New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo

This is early on the 13th September, around 6:40 am (GMT).

It's an eclipse – a supercharged new beginning – in the detail-oriented, service-minded sign of Virgo. And I am determined to see it as a good thing, though it looks quite painful and uncomfortable – because Virgo is an immensely practical, grounded, orderly sign.

So if things hurt, there are practical things you can do to heal. You can start a new health regimen. You can focus on doing practical, helpful things for yourself or others who are hurting. You can clean the house and do the laundry. You can volunteer at something.

The focus will be on doing practical, humble, everyday stuff. Jupiter is in Virgo also – so our blessings and happiness this year are tied up with a focus on the everyday, the humble, the small but necessary. Attention to the little details will go a long way.

Hopefully this new moon will be painful like necessary surgery - or like how a wound stings when it's being cleaned and sewn up. Or like root canal, which is painful but functional.

Of course, it could also feel like a knife twisting in your gut, or jagged worry and mental misery. Try not to worry too much. It's definitely a worried kind of sky.

The moon and sun in Virgo will oppose Chiron in Pisces, which represents a deep, incohate sense of wounding. They will also inconjunct Uranus in Aries, which is a jittery, erratic, angry kind of energy.

Virgo's ruler, Mercury,  is also in cardinal t-square with Pluto and Uranus. This is full of the potential for raw, painful, shocking thought and communication. Quite violent and explosive.

In addition, we have Saturn at the very end of Scorpio, hammering out the karmic consequences we are going to be living with for the next few decades (ugh). He will leave Scorpio for Sagittarius on the 18th September, and this should lighten things up a bit – but the month ahead is colored by the energy of this final grinding transit of 29 degrees Scorpio.

So things look pretty difficult overall. Plus we have this Jupiter-Neptune opposition which speaks of big delusion, big disappointment, mental confusion, pragmatic reality vs. huge swirly dreams.

Ack, whatever. It all looks a bit shitty – not the loveliest cosmic weather. But there is work to be done regardless.

So do your Virgo: focus on the small stuff that keeps the whole show running. Take out the trash, take the cat to the vet, do your homework, sweep the floor, trim the hedge, do some pushups, help someone who is in direr straits than you. (There's always someone.)

There are a lot of shifts underway this month. It should be interesting.

We have the aforementioned shift of Saturn from Scorpio to Sagittarius on the 18th – so we will be done with the grinding hellish psychodrama of that transit for another 28.5 years, thank Christ. Awful stuff.

The day before, the 17th September, we have Mercury going retrograde in Libra till the 9th of October. Expect the usual glitches in communications, troubles with communication devices and travel delays. Because the retrograde is happening in Libra, sign of close relationships and partnerships, there will be plenty of room for misunderstanding and miscommunication in the context of close relationships, and that can lead to major blockages and frustrations – so be aware. Paying close attention to what people are actually saying and what they actually mean will be helpful.

Pluto will resume direct motion on the 24th September, after a retrograde period that started in April. This, along with Saturn's move out of Scorpio, signals the end of the exhausting inward psychological focus of the past few months. Hopefully we can quit brooding and move forward in our lives now.

Not without frustration and blockage though: Mars moves into Virgo the next day, the 25th September – straight into a difficult square with Saturn in Sagittarius. Mars-Saturn aspects are full of frustration that can express itself as cruelty and abuse – this square will be in effect for the latter part of the month, and things could get very tense. Nitpicky and nasty, destructively critical.

And then Venus moves into the same square in the middle of October. Suffice it to say, we have not seen the end of our blockages and delays in love and money matters. (Though there will be plenty of new opportunities as Venus trines Uranus during the latter half of September.)

Well it's all potentially very frustrating, but remember – now and for the year ahead, do your Virgo. When things get shitty and your nerves are all fried and your head's a mess from beating itself against walls, do something healthy or practical or helpful, for yourself or for others. Stay humble and focused on the everyday. Plenty of people are going to be needing help, and helping others is a good way to forget your own worries.

There's a full moon eclipse in Aries on the 28th September – a 'blood moon' which some people claim will be the end of the world. I don't think that's likely, but it does look jangly and difficult. Not the easiest month ahead overall. But Saturn leaving Scorpio is a big deal, and a relief - so there's that anyway!