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| (Collage made out of pieces of maps. Virgo has to do with detail, and Pisces is the sea. Matthew Cusick - more here) |
This full moon is at 26 degrees Virgo on the 16th March, around 5 pm GMT. The moon in Virgo is facing off against the sun in Pisces.
Virgo is a mutable earth sign:
concerned with adjustments and adaptations in the realm of physical
reality. Fine-tuning, systemization and order, work and routine,
bodily health, attention to detail, craftsmanship. It's about making
sure the machine of daily existence is well-oiled and functioning
smoothly.
Where its opposite sign, Pisces is
emotional and lacking in definite boundaries, Virgo is contained,
emotionally reserved, pragmatic and orderly. Both signs share a focus
on service: Pisces via self-sacrifice, Virgo through attention to the
small details of daily life. In fact these two signs must
serve something larger than the self: the motto of the Virgo-Pisces
axis is 'serve or suffer'.
They remind me of Mary and Martha in
the Bible story. Jesus comes to visit and these two sisters set about
serving their guru in opposite ways. Mary sits at his feet adoringly,
absorbing his presence: that's Pisces. And Martha is bustling around
making dinner for everyone and doing practical things and worrying:
that's Virgo. (Virgos are great worriers.)
And then Martha is like “Mary! Get up
off your behind and help me make this dinner!” And Jesus gets all
preachy and tells her not to worry: “Mary has chosen what
is better and it will not be taken away from her”.
Kind of a strange story, when you think
about it. It sets up a dichotomy: the physical vs. the spiritual. And
then it devalues ordinary physical existence in favour of some
ethereal, blissed-out notion of spirituality.
I would like to rewrite it and have
Martha say, “OK, well then get the hell out of my house, hippies.
Go hang out in the fields and sing kum-ba-ya and eat goat turds.”
She had a perfect right to. I don't see
how making dinner isn't a spiritual act.
Everyday work is spiritual, care of the
body is spiritual. Eastern religions are much clearer on this than
the monotheistic religions - they don't have this false dichotomy
between the physical and the spiritual. In Zen, for example, work is
a form of meditation. They have this saying: “A day of no work is a
day of no eating”. Everybody in the monastery helps tend the
vegetables...it's very practical. But also they have those very
impractical, seemingly pointless (Pisces) rock gardens which they
tend in a very methodical, structured (Virgo) way, as an object of
contemplation... It's work or routine (Virgo) as high art and
spirituality (Pisces). Same with the tea ceremony: everyday ritual as
art. This is one way to integrate the Virgo-Pisces polarity:
grounding the ethereal via form and ritual.
Here is something on the Japanese
Zen-influenced philosophy of wabi-sabi, appropriate to these themes.
Really interesting! “If an object or expression can
bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual
longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi.”
Anyway, my point is, Virgo and Pisces
shouldn't be at odds – they require each other. Pisces needs
Virgo's containment, discipline and discrimination...otherwise it is
just some druggy hippie bullshit. And Virgo needs Pisces's ability to
relinquish control, go with the flow, accept life as it is. Otherwise
it gets all neurotic and naggy; overly focused on unimportant
details, destructively perfectionist.
A full moon in Virgo is, on the deepest
level, about integrating these themes of the practical and the
spiritual. Seeing work as service, everyday tasks as contemplation
and art. And feeling the mystery of actual physical existence. Like,
here we are in these weird fragile temporal bodies that require all
this tending...what IS all this? It's crazy! But here we are eating
and sleeping and driving to work and doing the shopping. Composed of
our routines, and disintegrating slowly within them. And it all has
to be done, day after day after day...there is really nothing else to
do. Totally amazing and bizarre. Wabi-sabi for sure.
When you direct your awareness towards
the everyday, the seemingly very ordinary and basic...it is revealed
as inherently magical and strange.
On a less esoteric level, this full
moon takes the theme of service and compassion we saw at the new moon
and shines a light on it. Are you following through on whatever you
planned to do? How's it working out? Any adjustment required?
It's a really good time to do the
spring cleaning and stuff around the house and garden. Or to
fine-tune your health regimen. It's also a good time for an emotional
clear-out. Jupiter is direct in Cancer, in tense t-square formation
with Uranus and Pluto: this demands radical emotional honesty and
change. Take out your garbage already.
And it's a good time to think out the
practicalities of your plans and dreams: Mercury (Virgo's ruler) is
in Aquarius conjunct Neptune in Pisces (Pisces's ruler). With Mars and Saturn
retrograde, you probably won't be able to take much practical action
for now...But maybe you can see and feel the future up ahead.
This influence is also really good for
creative work: for giving concrete shape to things dreamed or
imagined.
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| Toilet roll diorama - Anastasia Elias. More here |
Be aware that it's fleeting. It's a
kind of lightning intuition that you can use in a practical way...but
Mercury is about to change signs. He moves from brilliant Aquarius to
murky Pisces on the evening of the 17th (around 10 pm
GMT), so you'd better use your mental clarity while you've got it,
before it drifts down to the bottom of the sea.
