Full Moon in Virgo

Hiroshige, from 100 Views of Edo

This in tomorrow, the 22nd February, 6:22 pm GMT.

The sun left clear, bright, futuristic Aquarius and entered dreamy Pisces on the 19th February. For this full moon, we'll have the sun at 3 degrees Pisces facing off against the moon at 3 Virgo.

Pisces is about magic, dreams, art, faith, compassion. Going with the flow of things. Also delusion, addiction, self-undoing. For this full moon, the sun will be conjunct Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. This amplifies the dreamy, swirly,confusing atmosphere.

Virgo, on the other hand, is rational, focused and systematic. Focused not on dreamy magical spiritual otherworld stuff, but on the mundane work that has to be done here and now. A moon in Virgo denotes a need for order, routine, cleanliness and health.

We are halfway through the weird cycle initiated at the new moon in Aquarius two weeks ago. That was a game changer – a big zap of newness and shock. And now things are in flux, big time. Everything is shifting like crazy, nothing has settled. It's all a bit psychedelic and disorienting really.

So at this full moon in Virgo, we are dealing with the need to be practical and keep our feet on the ground in the midst of all this magic and strangeness. Things are all over the place, and yes it is confusing – but there are a lot of new ideas and directions and opportunities popping up. They can be turned into something real and tangible with a little work. There is some practical magic to be done here.

Right now it's easy to sink into laziness, worry, self-pity or emotional overwhelm - or to just zone out completely. Also easy to cling to unrealistic dreams or addictions. It's important to stay focused on the small stuff: sticking to our daily routines, doing the work that needs doing, maintaining our physical health, serving others.

The Virgo-Pisces axis has the motto “serve or suffer”. Virgo's suffering takes the form of endless worry and hypercritical perfectionism. In Pisces, the suffering is more about feeling emotionally adrift and overwhelmed.

You get a lot of existential dread with both signs. The best way out of this misery is to turn the self-focus outward, toward what you can do to serve others. There is always someone worse off than you who could use practical help, or just some compassionate understanding.

Virgo and Pisces are supposed to work together: Virgo has practicality, and Pisces has compassion. Meaningful work requires both. Compassion without practicality is just ungrounded hippie shit, while practicality without compassion is soulless and bureaucratic.

There is a big emphasis on Virgo-Pisces issues right now – Jupiter and the north node are in Virgo, so Virgo is the focus. Health, cleanliness, routine, realism, attention to detail, humility, service. This is the way forward for now. With Jupiter in Virgo, simple and basic stuff like doing the dishes, mopping the floor, walking the dog - can really lift you out of the doldrums.

It's a long-term influence: Jupiter is in Virgo till September of this year, and the north node will be there till May 2017. They will be quite close together for much of this year – conjunct until July. So you really can't go far wrong if you focus on doing what needs doing, staying humble and grounded, and trying to serve others however you can.  

The Jupiter-north node conjunction currently opposes Chiron in Pisces. Chiron in Pisces is about a wound that won't heal – a deep sense of injury and of the pain of existence, with no particular boundary.

It's like Fukushima bleeding its invisible poisons into the sea, or the war in Syria and the uncontainable refugee flows resulting from it. Or the current Zika virus scare, or the rumors of immanent global financial collapse. With all these issues, it's hard to know what is actually happening – but the implications seem quite sinister. And quarantine or solution is pretty much impossible. Everyone is affected, ultimately.

There are problems too deep and systemic to fix. And in the face of them we have to accept our powerlessness – and our mortality – but keep working as if it mattered, per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo.

According to this sky, whether you believe your work matters or not, it really does matter. Staying focused on the small-picture everyday stuff and doing our best within that framework matters. Doing what has to be done – even in the face of overwhelming hopelessness and despair – matters.

I think having Neptune, Chiron and the south node in Pisces is pretty tricky. We are being pulled backward into despair, delusion, addiction and nostalgia for what never was. It's a Slough of Despond.

And it can be very painful to let some dreams and illusions die...But they have to die. We all have real lives to get on with, and responsibilities.

Anyway, for the next month, the Virgo-Pisces axis is all lit up, so these issues take center stage. This Virgo full moon will be followed by a new moon solar eclipse in Pisces on the 9th of March. And for much of March, we'll have a stellium of planets in Pisces. Mercury moves from Aquarius to Pisces on the 5th of March, followed by Venus on the 12th – and by then I guess our brains will be deep underwater, dreaming of perfect unattainable love in Fairyland or some such shit.

We'll see how it all pans out. But I think the Pisces south node, with the combined influence of all those planets in Pisces, will pull hard at us...like the sirens pulled at Ulysses. It looks like it'll be hard to keep on rowing. I'll write about it closer to the time.

Re. the keeping on rowing: this is a good slogan for the next month.

Anyway, for now and the next week we have Venus and Mercury a few degrees apart in Aquarius, beneficially aspecting Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Sagittarius. This is about brilliant new ideas and directions – a blast of fresh air in relationship and money matters especially. Opportunities are opening up, there are new people to meet and places to go.

Nothing will exactly be handed to you – these opportunities will take work to develop, and with all this Virgo, some measure of skepticism and caution is advised. But things are definitely shifting fast and it's all pretty exciting.

I do think the key, with this full moon and for the next while, is to keep on doing your Virgo. Be reliable. Stay grounded and healthy, and stick to your routines as much as possible. Do things for others and keep your ego in check. Get to all the work you've been procrastinating. When in the grip of existential despair or ungrounded wooziness, focus on the practical. Try not to get drunk too often (and we are definitely on substance alert for the next month - please be aware that drink and drugs will have stronger effects than usual!)

But I should quit harping on and nagging about Virgo now.

PS - Nagging is very Virgo! Please remember that for the most part, they only do it because they want to help. They can see your discrepancies and shortcomings in excruciating detail and they feel they have a duty to tell you, so you can fix everything. They want you to be as close to perfect as you can be! Not to make them happy, because there will always be some other worry or fiddly problem that needs fixing. But for the sake of your own health and integrity.

It can be annoying as hell, but it's how they show they care. They are helpers and fixers, and they can't help but notice the small stuff that others overlook.

With Jupiter and the north node in Virgo and at this full moon in Virgo, I think the Virgos deserve some love! Try to take criticism as inspiration. Appreciate how hard they try to help, how much they want to be of use, how much grief they give themselves. Remember they are much more critical of themselves than they are of anyone else.

Here is a Virgoan self-criticism anthem. They don't really feel good about doling out criticism. They criticize themselves for it. Virgo is self-reflexive to the max: