Author: Cynthia Hansen Zehm

The Virgo zodiac month is all about the end of summer, days grow short and nights are cooler. A touch of impending autumn is in the air and we feel the pull of seasonal change. Virgo is a mutable earth sign, which means it’s an energy of mutation and metamorphosis, grounded in the here and now, manifested on the material plane via our physical senses and experiences. We can actually see, smell, hear, taste, touch and feel the transformational magic of the Mother Earth, the Father Sky and the Great Spirit as fruits ripen and meadows morph from green to gold. Harvest season is upon us, firewood is being cut and gathered, kitchens are busy with canning and cleaning as we instinctively prepare for winter.

The poignant beauty of September evokes wonder, gratitude, awe and a delicate sense of sorrow. I know that the blazing days of summer heat and evenings of warm, luscious turquoise twilight have past. I can look forward to those amazing, magnificent days of Indian Summer, but, in my heart, I feel the cooling breeze of seasonal change and know the wheel has turned.

May the blessings and grace of summer’s end be beautiful, bountiful and filled with the fruits of our Virgo labor and love. Happy Harvest!

Mercury is retrograde in Mercury ruled Virgo this week and will remain so until September 13th. Combined with a waning Moon, the ongoing conjunction of Mars and Venus in Libra, and incredibly dark, blue-black night skies, we are certain to have plenty of opportunity to get lost (in romance, on the road or at the movies) and be deeply intrigued by what we see, what we hear and where we end up. As always, Mercury retrograde periods favor all things beginning with the prefix “re” – return, recharge, relax, review, regenerate, research, revise, remodel, redo…the list goes on and on. It’s kind of like driving in the rain, with wipers flapping and our vision slightly impaired. The world is mystical and magical, edges are blurred and distinctly delineated boundaries disappear.

Life is all about balance and polarity. Night and day, dark and light, good and bad, boy and girl. We are individual human beings dancing a cosmic dance of action, attraction and interaction with invisible and visible forces; pursuing dreams and desires, chasing rainbows and running or hiding from what scares us. We need courage and strength to fight our battles and sweet love to nurture our souls and sustain our spirits. It’s a process of push and pull, give and take, come and go, here and there, holding on and letting go. The River of Life is ever-flowing, on and on, up and down, fast and slow, around and around. Riding the rapids of change or floating the calm waters of peace and contentment, we will forever be particles and waves, electromagnetic bodies repelling and attracting the negative and positive forces of the physical and metaphysical planes.

Human survival and evolution depend upon procreation, the union of opposites – male and female – the process of sexual interaction that reproduces life. And in order for that to take place, a man’s sperm and a woman’s ovum must come together – the classic act of Mars and Venus – bond with each other and stay together long enough to bear fruit. The miracle of birth – new life – is the ultimate expression of Mars/Venus, but there are plenty of Mars/Venus acts that don’t result in fruitful unions. In fact, billions of Mars/Venus acts go on in every second of every day of every year, and they’ve been going on for millennia! It’s the game of predator and prey, win and lose, king and queen.

Planet Uranus, the Great Awakener, has recently moved in and out of Aries - the very first sign of the tropical zodiac – and, in so doing, has awakened us to what’s up in the road ahead. Aries is the sign of primal instinct, self-awareness and survival. Aries is ruled by the “red-planet” Mars – ancient god of war and champion of desire – and is the sign most associated with new beginnings, fresh cycles, initiation, motivation and action. It is a positive, masculine sign of cardinal modality, the energy of pursuit and prey, passion, competition, exertion and assertion. Whenever a planet moves into Aries, we enter new territory and explore new frontiers. It’s also a time of rebirth and recovery, when we are called upon to reincarnate or regenerate what has died or disappeared, been destroyed or fallen into dysfunction. It heralds the revival of important ideas and forces, as well as a period of broad and significant individual and collective change.

August 12 to 19, 2010
Visible Planets: Morning: Jupiter  Evening: Venus, Mars and Saturn
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of Aug. 12th/13th and I can hardly believe it. This perennial stellar event heralds, for me, the beginning of the end of summer – and I’m definitely in denial!

The Leo sun-time is full of passion and power, courage and heart. The wild sunflowers are in full bloom, Olathe sweet corn is on the table and sweet Palisade peaches pop up at fruit stands and in local markets. The seasonal monsoon rains bring flash-floods and mudslides, dramatic lightning and crashing thunder, followed by shimmering, vibrant rainbows, magnificent sunsets and evenings of stellar beauty, peace and grace.

Leo is a love sign. It’s all about loving life, embracing and living it, holding it tight, close to the heart. It’s hugging the people we love, kissing our babies, showing affection for others and demonstrating heartfelt emotions. It’s the creative force and power of creation. It’s the creative spark, the goddess within, dancing divas and magical beings, flamboyant fairies and laughing lions. It’s imagination, art and romance. It’s however, wherever and whenever we experience the primal power of Heart - our own life force, our personal truth, self-will and ego - our individual connection to the Divine - in all its mystery and magnificence – in the moment, in the now, in the burning fire of the present.

The other day I had a friend come up to me and ask, “Is that Mars and Saturn conjunct in the evening sky at dusk?” When I responded in the affirmative, he said, “Well, that explains it!” and gave me a piercing, knowing look.

I always love it when people comment on the visible – and invisible – planets. A few years back, a woman who has risen well before dawn for years asked me about a brilliant point of light she had been watching each morning above the eastern horizon. Could it be a UFO or space station? No, it was only Venus at perihelion, awesome and dazzling in the predawn blue-black darkness.

The green, green, green of early summer has morphed in to the green, gold, brown of late July. The tall meadow grass has gone to seed - it looks like wheat swaying in the morning breeze. Irrigated fields patchwork the mesa in shades of emerald green and bright yellow sunflowers dance along the roadsides. The winter snow has melted on the peaks and monsoon rains flash-flood canyons and valleys, causing mudslides and stopping traffic. Rainbows blaze and hummingbirds feast, while bluebirds perch on fence posts and teach their young how to hunt.