Salud
The Sun enters Virgo this week (Aug. 22, 2025, 1:34 pm PDT, until Sep. 22), quickly followed by the first of two Virgo New Moons. This is the sign of the harvest, when we begin to see the results of what we have planted, how we’ve cared for it, and how kindly or roughly the world has treated it. This last point is an important one, because Virgo can lean toward perfectionism and blame itself for things that don’t hit that mark.
But while our efforts are critical, they’re not everything. We can do everything “right,” but the seeds we planted may not have been viable in the first place. Along the way, the weather might not agree with us, the machinery we use might malfunction.
The message of Virgo is not that we have to do everything perfectly, but simply that we should do our best. It’s the sign of work, so if we’ve chosen a job that plays to our strengths, then it’s a matter of giving it our best effort. It’s the sign of service; are you giving to others as well as seeking gain for yourself? It’s the sign of health, and even if you’ve neglected your body in important ways over the years, it’s never too late to begin treating it with care. It’s the sign of our little animals; are their coats glossy, are they playful and happy?
Bring love and care to your everyday life. Don’t worry about doing things perfectly. Just do your best.
Virgoland
This week’s New Moon (Aug. 22, 2025, 11:07 pm PDT, 0º23’ Virgo) is the first of two New Moons in Virgo. (The second is a Solar Eclipse at 29º Virgo on Sep. 21.)
Virgo is symbolized by the maiden, a self-sufficient woman who needs no one else to make her whole. Where Virgo falls in your birthchart, you are complete. As Virgo actress Greta Garbo famously said, “I want to be let alone,” and in the matters connected with the Virgo house of your chart, you’re happiest when left to your own devices. Here, you become absorbed in the happy work of Virgo – problem solving, figuring stuff out, and making things work.
It’s also, funnily enough, the area of life where people look at you with a kind of respectful awe – possibly because you don’t seem to need or care about anyone’s approval. In this part of your life, you don’t need a report card from anyone else. You’re grading yourself on an entirely different (and probably more punishing) scale.
We wander onto the bad side of Virgoland’s tracks when we go to extremes, either starving or overindulging our love of solitude. As soon as a guilty voice in your head begins scolding that you “should” do something, anything other than spending time in some happy, quiet pursuit, then you’re in trouble. But when a sad voice in your head begs you not to join the human race because interacting with others is just too much work, you’re also in trouble.
Virgo is a sign of adjustment and compromise, and its symbolism contains an essential truth: That having things exactly the way we want them all of the time is not a reasonable goal, nor a healthy one, and it certainly won’t make us happy. Even alone, contentedly pursuing our Virgo objectives in a hermetic cocoon, we can’t be happy forever; humans are social creatures, and every now and then we have to rub shoulders with our fellow man and adapt to the world as it is.
Compromise
This New Moon is strongly influenced by the Sun and Moon quincunx Saturn (August 23, 2025, 4:04 AM PDT) and Neptune in Aries (Aug. 24, 2025, 3:58 am PDT), and Pluto in Aquarius (Aug. 24, 2025, 1:06 pm). In a quincunx aspect (roughly 150 degrees), planets are normally in signs that really have nothing in common. They’re not in the same or even compatible elements, nor the same modality.
In a quincunx, planets have to seek a compromise. Virgo is well-suited to adjustment, but its practicality, attention to detail, and focus on the here-and-now tend to chafe against Aries’ impulsiveness and Aquarius’ preoccupation with the future.
The Sun says that it’s Virgo’s time to shine, though, so don’t compromise so much that you lose track of the service and excellence that are so important at this New Moon.
The Back of the Closet
From time to time, we get a little bored with ourselves – tired of facing, each day, our same old quirks and hang-ups, the same face looking back at us in the mirror. I’m not talking about a full-on crisis. No one in this scenario is leaving their spouse and buying a red convertible. It’s more like one of those crummy Monday mornings when you’re starting another work week and would love to be someone else, anywhere else, doing something completely different.
The alarm goes off. You shower, drink your morning coffee, brush your teeth, and pad off to your closet to find something to wear. Ugh – you hate all of your clothes! Or rather…. Your hand lingers over a weird little number in the back of the closet. You bought it a few years ago on a whim and instantly regretted it. It’s a little bit odd, a strange color, daring. It’s not your usual kind of thing at all – and that’s absolutely perfect. You put it on, check your reflection in the mirror, and smile. And then you head off to work with an extra spring in your step.
The Sun’s square to Uranus (Aug. 24, 2025, 12:15 am PDT, Feb. 3, 2023, 6:50 pm PST, 1°23’ Virgo and Gemini) goes by in a flash. Its influence lasts no more than a day or two. But that’s long enough to feel a rush of boredom, dissatisfaction, and the intense desire to be someone else, or at least a different version of ourselves. What’s in the back of your closet? Use this day to change things up and reinvent something about yourself.
Writing and images © 2012-2025 by April Elliott Kent
