New Moon in Virgo, August 27, 2022
This New Moon takes place on August 27th at 4°03’ Virgo, only four degrees from Regulus and squaring the planet Mars. It is also a day when Mercury reaches its most maximum elongation (separation from the Sun from our perspective).
Virgo is a sign whose essence is about the sacred patterning around them and within them. It is an earth sign that relates more to the reverence and necessity of the work being sacred than just because something is needed to be done. It is not a “personal” sign in that Virgo’s expression is about the work and the pattern itself than any egoic or emotional expression of archetype’s nature.
The Virgo archetype come alive in this transit of the Moon with the Sun close to Regulus. The star of Regulus ingressed into the sign of Virgo in 2011, in which it will spend over 2,100 years in Virgo. Regulus symbolizes the “heart of the Lion” constellation, a pattern in which many cultures have seen as a lion figure for many thousands of years. It is a constellation that gave rise to the Egyptian Sphinx and the mysteries it holds.
This entry of Regulus into Virgo is a deepening of the mysteries not just related to the Sphinx but humanity’s evolvement into a new consciousness. The entwinement of Virgo and Regulus creates a greater inquiry into the labyrinth of matter and creation itself and how that labyrinth is to be held sacred as a “mystery” in and of itself.
This New Moon connects to the Sabian Symbol of 5 Virgo (always adding 1 to the degree to get the symbol). This symbol is “A man becoming aware of nature spirits and normally unseen spiritual energies”.
The keywords associated with this Sabian Symbol are: “Creative fantasies. Attuned minds perceiving subtle phenomena. Fairly tales. Seeing things or imagining them. Seeing entities, fantasizing. Mental institutions. Halloween. Fairies, nature spirits and seeing the normally unseen.” This adds to this interpretation of the New Moon in Virgo with Regulus. The veil is thinned with this New Moon, connecting us to a place beyond form and material reality into other realms.
Mercury, on the 27th, having just entered the sign of Libra, reaches its maximum elongation or separation from the Sun. This takes place at 1 ½ degrees of the sign of Libra, or basically on the September equinox point. This signals that the messenger planet will station retrograde soon. That will happen on September 9th and re-enter the sign of Virgo on the Equinox, September 22nd.
Each New Moon can be considered a “lunation”, meaning it is a way to create a calendar based upon the Moon. Each New Moon would then represent about a month’s worth of time, celestially, until 29 ½ days later. The word month has its roots in the Moon (month was once called “moonth”) as that is why we typically have 30 days in a month, but we are defining a year based upon the Sun and Earth’s seasons.
New Moons in history were usually looked at as the first Crescent Moon visible in the early evening sky after the Moon-Sun conjunction. We can measure exactly when that conjunction takes place, but the New Moon energy carries forth into the sighting of the Crescent Moon. This can be seen as when the Virgo-Regulus energy gets carried forth and expressed out into the world of consciousness.
This Virgo New Moon at the Lion’s heart with Mercury extended out to about it’s the longest separation it can have with the month makes for an astrologically potent day. There is a slowing down and an intent for greater awareness of our relationships (Mercury in Libra), especially in seeing the needs of others and how we relate.
This lunation or moonth until the next New Moon in Libra is an active one in the season of Virgo. It can be a time to set aside sacred space for one’s self or replenish the energy of the sacred space one has already set aside. The Sabian Symbol suggests a connection between the realms into what is hidden beyond our consensus reality. Perhaps this can help us open to those other realms, recognizing within ourselves that we are a part of it.
The conjunction with Regulus expresses an emerging light and radiance of presence into the mysteries within and without. It is also an activation of the strength of our hearts into the world and speaking our voices in what we hold as our creative power.
The New Moon is a way for all of us to connect deeper into the sky and rhythm of the day and night, Moon, planets and stars. It is a fresh start and a continuation of the cycles upon cycles in our lives. It is part of a much, much larger celestial clock that we are all intimately networked into.