It’s Monday morning. I awaken early in Calistoga, Ca at crack o’ thanks to a cabin mate who has elected herself camp rooster. I awaken reluctantly after a night spent on a hard mattress but definitely in LOVE…(that’s the name of the cabin I stay in). And I also awaken very excited for day three of sitting at the feet of master evolutionary astrologer Steven Forrest.

When I arrived, the first thing I noticed that was unusual about this particular retreat – other than the usual colorful but eclectic cast of psychics, intuitives, healers, housewives and men (for a ‘feminine’ astrology retreat, there’s a record number of ’em) – is the sheer number of attendees. This retreat wasn’t an exorbitant cost,  but it was a pretty penny for average folks. We’re not the elite; we’re a modest bunch, and this is a recession right? Hmmm, spending money on an astrology retreat are you? Oh, yeah, this definitely runs contrary to recessionary logic, in which only those basic needful things should be purchased (the rest stashed for safe keeping). But recessionary logic isn’t evolutionary logic. Recessionary logic grumpily puts off the soul for later – after dinner is served and the kids’ college paid. We’re familiar with this logic, because it dominates many of us.

Evolutionary logic is different. It suggests that when times squeeze us, those are the times to squeeze back -that’s when we’re ripe and ready for the spiritual work at hand. And those are times when, if we make a smidgen of room to whatever our soul wants us to hear, we can grow. The great news is, while our soul may need an investment during this time, it may not need an investment of cash; maybe the soul needs time spent alone, a yoga class, or a new book. Spiritual nourishment, in whatever form it takes, is bread and water for the soul under stress.

I’m not being dismissive about recessionary logic – this doesn’t just feel real, it is real. Still. The God of Necessity can be a relentless fussbudget of a teacher, having us make choices miserably when we don’t have to do be miserable. Many people are struggling with the real big stuff: keeping their homes, jobs, lives running, and some getting by the skin of their teeth. But in the law of parallel Universes, as stuff gets bigger, the little stuff starts whispering (and then shouting) for our attention. Necessity is God – or at least one of them. At this Virgo Full Moon, falling so near Saturn, whatever we consider as necessary to the overall functioning of our lives hangs in the balance to our spiritual needs, which are just as neccessary. In theory, neither are separate. That’s theory. In practice whoever cries the loudest gets the food fastest, right? This may work for awhile, but it’s a heck of a way to live.

Sitting at the feet of the Master, I’ve heard many extraordinary stories but the one I want to share with you is called the Myth of Mondays. It goes like this; ask anyone which day of the week they prefer, Monday or Saturday, and get a predictable answer. Saturday of course! But we’ve all had those vaguely depressing weekends watching movies, eating, zonked out and basically feeling like a big banana slug with arms and legs, and when Monday arrives and we’re accomplishing something, engaged in a project, or a conference, or answering emails, having an identity, being productive – we’re happy. What happened? We may say we hate Mondays, but in reality, Monday is the cool definition of happy, maybe not pleasure, but happy. Mondays keep us sane. Without some responsibilities and lofty goals that sometimes push us to our ‘most excellent’ limits, we’d be essentially bored lotus-eaters. This is the Saturn part of us, which knows certain things worth having take hard work. And by doing those self-respecting things well, we build self-respect.

This lunation tugs at the Uranus-Saturn opposition. With out-there Uranus in opposition to earth-bound Saturn, I do believe the collective rules of ‘reality’, those hard and fast laws are susceptible to our radical notions of them. I don’t know if we’ll do anything different, but if we choose, Uranus offers clues how. In my book, individuality is its own paradigm shifter. This is less about rule-breaking – calling in sick on Monday, quitting a job, or being a crazy-maker individualist in the negative sense – but if we’re unhappy, wondering if we may’ve been going about the same old thing the wrong way. Maybe we can’t bend the rules to make them conform to our ego’s desire for… a little more money, a little more security…(look at what’s happening to those guys!), but we can inquire playfully, shake up some old habits and myths that stymie our growth and keep us stuck – because Saturn’s specialty is stuck-ness, too. We can change our own personal Myth of Monday.

As we hover on the brink of change, it’s hard to know which way the wind will blow. Will there be a true revolution? Or will things superficially change, but essentially remain the same?  Some days feel that  just listening to the news and feeling one with the Universe just isn’t healthy. Some days it’s less power of the people and more power of the person. Full Moon Virgo suggests that this is one of those days. To work our own plot of land. To stay in integrity with what it is we’re doing, To keep focused on delivering our own personal form of excellence in the world, not because it’s a chore but because at the end of another truly exhausting day, it’s truly and deeply what we want to be doing. In the spirit of Saturn in Virgo, it’s now time to embrace the rooster no matter how early she crows, to embrace the good work before us, and set out to do just that.