Virgo season begins with a cut. The lights are off. A cool chill in the air.
The Sun crosses the threshold leaving Leo behind, and almost immediately the first new moon arrives. So we begin this season in the dark phase of the moon, just before the first sliver of light. This season is particular: it will bring three lunations, bookended by two new moons with a full moon (eclipse!) in between. A triptych in the sky. The rhythm of three emerges right from the start. Witchy!
Opening act: August 23 - First New Moon
Deep middle: September 7 - Full Moon / Total Lunar Eclipse
Climactic finale: September 21 - Second New Moon / Partial Solar Eclipse
Three is the witch’s number. Spells are whispered three times. The Moirai weave, measure, and cut the thread in three stages. The Moon herself plays with us by showing us three faces: waxing, full, waning. The power of three can be traced backwards and forwards through so many magical traditions. This Virgo season (August 22nd to September 22nd) the heavens arrange themselves in this sacred witch’s pattern, an insistence that repetition itself is the ritual, and that we must pay attention. The power of three is here.
And in this threefold arrangement, this celestial triptych, we will experience two eclipses. I will write more about these eclipses in a separate post. For now, hold on to the dates and let me set the scene for Virgo.
Let Virgo take the stage.
Virgo is far too often flattened into the maiden, an image of purity and virginity that can feel boring and incomplete. As always, there is so much more.
To me, Virgo is the witch of the zodiac. The ritualizer, the editor, the gleaner, the one who separates wheat from chaff. Virgo’s gift is precision, a meticulous eye, a touch of ritual fire mixed with dirt. Virgo prepares us for the long night of winter that lies ahead in the north.
What many do not know is that Virgo also carries a sharp blade.
Some people talk about Virgo as if they were talking about trad wives. There is nothing traditional here, and nothing wife. She belongs to no one except herself.
The Star of the Blade: Spica
Virgo’s constellation holds a jewel: Spica, the brightest star, shining from the shaft of wheat in her hand. Spīca virginis, the virgin’s ear of grain. Spica is the gift of the harvest, a star of plenty. But it is important to recall that this abundance is also born from the cut. Wheat cannot nourish us until it has been severed from the field. Bread cannot reach our mouths and bellies without the work on the ground.
The sharp blade of Virgo is at the service of the harvest and therefore at the service of the continuation of life. Its swing is an act of devotion. The willingness to cut so that life may continue. Spica teaches us that this work, this separation, this discernment, are all acts of care. Virgo knows all about this because Virgo wants us to survive.
I wrote more about Spica in this post: The Gleaner Star: Spica, Demeter, and Other Punk Goddesses of Spring
The Blade of Virgo
The wheat in Virgo’s hand, Spica, is inseparable from the knife that cut it and from the hand that held it. A harvest is both a gift of growth and a moment of severing. Demeter’s gift of grain to humanity came with a sickle. And so we can say that abundance requires the sharp strike of separation, and sometimes sacrifice. Virgo knows this all too well.
Virgo holds this doubleness. A “blade of wheat” is both the stalk itself and the instrument that severs it. The same word is both plant and knife, food and tool. Virgo lives in this mixture: what nourishes and what cuts cannot be told apart. They are part of the same story.
Her name, virgo, is frequently lost in translation as innocence or purity. To counter this, I want to recall some favorite virgins of myth: Artemis with her bow and arrow, Athena with her spear, sovereign, weaponed, armed with defiance, and whole onto themselves. Virginity as a rebellious act of separation: belonging to oneself, cutting ties, refusing capture, refusing definition, marriage, domestication. To be virgin in this context is to stand at the threshold with a weapon in hand, rebelliously claiming sovereignty. Yes, Virgo is a rebel.
In the language of astrology, the sharp power of separation is usually given to Mars, the god of war, ruler of Aries and Scorpio, the one who cuts in order to move the plot forward. But I want to give this power, respectfully, also to Virgo. In this case, not as a war instrument, but as a tool of discernment. Virgo’s blade is not the sword of battle but the sickle of reaping, the scalpel of care, the edit that clarifies. The cut of devotion at the altar of life.
In the same vein, I think of the witch’s knife, the athame, carving out a ritual circle, drawing the boundaries of sacred space. The blade is also the clock hand that marks the time for ritual, the signal that calls in the space where the work will unfold. Virgo’s cut is a severing and a setting apart, creating the conditions for magic to take place. This is why Virgos often make the best space holders, at least in my experience. Maybe you thought it was because they were "nice" or "organized" but I know it's because of that secret sharp knife they carry in their back pocket.
Virgo’s sharp blade is part sickle, part ear of wheat, part huntress’ knife, part witch’s tool. It is the act of discernment itself: to cut is to choose, to refuse and to make space for what matters so that we can tend to it, and so that we can literally have enough food to carry us through the cold.
The Blade in the Body
Virgo rules the abdomen, the spleen, the digestive system, the inner field where food is cut down, separated, refined into nourishment. Digestion is itself a blade: what the body chooses to keep, what it expels, what it is ready to release.
In this sense, discernment is not only intellectual or spiritual but cellular and biological. The gut deciding what can stay and what must be cut away. Virgo’s rulership of digestion links her blade to the harvest and to sovereignty: the virgin as the one who feeds herself, who belongs to no one because she has her own means of sustenance.
