This is exact later today, the 19th February, just before 4 pm GMT.
The moon and sun will be at 0 degrees of Virgo and Pisces, respectively. 0 degrees of any sign is very concentrated and potent energy. In addition, the rulers of Virgo and Pisces – Mercury and Neptune – are nearly exactly conjunct in Pisces at this time.
It's a beneficial melding of Virgo and Pisces themes. Virgo is about cleanliness, order, health, routine and painstaking attention to detail, and Pisces is about spirituality and ego loss. So under this full moon we should be trying to find the holiness in the everyday – ordinary tasks like washing the dishes and taking out the garbage are inherently spiritual. Instead of hating and avoiding these everyday chores, you can approach them with attention, care and mindfulness. Getting your external house in order is a prerequisite to making internal spiritual progress – these things aren't separate.
There's a very transformational vibe to this full moon -- recall that we are still under the influence of the new moon in Aquarius two weeks ago, which was all about breaking free. It's no accident that Marie Kondo's show about decluttering is one of the most-watched things on Netflix at this time, and it fits the symbolism of this full moon precisely.
Now is a perfect time for internal or external spring cleaning and you can make great progress in whatever you set out to do. The full moon is beneficially aspecting Mars and Uranus, which are conjunct. This is like having some rocket fuel behind you, and as Mars is in Taurus, it's a slow and steady burn. Once you get started, you can carry through to the end and achieve a transformation, however enormous the task looks at the beginning. Just start.
We also have Venus, Saturn and Pluto conjunct in Capricorn at this time, which is about solid value in love and money matters. It's not an easy or feel-good influence, but it's definitely something you can use. All this Capricorn can be pretty ruthless about weeding out what is not essential, be it a possession, a situation, a habit or a relationship. Focus on keeping and maintaining only what supports your constructive growth. Remove your energy from what you know to be toxic or stagnant, and if that means allowing certain relationships to die, so be it.
At this full moon, it's important to remember that the motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is “serve or suffer” - both signs need to serve something larger than the ego or they're prey to a lot of self-involved angst. With Virgo, the angst takes the form of endless worrying and nitpicking; with Pisces it's emotional turmoil and addiction. The way out of this angst is to do something practical and/or to help someone else. It's a pretty foolproof formula.
We are heading into some heavy Pisces influence over the next month, so please keep this formula in mind. Also, it's a good idea to avoid boundary-dissolving substances such as drugs, alcohol and fairy-tale romance. We'll have a new moon in Pisces on the 6th of March, with Uranus re-entering Taurus on the same day for extra weirdness. We'll also have a Mercury retrograde in Pisces beginning the day before the new moon, and running till the end of March. The Mercury retrograde will end on the 28th March, with Mercury exactly conjunct Neptune as he is now.
I think you put it all together and March looks like a real head-melting scenario, with a lot of weirdness going down around Mercury themes especially (that's thought, communication, travel, vehicles, appliances, trade, infrastructure, Brexit talks, etc). So the more you can get things streamlined, clear and functional at this time, the better prepared you'll be for the topsy-turvy weirdness ahead.
This is tonight, the 2nd March, about 12:50 am UTC
Virgo is the sign of fact-checking, order and discrimination, and we are really going to need that focused attention to reality here, because we have a big stellium in sensitive, dreamy Pisces: the sun, Neptune, Mercury, Venus and Chiron – and this is very foggy, and potentially delusive and self-defeating. It's going to be hard to know what's true and what's false at this time – reality is blanked out. (This is literally true where I live. We are having a freak snowstorm, with white-out conditions predicted for tonight.)
With all these planets in Pisces, it'll be a task to see clearly and not be carried away by emotion. Thankfully, we have the moon in Virgo, which is organized, grounded, nitpicky and analytical. This can help us sort out fact from fiction.
We also have Jupiter in Scorpio beneficially aspecting this Pisces stellium, and this is really helpful. Jupiter in Scorpio is an intuitive bullshit detector, so you can rely on your intuition and “gut feeling” as a guide at this time.
Often when you have this many planets in Pisces, it feels like a mess: swampy and muddled. But the outlook at this full moon is much better than that. This is partly because of the involvement of Jupiter, the great benefic, and partly because of helpful aspects from Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. Saturn is serious, Pluto is deep, and Capricorn is all about structure and stability – so having these planets supporting the Pisces stellium is a stabilising influence.
All in all, I think this full moon should feel lovely, in a huge, swirling, ethereal way. Like a big romantic snowstorm. It's a nice influence for artists especially - very inspired. And having faith in the larger design will be beneficial: magic is real, and things can come together in ways you can't predict or control. You can trust that going with the flow will take you somewhere interesting.
That said, it's very important to hold onto your grip on reality and pay attention to the details. Don't go overboard with enthusiasm. Pisces always carries the potential for disappointment, delusion and loss, so it's imperative to stay clear-headed and realistic as much as you can. And it's probably a good idea to avoid alcohol and drugs as well, because it's easy to get swept away by addictive impulses at this time. Do your healthy Virgo stuff instead: clean the house, organise your stuff, drink some carrot juice.
We'll have a new moon in Pisces on the 17th March, and it ushers in a sensitive, touchy month, where it looks like it will be easy to wound or be wounded, so caution is advised. I'll write more about that closer to the date.
This is tomorrow, the 5th October, at 7:35 pm GMT.
The sun and Mercury in peace-keeping, relationship-oriented Libra will face off against the moon in fiery, impulsive, warlike Aries. It's a me vs. we situation, and explosive conflict is likely, especially in close relationships. The challenge here will be to fight fair, and to find a way to work together despite anger and impatience.
Something really extraordinary about this full moon is that the dispositors of Aries and Libra (Mars and Venus, respectively) will be exactly conjunct in Virgo for it. Virgo is the sign of attention to detail, service and humility. So with this conjunction, any conflicts that rear their heads at this time have to do with WORKABLE relationship difficulties. This is a good time to try to iron out the kinks and achieve harmony – ideally via careful, fair communication focused on everyday details.
Libran diplomacy and tact and Virgoan humility are the way to go here, though you might feel like having a temper tantrum and storming off. Try to remember that temper tantrums are a total waste of this opportunity! You can achieve so much more of what you want by listening to the other's point of view, stating the facts on your side, being polite and kind, and making compromises.
What we all want under this sky is happy, functional, harmonious relationships. But you don't get them just handed to you. Balancing the needs of self and other is tough. There's bound to be conflict, requiring negotiation and compromise. If you want the relationship, you have to deal with the conflict.
