In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend to the body, make these dreams manifest.
This Sunday brings us a Full Moon in mutable water sign Pisces, the sign of dreams, of art, of water and passion. Pisces is unique amongst the zodiac. It is the twelfth and final sign, and because of this, this sign contains traces of the preceding eleven. The signs of the zodiac move in rhythmic patterns; the first six, from Aries to Virgo, describe the development of the ego. From Libra to Pisces, we see the growth of the soul.
Pisces rules House 12, the house where secrets live. House 12 brings us themes of intuition and madness, illness and inspiration. In this house, things are hidden, and the experiences of life are transmuted into the stuff of the soul. Ruled by Neptune, Pisces is a sign of oceanic depth, of merging, of song. Many solar Pisceans among us are artists, or have an artistic or visionary spirit, and that is due to the nature of Neptune, which brings both divine madness as well as great insight. It is also a humanitarian sign, concerned with the well-being and balance of their friends and loved ones. Remember: the glyph of Pisces is two fish tethered together. One swims in an ocean of reality, the other swims in the ocean of dream.
Each Full Moon amplifies the traits of the sign that it’s in, making this Full Moon a perfect time to dream, to reflect, and to feel the weight of all that has passed in the previous months. I know this summer was heavy for a lot of us. This is a perfect time to process that experience, and start thinking about how to grow, now, while carrying with you your new wisdom.
Full Moons also activate a binary energy, as the Full Moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun, thus opening up an astrological pathway between these two luminaries. In this case, the Sun in Virgo sits opposite our Pisces Moon, and the theme here is about the balance between service to the body and service to the soul.
It is Virgo season. Virgo is the second earth sign of the zodiac, symbolized by a virgin holding a shaft of wheat. It is a mutable sign, which means it is flexible in its expression, always searching for the right tool, the right word, the right remedy. Virgo is, like Pisces, a humanitarian sign, it is the sign of the nun, the social worker, the healer, the translator. It is a sign that works in earthy symbology, and is rooted to the here and now. Many Virgos find themselves in helping professions, and this is no coincidence. This sign is a devoted helper, and feels best about themselves when they are useful to others, as an instrument of good.
One of Greco-Roman mythology’s most famous myths is about Pluto and Proserpina, and the story goes that one day, Proserpina, virginal daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, was out picking flowers (as virgins are always apt to be in these old stories), when suddenly, she was kidnapped by Pluto, lord of the underworld, and taken to his subterranean kingdom to be his queen. Devastated, Demeter searched high and low for her daughter, and in the six months that she was unable to locate her, the world plunged into its first winter. Trees and fields barren, the ground cold and hard, the earth was suddenly inaccessible to man, due to Demeter’s grief.
When Demeter learned that Pluto was the one who kidnapped Proserpina, she demanded her return. Pluto agreed, but on one condition. Proserpina, while in his domain, had eaten six pomegranate seeds. Because of this, six months of the year, she would live with him, and six months of the year she would return to the dayworld. Thus our winters happen because Demeter is mourning the ritual loss of her daughter, and when she returns for spring and summer, life is restored to earth once more.
There is something about Virgo that I think is forgotten these days, where fast explanations of the signs and their most ridiculous characteristics are often commonplace, in lieu of a more nuanced understanding of the symbolic origins of each character of the zodiac. Yes, Virgo is interested in the material, in organization of matter, in service to others. Yes, the sign is picky or very very discriminating about how it uses its time. But what’s most important about Virgo is their ability to go from light to dark—to translate life from the dayworld to the underworld, and back again.
Virgo is ruled by Mercury, and I have written before about Mercury’s unique ability to travel between the underworld and Olympus as both messenger of the gods, and also to function as chaperone to the afterlife for dead souls. Mercury translates, ferries, understands, breaks down and rebuilds energy from one realm to the next, and as this is the ruler of Virgo, Virgo also absorbs these qualities. Virgo is intuitive, has psychic capacity, makes connections, uses the mind as well as the body to analyze and synthesize information. In medical astrology, Virgo rules the digestive system. This sign takes nutrients, information, and breaks them down to their most essential components for the body’s best use.
