The Sun enters Virgo I A Tree Bearing Fruit (as Austin Coppock named it) on 22 August 2024 at 10:55 am EDT. The Sun will remain here until 1 September 2024 at 7:25 pm EDT — amounting to ten days, eight hours and 30 minutes. T. Susan Chang called this decan It’s The Little Things. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn called the related Tarot card, the 8 of Pentacles, The Lord of Prudence — which Pamela Colman Smith drew as a craftsman putting the final touches on an eighth dish-like disk while seven completed disks hung behind him on the walls.
That notion of Prudence, though, is relevant — because the Hellenistic era apparently associated this decan with Themis. You know her, of course, as Lady Justice — the blindfolded young woman with the sword and scales. Zeus’s second wife and one of the Titans (a daughter of Uranus and Gaia), Themis was the goddess of justice and order — and Dike, the goddess of contracts and fair dealing in the marketplace, was one of her daughters. She was celebrated at Aquarius I The Mark of Exile — so were the Horae or seasons, the younger children of Themis and Zeus, who are celebrated at Taurus II The Lingam Yoni. Themis’ half-sister Praxidike was the goddess of capital punishment (and praxidike itself may only be a title of Persephone, ruling Aries II The Crown), ruled over Gemini III The Executioner’s Sword — and another half-sister, Tolma, presided over the right conduct of government officials at Capricorn III The Throne. Themis sits near the concluding chapters of the first half of the year, at the middle of web of connections to other deities of law, justice, and punishment.
Wherefore all this emphasis on order and procedure? Themis is the Parliamentarian of the Gods and usually the Speaker of the Assembly (The Sun acts as honorary speaker on the Opening Day, when he ingresses into Virgo). That’s significant. Although Zeus is king of the gods and strong enough that even all of them together cannot stand against him in power — he is still bound in some ways by the council of the gods all together, and their collective action. Zeus may choose to stand alone, but he risks war and destruction of his ream if he insists on his own way without considering their opinions and judgment. And even the gods are no rabble — they speak in due turn, like good and orderly voting members of a democracy or a republic, beholden to a speaker who calls on them in turn. We don’t have to believe they followed Robert’s Rules of Order for us to understand that there are procedures and routines; from the Ekklesias of Athens and Alexandria, to the Roman Senate to the Icelandic Althing, or the meetings of the Iroquois Confederacy — there are always rules of procedure and good order. Questions get sent out to committee and then returned to be considered by the Committee of the Whole. Individual members rise on questions of privilege, or to amend the matter under consideration, or to vote to discipline or expel a member for impertinence.
And maybe — just maybe — we should give due attention to the question of order and good procedures and the norms of democratic or republican business. I use the lower-case letters here quite deliberately; the Mediterranean littoral not only gave us the essentials of the astrology I practice, but also many of the elements of the government under which I currently live. No matter which party currently holds power in my country, they derive power from the consent of the governed — and I expect them to act like it. I also have to obey those procedures myself, if I find myself a member of a deliberative body. May Themis guide me in such endeavors.
In Virgo I the dodeks, or 2° 30′ segments of the Zodiac that make twelve parts in each sign, are re-statements of the signs Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, and Sagittarius — in this, they resemble an (ideal) member of a deliberative or legislative body: they conduct an analysis of a problem, try to write a balanced policy or bill or guide to solve the problem, secretly gather up like-minded individuals to support their project, and eventually stand up and tell the story of their proposal. With a mix of rationality, balanced opinion, secret scheming, and storytelling, they get their proposal in front of enough people for it to be voted upon.
Planetary Archetypes
Every Decan is not just a period of ten days; it’s also a kind of place of some sort, because in the Zodiac, signs and their sub-divisions are locations as well as periods of time. Some have suggested that Virgo I is an orchard, or a garden; others have identified it as a workshop or an artisan’s atelier.
Me, given the associations with Themis? It’s a parliament or legislature, meeting in the Orchard of Justice — and the Assembly of the Gods is now in session The Sun stands in the presiding officer’s chair, and calls the meeting to order by his entry into Virgo I. We may well ask what the members of this august body are doing…
Pluto sits in the traditional seat of the minority party’s leader, critiquing the present proceedings. He’s fat and happy, content with current circumstances. He may not be able to control what happens in the next ten days, but he’s got a variety of plans to gum up the works — and he expects to be paid in money or favors for every single moment of critique that goes unanswered. Until the new rules are instituted, he’s got his cigar out and a discreet flask of high quality bourbon. He’ll drag things back to traditional questions like “home” and “family” as soon as he can, but for now he’s prepared to shout “but think of the children!” any time there’s something he doesn’t like.
