Virgo

Triquetra..

The geese are flying already, earlier than usual. I heard them on August 1st, Lughnasadh, and I thought, is Fall coming early this year? Perhaps heeding this warning we started school last week, earlier than we ever have. Despite having the teacher (me) laid up with an odd back injury for much of the past two weeks, we’re making progress. I’m being more organized about it, making lists and a schedule for us to tick our way through day by day. It’s actually been kind of fun, and comforting to know we’re on track even if we only just started. Our days are settling into a rhythm, and none too soon: Leo season is coming to a close. Virgo is about to come into her own.

Beginning with the new moon occurring late Saturday night (technically 2am Sunday morning), Virgo ushers in a season of planning, organizing, abundance, giving, and cleansing. Think: back-to-school, Fall cleaning, harvest time. It’s a time for gathering in and getting it all organized, and for taking stock of where we’re headed and what we need to do to get there. Of this season, Stephanie Campos, author of Seasons of the Zodiac, writes:

Virgo knows it best—there is magick to be found in every area of our lives. Believe it or not, you don’t need crystals, a cauldron, candles, oils, and more to tap into some serious life-altering magick. Our personal grooming habits and daily routine offer us plenty of opportunities to shift our reality. The root of most magical practices is discipline and consistency. Virgo season reminds us that when we integrate a new habit into our routine, the little ripples we experience right away eventually grow into powerful waves.

Not everyone feels drawn to using the tools of witchcraft and magical practice (crystals, cauldrons, candles, etc.), and that’s OK. Everyday activities, when performed with mindfulness and intent, can be just as magical as ritual. Campos offers a few suggestions for “everyday magic” to perform during Virgo season:

• Grooming: If you’re struggling to let go of a desire you’re trying to manifest, repeat “I release my desire” as you cut your nails. You can also use this to shake a limiting belief; just focus on what you want to cut out of your life. The same can be said if you are someone who shaves any part of your body. As you shave, repeat what you are releasing out loud and watch the hair drift down the drain.

• Eliminating Waste: When you go to the bathroom, associate what you’re doing with energetic release. What limiting belief or anxiety are you ready to remove? Visualize the words in your head, and as the waste exits your body and you flush the toilet, imagine those thoughts or feelings as good as gone.

• Bathing: Whether you’re washing your hair or lathering your skin with soap, visualize scrubbing off unwanted energies. As you rinse, watch the soap leave your body and swirl down the drain. Visualize any lingering energetic attachments leaving your energy field.

• Cooking: Try shifting your thinking and bringing in more abundance or positivity in your life while cooking. As you add ingredients to your meal, associate them with specific traits like confidence, courage, or consistency. When you eat your meal, imagine you are ingesting these qualities and move forward as such.

• Cleaning: Our living space is often reflective of our mental state. As you clean and organize, pair those activities with an intention for more clarity and spaciousness. This can reduce anxiety and release clutter in the mind. With a smaller to-do list, it’s easier [to] activate a state of flow.

• Getting Dressed: As you get dressed, associate each piece of clothing with something you’re trying to call in. As you layer the pieces on your body, imagine yourself putting on a physical representation of your desires or characteristics you want to embody more effortlessly.¹

Yes, even pooping, bathing, and getting dressed can be magical. What you do is far less important to magical living than how and why you do it. During this season, I want to try repeating, “I am enough. I have enough.” while cooking. As someone who grew up with very little, scarcity mindset has always been a problem for me. I am curious what changes this simple shift could make in my life. I also think that adding Intention to my routine whenever I’m getting ready to leave the house for an event might help reduce my social and performance anxiety. The idea of mindful “bathroom breaks” is also fascinating. Virgo season is a great time to try out small shifts and see what happens!

Virgo is usually represented by a young woman or Maiden, often pictured holding a stalk or sheaf of wheat or grain. As a young adult I studied a form of “Biblical astronomy” that was basically astrology for Christians. In that representation, Virgo was the Virgin Mary about to birth the Christ child while simultaneously holding Spika, the seed of wheat, which was also Christ. Many goddesses around the world hold a triple, often cyclical, form: Maiden, Mother, and Crone (the mature Wise Woman archetype, not the same as a “hag”). In a post from last year, “Triple Goddess, Triple Moon,” I wrote of the Maiden archetype: