Cosmos in Chaos: Understanding the Virgo Full Moon through the teachings of Carl Jung

Jung’s Red Book was kept secret until 2011. It is a book of drawings and writings in which Jung let his imagination run free.

In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order. Carl Jung

Tonight’s full moon in Virgo is a blending of the mysterious, mystical, illuminating moon and the sixth sign of the zodiac — the virgin, ruler of the house of health. When we look at the separate parts, it’s easier to understand what such a blending of energies means and appreciate its meaning and teachings. One of the most enriching parts of learning astrology is honoring and learning from each full and new moon, with respect to the zodiac sign in which it takes place.

As I reflect on tonight’s full moon position in Virgo, I cannot help but think of one of the most interesting, intriguing, and revolutionary spirits of our times and his life work: the psychiatrist and mystic, Carl Gustav Jung. Jung’s teachings and thoughts were a true blending of mystical and scientific/analytic approaches, like the Lunar and Virgoan energies manifesting tonight. The moon is a symbol of the psyche, the subconscious, the inner workings, the spiritual, mystical, mysterious, rhythmic, instinctive, intuitive aspects of ourselves and our world. Virgo is not a planet, but a sign of the zodiac, whose energies are associated with service, analysis, logic, practicality, details, and some sort of order (though it may manifest quite chaotically!) As an earth sign, Virgo is also physically oriented, and likes bringing things down to earth. Virgo rules the 6th house, the house of health.* If there were a figure whose works and gifts to the world embodied tonight’s full moon energy, I feel it would be Jung.

While he was a bonafide psychiatrist amongst the ranks of Sigmund Freud, Jung was also heavily spiritually oriented and delved into such “occult” arts such as astrology, divination, the I ching, palmistry, and alchemy, for starters. I often like to visit the Carl Jung library in New York, where the extent of Jung’s eclecticism is displayed amongst shelves of rare books. The colorful spectrum of his studies and interests awes me. I honor the courage and the wisdom he had in bridging two sectors (mystical/spiritual/intuitive vs. scientific/analytic/concrete) that many people would rather keep very separate, particularly during his lifetime.

The beauty in Jung’s work that has always spoken to me is how he blurred the lines between science and art. Between spirit and body. Between heaven and earth. He urged all people to find and connect to a collective spirit (he called the collective unconscious), but also to be completely individual and “in” their self. His theory of synchronicity, in which the tiniest details of life such as a beetle flying into a window at a specific moment, could carry the deepest and most immense meaning for someone. Messages from the Universe in tiny, almost unnoticeable packages. Jung’s many theories about time, dreams, personality, collective unconscious, and his integration of ancient, forgotten wisdoms and esoteric teachings from virtually every religion and spiritual practice of mankind infuses his psychological repertoire with a magical, fantastic aura that defies any conventional boundaries between the arts and the sciences. When I first discovered Jung’s works, I couldn’t help but think, “wait, this man is really a psychologist?” I always find answers AND form endless new questions when I read Jung’s writings.

“We should not pretend to understand the world only by the intellect; we apprehend it just as much by feeling. Therefore, the judgment of the intellect is, at best, only the half of truth, and must, if it be honest, also come to an understanding of its inadequacy.”
— C.G. Jung

“Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one’s being, but by integration of the contraries.”
— C.G. Jung

Jung was in fact a Leo with his moon in Taurus and his rising in Aquarius (though some argue Capricorn, his exact birth time is not agreed upon.) However, his work was definitely akin to tonight’s full moon in Virgo energy. So, tonight, I honor the contributions of Jung to the fields of psychiatry and to the fields of astrology, dream interpretation, and most likely the millions of other arts and sciences where his ability to integrate what seems to be “opposites”, but really is all part of one greater whole, made a difference. I encourage you to explore his works, but also your own inner workings. I honor the part inside of each of us that is eternally connected to the greater whole, to each other, to the stars and planets, yet very much on this earth, in this body, with these challenges and these gifts, and these very seconds, moments, hours, days… to live and to learn.

Some ideas for full moon rituals:

Wormood (Artemisia absinthium)  is one of my favorite herbs, my grandma used to give it to me whenever my stomach bothered me. It’s an herb of Virgo. image via botanical.com

Write out a *detailed* health overview for yourself including your current wellness level, what your daily patterns or health choices this past month were, including food, exercise, spiritual/emotional wellness choices, and any other important influencing factors. Be as objective as possible, so that you can analyze these choices to find patterns and areas that can be more balanced in the future.

Infuse tinctures or oils that are brewing with the strong lunar energy, especially made powerful through Virgo tonight, the ruler of the sixth house of health. I am putting out my tincture jars with feathers, stones, shells, under the moonlight to soak up that healing energy!

If you experience any dis-ease in the intestines or stomach area, this is a good time for healing that part of you. Try a tea with virgo herbs such as fennel or wormwood for the stomach, or meditate with the focus on the solar plexus chakra.

Without thinking too much or filtering your thoughts, make a list of all the small things you enjoy and appreciate in life at this very moment. the more detailed and “minor” the better. I once wrote a long list of the simple details about a place I lived in before I moved away, including such minor details as the way the curtains blew so slowly and gently with the breeze at a certain time of evening on certain days of summer. Whenever I reread this list, it reminds me of being back in that place and it’s wonderful. Capture the scents, the colors, the textures, sounds, the shadows, the movements, as if it were a painting. This is a very special activity and a way to time travel.

