This new moon lands at zero degrees Virgo, the very threshold between Leo's fire and Virgo's earth. Zero degrees carries the raw, unrefined energy of pure beginnings — this is Virgo before it learns to perfectionist itself into paralysis. We stand at the ecotone, that liminal space where two ecosystems meet and create something entirely new. This is innovation born from starting exactly where you are, with whatever tools you have, even (especially) when conditions aren't perfect.

The Chariot is a very orderly card — travel requires so many moving parts to all run smoothly in accordance with the plan. It might be a good time to consider contingencies. Virgo and Pisces represent the micro and the macro, the tiny details and the big picture, both of which are important on a journey. You need to know both the full breadth of your hopes and dreams for a journey toward your final destination, and the smaller details about each next turn in the road, and what you’ll do if (when) you miss one.

At zero degrees Virgo, The Chariot emerges from Leo's bold confidence into earth's practical realm, but hasn't yet learned Virgo's tendency toward over-analysis. This is action taken from pure instinct, the willingness to begin the journey even when the path isn't perfectly mapped. The Chariot at this threshold invites us to harness our momentum and direct it toward tangible change, understanding that the act of moving forward creates its own intelligence.

Sometimes the most powerful action is to start exactly where you are, with whatever resources you have, trusting that the path will reveal itself as you move. The Chariot reminds us that staying the course doesn't mean rigidity — it means maintaining direction while remaining responsive to the terrain as it shifts beneath our wheels.

Journal Prompts:

Think back to our exploration of Human as "the storytelling animal" and dig deeper into what you think this means. What makes Human human? What makes you different from a dolphin, or an ape, or a mushroom, or a slime mold? What makes you the same?

At this liminal threshold of zero degrees Virgo, we're invited to examine our humanity with fresh eyes, unfiltered by the stories we've been told about human exceptionalism. This is raw inquiry, the kind that emerges when we strip away assumptions and start from direct observation. What does it mean to be human when we acknowledge that our supposed unique traits exist throughout the more-than-human world?

Perhaps our distinctive quality isn't superiority but our particular way of being in relationship - our specific flavor of consciousness that allows us to tell stories, yes, but also to question those stories, to research beyond our immediate experience, to imagine ourselves into other beings' realities. At zero degrees, we stand at the threshold between thinking ourselves separate and recognizing ourselves as part of the web of life.

This card invites experimentation with new ways of being human - ways that honor our animal bodies, our ecological embeddedness, our kinship with all life. What tools serve not just human thriving but the thriving of the whole? How do we innovate ways of being human that account for what we're learning about consciousness, intelligence, and agency in the more-than-human world?

Journal Prompts:

At zero degrees Virgo, we stand in the ecotone between separation and connection, between individual and collective, between self and world. This is the edge space where categories begin to blur and new possibilities emerge. Zero degrees asks us to experiment with ways of being that hold paradox without needing to resolve it immediately.

In ecological terms, ecotones are the most biodiverse spaces - where forest meets meadow, where fresh water meets salt, where desert meets grassland. These transitional zones are fertile precisely because they resist easy categorization. They are neither one thing nor the other, but something entirely new that emerges from the meeting.

How might we live as human ecotones - maintaining our individual boundaries while recognizing our porous, interconnected nature? This threshold space invites us to start experimenting with new ways of understanding identity, relationship, and belonging, even when we don't have perfect frameworks yet. Sometimes the most revolutionary act is to begin practicing different ways of being before we fully understand them intellectually.

The rawness of zero degrees doesn't demand we have it all figured out. It asks us to start from where we are, to experiment with connection and separation as complementary rather than opposing forces, to innovate new ways of being in relationship that honor both autonomy and interdependence.

Journal Prompts:

At zero degrees Virgo, "make it better" doesn't mean perfection - it means starting from exactly where we are and taking the next small step toward wholeness. This is the energy of innovation that emerges not from having ideal conditions, but from working with what's actually present. The raw, unfiltered quality of this degree reminds us that "better" often comes through experimenting, through trying things before we know if they'll work, through allowing ourselves to be beginners.

