The Moon is in fiery Aries now. Did we feel the shift on Sunday morning or were we still hungover from Saturday's Full Moon?!
In Aries we are nourished/nurtured by action, physical movement, taking the
initiative, time spent alone, time spent with men, passion, anger.
Luna makes a productive sextile to a retrograde Saturn in Aquarius and a waxing inconjunct to the Virgo Sun as the Sun inconjuncts Saturn - all at 19 degrees. The whole thing forms a Yod - Finger of God, with the apex pointing to the Sun in Virgo, so things are funneled through our mutable earth sign.
Practical changes. Tending to one thing at a time. Tempered healthy fixes. Calming any perfectionist nuttiness.
We had the BIG Pisces Full Moon and now we are making adjustments.
The Moon in Aries wants to go/start, is impulsive/brave. The Sun in Virgo is cautious. Notices the details/dragons and wants to attend to them.
If we are pushed to hurry we will have to somehow take care of the details. Not screw up in our rush to MOVE.
On the other hand if we are biding our time waiting for something to be just so or standing still for fear of screwing something up, we are probably still going to have to MOVE.
We have the Aries Moon's sextile to Saturn going for us. Aries/Aquarius. This is exact at 1:25PM EDT. This is good for getting down to business, taking responsibility, stepping into our authority. This harmonious aspect ensures we have access to just enough
restraint to keep things in check - some rules/limits/constraints will be there but they
won’t shut us down completely.
And having said that, we have to keep in mind the Sun's inconjunct to Saturn especially with the Sun being the funnel of the Yod. Ego clashes with authority figures are possible, so this wouldn't be the day to ask for a raise or try to argue your way out of a speeding ticket. There is some kind of 'rock and a hard place' between expressing ourselves/shining/being our "Sun" and our responsibilities/limits.
The Moon will go void at 12:52AM EDT off the Aries Moon's monthly power struggle with Pluto. Things should stabilize once she gets into Taurus, the sign of her exaltation, tomorrow morning. Although Tuesday's Moon looks a little tricky and we will talk about that Monday night.
On Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 5:59 AM EDT, the Pisces Moon opposes the Virgo Sun at 17 degrees giving us this month's Full Moon - our annual Full Moon in Pisces.
Full Moons bring things 'to light', to peak energy - to a culmination, to an ending.It
is the space in our breath cycle when our lungs are full and we need to
exhale. Or maybe if we have been holding our breath, now is the time we
must noisily gasp for air. It can be a time of OVERWHELM.
Pisces rules the 12th house of what we do last, what is hidden and put
away, the ways we self-sabotage because from our vantage point in
our 1st house we can't see what's behind us/don't know what we don't
know. Pisces rules llusions and delusions, escape, sacrifice, our addictions, our
imagination, lack of boundaries, connection, compassion, charity,
hospitals, prisons, the things we have forgotten, our distant pasts, our
ancestors, water, sleep, illness, healing, dying, spirituality, GRIEF, angels, God .... it is a mystical space of MAGIC where anything can happen.
Happening just hours after Mercury stations retrograde might make this one even more confusing or overwhelming than usual, but let's dive in and unpack the chart and see what we see.
The Moon opposes the Sun from 17 degrees Pisces. She is conjunct Juno and more widely conjunct Neptune. She trines the South Node (14 Scorpio) and sextiles the North Node. She sextiles Uranus and widely squares Mars in Gemini. The South Node/asteroid Asclepius, the Moon/Juno and Black Moon Lilith (in Cancer) form a Grand Water Trine. Uranus/North Node at the top of the Grand Water Trine create a Kite. The Moon sextiles asteroid Minerva (17 Cappy) - EXACT. The Full Moon trines asteroid Asclepius (17 Scorpio) - EXACT. The Full Moon squares asteroid Achilles (17 Gemini) - EXACT.
The Moon's conjunction to Juno speaks of emotional ties with partners. Security concerns involving partners. Mothering our partners or being mothered. Maybe we are feeling what they are feeling. We might feel married to our home now or to a home project, family situation, home business or family business. Pisces, our mutable water sign (collective and changing emotions), makes things more emotional and the fullness of the Moon makes things feel more emotional still. We might feel overwhelmed (or done with) a situation or something could be reaching peak energy. Relationships are SATURATED. Spiritual connections are felt. The past is brought into our marriages/partnerships.
The wider conjunction to Neptune pulls Pisces ruler into the mix. The Full Moon in Pisces, the final sign, is the 'end of the end'.
The biggest thing with this chart is the event's Grand Water Trine. So, we already have the emotional fullness of the Moon amplified by the mutable water of Pisces (our collective emotions) with Pisces ruler in Pisces.
Now we toss in trines (the brakes are off) from the Full Moon/Juno to our other water signs - Cancer and Scorpio - through Black Moon Lilith (our wound womb, the female who chooses herself) and the South Node of Fate (our past that we have pulled into our present).
This is the heart and soul of this chart - the emotional connection of all these moving pieces.
Sextiles to the North Node and Uranus make the Grand Water Trine into a Kite. The Kite pulls in fixed Earth and gives the Grand Water Trine an easy outlet. CHANGE/THE FUTURE. Through Taurus - new values, new ways we feel secure (especially within partnerships), new ways to use our existing resources and new ways to value them, new ways to make money, new ways to root ourselves/make things more simple.
We could stay mired in the complicated (comfortable because it is familiar) past, the trine to the South Node will make it easy to keep doing what we are doing/what we have done a thousand times. But, the Grand Water Trine's access to Uranus and the North Node tells us we can really TAKE OFF - think of a kite here - when we lean into something else, probably something a bit uncomfortable because it is NEW.
So, we get to the Full Moon in Pisces, the end of the end, and we are again given this opportunity, and this will likely show up through events and people we are going to want to say YES to, to EVOLVE/CHANGE.
Some flies in the ointment, and I wouldn't be any good to you if I don't mention them (and I am dealing with a fruit fly infestation at the moment, so could hardly forget them) - Mercury is retrograde. His/her multiple upcoming dealing with bigger-is-better Jupiter is worth paying attention to. We could over-promise. We could already be taking on too much and this boundary-less Full Moon could see us slip right into this.
In September, things are going to take longer than we think they will - know this going in. Breathe.
With Mercury moving backward in partnership-focused Libra PLUS a Full Moon in Pisces conjunct Juno - relationship re-evaluations are happening all over the place. Some relationships are challenged by power struggles. Some are becoming more soul-full.
The South Node will be in Libra in just a few months. We are going to be immersed in our partnerships and the shadows we are casting on other people. Relationships based on past-life connections or connections from decades ago may fade. The way we do relationships/rely on other people will start to change - this is already happening. We will need to trust ourselves, nurture ourselves, be ourselves. The North Node will be in independent Aries - we are all going to need some alone time.
Maybe now, in preparation for then, we are kind of getting clear on where we are emotionally within our closest relationships and contracts, by circumstances getting so BIG. Juno relied on Jupiter's power. It was nice to be the wife of the king ... except for the times it wasn't. People born with the South Node in Libra - we will all get a taste of this starting in a few months and running for about a year and a half - are born with a weakness in their aura's 'identity sector'. This chink in their armor is more than a chink in their armor. It's a big old gaping hole. They don't have a shield to protect them from the strong energy of others. It is hard for them to act intensely with other people without damaging themselves, so harmony becomes too important. In this lifetime, Libra South Node people face the challenge of strengthening their identity. We are all going to start dealing with this collectively starting next year, but as we come to the Pisces Full Moon, 'the end of the end', with all this Venusian dispositor energy afoot - it is probably something to think about. The good that will come from a Libra South Node - the love, the cooperation - will be there, too.
The Moon's point of fullness comes through her opposition to the Sun in Virgo, so we are charged with seeing/feeling what our service, work, attempts at healing, organizing, fixing - has culminated in at this point. Whatever tangible thing the Virgo Sun has focused on through us. If this is about an ending, the sextile to Uranus indicates a future opportunity or liberation through the ending or might represent the suddenness of whatever happens - although we could certainly have seen whatever this is coming (Uranus retrograde).
The Moon in Pisces' final aspect is a productive sextile with Pluto in Capricorn. The Sun will get the smooth trine on September 18th where this whole things lands. Two minutes to midnight, EDT, so September 19th Universal Time. Something empowering, deep, intense. The death (Pluto) of the king/queen (Sun), but a smooth trine, so not unexpectedly disruptive. I am going to do a post on Queen Elizabeth soon. The astrology of her death and Prince Charles ascension to the throne (even asteroid King exact on his midheaven when his mother died) is amazing.
Pisces Moons are ethereal, mystical, magic, can't be pinned down. Even writing about it, I am trying to pigeon-hole something that can't be contained.
This is a Full Moon in Pisces sextiling Uranus - this is about letting go of the past and moving into the future.
I hope everyone can get out and walk in the Full Moon!
xo all
Expect dailies this week as there aren't any major aspects (other than the Moon, of course) until next Friday's action packed Venus square Mars trines the North Node and the Sun opposes Neptune. It will be more helpful for everyone for me to do daily lunar posts than a weekly.
At 11:38PM on Friday, September 9, 2022, Mercury stations retrograde at 8 degrees Libra.
Mercury goes retrograde (from our point of view here on Earth) three, and sometimes four, times a year. He is retrograde (moving backward) for about three weeks and then stations direct and starts moving forward.
Mercury/think Hermes here - is "the Messenger", the "Trickster", the
"Cosmic Magician". He rules the signs of Gemini and Virgo. Collectively this is our - words, communication, siblings, early childhood education, our local community, commerce, tech devices, transportation, our daily life, our service, our health, our work - our collective 3rd and 6th houses. Mercury retrograde periods are times to slow down/to look within. Anything started with "re" becomes the most effective use of our time. Re-thinking, re-evaluating, re-flecting, re-peating, re-unions, re-novations, etc.
Mercury retrogrades are re-curring opportunities to shift out of old mental patterns. We are often asked to pull back from the world and face our shadow self in some way. When we’ve exhausted the possibilities for what we can gain by
projecting our shadow self onto the external events and people in our
lives, we are ready to face them within our own mind (and heart).
On a practical level we see things that were concealed when Mercury was in direct motion. Maybe
because we were going too fast to notice them or maybe we took a wrong
turn two miles back and need to change direction. Maybe there is a road out up ahead that we don't know about yet. These retrograde periods are always useful/always needed even when we appear to incur delays, re-dos and roadblocks.
Mercury moved into his retrograde shadow degrees back on August 22, 2022 (this was also the day the Sun entered Virgo). That's when he reached 24 degrees Virgo, the degree he will station direct on October 2nd. He leaves his shadow, reaches the degree he/she will station retrograde (8 degrees Libra) on October 17th and then he (as we), having re-ceived all the necessary information/learning from this re-tro period, will move on and will start covering new ground. So, the entire cycle is from August 22 - October 17, but he is retrograde from September 9 - October 2.
Mercury's retrograde starts in Libra then moves back into Virgo.
Collectively we are re-looking at our relationships, in particular our partnerships and our need for balance, fairness and peace. Then we move back into Virgo (September 23rd). Air to earth. The re-looking, re-viewing, re-evaluating, re-novating, etc - continues, but now we are dealing with more solid things. Separating the wheat from the chaff. Our words are given form. It is particularly important what we are saying/thinking/hearing - ABSORBING now. Mercury is back in his home sign of Virgo, so we are fixing, making things better.
During Mercury's retrograde he/she will be in multiple conversations with Venus, multiple trines with Pluto and multiple oppositions with Jupiter. He has mutual reception with Venus almost the entire time and winds up back in his home sign - a comfortable space he rules. We really couldn't ask for much better. The Venusian contacts and the fact Mercury starts this retro in Venus's sign Libra, pulls in our relationships, our money, resources, our values, our self-esteem, women and beauty. The trines to powerful Pluto give us MULTIPLE opportunities for empowerment, to speak our truth, to notice TRUTH. The oppositions to Jupiter indicate multiple opportunities to MINE FOR OLD GOLD. We will talk about all this over the next few weeks as we move through the energies of the retrograde period.
A couple things to keep in mind - Mars is in Gemini for the long haul (through March 2023), so he is answering to Mercury. We are already doing things twice or doing two things at once. Mercury retrograde is going to complicate this. We are going to need to be smart, at exactly the time 'being smart' will be especially tricky.