The key thing is putting the work in. We have a bit of an impasse lining up, as Venus moves to square Saturn on the 8th October, followed by Mars on the 11th October. These squares speak of blocked relationships (Venus) and frustrated desire (Mars) – even cruelty. So getting what you want is likely to be difficult. But we are dealing with Saturn here, who is a taskmaster and teacher of hard lessons – so remember this is not supposed to be easy. It's literally a labour of love. If you love someone, you'll put the work in to understand where they're coming from and to deal with issues. You'll fight (Mars / Aries) for the relationship (Venus / Libra).
With Venus and Mars in pragmatic Virgo, love is not about feelings. It's the mundane work you do, on a daily basis, to keep a relationship alive and healthy. And with Jupiter in Libra, issues of fairness in relationships are magnified. The division of labour has to equitable.
Here is some food for thought on “emotional labour” - it's very relevant to the Virgo / Libra themes we're looking at right now (as well as the Aries moon theme of impatience / anger!)
We have a big shift coming as Jupiter exits Libra for Scorpio on the 10th October. Best to try to get disputes sorted out before then, as best you can. Compromise will become more difficult once Jupiter shifts signs - Scorpio is all-or-nothing and favours scorched earth tactics over diplomacy.
The new moon in Libra is on the 19th October. I think Jupiter's shift to Scorpio makes it a tonal shift for relationships - toward greater depth and a more perfect union, let's hope! But be advised, with Jupiter in Scorpio, if a relationship can't go deeper it's likely to fall apart. After the 10th October, it's go deep or go home.
We have a stellium in Virgo for this: sun, moon, Mercury, Mars and Venus. This is a big blast of organisational energy - it's a great time for working on projects, cleaning up, attending to routines and getting necessary things done. It's also going to be a big month for working on relationships. The point of all this careful, systematic work is described by the north node in Leo - it's about putting in the necessary effort to create a future with more authenticity and joy in it. We are building the kind of lives and relationships we want to live in.
Virgo can be painfully critical, though - try to stay sober, to see clearly and to be kind. There's a big danger of going off on nitpicky tirades fuelled by delusive thinking, hurt feelings or boundary-dissolving substances: Mars is conjunct Mercury in Virgo, which is sharp-tongued and critical as hell, and both planets oppose Neptune, planet of dreams, delusions and addictions. Make sure your version of reality is not just a paranoid projection, before you sit down to tell someone everything you think is wrong with them. It's safer to look to your own shortcomings first. People will be liable to say very nasty, cutting things in the interests of "helping" - and with the sun and moon opposite Chiron, there is bound to be deep hurt and woundedness involved.
So unless you're looking to eviscerate someone, it's probably safest to just keep your mouth shut for the next couple of weeks and attend to the practical tasks at hand. Remember with Venus in pragmatic Virgo, love is what you do, not what you say - and it can be shown in the tiniest, most mundane ways.
This sky is still tough on relationships - Jupiter in fairness-minded Libra is opposing Uranus in me-centered Aries (exact the 28th September). This describes a conflict between the desire to say "to hell with it!" and shoot off alone vs. the necessity of maintaining balanced relationships. As this is an opposition, it will play out interpersonally - we'll have plenty of tests to our sense of civility and fairness this month, and relationships will remain fraught.
We have the equinox on the 22nd September, as the sun moves into Libra - this describes a turning-point. And then we'll have a full moon in Aries on the 5th October, which really looks like it's all about balancing love vs. war, and figuring out how to make relationships work in a practical, everyday way. Seeing the other's point of view and striving for balance and fairness will be very important here.
This is tomorrow morning – the 6th September, 7 am GMT.
We have Mercury stationing direct the day before it, on the exact degree of last month's big solar eclipse in Leo (21st August). So this full moon is a mental revisiting of whatever was going on for you around the time of that eclipse.
And not just mental. This is a full moon in super-emo Pisces, conjuct super-emo Neptune. Suffice it to say, there will be plenty of super-emo, strange, magical stuff happening. The floodgates will be open, for good or ill.
I think for good, not ill. It looks nice to me – spiritual and deep. A good time to focus inward and purify your heart, to forgive, to be compassionate, to have faith in life. To recover radical innocence, per Yeats:
“[...] all hatred driven hence, The soul recovers radical innocence And learns at last that it is self-delighting, Self-appeasing, self-affrighting, And that its own sweet will is Heaven’s will”
Recall, the theme of the eclipse (and of the past two months, basically) has been Leo stuff – creativity, generosity, self-expression, pride, bravery, joy, romance. This sky has been forcing us to ask ourselves how to bring more joy and aliveness into our lives; how to live with heart. And as it was eclipse season, great changes were demanded.
We're past the great changes and intensities of eclipse season now. This month is more a matter of getting on with the new order of things – our next new moon will be in Virgo, and within a couple of weeks we're going to have all the personal planets (Mercury, Mars and Venus) in Virgo. This is a lot of detail-oriented, systematic, humble, relentlessly pragmatic energy – it's going to be a great month for attending to practical matters and getting things done.
But before we get there, we have this gentle emotional catharsis: this dreamy, romantic, teary, spiritual full moon in Pisces, where we look back with nostalgia, gratitude, and maybe regret at the summer just past - and come to terms with it. It's a feeling the Japanese call mono no aware – an acute awareness of the impermanence of life in the midst of the everyday.
I'm going to quote Phillip Larkin's “Sad Steps” in its entirety, because it fits, and because Pisces moons are for poetry:
Groping back to bed after a piss I part thick curtains, and am startled by The rapid clouds, the moon’s cleanliness. Four o’clock: wedge-shadowed gardens lie Under a cavernous, a wind-picked sky. There’s something laughable about this, The way the moon dashes through clouds that blow Loosely as cannon-smoke to stand apart (Stone-coloured light sharpening the roofs below) High and preposterous and separate— Lozenge of love! Medallion of art! O wolves of memory! Immensements! No, One shivers slightly, looking up there. The hardness and the brightness and the plain Far-reaching singleness of that wide stare Is a reminder of the strength and pain Of being young; that it can’t come again, But is for others undiminished somewhere.
You see the speaker move from sentimental tropes about the moon to a personal vision that's very clinical and bleak, but deeply felt? I think it's a good resolution of the Pisces/Virgo polarity (feeling vs. reason): it's possible to feel deeply without being self-indulgent; it's possible to see clearly without being cold. That's the kind of balancing act that's called for here.
This full moon looks great for creating art, music, poetry. Also for letting go of things – remember full moons are about endings. It's potentially very beautiful and profound, like a wistful cat.
