ELUL VIRGO MOON

Elul means ‘full circle’
Herb Cassia
Zodiac Virgo; Planet - Mercury, 6th House of Health, work and service.
Earth. Feminine. Mutable.
Energetics - cold and dry

Elul is Month of Transformation. It is a bridge between Summer and Autumn. It begins the season of harvest, when we reap what we have sown and reflect upon the year with faith and trust that the dying, falling, ending cycles will be renewed in the spring. Like Demeter and Persephone, our Jewish tradition symbolizes the earths turn inward before new growth can occur.

The Hebrew letters that spell ELUL (Alef, lamed, vav, lamed) are an acronym for “Anee l’dodo v’l’dodi lee’ ~ ‘I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me’
Song of Songs

It speaks of longing and reaching out to the unknown other “because longing is something we have for the mystery of other” Miriam Maron
In Elul we prepare ourselves for the new, the unknown, and we need strength to reach beyond the fears and worries of the past or anxieties over the future and welcome what will come with open arms. We reflect on our past deeds to prepare the way for new growth.
In Virgo we move beyond the ego self established in Leo and practically apply the truth of who we are in service for the whole.
We show the more feminine, earthy analysis and self reflection of how we are acting in the world and how we can perfect our actions for the benefit of all.

Healthy bodies, communication, relationships are fostered by clear communication and connectivity between all parts.
Thus within our bodies we turn our focus on our nervous systems especially related to digestion, the nerve functioning of our gut.
Mercury ruling Virgo affects the liver, pancreas, small intestine and bile ducts, these organs are the seats of discrimination of what to take in and what to let go of. This is mirrored in the mental processes common to Virgo and this season, in attention to details, where we discriminate between what we reap and sow, (what food we let in to nourish us, and what we eliminate), striving for an ideal image of ourselves where we are of service to the whole (communication and nervous system).
When there is clear communication through our gut and nervous system we can relax more into ourselves as we are, seeing the constantly changing perfection of what is, rather than getting lost in the details and parts of an idealized image that is not embodied.

Herbs that can help support this time are ones that work with bitter, cholagogue (increasing secretion of bile from gallbladder), choleric (increases secretion of bile in liver) actions, as well as nerviness, relaxants, antispasmodics, carminatives and demulcents.
Virgo can be highly strung and thus any relaxing nervines and digestive remedies are beneficial.

Herbs I included in this months tea include;

Chamonile for it's relaxing and digestive support,
Blue Vervain for overly tense nervous and muscular skeletal system, as well as being cooling and bitter thus aiding digestion as well. Good for hot tense overly perfectionist types which Virgo's can tend toward.
Angelica aromatic bitter taste stimulates digestion and liver, relaxing to lungs and decreases spasms.
Agrimony - relaxing tension especially in those who hide behind a cheery face and who’s tension originates from work or business relationships (6th house) .
Licorice root - demulcent, soothing, synergistic, digestive tonic
Wood Betony ~ tonic for digestive tract, strengthens solar plexus so we can feel and trust our gut instincts.


References;
Ancient Moon Wisdom ~ Miriam Maron
School of Evolutionary Herbalism ~ Astroherbalism
Anatomy of the Soul ~ Rabbi Nachman
Matthew Wood ~ The Book of Herbal Wisdom

“The more alive you feel, having been born in the moon of spring, the more sensitive you may be, and the more you might feel the angst of all that frustrates or outright impedes your connection to the magic and ever flowing flux of life. You are the grass reaching towards the sky from the constructiveness of Earth, the bud on the tree limb eagerly and impatiently pushing against the slow pace of life in order to unfold and blossom. Your desires move you towards unbridled and untempered celebration and life dance against the backdrop of forces with agendas of tempering and directing you.”
Ancient Moon Wisdom ~Miriam Maron

Rosh Chodesh Nissan occurs right around the Spring equinox, a balance between day and night, light and dark, yin and yang upon heaven and earth.

We emerge from the watery depths of Pisces where all is one, beyond self and merged- into- unity consciousness, into Aries, the initiating, fiery, dynamic, hot spark of life that pushes the seeds into new growth and individuality. It is all about establishing self and survival. It is the primary vital force that initiates life.

Aries embodies the principles of Yang, Fire, Cardinal and Mars. It is Hot and Dry, seeking expansion and ascension. It is concerned with power in the expression of self, not so much power over others as pure energy power, our own true power, and a direct vitality that creates life. The evolutionary goal of Aries is to align our power within to a higher truth that can serve all.
Integrity and virtue through action.
One of the lessons of Aries is to harness and focus this energy and bring it to an embodied place where it can be not only initiated but completed and housed. This is balanced with a more feminine Libra (opposite sign) energy of completion and judgement, a longer view of action over time. Evolutionary aspects, or lessons of Aries would be to develop their courage and Will, face fears and to consciously seek out challenges in a way that can be of benefit to all of our relations. Channel vital force into serving the greater good.


Physiology -

Mars rules the blood and adrenal glands, is associated with the febrile mechanism, temperature regulation (hypothalamus) and ties in with the immune system which is our inner army that defends our inner environment from external attack - often through an increase of fever, heat, redness, restlessness and activity to protect the body.
Our adrenal glands are easily imbalanced in our modern culture, and our fight or flight response to stress manifests in our bodies the same way it would to a survival threat, like an animal attack. This causes blood to flow away from digestion and regeneration to our body’s periphery where it can run away or fight if it needs to. Too much adrenal stress can lead to inflammation and burn out as our overly stressed system seeks to adapt to the point of exhaustion. Emotionally this can manifest as anger, frustration, nervous exhaustion, tension in mind, depletion in body.
Aries people can tend to lean towards stimulants e.g. coffee, chocolate, even stimulant drugs as their energy dips, as stimulants match their constitutional energy pattern. However, long term, it can lead to burn out.
Aries tend to not need too much extra stimulation as they are already there, unless they are expressing deficiency in will and vital force.
Calming the nervous system, nourishing the adrenals and bringing vital force back into parasympathetic mode can be extremely helpful in balancing the fiery hot energy of Mars.

