The Cosmic Story: Libra Full Super Moon, 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Libra Full Super Moon 2021

Venus Releases Our Soul’s Light

Happy Spring Equinox! The Sun is warm, the breezes are cold and the Earth is starting to send up her early Spring flowers – crocuses, early daffodils, snowdrops. And the trees have a light green energy on their branches.

Every Spring Equinox is a re-birth of the Light and warmth. What was conceived at Winter Solstice is now ready to emerge into the world. This is a special new beginning, since it’s the first Equinox since the big paradigm shift of the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction in Aquarius on December 21, 2020. This conjunction occurred at the conception point of Light returning. Now that the Light is being birthed here in the northern hemisphere, it will contain the energy of that conjunction.

At Winter Solstice, beside this game changing conjunction of the social planets, which shifts our paradigm from the earth plane of materialism to the mental plane of ideas, Venus in Sagittarius was trine Chiron in Aries, connecting us with the need to find our truth. For this Libra Full Moon, Venus plays a major role, both as ruler of the Libra Moon and because she joins Chiron and the Sun in Aries, so expect to see a lot of healing around love, connection, relationships, money and the Feminine.

Since this Full Moon grew out of the gentle, imaginative, mystical Pisces New Moon, the energy of Venus conjunction Neptune in Pisces was part of that New Moon energy. So it will add lots of compassion for ourselves and others, as well as a more imaginative vision of what the Divine Feminine is up to.

Libra Full Moon

 

The Libra Full Moon is a Super Moon because it is close to the Earth, at its perigee. It will look larger, so go out and watch it rise if you can.

The Libra Full Moon occurs on Sunday, March 28 at 10:48am Alaska time, 11:48am PDT, 2:48pm EDT and 7:48pm GMT.

 

 

This first Full Moon of Spring is always about Self and Other. As we birth a renewed sense of self – who are we this year? - we also adjust our relationship to others. As we grown older, deepen and change, our way of relating changes too.

Aries always forges a new path for itself. It’s an initiating energy – the fire of creation – and the warrior energy of Aries will stand up for what it believes in. So let it stand up now for light and love.

We associate Aries with Mars, its ruler, and say that Aries is about developing courage, leadership and independence. This comes from the fact that Aries is a cardinal FIRE sign, meaning that this fire is our life force, our energy, our Kundalini. Aries is the originating fire, where we catch fire to do something. To follow that energy takes courage, when we follow our own path we gain independence and when others see how we handle life, we become leaders. What kind of future are we going to create?

 

Motherpeace Ace of Wands

 

Mars is in Gemini now, conjunct the Gemini North Node. Our energies are focused on opening up to new ideas while we let go of our limiting beliefs (South Node in Sagittarius). It also opens us to communicating more consciously with others, often seeing both sides of the story and probably being overwhelmed by all the interesting things we want to DO.

While Aries and Mars can be self-concerned (which isn’t the same as selfish), Libra is concerned with other people and how to relate to them. Like Libra’s symbol, the Scale or Balance, Libra wants to make sure that everyone has an equal and fair share of things. The big lesson for Libras is that they have to stay on their own side of the scale to really find balance. Unfortunately, many Libras tend to jump over to the other person’s side of the scale, thinking that this will make things fair. But then they create an imbalance and aren’t fair to themselves – which leads to trouble! 

 

 

Libra is a cardinal AIR sign, meaning it likes to think things through. Libra’s balance comes from an understanding of what the Other might need without letting go of our own needs. It means being willing to compromise to be fair. Libra wants to find the diplomatic and graceful outcome and is always willing to try.

But the big story of this Full Moon is the Libra Moon’s ruling planet, Venus.

Venus as Lady Wisdom

On March 26, Venus conjuncts the Sun in her superior/exterior conjunction, meaning she’s on the far side of the Sun. Venus is at the mid-point of her yearly cycle, transitioning from her Morning Star phase to her Evening Star phase. She has been invisible in the morning sky since February 14^th, hidden in the Sun’s rays, and she will emerge from the Sun’s rays as an Evening Star on May 5^th.

