Ah Virgo season. With it comes the powerful wave of healing and recognition for an archetype of caretaking that has been quietly chugging along on high work mode this year. Solstice through July and into August have been much about Mars and recognition of the masculine threads. So too was much of 2020. With the Sun moving into Virgo and Venus moving into conjunction with Ceres, we feel our attention brought to parts of the spectrum that are associated with being feminine. Virgo. The Hearth.
VIRGO AND THE POWER IN THE HEARTH
Astrologically speaking, Virgo is the maiden and is characterized by the hearth. As you know from our high vibe household series, the hearth is the spiritual as well as the physical energy container of our homes and community spaces. As Virgo comes into play (along with Venus) we naturally bring our awareness to how we relate to home, hearth, and the energy of taking care of it (and those who do it for us) in our lives. What happens in the hearth secures home environment and stabilizes everyone that lives in it from there. So too, does Virgo hold space for the Universe, here.
In the higher harmonic Virgo is respected, acknowledged, and compensated for their contributions. They feel loved and cared for as they go about doing those tasks for those in their network. In the harder harmonic, Virgo is overworked, strapped for resources, and lonely. Virgo carries an ever-increasing weight with little to no thanks. Virgo gets burnt out and bitter.* Right now as the energy enters, many people are probably feeling or have recently felt the harder harmonic.
When Virgo and Venus came into play yesterday, the powerful message that I heard was ‘talk about the imbalance.’ THEY ARE READY. As they powerfully express: our contemporary moment is one where many hearth-holders are ‘feeling the pinch’. Part of this conversation is to give love and validation to those of you *us* minding the hearth. As Virgo teaches us, the hearth is the heart of the Universe and our homes. Because the hearth is also invisible, although essential to our survival, those who hold that space are often unacknowledged. They do ‘more and more’ often for less and less.
Sound familiar?
Virgo season asks us to ask ourselves: Who are the hearth-holders in our lives? Are we them? What are we able to do to secure power in our home and community spaces? What can we do to support ourselves and others in restoring balance to imbalanced relations?
HOUSEHOLD AND THE HEARTH : OUR COLLECTIVE JOURNEY
Within the hearth there are the ‘household’ actions that we tend to take into account when we think about cooking, cleaning, and caretaking in its ‘contemporary’ sense. This is what gets termed ‘the second shift’ or ‘invisible labour’. There is a whole ‘third shift’ that encompasses the energy realm. This is the one that includes things like taking care of the soul wounds your household member comes home with, holding the energy of the house, and all the other things that a hearth-holder does. A strong hearth-holder is able to detect any ‘blips’ in the radar scale of what is ‘upcoming’, minds the soul and energy conditions of every member (and keeps them ‘clear’ as they come and go from the home), steers the energy of the family, and minds the metaphysical path. The person who holds a hearth is one who is responsible to bring together each of the energy threads, keep everyone safe, and to remain vigilant that the fire is always lit.
In addition to our home ‘hearth’ we also have a ‘hearth spaces’. Places like classrooms, sports teams, a business space, an event like a festival, and a community hall all have ‘hearth’ energy Especially ones we spend a significant amount of time with (or are highly impacted by). A person who ‘holds good space’ is usually someone who puts quite a bit of effort into keeping themselves and the activities they run spiritually clear and focused. The welfare and wellbeing as well as collective energy of people who come to these spaces is influenced by what happens there. (More on this in future posts.)
PRESSURES WE HAVE MET IN RECENT YEARS AND BEGINNING TO FIX OUR IMBALANCES
Building upon this notion and returning to the imbalance that Venus and Virgo feel the collective is ready to speak about. During the past 2.5 years, changes like inflation, rapid life changes leading to scarcity, and suddenly being home all the time has placed a lot of pressure on our households. This most especially includes the hearth-holders. People who find themselves in the spaces of caring for the emotional and physical well-being of themselves, their families, and sometimes people at work are doing so (or did so) in a higher volume. Often, in increasingly difficult circumstances, for less awareness, and with little thanks. *it has not been easy for a great many people and families.*
Parents, teachers, coaches, people like me who hold space for communities, community program providers: we are the caretakers who help make the world a great place to be. We are also the people who wind up putting in a lot of ‘invisible’ effort like hours of love and care through phone-calls, creating support materials, working on the energy of the space (or activity), and often times putting our own resources in to help others ‘in need’. Though some of us get paid some of the time for what we do, many people have been relied upon in more harsh circumstances for ‘less and less’. This is not a comfortable place to be. I say this from personal experience. It is in this thread that I find the harder harmonics of Virgo expressed. When we think about the archetype of the untouched woman who is meant to stay inside off of all of the adventures, minding the fire. Virginally, at that. Though she has the most power, she is often alone and thus lonely. Toiling away without much of the gratification of the adventure. Some of us have been (are) in that energy. Virgo season gives us the opportunity to highlight and change that.
