The Cosmic Story: Pisces Full Moon 2018

The Cosmic Story: Pisces Full Moon 2018

A New Vision is Rising Up

Full Moons are the best times to become aware of what’s really going on inside us. Their energy stretches us to accept opposing ideas and desires, and if we can hold the tension of opposites, we discover something new about ourselves and the world.

The Full Moon in Virgo/Pisces occurs on Sunday, August 26^th at 4:56am PDT/ 7:56am EDT/ 12:56pm GMT.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 4* Virgo is: Black and white children play happily together. It’s time to overcome our cultural prejudices but it’s also time to embrace those parts of ourselves which we don’t know about yet.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 4* Pisces is: Heavy car traffic on a narrow isthmus linking two seashore resorts. How we link up our brains, our social networks and our visions are important now. There’s a feeling that we have to unite what has been separated.

This Pisces Full Moon is a quiet, calm Full Moon. It’s a time to rest in the arms of the watery womb of life, rocking gently on calm tidal flows. What a relief after the craziness of the summer with its 6 retrograde planets and 3 eclipses. Both Mercury (on the 19^th) and Mars (on the 27^th) are resuming their direct motion, so go slowly for a few more weeks until their energies get moving properly.

Take this last week of August to relax and gather your energies. With the Sun’s move into Virgo, we can leave behind Leo’s drama and settle down to integrate what we’ve learned about ourselves this year. With all the chaos in the outer world, have we found our silent, still center?

This year’s lessons involve grounding in a new reality, a new understanding of what’s going on in our world and perhaps our place in it. With Virgo, we’re asked to master ourselves, to integrate all the parts of ourselves into a coherent whole. We don’t have to be perfect. Just whole! That includes integrating our shadows, our values, our creativity and our heart’s hope. This is the time to do it, so with the coming of Autumn (or Spring in the southern hemisphere) we can Be ourselves in all our glory.

This Full Moon has the power to ground in our new Being with the grand Earth trine of the Virgo Sun, Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. The Saturn/Uranus trine gives us a good balance between being uniquely ourselves and an awake, responsible person.

Taurus symbolizes our values and our stewardship of the Earth. Uranus brings new realities that demand that we bring new ideas into our society and into our lives. We have new priorities now. It is no longer our purpose to give all our energies to a job that only pays the bills or to ‘things’ that we consume and throw out.

The Virgo Sun integrates these energies and gives us mastery over them. Virgo’s mission is to see that we become ‘virginal’ – that we belong to ourselves.

This is a great time to let go of old patriarchal rules about who we should be and how we should act. It’s time to step outside of ‘regular’ time and step into spiritual time.

The Pisces Moon asks us to walk with Spirit as our most intimate companion and to use our creative imagination to discover what has been awakened in us by all the changes and challenges we’ve gone through this year. Pisces symbolizes the great ocean of the collective unconscious, the repository of all our experiences, both personally and collectively. So this Full Moon might bring up old past live issues or gifts. What has been rejected and dismissed by our collective beliefs are demanding that we acknowledge their existence. What we do with that knowledge is up to each of us.

The Pisces Moon forms a kite aspect with the Virgo Sun’s earthy grand trine. A Kite is a special astrological aspect that forms from a grand trine (a planet in each sign of an element), a partial grand sextile and a planet opposite one of the planets in the trine – this being the Moon opposite the Sun. It is assocated with fate or destiny. And it contains the energies of Venus, Jupiter and Neptune.

It’s time to live in the fullness of love!

The ruling planets of this Full Moon, Mercury/Virgo and Jupiter/Pisces, are squaring each other. So in the midst of the calm, we are challenged to speak to the heart of things. Let’s imagine good outcomes instead of delusional conspiracy theories. Let’s choose our words and expand our vocabularies. We are called to embrace what has been dark within us and bring it into the light.

It’s important that we put our creative thoughts into language that engenders original thinking in ourselves and others. When we don’t put effort into creating our original thoughts, then pseudo-thoughts, trite words and phrases, come automatically to mind and carry us along with them, resulting in not really thinking at all. We just get carried away in a collective mind-dump. So use these energies to bring clarity to your thoughts and wisdom to your actions.

What deep issues need to see the light of day? With a Leo Mercury, we can shine a light on what Jupiter has learned in its journey through Scorpio. Whatever dark pain we hold inside, it’s time forgive ourselves and heal – because Leo is generous and wants to express what’s best in oneself. The Leo Solar eclipse was about embracing self-love.

