Full Moon in Pisces: Reflection and Compassion

A Full Moon in Pisces is always a spiritual time, when the Moon reflects Spirit from the sign ruled by Jupiter and Neptune, fueling our dreams and imagination, inspiring our compassion and longing to connect, ultimately reminding us of our Oneness with All That Is. A Full Moon in Pisces transmutes the analytical, and all too frequently judgmental, qualities of Virgo. It elevates our capacity to love from personal to collective.

Transmutation is highlighted in the Full Moon chart as the Sun conjuncts the dwarf planet Orcus in the USA 9th House. This is the House in which we integrate information and experience into meaning. Orcus is the Keeper of Oaths and transmuter of shadow and opposes Ceres in the 3rd House of our natal chart.  With the Full Moon conjunct our natal Ceres, it’s time to remember our oath to tend and nurture the bountiful garden which is our planet. 

Over my “vacation” I have been grieving my way through a profound book entitled Choosing Earth. While our nation is distracted by the antics of our former mob boss president, our planet is losing its vitality and diversity. This book describes what we can expect over the next four decades and the outlook is grim.

I put “vacation” in quotes, because this time has been neither restful nor refreshing. In an effort to heal my two-year Covid vaccine injury to my gut biome and immune system, I have changed the way I nurture myself. I realized that my diet was not supporting my spiritual practice and that my body was demanding change. For a total of 10 heavenly days I thought I was healed, only to be disappointed by an umpteenth relapse. All of this while attempting to learn how to cook Vegan, a rather steep learning curve since I cannot digest beans, raw vegetables, or practically anything but white rice.

I was also questioning my life and my work, teetering between retirement and yet another expansion. It is one of the curses of a Virgo’s life to never feel we’ve done enough, or that our work is making a difference. As alternatives swirled in my inner universe, I picked up Duane Elgin’s book cited above. The preface blew me away and opened up my heart to a grief that has been simmering beneath the surface.

The preface was written by Francis Weller, a psychotherapist, grief counselor, and a bit of a recluse from what I observe. I want to share some of his words with you:

         “A soul that is awake is entangled with the living world – its beauty, allure, and wonder, its sorrows, rips and tears. Given the state of the world and our soulful lives, we must pause and ask, ‘What is the condition of our souls?’ From all observable accounts, the prevailing condition is desperate, empty, ravenous, impoverished and grief-stricken. . . . To lose soul is to feel emptied of wonder, joy and passion. It is to feel cut off from the vitalizing relationships with the living world . . . The long-standing intimacy with the multiple folds of the Earth – her myriad of creatures, the stunning profusion of color and fragrance – would be forgotten. In place of this, we substitute a frenzied striving for power and material gain.”

I was lucky enough to be born in an innocent time. The world had its woes. The 20th century was fraught with trauma – two world wars, a pandemic that killed millions, an economic crash that impoverished our populace, the loss of viable farm land that turned to dust and displaced thousands of us. Yet we had our hope. We had our resilience. And I at least had my deep connection with horses, mountains, rivers and tall trees. We still had wide-open spaces within which to launch our dreams. The future was bright.

It breaks my heart to think of our youth whose future looms as a black hole of loss, deprivation and suffering. I know this sounds so depressing, and my job is to cheer you up and onward. All is not yet lost. We still have a chance to survive as a species, but it will take commitment, devotion, a stripping away of all our psychic baggage and finally outgrowing our self-centered adolescence and becoming the Spiritual Adults we were intended to be.

I Googled Francis Weller and discovered he was giving a five-month training in grief counseling – he calls us “grief tenders.” I contacted him to request an application, but was informed that registration was closed. What could I do but accept the facts and move on; but two weeks later he sent me an application and this past Sunday – the very day that Jupiter made its return to its birthplace in my chart – I was accepted into the program. How’s that for a sign!

What does this mean for the Cosmic Cheerleader? I’m not sure. I can only take it one day at a time. My plate is a bit full. I’m finishing up the first draft of a novel I started years ago. I have a full outline of the next book I want to write, a memoir about karmic relationships. This training, however, grabbed me by the solar plexus, not to mention my heart. There is already so much grief in the world, and so much more to come. The devastating fire in Maui is a harbinger. Perhaps what the world needs now is compassion and witnesses to our grief. I can do that. Maybe you can too.

The Astrology of the Moment

We all know that a Full Moon is a time of illumination. This Moon is the peak of a process that began with the New Moon in Leo, the Lionhearted. It’s also conjunct transiting Saturn and Gonggong. We might be overwhelmed emotionally if Saturn weren’t there to keep us grounded. Saturn in Pisces can manifest in many ways, one of which is popping bubbles of illusion. For those of us tending our spiritual awakening, it is time to focus on our spiritual practice.