The blade is also stomach acid. A refusal to swallow what poisons. A devotion to keeping what sustains. As you read this, what may those things be in your own life? What poisons have you been swallowing? What nourishments are calling for your attention? What cleansings are in order, here at the hour of Virgo?
NEW MOON RITUALS
Before the ritual. Virgo is the sign of the harvest. With Virgo we are in the field and with the hand that gathers, the labor that turns sustenance into life. We cannot speak of Virgo, here in 2025, without speaking of Palestine. Gaza is starving. Its people are being deliberately starved, malnourished, tortured, and killed by Israel. The starvation of a civilian population is a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an act of genocide under international law. Donating money may feel small in the face of such despair, but it continues to be an act of solidarity and care. If you are able to, consider sending material support. Thank you!
The Digital Cut: a Ritual to Unfollow, Unfriend, Mute, Delete, Snip, Reclaim, Create Space
The new moon in Virgo is an excellent moment to begin this ritual of digital cleansing, but the practice can be revisited at any time throughout the season. Consider returning to it again in the middle and at the end of Virgo season to notice what shifted, what cleared, and what remains.
For this first Virgo new moon I am offering you a ritual of deletion and space making. Take the Virgo blade and run it through your digital ecosystems. So much of our life runs through these digital landscapes. I think that sometimes we forget that these places also need to be cleaned, just like our physical ones. They must be cleaned like we clean a bathroom or a kitchen. We spend so much time here. There is a literal trail of our online behavior, an imprint of our digital bodies.
Virgo season is a great time to bring discernment to our digital spaces. During this first lunation, before the eclipses arrive, it is an especially potent moment to pause and make space, clearing the ground so ecplise medicine can be received. In a way, its a preparation for the eclipses but also for the months ahead, the Fall and Winter days.
Raise Virgo’s blade. Unfollow. Delete. Block. Shift. Pause. Each cut calling in your attention back to you. Calling your energy back to you. Calling yourself back home.
Take your phone, your laptop, your tablet etc. Place them on your altar space or near it, acknowledging how much of your lived experience runs through them. Be with them, you may want to thank them for the connections they permit, for all the information, the knowledge, the community. Pause. Call in your circle, carve out ritual time, and let the blade of discernment hover. Meditate on what you want to feel when you are with these devices, and on what you are ready to cut away. Name the platforms, the apps, the voices, the noise, the dynamics.
Before you begin, take these guiding questions as companions for your ritual reflection. After the questions, you will also find a table of prompts by rising sign. You can use both together: first reflect on the general questions, then move to the rising sign section for a more personalized angle on your digital cleansing. Use them as you want.
Which voices from my digital landscape belong at my side, and which ones must remain outside the circle?
What digital spaces feel like nourishment, and which feel like poison?
What stories do I want to be entangled with, and which ones am I ready to release?
When I am in the presence of this content/ creator/ space/ app/ chat /or digital dynamic, do I feel sovereign? Do I stand on my own ground?
Can I reclaim that ground by cutting a thread? Is there a boundary I can draw?
How does my body feel when I am in these spaces or engaging with this content or this person?
Is there a clue or a message from my nervous system?
Virgo Season: Themes for Digital Cleansing by rising sign
Virgo Rising: Identity, self-image, how you present yourself online, online persona
Libra Rising: Hidden spaces, unconscious habits, digital escapism, secrets
Scorpio Rising: Friends, networks, online communities, social media
Sagittarius Rising: Career, public image, professional platforms
Capricorn Rising: Digital learning, belief systems, ideological or political feeds
Aquarius Rising: Intimacy, shared accounts, digital boundaries, passwords
Pisces Rising: Partnerships, collaborations, one-on-one exchanges, contracts
Aries Rising: Routines, work systems, apps that drain or support you, health apps
Taurus Rising: Creativity, pleasure, social media as performance
Gemini Rising: Home, family chats, private groups
Cancer Rising: Local networks, communication styles, messaging habits
Leo Rising: Values, possessions, subscriptions, online spending, shopping
If you want you can say aloud: I cut what drains me. I keep what nourishes. I reclaim my attention as sacred ground. I choose life.
You may want to do an offering, or additional intention setting, light candles, sing a song, say a prayer. I leave this up to you and your creativity.
May it be of service.
Life Updates
Currently listening: Here It Comes Again, by Cate Le Bon and Group Listening
Currently reading: Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber
Currently watching: The Guilded Age (omg! the way this is related to the Debt book is a link I was not expecting.
Thank you for reading. If you wish to go further, my books are open for consultations. Things seem to be changing for me. I am changing. My books are currently open with my classical offerings and prices but I am feeling a change in the air. I will be transforming and composting some of my offerings during Virgo season to reflect where I currently am as a practitioner and a human living in 2025.
If you like this work, consider getting a Reading or offering a reading to a loved one. You can also send me some love here TIP JAR or simply send me a note or an email. <3 I would love to hear from you.
Virgo as stomach acid and scythe… absolutely love this and feel it so deeply as the season begins 🫶
Thank you for this insightful interpretation of Virgo energy! It goes beyond the awful stereotypes and into why it is an unsung hero of the zodiac!
The references to the scythe are also show a contrast. While Scorpio energy is about life, death and regeneration, Virgo is about taking care of what we have, preparing it for use to get what we need, and then transferring the rest to Scorpio to recycle.