We can’t love our neighbors if we can’t love ourselves.

Neptune is also the ruler of Pisces and it is in a beautiful trine to Jupiter, so both planets of spirituality and imagination are working together to uplift our vision and give us hope. They both form a partial grand sextile with Pluto in Capricorn, urging us to ground in a deeper spiritual vision. The world sorely needs some ‘true news’.

Pluto in Capricorn shows us what needs to evolve to bring in a new cultural mindset. At this Pisces Full Moon, Pluto challenges Venus in Libra to evolve her love, her relationships and her wisdom. This square is a preview of Venus’ retrograde through Scorpio and Libra this October/November. In the midst of the political and social chaos of lies and deception, we are called to deepen our ability to love.

Psyche in the Underworld

As a mythologist, I believe Venus and Pluto meet in the story of Psyche and Eros. We have to go through our initiations to grow, and love’s initiations are the most important ones.  Big changes only come when our passion and longing are so great that nothing else matters. To truly change our world, can we long for our future and our children enough to walk in love?

This year, we all have to learn a grownup love, a depth of love that encompasses self-love, romantic love, agape love and familial/tribal love. What would the world look like if we lived in love – if we really did it instead of saying we’ll do it. Can you allow Love to live through you? Can you live in that ‘in love’ state not for another person but for yourself and the world?

During Venus’ retrograde, I’ll be writing about Psyche and Eros and the initiations we have to go through to grow our souls in love.

Venus in Libra sextiles Mercury in Leo, giving us the opportunity to think with our hearts and perhaps create art that speaks to our souls. While Mercury inconjuncts Neptune in Pisces, asking us to stretch our imaginations, Venus is just a few degrees off from her own inconjunct to Neptune. I’m going to push the usual limits of what makes an inconjunct (a 150* aspect) and conjure up the YOD that these three planets make.

A YOD is called the Finger of God or the Sword in the Stone. It’s an aspect that has to click into place to release its power. If we can open ourselves to our heart’s wisdom, we can access our spiritual imagination and receive the knowledge and wisdom that lies hidden in the collective unconscious/ akashic records/ world soul.

Finally, we also have to realize that we need to Do things differently; do things that fit our Being.

That’s been the lesson of Mars retrograde – we need a new masculine energy. And at this Full Moon, we get to make sure it happens. Uranus squares/ challenges Mars retrograde three times. This is as a giant wake-up call to understand how we use masculine rationality, focus and action. Mars squared Uranus as it entered Taurus in May, just as Pele woke up and the volcano in Hawaii erupted. The second square was on August 1^st, right around the time when the volcano went quiet. The third and last square of this series occurs on September 18 2018. We’ll have to see what that brings us.

We need a strong masculine to uphold and protect the transformative love of the divine feminine.

During this Pisces Full Moon, go down to the water and let it wash you clean.

Blessing,

Cathy

PLEASE LIKE AND SHARE! THANK YOU.

Copyright 2018 ~ Cathy Pagano. All rights reserved.

The Lover is ever drunk with love;

He is free,

He is mad,

He dances with ecstasy and delight

Caught by our own thoughts,

we worry about every little thing,

But once we get drunk on that love,

Whatever will be, will be.

When you dance,

the whole universe dances.

What wonder@

I’ve looked,

and now I cannot look away.

Take me, or do not take me,

both are the same,

As long as there is life in this body,

I am here to serve you.

Love came and it made me empty.

Love came and it filled me with the Beloved.

It became the blood in my veins,

It became my arms and my legs,

It became everything!

Now all I have is a name,

the rest belongs to the Beloved.

Rumi

(Two Suns Rising ~ Jonathan Star ed.)

The Cosmic Story: Leo New Moon Solar Eclipse, 2018

The Cosmic Story: Leo Partial Solar Eclipse 2018

The Gift of Creative Self-Expression

Evolutionary creativity always renders invalid 
the 'law of large numbers' and acts in an elitist way. 
Erich Jantsch: The Self-Organizing Universe

Leo is the astrological sign related to the Sun of our solar system. It is a fixed fire sign, and just as the Sun gives us light and life, so too Leo shines in all of us when we grow in self-awareness and evolve. And the way Leo likes to express this light and life is when we live life joyously and creatively through our creative self-expression. Or as Carl Jung would call it, through our individuation.

