A Virgo's Broom

Speaking of Saturn in Virgo, today I cleaned my studio.

This is nothing unusual-- I always go on a ruthless cleaning spree before beginning any big project. As I was sweeping up the fine layer of metal dust, I realized that I was using a Virgo's broom to do it.

My grandfather was a Virgo, his mechanic's shop is now my studio, and his broom was, at that very moment, giving me blisters. It's a tiny broom, no more than twelve inches wide and an inch thick. It's built to last, with a solid metal handle and the most indestructible bristles ever stuck on the end of a sweeping device. It's over fifty years old, and I still use it.

But why?

The shop is of a decent size, a two-car mechanic's garage, with a concrete drive in front. It takes an hour to sweep it with this miniature-headed broom. The dustpan that accompanies it is no better-- it looks like a maitre d's lobby dustpan, except made from functional steel-- and I've never been one for placing sentiment over practicality.

Thoughts like these rambled around my head as I swept, one small stroke after another. Large, bold sweeping action is completely out of the question. Papaw's broom is a very specific broom-- you take aim and make one definite, precise stroke at a time. After a series of these you're left with a small pile of detritus that can be ushered into the dustpan. You empty the dustpan into the old metal trashcan. You sweep, pile, and empty again until all that's left is bare floor.

As a Pisces, I wonder every time why I don't just buy a big whisk broom. I'm not a Virgo; precision cleaning isn't one of my priorities. My main goal is to not start any more fires than are absolutely necessary for sanity and entertainment's sake-- I feel like I can live with a few piles of smoking junk in exchange for some Piscean ease of mind.

But every time I wander down the broom aisle at Home Depot, something prevents me from buying a replacement. I remember the blisters, the hours spent with the fussy little broom, the dustpan I have to bend over to use. I also remember the floor, emerging from its cavelier layer of Piscean inattention, bit by meticulous bit.

I don't buy the new broom.

The Saturn in Virgo/Uranus in Pisces opposition will be within orb by September. I can't help wondering if I'll change, if I'll still be content with my hour's sacrifice to the Virgo who left his broom in my care.

I guess we'll have to see. Meantime, I have some blisters to attend to.



(image by Daniel J. Victor. Visit his work here.)