Saturn, old and dour, is the Father of the House. This is a title that’s given to the longest-serving member of the legislature, regardless of other titles. He’s a member of the opposition party, but he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with Pluto and all that many issues. Right now, he’s got a cold and is snuffling and sneezing. He wants to pass regressive laws governing the Internet that make it less safe and less useful for workers.
Neptune is also part of the opposition. He’s got the same wet, phlegmy cold as Saturn, so they’re sitting near one another but not together. Neptune has this kind of boundless optimism at the moment that’s difficult to repress, and he’s got an almost religious enthusiasm for the idea that his vision can solve any problem... workers of the world, unite… behind my idea! Unfortunately this idea largely consists of removing guardrails, safety features, roadblocks and limits. The worst Libertarian in the world that you know has nothing on this guy — but he dresses so well.
Moon is one of the longest-serving women members of the Assembly, but she’s fired up over what she wants to accomplish this term — she’s got her staff working on a laundry-list of bills and projects, but she knows that she’s going to have to divide her opposition in order to conquer. Officially she’s in the opposition, but she’s realizing that she’s going to switch sides this term. To get anything done, she has to make deals with the leadership of the majority party… and they know it. They also knows she knows it. She hasn’t quite seen her way clear to join them yet, but she’s on her way to crossing the aisle for the sake of her constituents; she’s just not sure she wants to accept the personal costs of switching sides yet.
Uranus the rabble-rousing technologist believes in the power of this Assembly to solve problems. He’s in the majority party but he doesn’t much like the Speaker (the Sun), and has concerns about his ability to manage debate and bring matters to a vote. He’s got his prayer beads in hand, and occasionally rolls his eyes at Pluto — who keeps gesturing as if to say come over to the opposition… we have cookies. Uranus isn’t leaning that way yet… but the session is young.
Jupiter the old hand and Mars the newly elected “young Turk”, though both in the majority party, are somewhat at odds with their political leadership. They’re sitting on the back benches while the Sun calls the Assembly to order, and are intent on creating something of a ruckus. Mars is more of a hothead and has his own agenda to pursue, and is getting ready to present his first proposed resolution; Jupiter has a slower and more private plan, which first and foremost involves seducing Mars into his faction… or into his bed? Either way, win-win. As a caucus, they’re intent on managing issues related to travel and higher education — but only Mars intends to break all current business models; Jupiter has a more hybrid approach.
Mercury is Speaker Sun’s whip, gathering up his allies for the votes ahead. He’s not far from the Sun’s brilliant light, and invisible in the glory of the Assembly’s opening day, but he’s going to make himself known, soon enough. A relatively small and wiry thing, Mercury could be a girl in a men’s suit, or a boy with a slightly feminine appearance despite the cut of his coat. Either way, he knows his expertise will be needed soon. His legislative priorities are on the matter of reorganizing relationships between friends and allies.
In the speakers chair as the presiding officer, the Sun brings the gavel down and counts the votes: six planets above the horizon, and four below, gives him a majority in the hall, but not a two-thirds majority — it’s going to be a cooler ten days than usual for this time of year. But those two jokers over in Gemini are likely to make trouble, he can see that; and he barely sees eye to eye with Uranus — and Mercury isn’t looking this way, to tell him what to do next!? Fortunately, he can see that the Moon will come around soon to his point of view. With Venus by his side, and the Moon’s eventual support, the Sun he can do anything… but there’s a lot at stake, and some rules are going to be broken; some compromises will have to be hammered out. The week will eventually improve, but for now, the dais feels pretty lonely. His own legislative priorities are on food and drink, both for himself and the people — harvest is here, and the wealth of field and garden is ripe.
The Assembly of the Gods still does things the old way, with a ballot box near the speaker — and Venus has her hands on it, the acting secretary of the Assembly while Mercury is off on some errand or another. The nearness of Black Moon Lillith suggests she’s getting ready to fix the vote in some fashion… bend or break the rules a bit, or throw a couple of extra tokens in, in support of the Sun. He’s got plausible deniability, of course, if she gets caught… but when does she ever get caught? Her legislative priorities are on creative solutions to death, burial, and our relationships to the ancestors.