When we speak of practice, we think of meditation and prayer, but Saturn is demanding so much more. It’s one thing to bliss out in our abstract love for humanity, but how are we grounding our aspirations in our behavior? Saturn is where the rubber hits the road. Conjunct Gonggong the emphasis is on empathy. One of the reasons I chose to take the grief training is that I see it as a path to forming community. We are not going to unite behind shared political values, nor social or philosophical concepts. Sadly it will take the threat of extinction to bring us back together and the only successful way is through the heart. Sharing our grief allows us to see one another through sympathetic eyes. It allows us to see the many ways in which we are the same.

Pisces is the third water sign associated with our emotional life. In zodiacal order, Cancer first awakens emotions of nurturing, safety, security, caring. Then Scorpio takes us scuba diving into our depths where we hide our fear, our passion, our rage, our light. Pisces elevates us into a collective, quantum realm in which we are immersed, out of which we precipitated as humans and into which we shall return. This is the realm of pure potentiality where anything is possible. This is the source of our power to dream a new world into being. And we all have the capacity to tap into it.

Vesta, the devoted servant and keeper of the flame, is sextile the transiting North Node at 25:53 Aries, which is conjunct Eris only minutes away. This takes place in our 4th House of ancestral heritage, collective conditioning and psychic trauma, a few degrees away from both our natal and currently transiting Chiron.  Aries is about new beginnings. Chiron is bringing up our woundedness for healing and release. The North Node indicates the path to the future lies in transforming our discontent and stepping into our authentic selves. Eris is a warrior goddess. She does not act by force, but rather draws us into experiences that push our buttons and reveal our handicaps. She throws a monkey wrench – originally in the form of a Golden Apple – into our lives. How we react reveals who we are at the moment.

I believe Eris is intrinsic to our evolution. She’s trying to wake us up to take a good look at ourselves. She helps us sort through our baggage and take it all to Good Will. Throughout this traumatic time, Eris and Pluto have been square, working from two different angles to reveal what structures support us and which do not.

Can you see the richness of this Full Moon? What a swirling chaos of potential it presents! It’s also a Super Moon, meaning it is closest to the Earth and therefore will make a stunning Moon rise. Exact time is 6:35 pm PDT, but we will have three full days of illumination. Commune with this Moon and receive its gifts.

Next year the USA will have its Chiron return, an event that comes around every 50 years. Interesting that the first warnings about our coming climate crisis surfaced in 1972. I know that it is uncomfortable to let in the reality that that our Earth is changing beyond recognition, but running away from the truth will accomplish nothing. These times call for open eyes and grieving hearts. We ease the pain when we come together and it’s the only way we can prepare for what’s to come. If we start now, we can give our children and grandchildren a fighting chance.

Changing Direction

Since the last newsletter, Mercury and Uranus have turned retrograde, emphasizing that answers lie within. Insights await if we seek them out. Mercury retrograde encourages meditation and reflection. It’s a chance to review the past four months, evaluate the path we’re on, and in Virgo fashion, sift through ingredients to pick out the gems. Mercury will be retrograde in Virgo until September 15th.  

Venus has begun a new cycle. Her last cycle started with her retrograde conjunction to the Sun in Capricorn on January 8th, 2022. It was a harsh period of time – Covid, mass shootings, political obstruction and increasing separation within our citizenry. Venus was asking us to examine our values in the midst of rising darkness and the threat of authoritarianism.

Now Venus has met up with our Sun in Leo where she rises in the morning sky before sunrise. Over the months to come we can awaken to her growing brilliance and relax into her feminine energy, allowing our hearts to open wide. This is where aliveness is – in the open heart. The more we relax its boundaries, the more aliveness seeps in. It’s also where true courage lies, and we’re going to need it.

Our next New Moon will be at 21:59 Virgo, hours before Mercury turns direct, and the day before the Autumn Equinox. Mercury will have begun a new cycle with its conjunction to the Sun on September 8th. Mars will be in early Libra seeking justice, peace and balance. These planets and luminaries are all about our personal experience. Change is afoot.

Uranus is most powerful when standing still – a good lesson. It stationed retrograde on August 28th, just before the Full Moon on Wednesday evening. The energy of awakening is a powerful component of this cycle. We can blend the electricity of Uranus with the expansiveness and inclusiveness of Neptune. These two planets are in sextile, activating one another. While melodramas play out on our screens, the transpersonal planets are bathing us in waves of compassion, awakening and surrender. We can cultivate compassion for ourselves and all the others who signed up for this rite of passage.

I will be back for the September New Moon. I hope you all have had a warmhearted summer. Don’t rush into September. Take time in your inner world. Now is a time to cultivate awareness. There will be plenty of action soon enough. We have a Ring of Fire eclipse in October that will cross western USA. It lands first in Oregon, then sweeps south through Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas. If you’re anywhere nearby, check out viewing sites. People gather for these events. I’ve never seen a Ring of Fire in person but if it’s anything like the radiance of an eclipse, it should take my breath away.