Also, Mercury in Libra is answering to Venus in Virgo. So, we have this mutual reception thing going on with each planet in the other planet's sign. This will last for almost the entire retrograde and is VERY GOOD NEWS. Mercury can get back to Virgo (his sign) through Venus/Libra. And Venus can get back to Libra (her sign) through Mercury/Virgo. This is better news for Mercury than Venus, since she has to go through a retrograde planet (meaning our relationships/money/values/self-esteem/women - the Venusian stuff - needs to go backward to go forward). For Mercury this means that Venusian tactics get him back to Virgo. This means cooperation, being social, being fair, being kind and diplomatic. With Mars in Gemini, this will not always be such an easy thing because we are also charged with standing up for ourselves/being ourselves/being brave through our language.
Here are the pertinent dates:
AUGUST 22 - Mercury hits 24 Virgo and starts walking degrees he/she (through us) will walk two more times
SEPTEMBER 2 - Mercury (still direct) opposes Jupiter retrograde
SEPTEMBER 9 - Mercury stations retrograde
SEPTEMBER 12 - Mercury retrograde semi-sextiles Venus
SEPTEMBER 18 - Mercury retrograde opposes Jupiter retrograde
SEPTEMBER 23 - Sun meets Mercury retrograde - mid-point of cycle - ILLUMINATION, here is what the Mercury retrograde has been about for us - this happens at 0 degrees Libra, an Aries point, our collective attention will be on SOMETHING, then Mercury retrogrades back into Virgo, his home sign. Mark this day.
SEPTEMBER 26 - Mercury retrograde meets Venus (26 Virgo)
SEPTEMBER 27 - Mercury retrograde trines Pluto retrograde
OCTOBER 2 - Mercury stations direct at 24 Virgo
OCTOBER 6 - Mercury trines Pluto retrograde (Pluto will station direct 2 days later, is very strong and still here)
OCTOBER 12 - Mercury opposes Jupiter retrograde for the final time, so this will connect to September 2nd and September 18th
Now, besides connecting to the collective energy/the ways we respond TOGETHER, we each have our personal Mercury energy in our natal and progressed charts and the houses he rules within us that are impacted through transiting Mercury. Your natal Gemini and Virgo houses and their themes are affected when Mercury changes sign and direction by transit AND the houses he touches by transit. So, here we are talking about your natal (and progressed) Libra, Virgo and Gemini houses - and we have Mars in your Gemini house and Venus in your Virgo house, and the Sun will move from Virgo to Libra during the retrograde, so this is an action packed area that will be prone to to busyness, delays, repeating patterns, etc.
When Mercury stations on Friday night he/she (Mercury is very androgynous energy, but I will mostly use the pronoun he here) will be tightly sandwiched between dwarf planet Makemake and asteroid Logos.
Logos is an ancient Greek philosophical term meaning "the Word". "In the beginning was the word" and the way we think about and describe
our world is a powerful aspect of our creativity. The concept of Logos
itself could be considered a drive towards rationality (as the Greeks
used it), or a connection with the sacred nature of things. We can expect powerful new insights at all levels from personal to collective during this retrograde.
Makemake is one of the group of Trans-Neptunian objects (because they orbit beyond Neptune), that include Pluto, Eris, Haumea, etc. The influence of these planets comes from deep space and moves into our
more human realm at certain times. They are galactic messengers -weaving our human-story into a story much bigger than we are accustomed to
working with.
Makemake was named for the Creator God of a small isolated volcanic
island in the Pacific Ocean known as Rapa Nui or Easter Island. Astrologer, Philip Sedgwick, believes the position of Rapa Nui bears a direct relationship to the Galactic Centre. It is difficult to know Makemake's story because so much of the oral tradition of the islanders has been lost, but the islanders, as part of the 'bird-man' cult, would swim out to an islet
each year through dangerous open sea to collect eggs. Maybe this annual ritual was designed to ensure that the strongest
and bravest warrior was chosen each year to be a sort of chiefly
figure, someone the islanders could trust to provide for them, to bring
them continued fertility for example. The symbolism of the 'egg' is significant, given that the island was
originally named Easter Island by the Europeans who arrived there on
Easter Sunday in 1722. The planet Makemake was also discovered on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2005, and astronomers temporarily named Makemake “The Easter Bunny”.
