I had prepared a very long, very political article for this month’s column, and while I really liked a lot of the material, I decided in the end that it didn’t really sound like me. But then, lately I don’t sound like myself a lot of the time. I grew up as a fairly apolitical person, and I never expected politics to play a significant role in my life. I was the type of person who rolled her eyes when environmentally conscious friends debated the relative merits of plastic vs. paper grocery bags. So it’s kind of shocking to find myself, at middle age, feeling so…well, political.

Here at MoonCircles we are aware that some readers are uncomfortable when our articles occasionally drift into political waters. It must seem to these readers that there is no gentle haven left anywhere, when even a website about the Moon leaves the realm of emotion and imagination for the rough-and-tumble world of politicos and sound bites. Some who have come to see us as accepting friends may feel attacked, or as though they have an obligation to attack, if they feel we differ in our political opinions; still others may simply be tired to death of the whole subject. And while to some extent I can, as a former political eye-roller myself, appreciate these viewpoints - as a writer, it leaves me in a bit of a pickle. Because truly, at the moment… all my feelings are influenced by politics. Aren’t those feelings part of the emotional realm of the moon? Might someone share my feelings about politics, even if they don’t necessarily share my political opinions?

I certainly don’t mean to pick on anybody here. Lord knows I, too, am feeling absolutely exhausted and depleted about the current political climate, and yes, there are places I like to go to escape from all that. When I can’t take another minute of world events, I love to watch the Food Network and Home and Garden Television; no politics, ever! I re-watch Sense and Sensibility, in which the only politics are interpersonal. I have a glass of wine and play with the cats, who to the best of my knowledge have no party affiliation. But I confess that astrology is not one of the places I go to escape from reality; rather, it is a place I go to better understand reality. And a big part of my current reality is that I am emotionally overwhelmed by politics right now, to the point of being almost irrational.

Enter the New Moon in rational Virgo, in a tight conjunction with Mars and square Pluto, and coincidentally also exactly conjoined my natal Mars. So, I’ll admit to feeling touchy and aggressive right now, and taking a lot of things way too much to heart. But…I wonder how many of you are feeling the same way? After all, the New Moon at 22 Virgo may not be in close aspect to any of your natal planets. But right now, somewhere in your chart, a grand total of five planets (counting the Sun and Moon) in Virgo are currently crowding into a single house of your chart – and squaring Pluto. So what you’ve got on your hands is more or less the astrological equivalent of a houseful of people with tricky digestion - who are being forced to share a single bathroom, one with outdated and rather skittish plumbing.

And escape is not an option.

Yesterday a friend summed up my own feelings perfectly when he said that he’s been feeling an overwhelming anxiety in the air. But what is causing all this tension? It’s not the Sun and the Moon and a bunch of planets, gazillions of miles away. No, they are describing something tangible in our immediate environment, something we are all experiencing together. And here in the United States anyway, politics seems to be a prime culprit. We are only two months away from one of the most critical and contentious elections that many of us have ever lived through. According to polls, the country remains sharply divided on a number of crucial issues. We are divided into camps that are fiercely protective of our points of view and deeply mistrustful of the other side. And it’s not showing up only in the polls; it is showing up in our daily lives… the snarling cashier at the store, the road rage, the snotty bumper stickers, the vicious comments we make to each other in public as casually as breathing.

A huge part of what I wrote about in my other article – in which I seemed to be channeling a particularly cheerless, if surprisingly astrological Janeane Garofalo– was about the degree of this New Moon being the same as the degree of Neptune in the chart for the United States. It’s as if, here in the U.S., anyway, all that Virgo stuff-square-Pluto energy is screaming at Neptune to WAKE UP ALREADY and smell the rather dubious coffee that’s been sitting on the heating element, burning and tarlike, for, like, ever… and Neptune is trying his hardest to keep doing what Neptune does best. Namely, ignoring Virgo as much as he possibly can, burning a little incense, and watching reruns of Iron Chef.

What I’ve been realizing lately is that while feelings are important, they can be just as overwhelming as objective reality. This current lineup in Virgo offers an opportunity to examine those feelings, confront them, and engage in critical dialogue with each other rather than just criticism. It reminds us that there is no real division between the physical (Virgo) and the metaphysical (Neptune). If we try to remove the world at large from our smaller universe of charts and symbols and meditation, then our spiritual lives become incomplete – just as the larger world suffers whenever it excises the metaphysical. With five planets in Virgo, cold hard reality is going to intrude this month, one way or another, shrilling that we’ve left the coffee maker on again and wrecked the coffee. So isn’t it more productive, rather than trying to tune her out, to instead invite Virgo in, ask her opinion about things, and get her cool, critical thinking on the matter?

It also occurs to me that while I’ve been soaking in the comforting sitz bath of my own emotional chaos, I’ve been overlooking practical and constructive outlets for my concerns. Like lots of people, I’m spending a lot of time and energy feeling powerless instead of helping with the real-world work of creating change. I’m reminded of a story about a Japanese official who, upon visiting the United States for the first time, is taken aback by the number of homeless people he sees. "Why do they have no place to live?" he asks his American host. "Well, they have no money for a place to live, because there are no jobs for them," is the answer. The Japanese man thinks for a moment, and asks his host, "But how can that be? Is all your work done?"

All of us can probably agree that our work, in fact, is not done; there is plenty to go around for all of us, despite our differing opinions about the best way to do it. For a start, let’s work together to transform our divided, squalling, fistfight of a country back into a nation that works together toward common ideas. I think of the Virgo stellium in this New Moon chart as describing what Abraham Lincoln once called "the better angels of our nature." As a country, it is in our nature, and among our highest ideals - Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and Independents alike – to respond to need with clear thinking and ready hands as well as compassion. Yes, there is plenty of work for us to do. The square from these Virgo planets to Pluto reminds us that the work won’t be easy – but then, most important transformations aren’t.

If you don’t believe me, just try remodeling that bathroom.

© 2004 April Elliott Kentl
All rights reserved

April's essay, "Choosing Wedding Dates with Astrology," appears in the newly released Llewellyn's 2005 Moon Sign Book. For more of April's articles and information about her services, visit her website.