As Adam Gainsburg says in his book, The Light of Venus, this stage of Venus’ journey around the Sun is her Underworld phase, where “The Queen of Heaven dissolves into the very fabric of the kosmos and becomes re-conceived as the forthcoming Queen of Heaven and Earth.”

He calls this her ‘transmutation’ phase, when she leaves behind what she’s learned from society and descends into a death so she can re-emerge as a guiding light of Wisdom and Compassion. “Transmutation is essentially a feminine mode of transformation. Changes occur from the inside first…” Transmutation forces us to serve who we are becoming, beyond who we’ve been: trans (beyond) mutate (change).(pg. 120)

Transmutation involves being willing to let go of your familiar self for the promise of a greater reality to come.

During this phase, you become more aware of other people’s energies so that you come to rely on your own inner sense of things. Since Venus is at the fastest stage of her orbit, personal change can happen rapidly. Adam says this is a good time to deal with loss and loneliness. And what a great meditation to do as the world begins to re-emerge after a year of isolation.

 

100 Venus Cycles

 What makes this even more interesting is that we are also starting a new phase of the Venus Star Point in Aries, which is another way to understand Venus’ journey around the Sun. In Arielle Guttman’s Venus Star Rising, she describes this as a time of swift personal development.

Venus here symbolizes the quest for our personal identity, self-awareness and self-discovery. Venus asks us what we value about ourselves and others. She encompasses all of those Aries qualities of new beginnings, growth, rebirth, leadership, being a catalyst, a pioneer and adventurer. It entails being head-strong, intelligent, intuitive, impulsive and impatient.

So Venus here, conjunct this Aries Sun (we’ll talk Chiron in a minute) means we need to shine a light on these qualities. Venus is changing, transmuting, alchemizing into a new form. Since Venus is the principle of attraction and connection, we need to be more conscious of what we want to attract and who we want to connect with.

 

Venus is also going into her Wisdom phase as an Evening Star. In our movies, we like to think that if we make women warriors, we are giving women power. But the Divine Feminine is much more than the energy of her Amazon nature. She is also a Medium or Wise Woman, able to see the unseen. She is a Mother, who knows the appropriate ways to nurture. She is the Lover, who is strong enough to meet her partner as an equal. We need to develop all the feminine parts of ourselves, not just the warrior. Yes, Venus in Aries is courageous and bold, but she can be that as Mother, Lover, Wise Woman as well as Amazon warrior.

This is a time to be more heart-centered when we choose our direction. As we enter a ‘new world’ beyond COVID, what is it we are going to strive for? What do we want to make of ourselves? What values do we individually and as a country need to nurture? Venus is in her wisdom phase, so we need to make wise choices about what is important in our lives.

It’s also a time when we need to learn patience, when we work to restrain our impulsive nature so we make those wise decisions. We can do this by learning to enjoy Nature and the grace and bounty we have in our lives. And of course, by learning to breathe correctly. (See my blog on TheWinds about the winds of change and breath work.)

We need a new paradigm for living, and Venus offers us a chance to do that through the lens of the Divine Feminine, who births each new age of the world. She is waiting for us to listen to our hearts and use our intelligence to find new sustainable ways of living, both collectively and personally. With this Venus star point, we are given the optimism to see endless possibilities, so let your boundless spirit radiate the power and joy of a youthful attitude, at whatever age! 

 

Chiron

 

Venus and the Sun are also conjunct the asteroid Chiron, named for the centaur who taught the Greek heroes their destiny. He is considered ‘the wounded healer’ because though he was immortal, he was mortally wounded and couldn’t die until the gods released him from his pain. As he travels through Aries, Chiron asks us to focus on our wounded sense of Self. Patriarchy has wounded us all, forcing us to fit into its boxes through societal conditioning. Chiron wants to heal us of these wounds so we can find our self-confidence and gain deeper self-awareness and authenticity.

