The Tender Mission
The Sun and Mercury are working together this week, and on Sep. 10 (12:20 pm PDT) and Sep. 11 (6:59 pm PDT), they tag-team the Moon’s North Node with a pair of oppositions at 18º20’ Virgo and Pisces.
That means the Sun and Mercury are on the Moon’s South Node in Virgo. The South Node symbolizes the easy place, the path of least resistance. Virgo’s refuge is in facts and figures, in what is known and quantifiable, in technical skill, and in evaluating quality and worth. When the South Node is part of the equation, we may get a little too comfortable with believing that these are the only things that matter.
But the Sun’s light is shining in the direction of that North Node in Pisces and its warm, healing waters, a journey toward kindness, healing, help, and forgiveness. It’s not that the South Node is inherently toxic, but rather that it points out traits that can be best used in the service of the North Node’s tender mission.
It reminds me of a story from many years ago, and a woman who worked at our veterinarian’s office whom I’ll call Peggy. She was extremely efficient, and clearly knowledgeable. If the pharmacy needed to sort out the cats’ prescriptions, I told them to ask for Peggy. But she wasn’t quite as warm and friendly as the other front office staff. She intimidated me, to be honest.
But one day, as I left the office with our cat Bodhi after the bad news that her eye would have to be removed, Peggy walked me out to my car. “You’ll be surprised how well she will adjust to life with one eye,” she told me. “We see it all the time here. She’ll be just fine.”
I believed her because I knew she was knowledgeable, and I trusted her because she’d never been casually sympathetic with me. I’ve never forgotten her kindness and how she used her experience and knowledge to reassure me at a moment when it really mattered.
This week, try to use your knowledge, your experience, and your confidence to make the world a little kinder for someone who needs it.
Turning Down Seconds
Even when the schedule is already packed, we’re out of groceries, and we’ve been wearing the same clothes for days because there’s no time to do laundry, it can be surprisingly hard to turn down tempting opportunities to do even more. But the Sun’s and Mercury’s sextiles to Jupiter (Sep. 12, 2025, 12:30 am PDT and 2:53 pm PDT, respectively) are a reminder that we needn’t take every new offer that comes our way, however appealing.
Jupiter persuades us that we need to take chances and stretch ourselves in order to grow. It also whispers that if one dessert is good, two could be even better. But even the best opportunity can be too much of a good thing if your pantry, and your stomach, are already full.
In the Heart of the Sun
At the Sun/Mercury inferior conjunction on July 31, during Mercury’s introspective retrograde time, the seed of an idea was planted. Now, at their superior conjunction (Sep. 13, 2025, 3:52 am PDT, 20º54’ Virgo), you can see very clearly whether that idea is viable.
When a planet gets very close, within 17’ of arc, of the Sun, it’s in the condition called cazimi, “in the heart of the Sun,” when proximity to the Sun conveys great power and, in the case of Mercury, insight. This period is between Sep. 12 at 8:18 pm PDT and Sep. 13 at 11:28 am PDT. Set aside some time, then, to capture your thoughts and ideas, journal about them, or talk them over with a close friend. Then, get to work making them real. This conjunction forms on the Sabian symbol 21 Virgo: A girls’ basketball team, so you may find that you’ll need a team of like-minded friends to help bring your ideas to fruition.
:: Bleep! ::
This week’s Last Quarter Moon (Sep. 14, 2025, 3:33 am PDT) is at 21º52’ of Mercury-ruled Gemini (with the Sun at the same degree of Virgo, Mercury’s other home sign). At the Moon’s Last Quarter, we look over our shoulders at what we’ve done and failed to do, and occasionally, there will be regrets. Particularly with Gemini involved, they could be regrets over things we’ve said.
Born at a Last Quarter Gemini Moon, I’ve said plenty of things I regret. Once, a kindly viewer tipped me off that a video I’d uploaded might benefit from a little trimming. When I watched it, I was mortified to hear myself – enormously frustrated at the technical challenges of finishing the video – blurt a frustrated expletive that I’d overlooked clipping out! I hope no one was offended by it, but I have to admit that I had a good laugh at myself when I heard it.
Sometimes, though, our words can have far more serious consequences – jobs lost, reputations tainted, friendships irreparably damaged, all on the basis of something said, or occasionally not said.
Coming at the end of a Mercury-saturated week, this Last Quarter Moon is a moment to focus on and tame not only our tongues, but our busy, chattering, Mercury minds as well. The calmer the mind, the more control we have over what we say, and the fewer regrets we’ll have to live with in the long run.
Writing and images © 2012-2025 by April Elliott Kent
