Full Moon in Virgo: Evolving to Serve Beyond Self

The Quickening Moon is also known as Crow Moon,

both refer to the first signs of Spring.

Full Moon in Virgo: Evolving to Serve Beyond Self

Moon opposite Sun @ 6:50pm CST on 3-1-18

Last month held a difficult eclipse.  I wrote Release and Rebirth days before the New Moon last month, and posted it on the 13^th.  Then on the 14^th, our country was hauntingly shaken by yet another mass shooting…this time at a school in Florida.  This happens far too often to ignore.  Ghosts of Columbine and every other massacre in our recent past came up within the closing of that eclipse window.  We saw more than we wanted to see, and the collective felt the blow to our humanity.  Some mourned, some reacted…and some lifted each other up to find hope, love, and peace in action.  All manner of feelings shot out in protective response. 

Our last eclipse season (August 2017) brought up similar re-openings of old wounds.  You may remember the planned race riot by armed white supremacists that was met by much more allowance from authority than, for example, unarmed Water Protectors banding races together peacefully to preserve our land and water.  And here we have another instance that points out a similar polarization of values.  Again the question for the collective arises, what is priority to protect? 

Instead of talking or writing it out between February’s New Moon Eclipse and this Full Moon, I let the incoming Pisces energy wash over me…just feeling it.  I remembered myself, a week past my 17^th birthday, feeling the gravity of kids shooting kids at school.  The idea was unknown to me until Columbine.  It shook me to my core.  I realize now that these kids in Florida were not even born when the Columbine Massacre happened.  Yet they became part of a continuing storyline that had never been resolved.

I looked back to what I had posted the day before this recent shooting.  The symbol for the New Moon Eclipse degree…”a tree felled and sawed”.  Not knowing what would happen the next day, I wrote “Think of the tree within this symbol as someone or something that you have grown close with over much time…in fact, you’ve grown together.  There was a real relationship here.  You shared space and the breath of life together for some time.  But now there is a necessity to release that attachment for a transformative rebirth to happen.”  And, “The cosmic cocktail in this eclipse cauldron has been a heady mixture of spirits.  The results can be anything from exhilarating to stupefying.  So many celestial bodies have been congregating in the air sign of Aquarius since the 31st, passing over the South Lunar Node of Fate one after the other.  And now they’re reaching the end of this sign, inclining us toward a culmination of these karmic lessons.  What is it we’re learning from all of this?”

And then I wondered, what did we learn from last August’s eclipse season?  I re-read my words from then too:  “Being reintroduced to a place that has been wounded and scarred by these traumas, and more, is a shaky process.  It is important to both have support from others and to understand the importance of each individual carrying out personal responsibility for making the world around them a safe and welcoming environment during the integration process and beyond.  Things can surface in this time that are difficult to deal with…painful to feel.  But we can’t ignore them…no, ignorance is what got us to this place to begin with.  We have to nurture what comes forth with love for our healing collective soul and forgiveness for past traumas it has endured.”

I will leave it there for now, because we are still at a point of processing.  Revelation is sure to come along with this Quickening Moon in full, and then we can hope to integrate what we are collectively learning.  The same is true on the personal scale.  What came up for you during this eclipse season is now approaching a period of illumination with this Full Moon in Virgo.

Moon in Virgo 12:  Initiation, Unveiled

This Full Moon is illuminating the symbol of “a bride with her veil snatched away”.  Visions of ‘unveiling’ resurface at this time…recalling what transpired when Mercury (conjunct Vesta) stationed retrograde in this degree last August.  Mysteries are revealed.  And all things that seek the security of secrecy may have the veil lifted from them as more things come to light for the sake of transparency in this next stage of our becoming.  Some form of ‘innocence lost’ is followed by “knowledge gained”.

