August 23rd ~ 30th

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a  miracle which we don’t even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child ~ our own two eyes. All is a miracle. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

On Friday, the Sun enters Virgo bringing us officially into Virgo season. This will be followed by Mercury entering Virgo on August 29th. By the New Moon on August 30th we will have a total of 7 planets in Earth signs, 8 if we include the Moon: Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars in Virgo; Uranus in Taurus; and Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. That’s a lot of Earth. 

The Earth signs ground us in practicality, common sense, and conventional reality. They are the builders, the stewards, the pragmatic gardeners who honor the seasons, the cycles and our relationship to the Earth as our mother. Solid, substantial and trustworthy, it is at these times of year that we establish our routines, organize our lives, create plans, and set goals. These are the signs through which we navigate time and space and reconnect to our essential Earth energy, without which there would be no magic, no miracles, no wonders to behold.

Before there were iPhones and the internet and rivers of technology and signals reverberating our senses, people lived in harmony with nature, and engaged with the animals, earth beings, plants and trees; even the stalwart rocks and grottoes were seen as energetic centers of intelligence and knowing. It is so easy in our busy modern world to lose touch with these essential energies, and to be cut off from this innate wisdom. This week as we move into the dark of the Moon, beginning with the last quarter Moon on Friday, Venus, Mars and then the Sun will trine Uranus in Taurus. What an opportune time to commune with these earthly elementals! 

What Uranus often beckons us to do, is to be willing to bend our minds and our awareness just enough to be open to newer and vaster possibilities. In these last days before the Virgo New Moon on the 30th, see if you can make some space in your life, your routine, and your mind, to consider the benefits, wonders and powers of the natural world and all that we behold. See if you can reestablish your own spiritual connection with the earth in some meaningful way. As we are reminded by Thich Nhat Hanh, every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize. We are being given an opportunity this week to recognize that vast miracle for what it is. 

Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons. It is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth. ~ Walt Whitman

For next week’s horoscopes, click below:

HOROSCOPES