The Sun has moved into Virgo, shifting the energy from the creative fire of Leo to the grounded and practical Virgo.  When the Moon moves into Pisces tomorrow morning (EDT) the Sun and Moon will begin to align in the Full Moon opposition formation and we will begin to see the necessity to balance our inner world of dreams (Pisces) with the outer world of details (Virgo).

The movement of the Sun through the signs has a relatively minor effect on the way that we perceive the world, but it does cast an overarching filter of light across all of our experiences.  Right now, in the Virgo galaxy cluster, a “super-volcano” driven by a huge gas pocket is taking place in the M-87 galaxy that could create new stars except for the interference of a massive black hole.

I can’t help but be struck by the symbolism of this event considering current planetary cycles:

• The conjunction of Jupiter and Uranus, recently in Aries and now separating as Uranus retrogrades into Pisces.  Jupiter’s expansion and the explosive potential of Uranian surprise in the hot fire of Aries.
• Saturn square Pluto – the two lords of darkness facing off in what could be called a “black hole” of despair and negativity with a subsequent transformation.
• Saturn opposing Jupiter – Jupiter’s expansive potential to create millions of new stars hampered by the Saturnian restriction of darkness via the black hole.

more details on the Supervolcano here…

For us personally, though, the intensity of the summer’s planetary cycles is beginning to wane and we are now moving into the integration phase, something which will be helped along by the retrograde cycle of Mercury which helps us to assimilate and process information.