Chiron, though, was most renown for being the mentor of heroes. So the other side of Chiron’s wounding is the ability to mentor ourselves and others to become our authentic Selves as we pursue our destiny. With Venus in her Wisdom aspect joining Chiron, this is our opportunity to heal our wounded sense of self and begin to live from our Higher Self. Allowing Venus’ love and compassion to heal us, we can go out into the world with renewed courage and optimism.

The other day I hear someone say that Love isn’t an emotion, it’s a state of being. Living in a state of Love, we can be a healing light to others and to the world.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun, Venus and Chiron at 9* Aries is: A crystal gazer. I love this image for this time. A crystal ball is a symbol of wholeness, and we gaze into it to see the invisible, to see what is hidden behind the veils – whether the future or a situation that needs understanding. The images we see speak to our right brain, feminine mind. The focus of our intention comes from our masculine, left brain. We unite in wholeness as we develop our intuitive functions and balance them with our intelligence.

 

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 9* Libra is: Three ‘old masters’ hanging on the wall of a special room in an art gallery. Rudhyar calls this ‘the need to return to Source during a confused search for new value in a chaotic society’.

This image speaks to this moment. I love synchronicity! Three is the number of process as well as a sense of wholeness. The mastery of our artistic sense, the sense that appreciates beauty and proportion, reminds us that there are cosmic laws that shape us. And despite the chaos of our world, we can reclaim our connection to those cosmic laws. The rest we can bury and leave behind.

There is a Kite pattern in this Full Moon chart. 

 

 

A kite is made up of 3 aspects: 1) a grand trine (each planet 120* apart), 2) a partile grand sextile (3 planets 60* apart), and 3) an opposition (180*).

1) The grand AIR trine consists of Mars/NN in Gemini, Moon in Libra and Saturn in Aquarius. This is a harmonious aspect that opens us to a vision of something greater than what we’re experiencing now. We are birthing new ideas now. This AIR grand trine consists of energies that generate, concentrate and distribute power. The Libra Moon generates the ideals of justice, equality and balance; the Aquarian Saturn concentrates and gives structure to those ideas and possibilities that can work for the good of the whole; Mars and the North Node in Gemini distribute these ideas for us to work with personally.

2) the partile grand sextile consists of Saturn in Aquarius, the Sun/Venus/Chiron conjunction in Aries and Mars & NN in Gemini. These new ideas feed the Sun conjunction so that we gain a new perspective on ourselves and the new spiritual impulse of this Spring Full Moon.

3) the Opposition is the Full Moon. At Full Moon, our unconscious needs and desires are fully lit up, and we can see what it is that the Sun needs from us and what we need from life. This is the aspect of transformation, of the creative change that needs to take place. The Sun/Venus/Chiron conjunction says, Heal Thyself with Love. The Libra Moon shows us what keeps us from that self-awareness by showing us how we relate to each other. We might think we’re better than others, or we might feel less than others. We need a creative change to bring us into balance.

The basic meaning of this kite is a dynamic expression of how we can use the power of life and love to expand into a greater role of responsibility through cooperation and maturity.

At this Aries/Libra Full Moon, we need a new way to connect with each other that demands a new sense of ourselves and our values. It’s time for humanity to grow up!

Uranus in Taurus is Earth’s guiding genius, awakening us to the cosmic laws of the earth plane, to our human body, to the natural cycles of Nature. We need to awaken in our bodies – to bring Spirit down into our bodies and know that we are temples of Spirit. Uranus inconjuncts this Full Moon, jarring us out of our heads and into our bodies to get the ‘real feel’ of our life. It could make us moody or irritable, but there’s also a sense that we want some emotional freedom. Sometimes we have to adjust our actions to what is possible in the moment, knowing that we can build on what we do now and create a better future as we go along.

Last but not least is Mercury conjunct Neptune in Pisces. We all need to dream a little dream with each other. What is our collective dream? What does humanity really desire? Do we really want to continue with our death cultures and warring religions, or do we want the peace, environmental security and harmony that we can achieve if we have the will? Neptune infuses Mercury with the gift of the creative imagination. Learn to use it well, but this is the gift we humans need to cultivate in the coming years.

Mars in Gemini squares Mercury, Gemini’s ruling planet. We need to listen to our dreams, our imagination, our visions (the Crystal Gazer!) and our emotional intelligence now as we all head back into ‘the world’. Our doing must flow from our being.

All in all, a great Full Moon. Go out if its warm enough and take a moonbath! Let the Moon speak to you in visions, images, feelings. Dance and move, breathe and make a joyful noise to Spirit as you celebrate the return of Life!

Blessed Be!

Cathy

 

 

To Begin With, the Sweet Grass

(excerpt)

1.

Will the hungry ox stand in the field and not eat
of the sweet grass?
Will the owl bite off its own wings?
Will the lark forget to lift its body in the air or
forget to sing?
Will the rivers run upstream?

Behold, I say - behold
the reliability and the finery and the teachings
of this gritty earth gift.

2.

Eat bread and understand comfort.
Drink water, and understand delight.
Visit the garden where the scarlet trumpets
are opening their bodies for the hummingbirds
who are drinking the sweetness, who are
thrillingly gluttonous.

For one thing leads to another.
Soon you will notice how stones shine underfoot.
Eventually tides will be the only calendar you believe in.

And someone's face, whom you love, will be as a star
both intimate and ultimate,
and you will be both heart-shaken and respectful.
And you will hear the air itself, like a beloved, whisper:
oh, let me, for a while longer, enter the two
beautiful bodies of your lungs.

7.

What I loved in the beginning, I think, was mostly myself.
Never mind that I had to, since somebody had to.
That was many years ago.
Since then I have gone out from my confinements,
through with difficulty.
I mean the ones that thought to rule my heart.
I cast them out, I put them on the mush pile.
They will be nourishment somehow (everything is nourishment
somehow or another).
And I have become the child of the clouds, and of hope.
I have become the friend of the enemy, whoever that is.
I have become older and, cherishing what I have learned,
I have become younger.

And what do I risk to tell you this, which is all I know?
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then, love the world.

~ Mary Oliver ~

(Evidence)

The Cosmic Story: Pisces New Moon 2021

 

The Cosmic Story: Pisces New Moon 2021

The earth was without form, and void;

and darkness was on the face of the deep.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

The Book of Genesis

This weekend’s Pisces New Moon is the last New Moon of the astrological year of 2020.

It was just a year ago that we all became aware of the COVID virus and the world went into lock down. While many people are annoyed, upset, anxious, fearful, lonely and bored from a year of self-isolation, it was a great year for Mother Earth’s health and for people awakening to our unity in a world-wide crisis, forcing many of us to take responsibility for our lives – and for the life of our home planet.

Not everyone is built to be introverted or a hermit, but in many ways this year was a collective vision quest, a journey into the wilderness of our own souls and our collective soul. Now, as we transit through the sign of Pisces once again, we can let the traumas of last year dissolve in the watery depths and embrace the vision of the lessons we’ve learned.

Pisces is the sign of the Source, of the immaterial dimensions of soul and spirit. Jung called it the sign of the Collective Unconscious, that psychic realm that holds all our hopes and dreams and fears about life as well as all the knowledge of how to live life. It is the realm of our collective wisdom as well as the realm where we can connect to Source.

The primal ocean from which life arose here on Earth is still available to us on the inner realms. Like the beginning of the Book of Genesis, life came out of the waters as Spirit hovered over it, awakening it with the winds of its breath.

