A Full Moon of Societal Transformation and Responsibility

The Virgo Full Moon that takes place on Tuesday morning, February 19th (afternoon in Europe and points east) is another very interesting configuration with some potent outer planet activity, especially in connection with personal planets, such as Mercury and Venus. This is indicative of the transformational times that we find ourselves embroiled in these days, at both societal and personal levels. Additionally, the Moon in the very first degree of Virgo opposes the Sun in the first degree of Pisces, fully emphasizing these contrasting signs. The Virgo-Pisces axis represents the spectrum of polarity that exists from the mundane, nitty-gritty details of every day material life, represented by Virgo, all the way to the outermost expanses of consciousness, trans-personal awareness and cosmic, immaterial beingness that is the province of the astrological sign of Pisces. As the culminating energies of the Full Moon occupy this axis, the invitation is that we seek to conceptualize how we might build better bridges for ourselves from the very substance of our experience in this physical world to our spiritual understanding of that vast and somewhat nebulous connection. How can we call in the vast wisdom of the cosmos while engaging in simple activities like making breakfast, driving to work, or tidying up? On a more collective front, we are faced with a much larger conundrum, of how do we, as a society, invite the wisdom of natural law and spiritual understanding into places within our societies that have become atrophied by greed, both personal and corporate, and political corruption, resulting in the many errors that we see all around us: over-consumption of resources, polluted oceans, plus the very real risk of unchecked global warming with the accompanying rise of sea levels that threaten to create millions of “environmental refuges.” On one level we feel powerless to do anything about these ills, and yet on another, as astrology can help to reveal, we are totally empowered to make a real difference.

And in fact, this is the message of the new planet, Eris – Feminine Warrior in support of soul intention – which in essence reminds us to take a principled position for what we most sincerely believe, no matter what. This action is one that we each can take, to articulate where we stand, and once you have done this you are then able to say that you have at least done your best to attempt to change things in the way that you uniquely believe is right.

The above characterization of Pisces applies as well to Neptune, its ruler. It is quite interesting to note that this profound Virgo-Pisces contrast also references that between the logical mind, represented by the ruler of Virgo, Mercury, and the right-brain gestalt understanding of Neptune and Pisces. And here we note that a rather amazing feature of this Full Moon is that Mercury and Neptune are precisely conjunct in Pisces, with less than one degree separating them. We are thus being cosmically encouraged to pay particular attention to the way that we might be able to move forward by combining linear and non-linear thinking. That we are at a crossroads in our social setting is evidenced by not only the divisive headlines, but also by the factor of the Jupiter-Saturn-Pluto interaction, that also includes Venus, that we can see in this Full Moon configuration. Presaging their triple conjunction in late 2020, in the current skies we find Jupiter and Saturn in parallel alignment with Pluto, while Venus, poised between Saturn and Pluto, and thus somewhat uniting them, conjuncts both planets fairly closely. This tight configuration serves to remind us that we are in the cross hairs of being targeting by the universe for massive change.

In addition to the current emphasis on Eris, in close square with the death and rebirthing action of Pluto, now and through 2020, there are also Haumea and Makemake to consider. These are earth-oriented planets (called “dwarf”) and are as well greatly emphasized in this Full Moon configuration, bringing the theme of earth consciousness and earth action fully into the picture in these intense days. There will be an increasing emphasis on climate change and other earth issues as these next two climactic years continue to unfold.

The Sabian Symbols for the first degrees of Virgo and Pisces are also revealing. For the Moon, in the beginning of Virgo, we have the symbol, “A human head,” with emphasis on thinking our way through this crisis. Marc Edmund Jones writes of “an effective self-assurance and an ever-clear vision of each opportunity in life.” For the first degree of Pisces, where the Sun in this Full Moon configuration resides, we find, “A public market.” This symbol reminds us that we are all in this together. Jones references “group integrity” and “consistent generosity toward the aims of others.” We might also be reminded of what Benjamin Franklin was inspired to remark, regarding the intentions of the founding fathers of this country to fight tyranny and to set their course in alignment with their deep-seated ideals. “We must all hang together now,” he said, “or we shall surely all hang separately.”

A Full Moon of Societal Transformation and Responsibility

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Chart for the Full Moon on February 19, 2019

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