May this full moon be a time of fruition, a time of connection, a time in which the details of your life are illuminated and bring you a sense of wholeness, of oneness with all.

love, gem

*This is another connection I note between Jung and tonight’s moon, as he contributed much to the field of mental health.

Venus and Self Love

Venus and Self Love

Check out this amazing workshop from Moon Daughter! Love it!!

Sun in Pisces 2.19.13

New Moon in Aquarius: BE TRUE TO YOU

via original art studio

For this new moon, I’ve decided to compile quotations from free-spirited, innovative, and fiercely individualistic Aquarians to inspire, empower, and perhaps even emancipate you – body, mind, and spirit. With both the Sun and Moon in Aquarius, tonight’s beautiful Uranus energy offers us the power and courage to make the changes in our lives and our realities that have been brewing for some time now…to celebrate, honor, and share our completely unique and individual spirits and gifts in this world. Themes of freedom, revolution, novelty, and individualism are at the heart of Aquarian energy. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the brilliant unwavering Water-Bearers. Share your own if you have them!

“I am an excitable person who only understands life lyrically, musically, in whom feelings are much stronger as reason. I am so thirsty for the marvelous that only the marvelous has power over me. Anything I can not transform into something marvelous, I let go. Reality doesn’t impress me. I only believe in intoxication, in ecstasy, and when ordinary life shackles me, I escape, one way or another. No more walls.” ― Anaïs Nin

“Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.”― Anaïs Nin

“I disregard the proportions, the measures, the tempo of the ordinary world. I refuse to live in the ordinary world as ordinary women. To enter ordinary relationships. I want ecstasy. I am a neurotic — in the sense that I live in my world. I will not adjust myself to the world. I am adjusted to myself.” ―Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

“There is not one big cosmic meaning for all; there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.”― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934

“Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.”— Bob Marley

“Bob Marley isn’t my name. I don’t even know my name yet.”— Bob Marley

“Man is a universe within himself.”— Bob Marley

“You say you love rain, but you use an umbrella to walk under it. You say you love sun, but you seek shelter when it is shining. You say you love wind, but when it comes you close your windows. So that’s why I’m scared when you say you love me.”— Bob Marley

“No need to hurry. No need to sparkle. No need to be anybody but oneself.”— Virginia Woolf

“I am rooted, but I flow.”— Virginia Woolf

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”— Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll, aquarius, quote

“The most important thing in life is to stop saying ‘I wish’ and start saying ‘I will.’ Consider nothing impossible, then treat possiblities as probabilities.”— Charles Dickens

“Learn to value yourself, which means: fight for your happiness.”— Ayn Rand

“It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live.”— Ayn Rand

“Always we’re our Brother’s teacher of hardworking full-truth, uniting All-one-G0d-Fatih, or we decay being his Keeper by unworkable half-true intolerant hate! We’re all-one or none! Exceptions eternally? Absolute none!” – Dr. E.H. Bronner

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right. “ — Rosa Parks

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” — Abraham Lincoln

Rituals for the New Moon in Aquarius

Aquarius is all about defying convention and honoring the unusual, so I am not going to give any specific suggestions for herbs or teas, rather it would be most suitable to make something using your own intuition and taste as your guide! My tea tonight is going to be blended based on vibrancy color – a rainbow tea if you will! Red hibiscus petals, orange calendula flowers, yellow chamomile, bright green alfalfa leaf, indigo lavender, and light pink roses!!!

quartz crystals and my aquarius tea blend

Gemstones that are associated with Aquarius (Uranus) are any “glow in the dark” minerals such as uranium; as well as peridot – helping to clear any nervous energy, quartz crystal – helping to bring our ideas down to earth and to manifest them, and garnet – a protective red stone that promotes courage and confidence. Opal is a stone that fosters uniqueness and originality. You can wear any of these stones, just gaze at them nearby, make an elixir with them, place them on top of your brewing tea pot or tinctures in the moonlight, or even bathe or sleep with them nearby. Tonight is full of Aquarian energy, but you can take the energy with you anytime this way.

Let your creativity and your passions flow. Speak your mind. Share your heart. Make music. Throw a dance party by yourself under the stars. Paint a self-portrait. Cut up old clothes and make new ones. Make a collage. Write a manifesto. Experiment with new foods. Bake a crazy cake. Join a political organization that speaks to you. Let go of your fears. Do something unexpected. Send a message to outer space. Trust your intuition. Quote yourself. Do that one thing you have been putting off for way too long. Wear that one outfit you think is too crazy. Read that book that’s been sitting on the shelf. Dare to embark upon uncharted territories of the heart, mind, body, soul, home, yard, neighborhood, world! Make plans to do something you really want to do, and do it! Stand up for what you believe in and don’t be afraid to shine. The world needs you to be you. Think about the pure magic and rarity of the chances that you exist and are an irreplaceable part of this crazy, unpredictable, beautiful, and ever-changing universe.

“When I reach the gates of heaven, the heavenly judges will not ask me, ‘why weren’t you Moses?’ They will ask me, ‘why weren’t you Zusha?” – Rabbi Zusha of Anipol.
With many blessings for a night (and month, and year, and life…) full of originality and new energy,
xoxo
Gem