Wistful cat
But Pisces can also be full of delusion, self-pity, addiction and victim shit – Pisces is the incurable drunk who calls you at 4 am to cry about all the terrible things other people have done to her. And with Neptune conjunct the moon, this is doubly the case here. There's a real potential for people to wallow in their self-created misery, and to try to drag others in too.
The antidote to this sodden emotional mess is Virgo. The north node was in Virgo for the past few years, and I got used to repeating the boring mantra: “Keep doing your Virgo!” It was about attending to practical matters in order to keep from sinking into self-destruction and despair.
The north node is now in Leo, but for the next couple of weeks, it's disposited by the sun in Virgo. So this month, the old advice applies – keep doing your Virgo, stay practical and focused on everyday tasks and routines in order to stave off existential misery.
The nice thing is, the north node is now in Leo, so there's a larger purpose to this Virgo stuff now. It's not just about staying functional and sane. It's about doing the practical work that needs to be done in order to create a life worth living – a life with more authenticity and joy in it.
This is coming up on Sunday, 12th March – about 3 pm GMT.
This full moon in Virgo - the sign of order, precision and hygiene - looks medicinal and astringent to me. It's a wound-healing moon. The wounds being healed are mental ones: confusion, delusion, addiction, self-deception, laziness of thought.
The new moon in Pisces a couple weeks back looked like a confused, angry mess – well here is the corrective. A dose of harsh reality.
Try to hold still – this may hurt a bit. It's for your own good though!
The sun at 22 degrees Pisces will be conjunct Chiron and Mercury. This denotes a painful, messy sense of unease – a wound to our minds and to our sense of collective reality. I'd say this has to something do with all the “fake news” stuff in the news lately. It has become very hard to know what to believe, and our confusion is being cynically manipulated for political ends.
But this has been a theme across the board, from the collective level to the individual. Look at your own life: what lies have you been telling yourself, how have you been evading reality, how have you manipulated and decieved others, how have you colluded in your own manipulation by others?
I think at this full moon, the extent of the cover-ups, obfuscations and distortions of reality will be coming clear. Information is bound to come to light that puts hidden things into proper perspective. We will be seeing through the lies and bullshit – lord knows we've had enough of listening to blatant liars discounting all criticism of their behaviour as “fake news”. Facts are facts.
Mercury in Pisces will be exactly square Saturn in Sagittarius for the full moon. This is harsh but credible communication – the voice of moral authority cutting through the smokescreen.
We'll see how it plays out on the world stage. But your own stage is where this really matters: if you've been zoning out, not facing reality, pretending life is whatever you want it to be and facts equal feelings – here is your wakeup call. Reality is reality, and it doesn't care about your feelings or your victim-story. This is harsh, astringent clarity, like disinfectant being poured on a wound. It's meant to wake you the fuck up, so please don't be resentful.
If someone calls you out on your shit or tells you you're being sloppy / lazy / careless / delusional, there's no point getting all indignant and defensive. The point is to heal the wound, remember. That means addressing the underlying pathology instead of denying or defending it.
Taking criticism on board in important here. With the Mercury-Saturn square, you can trust the information you're given – people are not going to be spouting off for the sake of it, or trying to wound you out of malice. They will be trying to convey their observations in order to help, and out of an uncomfortable desire for fair-dealing and justice (courtesy of a tense inconjunct between sun-Mercury-Chiron in Pisces and Jupiter in Libra).
The take-home message here: ignore criticism at your peril. We all have bad habits, and sometimes we all need a bit of a shove to show us what needs changing.
Listen to your inner critic as well. You know deep down what you have to get rid of.
It's important to remember that at a Virgo full moon, we are at the midpoint of the Pisces lunar cycle. Pisces is, at best, about acceptance and letting go – releasing, forgiving, forgetting – so that energy can flow freely instead of remaining stagnant and congealed.
Virgo is what helps us to clear out all our rotten gunk and blockages. You can take this literally and use this energy to organize your living space and get rid of whatever is cluttering it up – or you can apply it internally to clear your mental and emotional garbage. Or both!
The point is, we need to make some space for the new moon in Aries, which is a fiery rebirth – a time for focusing on new prospects and what we really want for the year ahead. (It comes on the 28th March this year). You can't really think about starting anything new when your life is cluttered up with old garbage! So this is clear-out time.
A caution about new prospects though: your dreams have to line up with what's actually possible and practical. There are hard limits here – you can work with them but you can't make them disappear. With both Venus and Jupiter retrograde, don't jump headlong into new ventures, especially ones involving relationship and money. Hold back until you have a clearer perspective. I'd say that'll be mid-April, and it's unlikely to feel so great – Venus goes direct on the 15th April conjunct Chiron and in square to Saturn. Bear in mind that your hopes may not measure up to the realities, or may require a lot more work and committment to fulfill than expected.
But don't let it get you down too much. Take the long view and plan to work toward the life you want in a methodical, stepwise way, and you'll be on solid ground.
PS- Venus retrograde is traditionally held to be a bad time for making important purchases. You'll regret your impulse-buys. Remember we are in a phase of clearing out here, not adding to the clutter of stuff we don't really need.
This is tomorrow morning, the 1st September, at about 10 am GMT.
We have a lot going on in the sky this month, ushered in by this harsh and intense solar eclipse in Virgo. I think September will ask a lot of us. It looks stressful, weird, anxious, head-melting. Things are in flux in a big way. People with a lot of planets in the mutable signs (Pisces, Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius) will be especially hard hit.
The good thing is, there is a very clear and defined way through, and it is built into the chart of this new moon: keep doing your Virgo. Keep doing the jobs that need doing, quietly and humbly. Keep fine-tuning your routines, keep adapting to change in a simple, straightforward, constructive way. If you're having an existential crisis, do the dishes or mop the floor or walk the dog. There is always something (or someone) that needs taking care of.
Keep your focus on the humble, the everyday, the functional...even (or especially) in the midst of chaos and uncertainty about the future. If you try to think too far ahead these days, or on too large a scale, you're liable to get depressed or overwhelmed – or to be flat-out deluding yourself. So just attend to the boring, everyday, small stuff as it comes up, however fucking irritating it may be. Boring and mundane is the way to go here.
Also, we are dealing with a lot of mutable energy here – so adaptability and flexibility are important. If you hit roadblocks, delays and annoyances this month (which you will!), try to accept them with humility and grace. Find a way around them; be willing to alter your plans. And have some faith that the fog will dissipate sometime, and the road ahead will become clearer.