Sun in Pisces 12:  Initiation, Examined

The Sun is illuminating the Sabian Symbol of “An examination of initiates”.  The symbol refers to those initiations into the Mysteries where our lives must be examined to reach new levels of access and participation.  The larger description of this symbol is ‘in the sanctuary of an occult brotherhood, newly initiated members are being examined and their character tested’.  So it is each of our own characters that are being tested now.  And in any situation where we find ourselves being tested, scrutinized, or judged…the best option is always to try to perform at our best.  The lesson illuminated here is to ‘prove yourself’ to yourself.

Neptune in Pisces 14:  Protection As We Shift Between Worlds

The Sabian Symbol for this degree is “a lady in fox fur”.  This symbol can be seen in many ways, and such is the nature of Neptune’s shapeshifting influence as the planet of Group Mystification.  The conjunction between Neptune here and the Sun in the ‘examination of initiates’ degree recalls Neptune’s extended stay on Pisces 12 in the final months of last year, when Neptune stationed direct in that degree…ushering in the “Me Too” movement that coincided with Jupiter’s ingress into Scorpio.  As I wrote about Neptune then, “Neptune’s lessons are often the kind that are shrouded behind some kind of veil, only to be revealed in stages of discovery after periods of being ‘in the dark’.  Initially confusing and disorienting, Neptune’s tests are meant to take us beyond what we know and into uncharted waters…it’s a process of gaining clarity in an unclear world”. 

'Fox Maiden' by Susan Seddon Boulet

In this image, the subject is a kitsune (a shapeshifting fox spirit)

Keeping with this revealing and unveiling theme, the ‘lady in fox fur’ likely has her own secrets to tell.  And in keeping with the other theme of past symbols resurfacing even while all planets are still direct, this is what I wrote about this Fox Lady degree when it applied to the Full Moon in September last year:  “At one moment, you may see the symbol as a socialite rubbing elbows with powerful personalities.  You may even immediately have a reaction to the excesses of luxury accumulated and flaunted at the expense of others’ lives.  At the next glance, you may witness the actual fox totem medicine she draws upon in order to move in unison with society, simply by shapeshifting how she appears.  After all, who’s to say she isn’t the self-reliant trapper herself, living a scaled-down life off the modern beaten path?  The symbol itself leaves the interpretation very open…and we all have our own unique first-glances of it based on our own experience.  My own personal experience of this energy has more to do with what fox medicine has taught me throughout my life, as it is a personal totem of mine.  Two years ago, I posted about Fox Medicine in this blog.  I encourage you to read that post for a deeper insight into what wisdom this creature teacher has for all of us to tap into through this lunar energy.  We’ve all heard tales of how swift and clever foxes are, but their adaptability and familial connections may also be of great importance to learn about for many of us who are currently navigating through various life changes or family crises. 

Not only does this symbol specifically bring up the fox totem, it also brings to our awareness how beneficial our own personal totem connections are right now.  Some of us have one totem that is very prevalent as an animal connection in our lives.  Others have multiple medicines from which they can draw upon.  Fostering stronger connections to all the many creature teachers in our lives provides us with the power to work with Mother Nature in ways that modern humans have tended to stray away from.”

Mercury-Venus-Chiron Stellium in Pisces Trine Jupiter in Scorpio:  Re-integration of Received Wisdom

Do you remember embarking on the ‘Mountain Pilgrimage’ during the mid-January New Moon in Capricorn?  So many cosmic archetypes convening at the summit to share their wisdom?  It was that first real rush of ‘All Planets Direct’ energy coupled with the first New Moon of the year…we were inspired to commence the climb. 

Of course, we had no idea what the journey would entail.  I mean, some of us knew the experience would include multiple lessons throughout, a seasonal celebration, and a stirring of the Eclipse Cauldron before we would journey back with our particular cupful of the elixir we could use to heal our society.  But not even an astrologer can know all the contents of such an experience ahead of time…we can only prepare ourselves for possibilities. 

At that time, we had Jupiter and Mars both supporting the climb from the Scorpio waters below…and additional support from Chiron in the vast ocean that is Pisces.  Jupiter was then in an opportunistic sextile to Pluto in Capricorn, but it was the Mars-Chiron trine that gave us the creative inspiration to initiate the healing process of the pilgrimage. 