At this New Moon, there are three planets in Aquarius, the sign of the Higher Mind, and four planets in the sign of Pisces, the sign of the Universal Heart, the Collective Unconscious – the World Soul. It is the sign of the Source of Life, the primal waters of creation. Aquarius is the sign of the Higher Mind, of the archetypal, cosmic laws of life. It is the breath of Life.

Like the Spirit that hovers over the face of the waters in the beginning of time, the three Aquarian planets – Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury – send the winds of change and freedom over the waters of the Piscean depths, where Venus, Neptune and the Sun and Moon understand our longings. The Aquarius planets fill them with new energy, vision and life.

When these energies work together, we have the possibility of a new creation, a new birth.

 

The Pisces New Moon

The Pisces New Moon occurs on Saturday, March 13 at 1:21am Alaska time, 2:21am PST/ 5:21am EST/ 10:21am GMT.

 

 

The last two planets the Pisces Moon touches before she unites with the Pisces Sun are Venus and Neptune. So she brings their energies into play when planting her seeds.

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 20* Pisces is: A table set for an evening meal. The evening meal meets us at the end of the day, or end of a cycle of life. The nourishment is not only for our physical body but for our emotional and spiritual bodies as well. This symbol suggests that at the end of our labors, our needs will be met.

 

Venus here connects us to the time of day she naturally rules. She is a goddess of evening, of between states, the connecting link between soul and spirit, day and night. She invites us to sit at the table of the Grail and receive the nourishment we desire and love most.

The Sabian symbol for Neptune at 21* Pisces is: Under the kindly and watchful eye of a Chinese servant, a girl fondles a little white lamb. In occult tradition, which these symbols came out of, the Chinese are from the original root race of humanity. And so, they become a symbol of the ancient knowledge that is passed down to us. It is through a child-like innocence and wonder at the beauty, softness and warmth of the little lamb/ newborn Nature, that our feeling nature awakens to this ancient knowledge.

Neptune here can pass on the most ancient wisdom available to us if we are open and receptive – Neptune asks us to surrender to what IS. Neptune in Pisces connects us to ultimate Truth. About to merge with Venus, Neptune opens our hearts to our ultimate Truth.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and the Moon at 23*04’ Pisces is: A ‘materializing’ medium giving a séance. This is the image that suggests we have to power to create our own reality. Dane Rudhyar says it is “the ability to give of one’s own vital energy to substantiate one’s conscious ideals or unconscious desires.” If we believe we have something special that we need to contribute to our society, it is up to us to ‘substantiate’ it – to make it happen.

There is a gentle sextile from Pluto in Capricorn (yes, he’s still there) to this Pisces New Moon, reminding us that our society needs to change, that it is going to change whether we like it or not, and that it is up to each of us to make that change within ourselves.

Mercury is back to the degree where it went retrograde on January 30^th. What new ideas and ways of perceiving are you engaged with? The Sabian symbol for Mercury at 27* Aquarius is: An ancient pottery bowl filled with fresh violets. This image is a reminder that we don’t have to throw out all of our old knowledge and wisdom – we need to reshape it and re-fill old Truths with new feelings and energies.

Jupiter has reached the 3^rd decan of Aquarius, which is Libra’s decan (10* in each). The Sabian symbol for Jupiter at 20* Aquarius is: A large white dove bearing a message. The dove of peace and love (Venus’ bird) brings us this message. Isn’t it time to treat each other with respect and courtesy? And to see yourself as worthy and valuable?

Saturn in Aquarius is still within a few degrees of its square to Uranus in Taurus. Earth’s creative genius wants to break up old, stale ideas of what is possible. The tension between the old life and the new is the theme for this year. Be the bridge to your new life.

The message of this Pisces New Moon is: Are we ready to open to the unconscious wisdom of life, where we have to trust that we will be nourished by Spirit? If we can, then it is up to us to ‘make it so’ in the 3D world. Spirit will help us materialize our soul’s purpose – which might just be to become a conscious human being.