The other thing I'd say is – try to have a sense of perspective (Saturn in Sagittarius) about your anxieties (Virgo). I know that people are facing difficulties at this time – but there are problems and PROBLEMS. If you are not fleeing a war zone right now or holding onto your kids in an overcrowded dingy in the Mediterranean, you're relatively lucky.
Remember your situation is probably workable no matter how hard it feels. It's important to try to find a way to work with it, because running away from difficulties or trying to ignore them is not going to go so well under this sky. Throwing up your hands in despair and giving up is also not really an option. I mean, you could do that, but it will only lead you into worse trouble. You have got to deal with the choices you've made and the messes that need clearing up.
This new moon eclipse opposes Neptune and the south node in Pisces, so escapism will pull at us. (Beware drink, drugs and romantic delusion.) It also squares the Saturn-Mars conjunction in Sagittarius, meaning we'll likely be feeling like miserable, frustrated, angry shit on a stick.
Keeping the focus practical and reality-based under this kind of moody cosmic weather will be hard, but very beneficial.
Big stuff this month:
We have a Mercury retrograde through Virgo that started yesterday (August 30th) and will go on till the 22nd September. Expect the usual Mercury retrograde stuff: jangled nerves, jumbled-up communication, information overload, glitches in devices and travel plans. Plus brain fog, anxiety and distraction courtesy of the Saturn-Neptune square. Fun stuff!
We have Jupiter ending his yearlong residency in Virgo on the 9th of September, and entering Libra. This is a big shift, and it actually looks like a nice one. Jupiter in Libra will be about balance, justice and harmony, especially in close relationships.
This new moon is Jupiter in Virgo's last big party – and he exits the sign conjunct Venus and Mercury, which is great for cleaning up your relationship messes via precise, effective communication before he enters Libra. If you've been doing your Virgo work, you'll benefit from this.
The next day, we'll have the third and final Saturn-Neptune square, exact on the 10th of September. This is a reality (Saturn) dissolving (Neptune) influence – potentially very disillusioning and disorienting. It looks like it could involve some relationship nastiness and power plays – Venus squares Pluto the next day. So be warned.
Saturn square Neptune is really the event of the month - the aspect that colors everything. Truth, clarity, rules and limits (Saturn) vs. bullshit, dreams, addiction and escapism (Neptune) - and I've already told you ad nauseam which side of the equation you want to be on, with the north node in reality-based Virgo.
Then we have a full moon eclipse in Pisces on the 16th September, and it looks fairly emotionally wounding. Painful stuff. I'll get to that closer to the time.
Finally, we have Pluto stationing direct in Capricorn on the 25th September. This looks OK! It's about deep structural change though, which is never exactly comfortable.
The upshot is, we don't come out of September the same as we went in. This month, is a scene-changer, and maybe you'll find yourself in a different play altogether by the end of it.
Keep in mind, plenty of people are not going to be in their right minds this month. Maybe cut them some slack unless they're going around shooting people. And if it's you that's going crazy - focus on the practical, and please get some kind of help if things are really bad. Your issues are workable, and they're not unique to you - other people can help! But it'll be easy to lose sight of that fact.
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:
The sun, now in early Scorpio, will be facing off against the moon in early Taurus.
A Taurus moon needs stability, physical solidity and comfort. It speaks of a deep attachment to pleasure, routine, habit and the status quo: Taurus doesn't like change. Whereas the sun in Scorpio requires change, discomfort and transformation – it wants to tear its skin off.
So you can see how these two energies are at odds. Further, Taurus and Scorpio are fixed signs – very focused and stubborn. Wherever this full moon falls in your chart is where you'll experience this tension between holding on/consolidating (Taurus) vs. purging/transforming/letting go (Scorpio).
What's nice about this full moon is that it should be easy enough to work with these opposing imperatives. The moon in Taurus is disposited by Venus (love, values, possessions) in Virgo; and the Scorpio sun is disposited by Mars (will, drive, sex) in Virgo and Pluto (death, transformation, sex) in Capricorn – and all these planets are in easy dialogue.
It's all very deep and workable – in a low-key, quiet, pragmatic kinda way. And pretty sexed-up as well. Scorpio and Taurus are a sexy combo, and we have Mars, Venus and Jupiter conjunct, aspecting Pluto – all in earth signs, which are very... physical. It's a real 'sexual healing' kinda vibe, cheesy as that sounds.
Cue the saxophone music!!
O yeah!!
(Sorry, sorry, sorry.)
Besides watching Kenny G videos, you could use this influence to do nice, healthy things for yourself physically. Resting up, eating well, getting some decent sleep. The past few weeks (hell the past few YEARS) have been rough on everyone...so this is a good time for building your energy and resources back up.
Anyway, recall the relationship re-boot theme of the new moon in Libra two weeks ago. What was implied at the new moon – tension, shifts, re-balancings, especially in the context of love and money matters – all comes to fruition at the full. This is where whatever was set in motion becomes a lot more solid and real.
Venus has by now left her square to Saturn and is conjunct Mars and Jupiter – and this stellium in Virgo trines Pluto in Capricorn. So it's time to act now, on whatever you want to create or repair. The blockages and obstructions we've been dealing with since the summer are falling away.
It is entirely possible to fix any relational/money/career problems you have at this time – to shed old problems like a snake shedding its skin. As long as you are willing to make a serious commitment: Saturn is in Sagittarius, and this is about consolidating (Saturn) a vision for the future (Sagittarius). It's serious stuff, and not particularly comfortable – but anything worth having involves work and discomfort. And also some sacrifice. You have to be willing to forgo some short-term comfort for a long-term goal.
It doesn't have to be about relationships, but with Venus and Mars conjunct and the north node at 0 degrees Libra, relationship and money issues take center stage in this.
But it could also be about your relationship to yourself, or to your possessions, values, psychological issues - you name it. It could be about getting clear of an addiction, decluttering your house, dealing with a psychological pathology, fine-tuning a health regimen, making a course-correction re. money/career....
Basically, overcoming inertia in some area of your life that has become stagnant and needs an overhaul – and you'll know exactly what area this is, it'll be hard to miss. Time to pick yourself up and get the ball rolling again.
It's as likely to be about an ending as it is about a re-boot: remember full moons signify culminations or endings. Something has to be dealt with decisively here, or purged in the interests of long-term stability. Something in your life - a habit, a relationship, a job, an ideology, whatever - may be shown to be completely outworn and unviable.
There are some potentially difficult choices to be made here - but deep down, there is really no choice. Trust your instinct on this: what do you really need and value, and what can you dispense with? You'll know.