Making it better means reclaiming our full humanity - not the sanitized, disconnected version that modernity offers, but the messy, embodied, relational version that knows itself as part of the living world. This might mean making it better by eating food that connects us to the earth, by moving our bodies in ways that feel good, by spending time outside, by practicing being present with what is rather than fixating on what should be.

The threshold energy of zero degrees invites us to make it better through small experiments in living differently, in relating differently, in being differently. We don't need to wait for perfect understanding or ideal circumstances. We make it better by starting now, with what we have, where we are.

The universe is offering us an extended Virgo season — two new moons to enter us into and usher us out of eclipse season, creating a gateway for practical magic and grounded transformation. While we honor the eclipse energies without directly working with them (I generally prefer to avoid ritual on eclipses), this double Virgo energy invites us to refine, organize, and perfect our approach to the goals we set at the beginning of the year.

Think of this as a cosmic editing process: what needs fine-tuning? What systems need upgrading? This extended earth energy helps us build sustainable foundations that will carry us into autumn with greater clarity and purpose. The first Virgo new moon (August 23) plants seeds of intention, while the second Virgo new moon (September 22), which is a solar eclipse, offers integration and refined commitment to our path.

Ceremonies of staying course. What are the things we do in our day to day lives that support us being able to stay on the path we have decided to travel?

Materials: Journal, pen, small dish of earth or salt, candles if desired, incense or a burnable herb bundle, small pieces of paper, something that represents "tools" to you (maybe actual tools, or objects that help you in your work/life), instruments or music

Timing: between Saturday, August 23 and mid-day Monday, August 25

Preparation: Create a simple threshold space. Place your earth/salt and incense or herb bundle before you. Arrange your tools nearby. Visually create the axis between grounded earth energy (where we are), the fires of Leo season (where we were) and the airy Libra season that arrives with the next new moon in Virgo during the solar eclipse in September (where we're going).

Opening - Entering the Threshold (10 minutes) Light your candle and incense. Settle into the space between fire and earth and air. Place one hand on the earth/salt, and with the other hold the smoking incense or herbs. This is zero degrees eclipse season energy - the meeting place between different elements, different seasons, different possibilities.

Call in any benevolent and beneficent ancestors, guides, spirits or deities you work with and trust to aid you.

Speak aloud: "I am standing at the threshold between what has been and what is becoming. I am ready to begin from exactly where I am."

Take three deep breaths, feeling how air moves through your body, how fire invigorates you, while your body remains grounded to earth.

Part One - Taking Inventory (15 minutes) Review your year's goals — not to judge progress, but to witness where you are with compassion. Notice what feels heavy and earthbound, what feels light and ready to shift.

Pick up your tools. Hold them or place them in your lap while you write in your journal:

Part Two - Threshold Writing (10 minutes) Take three small pieces of paper. On each one, write one specific action you'll take in the next month - things that bridge where you are (earth) with where you're going (air). These should be small enough to actually do, experimental enough to feel really alive for you.

As you write each one, hold it briefly over the incense smoke, then place it in the earth/salt. This represents taking ideas from the realm of future possibility (air) and grounding them into reality of now (earth).

Part Three - Speak Your Movement (10 minutes) Pick up each paper one by one. Read your commitment aloud. Feel the dance between inspiration and implementation, between vision and practical steps. If you feel called, standing or sitting, feel each commitment in your body and allow it to briefly direct some movement in you. Hold your tool(s) in your hands and dance with them.

After, continue in your journal: How will I stay grounded while remaining open to new perspectives and connections?

Closing - Carrying Both Elements (5 minutes) Stand and hold your journal to your chest. Pick up a pinch of earth/salt in one hand, hold your incense or herbs with the other.

"I carry both groundedness and flexibility. I am rooted enough to grow, flexible enough to flow. I trust the wisdom that emerges from this balance."

Blow out any candles. Dismiss any guides or spirits. Keep your three commitment papers somewhere visible — maybe held down by a small stone or pinned to a board where air can move around them.

Integration:

Journal prompt for ongoing reflection: How can I honor both my animal body and human consciousness as I move toward my goals? What does it feel like to live at the threshold between grounding and lifting, between staying and moving?