FULL MOON – 21 DEGREES PISCES, 14 September 2019 (05h33 BST)
Taking place a week before the last pass of 2019’s tricksy Jupiter-Neptune square, the Pisces Full Moon promises to be an emotional, possibly confusing time. Expect to feel all the feels, as well as those of others. With the Moon orbiting very close to nebulous Neptune, it will be important to maintain your emotional and psychic boundaries. In fact, it’s possible that you will need to muster all your inner willpower and sense of discernment, because I suspect many of us may be tempted to fall back into old ways during the upcoming two week cycle of the waning Moon.
In many ways, this particular Full Moon represents a psychological turning point: With the luminaries activating the Neptune-Jupiter square AND simultaneously sextiling Pluto, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if many of you find yourselves at a karmic crossroads. The question is: Will you have the strength to leave behind the past and move on decisively? Or, will your resolve weaken, leaving you vulnerable to the temptation of ‘What ifs’? Especially if the toxic people or situations you are trying to heal from suddenly saunter in and try to convince you to change your mind.
However, the Universe is being pretty clear: It’s time to put into action all the lessons we’ve learnt during the testing experiences many of us faced back in January and again in June at the first two passes of the Jupiter-Neptune square. The good news is that if you can muster up the courage to keep moving forward and weather this final stretch of stormy seas, then you have sunny skies and calmer waters on the other side, to look forward to. The involvement of Mars and Pluto may well be instrumental in giving you the confidence and resolve needed to kick self-destructive habits for good.
For some, holding on to the past is less to do with nostalgia and more to do with a burning desire for justice. If this is the case, then take comfort from Pluto’s involvement and the Sabian symbol for this particular Full Moon. Both concern divine laws and karmic rebalancing, which could result in wrongs being righted or victims of abuse finally getting justice for wrongs done to them in the past. Indeed, Pluto is not the planet of vengeance for nothing. However, the lesson of the Pisces Moon is to let go of emotional attachment to any particular outcome – the irony being that your holding on may be precisely what is preventing the situations from rebalancing itself naturally.
SIGN
The September 2019 Full Moon takes place in sensitive and mystical Pisces. Pisces is a mutable water sign, which makes it extremely emotional and impressionable – able to tune into the energy of others and in fact, everything around them. This can be a good thing and a bad thing – on the one hand, heightening empathy levels and intuition, but also potentially creating gaps in your armour through which people or situations can drain you emotionally.
When the Moon is here, we need to let go og victim behvaiour and take responsibility for our own welfare and happiness by developing good boundaries and learning to say no.
Addictions and weak willpower can also be a problem. Virgo is all about health, while it’s opposite sign, Pisces is something of a hedonist that finds it hard to say no to anything that feels good, however unhealthy or short-term the fix might be. As a result, all forms of escapism are emphasised under this sign, from sex to drugs to painkillers and activities that allow you to ‘zone out’ like computer games or watching TV.
Self-destruction and self-sabotage is another big theme around Pisces, as is a tendency to romanticise and over idealize. Given the planetary aspects active at this Full Moon, and the emphasis on Virgo, it would be unwise to let your guard – or hair down – too much. The cosmic stakes are just too high. Where possible, opt for healthier forms of escape over the next two weeks, whether this be music, meditation, a spa retreat or session in a flotation tank if you need to unwind.
Pisces Full Moon Themes:
POSITIVE EXPRESSIONS:
- Marrying intuition and common sense
- Combining imagination and faith with reason
- Balancing empathy with self-care and self-protection
- Striking a happy medium between surrender/going with the flow, and planning/structuring your time and regulating how much energy you expend
- Learning to combine selflessness and altruism with healthy self-interest and pragmatism
THINGS TO GUARD AGAINST
- Leaking energy or haemorrhaging resources
- Refusing to take personal responsibility for your mistakes, flakiness, insincerity, a lack of self-discipline
- Insecurity, self-doubt, self-destructive behaviour
- Emotional confusion, game playing, being deliberately vague/obtuse
- A penchant for escapism, addiction or flights of fancy
- Victim/martyr complex: self-sacrifice, playing helpless, use/abuse, self-harm
- Identity crises: A lack of self-awareness, self-delusion,
- Drowning in grief, loss, self-pity, depression without limits
SABIAN SYMBOL
The March New Moon takes halfway through the Pisces. The Sabian symbol for the 22nd degree of Pisces is:
A prophet bringing down the new law from Sinai.
This evokes an image of Moses coming down from the holy mountain with the Ten Commandments – a new set of religious laws for the Israelites when they were lost in the desert. This resonates with two trends active at the moment:
- The first is the emphasis on the rule of law – something currently being tested to its limits as a result of the constitutional crisis that Brexit has created for the UK government. (I have written about all of this in my latest posts on the Astro-insights Blog, for those interested in current affairs and political astrology.