If what you need or value is broken or damaged in some way, you can fix it with a bit of work. With all this Virgo and Pluto stuff going on, there's tremendous, focused, practical energy available for identifying problems and working to fix them. Deep structural change is easier than usual at this time. Deep healing, compassion and renewal from the roots are also possible – the stellium in Virgo opposes Chiron in Pisces, which represents a wound that confers spiritual knowledge.
Fairy uncomfortable stuff overall – but any kind of growth involves discomfort. A cicada doesn't climb out of its old carapace because it is 'comfortable' there. It climbs out because staying there is uncomfortable – and impossible.
Anyway, there is likely to be some shocking communication or mental re-balancing at this full moon: a message or information that radically shifts your perception. Mercury in Libra is opposite Uranus and squaring Pluto - you won't see it coming, but it looks potentially quite transformative and/or traumatic. This is a wake-up call for sure, if you were in need of one.
If you find yourself in a situation where verbal nastiness is being flung around, be careful. With Mercury still squaring Pluto and the south node at 0 degrees Aries, communicating impulsively in anger will come back to bite you on the ass in short order. Keep your head down (Virgo), mind your manners (Libra) and curb your enthusiasm (Saturn in Sagittarius). There is plenty of work to be done on fixing what really matters to you, without making more work for yourself via destructive conflict.
This is early on the 13th October, at around 1 am GMT.
It's a big deal. It opens up a new cycle – especially regarding relationships, as Libra is the sign of relating in close, one-on-one partnerships.
It looks pretty exciting and perilous to me – a slate-clearing event, or a re-boot. Big shifts are underway. Some alliances are being ruptured, others rejuvenated. There is plenty to work with here.
There's also plenty of potential delusion and big disappointment. Plenty of potential shock and hurt as well. Whatever was lit up for you at the full moon eclipse in Aries two weeks ago – well the consequences are still shaking down. It was a big event, and the consequences are long-term and final. And as the dust settles, we enter a new relational paradigm.
Mercury has just stationed direct, conjunct the north node at 1 degree Libra – and this speaks of new information coming to light, or a shift in thinking or communication that can destabilize (or re-balance) relationships. Or a message that starts something new in motion.
It might be that you just don't know what to think or believe anymore, your mind is so boggled. This doesn't have to be a bad thing! It can be liberating – like beginner's mind. But you don't get that kind of liberation without a dose of discomfort and shock.
Anyway, we'll have the sun and moon in peace-seeking, partnership-oriented Libra – opposite Uranus in Aries, which is all about personal authenticity, freedom, rebellion and shock. Plus the new moon is squaring Pluto in Capricorn, which is about radical restructuring. It's a cardinal t-square again – and this stuff heralds abrupt change.
We also have another t-square (involving Libra's ruler, Venus) reinforcing this theme of shifts, dissolutions and restructuring, especially in love and money matters. This one involves Venus in Virgo opposing Neptune in Pisces, both squaring Saturn in Sagittarius.
It speaks of profound unease, depression, disillusion and blockage – especially regarding love and money. Again, very uncomfortable stuff. Beautiful dreams coming up against a wall of difficult realities. Seeing your romantic fantasies (Venus-Neptune) in the cold light of truth (Saturn in Sagittarius).
So overall, things don't look particularly easy and pleasant – they look quite jarring and destabilizing. The story is definitely in flux, and it's tough. A lot of rugs are being pulled out from under a lot of feet at this time. Many relationships are not going to survive the stress – or they'll need to change radically in order to continue.
But Pluto is in easy aspect to Mars and Jupiter in Virgo, and this should help. What benefit us here is taking care of everyday details and attending to what needs to be done in a quiet, systematic, realistic way. There is a lot of energy available for restructuring and problem-solving.
This is a perfect time to overhaul...everything really. Your prejudices and opinions, your expectations for the future, your ways of behaving in relationships, your habits...your house maybe, your daily routines, your relationship with money, your job, etc etc. You'll know what needs restructuring in your life!
I think for the next month – and really the next year – the key thing to focus on is Virgo. It's a real Virgo party right now: Venus, Mars and Jupiter are in the sign, to be joined by the north node in early November. The north node and Jupiter will be in Virgo for a long while, and that's why the energy of this sign is a focus.
Virgo is all about attending to the details of earthly reality. Accuracy, efficiency, fine-tuning, order. Health, simplicity, purity, humility, service to others.
So if you're feeling the rug has been pulled out from under your feet, you can have faith (Jupiter) that doing humble, healthy, Virgo-oriented stuff will give your life some stability. That means things like cleaning the house, doing your work, walking the dog, going for a run. Doing something to help someone else, organizing the garage, learning a new craft....Etc etc.
You're better off focusing on the simple and the ordinary right now, because that stuff will ground you and help you to deal with whatever craziness is going on in your life.
Another key to dealing with conflict is Libra – and this is a new moon in Libra, after all. Plus we have the north node in Libra, and Libra's ruler Venus is currently in mutual reception with Virgo's ruler Mercury, meaning each is in the other's sign.
Mercury in Libra is about seeing both sides of a situation: the other's point of view as well as your own. It's diplomatic and strives for fairness and balance.
With the south node in Aries, it's easy to fly into a rage and blow up relationships at this time – but you are going to be shooting yourself in the foot if you act out your anger, emotional impulsivity or self-righteousness.
The point of the story right now is relating, compromise, good manners, fair and balanced communication. This is all courtesy of Mercury in Libra conjunct the north node. Dialogue, balance and mutual respect are possible – they might not be easy, given the tension we are seeing in this sky, but they are what we should be aiming for right now. Make sure you have all the facts and have considered all sides of a story before you rush to judgement or make any major decisions.
It's all about Virgo and Libra right now. Virgo is realism, humility, service, attention to the small stuff – and Libra is balance, fairness, good manners and right relationship. If we can stick to these themes, we'll be doing well.
It's hard to be a decent human being- especially now. But that is (always) what we're aiming for. Especially now.
This is early on the 13th September, around 6:40 am (GMT).
It's an eclipse – a supercharged new beginning – in the detail-oriented, service-minded sign of Virgo. And I am determined to see it as a good thing, though it looks quite painful and uncomfortable – because Virgo is an immensely practical, grounded, orderly sign.
So if things hurt, there are practical things you can do to heal. You can start a new health regimen. You can focus on doing practical, helpful things for yourself or others who are hurting. You can clean the house and do the laundry. You can volunteer at something.
The focus will be on doing practical, humble, everyday stuff. Jupiter is in Virgo also – so our blessings and happiness this year are tied up with a focus on the everyday, the humble, the small but necessary. Attention to the little details will go a long way.