Leo’s gift to us (wherever our Sun lies) is our unique expression of the divine Spirit of Life. For Leo is the Divine Child within us.

The astrologer Alan Oken says, “Leo as the sign of the Sun expresses the creative potency of the focused power of will—the will to be. As we mature and unfold our creative potential, we come to the clear realization that without a focused will, we can produce very little of anything. We also come to realize that if this will is centered only in our little egos, then what we produce has no lasting value and can and often does inhibit the creativity of others.”

So our creativity (Leo) must feed everyone (Aquarius), not for our self-aggrandizement but for the health and well-being of our souls.

In these chaotic and transformational times, our purpose is to be so uniquely ourselves that we do not fall prey to the delusions of the collective mindset. As the old paradigm of patriarchy dies, it is not giving into death gracefully. It seems that if it has to die, it will try to take all of us with it. As the Earth burns and trembles, the powers that be are blind to what people really need. And because people are in fear and confusion, they are easily swayed into actions that would horrify them if they were conscious.

The author Madeleine L’Engle (who wrote A Wrinkle in Time) says in her book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art, p.39: We cannot Name or be Named without language. If our vocabulary dwindles to a few shopworn words, we are setting ourselves up for takeover by a dictator. When language becomes exhausted, our freedom dwindles – we cannot think; we do not recognize danger; injustice strikes us as no more than “the way things are.”

We see this happening in America today with our president’s limited vocabulary and his adherents willingness to be swayed by it. So it behooves (to have need of) the rest of us to make up for this loss of naming by expanding our own vocabulary. The more words we use, the more ways we can think about our lives. We need to expand our vision and understanding of life now more than ever before, since so many of us no longer subscribe to the old religious beliefs of patriarchy. Unfortunately that leaves a vacuum that is often filled by conspiracy theories or by petty dictators. Fake news. Or meaningful reality. This is our initiation – what do we believe about life? Is this 3-D reality all there is or is there a spiritual reality that shapes and guides us?

Since Leo thrives on self-expression, this upcoming Leo solar eclipse is a perfect opportunity to expand your vocabulary as well as create some art – in life, in love, in work and in expression.

With Mars retrograde so closely aligned with the South Node of the recent Aquarius Lunar Eclipse, we need to focus our will on changing the prevalence (condition of being widespread) of the old masculine energy of war, domination, competition, rigid hierarchy and self-interest. The new masculine energy arises from the divine feminine – it is an energy of cooperation, of stewardship of Life and the Earth (the Celtic Green Man), of protection and honor, and a willingness to work with the feminine as equal partners. 

 

Masculine energy is generative (to beget or produce) – it is the doing to the feminine’s being. So first we have to know who we are (our beingness) so we can act in accord with it (our doing). The Feminine is the foundation of life – the Masculine is what comes from that foundation. After centuries of patriarchy, this cosmic law of life has been negated and reversed. As Albert Einstein said the servant has become the master. It’s time to change that.

We do that first within ourselves and then we go out into our society as shining examples of who we all can become. The trouble of our times is that people have lost their connection to these cosmic laws and in their fear and confusion, they are caught up in the delusions of our consumer society.

We all need a new story, a story that nurtures Life instead of Death, hope instead of fear, love instead of hate.

To do this, we need to let Spirit move through us – we need to surrender to the divine spirit within us and let it birth what we came into this lifetime to be and do. Like Mother Mary, we are all called to give birth to the Savior.

This week’s partial solar eclipse resonates with last August’s total solar eclipse. The image for that eclipse was: A Mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready for rebirth in human form. This mermaid symbolizes our heart’s hope, our individual connection to the collective unconscious and all its hopes and fears. She also symbolizes our soul’s gifts from previous lifetimes as well as the healing of our genetic inheritance.

The great alchemical work we are engaged in is to bring our soul’s passion and purpose into the world, despite the forces that work against our individuation. It takes courage and faith to go against the collective rules of society, to stop giving into the fears it provokes in us. It’s time to begin to work on our soul purpose.

The Sabian symbol for this partial solar eclipse at 19* Leo is: A houseboat party. And it symbolizes the enjoyment of temporary freedom from rigidly structured social behavior. (Dane Rudhyar) (I just read this symbol after writing the above. I love synchronicity!)

Of course a mermaid would also love a houseboat party – it rides on the waters of the unconscious! And she can always jump in the water to get refreshed. It’s time to turn our attention to our inner worlds and to learn to trust our intuitions and feelings. It’s time to trust our hearts.

