This is the month! Saturn, Master of Discipline, after having been in Leo since July of 2005, moves into Virgo on September 2. We imagine the planets as actors on a celestial stage, and when they change signs, they change their costumes. In Leo, Saturn wore colorful, expensive, and fancy attire, flashing a diamond in his teeth and throwing his wavy white hair to the wind, certainly dramatic. In Virgo he tones down significantly. Slender, practical, comfortable, and even ascetical clothes define his presence now.

Saturn shows us our focus. Collectively, we can look forward to about two and a half years of examining issues around health, our work environment, service, discipline, and mastery. We can expect that health care—and the lack of it (Saturn does rule “not having something”)—will become more important than celebrity worship, a typically Leo topic. The obesity crisis will be more center stage than American Idol. We examine how we are all worker bees to make this world a better place. We also grow increasingly aware of our impact on the planet and wake up to the huge impact that the dying of the honeybees—the ultimate worker bees—is having on our crops. A worldwide sobering occurs. Hard work with commensurate rewards is in, freeloaders and trust funds are out. There is a momentous tightening in money issues.

“Just say yes to health,” is a distinctly Virgo statement. Saturn lays down the law, and as I write this, New York City is outlawing trans-fats in restaurants and Chicago may follow suit. Smoking bans increase in popularity. Saturn focuses our desire to purify, clarify, and organize our lives. “No more waste,” he says. Instead, Saturn demands recycling, going green, and saving energy. “Efficiency” is a key Virgo word.

The Moon, Queen of the Hearth, is in harmony with Saturn as the month begins. Transitioning to healthier diets, facing personal health issues—particularly emotional eating—and taking responsibility for our carbon footprints all become easier. With the Moon in Aries we must beware of initial enthusiasm that fizzles out. Our inner Saturn will instantly crack his whip. He simply won’t allow slacking off. Some way or another, we will face the music of past digressions. The more we cooperate with this energy, the easier the shift to a healthier lifestyle will be.

There is an extraordinary partial solar eclipse during the New Moon on September 11, at almost exactly the same hour that the first plane hit the World Trade Center in New York six years ago. At that time the country’s sense of being impenetrable was shattered. Eclipses (when the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth line up) have been ominous in our collective mind since the dawn of humankind. This eclipse will focus our attention on the all-American notion of being first in the world. We become increasingly aware that we are seriously challenged by shrinking resources, less unified collective will, and diminished staying power. Our path becomes arduous, deep, laborious, and serious.

Some welcome this change, some fear it, and yet others try to ignore it. How you respond has mostly to do with your ability to face your own Saturn. How do you need to structure your life differently? Where do you need to show more discipline? When can you build new foundations based on earned income instead of credit?