While it’s not exactly a delegate, the Nodal Axis suggests that the balance of power is tipping against the Speaker’s majority in the long haul, even though the short-term future of the Sun’s majority is looking good. The North Node is slipping toward Pisces and the Opposition, suggesting a hunger to rearrange the balance of power; while the South Node rises directly into Virgo, bringing trouble to the Assembly of the Gods. In the long term, there’s contention in the halls of power, even if the whole session goes smoothly.
Planetary Placements
Now that we understand what archetypes are going to be at play this week, let’s look at the chart and determine what these planets are actually doing.
The Ascendant is in the third decan of Libra in the first house, called The Gyroscope. A lot of what we do is going to be about spinning our wheels, trying to stay upright. It’s a day chart, giving added force to the Sun and Jupiter above the horizon, and the Moon below — but stealing a bit of aggression from Mars, limiting Venus’s flirtatious activities, and weakening Saturn’s yearning for mischief-making. The South Node is also here, promising difficulties in judicial environments, and urging caution in the management of standards, balances, weights, and measures — trust but verify, Ronald Reagan joked, but it’s not such a joking matter when the assembly is in session.
Pluto retrograde in the fifth house promises higher prices in back to school sales for your kids’ essential equipment, but also indicates higher expenses when pursuing your hobbies or planning meals or recreation for yourself. Find ways to critique existing structures in these areas — but also make quick changes of your own based on price and availability of materials
Saturn and Neptune inhabit two decans of the sixth house — but both are retrograde. You have new visions of your daily routines and the management of subordinates, but the hard on-the-ground realities mean that you’re likely trapped in the current structures (unless you want to break the rules, in which case you may be out on your own quite suddenly). Travel plans may be suddenly canceled for the sake of work changes; if not, expect to get frantic emails while on the road from a supervisor who’s lost without you.
Moon is in the First Mansion, and the First Decan — both places of division and separation, where large problems are chopped up into smaller ones; and where these elements are given priority and those elements get put on the back burner. In the seventh house, she promises that you and your spouse or significant other (or you and a business partner), are going to have to sort and separate and divide some stuff: responsibilities, stuff, tasks, entertainments, obligations, social calls, what-have-you. With the North Node in tow, it’s going to feel more needful, important, than usual. To some people this sounds like divorce is coming, or a split in your company… or maybe it’s already underway. But for others, it’s simply re-juggling a calendar and to-do lists. Don’t panic — but DO note that we have a September 17 partial eclipse coming in Pisces at 10:44 pm EDT which indicates shadowy or subtle troubles in businesses and places of work: this is a preview of that.
Uranus in the eighth house of obligations promises sudden upsets and turnarounds in odious obligations — it’s going to be easy in coming days to come across as an unfeeling jerk when dealing with petty bureaucrats and cashiers in diners or shops. But it’s also distinctly possible that you’ll face indignities from the same sorts of folks. Thus, it will be easy to turn your more unpleasant forms of personality in their direction, too.
Jupiter and Mars in Gemini in the ninth house, along with the Lot of Fortune, indicate both positive encounters at the concierge’s desk in the Hotel when you ask for extra towels and pillows, but full classes and an officious registrar when you attempt to sign up for college classes. Take a hybrid approach with a mix of generosity and concealed threat, but be decisive when the time comes to make a choice: no lallygagging — arrive at the front of the coffeehouse line with your order rehearsed and your decision final. The same goes for train tickets or your fall classroom roster.
Mercury retrograde in the eleventh house of friends and allies intends to visit acquaintances at some distance; delays may hinder your arrival time or impede the plans for your visit, but you’re still likely to make it there. Be on your guard against downed trees in storms or sudden floods while traveling.
Finally, The Sun in Virgo in the twelfth house of solitude, with Venus close at hand, invites you to schedule some downtime for staring at the walls, the sea, the woods, or the open fields. Eat a stupendously ripe tomato, or peach, or plum. Let the juices run down over your chin. Make basil pesto from whatever you can find in your garden — eat up all the blackberries you discover in their thicket, and save none for anyone else… except maybe a handful thrown into the woods, for the hope of future crops.
Horoscopes by Rising Sign
Decan I of any sign (usually covering the 21st of the month to the first of the following month) is free to all visitors; Decan II is only available to Patreon and Ko-Fi.com subscribers; and Decan III is available to Patreon, Ko-Fi, and MailChimp subscribers.
I recommend reading your Sun sign, Moon sign, and Rising sign for best results. I write them with rising sign in mind, but several people have told me they find that they do better with all three.