Hopefully this new moon will be painful like necessary surgery - or like how a wound stings when it's being cleaned and sewn up. Or like root canal, which is painful but functional.
Of course, it could also feel like a knife twisting in your gut, or jagged worry and mental misery. Try not to worry too much. It's definitely a worried kind of sky.
The moon and sun in Virgo will oppose Chiron in Pisces, which represents a deep, incohate sense of wounding. They will also inconjunct Uranus in Aries, which is a jittery, erratic, angry kind of energy.
Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is also in cardinal t-square with Pluto and Uranus. This is full of the potential for raw, painful, shocking thought and communication. Quite violent and explosive.
In addition, we have Saturn at the very end of Scorpio, hammering out the karmic consequences we are going to be living with for the next few decades (ugh). He will leave Scorpio for Sagittarius on the 18th September, and this should lighten things up a bit – but the month ahead is colored by the energy of this final grinding transit of 29 degrees Scorpio.
So things look pretty difficult overall. Plus we have this Jupiter-Neptune opposition which speaks of big delusion, big disappointment, mental confusion, pragmatic reality vs. huge swirly dreams.
Ack, whatever. It all looks a bit shitty – not the loveliest cosmic weather. But there is work to be done regardless.
So do your Virgo: focus on the small stuff that keeps the whole show running. Take out the trash, take the cat to the vet, do your homework, sweep the floor, trim the hedge, do some pushups, help someone who is in direr straits than you. (There's always someone.)
There are a lot of shifts underway this month. It should be interesting.
We have the aforementioned shift of Saturn from Scorpio to Sagittarius on the 18th – so we will be done with the grinding hellish psychodrama of that transit for another 28.5 years, thank Christ. Awful stuff.
The day before, the 17th September, we have Mercury going retrograde in Libra till the 9th of October. Expect the usual glitches in communications, troubles with communication devices and travel delays. Because the retrograde is happening in Libra, sign of close relationships and partnerships, there will be plenty of room for misunderstanding and miscommunication in the context of close relationships, and that can lead to major blockages and frustrations – so be aware. Paying close attention to what people are actually saying and what they actually mean will be helpful.
Pluto will resume direct motion on the 24th September, after a retrograde period that started in April. This, along with Saturn's move out of Scorpio, signals the end of the exhausting inward psychological focus of the past few months. Hopefully we can quit brooding and move forward in our lives now.
Not without frustration and blockage though: Mars moves into Virgo the next day, the 25th September – straight into a difficult square with Saturn in Sagittarius. Mars-Saturn aspects are full of frustration that can express itself as cruelty and abuse – this square will be in effect for the latter part of the month, and things could get very tense. Nitpicky and nasty, destructively critical.
And then Venus moves into the same square in the middle of October. Suffice it to say, we have not seen the end of our blockages and delays in love and money matters. (Though there will be plenty of new opportunities as Venus trines Uranus during the latter half of September.)
Well it's all potentially very frustrating, but remember – now and for the year ahead, do your Virgo. When things get shitty and your nerves are all fried and your head's a mess from beating itself against walls, do something healthy or practical or helpful, for yourself or for others. Stay humble and focused on the everyday. Plenty of people are going to be needing help, and helping others is a good way to forget your own worries.
There's a full moon eclipse in Aries on the 28th September – a 'blood moon' which some people claim will be the end of the world. I don't think that's likely, but it does look jangly and difficult. Not the easiest month ahead overall. But Saturn leaving Scorpio is a big deal, and a relief - so there's that anyway!
This is tomorrow, the 29th August, around 8 pm GMT. Maybe you can feel it already.
It's a big, dreamy, romantic moon – conjunct Neptune, meaning the emotional tone will be idealistic, deluded, sacrificial, suggestible, ungrounded. Drunk, actually.
The moon and Neptune will face off against Jupiter and the sun in rational, detail-oriented, pragmatic Virgo.
So we are looking at the need to balance practical, everyday, earthly reality with big swirling emotion, romance and potential delusion. Grounding ourselves in the everyday while feeling way out at sea. It's a very seasick kind of vibe.
Nice influence for artists and musicians – you can use this to give dreams and intuitions an actual form. Anyone spiritually inclined, or in a helping role or profession, should also benefit. But the danger here for many of us is that dreams and delusions will overwhelm our sense of reality.
Overall this looks like a tough full moon to me. Neptune is a confusing, disillusioning influence, and Virgo can worry like nobody's business...plus Saturn, now grinding his way onto the last degree of Scorpio, will be loosely squaring the full moon, adding an undercurrent of darkness, psychological pain, guilt and deep compulsion. And having Jupiter involved magnifies all this. Fun stuff!
Best case scenario – this is about dreams that can come true, given enough mental seriousness and attention to detail.
Worst case scenario – this is about worry, fear, emotional instability - and just generally feeling kind of seasick. Guts all knotted up with free-floating anxiety and dread.
And the worst worst case scenario, with so much Neptune, is getting in way over your head, screwing yourself over, drowning in your anxieties or addictions.
Personally I think this is not particularly comfortable cosmic weather unless you're comatose drunk or full of Valium - but beware drink and drugs, because the hangover for this one will be the Fear all right. With Jupiter (luck) in health-conscious Virgo, you're better off focusing on what's healthy and avoiding boundary-dissolving substances.
The motto of the Virgo-Pisces axis is 'Serve or Suffer'. So if you're feeling lousy and caught in painful mental/emotional loops, a good way to feel better is to focus on what you can do for others. With Jupiter in Virgo, pragmatism and quiet, unassuming service to others are favoured. These are sure-fire ways to transcend your worries right now.
And there is no shortage of suffering in the world, it's useful to remember. Much of it is particularly horrific these days.
Re. seasickness – this is literal for many, and puts most people's troubles in perspective:
Porous national boundaries, death at sea (Neptune), a lot of fussy bureaucratic anxiety (Virgo), and people willing to go through hell to get away from the hell they're living (Saturn in Scorpio). It all fits.
Anyway, on a less literal level, the full moon makes me think of this card in the Tarot:
Something will have to be sacrificed for the greater good here. It's not about getting what you want. It's about what serves everyone best; what serves life best.
The guy on the card is Odin, sacrificing his physical comfort for mystical illumination in a kind of symbolic death. Jesus on his cross is another example of transcendent human sacrifice.
And all the refugees in those Mediterranean coffin ships represent absolute sacrifice as well.
But the sacrifice required of you may not be so intense. It could just be a bit of your pride. Your story, your opinions, your rigidities of thought, your anger, your defensiveness. Maybe your conceptual apparatus is getting an overhaul about now. I'd say, roll with it - even if it feels like not having any ground under your feet.
