This year, we have 8/8/2024 (8) occurring during a Venus and Mercury (rx) conjunction in Virgo. The number 8 is associated with power, ambition, strength, a dynamic personality, perfection, and justice. Where we encounter 8 energy is when we are placed in positions of authority. Where we are then tasked with building character through a steadfast commitment to overcome obstacles and remain ambitious toward our goals.
This is a time to develop and review our standards to ascertain whether they are fair, ethical, balanced, and just. Associated with the tarot cards Strength, Justice, and the Moon, we see through the reflection of ourselves in others where we need balance. It is through this work that we find what needs to be perfected within the body and mind. Alejandro Jodorowsky puts it as “the greatest obedience being to become yourself and allow cosmic laws to take action in your mind and material life.” Justice, in this case, is not about morality but about the right action. The balancing of the scales depends not on what is externally determined to be right or wrong but on your internal relationship to yourself.
Step 1. Is your heart as light as a feather?
Or is your heart or mind heavy with expectations that have not been met? Pain experienced by others? A judgment that you have cast down upon yourself and those around you?
Mutable Earth encourages change and transformation, a designation not always ascribed to Earth signs. Virgo, though, is ruled by Mercury, the planet of curiosity, magic, and knowledge. Virgo needs time to review and examine everything that comes across its plate, identify what may be missing, and then bring that missing element into the conversation or examination. Virgo is nothing if not thorough. Virgo uses its skills to take what is present and perfect it. The archetypes aligned with Mercury and Virgo consist of Hermes, The Magician, The Trickster, The Fool, Thoth, Hermes the Psychopomp, The Sorceress, and The Witch. Kathleen Burt states that we can “visualize Hermes as Mercury retrograding slowly, quietly, redundantly on his orbit.” As the Magician, Virgo is the alchemist who, through experimentation, takes physical substances and purifies them to create a united spiritual substance.
We experience this energy three times a year during Mercury retrograde. We find ourselves in the liminal space created during integration, waiting for a project to be completed, hearing news or a decision, or waiting for papers or a message to arrive. While we wait, we are asked to review, revise, rewrite, or redo the work of preparing for our next step. All things that can feel excruciatingly painful when you’re waiting in anticipation for what is to come. But this time is crucial. It is this space in between where magic occurs. When we try to rush through this or avoid it, we find ourselves missing important steps or warning signs that would save us time and energy going forward. This is often the experience that activates the Trickster. Jung states that Mercurious, acts as a form of the Trickster. Mercurious, is known for “his fondness for sly jokes and malicious pranks, his powers as a shape-shifter, his dual nature, half animal, half divine – his approximation to the figure of a Saviour”. (Jung, On the Psychology of the Trickster Figure).
It is not a coincidence that Virgo is the sign that comes right before we enter the underworld. They are meant to help us prepare and know what should/shouldn’t be on our scales. Do not reject the harsh insights from Virgo, but listen and be open to their wisdom.
Today, Venus and Mercury are conjunct or directly in alignment. Venus and Mercury have a close relationship, both literally and figuratively. They are never far apart from each other. In Greek Mythology, Aphrodite and Hermes come together as Eros and logos, creativity and spirit, heart, and mind – representations of the split we often experience within the psyche between who we are and the social expectations of who we should be. When they unite, we become whole. Their union represents one version of individuation. We see this similarly in other cultures with Isis and Thoth or Inanna and Enki. Their unions allowing for creation and unification to occur.
Today make note of where the trickster has been present in your life lately.
Step 2. Face the Trickster with courage and be open to what it is showing you.
Step 3. Then, use that knowledge to affirm what it is you truly desire.
Take today, to align not only with the external portal of 8/8/8, but with your own internal portal of creation through uniting the unconscious with the conscious.
With love,
Kamilah Rose
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