Virgo Season

Virgo season runs from August 23 to September 22, and is ruled by Mercury. You know? The planet that when it goes into retrograde the electronics start acting all wonky. It’s actually because Mercury is the planet of the mind and communication. Technology is simply our current form of conversing with each other these days, so that makes sense.

This Earth element rules the digestive system. And if you have kept up with me for any significant length of time, gut issues have been a particularly not fun problem that I have had to deal with throughout the years. It’s a combination of childhood trauma coupled with anxiety and those 20 years I spent on birth control pills. That journey alone could be it’s own post.

This bag is only big enough to hold my patience. In other words, I have very little these days. Call it pandemic fatigue. Call it I’m tired of being a doormat. Call it establishing boundaries and pissing people off. Whatever you want to call it. I am here for it.

Mantra: I Analyze

I am a Kapha mind in a Vata body. “Kaphas hold things within themselves. This makes them become heavier, with both weight and emotional grief.” (Idiot’s Guide to Ayurveda, Sahara Rose Ketabi) My weight has fluctuated significantly throughout the different phases of my grief process. Trust me. People really enjoy commenting on that.

The part that I was shoving away was my intuition, that tiny voice in the recesses of my brain. Remember how much fun it was when you used to do…? She would ask. I told her to shut up. I told her she was wrong. I was too old for this, too young for that. You can’t make a living that way. That’s what they all told me. They must be right, right?

Trust your gut. That bitch knows what’s up.

Cara Alwill, The Champagne Diet

This is actually where most of my anxiety stems from, not being true to myself. “When Kapha is out of balance, you experience heaviness, fatigue, water retention, depression, and other related issues.” I was doing things that were out of alignment with my personal values, because other people’s opinions seemed more important (louder?) than my own.

Infinite Sadness

Sapphire is our gemstone for September, which takes up most of Virgo season. There was an old Italian superstition that believed these amulets would help protect us against melancholy. I think maybe they were missing the other side of the equation. We don’t need protection from our grief. In fact, I am starting to find that it’s much easier to embrace our grief. There seems to be quite a bit of it these days.

Not only are we grieving an old way of life, we are also grieving lost loved ones both physical death and relational death. At the same time, we are being thrust back into the capitalistic machine. And don’t think for one second that I am blind to the fact that I am simultaneously using these journals to literally sell you the shirt off my back. A girl has got to make a living.

I am also keeping things out of the landfill, and sending packages of fashionable happiness all over the world like a godamned fairy godmother. Just trying to do my part over here.

Can You Pause?

Jera is here to remind us that the fertile season lasts all year. “Remember the story about the farmer who was so eager to assist his crops that he went out at night and tugged on the new shoots.” (The Book of Runes, Ralph Blum) The harvest is only one small part of the larger equation. We must learn how to cultivate ourselves with care. How in the fuck do we do that, you ask?

Bring on the Crone, or more traditionally known the Hermit, and their wise relationship to Divine timing. We are still in the cocoon, metaphorically speaking of course. I don’t know anything. I don’t know what is going to happen. I don’t even know what I am doing half of the time. And that’s okay. It’s always been this way, in fact. That damn veil again, another layer of the onion falling off.

Lakshmi, the goddess of abundance, fortune, and beauty “comes to you with blessings of prosperity for the fruits of your labor.’ (A Yogic Path Guidebook by Sahara Rose. The answer is patience, my least favorite of all the virtues. Why is the answer always patience?

Om Shreem Maha Lakshmiyai Namaha
my adoration to the great Lakshmi

Here’s the deal: We are going to have so many blue days ahead of us. We must remember that the sky is blue too, and the thunderclouds roll out just as easily as they can roll in. Here’s to looking at the bright side a little bit, and finding some joy in this crazy roller coaster ride we call life. I hope you enjoy this Earth Element playlist while looking at the clouds. Tell me what you see up there.

Enjoy this printable Crone coloring page!

Mad love, Jenna

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