The binary relationship between Pisces and Virgo then is very important, there is a line drawn here from the body to the soul. Both signs are concerned with supporting their friends and loved ones, and feel endless compassion in the process of living their lives. Both signs have something to learn from one another, therefore.
This Sunday’s Full Moon in Pisces activates all of this energy. With the Sun in Virgo and Moon in Pisces, find ways to translate your Neptunian dreams to Mercurial, earthly realities. Find ways to focus on healing the body, as Virgo takes health so very seriously, but explore, like a Pisces, by trying some new healing modalities that involve healing the spirit as well as the physical form.
Virgo season is the time of the harvest, when the bounty of summer is gathered and feasted on, and then the rest is packed away, methodically, for the winter ahead of us. What have you been growing in that soul garden of yours this summer? What tender vines do you continue to tease up the trellis? You have been watching the fruits of your labor swell and blush into vibrant reds and golds. It is time now to start gathering in these resources that the summer Sun has brought to life. What you learned over the course of this summer, especially in the midst of this most recent eclipse season, will carry you forward into the cool, dark autumn, and then to winter. Don’t fear, my seekers. Virgo season ensures that we have the right jars and beakers, the appropriate canning tools and dark pantries waiting to be filled with your harvested stash. Feel brave that the dreams you have nurtured in the Sun will pull you through till Yuletime.
In terms of the astrological weather, Sunday brings us a grand trine, a flowing aspect pattern comprised of three trines between the Sun in Virgo, Uranus in Taurus, and Saturn in Capricorn. A trine between the earth signs has the power to help us bring some financial or material success, grounding, or abundance into our worlds. Matters will feel a bit more stable than they have in the past, so hold tight—the Sun is activating a powerful set of energies in the sky. Sun trine Uranus gives us the power to use our ego (Sun) to make new connections, to abandon old ways of being, and to make strides toward the future (Uranus). And Sun trine Saturn lets us understand the importance of boundaries, of structure, of time (Saturn). Whatever you were working on that wasn’t giving an inch, you will now find that it is more flexible, more pliant, due to the activation of these planetary energies.
Uranus and Saturn differ from one another, with Uranus bringing us toward the future in electric leaps and bounds, and Saturn bringing us back to the earth to assess the validity of our foundations. Both are planets of great power, but here we see a conversation between futurism (Uranus) and self-mastery (Saturn). This will no doubt help us as we strive to make changes to our ways of being, this fall.
As always, when the Sun opposes the Moon, communication between the ego (Sun) and emotions (Moon) is exaggerated, giving us either a swagger or a tinge of melodrama. Since the luminaries involved are in Pisces and Virgo, we can expect some theatricality and deeply expressed feelings, as well as a call to recognize our bodily needs. Venus will square Pluto, bringing up some surprising energy around our love lives—the need to obsess, to overindulge, to cut ties, is all possible here.
The day after our Full Moon, August 27th, Mars will finally station direct, completing its retrograde that began on June 26th. Mars retrograde had the power to make us feel like we did not have enough strength, or force, to move ourselves forward. Mars rules conflict, our warring selves, and our sexual expression. Matters in our love lives that were perhaps experienced as a little “less than” will now be restored to their proper fullness. We will also be reoriented in terms of our senses of bravery and accomplishing our goals. Mars is a happy warrior, and his renewed forward motion will bring us to new things with a bang.
Take good care, my dears.
Holding a pomegranate, dreaming of the sea,
Celestial Hermit
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In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend […] -
In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend […] -
In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend […] -
In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend […] -
In time, all this mess will settle down. We will finally start seeing the ways in which we can change our lives for the better, thanks to some helpful astrology. With the Full Moon in Pisces, we can dream Neptunian blue and burst with feeling. With the Sun in Virgo, we can plan, acknowledge, tend […]
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