I love this time of year in North Carolina. The temperatures move perfectly between 65 at night to 85 in midday. The leaves have started falling occasionally, and best of all, the mushroom season has begun.

Coming here from Israel, where there is barely any rain, I hadn’t experienced this beautiful festival of nature, with mushrooms growing all around, in all shapes, colors and sizes. I attached some of my mushroom pictures here, and you can see more on my Instagram.

A few weeks ago, a friend went to Colorado. She posted beautiful pictures of the gigantic sceneries, with the huge boulders of Rocky Mountains, steeping in great forests and deep valleys.

I told my friend that next time she should come visit Asheville. She asked for pictures. To my surprise, and disappointment, I found that I did not have pictures of the big Appalachian Mountains. Even those I had, were not as impressive as her Colorado pictures.

My pictures of North Carolina are taken between tree branches, at streams, under waterfalls. Inside the scenery, not outside of it. They depict small details like mushrooms, trees, and flowers.

Through this I realized that Colorado represented Sagittarius, with its big, huge perspective, while North Carolina is Virgo, the goddess in the details.

Another friend wrote me this week “I sometimes get a bit disappointed when Virgos are depicted as the secretaries of the cosmos.”

I could truly relate to her frustration. Virgos are known for being analytical and critical. They care about cleaning and organizing. That sounds very boring. But there is so much more to Virgos than that.

I love Virgos. There was a time in my life when I only fell in love with Virgos and befriended Virgos.  My friend and teacher, Maty Ezraty, who passed away three years ago, was a very strong Virgo. She was supposed to celebrate her 59^th birthday this coming week.

Last week I wrote that Virgos are mystical and magical. Let me explain why. Virgo is opposite to Pisces. Opposing signs always have mutual qualities. We will discuss the mutual qualities and differences between Virgo and Pisces in details, when we get to the next full moon in Pisces, but now I can say that magic and mysticism are two qualities that they both poses.

Virgo represents the ancient wise feminine, who lived in the forest. She used to go outside to gather herbs and mushrooms. She then processed them and used them for healing, magic, and rituals.

Virgo is ruled by Mercury, which will start retrograding on September 9. The pre shadow phase of this retrograde started on Aug 22.

During Mercury retrograde we are asked to go inside and connect with our right brain. We are not as sharp and analytical as we usually are. Our ability to communicate ourselves it not at its best, to say the least.

This is why during times of Mercury Retrograde there are lots of misunderstandings, which lead to frustration. On the other hand, during these times we can better connect with our insight, intuition, and inner vision.

We are asked to stop looking at the world through our normal eyes, but to open our third eye and look within.

The process starts during the pre-shadow phase, when we feel the urge to slow down and go inwards.  

Last week I felt it almost impossible to communicate with people. I was so absorbed in my writing and in my inner world, I could barely bring myself to post anything on social media.

I’ve learned to respect my rhythm. This is part of the Virgo wisdom.

I feel that especially when your work is creative, you must respect your inner tides. If you are tuned enough, you could see how this rhythm is directly connected with cosmic influences.

Another thing to note is that during this week, Mars in Gemini square the sun in Virgo. This can make it harder for us to get up and go. We might feel lazy or find it harder to give our projects everything we got.

In this beautiful Virgo season, with fall approaching, we are asked to slow down.

Go out to nature, look at the tiny raindrops resting on green leaves, or the mushrooms, or whatever makes your surrounding special during this season. Enjoy the magic of Virgo, the ancient sage of nature, who knew better than anyone to live according to the cycles and rhythm of Mother Earth.

Have a wonderful week,

With love,

Yael