By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.
In Virgo season (starts 23 August) it’s sooooooo tempting to think either a) I MUST GET RID OF ALL THE CLUTTER; or b) I can’t face the clutter, I’m going back to bed.
Neither is ideal.
As my friend Jacqueline Gates says so eloquently: ‘clutter is an opinion’.
Yes, Virgo finds peace through orderliness.
But that means:
- only YOU get to decide what things belong in your life, and what things have outstayed their welcome
- only YOU get to decide how, and when, and at what pace you gently allow the things that no longer belong, to be released out into the wild
For example: I have a box in my closet which contains physical mementoes of my late, great grandmother, Dorothy Edith Dalgliesh.
She lived with us from when I was five, and was a key cornerstone in shaping me – for the good and the ill.
As I do my inner work to heal old trauma and release old conditioning, sometimes I’m releasing stuff I got from her – either directly or through my Dad, her son.
Some of that stuff reaches back beyond her, to the generations that went before.
I’m not healing myself in order to heal them – but that’s what happens anyway, a kind of intergenerational healing which happens by grace when I do my work.
I’m choosing to keep certain core aspects of myself which I know came to life through her: courage, kindness, a sense of justice and fair play, musicality, passion for the arts and creativity.
She served as a VAD during World War I, and was a survivor of the ship HMT Osmanieh, which was hit by a German mine in Alexandria harbour and sank in 20 minutes, killing most on board. When I knew her, she couldn’t sleep with the light off; but she never let her own trauma lessen her courage throughout a difficult life of early widowhood, single parenting, and complex family dynamics.
I choose to keep the heroic parts of me which arose from her.
And I release the rest.
That’s why I still have her wedding veil, the gloves and stockings she wore that day, and even a dried sprig from her bouquet, all dating from 21 September 1919. But I gave away multiple items of furniture and linen and household goods.
Because only I get to decide what is clutter, and what is a talisman for something important to me.
This whole principle goes way beyond the physical items in our homes. It applies to our whole lives.
All the moving parts – things, tasks, people, responsibilities, habits, beliefs – we get to decide what is clutter, and what is not.
This is part of the Virgo superpower: the capacity for exquisite discernment between which parts are joy-fuelling, and which parts are energy-draining.
You get to keep the parts that bring energy and help fuel your joy, your growth and your goals, for as long as you want.
Just like I get to keep my Granny’s wedding veil.
Because when you allow that clarity, it becomes soooooo much easier to release the stuff that really IS clutter.
And best of all – Virgo can also help us navigate the journey so we can handle it without having to Do It All Now, or scurry back to bed from anticipating exhaustion.
Pick one. Get it handled. Relish, bask and settle in to the new way of being.
Rinse and repeat.
Virgo is a perfect time to master that art.
EXACT TIMES (US Eastern timezone) – 22 August, 11:16 PM, Sun moves into Virgo.
PS I created a special anti-overwhelm practice to help with the whole ‘want to declutter/ want to stay in bed’ paradox, as part of my Liberation Zodiac membership program. If you want to be part of that crew, one month starts at $40USD – and if all you learn is how to activate Virgo vibe, to reduce clutter while also reducing the EFFORT of clutter, it’s worth it!
Janette Dalgliesh is a gifted life coach and astrologer based in south-east Australia. She helps women of all kinds, from all walks of life, to set themselves free from the unconscious, toxic BS of the patriarchy in which we all grew up – through the lens of astrology, mythology and archetypes. Her signature work is Liberation Zodiac, and you will find her at www.janettedalgliesh.com
