Remember it is best to make your wishes within 8 hours of the moon entering Virgo. Avoid the void period, which is between 8:06pm and 9:26pm EDT. See my book review of New Moon Astrology if you aren’t familiar with new moon wishes and or the effects of the void period on the moon.

Virgo rules work, physical health, worry, self-improvement, and critical thinking, as well as service, clothing, food, employees, servants and domestic animals. Because of its ruling planet Mercury, Virgo also has influence over the nervous system- more closely associated with the mind’s connection with it, not necessarily the physical components of it.

Wishes related to physical health, work, organization, efficiency, helpfulness, clear-thinking, overcoming perfectionism, and the other aspects of life that Virgo rules will be most potent given the energies that the new moon is aligning with by being in Virgo. You might find it useful to make wishes regarding the parts of the body that Virgo rules- the bowels and abdomen.

A good sample wish for Virgo could be, “I am so happy and grateful that my (part of the body ruled by Virgo) has been restored to perfect health.” You could even make wishes on behalf of your Virgo child. Keep in mind that wishes are still about you and you can’t really wish on behalf of someone else if it impedes their free will (they simply don’t work). However, you may find usefulness in making wishes about what you can do or say to help them on their path such as encouraging healthy Virgo habits and behaviors. For instance, I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from wishing, ”I find myself saying the right words to my child that result in him happily doing his schoolwork.”

In her book New Moon Astrology, Jan Spiller’s take on wishing on behalf of children is encouraging,

In many ways the mind of a child is like the hard drive on a computer- it is open to the software the environment places into it. In this way the thoughts, encouragement, and conditioning that parents feed into the mind of their child greatly influence present and future behavior. Wishing will not change a child’s actions, but wishes can shift our behavior in a way that influences the child to change their behavior.

New Moon Astrology’s section on Virgo includes a lot of good sample wishes that explore Virgo’s influences in depth. For instance, Spiller states that one of the characteristics Virgo rules is “excessive perfectionism” and under that topic she includes worry, criticism, blame and judgment, and workaholic tendencies. Each of these topics has sample wishes to address them.

Essentially every new moon (when only a tiny sliver of it is visible) you make ten wishes. The new moon happens once a month. The new moon is in a different sign each month and it is useful to make wishes related to the astrological time period because that is when those particular energies are stronger. For instance during the Leo new moon, wishes related to creativity, love, dignity, determination, self-actualization etc… are most powerful and easier to focus on. The next new moon, which will be in Leo, happens on August 20th, 2009 at 6:00am EDT. For more information about the energies relevant to each new moon I like to read Tracy Cook’s articles on the Margaret Wendt website.

Basic guidelines for making new moon wishes are:

This book doesn’t disappoint because it is packed with information. New Moon Astrology gives you basic guidelines for making wishes as well as New Moon tables spanning 50 years so that you can look up when the new moon is occurring each month. There are hundreds of suggested wishes in this book covering wishes related to a particular astrological period in addition to suggested wishes based on North/South nodes. There is also a chapter in the book with sample wishes arranged in alphabetized categories ranging from addiction to world peace.

In this book Spiller introduced me to Granddaddy Power Periods which are times in an individual’s life when wishing is very powerful. During this three to six week period you can make up to 40 wishes. She explains how to figure out your Granddaddy Power Period based on the degrees of the 11th house on your birth chart. Her site will also calculate it for you.

