Virgo Energy: Self-Sovereignty and Heart-Led Service

Episode Transcript
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Intro/Outro Music (00:13):
Aloha and welcome to your Heart Magic, an
illuminating space wherepsychology, spirituality and
heart wisdom meet.
Here's your host, dr BethannKapansky-Wright.
Author, psychologist andspiritual educator.

Dr. BethAnne Kapansky Wri (00:33):
Aloha everyone.
Welcome to your Heart Magic.
This is Dr BethannKapansky-Wright, and today we
are talking about the Virgoarchetype and looking at some of
the qualities and energies thatthis archetype exhibits and how
might we apply those to ourlife.
And if you have listened toyour Heart Magic for a while,

(00:54):
you know that whenever we'redoing archetype work first we
did the tarot a year and a halfago into last year, and then
we've moved on to astrologicalarchetypes I really like to look
at what do they mean, but alsofind a way to put a slightly
different spin or twist on it tomake it a little bit unique,

(01:15):
because I think that part of thefun of working with archetypes
is they contain such a beautifulcollective well of wisdom and
there's so many things that theyhave to teach us and so many
different attributes andqualities an archetype might
have that reflect something backin us that we can work on,

(01:35):
growing, enhancing, learningfrom.
There's a multiplicity of waysto do archetype work.
It's never just one thing, butI love to keep your heart magic
interesting and try and find away to put a little bit of a
twist on something, because itkeeps it creative and it keeps
it fun for me to make and, Ihope, fun for you to listen to.

(01:57):
First of all, virgo, in amundane level, often means
practicality.
It is an earth sign, so it'sassociated with organization,
putting systems in place.
Virgo will ask us to dosomething step by step, and
figure out how are we going tobuild out a plan or a pathway to
get from point A to point Z.

(02:19):
Virgo likes having a plan andhaving a detailed plan.
And whenever we are looking atthe earth signs, which are
Capricorn, taurus and Virgo,they're always about grounded
energy that asks us to harnessour power in the tangible
material world and figure outhow we're going to build

(02:41):
something forward.
And each sign has a slightlydifferent emphasis to it and
Virgo is our analytical one.
If Capricorn is the builder andabout building something out
and putting a really strongfoundation in place, and Taurus
is about embodiment.
Now that we've built thatstrong foundation, how do we

(03:04):
think about security andembodying the space that we have
created?
How do we think about natureand beauty and the material
realm that's around us andenjoying that and playing with
the ideas around self-worth andvalue and those kinds of
concepts, then Virgo is slightlyheadier.

(03:27):
Virgo is an earth sign, but Ialso think of Virgo as having a
really sharp, keen mind andbeing very thoughtful and
analytical about the next rightstep.
So I really like Virgo season ifwe are setting any kind of a
long-term goal or something thatwe really want to work on and
manifest.

(03:47):
It's not just a good season toplant the seeds of it, but to
think about what's my next rightstep, how would I like this to
grow?
And we don't have to have thefull picture to have an idea of
the essence of what we'rewanting to create with something
or how we might want it tomanifest.
So Virgo season for me is aseason before where I have set

(04:10):
goals around physical health,health in my body.
One year when I was reallyworking on identifying with the
educator aspect of me, that I ama spiritual teacher, I am going
to teach, and this is back in2018 or 2019.
It was a while ago, but I useVirgo Season to make a YouTube

(04:31):
video every single day teachingsome aspect of heart, wisdom,
spirituality.
Basically, I was doing thenwhat I'm doing now.
It was just a differentplatform and it was less about
trying to gain a big audience orhave a huge goal around what I
wanted to do and more about.
I am a teacher and I'm going toteach and creating a platform

(04:54):
for myself, just deciding to ownthat identity and own that
title and step into that roleand see myself as that, and
ultimately, I think that is whatVirgo is really about.
It is about self-determinationand owning our choices.
It's a sign that is associatedwith service and is sometimes

(05:16):
associated with service to agreater cause, service to
something that might help orsupport other people in some way
.
But oftentimes I think we'recalled into different kinds of
service in our life and when weare invested in walking a
spiritual path, then it allboils down to the service of