Now, as we’re coming down from that heightened experience, Jupiter (still sextiling Pluto) is the one building a trine with Chiron (as Mars has already moved on to his Sagittarian Vision Quest).  And this time, not only is it Chiron in Pisces, but also Mercury and Venus are swimming in the Piscean sea with him.  Both of these inner planets will exact their trine with Jupiter surrounding this full moon (Venus the morning of the 1^st, Mercury the morning after)…flowing harmoniously with the social planet of expansion.  This is the energy of selflessly giving to our society (where it is needed most) our unique understanding of the wisdom received.  Re-integrating ourselves back into society (just as the Quickening Moon welcomes the return of Spring in the Northern Hemisphere), requires a symbiotic exchange of energy with the land and her people.  We have received new energy from the light beings of the Apus (mountains) not just for ourselves, but to better contribute our unique medicine to Pachamama and all life that calls her ‘Home’. 

Jupiter, only a week away from his retrograde that will end this two-month long sojourn of ‘All Planets Direct’, is slowing down in this degree for these coming expansions.  The Sabian Symbol where Jupiter is pausing to reflect just happens to be “after having heard an inspired individual deliver his ‘sermon on the mount’, crowds are returning home.”  This is a symbol of integrating these lessons and ‘peak experiences’ into our everyday reality and consciousness.  This can often be a challenge that follows spiritual transformation…and an inconjunct to Eris-Uranus does present this uneasiness along with the promise of growth.  As Dane Rudhyar explained about this degree, “The return home from the high mountain, or from any upper chamber of the consciousness, may lead to a sense of oppression by the normal realities of existence, or else the soul that has been illuminated may retain enough of that light to transfigure every daily situation.”

Mercury is also sextiling Pluto in Capricorn, giving us the opportunity to communicate the transformative wisdom we’ve learned, from the 23^rd degree of Pisces.  The symbol here is “a materializing medium giving a séance”.  Mercury in Pisces often communicates in symbolic and spiritual ways, and even more so in this degree.  Here, Mercury gathers the group and acts as medium for otherworldly messages.  This can take many forms:  poetry, music, or even feelings beyond words…but it can also take the form of getting spiritual advice from someone who communicates with energies beyond the veil, or being that medium for others.  The ‘materializing’ part of this symbol indicates that though the wisdom that is currently of value to our community is metaphysical in nature…we have an opportunity to translate it into this physical realm with our own unique gifts. 

Venus, who recently emerged as Evening Star, is in the 24^th degree of Pisces. Here she illuminates the symbol “an inhabited island”.  This is the place where we’re ‘returning home’, as she is now ascending back into our night sky.  The inhabited island symbol can be the return to the land on which we live, our own home and family, our body, even a return of pieces of our soul to re-integrate back into wholeness after a trauma.  It can be many things, but the message is to rediscover your center so that you can better take on your role in the larger interactions of human existence…small as the ‘island’ of human existence is in the whole of the universe.  Cohabitation works best when each inhabitant is contributing their unique talents in integral and constructive ways.  Just as within each of us, each part serves functions that keep the body going.  Venus asks us, “what value have you discovered in your own drop of this vast ocean?”

Chiron, the slowest-moving celestial body in this Pisces stellium, is in the 28^th degree of Pisces.  At the first new moon of the year, he was highlighting the symbol of “a new moon that divides its influence”.  At this full moon, his degree is “a fertile garden under a full moon”.  The eclipse season linked January’s Snow Moon with this Quickening Moon…giving us a couple months to really soak in this ‘Mountain Pilgrimage’.  Now we’re at an illuminating phase of this eclipse experience, and the ‘garden’ of our lives is blossoming from the seeds we planted earlier.  This is the gift within the wounds we discovered this eclipse season.  And as Mercury and Venus unite with Chiron in this degree on March 4^th, the Pisces Stellium peaks to inspire the world through the compassionate Healer/Teacher archetype.  This full moon prepares us for that energy…and Chiron asks, “By what example do you teach the world to heal?”

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi