Bumblebee on a bachelor's button; photo by Amanda Painter.

Solar Virgo: What Will You Harvest?

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By Amanda Painter

Tomorrow the Sun enters Virgo, at 6:02 am EDT (10:01:52 UTC), and begins the last sign of the current season. Speaking as one living in the Northern Hemisphere, I am wondering where the hell summer has gone. I’m not quite ready for the cooler nights we’ve had lately where I live, or for the Sun to be setting closer to 7:30 than 8:30 in the evening. But ready or not, here we are — along with the benefits of this part of the season, namely the harvest.

Bumblebee on a bachelor's button; photo by Amanda Painter.

Bumblebee on a bachelor’s button; photo by Amanda Painter.

Along with the literal harvest of vegetables, grains and fruits, the sheaves of wheat in the arms of the Virgo virgin also symbolize what Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker describe as “the wisdom that is harvested in the fields of experience.”

They add that one lesson of this sign is that “although the body must serve the mind, ultimately the mind must serve the spirit.”

I wonder if this idea about Virgo relates to its association with healing professions and processes — not simply in the sense of one part of Self being ‘in service’ to another part. But rather, in the sense that when we get those various parts of ourselves working together in such a relationship, healing occurs. With our own inner healing and harmony, we’re able to hold space for others to do the same and can model how it feels and what it looks like.

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Planet Waves Daily Oracle for Thursday, Aug 22, 2019

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Gemini monthly for January 22, 2015.

oracle

Belief is a power that I suggest everyone be familiar with the workings of, and the effects of. I would rate belief as anything from a necessary psychological tool to a volatile chemical capable of conjuring many strange effects. The problem with belief is that it’s often taken for granted. You might think something is true, not know how you got there, not notice what possibilities you’re pre-empting and therefore have no way to test your theory. Belief too often goes unnoticed and therefore unquestioned. Mercury moving retrograde in Aquarius is provoking you to inquire into something you may not have noticed you were carrying around. It looks like a mental pattern that was acting like a perceptual filter. That filter was creating a bias in your observations. The beauty of the moment is that you’re getting some evidence of the existence of this thing, through some kind of glitch or interference — for example a disagreement over something that seems ridiculous. Or it might be that your bias comes into focus when you bump into something that makes it obvious, potentially by showing you something else that’s far more important to you. It is this encounter that sends a ripple through one particular belief and as a result, all of your beliefs, proving that it pays to question them — and even just to observe that they exist.

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

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The Day of the Standout: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Aug. 21
The Day of the Standout | The 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio can now be pre-ordered | 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for instant access | All Other Signs

If you’re in the mood to get things accomplished this year, you could well cover a lot of ground. The current conditions are ripe, firstly for big changes, and secondly for bringing ideas to life. A little enthusiasm will probably go a long way; so be bold, and focus on goals that carry real meaning for you. It may be advisable to take the view, in fact, that you can accomplish whatever you have a mind to. Actually, this is probably not too far from the truth.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

One of the first things astrologer Debbi Kempton-Smith says about Venus in Virgo is that it “sees sex as a healthy function, something one does in order to be a tension-free, well rounded-person.” This approach could feel particularly resonant this week: Venus enters Virgo today, on its way to a conjunction with Mars on Saturday. Often Venus-Mars conjunctions spell “sex” — and this one very well could, too. But there’s something about these ideas of “healthy” and “well-rounded” that is coming to the forefront of this week’s overall trajectory, and it looks more internally focused.

That is, rather than seeking out sex with somebody else, you might want to consider the ways you actually contain all of what you may seek — giver and receiver; active and passive; sensual and sexual; male and female. In any way that you tend to see yourself on one side of a polarity or dichotomy, see if you can find the place in yourself where the other half of the equation lives — without criticizing yourself for not seeing it before, or for not developing it, or for projecting it onto others. How can you bridge the gap and relieve some tension?

With the Moon moving through Taurus today and tomorrow, there’s some solid, relaxed emotional support that you can likely access most easily the more in touch you stay with your physical senses. What would feel good to your body?
— by Amanda Painter

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Read more here.

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Planet Waves Daily Oracle for Wednesday, Aug 21, 2019

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Virgo weekly for September 12, 2016.

oracle

Your world is still vibrating with last week’s total solar eclipse in your sign. It’s now undeniable that you’re fully involved in a process of not just transformation but of claiming some deep aspect of who you are. Here is something to consider, while you’re on the way to doing that, which is the source of your anger: The most toxic anger is what a person takes out on themselves, often in the form of guilt. Yet there are other manifestations, and I suggest you watch them all. It’s possible you’re figuring out that someone has kept you in the dark about an important matter. You might have some idea that you have to cool down before you assert your opinion or make a decision. However, I would say that you need to use your points of leverage, and you have one coming this week. Just bear in mind there are some old issues that are coming up, having nothing directly to do with your current situation. Be clear with yourself about that.