Virgo's ruler, Mercury, is currently in Libra and conjunct the north node. It's a good time for seeing all sides of a story, particularly in terms of relationships – the aim here is fairness, justice and balanced relationship.
And Venus will be retrograde in Leo till the 6th September. Again, the theme is balancing, reconsideration, cautious delay, careful preparation for future success in love and money matters.
Starting new relationships or business ventures under a Venus retrograde is generally held to be bad luck, so waiting till she goes direct on the 6th before committing yourself is probably a good idea.
We also have Saturn grinding his slow way through the end of Scorpio – and this speaks of frustrated desire, blockages and delays...also deep fear.
Saturn will leave Scorpio for Sagittarius on the 18th September - not too much longer now! It should lighten things up a bit. (Unless you have refused to deal with your shit – in which case you'll be living with it for quite some time. Decades, actually. It's very harsh, but karma's a bitch.)
Anyway, frustrating as delay and blockage might feel, you can use the next few weeks - and the next week in particular - to ensure you have read the fine print on any interpersonal (or actual) contracts you're thinking of signing. This includes major purchases and new creative projects.
With Saturn in Scorpio, you can open yourself up to a world of long-term hurt by being careless or light-minded about energetic transactions and mergers. (Keep in mind that love and money matters are all about energetic transaction and merger.)
That's not to say there's nothing nice going on! Venus and Mars will be exactly conjunct in Leo on the 1st September, trining the moon and Uranus in Aries. This is a fiery, “expect the unexpected” influence for relationships. Anything could happen! People will be feeling revved-up with desire, and impatient.
The conjunction is in uncomfortable aspect to Pluto in Capricorn. Some skeletons in the closet coming out to play, maybe – some very tense power dynamics at work. It looks emotionally fraught, frustrating as hell... but exciting and positive overall.
I do think, under these skies, that delay and caution will serve you well. Jumping headlong into anything is not a great idea – especially with a full moon as emotionally ungrounded as this one.
Remember: take the time to read the fine print. We are trying to see clearly and lay strong foundations here, in order to create structures that can work in reality. That process takes the time it takes, not the time we might want it to take.
Being swept off your feet may sound very romantic and exciting, but it's not the best way to go right now.
This is tonight, the 5th March 2015, around 6 pm GMT.
We have an intense month ahead, as we head into the final Uranus-Pluto square on the 16th March. Things are shifting fast. The skies now are about accelerated relational dynamics and power shifts. Bedrock changes involving how we relate and what we value are afoot. Alliances are being formed and broken at astonishing speed, and people are waking up to how unfulfilling and insufficient their lives are within their old realities. Everything is pressing for radical change right now.
This full moon in Virgo shines a clear, analytical light on what has to change in our lives, and what practical steps we have to take to get to where we want to be. Virgo is about order, efficiency, clarity and detail work. It's about being practical and systematic, paying attention to the small stuff and not getting bogged down in emotional chaos or delusion.
This kind of grounded clarity is helpful, as the changes hitting us now can be overwhelming and painful. There are a lot of things we can't take with us, going forward. Bad relationships, addictions, romantic illusions, mouldering old gender roles and expectations, victim-saviour dynamics, the excuses we make for continuing down paths we know are no good for us – all that stuff has to go.
And regret for all we're having to leave behind will likely pull at us this full moon. The sun in Pisces will be conjunct Chiron (exact on the 8th March), and this describes deep wounding - an existential kind of hurt. And the sun and moon will be squaring Saturn, which is an emotionally constraining influence. Overall the mood is likely to be pretty serious and subdued.
It doesn't matter – we have to keep moving forward.
Letting go of what you've invested your time, energy and love in is very hard, yeah. But when a thing is done it's done – there is really no going back. You can't let what is unviable or unsound drain you any further.
It's like the image above for the tarot 8 of cups – the pilgrim in the picture is leaving an emotional arrangement he has painstakingly constructed, because it no longer satisfies him. He's walking off into darkness and rough terrain alone, and the situation is not particularly happy or light, but there's a feeling of necessity about it. He has to find something more meaningful, even if it means facing hardship and loneliness.
This full moon should help you to discriminate between what you can work with going forward, and what you must leave behind – and to take the necessary practical steps, however crummy you might feel about it all. Venus is hitting the Uranus-Pluto square right now, reinforcing this theme of detaching from our stuck old patterns, especially as regards relationships, money, possessions and values.
It's a great time for a clear-out. This could be as mundane as clearing out your garage or bringing your old clothes to Goodwill...or it could involve getting clear of untenable relationship dynamics and old psychological conditioning, or a bad job, or habits that undermine your health, or whatever you know is a drain on your energy and resources. The important thing is to let go of what is no longer fulfilling and clear a space in your life for something new to happen. It's not fun, but it's necessary.
If you stay stuck in your old patterns out of regret, addiction or fear of change, you miss out on the great opportunity of this time – the potential for amazing new things to happen. But if you clear some space in your life and refuse to let it be filled by the same old shit, something new is bound to come along.
The 'something new' part involves a grand trine between Jupiter in Leo and Venus, Mars and Uranus in Aries. This is fiery, exciting influence, full of the potential for sudden windfalls, happy accidents, inspiration, new alliances, magic and opportunity. Saturn in Sagittarius is also involved, which grounds the energy and makes it easier to materialize whatever opportunities or inspirations come your way. This is luck you can work with.
It's really nice to have this happy, energetic, lucky stuff going on – because the weeks ahead are so tense. We are moving at warp speed toward the final Uranus-Pluto square on the 16th, and radical change is the name of the game. Anything could happen.
A lot of that 'anything' is potentially violent and shocking, especially with Mars currently conjunct the south node and moving to conjunct Uranus in Aries on the 11th March. So please be careful. Drive defensively and avoid crazy people if you can.
And don't take your guns to town, son...
If you start feeling all pent-up and enraged, it's a good idea to get in some physical exercise.
Mercury leaves Aquarius for Pisces on the 13th March - this should soften up our mental processes and communications, which have been all zinged up and electric under Mercury in Aquarius. Nice influence for artists and musicians – very intuitive and poetic. But it also means our thinking might be a bit underwater at a time when we need to keep our wits about us.
On the 14th March, Saturn begins his retrograde. It will take him back through the early degrees of Sagittarius and into Scorpio for a final revision period (15th June – 18th September) of the dark, thorny issues we've dealt with over the past two years during his tenure in Scorpio. This is kind of a drag – kind of dispiriting and exhausting. Just when we're itching to move forward and solidify the changes in our lives, we have this dark undertow dragging us back through territory we thought we'd finished with. Specifically, it's a retreading of ground we covered between mid-December of 2014 and now – any Scorpionic issues you were dealing with then will likely come up for revision. (Scorpio issues involve sex, death, power, shared resources, debts, the shadow).
