Tuesday we reach the halfway point between New and Full Moon with a Virgo Moon, a careful, detail oriented Moon who seeks to be of service.
The Moon squares the Gemini Sun, both ruled by Mercury, now direct in Taurus, making this a very Mercury First Quarter.
But this is not a typical Mercury time, focused on ideas and communication.
This Mercury in late Taurus is ruled by Venus and conjunct the star Algol. This is the Medusa star, a binary star winking red in the night sky, leading ancients to see monsters.
Algol is from the Arabic phrase raʾs al-ghūl, the head of the ghoul, or demon. In ancient Greece, this was the head of Medusa, destroyer of all who looked upon her. Yet even when her head was severed, she was powerful, becoming the aegis of Perseus, the shield that protected the hero.
This Mercury is leaving a square with Saturn and toward a trine with Pluto. This is a Mercury communing with powers beyond the ordinary.
At the First Quarter, we get a look at the tasks ahead, the things we need to do to reach our goals. With the Sun and Moon in Gemini and Virgo, we are clever and curious but also humble, attending to each detail as we go.
It’s tempting in times like these to feel out of our depth, which is some ways, perhaps we are. Yet again, we are not. This is our world, after all, and we know it well.
With the Virgo Moon, we move toward our goals by chopping wood and carrying water, tending to the life we are living, caring for what is in our care. This is a humble path and a strong one.