(05:38):
love and serving light.
Serving love, serving thatvision of creating a better way
by staying in our hearts andfollowing their wisdom, and that
path of walking the way of theheart, serving the cause of love
, is one that's often associatedwith divine, feminine type
energies trusting the intuitivepath, trusting the path, the way

(06:01):
of the heart, even if itdoesn't make sense.
So it's interesting to mebecause, even though Virgo has
this reputation as beinganalytical and being focused and
having this step-by-stepprocess, I actually think at its
core it's very intuitive and itlistens to what the heart is
telling it first and thenfigures out what's my next right

(06:23):
step and maybe from there, whatmight my next right step be
after that.
But ultimately, virgo is inservice to more of an intuitive
energy that listens to the heart.
It receives the knowledge fromthe heart and then it chooses to
act and take a step.
And one of the little summariesthat I found on AI about the

(06:46):
symbolism of Virgo it said thatit was the astrological symbol
of the maiden and that itrepresents the purification of
the self through service toothers.
The original virgin archetypewas connected to divine feminine
figures like the goddessesArtemis and Astraea, who were
virgins not because they weresexually inexperienced, but

(07:10):
because they wereself-sufficient and not subject
to men.
I always love that originaldefinition.
It's interesting how virginbecame this word that took on
being sexually chaste somehow,when really originally it just
meant a woman who was sovereignto herself and independent and

(07:30):
self-sufficient.
I like that definition muchbetter.
Obviously, no matter how wemight identify gender-wise, if
we are applying Virgo energy toour life, then to me what that
boils down to is learning how tohave a sense of sovereignty, of
ownership over the self, of notbeing subject, enslaved to

(07:51):
something else, where wewillingly hand the keys of self
to somebody else and say, hey,you take responsibility for me
instead of owning our right toexercise authority and
authenticity and our own heartand our own life and to own our
choices and find our path.

(08:13):
So when I think about soulsovereignty and the idea of
self-determination and beingself-sufficient, I don't think
about somebody who doesn't everdepend on anybody else and can
pull themselves up by theirbootstraps and they can do all
of it by themselves and they'refiercely independent.
They might have some of thosequalities of independence and

(08:35):
trying to be clever andresourceful and do as much as
they can within their owndevices, but I think that
there's wisdom inself-determination and wisdom in
soul sovereignty where it'sreally about just taking
ownership of the self.
And if we realize we have aneed or something that we need
help with or we need to ask forsupport, it's taking

(08:59):
responsibility for that andchoosing to take a step in that
direction.
And so I really think thiscomes down to self-knowledge and
to knowing ourselves, trustingourselves, choosing to see that
we can trust ourselves, to walkour path, to make mistakes, to
learn from our mistakes, tofigure out how to grow to change

(09:21):
our minds.
We can trust ourselves to reachout and ask for help.
We can trust ourselves to tryand come back to our center if
we realize that we're feelingdiffuse or we realize that we
feel like we're leaking power orleaking responsibility and
letting somebody else own ourchoices for us instead of
thinking about well, what do Ichoose?

(09:44):
It's not about doing itperfectly.
It's not about being someautonomous, totally independent
MacGyver-type individual who canget themselves out of anything.
It's more about ownership ofthe self, ownership of our heart
, ownership of the soul.
It's about that self-knowledgeand knowing who we are and that

(10:04):
each of us in our inner wisdomand follow that intuitive self,
we will walk the path that iswritten in the stars for us, if

(10:26):
you will.
That's part of our astrologicalstar blueprint, or divine
blueprint, our soul alchemy.
So it's really about ownershipof self, not about being
self-sufficient to the point oftoxicity where we never accept
help.
Like anything we talk about onyour Heart Magic, there's more
of a spectrum and a way thatsomething can be too extreme

(10:50):
where it's too much of one orthe other, and we're always
wanting to move towards harmonywith these archetypes and taking
the best qualities of it andfiguring out how can I bring
this into my own life to createmore balance.
So if there's an area in one'slife where we're having a hard
time taking responsibility orwe're hoping that life will kind

(11:13):
of make it easy for us, maybethe call of Virgo is a call to
think how could I take one stepin this direction, that is, me
owning this choice and moving inthe direction of something that
I want to change or somethingthat I have been trying to
create.
What could I do?
And then setting intentions andmaybe doing some prayer, some

(11:36):
meditation, work, openingourselves up to ask the universe
for help and trusting that ifwe're doing our part in taking
the small step that we know totake, that the universe will
meet us there, spirit will meetus there and bring through what
we need to help us growsomething and figure out the
next right step.

