We have an annular ('ring of fire') solar eclipse this month in the sign of Libra, on Weds 2nd Oct at 7.46pm UK time. This is powerful moment in the astrological calendar which intensifies our experience of truth and justice, and calls us to account for our thoughts and actions. A solar eclipse occurs at a new moon, when the moon lies directly in the path of the Sun, temporarily obscuring the Sun's light. Although this particular solar eclipse will only be observable across the southernmost part of South America, its symbolic effect will be felt powerfully by us all.

This month’s full moon becomes exact in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the UK (3.34am, 18th Sept 2024) and falls this month in the dreamy water sign of Pisces.  It coincides with the Moon making an applying conjunction to Neptune, which can plunge us more deeply into our feelings, our emotional life, and made it harder to focus on practical everyday tasks. This is the tension of the Virgo-Pisces axis that really makes itself manifest at this time, with the Sun being in practical, discerning, detail-oriented Virgo.  Two weeks ago, we had the Virgo new moon, which was all about carefully distilling the essence of our intention in a very particular and focussed way; it was about exercising control and choosing carefully.  The art we need to practice over this full moon is very different though.  It is the art of letting go. It is about accepting that there are things that we simply cannot control, and that we may need to surrender to a situation which is beyond our ability to manage or properly make sense of. 

This month’s new moon occurs at 2.56am on 3rd Sept, UK time.  It's a Virgo new moon, with the Sun and Moon aligning in the sign of the harvest goddess, the fecund earth mother and symbol of feminine authority in the Zodiac.  Virgo is so often misrepresented as a nit-picking critic, or servile adminstrator, when she is really the alchemist of the Zodiac, devoted in service to the restoration of divine feminine wisdom.