This is a time to pay attention to your dreams, to dance, sing, do art, write poetry. Use all the artistic, creative tools at your disposal to access those hidden realms of Pisces. Swim with the mermaids, leap with the dolphins, go deep with the whales.

Maurice Fernandez, in his book Neptune: The 12^th House and Pisces: The Timelessness of Truth has seven phases of development we go through when Neptune is in Pisces.

1. Innocence in the miracle of life – living life in complete innocence, as if still within the timelessness of the cosmic womb.

2. Losing innocence – being birthed out of the Cosmic Womb into the confines of time and space, prompting the emergence of an individual ego consciousness.

3. Strengthening Immunity – adapting to time and space by developing a defense mechanism, forming and solidifying the ego, and recognizing the value of work.

4. Becoming the instrument of Life – tapping into Collective Consciousness, participating in collective exchange and the dynamics of the masses.

5. Defying Fear – questioning existing limitations, living more authentically, choosing Truth over security, freeing the spirit.

6. Humbling the ego – realizing egocentric limitations when gaining perspective on the larger cycles and forces of life.

7. Spiritual innocence, disillusionment, and maturity – realizing and consciously aligning with the timeless principles of Truth.

Where are you in this process?

Through all our disillusionment about our governments, our inability to unite to heal the Earth, our failure to distinguish ‘fake news’ from the Truth, we are being tested to see if we can trust Spirit, to surrender to its call and walk away from an old cultural paradigm that is deadly to ourselves and to Mother Earth.

When you know what it is you really long for, use those Aquarian planets to shape your intentions. And then plant those seeds. Hopefully, they’ll include love, gratitude, peace and freedom. Pisces energizes creativity, love, beauty and Spirit – all the intangible things in life. The things are are really worthwhile.

During this last New Moon of 2020, let yourself lighten up as you access a higher frequency.

 

Spring Equinox arrives on March 20^th. As the light grows in the northern hemisphere, it dims in the southern hemisphere. Take that moment of balance and breathe into your life.

You can read all about the Spring Equinox in my blog at The Bard’sGrove.

Warmth and light be yours,

Cathy

 

Equinox Chant

Onward we go round the Spiral,

Touching Darkness

Touching Light.

Twice each turn we come in balance.

Make choices on this night.

Make choices on this night.

The Cosmic Story: Virgo Full Moon 2021

The Cosmic Story: Virgo Full Moon 2021

Virgo Moon over Pisces Ocean

This weekend’s Virgo Full Moon is the last Full Moon of the astrological year that began last March 19 - 20, 2020. It is the Full Moon that forgives us all our mistakes, all the pain and darkness in us, all our self-loathing. Because Virgo sees the lessons learned and can integrate them into a new wholeness. Virgo can knit all those parts into a new pattern. The darkness isn’t bad – it’s just dark. Once you acknowledge it and work with it,you can see the old pattern and let it go.

This Full Moon grew out of the amazing Aquarius New Moon of February 11^th. Our Aquarian journey is getting underway with the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction at 1* Aquarius last Winter Solstice and now this big 6 planet Aquarius New Moon. But before we get swept into its tidal currents, this Full Moon wants us to realize something. We need to forgive ourselves. We need to forgive life for being hard. We need to accept that we have been through an intense initiation. And that we’ve all passed.

 

 

Virgo is the Divine Mother and Child, Isis and Horus, Mary and Jesus, Demeter and Persephone. Virgo is the creator and her creation. The ancient statues of Mother and Child symbolize the realization Her potential. The Mother herself isn’t whole until she holds her Child, the creative potential manifested in the world.

When we meet the Virgo Mother, she does not berate us for our faults – despite rumors of her perfectionism. The Mother accepts and loves us, not matter what. We are the Pisces child who has stumbled through life without an instruction book, relearning old lessons, recognizing old patterns and healing them. Virgo Mom has the courage to send forth her child to grow in the NOW and become what Spirit intended.