(11:56):
Yesterday I was running theKauai Marathon.
It's interesting to me that ithappens every year.
The Sunday right beforeYesterday I was running the
Kauai Marathon.
It's interesting to me that ithappens every year the Sunday
right before Labor Day, so thatmeans every year it happens in
Virgo season and I think runninga marathon is a very earthbound
thing, like your feet areliterally striking the earth for
the 26.2 miles that it is, andyou are very aware of being in

(12:19):
your body, how the environmentfeels, how the elements feel.
It's a literal interpretationof what's my next right step?
And now, what's my next rightstep?
And in a marathon it usually isjust keep moving forward.
I think that, having donedistance running since about
2009, I think is the first timethat I did a really long race, a

(12:42):
long triathlon back then buthaving done endurance athletics
for that long, I think that anyevent that you do often is a
journey and so, even if you haveone strategy going in mile by
mile, you might find that youslightly alter it.
So I had some points yesterdaywhere I felt really good and it
was great Keep going, keep upthis pace, just stay in that

(13:05):
rhythm.
And then I had some miles thatI got to where I was like this
feels really terrible and Idon't feel like I can lift my
legs to go up this hill, and itwas like, okay, let's remap the
strategy.
My next right step is to keepstepping.
It's absolutely to keep movingforward.
If nothing else, keep makingprogress and moving forward.

(13:26):
But I did a little bit ofmental remapping, of thinking
about how am I going to getthrough this hill section, and
choosing to do some power hiking, followed by some running, and
conserve my energy in the hopesthat I would have enough gas
left in the tank to feel like Ifinished reasonably strong.
It was a good strategy.

(13:46):
It worked really well for me.
But I think that that literalinterpretation of taking that
next right step and being soclosely bound to the earth ties
into this archetype sobeautifully and I've often found
as a runner, when I am doingthe training, doing these events
, that this idea of beingself-sufficient and

(14:06):
self-determination and soulsovereignty is a wealth of
lessons there.
Some people might follow atraining plan or have a coach,
so they are asking for help.
There's definitely race supportout on the course, so they are
asking for help.
There's definitely race supportout on the course.
It was so grateful for thosewho were there at the aid
stations with water andsometimes there'd be snacks.
Whoever brought folk to mile 18and the pretzels was like

(14:32):
heaven bless you, because thatreally helped turn my race
around.
But ultimately, like I am thevehicle that's moving myself and
nobody else can get into mybody and move me for me.
They can't do the miles for me,they can't take my path and
somehow make it easier for me.
So I think that metaphor ofwelcoming help when it came and

(14:56):
being grateful for it andknowing that that was so
necessary and it made the day alittle bit easier, a little bit
lighter, but also knowing thatultimately, like this is my race
and whatever I've got in thetank that day is how I'm going
to run it there's just somereally nice parallels with this
idea of owning our choices andowning our space of self and

(15:19):
knowing that ultimately, nomatter how much wisdom and help
and ideas that we get fromothers, we have to move our own
vehicle forward and trustourselves to do that.
And know that if we make amistake along the way or have
these rough patches where itdoesn't seem like we're really
getting anywhere, that we cantrust that it's all part of this

(15:41):
greater alchemy of self.
And if we can stay in ourhearts and keep faith and our
ability to just figure out thenext right step, we will keep
moving forward and we will stayconnected to our path.
I want to share a passage todaythat encapsulates the energies
of what we're talking about andit is a letter that I wrote to

(16:03):
my younger self.
It's called Manifesto of Beliefa letter to my younger self,
and it's in Small Pearls, bigWisdom.
There is a longer version of itin my other book, revelations
of the Sky, and I wrote thisback in 2019-ish and I think it
might have been the same summerthat I had declared to the
universe, like I am a teacher,you know I am a speaker.

