An Intuitive, Surprising, and Demanding Pisces Full Moon

The Full Moon in Pisces takes place early on Saturday September 10, at 2:59 am Pacific Time. Occupying 17º Pisces, this Full Moon lunation shows us the numinous themes of this mutable water sign as highlighted. Pisces brings with it a palpable but simultaneously intangible connection to the unseen and otherworldly, stirring our imagination, intuitive awareness and subconscious mind. With a nod from Uranus, as well as Saturn, both aspected by the Sun and Moon in opposition, and with Mercury just stationed retrograde, we may be informed by new revelations, surprise plot twists, and the limitation of the known and familiar acting to counter these influences. We also see a dramatic presence of devotee-asteroid Juno, as well as Nessus, centaur of the shadow realms, located quite close to the Moon’s position in Pisces, and these factors may additionally open a doorway to deep spiritual reflection. Let’s get further into the details.
 
The most prominent major aspect of this Full Moon is the position of Uranus – aligned with the North Node – in a sextile to the Moon’s position in Pisces and a trine to the Sun in Virgo. We also find Saturn in close square to Uranus, an aspect growing closer through this fall timeframe. While Uranus’ presence always inclines us to look for sudden events and surprises, his being aspected in this way by the Moon can bring more of a subtle quality to his electrifying influence. This could appear as messages coming to us in our dreams, or solutions to tricky problems suddenly arising; seemingly out of the nowhere. You will want to look for new awareness, especially in the sector of your chart occupied by Pisces – and to try to mine that area of life for newfound understanding.
 
Zooming out a bit from this Full Moon and looking at the time period from now until the year’s end, we find Uranus in Taurus coming back into its previously quite active square with Saturn in Aquarius. This echoes the turbulence that we saw in the first half of last year, and at the beginning of this one. What might eventually come to pass during this aspect’s influence is revolutionary and far-reaching in its impact. Personally we can look for big changes in our material world and embodiment (Uranus in Taurus), and an invitation to greater responsibility and boundaries in our relationship to humanity as a whole, as well as our technology (Saturn in Aquarius.) We also are called by this square into the rather uncomfortable territory of the tension that lies between our deep-seated urges for breaking through to freedom versus the primal instinct to hunker down, stay safe, and remain in the bounds of what is known and familiar.
 
Mercury is also newly in retrograde, having stationed just the day prior to the Full Moon. Mercury begins its backwards traverse in Libra and enters backward into Virgo, with its station direct on October 2nd. This can be extended by two weeks while Mercury recovers from its retrograde shadow, and the entire time period signals the usual challenges that suddenly emerge with Mercury-ruled activities like communication, short travels, logistics, and technology. With Libra and Virgo highlighted we may see an emphasis on relational conflict, repair, and renegotiation. This timing may also demand more of our attention toward discernment, practicality, and common sense. We will likely be keeping a critical eye in all of our dealings. It is also interesting to note that Mercury’s degree in this Full Moon conjuncts Makemake, symbolic of the power of nature, earth connection, and environmental activism. Makemake has been active in recent lunations, and there has been considerable movement on climate change. Over the course of this retrograde, we are likely to see a further increased presence of events and energy swirling around that topic.
 
Lastly, I’d like to note the presence of the asteroid Juno as well as the centaur Nessus in this Full Moon, lying as they do in close proximity to the Moon’s placement in Pisces. Juno, the mythological wife of Zeus, represents deep commitment and devotion to that which we are “married” to on a soul level. Nessus is symbolic of the most “shadowed” aspect of human nature – corners of violence and atrocity buried deep within us all that elicit intense emotional responses. These two archetypes highlighted in Pisces may tend to bring to light some harsh truths within ourselves and our world that might be challenging. It is difficult to be present with these strange matters although perhaps necessary for greater psychological integration. Perhaps the invitation here is to be as present as you can with these strange internal guests, and to be continuously mindful in respecting the boundaries of your own emotional and mental wellbeing. There is also concealed within this Full Moon configuration an urge for taking the truly deep dive into shadow work, so that if you are familiar with that territory, or feeling strongly called to it, this might be a good time for such endeavors. In any case, what may emerge naturally from this Full Moon time is a deeper clarification and felt sense of who and what each of us feel profoundly committed to.
 
With the illumination of this Pisces Full Moon, we could find ourselves confronted by the challenges of our world, yet simultaneously supported by the spiritual, unseen, and divine presences that are also available to us in plentiful measure when we remind ourselves to stay open to them. We are encouraged now to slow down, reflect, and to seek out and offer up support where we can. We’re all in this together, and each of us holds the key to a unique and important aspect of the whole. May we remember the beauty and sacredness as our touchstone, as we face the very real challenges of our time.