“], “filter”: { “nextExceptions”: “img, blockquote, div”, “nextContainsExceptions”: “img, blockquote, a.btn, a.o-button”} }”>
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
>”,”name”:”in-content-cta”,”type”:”link”}}”>Download the app.
This week, the Sun continues to traverse the zodiac circle as it initiates the astrological season of Virgo. Just a few hours later, the second Mercury retrograde of the year begins alongside the Sun in the same grounded, refined, and purposeful earth sign.
Sun in Virgo
As the Sun traverses the zodiac circle, it brings forward the essential traits of whichever sign it finds itself within, resulting in different zodiac seasons. Connected to our spirit, life force, and sense of self, the Sun elicits the characteristics of the zodiac sign in question from within our very selves. Throughout the season, we exist within the framework of that sign, we see the world through its lens, and we feel it in our bodies.
On August 23, 2023, the Sun moves into Virgo, where it will remain until September 22, 2023. Throughout these weeks, we are invited to step into the essence of this archetype. Virgo exists within each of us, operating at different volumes and expressing itself in different ways. As the Sun makes its way through this grounded Earth sign, the Virgo in each of us steps into the spotlight.
After experiencing the outward expression of Leo for the last month, we become quiet, turn inward, and fine-tune the self. We strip away what does not belong to us and reach into the truth of who we are underneath it all. Virgo is associated with refinement, definition, direction, purpose, and grounded action. It creates order and structure, cleansing where it can and stripping away what is out of alignment. We take away what does not belong to us and reach into the truth of who we are underneath it all.
After the loud and magnanimous magic of Leo season, we arrive in a quieter space. We take the grand visions and expressions we recently experienced and we begin to refine them into purposeful direction, ground them into organized action, and tap into more of a clear sense of who we are and what we desire in the process.
Mercury Retrograde
Mercury came under the influence of Virgo on July 28, 2023, focusing our mental sphere on details, organization, practical thinking, and intentional action. Later this week, the Sun also moves into Virgo, intensifying the Earth sign’s influence on our thoughts and behaviors. A few hours after Virgo season commences, Mercury begins its second retrograde of the year, which will last until September 15, 2023.
Retrogrades are not actually backward movement of the planets. It is only from our perspective that another entity appears to backpeddle. According to astrology, retrogrades represent time for integration. Time always moves forward, yet the way that we interact with time changes. Retrogrades are a moment of rest, a sacred pause that allows for all that is yet to come.
During this Mercury retrograde that’s heavily influenced by Virgo, the invitation is to reflect, review, refine, reset, and reintegrate.
Your Invitation
As the Sun traverses Virgo with Mercury at its side, we are offered a window in time of self-refinement. As Mercury begins its retrograde, it joins five other planets currently in their apparent backward movement. We are deep in retrograde season, a space of reflection and review, introspection, and integration. With the influx of Virgo energy, we are invited to bring in clearing, cleansing, and transforming.
This week begins a chapter of discernment. Discernment that desires to take us into clarity and purposeful direction. Virgo has the beautiful ability to see and sense what belongs and what doesn’t, to see the desire and the vision, know what fits in and aligns, and understand what steps need to be taken to arrive within it.
It is throughout this season that we are invited to clear our minds. Discern what belongs within it and what no longer fits, what will support us, and what was never in alignment with our truth. This is a time of stepping back and viewing how we move throughout our days, our habits, routines, and rituals, and again, if they support us, or hurt us.
This week we are invited to cleanse our lives. From our emotional world to our homes. From our mental spheres to our habits. From our energetic body to our digital files. We are invited to bring order to what feels messy, purify what feels stagnant, strip away what feels misaligned, and bring love and nourishment to our daily lives.
What are the small steps that, with time, support you more than any big leaps ever could? What are the daily movements that nourish your body, your mind, and your soul? If self-definition was met through who we are day in, day out, how would you spend those days? Journaling and morning pages. Witnessing our self-narrative. Releasing the stories that don’t reflect our truth. Reflecting on where we have taken in outside noise, ideas, expectations, goals, desires, and perceived truths that never belonged to us.
Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events the Moon cycles, your Sun and Moon and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with the current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her Moon.
About Our Contributor
Jordane Maree is the founder of Girl and Her Moon, a platform and community exploring soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide, and host of Girl and Her Moon, The Podcast. She is inspired, every single day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite abilities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunity and love.