(16:26):
I wanted to see myself as suchand I was really trying to own
that choice and own my choices,and I'd been going through a lot
of grappling of soul.
I think I'd been on the islanda couple years by then and it

(16:47):
was long enough to have put downa few teeny, tiny roots over
here.
But I was also very much intransplant stage and very much
between identities andreinventing and re-understanding
myself and not really knowingwho I was anymore.
I'd left my old life behind inAlaska and I hadn't fully put
down a foundation over here.
I was still doing a lot ofreceiving, a lot of growing.

(17:10):
When I think back to that timein my life, I kind of think
about it as being in highereducation, higher being like
spiritual graduate school andreally learning what it meant to
trust my heart, to come back tomy heart, to stay in my heart,
to believe and where I was beingled, even if it didn't make
sense, to stay with myself, evenwhen it felt like things had

(17:31):
gotten dark and I didn't knowwhat my next right step was.
So I was having a lot of thingsthat I write about and teach
about put to the test and goingthrough a lot of transformative
times and sometimes it felt liketrial by fire a little bit.
And I wrote this passage as areflection to myself when I

(17:52):
think I'd been through kind ofthis mini dark night of the soul
where I'd been going throughanother breakdown of self and
maybe I was just breaking down.
I don't remember.
I know that I had come out of adark place when I wrote it and
I was really coming back into mypower and really realizing nope
, everything I believe holdstrue.
It just looks differently thanI thought it would when I live

(18:15):
it and when I experience it,versus just thinking about it in
idea form.
So this is called Manifesto ofBelief, a letter to my younger
self.
I know it's been tangled andhard, but, my dear girl, let me
tell you what you're going to do.
You're going to trust yourselfagainst the odds, against what

(18:36):
lies unseen.
You're going to trust thequestions that sit unanswered in
your heart.
You're going to trust yourselfin the debris, in the breaking,
in your grief, in thedeconstruction of self and the
unknown pieces of your psyche'ssubmergence.
You will trust yourself andhold your hand through your fall

(18:57):
from who you once were.
You're going to forget aboutthe instant successors and mind
over matter, manifestors andpositive vibes, only tribes
which disconnect you from themost integral pieces of yourself
, the darkness within whichexists to guide you through the
tunnels in life where the soulgoes quiet as it prepares for

(19:22):
rebirth.
You're going to trust yourselfwhen it looks like everybody
else is winning and you'relosing.
You're going to trust that somedays your wins will be getting
out of bed and moving forward.
Maybe your purpose here is to bethe most human you can possibly
be, to embody every inch ofyour humanity and to shine with

(19:42):
your faith that our inherentlove, beauty and goodness still
exist within this human space.
You're going to trust thathuman space.
Trust the trail of being a truehuman.
Trust the trail of real in allits gritty splendor and glossy
mess.
You're going to trust yourbrokenness, your chipped parts

(20:06):
and all the times you strive andfail.
You're going to trust thatfailure is success in its own
form and that life is movingyour experiences together and
revealing the bigger picture ofyou in its own time.
You're going to trust yourimperfections and tribulations
and you're going to become anexpert on emotional

(20:27):
reincarnation, for you willresurrect, rebirth and reinvent
yourself many times over.
So you're going to trust yourfeelings and see they are all
part of the same tangled ball ofred yarn, leading you deeper
into yourself, deeper into yourheart, deeper into the truth

(20:48):
that is you.
Happy Virgo season everyone.
If you want to take the ideason this podcast today and do
something more with them, thenwrite a manifesto of self,
whatever fits for where you'reat in life right now, some kind
of letter to yourself, or justwhat you believe in, something
that helps anchor you to yourself-knowledge and soul

(21:12):
knowledge at this time.
It's a really grounding,beautiful activity and often
helps us figure out what is mynext right step on my soul path
right now.
With that, have an amazing week.
I will be back next week withan all-new your Heart Magic and,
as always be well, be love, beyou and be magic.

Intro/Outro Music (21:38):
You've been listening to your Heart Magic
with dr bethan kapansky righttune in next week for a new
episode to support and empoweryour light.

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