Virgo: Let the Earth Support You

Virgo is a mutable, earthy sign ruled by Mercury. The symbol for Virgo is a young woman with an ear of corn in her hand and a child in her lap. She symbolises fertility and purity. During the current pandemic, purity, or rather avoiding contamination is a preoccupation for all of us . We are fearful of touching surfaces for fear that the virus is lurking there. We are anxious that the virus might be lingering in the air we breathe. Of course it makes sense to take precautions to stay safe when facing  a potentially deadly virus. However, all this airy, worry energy can leave us feeling disconnected from nature, ungrounded, cut off from our inner wisdom, and so less able to navigate the crisis. In this post we'll consider how to harness Virgo's earth energy, to help us to stay grounded and centred. 

The Virgo symbol of a young woman, a babe in arms, and corn in her hand, gives us a few clues about how to stay grounded. Grounding activities include; spending time with children, pets, gardening, baking (especially kneading bread), and walks in nature. Whereas worry energy takes us up into our head and away from the present moment; grounding activities bring us back into our body, our feet firmly planted on the earth, and back to the present moment. When you are grounded you are reunited with a sense of hope, optimism, and a clarity of purpose. 

Below are two meditations that you can use when you need to ground yourself. The first, the Mantra Lam Meditation, is from the Yoga by the Stars book. The great thing about chanting is that it releases tension and helps to restore a healthy breathing pattern; this in turn is calming and soothes worry energy. The second meditation, Standing Like a Tree, is from my first book, Yoga Through the Year. 

Mantra Lam Meditation
Come to a sitting position and rest your hands on your belly. Notice the gentle rise and fall of the belly with each in and out-breath. Then with each out-breath, silently repeat the mantra Lam (pronounced lum). This is the bija (seed) mantra associated with the base chakra (muladhara), and it is very grounding. After a few silent repetitions, begin to sound the Lam mantra on each exhale. With each repetition of the mantra bring your awareness down to the belly and the lower half of the body. After a few repetitions, let go of chanting.
Spend a few more minutes here, quietly observing your breath and noticing the contact between your body and the earth. When you are ready, carry on with your day.

Standing Like a Tree
This exercise can be used at any time of year as a stand-alone exercise or as part of your yoga practice. It can be used as a way of centring and grounding yourself at the start of a yoga practice. In daily life it is particularly helpful for those times when you feel thrown off balance by a situation and need to regain your equilibrium and ground yourself.
Stand tall like a tree. Your feet are parallel and about hip width apart. Your knees are soft, your face relaxed, shoulders down away from the ears. Your tailbone feels heavy as though it is weighted, and the crown of your head feels light and floats skyward. Picture in your mind’s eye a tree that you love or feel a connection to.
Bring your awareness to your feet. Be aware of where your feet are in contact with the earth beneath you. Allow your toes to spread and your heels to drop down into the earth. Imagine that there are roots growing from the soles of your feet, going deep down into the earth below you, spreading in a wide circle, and giving you stability.
With each inhale imagine that you are drawing healing energy and nourishment up though your roots into the soles of your feet, up through the legs, torso, and to the lungs.
With each exhale imagine that the out-breath is travelling down both legs, through your feet, and back down into your roots. Imagine with each exhale that you are letting go of anything that you do not wish to hold on to, letting go of tension, worries, anxiety, persistent thoughts, discomfort, or pain. Imagine that any negativity that you let go of is then cleansed and purified by the soil.
Inhale: Healing energy
Exhale: Letting go
Repeat over several breaths until you feel centred and grounded.

See also: Virgo Pure Light Visualisation