Spiller also spends time suggesting wishes based on North/South nodes. From an astrological standpoint this is shown by the position of the North and South nodes of the moon. The moon’s nodes are points that are formed by the intersection of the moon’s orbit around the earth and the earth’s orbit around the sun. The North Node refers to an aspect of one’s character that is underdeveloped. Your north node is also related to past life tendencies that should be reconciled in order to fulfill your current life’s purpose. According to Spiller, “these are habitual responses that worked to our advantage in our past lives/early childhood but are detrimental in our current adult life.” p. 135

Another useful tool Spiller discusses in this book is the Treasure Map. The Treasure Map is essentially a collage of the kinds of events or experiences you want to have in your life. Spiller advises making it during the new moon following the Spring Equinox- within the first two days of the new moon entering Aries. I found this to be a lot of fun to make and it is an excellent tool to help me when I’m doing visualizations. She suggests you do this once a year although I liked last year’s Treasure Map so much that I kept it up and didn’t change it. I like to view Treasure Maps as dynamic so if you later find something you want to add or change throughout the year, do it on the next new moon.

This book is a must for your esoteric library. The information is so useful and the wish lists so extensive that I refer to it at least once a month when I’m writing my wishes. Try making New Moon wishes for a couple of months and discover what wonders you can create.

Yay for warmongers.

Apparently, though, Mars was originally a nature god.  It probably makes sense if all dieties began as nature gods, but I’m still going to look into this more.  Why would Mars, a nature god, become a god of war?  That’s a pretty radical switch.  I’m sure it’s political, but I want specifics.

While researching Roman calendars, I keep finding that Romans originally began their new year on what we consider March 25th, the date they equated with the vernal equinox.  (They would have considered it March 1st.)  That is around the beginning of Aries.  It all fits together beautifully, doesn’t it?

We have so much to thank the Romans for.

When I look through The Ages, I see that we are currently in the Age of Pisces, going into the Age of Aquarius.  Aquarians are notorious for friendliness, independence, being progressive and analytical, and being pretty firm in their ideas.  The Age of Aquarius will be a perfect slot of time for the influence of the Abrahamic religions to wane, which is probably why we see them advertising everywhere and why they’re constantly being talked about.  We could speculate that the Age of Aquarius will be a glory period for secularism and spiritual freedom.  It’s highly likely that most people will eventually shun organized religion unless it has a Buddhist and/or pagan flavor to it.  And, unless Buddhism progresses, it may get the boot, as well.

The Age of Pisces represents a strong Christian flavor, of course.  The Age of Aries was represented by Judaism.  The Age of Taurus (which I contend starts the cycle) was represented by various pagan belief systems, notably of the Ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Mesopatamian peoples and Native American peoples.  I’ve been looking into the Asian cultures, but I’m not sure I’ve gone far enough back in time to feel comfortable shoving them in this time-frame as a group of far-reaching import.

Thinking about the Ages and religious tendencies excites me.  I’m no historian (actually history only excites me as it relates to misogyny and religion, which brings us to astrology), but I’m sure we’ve already lived through one Age of Gemini.  That would have been the perfect time for things like tantric sex and kundalini yoga to have evolved.

I’ll post more on this as it comes. I have a lot of research to do!

First of all, because Aries is a fire sign.  Fire alone is not conducive to creation.  It is a destructive element, when left to its own devices.  If you want to use fire to create, you must add something.  Earth is an inherently creative element and Taurus is an earth sign.  It makes more sense for the beginning to be rooted in earth than fire.

Second, Taurus’s basic energy and philosophy can be summed up in the phrase: I HAVE.  For Aries, we use: I AM.   This is an important point, so let me make sure I’m clear.  In life, we begin as babies.  All we know are our desires and needs, which are one and the same in the beginning.  We see everything in the world as ours.  Babies and toddlers grab and want to keep things that don’t belong to them.  We don’t view this as mean or theivery.  It is simply the nature of a being who has yet to mature.   To an immature being, possessions are vital.

As we get older, we grow wiser.  Ideally.  We begin to see that everything is an extension of ourselves and so, we don’t need to possess as much.  It is all me and I am all of it.  We are all one.  So, through the course of maturity, we move from a possessive nature (I HAVE) to an enlightened state (I AM).  Why would the zodiac move differently?