Virgo isn’t about purity or perfection. Virgo’s virginity is about wholeness. It’s about embracing our own darkness as part of that wholeness. Pisces isn’t about losing ourselves in the material world or denying its reality through addictions. It’s about surrendering to the Source of Life. Allowing ourselves to accept what life brings us, acknowledging the lessons it brings, and facing them with ingenuity and creativity.

As the last Virgo – Pisces Full Moon of the 2020 cycle, the Goddess offers us the chance to integrate what we learned in this past year of chaos and change. Our souls are calling. Mother Earth’s World Soul is calling. Can we blossom into her true Spiritual child? Can we surrender to this moment and listen to her Wisdom? Can we become our own unique Self?

Virgo – Pisces Full Moon 2021

This Virgo Full Moon occurs on Friday, February 26^th at 11:17pm in Alaska, and on Saturday, February 27^th at 12:17am PST/ 3:17am EST/ 8:17am GMT.

 

 

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 9* Pisces is: A girl blowing a bugle. This is our wake-up call. Dane Rudhyar says it is “ A call to participation in the service of the race, as an evolutionary crisis approaches.” The divine Feminine issues a summons to us to awaken and be reborn. We have things to do, changes to make.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 9* Virgo is: A five year old child takes a first dancing lesson. Once again, a child shall lead the way. 5 is called the number of humanity, the number of freedom, of courage and of our experiences. At 5 years of age, we begin to understand the world. In the old days, we could say that this child is being taught the ‘rules of the dance’. But today, with the Piscean Sun calling us to awaken, might it be better to say that the dance is dancing the child into place?

 

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 3* Pisces is: Petrified tree trunks lie broken on desert sands. What a great symbol for this time – the past is dead! Patriarchy is broken in the desert of its own destructive tendencies. Venus here will see the message and want to rebuild with beauty, love and wisdom.

The Pisces Sun and Venus are conjunct one of the four Royal Stars of Persia (from over 5000 years ago), called the Guardians of Heaven – the star Fomalhaut, a reddish fixed star, the largest star in constellation Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish. The name Fomalhaut derives from Arabic fum al-ḥawt, meaning “mouth of the [Southern] Fish”. In those ancient times, it was called the Watcher of the South when it marked the Winter Solstice.

 

According to Ptolemy, it is of the nature of Venus and Mercury (idealistic, psychic, handsome, neat, lovable, refined, genteel, intelligent). It is said to be very fortunate and powerful for the most part. It is currently at 3*53’ Pisces conjunct Venus and just 4* from this Full Moon Sun.

That gentle, fortunate energy is definitely part of this Full Moon. As a Winter Solstice star of hope, it is a reminder for us to keep faith with life and hold onto hope for a better future. Change is hard for everyone, but this is a necessary change that humanity is undergoing. We are really blessed that Mother Earth stopped everything for this past year so we as a whole world can re-assess where we are going.

As the end note of 2020, this Virgo-Pisces Full Moon brings us a gentle reminder to accept what happened and redeem it by integrating its lessons. The waters of the Pisces Collective Unconscious have been shaken and stirred. Neptune in Pisces is adding a gateway to the Creative Imagination if we can find it. As we leave the Age of Pisces and enter the headwaters of the Age of Aquarius, our work is to accept who we are, forgive ourselves and others for what’s gone before, and acknowledge that our spirits know how to handle living in the material world.

This grounding and centering Full Moon is opposite the Pisces Sun, which is conjunct Venus in Pisces, opening us to our dreams, our artistry and our compassion. The Virgo Moon is illuminated by this gentle, dreamy light, weaving together the lessons learned now that we can look back over the whole year and see, behind the fear of death, the great goodness it holds.

We are no longer locked into patriarchy’s paradigm. We have learned that in isolation we acknowledge our need for each other. We have faced death in many forms – our people dying, our work shut down, our lives stopped. We’ve been forced to look within ourselves and we’ve survived it.