The day after the full moon, the 17th
of March - St Patrick's Day - is really tense and difficult.
The moon will be in Libra, in cardinal grand cross formation with
Jupiter, Uranus and Pluto. There is the potential for emotional shock
and upheaval galore, so be REAL careful and keep your wits about
you..and try to go easy on the drinking. The cardinal grand cross
will be exact at around the same time as Mercury moves into Pisces,
and this is not a great influence for staying clear-headed or
sober...so it's tough. Try to avoid aggressive drunks if you can, and
stay out of situations involving emotional manipulation. And remember
that if you initiate a fight during a Mars retrograde, you will pay.
It's a bad time to start a war, apparently. Whoever fires the first
shot loses ultimately.
It might be an OK night for initiating
some ahem hot biological action...plenty of fizz in the skies. But
unless all you want is a one-night stand, it might be better to hold
back. Relationships initiated under Mars retrograde have a tendency
to fizzle out.
OK, regarding the Mars and Saturn
retrogrades: I personally feel like I'm living inside a bowl of
jell-o these days...anyone else feel like this? Physical energy and
drive (Mars) is pretty much absent, and time (Saturn) seems to have
slowed to a crawl.
Look at this picture I found: flies
mating in amber. This is how it feels - pointless and depressing. Kinda wabi-sabi
though, I guess - in a gross way.
How long does this glacial, blocked,
frustrating crap continue? Till the 20th May for Mars,
the 20th July for Saturn.
And personally I don't mind so much
about Saturn...he works slowly at the best of times, and in Scorpio
he's working undercover anyway. But I really miss Mars.
Mars is retrograde in Libra, sign of
relationships. So yeah, expect blockages and reconsiderations,
especially in the realm of close partnerships. Expect men in
particular to act kind of shady about their intentions, and
passive-aggressive. Or outright wussy. If you get a chance to start a
new relationship during this time, try to hold back until you know
exactly what it is you're dealing with...Ideally till Mars goes
direct in May. I know that's a long time. Aaaargh, yes it is.
What makes it harder and more
aggravating is that right in the middle of this Mars retrograde we
have...the scariest April ever. Like, brink of World War 3 type
April. The irritation gets so intense.
Mars will be retrograding right into
cardinal grand cross territory in Libra : Mars vs. Uranus vs. Jupiter
vs. Pluto. This will be exact at 13 degrees of the cardinal signs (Libra , Aries,
Cancer and Capricorn) on the 22nd of April...and we'll
just have to see what happens. Uranus (shock) is involved, so there's
really no calling it.
Know that if you were born under any of
these signs (or have planets or angles of your chart in the mid degrees of these signs),
you are likely to take some sort of hit.
You can try to work with this
energy...it's about radical change, and you can use it to be an agent
of necessary change. There is likely going to be some drama involving you,
so you might as well try to own it...make it YOUR drama.
But because Mars is retrograde, know
that aggressive action will get you into big trouble. This is tricky
alright! How do you initiate change when the outlet for direct action
is blocked?
I think the way through this is
personal integrity and faith in the larger design: you will have to
“be the change you want to see”. Also, remember that the north
node (direction of the story) is in Libra, and currently conjunct retrograde
Mars...the focus is definitely on relationships, social harmony and
interpersonal maneuverings. It's a good influence for back-room
deals, diplomacy, detente. Subtlety and strategy will carry you
through.
Here's some more freakin' Bible:
Matthew 10:16. “I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of
wolves; so be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves.”
Shrewd as a serpent and innocent as a dove is a good way to roll with this, if you can. But please keep in mind that a
lot of what is set to go down in April is out of anyone's hands, and
there's no sugar-coating that fact. Be prepared for some shock. All the
strategy in the world can't help you if a giant rock falls out of the
sky and lands on your head...and we are looking at big collective
influences here which can't be controlled.
An example of this is the dangerous political situation underway in Ukraine. Crimea is holding a very controversial referendum on the 16th March, and the next day we have the St.
Patrick's Day cardinal grand cross I outlined above... This situation
prefigures (and can be said to 'set up') the difficult events of
April. Interestingly, Putin's sun is at 13 degrees Libra...exactly in
the crossfire of the April cardinal grand cross. Expect the Ukraine
situation to ramp up in intensity...hopefully outright war can
be avoided, but it's not a given.
In your personal life, you may be
able to see and feel what the issues of April will mean for you as
the moon goes full tomorrow and then passes through cardinal grand cross territory on St.
Patrick's Day...so try to pay attention as best you can. As stated
above, this may be tough with Mercury going deep-sea diving in
Pisces from the 17th. But the stakes are VERY high, so try.
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| (Shocking "Annunciation" by Simone Martini. Virgo lady not lookin too thrilled.) |
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