Summer surrounds us. The world is verdant, the vegetation lush, and the power and heat of the Sun remains strong throughout the day.

At the same time, the first leaves of the trees have begun to fall. While the daylight still prevails over nighttime, the days are noticeably shorter compared to their peak around the summer solstice. An unshakeable feeling abounds that something is coming to an end. Even though the darkness of autumn and stillness of winter aren’t here yet, we can see the very first first tremors of their arrival in the world around us.

Welcome to the end of Summer: the final month of light before we transition into the darker half of the year. Welcome to the time of preparation – the time of setting our houses in order and readying ourselves for the cold months. Welcome to Virgo season.

Virgo marks the final portion of Summer before it gives way to autumn – the final month of the year before the darkness of night overpowers the light of day, temperatures sink, and the plant life fades away. Though we are still blessed by the warmth of the Sun and the brightness of its rays, we know in our bones that it won’t last – that something is ending.

For this reason, Virgo calls to prepare for the impending darkness while there is still light. We can’t just revel in the light of the Sun as we did in Cancer and Leo season. Now we need to ready ourselves for the transition into darkness, making hay while the Sun still shines.

This impulse to prepare gives Virgo its penchant for details, fastidiousness, and supreme industry. In Virgo season, we manage and consolidate the harvest – our food for the winter. All accounts must be in order, all books must be justified. Virgo can observe and keep track of every single detail as if it’s life depended on it. Historically, it would have!

Virgo is an earth sign. The focus our energies during this solar ingression will be on grounding our lives, accomplishing material results, and gaining more mastery over the physical, material aspects of our lives. In this modality, we can focus our minds on the gaining mastery over every single individual aspect of our lives and setting our entire houses in order.   

Virgo is ruled by Mercury, the advisor and vizier to the Sun King. In Virgo, we see Mercury’s face as the manager, organizer, and implementer of the divine, solar will. Virgo represents the chief advisor to the ruler who administrates the entire kingdom and ensures everything is accounted for, and everything is functioning properly. Imagine a high-ranking government official keeping an inventory of every single piece of food stored in a granary for an upcoming famine, and you’ll have a pretty good sense of the Virgoan mindset and approach.

Though Virgo’s focus on detail can feel tedious at times, it almost always means well and wishes to be helpful, just like a well-intentioned advisor or administrator. For Virgo, improvement and perfection is a matter of life or death – at least they pay the goal of perfection that amount of respect. During this Virgo season, you’ll have the opportunity to practice prioritizing perfection and proper administration of your own life in the same way. You can take a piece of this Virgoan wisdom with you.

This is a time for you to prepare  your own life for what is to come. Ready yourself for the next 6 months. Now is the time to properly manage and tend to every aspect of your material life. Leave no stone unturned. Set your house in order.

What grounded change and transformation can you bring to your life this month? How can you master and administrate all aspects of your personal kingdom? Can how can you prepare for the upcoming 6 months of darkness?

This year, we’ve got two challenging aspects to make this Virgo season a doozy. The first is an opposition to Saturn in Pisces. This can make the responsibilities of setting one’s house in order feel onerous, burdensome, and at times crushingly heavy. Instead of the exuberant, light, and spacious feeling that can come from cleaning, clearing, and organizing your world, the work just feels like work. It’s dull, and you don’t want to do it. There can be a strong moralizing tone that gets in the way of genuine productivity. The Saturn A good prophylactic against Saturn is St. John’s Wort and a yellow citrine elixir.

The second is the mercury retrograde that will continue for the majority of this period. Mercury retrograde causes breakdowns in communication, technology and travel. Don’t go on any major trips or sign any major contracts. Expect small, unexplainable problems with technology; they will be piddly issues, but frustrating enough to cause a headache. Don’t take it personally. The Mercury retrograde period concludes on September 16th. Keep things smooth and even by working with lepidolite.

Additionally I recommend passionflower and nettles for when the stagnation of Mars and mental aggravation of all this mercurial energy gets to be too much. This will help to calm the nervous system and redirect agitated, anxious energy towards more productive tasks. It will also help the mind to settle.

Your task here is to get things done without stress. The more you can learn to manage the malaise of Saturnine gloom and mercury-retrograde-madness without allowing yourself to become too overwhelmed, the more productive this period will be for you. While you may leave this season feeling a little tired and zapped, you can also leave having accomplished a lot and without having burnt out your adrenals.

The best way to determine how the Virgo season will affect you personally is by identifying the house placements that are activated when the Sun moves into Virgo.

Do nothing, and everything gets done. Let things be accomplished in their own time. Don’t rush, and don’t let the world steal your peace.