It makes sense for the zodiac to start with I AM (Aries) if we consider the influence of the Abrahamic religions.  The Abrahamic religions state that God is I AM.  And, God is the beginning.  But for most of us, the I AM realization takes a while to get to.  We tend to start with I HAVE.  This is especially important as it pertains to astrology, because astrology is about macrocosm turned microcosm.  We humans are but a reflection of a greater reality, but we are material.  We begin our journeys (emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical) on the material plane.  I HAVE is material/earth energy.  As bodies, it makes more sense that we would begin with material energy and move on from there.

Next, let’s look at duality.  Aries is masculine, while Taurus is feminine.  I’m going to offer another point right quick before I get to the nonsense of starting the zodiac with a masculine sign.

Tangent: Why is the Taurus symbol a bull?  Taurus is a feminine sign, but bulls are male bovines.  Does that make sense to anyone?  Now, I can understand how, at some point in the distant past, someone saw the horned symbol of Taurus and said, “This must be a bull.  It has horns.”  I can understand it in light of our ignorance about bovines today.  But, back then?  I’m sure they were highly aware that cows had horns, too.  Otherwise, why would Hathor’s headdress be horned?

I contend that the Taurus symbol is not a bull, but a cow.  A sacred cow.  Cows have always been significant to various human cultures and the symbolism is important.  Cows do come with horns adorning their precious heads.  And, cows are historically the symbol of plenty and nourishment.  This falls in line with Taurus energy.  Now, the bull stereotypically goes with the stubborn aspect, yes?  Well, please don’t apply your patriarchal sexism to the zodiac.  All bovines can be stubborn.  It makes more sense that the Taurus symbol is a cow, given its feminine duality and its historical context.

Let’s get back to the utter ridiculousness of beginning the zodiac with a masculine sign.

Masculinity is not the gender of natural creation.  I know, I know.  “It’s a man’s world.”  Stop channelling James Brown and think.  We associate life creation with females.  This makes sense, since females typically give birth/create life.  Femininity is the classic creative force.  Now, why would the zodiac begin from masculinity instead of femininity?  This makes no sense given what we know of history and the way humans have doled out gender for thousands of years.  It only makes sense if we, once again, take the Abrahamic religions into consideration.  They like to say God is a male.  And that a male God created the world all by himself.  That goes against our basic understanding of the creation of life from thousands of years ago as well as today.

Then, we have the fun point of:  Spring marks the beginning and Taurus is the sign of Spring, not Aries.  (This applies to the northern hemisphere, of course.)

I could go on-and-on, but I’ll break now.  If we look at the keywords associated with the signs, we see the natural, spiritual progression of humanity.  But, only if we look beginning with Taurus.  And, we are spiritual beings, after all.  That progression is the one that makes the most sense, especially when dealing with astrology.

I know he wasn’t born at 4:28.  I gave birth in the bathroom on my hands and knees while my husband caught the baby behind me.  I went from the bathroom to the bed room.  I settled in, birthed the placenta and proceeded to nurse.  THEN I moved over to the other side of the bed.  THEN my husband took that picture.  The time from giving birth to taking that picture could’ve been anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes as far as my current memory is concerned.

In order to see if I could pinpoint some of the planets I decided that I would create 4 birth charts with the following birth times: 3:45am, 4:00 am, 4:20 am, 4:28 am.  Fortunately the planets in the houses as well as the ascendant are consistent across all four charts.   The only things that change from chart to chart are the aspects.  I don’t know enough about aspects to see if I could narrow those down but at least I now know what his ascendant, moon, Venus and Mars are.  Sweet Coco has a sun in Taurus, ascendant in Pisces, Moon in Libra, Mercury in Aries, Venus in Taurus, Mars in Aquarius and Jupiter in Libra.  It’s an interesting mix of the four elements and a little heavier on the air.

While I’m excited that I could know as much as I do, I still kick myself for not knowing for certain.  HELLO, YOU ARE ALL ABOUT ASTROLOGY!  HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO NOTE YOUR CHILD’S BIRTH TIME?!