Oh well. June to September of this year will be the last time Saturn is in Scorpio for nearly 30 years, so you might as well use it to make good and sure that you have really gotten the garbage out of your life and psyche. Anything rotten or unsound you are still clinging to: an addiction, a relationship, an ideology, a fantasy, etc...Well hopefully you have been trying to extricate yourself from what you know is no good for you. But maybe it hasn't been as easy to get clear of as you thought it would be. There is still some work to be done here – and messy and dark as it is, we'll have to do it if we want to move forward.
Hard-ass Saturn is telling us here: surface change is just not good enough. It's easy to declare you're finished with something but then go on to repeat the same pattern in a different form, like a dry drunk. Really getting free involves psychological work - digging down to the deep roots of a behaviour, and cutting them out so it can't regrow in another form.
Anyway, it looks like a pain in the ass, but it has to be done. Come September, it will really be time to move on from whatever this is about for you, and for good.
On the 16th March we have the 7th and final exact square between Uranus (shock, revolution) and Pluto (death, rebirth, transformation). It's a big deal. I wrote a lot about it in my last post, so won't re-hash it.
But suffice it to say, the weeks ahead are full of drama and intensity. Try to stay balanced amid the shifts – things are very pressurised right now. Take a step back if you feel yourself getting overwhelmed.
Virgo is about health and service, so a full moon in Virgo is a good time to focus on those things. Try to eat right, exercise and get enough sleep...and if you find yourself overly focused on your own issues, shift the focus onto what you can do for others. Those strategies can help to ease the tension.
(Detail from Van der Weyden's Descent From the Cross)
This is exact on Tuesday, the 9th September around 2:30 am (GMT).
The moon will be at 16 degrees Pisces, conjunct Chiron and opposing the sun in Virgo.
A Pisces moon is sensitive and empathetic, with a lack of clear boundaries between self and other... and Chiron represents a wound that will not heal. So the emotional tone described by this full moon is one of painful sensitivity for the suffering of all existence. Boundless empathy.
We are also moving into an opposition between Venus and Neptune, exact on the 10th September. It's an aspect known for romantic delusion, pining, unrequited love. Also spiritual longing and artistic creativity.
The emotional tone of these skies is very idealistic, sensitive, dreamy and wounded overall.
The nice thing is, there are practical, helpful things you can DO with all this sensitivity and empathy. The sun in in Virgo, sign of the dedicated nurse, the selfless servant. Virgo is happiest when there's a job to be done, a problem to be solved, a bandage to be applied, someone to be helped.
The themes here are the classic Virgo-Pisces ones of compassion, service, sacrifice and healing. “Serve or suffer”, the motto of this axis, applies. If you're feeling bad, focusing your energy on something you can do for others is the quickest way to feel better.
That said, suffering may be hard to avoid. with the moon conjunct Chiron and also a cardinal t-square between Uranus, Pluto, and Mercury in Libra. Situations are weighty and difficult, on a mental level as well as an emotional one. Remember last month's new moon in Virgo? We are still clearing out the Augean stables - there is still plenty of work to be done.
Beware of what the Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa called “idiot compassion” (another word for which is “enabling”). What's required here is a very sharp, pragmatic, purposeful kind of compassion. Like a “cordon sanitaire”.
Bearing this out, we have Saturn in Scorpio sextiling the Virgo sun and trining the Pisces moon. Saturn in Scorpio is a no-bullshit, surgical energy that is best used for removing what's rotten or diseased from your life.
The whole setup reminds me of a line from T.S. Eliot about “the sharp compassion of the healer's art”:
"The wounded surgeon plies the steel That questions the distempered part; Beneath the bleeding hands we feel The sharp compassion of the healer's art Resolving the enigma of the fever chart."
Chiron is often referred to as the 'wounded healer'. In the mythology, he was a healer and a teacher of heroes. But he was hit by a poisoned arrow during one of Hercules' escapades and proved unable to heal himself, for all his knowledge.
The archetype of the wounded healer goes back a long way. In classical shamanism, initiates were called to healing via trauma and illness. The explanation was that the spirits tormented people until they accepted the calling to become a healer.
Accepting the call meant the death of the ego – 'shamanic sickness' often ends with the sick person's vision of death and physical dismemberment, which is experienced as literal. And there follows the acceptance of a new mode of living, and a liminal social position – one foot in the everyday world, one foot in the otherworld. Your life doesn't really belong to you anymore – you become a channel between the worlds, an instrument. Not an easy position.
This pattern of initiation holds across cultures. The Buddha was so traumatized by his apprehension of the truth of suffering that he left his comfortable life and entered into austerities that nearly killed him – and his final realization was a kind of death. Jesus was an itinerant faith healer who was literally tortured to death before attaining god-status. Odin hung himself from a tree for nine days and nights in order to gain knowledge. Muhammed nearly killed himself after his initial revelation...and then he spent three years in a deep depression. Inanna went down to hell and was stripped of her finery and even her skin, hung for dead on a meat-hook. Etc, etc...
The message of all these traditions is: there's no real power or wisdom without the acceptance of suffering. You gain the ability to help others only by making your own wounds conscious. But bringing those wounds to consciousness can be very painful and difficult, and there's no going back to your old life... no 'healing' of what has been broken. It stays broken.
But that brokenness, that loss...is also the source of the ability to empathise with others, and to help them.
Chogyam Trungpa again:
"To be a spiritual warrior, one must have a broken heart; without a broken heart and the sense of tenderness and vulnerability, your warriorship is untrustworthy."
Ok, enough writing. Let's just play some videos. Under these skies, music and art make more sense than any amount of talking or explaining...
Making art is a good use of this energy, by the way. Art is a form of catharsis or purgation, and can heal.
And here are a few for Venus-Neptune. Bollywood has always been great at portraying Venus-Neptune (unreachable glamour, impossible love, spiritual longing).
--Worth noting: the actresses in these films were dying in real life. Madhubala of a hole in her heart, Meena Kumari of alcoholic cirrhosis. Very fitting, for Moon-Chiron in Pisces: they were tragedy queens. The boundary between life and art was very porous for these women.
--And here is one that is just kinda silly. I don't get what is happening in this video at all, but it's fun...
Anyway, "a heart that hurts is a heart that works" is a good slogan for this full moon.