Aries and Mars have Hot and Dry energetics.
As an ecosystem that would correspond to a desert or dry, hot climate.
In Passover time we are remembering our ancestors as they left the state of slavery, which was comforting in its limitedness. As they entered the desert of unknown, freedom, although desired, came with the need to let go of attachment to past and the comfort zone of being a slave.
To initiate change, grow and allow our stories to become self empowered we needed the initiatory courageous energy of Aries to walk into the unknown. From the time in the desert down to the parting of the seas, the same energy and trust that you are walking towards life, sparked our journey.
Nissan is our journey, our doorway, the threshold, do we hesitate or do we leap?

Often the plants that grow in deserts can be cooling, mucilaginous and hold onto water. e.g. Aloe.
Plants with a strong Mars, fiery, cardinal energy will often (but not always) grow in cool, damp environments.
Often the medicine we need grows in the very environment of our challenges.

Aries has the glyph of the ram, rules the head, our impulse to leap and act headfirst, headstrong, headache! The Pesach lamb is our sacrifice, we give our offering of humility before the creator that our first borns (creative impulses) will be passed over in judgement. It is not our job to complete the work, nor are we exempt from trying.
We are instructed to leave in haste, without even time to bake bread, to allow our ego’s to inflate or doubt, we have to follow the impulse, fight or flee to escape slavery and pharaoh’s changing mind. This is a very Aries story.. a beginning of spring, warmth, expansion out of our comfort zone of watery oneness and into the light, individuated and strong.
Sacrifice in pesach means letting go of binds that no longer serve our path, old patterns, ways of relating, choices that we no longer recognize as choices but feel more like compulsions, addictions or stuckness.

“Lamb represents innocence, purity, letting go of all the givens and definitions placed on us in life and restoring our simplicity, our essential innocent self, the prerequisite to new unfolding, to new encounters. Lamb means stepping back from our judgmental self and bringing forth our open-hearted self, so that we might have the fortitude to do what is required of us in the moment; to cross the sea that lies between our past and our future, between the place of being stuck and the place of fresh possibilities.
The Torah therefore often describes our ancestors as seeing things completely fresh, completely new, using these words: “and he lifted up his eyes and he saw - va’yee’sa ay nahv v’yar” meaning he no longer saw the same thing in the same way, but lifted his way of seeing above the way in which he’d been accustomed to seeing.
Lamb challenges us to see our loved ones not continuously in the same way, with the same assumptions with which we saw and experienced them yesterday, but to do so anew, daily.” Ancient Moon Wisdom ~ Miriam Maron.

Recognizing Aries plant correspondences:
Plants can be intense and have sharp thorns , prickles, serrated edges, hot colors, e.g. red, orange, yellow. Masculine warrior plants e.g. Nettles, hot and irritating on skin but cooling and moistening in blood. Full of iron, embodies Aries and Spring time. Useful for hay fever and allergies.
Devils club which is healing to solar plexus, and useful for developing willpower and easing stress.

Taste - pungent, spicy, stimulating, increases vital force circulation of blood
Hot and Dry herbs - Sympathetic -eg cayenne, ginger, cloves, horseradish.
Horseradish is a great example of Sympathetic plant medicine - it is hot and pungent and cleansing, very yang medicine that radiates up and out, clearing sinuses and head from dampness and congestion. It is the bitter herb we use during passover to remind us of the bitterness of slavery. To not remember, face or integrate our trauma or slavery is not a true liberation. We escape but do not free ourselves. Allowing yourself to grieve and forgive is a way to ultimately free yourself from the binds of your past.

Correcting our blood, our waterways, allowing it to be cleansed and unclogged can bring in new life.

Antipathetic - bitter taste cooling, downward and in. Yin. Can be also drying and need to check for that, so it doesn’t further aggravate dryness in tissues.
During Pesach we eat bitter herbs which are a cooling, directing energy downwards and inwards that brings us back into our bodies and reminds us of times where we were not free to make decisions over our bodies.

Adaptogens work on hormonal system HPA axis - chi tonics that can help nourish body that has been overly depleted. Appropriately indicated for modern world.

e.g. Ashwagandha, ginsengs, medicinal mushrooms. Adapting our systems from being stuck in fight or flight or in rest and digest, allows us the movement we need to grow beyond reactions into actions. Reset, support, and dynamic balance.

Nervines - lemon balm, milky oats, skullcap, passionflower, lavender. cooling calming to excess states. An antithesis to the hot fiery cardinal mars working on blood and immune response. Nervines can relax and nourish our communication systems all across our bodies. Communication is difficult and easily imbalanced, both in body (nerves) and in speech. Calming down frustration and anger, heat excitation, can bring ease to communication and our systems as a whole.

“We are challenged to bring ourselves into, to dwell in, the realm of aliveness, not allowing all of our issues and anxieties to deaden us, to numb us from the gift of being.” Ancient Moon Wisdom ~ Miriam Maron



Sources:

Ancient Moon Wisdom; the Kabbalistic Wheel of Astro-Mystery and its relationship to the Human Experience ~ Miriam Maron

School of Evolutionary Herbalism - Astro Herbalism course - Aries.