Tending to the Small Stuff

Sun in Virgo, Mercury Retrograde and thoughts on irritation

Mercury stations retrograde at 21º Virgo this week on the 23rd. The same day Sol enters Virgo. This tells us that Virgo season (23 Aug - 22 September) is going to be a month where the wise will tend to the small stuff. 

Tend to the small stressors, the irritations, the so-called “minor” distractions that prevent you from getting big things done. 

“Little by little a person becomes good, as a water pot is filled by drops of water.” - attributed to Buddha

I’ve been thinking about irritation which Aristotle determined was a byproduct of anger. Irritation lies just beneath the surface of your psychic skin. It is the thing that chafes, scratches or rubs.

In our culture we associate depth of feeling with significance. Anger for example, is somehow more important than irritation because irritation is a shimmer and doesn't get to push red buttons.

No one wants to hear about the traffic or your colleagues loud chewing. Yet irritation is what I believe most of us are feeling right now with all that is going on because of global warming. We’re irritated because the politicians we have voted for have failed to execute real change and because we don’t know how to change this story we go along with this flow of perceived ordinariness.

But there is nothing ordinary about these times. 

I mention the climate crisis because Mercury is trine Uranus in Taurus and this IS the conversation. These two planets are communicators and both are in Earth signs. We are all talking about unsafe air and water, food pollution, out of control fires…

So what can we learn from irritation?

Irritation arises when we need to change the narrative. Think about what irritates you and you will see that the only way through the irritation is to change a pattern or introduce a new habit or ritual. 

This Virgo season you are asked to be meticulous without resorting to nit-picking and mico-managing. You want to produce excellent results but not fuss over whether your report should be typed up in Arial or Time New Roman.  

Let your work speak for itself. 

If you have planets between 8º-21º you are going to be very aware of Mercury retrograde. Take note of your Virgo house and attend to those life areas with diligent care (and gentleness). 

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