The Leo Solar Eclipse, August 11 2018

The Leo New Moon solar eclipse occurs on August 11, 2018 at 2:58am PDT/ 5:58am EDT/ 10:58am GMT.

A solar eclipse is an extra powerful New Moon that weaves together our solar consciousness and our lunar consciousness. It signifies a new beginning. It’s a time to plant seeds that will blossom in the next year. So take time to meditate, imagine and listen to Spirit so you can shape those new seeds of solar light. 

 

This New Moon solar eclipse is the third and last eclipse of the year and with only one more eclipse in the Leo/Aquarius axis occurring next January 20, 2019. After that, the eclipse cycle moves into Cancer/Capricorn. So use this new energy to open yourself to your imagination and creativity and let your inner child play!

This New Moon eclipse is aligned with Mercury retrograde and the asteroid Pallas, the goddess of strategic wisdom. So do your homework – go within and find out what the heart wants and needs in this next stage of your life journey.

With 6 of 8 planets retrograde (the Sun and Moon never go retrograde), all the juice is inside us. It’s a good time to do some inner journeying. It’s a great time to find your creative seed and plant it. What do you and your divine inner child want to do next? It helps to recap your life story and begin to work out a new story for your future. (I’m giving an online workshop this fall on this topic.)

Pluto retrograde in Capricorn inconjuncts this Leo New Moon solar eclipse. We have to stretch a bit to access that creativity, to really believe that it’s important and achievable. We do have the power to turn things around, but we need our freedom, our imagination and our creativity to do it.

The Sabian symbol for Pluto at 20* Capricorn is: A hidden choir is singing during a ritual. This symbolizes the need to add our creativity to the collective broth. We need to know that all we do is connected and unified in Spirit.

Neptune retrograde in Pisces is also inconjunct to this solar eclipse. An inconjunct needs us to stretch, to have patience, to re-adjust our thinking. Neptune can inspire or delude us, depending on our self-awareness. The Sabian symbol for 17* Pisces is: An Easter parade. This is a symbol of transformation and resurrection, of gathering together in accord with Nature’s energies. Easter is the Spring Equinox, the time of Nature’s rebirth. Open to Neptune’s true creative imagination – one connected to the workings of Spirit rather than the workings of your small ego-self.

Together, Neptune and Pluto join forces and create a YOD with this New Moon. A Yod is called the Finger of God or the Sword in the Stone. It is a powerful energetic pattern that, once released, gives us the power to change ourselves and the world.

So be brave, call on Arthur and pull that sword out of the stone.

Jupiter in Scorpio squares this Leo New Moon eclipse, challenging us to take up this sword of Light and find our Truth.

Jupiter expands and amplifies the issues of whatever sign it’s in. Halfway through Scorpio, it is opening us to our hidden depths and that of our society. Passionate opinions, overblown emotions and raw fear and pain can only be met and transformed if we have the courage to look within ourselves and deal with our shadows.

Our collective shadows are holding sway over us as well, and the only way to transform them is for each of us to individuate – to become our truest Self. With Jupiter squaring this solar eclipse, it’s time to face the music. It time to dance with our shadows and redeem that lost energy. And then, as Jung so wisely saw, we’ll see that beneath the unconsciousness, there’s 99% gold.

Saturn retrograde in Capricorn trines Uranus retrograde in Taurus. Our inner world must be shaken up and transformed now. Don’t get lazy. Saturn also squares both Venus in Libra and Chiron retrograde in Aries – take responsibility for who you are. Don’t let others confuse you. Find your center and stand there.

Enjoy the end of the summer and let in the Light!

Cathy

Individuation

The difference between the “natural” individuation process, which runs its course unconsciously, and the one that is consciously realized is tremendous. In the first case, consciousness nowhere intervenes; the end remains as dark as the beginning. In the second case, so much darkness comes to light that the personality is permeated with light and consciousness necessarily gains in scope and insight. The encounter between conscious and unconscious has to ensure that the light that shines in the darkness is not only comprehended by the darkness, but comprehends it (from “Answer to Job” in CW 11, par. 756).

The goal of the individuation process is the synthesis of the self. ~Carl Jung; CW 9i; Page 278.

Individuation does not shut one out from the world, but gathers the world to oneself. ~Carl Jung; “On the Nature of the Psyche,” 1947.

Copyright 2018 – Cathy Pagano. All rights reserved.

Please like and share.