- The second is the sense, felt by many astrologers and prophets from around the world, that we are moving into a different era or age in terms of world history – posssibly heralded by the upcoming Saturn-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn in January 2020. Interestingly, Capricorn is the sign associated with the Jewish nation, and with Yahweh, the father-like god of the Jews.
On an archetypal level, then Capricorn represents patriarchy/the father, and for a while now, particularly since Pluto entered Capricorn and the current series of Cancer-Capricorn eclipses began (2009-11, 2018/19), I have felt that we are moving towards an age in which women and the divine feminine will once again begin to play a greater role in how humanity evolves. About time too, considering the ecological crisis we find ourselves in, which in many ways, is just another form of raping and pillaging. Pisces is a feminine sign and is associated, like Cancer, with the sea/ocean, so I wonder if this will be the first place that we see new morals/ethics or universal laws being introduced along these lines. Given the polar connection to Virgo, I think healthcare and pharmacceuticals coudl well be next.
On a more individual level:
My sense is that the involvement of Pluto in the mix suggests a karmic rebalancing with regards to situations related to the Jupiter-Neptune square in January and June where one party took advantage of, stole from, or lied about/deceived another. Now, Pluto (and the laws of cause and effect) may well lead to some form of payback. This is, after all, a Full Moon = culmination/completition, so situations are likely to come full circle now. More on this in the Apsects section.
The Sabian Oracle also offers us the following suggestions for how to consider the hidden significance of this particular zodiacal degree:
Keywords: Revelations and channeling of new information. Truths being revealed. Thoughts, ideas, guidelines. The Ten Commandments. Laying down the law. New resolutions. New pathways of living. Social justice messages. The Koran. The Torah. The Bible. Finding records. People of the book. The Ark of the Covenant. Newly codified laws. Amendments. The Testaments. Avatars and guides. Moses. Mt. Sinai. Legislation. Laws enacted. Legislation.
The Caution: Being told what to do. Believing that one has all the answers OR believing that someone else has all the answers. Disregarding the religious ways of the past. Rules set in stone. The statement “this is what’s going to happen”. Rigid application of dogmatic moral codes.
KEY ASPECTS
This is a Full Moon that will be filled with contradictions. Although confusion and temptation may abound, there is also ample opportunity to evolve…
Moon-Neptune conjunction: Feeling the Feels
The emotional/permeable qualities of the Pisces Full Moon will be amplified by the presence of its ruler, Neptune, which will be conjunct the Moon. Neptune is the planet par excellence of enchantment, romance – and mirages. It’s conjunction with the Moon could evoke themes relating to:
- Unspoken truths vs. deliberate (but implied) deceptions or false impressions
- Vagueness and confusion vs. precision and certainty
- Dreams, hopes, expectations and ideals vs pragmatic, sustainable reality
- The physical/material world vs. the spiritual dimensions
- Difficulties letting go or seperating from people/situations in which we have become psychically enmeshed
While this conjunction can increase intuition and heighten our creative emotional and psychic perceptions, it can also lead to delusions and illusions. Thisis because the Sun will be opposing Neptune, which could mean that our conscious minds and logical, reasonign faculties may be imparied. This situation is further hampered by Neptune’s square to Jupiter, which, as we know from our disappointing experiences in mid-January and June, can lead to over-optimism and naive beliefs.
Strong personal boundaries will be required to navigate the murky waters of this particular aspect. Cultivating a healthy dose of Virgo precision and disernment should also help us clarify any psychic perceptions or emotional undercurrents we pick up now.
Moon sextile Pluto – An emotional turning point
Luckily, the Moon will also be making a sextile to powerful Pluto which should endow us with the determination and focus to see through the ploys anyone may be using to try and deceive or sabotage us.
This is very much like the Temptation of Christ in the Bible when, after fasting for 40 days and nights in the Judean desert(which would potentially make anyone delusional) Jesus was tempted by Lucifer. Think: Jupiter-Neptune square.
Saying no and finally being able to walk away from people or situations that have been abusive or unhealthy is a great way to embody this particular astrological transit. It is emotional empowerment par excellence. Pluto and Neptune both concern catharsis on some level, so I do think that used constructively, this Full Moon could be very healing on an emotional, energetic and psychic level.
Sun conjunct Mars, trine Pluto – Getting in Touch with Your Inner Warrior
The Sun will also be orbiting very close to Mars in Virgo (and willl be trine to Pluto) at the time of this eclipse, which should give us an extra dose of energy, confidence and resolve to counter the effects of the Jupiter-Neptune square and push through any Moon-Neptune malaise so that we don’t fall into any traps and make healthy decisions now.
The ability to say no, be assertive and protect your inner child (very much embodied by Moon-Neptune) when others try to manipulate us or take advantage, is another very constructive expression of this aspect. The only thing to watch out for is a tendency to be overly sharp when reinforcing boundaries or act without thinking things through properly.
It is also great for motivating us to stay on track with regards to the intentions we set for ourselves at the Virgo New Moon and do what needs to be done to implement personal change in our lives.
