Leo Season Magic
Reflections on Venus in Virgo, planets in fall, Regulus and courting goldenrod
**Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars Reissue Out Now**
Last year, I was asked by Weiser Books to write the foreword to their new edition of Bernadette Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars.
Now, you can purchase the edition and read my thoughts on this important volume! I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to learn about the fixed stars, regardless of your familiarity with them. It was this book that started my years-long romance with the constellations and their magic. I am so honored to contribute something to its legacy and hopefully help others expand upon the foundation that Brady provides.
Venus in Virgo and the Nature of Fall
Happy Venus in Virgo babes!!
I’ve definitely felt the shift as Venus entered her sign of fall. Pleasures seemed stunted or more over-analyzed. People can’t “just enjoy things” but are being policed or critiqued for their choices. I want to buy little treats but various expenses makes this decision more troublesome and burdened.
A planet in its fall is literally depressed: low to the ground, of no status and emotionally down. I’ve been spending time thinking about the nuances of essential dignity for a lesson for my mentee, particularly what the different states of a planet feel like.
It’s easy to say a planet is debilitated, but detriment versus fall are quite different states. Both of them are considered unfortunate for a planet but, in my experience, fall is harder. A planet in detriment is in a foreign land without their normal resources. They have to reach their desires through unconventional, sometimes awkward means, but also bring in what my friend Hawk calls “outsider’s wisdom”.
Fall, by contrast, isn’t just out of place but *feels* it. There’s this idea, which I first heard from Austin Coppock, that fallen planets have literally fallen from a state of grace to a lower rank. While debility is all a detriment planet knows, fallen planets have a memory of being honored and powerful. Though detriment planets tend towards deficiency before a native finds their way through it, fallen planets vacillate between excess and deficiency, sometimes overdoing their nature to the native’s detriment.
Take Venus in Virgo as an example.
The planet of beauty and love has just begun her stay in the granular, detail-oriented fields of Virgo, sign of the analyst, the skilled laborer, the craftsperson. Venus’s placement here is like asking a goddess to send emails or a bride to diet to fit into a smaller dress.
Venus is here to enjoy her body; to feel good; to find the unadorned beauty in all things. In the words of my wise friend Eli, goddess is a position not a job title!
In Virgo, we are asked to work for and finely tune our glamours. We are asked to think deeply about our pleasure and where we may need improvements in our relationships. Venus in Virgo shows us the labor involved in love. Not a comfy place to be. But one that we experience every year.
A planet in fall has to master its key lessons from the ground up; in this case, we must learn when our detail orientation and effort makes us miss the forest for the trees. Beauty is mysterious, flowing: by focusing too much on imperfections or what went wrong we can lose sight of it.
Kim Kardashian is the archetypal Venus in Virgo avatar. Though she is literally the western beauty standard, she has achieved this status through continuous body modification, diet and exercise. Venus will always represent beauty and fallen Venuses are just as alluring as every other Venus placement, but here, beauty is a labor, a point of stress or a standard to meet—or not. There are issues getting in the way of experiencing or honoring that beauty, like the impossibly shifting standards, facetune and photo alteration, the glorification of thinness, etc.
What we do gain with Venus in Virgo is triplicity dignity, or some help from our friends. If you’re struggling to access your beauty or feel your pleasure, call on your loved ones to support your through conversation and action. Don’t overlook the glamour and complexity of the earth, of our senses. That also means calibrating our food intake to ensure feeling good without becoming too restrictive or harsh with ourselves. What actually tastes and feels good to you?
Stay grounded. Notice when the urge to nitpick comes up. Take the time to cultivate beauty from the inside out.
Just this Monday I was trying to have a relaxing afternoon but the looming worry over my kitty’s latest tail injury thwarted the party of one. She has been moping under my bed all morning and I knew I couldn’t wait until the next day to get her checked.
Luckily for me, I had just completed a Regulus ritual.
Leo Season Magic
Regulus, heart of the Lion, is a royal star. He demands attention, recognition and authority, lighting up the chart of the powerful and influential. Whenever I see Regulus prominent in someone’s chart or parans, I know issues around visibility, leadership, conduct and envy, will arise.
People with Regulus influence are a big deal. Rarely do you feel neutrally about a Regulus native. Light draws moths. Success attracts all sorts of gazes, either in adulation or hatred. If anything, I always tell Regulus natives to be wary of the evil eye and the negative side effects of recognition. Some people only value you when they feel above you or want to cut you “down to size”.
As such, Agrippa tells us a Regulus talisman “rendreth a man temperate, appeaseth wrath, and giveth favour”. The nemesis of Regulus is vengeance, or stooping to the level of your haters. Of the nature of Mars and Jupiter, the fighting spirit must be tempered by you knowing better. A king is not just a title but an archetype, a mask, that rules, ideally, not just by force but by example.
For my own working, I re-consecrated a bright red Saint John’s Wort oil and added in some flower essence I had recently made, Regulus spray and dried mugwort, the herb of this star. In addition for the above kingly significations, I also prayed for my kitten’s health. As the heart of the Lion, Regulus has plenty of solar attributes, one of which is increased health. I prayed for the safety and protection of my injured cat and when I called the urgent care vet later on, they had a slot available not fifteen minutes later.
Magic works, babes.
My relationship with Regulus did not begin this week. I’ve been studying, holding rituals, and discussing him in client sessions for years.
My books are open for August, including my fixed star readings for anyone who wants to work or understand their relationship to Regulus, king of the solar heart, or any other fixed star.
I’ve always been making my Leo season flower essences, or beginning to reach out to the flowers that want to work with me. While St. John’s Wort has been calling me for months, I wasn’t sure which flower would choose me for my Leo II decanic essence.1 I checked out Mount Tabor, to no avail, before making my way across town to Powell Butte, a beautiful park on the very outskirts of Portland. Though no plant had called to me or had made sense to embody Leo energy, as soon as I entered the parking lot I knew I had found my choice (if she’d have me).
The goldenrod has already bloomed. Though summer’s heat has created myriad yellow flowers, I recognized goldenrod’s distinct, sloping florets and tall, leafy stalks. I gasped. When I approached a bush to ask if she wanted to work with me, I immediately got the message, I’ve wanted to work with you for years.
In 2020, when I was saying goodbye to my childhood home, I found a patch of goldenrod growing near the pond in our backyard. I took some as an amulet, of sorts, placing it in my wallet, pressing some between the page of my collected Louise Gluck book.
I will be returning to Powell Butte today, to capture goldenrod’s essence.
Someday soon, I will share it with you.
For now, I leave you with the Louise Gluck poem that my dried goldenrod lives with:
Until next week,
Love,
Chloe
ICYMI: I am making a flower essence for each decan this year, hopefully having one for each of the 36 faces by Aries season next year!