Full Moon in Pisces, Sun in Virgo: Unity in Opposites

Waning Moon, Astoria                                                                                 Catherine Al-Meten

The 2nd full moon in August 2012, is called a Blue Moon.  A third full moon in a season is also called a Blue Moon.  This Blue Moon is in 8° of Pisces opposite the Sun in 8° of Virgo. Also called the Full Sturgeon Moon. 

According to Deborah Bird of EarthSky, “The idea of a Blue Moon as the second full moon in a month stemmed from the March 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine, which contained an article called “Once in a Blue Moon” by James Hugh Pruett. Pruett was using a 1937 Maine Farmer’s Almanac, but he simplified the definition. He wrote:

Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon.”

“EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd happened upon a copy of this old 1946 issue of Sky and Telescope in the stacks of the Peridier Library at the University of Texas Astronomy Department in the late 1970s. Afterward, she began using the term Blue Moon to describe the second full moon in a calendar month on the radio. Later, this definition of Blue Moon was also popularized by a book for children by Margot McLoon-Basta and Alice Sigel, called “Kids’ World Almanac of Records and Facts,” published in New York by World Almanac Publications, in 1985. The second-full-moon-in-a-month definition was also used in the board game Trivial Pursuit.”  

According to Byrd, there can occasionally be two blue moons in single year; the last time it happened was in 1999, when both January and March had two full moons and February had none. Visit EarthSky for more fascinating information about astronomy. 

Pisces considered the mystical archetype of the Zodiac, sits in opposition to Virgo (all Full Moons are in opposition to the Sun), calling us to unite the mystical with the  pragmatic parts of our nature. The Blue Moon in   8° 33 seconds Pisces  aspects all the mutable signs  in 7 to 9° of Pisces, Gemini, Sagittarius, and Virgo.   This results in energy sweeping into whatever aspect of your life the mutable signs rule.   Any area of life that has been stagnant or blocked will now feel a shift or release.

Full moons illuminate just as the landscape and waters around us  are awash in moonlight,   reflecting  the Moon’s energy and  light for several days before and after the full moon.   Not only might this be waking you up at night or making your sleep more restless than usual, but also this is a period when your waking and subconscious lives may be revealing and opening your awareness to those areas both within and without that have been hidden.  

This particular full Moon  is also  meeting up with Chiron, the Wounded Healer. Chiron’s steady, slow transit through Pisces  has been opening us to receive  the necessary healing of body, mind, and spirit.   The transit of both the Moon and Chiron through Pisces reminds us that our healing depends  on our willingness to face the truth-- that which our heart knows to be true about ourselves,  about the world around us,  and about our connection to the divine and sacred.   In keeping with this very special aspect is an opportunity. To be more open to the opportunities of this special time,   I share with you a prayer given to me by Dr. Christiane Northrup:  “Divine Beloved, please change me into someone who receives, who trusts, who rests, who feels loved ( add your own requests and make it yours.).”  The more we are open to this awakening, the greater the likelihood that we will be able to benefit from this full moon's gifts.

As the Full Moon awakens us deep within our spirit, it  is essential to recognize this very special opportunity to open ourselves to deep soul healing.  By  facing and confronting,  within ourselves, any ghosts or residual memories of the past that are blocking our healing, we can recognize this as a time to release what has been making its way into our awareness, consciousness, and daily life, blocking our growth or draining our journey towards healing and  wholeness.

 The Pisces Full Moon and its conjunction with Chiron,  is a separating conjunction.  What that means is they are moving apart from one another creating first a sense of energy building up  within us as the Moon grows in intensity.  As the moon has been building up to its fullness,  you may be experiencing more and more  doubts, weaknesses, inner (and maybe some outer) conflicts,  painful feelings or memories, frustrations and fears.  Look to your dreams and listen to your intuition or those random thoughts that catch your attention throughout the day. Our channels are open to receiving nudges, messages, and establishing/restablishing connections.  When feelings, emotions, dreams, intuition or memories seem to connect you to fear, frustration, grief, sadness, or loss, reexamine the experiences to determine (under the analytical lens of Virgo Sun, what it is that is still striking your heartstrings. Whatever we are still attached  to is a result of whatever work you been doing to release yourself from unhealthy and limiting thinking, habits, behavior, patterns, and other ways of being. Now is the time to separate the wheat from the shaft---to let go what is completed or no longer viable and to revisit, mend, heal, and reestablish ways to build that which is meant to be carried into the future. Whatever we determine at this point, will travel with us for some time to come.