Libra: In the next 10 days, your public life is likely to be scintillating and brilliant, but you may be rough around the edges in private. On a day-to-day basis, you will be expected to deliver great results with limited resources. You’ll be glad to have the work, but it will also feel like suffering. In ongoing romantic and entrepreneurial partnerships, there will be a rearrangement of duties and expectations. Anger may not be the most useful response. Instead, learn new roles with a mix of gracefulness and ambition. Your creative efforts are best pursued on your own — Involve your friends, colleagues and allies in an intellectual analysis of your overall performance: how am I doing, friend?
Scorpio: Financial matters come to prominence in the next 10 days, as you realize that a partners resources, or your obligations to them, are putting you at a disadvantage. It will be tempting to renegotiate your rules set on a day-to-day basis. The more generous approach would be to hybridize two separate issues into one neater package; or to subdivide one complex issue into several smaller components. When recruiting friends and allies to your most detail-oriented projects and efforts, do your best to emphasize the ways they’ll have a chance to ‘play hooky’ from more odious tasks, but also recruit them one-on-one rather than try a scattershot approach; build teams organically rather than artificially. A home related expense looms over household or family life, but the repair is still necessary.
Sagittarius: Family matters and your inner circle of friends and allies are much on your mind, but you have a host of responsibilities that require travel and new self-directed learning. Be ambitious about learning these new skills; you’ll need them, even if they’re detestable. Do your best to make them hands-on wherever possible. You can be a critic of your friends and family, but you also have to recognize they way they contribute to your overall well-being. It’s hard to leave home due to all the daily tasks on your agenda — but real potential is found elsewhere beyond your front door. Ask your spouse or business partner to help get your out of the house and having more fun. Professional and career goals require creative, if less than ideal, solutions — but you also have to take the lead in more meetings, and recognize others’ inquiries and efforts.
Capricorn: Use the internet to reach out to your extended family in the next ten days. There’s news you haven’t heard, issues you need to catch up on, and complex situations that will take more than one communique to understand deeply. You’re well-placed to break through some bureaucratic roadblocks, and to build ingenious or unorthodox services to address ongoing difficulties. It’s worth mentioning to the relevant people that these efforts are not without cost; you might not get money, but favors and other kinds of assistance can be genuinely useful. Be clear that you expect to get ‘paid’ in some way for your resourcefulness and skills. Similarly, career matters are where fecal matter passes through the air conditioner in the next ten days — mongrel competence and quick-and-dirty deliverables will matter more than grand architecture. Review with your spouse (or business partners) what each of you is expected to perform.
Aquarius: You will have fun this week, but it’s going to cost more than you were expecting to pay. Double-check your reserves before you commit to a night out; and if you have kids under 18, you may want to do a mini-course on financial literacy with them. If the planned entertainment involves axe-throwing, though, or bashing on each other with swords — this might be the week to choose a quieter activity like tabletop gaming. There’s a few costly issues on the horizon where desires are larger than reality. If you have older parents, you also may want to consider some decluttering hand-holding with them in days ahead. Your spouse (or business partner) is taking the lead on some solo endeavors — you’re going to have to be the one that holds them to a realistic budget while also helping them achieve the most expansive vision possible.
Pisces: Sore and achey all over? Phlemgy with the flu? These late-summer colds and post-nasal drip can really be a drag — but it may not be the best idea to power through and pretend you’re not ill. If you’re genuinely not sick — I’m glad for you, but heightened caution may help you avoid catching other people’s ICK. You may find it necessary to help a spouse or significant other sort out a financial issue. There will be heightened emotional baggage around this, but they already feel terrible about it; try not to bring down the sword. Your familial life will recover, but this is likely to be a “big learning experience” for all involved. If you have kids, you may want to use this as an opportunity to teach them some important money lessons, too — just be sensitive and deliver an age-appropriate message.
Aries: Your spouse or significant other may be much on your mind, but there are issues causing turbulence there which should be separated out into smaller chunks, rather than addressed all at once; if you’re single or dating (especially many partners), you might want to make a pros-and-cons list this week, and raise a red or green flag for future contact and relationship for each one. Learning who you should be generous to, and who deserves to be cut off, is one of the key lessons of this coming ten-day period — it’s important to be judicious and act with restraint and mercy, but sometimes you need to bring the blade down on a rotten connection. There are big speaking opportunities in coming days — but no matter how strong the temptation is to frame everything in the personal — stick to the mission, advance the cause, not yourself.
