09/12/2026
VIRGO NEW MOON – Friday 11 September, exact at 4.27am UK time (BST)
This Moon invites us to contemplate what practical steps we can take to improve and simplify our lives, pruning away the dead foliage to reveal what is truly alive and helpful so that we can properly flourish and thrive. The foliage can represent old, outworn habits, outdated routines, unhelpful beliefs, unhealthy obligations, relationships and ways of doing things that are consuming our energy and no longer contributing goodness to our life. It’s time to get the pruning shears out and remove whatever is getting in the way of what is ready to come in, while tending to whatever is alive and wanting to grow. However it is important to recognise that some things may be in their dormant phase, and are simply taking a back seat for a while. Virgo is the part of us that can discern and discriminate between what is still helpful, healthy and useful, and what simply has to go. It is time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
This New Moon is an ideal time for clearing, cleaning, decluttering, refining, honing and reorganising, and it could be helpful to contemplate what we need to leave behind in the dark of the Moon, clearing the slate so we can start fresh. Virgo can help us to establish healthy routines and improve various types of systems, and is very good at making things more simple, streamlined and efficient. Virgo reminds us that there is always an easier way to do things! This is a very good time to contemplate what we need for our physical, mental and emotional health, discerning what is good for us and what we might be taking in or “digesting” that no longer supports our growth. Virgo can help us to make small yet important changes to our habits, and if we can practice them consistently they can fundamentally change the quality of our life.
Mars in Cancer is supporting this Moon, which is very helpful indeed, as Mars is the planet of action, energy levels, motivation and desire! Mars can help us to find the energy, willpower, courage and motivation to make any changes that we need, including changing habits or creating new routines. It can help us to truly take care of our emotional and physical wellbeing, and to not just think about what we need to change, but to actually do something about it! Pluto in Aquarius is forming a minor, nagging aspect to the Sun and Moon, which brings to mind the pruning shears again, as it can help us to be emotionally honest about what needs to go and to strip back anything that is no longer healthy for us. What needs to pass away right now? What is dead, stagnant, toxic or unhealthy? Virgo may want to work on it and improve it, while Pluto is more ruthless, and can help us to recognise what is no longer useful or good for us, and simply needs to go.
We have some significant shifts of energy during this Moon, as Mercury will have just moved into diplomatic, fair, peace loving Libra, while Venus will have just moved into intense, transformative, emotionally honest Scorpio. Both are making significant aspects to Pluto, Neptune Chiron and, later on, Uranus. Mercury is the ruler of this Virgo Moon, which makes it especially important. It is also significant that they are both at 0°, bringing in a shift of energy.
Mercury is trine Pluto, which could help us to be very honest with ourselves and others, diving deep beneath the surface and ferreting out the truth of the matter. Libra can help us to find kind and considerate ways of expressing some deep truths and challenging subject matter that we may have hitherto found it hard to articulate, which could help us to understand each other better. Pluto can help us to get things out into the open, while Libra helps us to see both sides of the story, and so it could be a good time to practice deep listening, so we can really hear what others are saying. It can also help us to be brutally honest about what to keep and what to let go of. This will be exact on 12 September, and will be easiest on those us with personal planets or angles around 3° of the Air and Fire signs.
Venus in Scorpio is also squaring Pluto, which could intensify our relationships somewhat, exposing the bare truth and calling for us to face anything that we may have been shying away from in recent times. It can expose our compulsions, our attachments, our fears, as well as any power dynamics or psychological complexes that are playing out in our relationships. Pluto asks us to have the courage to dive into the depths and face whatever is lurking in the shadows, so that we can hopefully find the buried treasure that is hiding there. And we will only find it if we are willing to be honest and vulnerable, facing our unowned and shameful parts and showing our tender underbelly, which could make us feel quite exposed and vulnerable, but can also bring deeper intimacy, growth and understanding.
Combined with this Virgo New Moon, this Pluto energy calls for us to discern what we are ready to release, transform, purge, and to be completely and utterly honest about it, especially in the realm of our relationships and attachments. Mercury and Pluto call for us to communicate from a deeper place than we might be comfortable with, while Venus and Pluto may call for us to release old patterns of relating, potentially letting something die in the realm of our relationships to allow for new growth. Virgo may seek to cleanse and improve, but Pluto could make it feel more like a purge and release of anything that is decaying or toxic. The Pluto Venus square will be exact on Tuesday 15 September, and will feel most acute for those with planets or angles around 3° of the Fixed signs Ta**us, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius.