We all experience now the rising of the shadow-- back within us which we have refused to  acknowledge or have tried to suppress.  Pretending it does not matter is not an option anymore.   Feeling the effects of the conjunction of the Moon with Chiron happens more likely than not before the moon reaches her peak.   Now is the time to  use your spiritual practices and prayer  to surrender that  which  you have been avoiding.  It may be time to reconcile and forgiveness the forgiveness.   For those particularly with planets or aspects in Pisces or Virgo (especially but not limited to the early degrees of the signs),  this is a potent time for a major breakthrough.   Something of great importance, a heart matter,  now  reaches  culmination.   Four days on either side of this full moon will result in a release and sense of complete happiness on some level, either in the finished product or project, that dear relationship,  for some long unresolved matter.   Connections from abroad figure prominently in the promise and energy of this Full Moon.  Opportunities to travel open up  and connections  to form a substantial partnerships and gain support our gifts of this Full Blue Moon in Pisces.

With Mars having recently entered Scorpio, actions and activity complement and affirm the desires and intentions we set during this full moon period.   We are called, from the center of our heart and our being to trust that which is true, from a divine source, and the next right step for our lives. Our lives are truly heroic journeys, and we all arrive at the edge of the abyss to wonder if we are capable and strong enough to face the truth of who we are and what we are meant to do and be. As Joseph Campbell, one of the great teachers of our times said so simply and so eloquently,

“It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

The ongoing energy of Uranus in Aries squaring Pluto in Capricorn is bringing about major changes, shifts, transformation in the way we, humans interact with one another and live together. The journey ahead is one that affects all of us, our quality of life, the health and survival of the planet and the diverse species that depend on Earth for their home. Our obligation is to first be willing to release ourselves from whatever is holding us back from using our gifts, knowledge, and life energies in the most life-affirming ways. We need to reconnect to that life force breathed  that breathed into being all that is, and gave us all the capacity to create, love, build up, and add to the ongoing health our world.  This is not a new journey; it is a path in the eternal breathing forth of Life. We are called to awaken to our place and part in living out the Divine in our lives now.

The Virgo Sun provides us with the focus and energy needed to put our learnings, gifts, and intentions to work on the behalf of our own health and creativity and for the good of all. By seeing our lives as a spiritual journey, we can focus on seeing every aspect of our life, from the mundane and routine to the profound and significant, as all part of what and who we are meant to be. This is what we have created, and we are who we are right now. Virgo Sun brings the reality of our being to light and enables us to gain perspective of the great importance of the least important task we put our hearts, hands, and mind to. 

In the unity of the pragmatic Virgo Sun and the mystical Pisces Moon, we come into greater awareness of our multilayered being, recognizing the bedrock of the riverbed that shapes the path and passages that form  our lives. The Moon’s sextile to the Great Transformer, Pluto in Capricorn (the one who has been turning over the soil for us to experience great change and transformation) lends support for those areas of your life where you have been meeting the challenge. Honor the gifts of your journey, and celebrate the fulfillment and success so far. Our destiny is not a destination, it is the way we live and honor our gifts, our lives, and the awesome wonder of living our spiritual life in this magnificent physical manner. We are here to respect and honor the divine gifts and our part in serving, creating, and working together to live out our soul purpose. Whatever you have discovered about your life, yourself, and your purpose so far, is worthy of celebrating, honoring, nourishing, and accepting so that you can use your gifts to help in the healing that needs to take place. 

The Pisces Moon has us doing deep soul searching and purging. The Pisces Full Moon brings us to a point of completion, fullness, and unity. Not only are Blue Moons rare, but also so too are  times of great awakening when we can see, feel, and understand the unique opportunity we have to be our best selves and share what we have to create more beauty, bring about lasting peace, and stand in our truth for  equity and justice for all. What are you called to do and be, and how are you called to serve and create? What is holding you back? How can you, through healing yourself, bring about greater peace, beauty, and justice? 

Celebrate the Full Blue Moon in Pisces in a dance with the Sun in Virgo, and find meaningful, practical ways to share the joy and gifts you possess. Come together in gratitude and celebrate in love.