

~~~

Photo credit: HOLDING WORLD © Jennbang Dreamstime.com