This Full Moon offers us a chance to reweave the story of our life into that new story I’ve been talking about for years now! 

 

 

Virgo is the Virgin who belongs to herself. She is whole – body, mind and spirit – because she has given birth to that part of herself that needed to come into being. That’s why this Full Moon is so important this year. We have really come through the labor of giving birth to our original, spiritual Self – last year was like transition, the part of labor that just keeps coming without much of a chance to catch your breath.

Now is the time to enjoy your new ‘baby’ and give it love and get to know it. Channel your inner mother and take care of the new life you have birthed. The world needs each one of us to help heal it.

We are helped this Full Moon by a beautiful trine to the Moon and sextile to the Sun from Uranus in Taurus, feeding us Mother Earth’s creative genius. Be original. Be unique. Do not hide your light under a bushel anymore.

The Sabian symbol for Uranus at 8* Taurus is: A sleigh speeds over the ground as yet uncovered by snow. This image asks us to imagine what we need to progress as we attempt to find the right vehicle to take us into the future. It requires our unique genius.

Uranus is the planet of electricity. And in Taurus it is helping shift the electromagnetic field of Mother Earth – as well as our own energy field. So with this Virgo Full Moon, check in with yourself and feel the energetic shift within yourself – feel how the old patterns no longer control you. Our energy patterns are being renewed and upgraded. Remember, we are ‘filled with light’ since all energy is a frequency of light. Remember to vibrate at your highest level and be the Light in the world.

On February 17, Saturn in Aquarius squared Uranus in Taurus for the first of three times this year – the other squares are on June 14^th and December 25^th. They create a tension between technology and the Earth’s genius, between how we’ve operated in the past and where we can head in the future. We will have to figure out how to integrate the past and the future. How we get there is created by the push/pull between Saturn and Uranus. It’s the friction that creates the fires of inspiration.

Saturn in Aquarius hits this Full Moon in a wonky way. It might make us insecure about things or stop us from developing our new ideas. Don’t let it! Use the energy to help organize your ideas and structure things to help you grow into your new Self. My 12^th house Taurus Sun, locked away in the ocean of undoing, has a hard time building any structures and it can get disoriented and totally forget those Qi Gong exercises I want to do each morning. Saturn can come down hard on me and fill me with shame, or I can get it to help me organize my days so I don’t ‘forget’! Relate to the planets and get them to help you rather than hinder you.

The Sabian symbol for Saturn at 9* Aquarius is: A mountain climber follows the flight of an eagle through binoculars. Saturn in Aquarius is about our mental constructs, and after the 1^st Saturn/Uranus square last week, some of those constructs have been blown up. This gives us a chance to find a new perspective about what’s going on in the collective mind. People want change – they can feel it in the air. Just knowing that we can find that perspective if we need it is helpful. In the end, whatever we are here to do is for our collective benefit. Use the energy to help you define who and what you are. The collective needs that independence of thought and action.

Now that Mercury is going direct, all the planets (except for the asteroid Vesta in Virgo) are in direct motion until the end of April! Things will be moving ahead now so don’t get swept away by the energy. Harness it and use it for whatever you’re cooking up.

Mars in Taurus and Pluto in Capricorn trine each other to help us move things along in a concrete way. Pluto has almost finished its demolition of patriarchy, so let the old be swept away and start to build in the new.

 

 

Have you noticed how the Light is growing! We are heading toward Spring here in the North.

Late winter blessings!

Cathy

The great affair, the love affair with life,
is to live as variously as possible,
to groom one's curiosity like a high-spirited thoroughbred,
climb aboard, and gallop over the thick, sun-struck hills every day.

Where there is no risk, the emotional terrain is flat and unyielding,
and, despite all its dimensions, valleys, pinnacles, and detours,
life will seem to have none of its magnificent geography, only a length.

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery,
but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.

~ Diane Ackerman ~

("found poetry" from A Natural History of the Senses)