The New Moon in Virgo: Your Soul Is Getting Ready for a New Year

What if you had 30 days to prepare yourself before the most important judgment of the year? What would you want to clean up, repair, forgive, or finally face?

Tonight, August 12, 2026, I gathered together with my study group from the Kabbalah Centre Europe to explore the energy of the coming month — the month of Virgo, Elul, which leads us toward the Kabbalistic New Year, Rosh Hashanah.

I love these moments of study because Kabbalah is not simply something we read about. It is something we are invited to practice.

The Kabbalah Centre describes the weeks leading up to Rosh Hashanah as a particularly powerful opportunity to look at our choices, our actions, our consciousness and our intentions — and to prepare ourselves before entering the new yearly cycle.

And tonight, one idea stayed with me:

🌑 Virgo: The Month Before the New Beginning

In Kabbalistic Astrology, the month of Virgo — Elul — comes immediately before Rosh Hashanah. It is traditionally understood as a period of introspection, correction and preparation.

And there is a beautiful reason why Virgo carries this energy.

• Virgo sees the details.
• It notices what others overlook.
• It wants things to be clean, organised and corrected.

But there is also a shadow side: Virgo can become perfectionistic, critical and obsessed with everything that is “not good enough.” And perhaps this makes much more sense when we think about what comes next.

Imagine you know you're going to court. You know there is going to be a moment when everything is going to be looked at. Would you arrive with your life completely untouched?

Probably not. You would prepare.

• You would organise your documents.
• You would clean your house.
• You would fix what you can fix.
• You would apologise where an apology is needed.
• You would make peace with people where possible.
• You would look at the evidence.

And you would ask yourself: “Is there anything I can still do before the sentence?” This is the metaphor that came alive for me tonight.

To clean our house before the new year begins. To look at what we can change while we still have the time to change it.

🧹 What Are You Carrying Into Your Next Year?

Tonight, during our study, we were invited to ask some very practical questions. And I want to share them with you because I think they are much more powerful than another list of things you should manifest.

Instead of asking: “What do I want next year?” first ask: “What do I need to clean up before I enter it?”

❤️ Where in the Last Year Could I Have Loved More?

This question sounds simple. It isn't.

• Where could I have loved more — and I didn't?
• Who could I have given more of my energy to?
• More of myself? More of my time?
• More of my attention? More presence?

For me personally, one of the answers that came up was my work. Could I have given more to my clients? Could I have been even more present? Could I have offered more of myself? And then another answer comes: my mum.

Maybe there are people in your life who immediately come to mind. Don't judge yourself. Don't turn this exercise into: “I am a terrible person. I should have done more.” That's not the point.

🔥 Where Could I Have Been Braver?

Not necessarily in some huge, dramatic way. Sometimes courage is incredibly ordinary.

• A phone call. A message. A decision. A small step.
• Going somewhere alone. Starting something new.
• Saying what you really think. Showing your work.
• Asking for what you want. Leaving the house when you feel like hiding.
• Taking the first step toward something you've been postponing.

So ask yourself: where in the past year could I have been more brave? And then: which opportunities came to me and I didn't take because I was afraid?

Maybe you were afraid of failure. Maybe of rejection. Maybe of succeeding. Maybe of what people would think. Maybe you were simply afraid of becoming someone you didn't yet recognise.

And then there is another uncomfortable question: where did I know I needed to change — and I didn't? Where did I say: tomorrow, next month, when things calm down, when I have more money, when I meet the right person, when I feel ready, later.

🗣️ Which Conversation Should I Have Had — But Didn't?

This one can be powerful. Is there someone you need to talk to? Something you need to say?

• An apology?
• A truth?
• A boundary?
• A thank you?
• A goodbye?
• A declaration of love?

Sometimes the conversation we avoid becomes a room we keep carrying inside ourselves. So ask: which conversation should I have had — and I didn't? And then: what am I waiting for?

🤍 Who Can I Forgive?

Forgiveness doesn't necessarily mean inviting someone back into your life. It doesn't mean pretending something didn't happen. And it doesn't mean removing your boundaries.

Sometimes forgiveness simply means: “I don't want to carry this into another year.”

Tonight I was also thinking about the difference between justice and love. And I had to ask myself: am I following justice — or love and compassion?

With my dad, I can recognise places where I have followed justice. Where I wanted things to be fair. Where I wanted the other person to understand what they had done. Where I wanted the balance to be restored.

🌱 Where Did My Soul Ask Me to Grow — And I Said No?

This is where the exercise becomes deeper. Because sometimes we know. We know when something is calling us. We know when life is asking us to expand. And we say: no. Not because we don't hear it — because we hear it too clearly.

• Maybe your soul asked you to leave. Maybe it asked you to stay.
• Maybe it asked you to love. Maybe it asked you to stop accepting less.
• Maybe it asked you to create. Maybe it asked you to become visible.
• Maybe it asked you to move. Maybe it asked you to forgive.
• Maybe it asked you to become brave.

Where did your soul ask you to grow this year — and you said no? Sit with that. Don't rush past it.

🌎 Now Go Beyond the Last Year

And this is where tonight's homework became even more interesting. Don't look only at the last 12 months. Look at your whole journey. Your whole life.

