Photo: Auroras over Fairbanks, Alaska on August 28, 2015
(credit: Marketa S. Murray, posted on SpaceWeather.com)
SOMETIMES we have to take a circuitous route to reach our destination; and sometimes, when we’re working with a Full Moon, we have to experience the polar extremes of the two signs involved before we find the balance and awareness we’ve been promised.
In the aftermath of yesterday’s winter-like storm here in the Pacific Northwest — with its high winds, falling branches, downed trees, traffic jams, and power outages — there was a sense of peace in the air this morning, as if that Pisces Moon was finally saying, “Here I am.” But yesterday was a bit of a frenzied mess as we tried, in Virgo fashion, to create order out of disorder and to avoid falling into the abyss of worry and lack of control. Eventually, there was a need to surrender to the reality and to find peace amid the chaos — which for me was cuddling with my dogs and listening to “Says You” on NPR on my wind-up radio, watching out my window as the tall firs that surround my home continued to sway in alarming fashion.
YESTERDAY’S Full Moon was the last lunation of the current eclipse cycle. In its role as clean-up crew, it had some work to do to help us prepare for the upcoming New Moon/Solar Eclipse that occurs on September 12 at 11:41pm PDT.
However our day unfolded — whether or not it was in dramatic fashion — we may want to consider how that Full Moon ultimately called for us to embrace the Piscean qualities of spiritual and emotional surrender. The word “surrender” has a negative connotation for many of us, since we equate it with giving away our power. But the Pisces form of surrender is not the same as capitulation.
BOTH WORDS mean to give up resistance — but with capitulation, we continue to see an outside entity as our opponent or enemy, and we hand over the reins unwillingly. When we surrender in Pisces fashion, we are joining forces with a higher aspect of our being that resides in realms of Trust, and releasing the resistance that comes from a fearful part of ourselves.
Perhaps yesterday’s Full Moon applied just the right amount of pressure for us to do some necessary release and realignment work — the kind of spiritual and emotional clearing that will allow us to take better advantage of the energies of the Solar Eclipse two weeks from now.
ON MONDAY, the last day of August, the Sun makes its annual opposition to ethereal Neptune. This aspect continues some of the themes that manifested with Saturday’s Full Moon. The clean-up operation in the physical world (ruled by Virgo) will necessarily continue in my local area, representing additional (although perhaps less obvious) cleansing occurring on those spiritual and emotional levels ruled by Pisces.
We also have completion of a different sort that comes into our awareness on Monday when Venus conjoins Mars. We usually think of a conjunction as a point of beginning, but it is also a time when we are wrapping up an old cycle. At this particular alignment, Venus is still retrograde but virtually at a standstill, since it goes direct on Saturday. As Venus and Mars join forces in Leo, we have a sense that we are saying good-bye to an element from our past — something that once was enlivening, that used to return as much energy to us as we invested in it, but that we now find drains our tank and doesn’t refill it.
WITH A DISRUPTIVE Jupiter-Uranus sesquisquadrate in effect this week, we will benefit from reminding ourselves to be patient, calm, and objective. (This aspect was included in yesterday’s Full Moon chart, in which Jupiter played a major role, being conjunct the Sun.) Situations may be outside of our control, or may fall apart at the last minute, causing confusion and overly dramatic reactions. The aspect is exact on Wednesday, but since it involves two slower-moving planets, we will feel its influence throughout the week.
On Thursday, a Mercury-Neptune quincunx calls us to adjust our thinking patterns so that we are not as easily thrown off balance when life changes unexpectedly. With Neptune in Pisces, this is another lesson of how to apply the concept of surrender in a positive way.
A SUN-PLUTO TRINE, exact Saturday afternoon, helps us feel more on task and more able to handle the realities of life in an empowered way. As these two planets work in harmony together, we can take advantage of Pluto in Capricorn’s drive to succeed and the Sun in Virgo’s attention to detail to make significant progress on a project.
Venus goes direct in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday (1:29am PDT). Based on what we have learned in the areas of relationship, finances, and personal values since the planet went retrograde on July 25, we can now move forward in these areas with a stronger knowing of what fulfills us and brings us true creative satisfaction.
In peace,
Pam