Taurus: A surprise obligation comes your way these next ten days — which may come in the form of a notification from a spouse or partner that your access to their funds and resources isn’t as secure as you’d like. Don’t panic — you still have professional capabilities and the ability to find contentment in that. But some of your new economic plans (especially for travel or fall course-schedules) may have to be shaped differently and handled with more foresight and planning. Some communications about the shape of your household and family may also be warranted; you have to shine a light several months out from now to see what your plans are for hobbies, entertainments, and your kids’ needs. There are a lot of long-range public expectations on you, and you have to make concessions to those even if you don’t want to.
Gemini: Travel and educational goals should be foremost in your mind over the next ten days — but some of it will involve traveling with teachers, and some studying with friends or extended family. Are you planning to be a teacher at any time in the near future? It’s time to plan out your syllabus. Are you going to be a student? The summer reading should have been done last week? Got travel plans? An itinerary is needed. In each case here — there’s either someone else’s plan you haven’t followed yet, or you have a vague constellation of ideas that needs to become a plan. Nobody else will do this for you, so it’s important that you set these parameters for yourself. This may require you to set aside time for your own private acts of devotion and responsibility, as well as to compartmentalize the time you spend with friends. You may be able to throw some cold water on your boss’s hot but groundless obsessions, but don’t expect them to be happy about it.
Cancer: Professional matters take center stage for the next ten days, beginning with some tasks of sorting and dividing and prioritizing. You’ll find that you’re good at this work, but that it conflicts with either your sense of self or your sense of who you want to be long-term. The good news is that you’ll complete a great many intellectual projects in the coming days and months. The bad news is that you’ll often have to do this work alone; friends and allies in study groups will easily misuse your time and study habits. Some financial plans need review, and you may need the support of extended family for a bit. A significant person in your life is struggling with unexpected financial burdens — you can learn to plan and share together, if you’re close enough to them. If not, airily mention that your astrologer told them they might be in some financial difficulty, and offer to split expenses. And then open the deeper, needful conversation if they say yes.
Leo: It may be frustrating, but it’s time to go back to your friends. This may be with a heart-felt apology for the wya things fell out; or it may be with a banner waving over your head, and a request that they follow you. One way or another, it’s time to really connect with them – but maybe not heart-to-heart? Try head to head, intellectual peer to intellectual peer, writer and communicator to writer and communicator. You want to claim the spotlight for yourself, and this next ten day period is a good time to do it. Some of that stage-time will require creative uses of your resources and funds, either to get where you need to go, or to get professional assistance on a regular basis. Some will require producing results: no matter how big your dreams are… inspiration comes with dirt and blood on its knuckles and dressed for hard work. That’s where your big money — and greatest contentment — are to be found these days.
Virgo: You’re called to leadership these days — but leadership of whom? Of what? And why? It seems strange to be asked to lead when you’re the only one in the room… or when there’s no place where you think your leadership is expected. All the same, it’s worthwhile to spend some time in reflection to think about where your capacity to lead should be exercised: what cause do you want to advance, what goal do you think is worth pursuing (not for your own aggrandizement but for its own sake)? It should be something that isn’t going to put you in the poorhouse or cause you to spend more money than you have; it should be connected to your daily work in some way, that you think brings contentment and profitability; it should exercise your creative gifts; it should not impinge too much on your significant other’s areas of expertise or require much of their input, nor rely on their resources. Finally, it should help you learn new skills and develop a new relationship with your employer as their in-house moderator of overly-risky ventures.
Colophon
You can hire me for a consultation.
I have a Patreon account for those who want to support this column as it starts its sixth year. Those funds support artists, artisans and thinkers that I regard as contributing to the well-being of the world. You can also buy me a Ko-fi in $3 increments; any column I write after receiving a Ko-Fi donation will be open to the public). .
If you want to read some of my astrologically-oriented poetry, the largest collection is called A Full Volume of Splendor and Starlight, available through my Etsy shop, and containing poems and hymns to the planets, constellations, decan deities, and Moon Mansion angels. While not astrological, Festae contains hymns to some of the older Roman gods and spirits from the calendar created by Numa Pompilius, the second ancient King of Rome.
I use iPhemeris for my charting software, and screenshot it to make charts. I want to thank the team that develops iPhemeris for the addition of Terms and Decans to their charts. I also use Hugh Tran‘s Physis typeface to craft logos for this blog, as well.
I use Christopher Warnock‘s The Mansions of the Moon as the basis of my Moon placement delineations, and Austin Coppock‘s 36 Faces for much of my planetary delineations. Neither gentleman endorses me.