• Maybe you know you should move house.
• Maybe you know you want a relationship.
• Maybe you need to talk to somebody.
• Maybe you've wanted to take salsa lessons. Learn to drive. Take your first flight. Go to New York.
• Write a book. Start a business. Change your career.
• Travel somewhere. Study something. Create something.
• Tell someone you love them. Leave something behind.

It doesn't have to be a huge spiritual mission. It can be incredibly practical. What do you already know? Because there is a difference between not knowing and not wanting to admit that you know.

✨ Which Version of You Has Been Waiting?

Now close your eyes. Imagine the version of yourself who has already done it. The version who finally took the step. Who finally stopped hiding. Who finally opened her heart. Who finally became brave. Who finally trusted herself. Who finally allowed herself to succeed.

• Which version of yourself has been waiting for you for a long, long time?
• What does she look like? How does she speak?
• What does she no longer tolerate? What does she finally allow?
• What does she know that you don't yet fully trust?

And then ask: what is stopping me from meeting her?

🦋 What Did Fear Take Away From You?

This may be one of the most important questions of the entire month. What did I allow fear to take away from me during this journey?

• My curiosity? My freedom? My adventure?
• My sexuality? My creativity? My confidence?
• My willingness to be visible? My willingness to succeed?
• My courage? My ability to love? My spontaneity? My joy?

Sometimes fear doesn't look like fear. Sometimes it looks like procrastination. Sometimes it looks like perfectionism. Sometimes it looks like: “I'm just not ready yet.” Sometimes it looks like being endlessly busy so we never have to hear what we actually want.

🕯️ If I Left the World Today, What Would My Soul Cry Out For?

This is the question I want you to sit with slowly. Don't answer from your brain. Don't make the answer socially acceptable. Don't think about what you should want. Breathe. In. Out. And listen.

• What would I regret not experiencing?
• What would I regret not saying?
• Who would I regret not loving?
• What would I regret not becoming?

What part of my life would make my soul say: “You were so close…” And perhaps that answer is not there to frighten you. Perhaps it is there to wake you up.

💔 Feel the Pain — But Don't Run From It

There is a very important distinction here. The pain we awaken during this month is not pain meant to break us. It is not about creating guilt. It is not about punishing ourselves for everything we did wrong. It is about recognising the pain of what our soul has missed.

That kind of pain can become information. It can become activation. It can become movement. So instead of “Why am I hurting?” try: “What is this pain trying to show me?” What have I missed? What have I postponed? What have I been afraid to do? What part of myself have I kept closed?

🌙 The First Step: Feel the Pain

Before you fix anything, feel it. Before you create a plan, listen. Before you write ten goals, become quiet.

The first step is not: “How do I solve this?” The first step is: “Can I admit that this matters to me?” Because sometimes we don't need another strategy. We need honesty.

🧭 The Second Step: Understand Your Space

Where are you now? Not where you think you should be. Not where your friends are. Not where society says you should be. Not where your younger self imagined you would be. Where are you actually?

• What is working? What isn't?
• What are you avoiding?
• Where are you expanding? Where are you contracting?
• Where are you living from love? Where are you living from fear?

🌿 Your 7-Day Soul Practice

And now I want to give you something practical. You don't need to spend hours journaling every day. For the next 7 days, do this simple exercise every evening.

⏳ Don't Waste This Month

There is something about this period that makes me want to be more conscious of time. We have this opportunity to look. To correct. To change. To forgive. To reconnect. To prepare.

The Kabbalah Centre itself describes Virgo/Elul as a “golden opportunity” before Rosh Hashanah to pay attention to the details of our behaviour, reconnect with the soul's nature and understand how our choices affect others.

So I don't want to lose a minute of it. Not because we have to become anxious about “doing spirituality correctly.” Quite the opposite. Because we have been given a window.

• A window to become honest.
• A window to become lighter.
• A window to put down what we don't want to carry anymore.
• A window to become aware of the life we are creating.

✨ Before Rosh Hashanah

The Kabbalistic New Year, Rosh Hashanah, arrives in September. In 2026, the Kabbalah Centre's UK/EU broadcast begins on September 11, with the holiday continuing through September 13.

But I don't want to wait until Rosh Hashanah to ask myself whether I am ready. I want to use these weeks to prepare. Because when I arrive at the New Year, I want to know:

• I looked. I listened. I felt.
• I corrected what I could. I apologised where I needed to.
• I forgave. I opened my heart.
• I took the small steps. I stopped postponing.
• I became more honest.
• I did everything I could to prepare my vessel for what is coming.

🌑 So Tonight, Ask Yourself One Last Question

If you could choose one thing that you absolutely do not want to carry into the next Virgo month… what would it be?

• What is the one pain you don't want to meet again next year?
• What is the one pattern you don't want to repeat?
• What is the one conversation you don't want to postpone for another year?
• What is the one dream you don't want fear to steal from you again?
• What is the one part of yourself you don't want to abandon anymore?

Write it down. And then breathe. Because your soul doesn't need you to have all the answers tonight. It simply needs you to listen.

Sometimes the answer is not complicated. Sometimes we think and think and think… and that is exactly how we lose the connection. Breathe in. Breathe out. Become quiet. And let the answer come.