Regulars and Shorts

Ask the Astrologer: January 2010

By Christopher Renstrom

Seeding Scorpio: The perfect time to get back to the earth.
by Christopher Renstrom

 

 I am planning on doing a farm apprenticeship next spring—in particular the one at the Green Gulch San Francisco Zen Center, for six months. Everyone (parents, ha ha) thinks I’m being hasty, especially in this economy, so I start second guessing sometimes if this is a bad idea. I feel it is right, but I do have a tendency to be impatient. Maybe the planets could give me an idea? (Birthdate: November 21, 1979)

I think this is an excellent idea and I would strongly encourage you to follow through with it. You were born under Scorpio, a zodiac sign that’s intimately connected to the Underworld. The Underworld is associated with death in many people’s minds (after all, bodies are buried in graves), but the underworld also rules over everything that lies beneath the surface of the earth, such as precious metals, fossils, ruins and seeds. Indeed, our notion of reincarnation stems from agrarian societies that observed how after a seed grew into a plant, it produced new seeds before it withered and died. The following spring that plant would pop back up again—with maybe a few others in tow. The idea of going to seed and then returning again not only laid the foundation for the belief in reincarnation —which is treated as a mundane fact of life in eastern cultures—but it also inspired the karmic notion that the seed you sow yields the fruit that you reap. This plays a central role in the Zen philosophy of life.

What makes the Green Gulch San Francisco Zen Center even more appealing as a choice for you is its connection to spirituality and farming. You were born with your ruling planet, Mars, in Virgo. The brightest star in the constellation of Virgo is Spica, which basically means “ear of corn” (sometimes “ear of wheat”), which is why images of Virgo often depict a young woman in a field surrounded by the fruits of her labors—wheat, spelt, vegetables, corn and barley. Virgo rules the time of year (late summer/early fall) when these are harvested here in the northern hemisphere. September is the Virgin Mary’s birth month (which explains the “virgin” in Virgo) as well as the month of the Eleusinian mysteries which celebrated the reunion of Demeter (Greek goddess of the grain) with her daughter Persephone, who had been abducted by Hades, lord of the Underworld. The reunion of Demeter and Persephone symbolized the triumph of life over death through the continuation of the agricultural cycle. The themes of seeding, farming and spirituality all appear in your horoscope—especially given that Jupiter, Saturn and your north node are also in Virgo.

When you have this kind of Scorpio/ Virgo energy in your chart, it’s not the job that matters as much as it is the good work you do. It’s important for you to connect to your higher purpose in a way that yields tangible results and makes a difference in the world. And what could be better than to nourish human nature by putting food in people’s stomachs and Buddha in their hearts? u

This article was originally published on December 30, 2009.