How this connects to this Mercury retrograde period I will leave up to you to ponder/discover for yourself, but some things to consider might be that Easter Island is another historical example of European conquest - the devastation of the native people and resources, enslavement, smallpox was introduced here purposefully with devastating consequences. We might see how this connects to current collective events by considering the underlying power mechanics of slave labor (including the current zeitgeist's 'quiet quitting' movement), viral
epidemics, wise/unwise use of the earth’s resources, the loss of
spirituality and Goddess energy, and the loss of local culture and a sustainable local food supply. It might seem we are re-living Rapa Nui’s/Easter Island's destruction on a global level. Hopefully Makemake and Logos connection with Mercury as he/she backs up speaks of smart AND practical solutions to collective problems. This will connect to our personal lives and circumstances, too.
Keep in mind our North Node - collective way forward - is still in Taurus, so answering to Venus in Virgo, who is answering to this retrograde Mercury. The way forward/through is BACK. Our words are our fortune and our voice MATTERS. When we speak, we are casting S-P-E-L-L-S and during Mercury's - the God of language - retrograde it is especially important to pay attention to this.
Try not to be discouraged/annoyed at the repeating energies, delays and re-dos. This is all happening as it should be and in its own time. Slow down and double check things. Don't take on too much! Re-turn to the things, people and places that brought you comfort or that need fixing. We are moving from air to earth. Taking our ideas back to the drawing board. Our relationships back to the basics. This isn't really a problem, even when actual problems are presented, but part of the complicated process called "life on planet Earth".
As always, I hope something here is helpful.
Back with the BIG Full Moon in Pisces post!
xo all
I am always listening to podcasts while I make and would recommend for this retrograde period anything brain/speech related by Andrew Huberman and also, and probably most especially this conversation as podcaster Aubrey Marcus interviews the amazing and brilliant Laurel Airica.
Mercury stations retrograde this week, and although this season's Mercury retrograde should be better than most and will have us panning for old gold, it is still the time to BACK UP OUR FILES, double check our emails, etc.
The Sun makes multiple smooth moves with the future/change, affirming our practical actions NOW will pay off LATER. We also have a BIG Full Moon in magical Pisces and Venus leaving fun-loving Leo and getting down to the practical nuts and bolts of life in Virgo. That sounds about right.
Let's unpack the week!
MONDAY - Venus enters Virgo
TUESDAY - Pallas enters Cancer
WEDNESDAY - Sun trines North Node, Sun inconjuncts Chiron
FRIDAY - Mercury stations retrograde
SATURDAY - Full Moon in Pisces
SUNDAY - Sun trines Uranus
On MONDAY - our Virgo house receives its annual visit from lovely Venus. Virgo Suns and
Ascendants get more attractive - both easier on the eye and able to
attract what they want. Our natal Virgo houses get more attractive, too!
Venus rules our love, money, self-esteem, values, relationships, women, beauty, our resources, attracting what we want - all
areas are subjected to Virgo's keen focus and attention to detail now.
We will be analyzing what we want and what we have. We will be analyzing
our relationships. With Venus in service-oriented Virgo - LOVE IS A
VERB.
The problems will stand out. We won't be able to miss them. And since
what we focus on grows, sometimes things get worse before they get
better during this transit. Still, this is excellent energy to fix what
needs fixing and accept (or eliminate) what just isn't fixable. Venus in Virgo is about loving the details of something, enjoying the work, appreciating the craftsmanship and complexity of something or someone or some situation as well as the problems, Venus inVirgo can't miss those, and choosing not to dwell on them. We might even find while Venus is in Virgo we are attracted to problems.
This is also the day the Capricorn Moon trines the Virgo Sun at 13 degrees. Excellent energy for fixing problems and making improvements and provides structure and stability for Venus in Virgo's transit. The Moon in Cappy is PRACTICAL and ambitious, can pull us away from the sometimes distracting nit-picky details and problems and focus us in on what we need to do. Good energy for getting things done.
Venus will be in Virgo until September 29th, keep in mind, in Virgo she is answering to Mercury, who will be retrograde - starting Friday - for most of this time. Old relationships, women from the past, love from the past, money from the past will all be in play.