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Read more here.

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The Day of the Cryptic Secret: Birthdays and Planet News

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If Your Birthday is Aug. 20
The Day of the Cryptic Secret | The 2019-20 Virgo Astrology Studio can now be pre-ordered | 2019-20 Leo Astrology Studio is available for instant access | All Other Signs

Your need to express your uniqueness is a fundamental part of your being, as it is for everyone. It’ll help immensely if you give yourself the room to do so, and refuse to confine yourself to the narrow expectations of conventional society. You’d have trouble fitting into that particular box, anyway, and would soon be compelled to burst out and do your own thing. Don’t be afraid of causing a little turbulence here and there; you might consider it a service to the perpetually sleepy.
— by Amy Elliott

Do you have a Leo Sun, rising sign or Moon? Your last couple years may have left you reeling trying to figure out which path forward is best. Hear Eric’s thoughts on expediting your post-eclipse process in your 2019-2020 Leo Astrology Studio reading.

Written in the Planets

A little is likely to go a long way today, in terms of demonstrating your affections (and in seeking such from others). Venus — still close to the Sun and Juno in Leo — has arrived in the last degree of its sign. That alone can have a sort of itchy, edgy or impatient quality. But Venus is also making a trine aspect to Pholus in Sagittarius. Trines are aspects of harmony, which may help soften things a tad — but Pholus is the object of ‘small cause, big effect’. So this looks like a reminder to keep the generosity of selfless giving — rather than what would boost your ego — at the heart of what’s lighting your fire.

The Leo Sun trine the Galactic Core in Sagittarius could help you to channel a broader ‘highest good for all concerned’ type of love into all the ways you express yourself today, though it will help if you set that intention consciously. The Aries Moon swings through to complete a brief grand fire trine tonight with the Sun and Galactic Core (and then does the same with Venus and Pholus). Do you feel inspired toward warmth and illumination, or are you feeling burned out by your impulses? Notice first, and then choose how to proceed.
— by Amanda Painter

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Read more here.

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Planet Waves Daily Oracle for Tuesday, Aug 20, 2019

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Today’s Oracle takes us to the Scorpio monthly for October 26, 2010.

oracle

It may be odd for an astrologer to associate Scorpio and the concepts of virginity or celibacy — but in general what some call ‘sacred sexuality’ would not be a stretch for you. This is a term that’s used more often than it is understood, and part of your mission now is to give the concept personal meaning. Deep beneath all the ideas, illustrations and suggestions of books about tantra (a term that, in modern usage, is a byword for conscious, meaningful erotic exchange) there is a spirit of devotion. That can involve devotion to service, it can involve healing and most of all it involves the unfettered honoring of pleasure as a natural, wholesome experience. Devotion is like tending a flame, and it’s vital to recognize that the flame exists inside you before it can exist anywhere else. We all have our hang-ups, we have our doubts, we have those places that we’re afraid to go. I suggest that you choose to be undeterred by any of these things, and focus your energy and thoughts on burning your flame as hot as you need to in order to burn off your doubts, body shame and religious guilt. Experienced in this spirit, sex ceases to be a consumable item and takes on new meaning as something that honors something inherent about what a person is: a perfect expression of nature and the intelligence that we often mistake for divinity.

It is difficult to feel good these days; it’s challenging to focus on your growth and self-care, or even to relax. We are pulled out of ourselves constantly, and often distracted from our core purposes. IN THESE TIMES, the Planet Waves autumn reading, will help.

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

Read more here.

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Love From Yasgur’s Farm, 1969

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Use this link if you’re listening on an iOS or mobile device. Download MP3.

Max Yasgur's former dairy cow grazing pasture in White Lake, Town of Bethel, NY, as it appeared in August 2018 and still is today. my guitar is on the ground where so many great musicians hung out in the hospitality tent, close to the permanent historic site marker. When you see those photos of people as far as the horizon, this is the land that you’re looking at.

Max Yasgur’s former dairy cow grazing pasture in White Lake, Town of Bethel, NY, as it appeared in August 2018 and still is today. my guitar is on the ground where so many great musicians hung out in the hospitality tent, close to the permanent historic site marker. When you see those photos of people as far as the horizon, this is the land that you’re looking at.

Dear Friend and Listener:

Tonight’s program visits the Woodstock Festival many times. We hear from Swami Satchidananda, Ravi Shankar, Max Yasgur, and many others who were there. I describe how Virgo astrology, especially Pluto in Virgo, was the dominant force of the 1960s and how this relates to the festival — which was, of course, a kind of once-in-forever World Heritage event.

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