Tarot illustration by Pamela Colman-Smith

Tonight, the Moon is renewing itself in Virgo, the sign of the initiate, who oversees health, service and young women. Under the rulership of Mercury in Libra, the arbitrator, we are all called on to reconcile our natural desire for autonomy with our equally natural desire to be in relationship with others. Prodded by Uranus’s spark, we are restless to invent, to improve, and to evolve, in the Virgo sector of our lives. And under the co-present influence of the Mars-Neptune opposition, we may be fighting the good fight or tilting at windmills, and will need a dose of objectivity to decide which is the case. We may also be torn between the sacred and the profane, between our dreams and our duties, and will need to feel a sense of redemption or inspiration in order to maintain both. The archetype of Virgo calls to mind both wildness and innocence, both emancipation and dedication, both independence and responsibility. It is rich and complex in its mythology, and has many faces and names. This New Moon, all the above considered, I consecrate to Libera, the ancient Roman goddess of freedom, women’s fertility, and the commonwealth of the people. I imagine her, before she became Proserpina, bedecked in ivy and grapevines, filling all of our cups with wine and well-wishes, a testimony that a good life, and prosperity, is deserved by all—a reward of life on earth.

For now, while we toast, and make our oaths, the fields lie fallow in preparation for a new work; for the sowing, not of wild oats so much as saved seeds, carefully conserved, and planted in due time. The New Moon in Virgo points to a paradox, which is that to be a creator is also to be a sacrificer, and to know well the dance of give-and-take. And thus this lunation is both a giver and a gatekeeper. In this lull is an opportunity to cull: to use discernment with the ways in which we are used and utilized, with the expenditure of our creativity and our generosity, with the people to whom we give our energy, with what we share and what we keep, and with where we toe the line and where we rebel. “Hands off my sacred womb space,” in other words, says the placard of the modern-day Artemis, or Hestia, or Athena, our other Virgoan patronesses, who remind us all that we are “whole unto ourselves.” From now on, it’s out with the old and in with the consensual, the agreed-upon, the meaningful, and the worthy of our time and effort.