On TUESDAY - Pallas enters Cancer. Our strategic warrior Goddess comes home to work with old family patterns and emerging home/family/mother/real estate issues. Pallas will retrograde here, so will be in Cancer until May 2023. As she interacts with the planets and points through transit and through contact with our natal and progressed charts, we will be figuring out our maternal inheritance, how we fit into our existing family structures, how we are repeating family patterns, what we need to feel safe. It is almost like Pallas is passed a baton from Black Moon Lilith for us to continue this relay race around home/family/safety/security/nurturing - this is a long transit and will be extremely powerful. It will take us through the late 2022/early 2023 major collective changes. Since how something begins is very important, we note she starts this transit with a sober Cappy Moon, the Sun in practical Virgo and Saturn (retrograde in Aquariusand ruling the Moon) opposing Ceres at 20 degrees Leo. This feels like a difficult ending. A life cycle concluding. Our need for attention/appreciation may not be externally met. We have to love ourselves.
On WEDNESDAY, the Virgo Sun, at 15 degrees Virgo will inconjunct Chiron and trine the North Node in Taurus.
The inconjunct is kind of a rock and a hard place. Inconjunct signs (like those right next to each other) do not blend easily. This is Aries/Virgo. Cardinal fire and mutable earth. Aries has no patience for Virgo's tedious details and to Virgo, Aries can appear selfish/rude. Maybe there is a conflict here between autonomy and service. There won't be a tidy solution, but we can look to the Sun's powerful trine to the North Node in Taurus, for a way through.
With the Sun trining the North Node pay attention to what comes to your
attention now/who you meet, etc - your future is calling - if someone
invites you to go somewhere, this would be the time to GO.
With the Sun in service and detail oriented Virgo - shining in a practical way, being of service, taking care of the details, fixing, but not fixating on problems, our DAILY HABITS align us with the
future. We won't have to push too hard/bang our head against the wall -
something should fall into place now.
On THURSDAY - the Moon is void from 8:34AM EDT for the rest of the day. Keep this in mind. With the Moon not in contact with any other planet/point this would probably not be the best time to start/launch something we want 'something to come of'. Situations today are subject to revisions, although everything is right now with Mars in Gemini going to go retrograde next month! A good day to do routine tasks/relax.
On FRIDAY - Mercury stations retrograde at 8 degrees Libra. All the usual Mercury retrograde admonishments apply. We will be going back over our relationships, our need for balance and fairness, our Libra house themes. We will pull this re-look, re-do, re-evaluation back into Virgo where we can make things better/more stable. Then we will move ahead when Mercury stations direct on October 2nd, and do it all over again in an improved way.
This Mercury retrograde includes multiple opportunities to pan for 'old gold' and we will talk about this in its own post!
On SATURDAY - we have a BIG Full Moon at 17 degrees Pisces. This will have its own post, too.
In magical Pisces, this will be a big opportunity for emotional release and healing, but also looks confusing/illusory with the Mercury station at almost the same time. One thing for sure here is our intuition will be HEIGHTENED. We will be feeling our way through this one, since our mind is taking a siesta!
On SUNDAY, after his smooth connection with the North Node, the Sun in Virgo makes another smooth connection - this time with change-maker Uranus. So, as we move toward the future, we are more accepting of change/change comes more EASILY.
Uranus in Taurus is the overhaul of finances, security, habits and values. Since May 2018 we have ALL had our personal and collective REVERSALS OF FORTUNE (or they are still to come, Uranus is in Taurus until 2025).
With today's trine to the Virgo Sun, liberation from old habits/criticism/unproductive daily habits can happen easily. Change is practical. Happens in its own time. The unusual can be welcomed in without so much chaos. Here is where small changes create big results.
I hope something here is helpful. I never got back here after last week's weekly post, but this week I will be back with the Full Moon and Mercury retrograde posts. Blogging is a bit challenging right now due to some family commitments and other projects.
With the solar energy in a smooth flow with the future/change - this week looks very FUTURE FOCUSED. In a 'things falling into place' not us beating our head against closed doors, kind of way. Something RIPENS.
The Cappy Moon early in the week, ends with a connection to Pluto and is followed by an Aquarius Moon that ends with a connection to Saturn. Then the late week Pisces Moon - where the Moon will oppose the Sun - will end with a sextile to Pluto, so lots of good endings if we aren't holding on too tightly. Other than Thursday's almost all-day Void Moon, there are multiple opportunities to start and move ahead.
