Full Moon
Harvest Moon
September 26, 2007
3 Aries 20’
I remember the first time I had my natal chart read. I was not yet thirty years of age. The astrologer spoke extensively about how I would serve. Finally I said to her, “I don’t feel all that inclined to serve.”
The last New Moon (September 11th) was in the sign of Virgo Virgo governs service.
Service had a negative connotation for me and I had a lot of pride, so I didn’t relate. Never mind that as a secretary I was in a service occupation. I didn’t think about it like that. I wanted to be an equal, even if my position was not. I wasn’t into the work. I was up tight and holding on to something I didn’t have.
As a matter of fact, I learned something breakthrough about Saturn just last year, when preparing for a Saturn workshop. “I hate work,” welled up in me emphatically. Hating work was a passing angst, but a state I am vulnerable to. This is a Saturn in Virgo statement, the sign Saturn was in at my birth. My sister and I have both conducted workshops developed from my Saturn insights. We got people to make a list of the things they hated with the same results. It always betrayed Saturn in the sign or house.
Let’s talk about Saturn in Virgo and hating work, because Saturn entered Virgo on Sunday, September 2nd this year and will remain in Virgo until July 22, 2010. Wherever you have Virgo in your chart, you have Saturn as a visitor.
This means Saturn at 2 degrees of Virgo 57’ for the Full Moon, occupies some portion of your chart and in this two and a half years period, you might sometimes feel that you hate work or you hate your job. That’s okay. Let yourself feel this. Let yourself know if you feel hemmed in by the work that you do or the service that you perform, especially if it is service to those who cannot help themselves, or people you have to be nice to even though you just want to scream (people such as your mate or a religious, teacher, or father figure.)
Where your life is weighted and is a struggle, Saturn makes you feel held back. Where you are intimidated, Saturn makes you afraid.
Following is counsel from my workshop notes:
Saturn in Virgo or the 6th house (Virgo’s natural house)
Saturn can represent your cross to bear: The cross for you might be your health, your job or the inability to work. Your cross might be that you see your earning potential as low. Your cross might be your lack of training. It might be that you feel you work too hard. Your cross might be boredom that comes from not being full engaged in your work.
Here is my remedy for Saturn. Instead of Saturn being your cross, make it the means to make your mark. Throw yourself deeply into whatever it is you think you hate. This is your salvation. Your hatred of your cross is a misunderstanding of it. The only way out is in.
With Saturn in Virgo you have the opportunity to make your mark via work or service. Give it extra. Give it your all. Some friends raved recently about a tour guide they had who wove the story of his own family into the story of the region they were touring. He injected humor. They felt he made the tour more than it would have been otherwise.
It took me a full 30 years to gain a fresh perspective on work and service with my Saturn in Virgo; it took getting older for me to become comfortable being humble.
In Tarot, the picture on the Virgo Key is of an old, white-haired, white-bearded man dressed in a gray, hooded robe. It is called The Hermit. Obi-won Kenobi, the wizard of Star Wars, is dressed like the Hermit. Merlin is a similar figure. The Hermit is pictured at the very top of a mountain where there seems to be room only for him. Yet he is holding a lamp aloft to guide the travelers below. The Hermit holds a staff in his left hand, the non-dominant hand, to show that he has finished climbing. Now that he’s not climbing, he’s serving. Whatever he is doing, he is, in essence, extending a serving hand and he is serving light and love.
I recently heard the story of a hotel room that gave a particular salesman a sense of peace in his travels, so that he always asked for it. He mentioned this to the cleaning lady one day, who revealed that she blessed every room she cleaned so that every guest would feel especially relaxed and comfortable there. I know that doing this made her work light. Imagine her fluffing a pillow, and seeing it as the ultimate resting place for not only the traveler’s head, but his cares as well. Imagine her humming a tender tune as she works—a tune of compassion and understanding, a crystal curtain, a wind chime “heard” but not heard. Can you imagine that her work was a joy to her?
Her routine of blessing every room she cleaned, made her work significant. She made the traveler’s room a place of sanctuary. She gave them something they could feel.
When you truly understand service, or that you are a servant, you no longer need to climb. This doesn’t mean that you have no goals or ambition. It doesn’t mean that you don’t prepare for the next level. It’s more about grasping that by serving you are served, because you serve light. Your service lightens another’s burden. Your service gives another freedom to do something else. You extend the light and the light is not yours, though it may be shaped by your mark, stamp or signature.
Dr. Martin Luther King said that every man can be great, because every man can serve.
Virgo leads to Libra. Libra is built upon Virgo. Service leads to balance. The Sun is in Libra, an active air sign. Being air, Libra is about ideas, and because Libra is ruled by the beautiful Venus, Libra is about ideals and aesthetics and balance and proportion. Libra rules the “other”. The “other” is always a goal. No one wants to be totally alone. As a matter of fact, Saturn is said to reach her highest expression in Libra. Balance rules. Fairness rules. Being honest, open and above board rules. The Sun sets in the Libra portion of the wheel, since Libra is the line of the horizon. It makes me think that the upper triangle of light of the Hermit’s lamp, Virgo’s lamp, is the setting sun. At the same time, the Sun goes through Leo (which is the sign the Sun rules) before it goes through Virgo. Virgo gets the Sun from both sides. Perhaps this is depicted by the downward triangle meeting the upward triangle, making the Star of David, the Star of the Beloved.
The most recent New Moon Lunation included a quote by Robert Kegan: “Always frame conflict as a clash of ideas, not persons.” The air signs seem to hold the highest potential for conflict. In the Tarot, the air signs are represented by the suit of swords. Even the peace-loving Justice, wields a sword. She carries it upright, as it is carried in ceremony, demonstrating mastery of the mind. And Libra tells us that mental mastery is the comprehension of Justice. “I recognize the manifestation of the undeviating justice in all the circumstances of my life.” (Statement for the number five in Pattern on the Trestleboard, a creed.) Most of us don’t recognize this truism. We think we live in an unjust world–whatever is wrong in our lives is due to another’s obstruction, withholding, or unfairness.
The Moon is full in Mars-ruled Aries. Mars is opposite Venus, as Aries is opposite Libra. Mars is the warrior. We adjust Mars by making it fight for, not against. We also adjust Mars by making a fight unnecessary. We are serene and assertive. When we speak, people listen. We don’t have to fight to make our point. Force means against your will, and against what you believe are your best interests.
The issue is force. How can you get compliance without forcing it? The answer is in the question. Self-mastery is not about compliance. Self-mastery is about cooperation. You have to relax your claim well enough for the other to at least be able to state their claim. You have to give a little in order to get a little.