SHOUT OUT TO ALL THE HEARTHOLDERS OUT THERE
Right now (and these next few months) we are being given the opportunity to heal these rifts in our collectives. This means that we will be able to more clearly see, appreciate, express, and experience the hearth-energy in our lives. For many people who are hearth holders and caretakers of various sorts, this is a season we are going to have to see ourselves and our experiences very clearly for what we (and they) are. If you are one of the people who has been holding it ‘up’ for yourself, this planet, a family, a team, a classroom, a workplace and you feel invisible: I see you. The Universe thanks you. What you (we) do is still highly undervalued because we are in a world that is a little backward. I genuinely believe we are working toward fixing it. Part of that is having conversations like this.
An important lesson that many of us have met is that we are able to keep it moving in the short term. Left unchecked for too long, this ‘shouldering it’ that many of us have done these past few years creates spiritual and social imbalances.
I know many of you are new here to the page. This is a special topic to me because my day to day life is all about holding the hearth for the Universe. Everything I said above, I do for the cosmic lifeforce that sustains us all. What I talk about in my astrology reports and posts like this is related to that healing journey the Universe is on. We are all here as part of the party. In sharing what I do, it is my goal to get information out there to those who are ready to get into how we are working through. Today, as part of that, I leave a little set of self-discovery questions you may like to work with to bring about visibility related to hearth-holding and hearth energy in your life.
SELF DISCOVERY QUESTIONS:
– Who are the hearth-holders in my life?
– Who do I hold the hearth for?
– Who do I rely upon for physical, emotional, and spiritual support and do I acknowledge their impact on me?
– How many people rely on me for emotional, physical, and spiritual support and how do I feel in those relations?
– Do I require more support than I am currently receiving? Are there any sources for physical, emotional, and spiritual support that I am not making the most of?
– Am I experiencing (or contributing to) hearth-based imbalances?
– Am I exploiting someone and their willingness to ‘hold hearth’ for me?
– What am I like as a ‘hearth-mate’? What do I contribute and take from the hearth?
If you happen to find imbalances or answers you do not like: do not be discouraged. The structure of social, economic and gender relationships are grossly unequal. As we work through this season, a reminder that what we find ‘not in balance’, we have the chance to ‘bring into balance’. This may be in terms of reorganization in the household, around labour activities, or just becoming more conscious of what we bring to the people who hold hearth for us in life.
We are the people here to create the change. Never underestimate the power of a thank you, apology for overworking, or an adjustment of behaviour. Each of these actions help bring things back into balance.
In the case of these relations, when we recognize the contributions we and others make and THANK and BE THANKED for it, everyone involved feels more nurtured and nourished. We feel seen.
Although some of us may not have ‘financial capital’, we do have things like ‘social capital’. We are also able to do things to appreciate the loads others carry, to be more mindful of our own, and to take steps to start bringing things into balance. The self-discovery questions above will help with all of that.
A wise society takes care of the caretakers.
HAVE YOU APPRECIATED MY CONTRIBUTIONS?
Each season, I will be doing a little community support drive. This is me lovingly requesting people who benefit from my teachings to consider sending in a little gift of thanks to my page by way of donation. I put a lot of effort into my posts, podcasts, and ceremonies that I offer up to you here. If you have a few extra dollars to spare, this would be a lovely way to say thanks. A little wave of love from the community I hold the hearth for will also encourage me to keep posting next season. Lovingly receiving to paypal.me/KatieIndiCrow or to https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crowmedicine .
BIG LOVE,
Katie IndiCrow
Just discovered your page and you. Thank you for you.