and not forgetting a generation of pluto in virgo....

'unfinished business' ds '08

"...since modern roses of sin and sorrow tend to go beyond those of the past in extremities of anguish, the number and force of our roses maintaining affirmative roots become significant as a measure of our still surviving hope. It is surely a healthy sign that even in the troubled present the rose has continued to be far more often linked with attempts to resolve man's problems than with the deceptiveness of such attempts..."

(Barbara Seward, The Symbolic Rose)

This morning, while trying to figure out where this (almost) petrifying fearsome feeling I have is coming from, two things occured to me. First, that with planets moving through Virgo, including new entrant Venus, that these are touching an area of my own chart that's particularly potent; and second, that there's a whole generation of us with Pluto (and Uranus) in Virgo who are likely to be feeling it, to varying degrees, too.

Mars goes by this region of the cosmos regularly - about every two years; likewise Venus transits Virgo every year, so a lot of what we're experiencing now is familiar. However (and wherever) Virgo energy manifests itself in our lives, we're getting a fresh wave of Mars and Venus vibes and more opportunities to do as we Will, love as we can and continue soul-making as we do. Pluto, Lord of the Underworld, will have us come-what-may. Mars as the archetype which carries forth our desires, plus Venus's wont toward beauty and transformation - well, these are the easier energies to work with when it comes to Pluto's compulsion toward destruction-regeneration and digging through our depths for hidden treasure. The process can bring out parts of ourselves we didn't know we had and polish them up so that they're a pleasure to notice.

Born with Pluto in Virgo, Saturn's (once in 28 years) transit feels at once like a double dose of fear, death and pain. The darkest depths of Soul stretching to the outer limit of Ego. Mythical outcast Titan, King, Terrible Father (eater of offspring) - Lord of time, Dweller of the Threshold - the Grim Reaper - meets The Guy in Charge of Hell (where all things squalid and sordid dwell), in the constellation that represents service and honourable servitude and all things wholesome. It calls to us to a new awareness of how much our unconscious - both personal and collective - (Pluto) controls our lives and how our ideas about need (Saturn) do likewise.

I'm looking to Virgo's ruling planet, Mercury (who in this guise I like to think of as a girl, as the glyph for the constellation suggests) who has a part to play here - as psychopomp or guide of souls. In this capacity Mercury keeps our minds on our work, on the journey - vigilant against hungry ghosts that may pull us into a downward spiral towards despair - and points us toward the signs and the way out if we get carried away during this time.

Stay well, stay the path - and see you on the other side!