A few days ago, I was talking to a new friend who’s super active in the world of social justice.

Despite the fact that healing the world is her life’s work, she spoke of how sometimes she’s filled with despair.

She sees racism in everyone and everything, including herself. She sees it in every institution. She sees systematic injustice everywhere. Pollution everywhere. The military industrial complex and the corruptive spores of capitalism infiltrating every aspect of our lives.

Similarly, I have clients who feel this way about themselves. No matter how hard they work, no matter what they do, no matter the degree of humility that they show up with, or their best intentions to fix things, it feels like they always come up short.

It’s hard to keep going when you feel everything about the world or yourself is wrong.

Worse, the more you feel this way, the more apt you are to look for confirmation of your misgivings. Where attention goes, energy flows. When you look, you find. When the judge is merciless, innocence is impossible; on some level we are all already guilty.

The new moon takes us into these shadowy places, the parts of ourselves, and the world, that need healing.

Today, the moon is new in Virgo, and so we have an opportunity to heal these shadow aspects of Virgo as we see them manifest in our lives.

Feelings of inadequacy and despair are elements of Virgo’s shadow aspect, but they are born of some of Virgo’s most beautiful qualities.

Virgo has a strong drive to improve things. Where she sees suffering, she wants to end it. Where she sees a mess, the Virgo virgin wants to clean it up. She’s constantly working to perfect herself and the world she lives in.

Thank you, Virgo energy!! That’s a lot of hard work! You deserve a raise!

Especially since we know that the nature of material reality is that it’s complicated and messy. It will never be perfect. No matter what we do, or how good we try to be, someone will always be able to find fault with us. And we will always be able to find fault with the world.

Our institutions ARE corrupt, and anyone brought up in this culture IS affected or infected by racism* – but that is not the end of the story. Or rather, that is not the ONLY story.

Our institutions are corrupt, AND there are millions of people fighting that injustice.

There’s racism everywhere, AND there are so many people standing up against it. There are marches every week now. More than once a week. Wherever you see racism, you will also see people resisting it.

There’s plastic debris on even the most remote beaches, AND there are legions of people working to figure out how to ban plastic and clean it out of our oceans.

Your screenplay didn’t win the prize, AND you’re still participating. You’re still creating. You’re still dedicated to making something beautiful and true.

In other words, we still have hope.

Hope is what the dark moon in Virgo brings us.

Virgo energy wants to feel effective, she wants to see that the energy she’s putting towards manifesting her hopes is making a difference. She gets depressed when it doesn’t.

So keep reading, witches. The spell below is here to help you remain radically open and radically willing even when the moon is dark and our freak flag is burning.

Simple Spell For the New Moon in Virgo: Seeds of Hope 

Spell Steps:

1. Get a jar, and create a label for it that says, “What I see, I create.” Put the jar on your altar. If you want you can add the Hermit tarot card, which corresponds to Virgo, or any other card that moves you.

2. In your journal, write down one of the things you’re most despairing about right now – something that just seems like, no matter where you look or what you do everything’s is f*cked. Can be personal or political — or both!

Some examples:

• Public: Global warming is real and no one is doing anything about it. We are all going to die miserable deaths.
• Personal: I can’t concentrate. I am always distracted and I can never get anything done. I am doomed to failure.

3. Beneath your despairing journal entry write the banishing rune. It looks like a big diamond with a big X under it.

4. Every day until the next full moon in Aries on October 5th, on a strip of paper write down one thing you noticed during the day that shows you there’s still hope. Examples:

• Public: (Re: Global Warming) My friend Rabiah committed to becoming a vegan – less methane for the world! Thanks, Rabiah!
• Personal: (Re: Poor Concentration) I managed to get my new moon in Virgo mailer out despite all my procrastinatory antics. Good work, Amanda!

Place your observations in your jar of hope.

5. On the full moon in Aries, read your hope strips to a friend and/or post about them online (#NewMoonSpells). Commit to taking one clear action based on how your perceptions have changed.

Let me know how it goes! xxo

 

* Thank you to the reader who pointed out the flaws in my reasoning from the original email version of this post. Originally, I said that everyone brought up in this culture is racist. The reader pointed out that racism = prejudice + power, and since, as she said, “Black people have historically never experienced the power that stems from having white or fair skin in this culture. [She believes] it is harmful to promote the idea that we all have the same type or amount of work to do when it comes to eradicating these beliefs.” The text of this post has been modified to reflect the truth above.

 

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Thursday, 21 September, 2017. CEREMONIAL BREATHWORK WORKSHOP: FINDING YOUR ROOT.  $40. This intimate workshop (class size limited to 12) will help you clear away blocks, connect with your root, harmonize, re-energize and can help you re-establish a sense of safety and abundance. CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE.

Monday, 25 September, 2017. MAGICAL PRAXIS: HOLDING COINS. $25. In this tarot workshop we will explore the suit of pentacles, sometimes also known as the suit of coins. CLICK HERE TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE.

Saturday, 30 September, 2017. 4pm – 6pm. Free. ADORATION OF VENUS. Poet/Astrologer Stuart Krimko and I give a lecture on how the planet Venus functions in astrology, and then invite you to participate in a ceremony to celebrate the yummy, harmonious relationship energy that Venus represents. Hail Venus! RSVP for more info.

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