It is interesting that Mercury and Venus are both at 0°, as it brings the sense that in this “pruning” process, we are finding new ways of communicating and relating that could feel somewhat unfamiliar, uncomfortable and exposing to begin with. Mercury is also opposite Neptune, exact 12 September, which could make it all a bit confusing and nebulous, calling for us to be as clear as possible to avoid misunderstanding or projections. It also calls for sensitive communication and compassionate listening, as we try to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. Neptune reminds us that ultimately we are not in control, and that sometimes things don’t make logical sense. It can also help us to use our imaginations. Mercury is also inconjunct Chiron, which could potentially bring some painful subject matter into our conversations with ourselves and others, which could expose our deepest wounds, yet can ultimately be incredibly healing. Chiron is at 0° of Ta**us.
Venus is inconjunct Neptune, exact 15 September, which could increase the potential for idealisation, fantasy, sacrifice and projection in our relationships, and could make us more aware of where we are holding onto the possibility or potential rather than reality. Luckily this Virgo Moon is all about discernment, which could help us to recognise where we are projecting an ideal or something not real onto others, seeing what we want to see instead of accepting the reality of the situation. Neptune is very accepting of others, and can help us to love unconditionally, which is beautiful, as long as we also honour ourselves. This Moon could help us to do just that, with Pluto exposing the core truth and Virgo calling for greater discernment around what is good for us.
Venus is also exactly opposite Chiron, both at 0°, which could expose old wounds around our worth, our value and being lovable or “enough”. It can bring up old sensitivities around safety in relationships, as well as our capacity to trust or any fear around exposing ourselves or making ourselves feel vulnerable. Ultimately this can be very healing, as it could make us more aware of how we might be operating within our relationships, such as relating from a fear of loss, or protecting ourselves in order to stay safe. We could have some revelations and realisations that are quite profound, especially as both Venus and Mercury will be moving into aspect with Uranus later in the week, bringing some potential clarity, insight and shifts of perspective that could be both surprising and liberating.
The Sabian symbol for this Moon, at 19° Virgo, is an interesting one to contemplate: “A swimming race”, which Dane Rudyar describes as “The stimulation that comes from a group effort toward a spiritual goal. When man has become an expert swimmer he has symbolically learned how to operate in a new element. This element, water, represents the ever-flowing stream of psychic energy, and, in a sense at least, the “astral” world. In a still deeper sense man is now able, mystically speaking, to cross the river and reach “the other shore” – or to swim back toward the source. Whether or not the symbol should suggest the competitive spirit at work is questionable. At the biological level a host of spermatozoa are swimming toward the o**m, and each press on toward the goal, the act of impregnation. A seeker after spiritual rebirth actually does not strive alone. It is Man who, acting through the most advanced individuals of the race, is taking a step toward “rebirth,” or toward a new mutation. The personal ego-centred ambition to succeed and to be “first” is indeed a sign of expectable spiritual failure. With this symbol we are confronted with a problem of interpretation. Is not ambition a subtle form of deviation under the pressure of ancient karma, and the competitive spirit so valued by our civilisation a sign of failure to understand the deeper reality of existence? What is needed is EMULATION, not competition.”
I guess that what this Moon is asking us to do is to master ourselves and work on swimming our own best race, regardless of what others are doing. One of Virgo’s highest attributes is humility, and with Neptune so heavily involved in this Moon we are reminded that it is not about our own ego, but simply about doing the very best we can. There is a lot going on during this Moon, with many different strands, but it may be good to simply keep the idea of us pruning away dead foliage to reveal what is alive and vital underneath, waiting to come into being. This Moon seems to be inviting us to be brave and emotionally honest enough to discern what is alive, what is dead and what is dormant, removing whatever is in our way so that we can make things easier on ourselves, lighten our load and cut through the water in a smooth, easy, streamlined manner.
Much Love
Amy
xoxo
Picture: New Growth, by William Chung
