Super Blue Moon in Pisces: Being Guided by Celestial Light
Full Moon in Pisces
August 30, 2023 - 6:35 pm PDT/9:35 pm EDT
I recently learned that it is believed that theoretically moths are attracted to lamps and flames because they evolved to let the moon and stars guide their night journeys. In essence, they have an instinctual celestial guidance system. I find that extraordinarily beautiful.
In 2018, I heard a lecture given by a fellow astrologer, Jason Holley, exploring astrological sect (traditionally the division of planetary archetypes into day, diurnal, and night, nocturnal). In this lecture, he spoke about the difference between day and night consciousness, and to this day it has profoundly influenced my work. I have imagined and reimagined the possibilities revealed within my chart from this perspective, let alone those of you who I am privileged to work with.
At its most basic it is the difference between our inner world and the outer world. Seemingly separate, they are inextricably intertwined. Our inner world, often hidden from view profoundly influences and shapes the ways we personally experience our day-to-day life.
The Sun and the Moon are known as the two lights. The Sun is the light of the day and conversely, the Moon is the light of the night. A Full Moon is a Moon that is illuminated by the Sun’s life-giving rays. Symbolically, our inner world, often our unseen world, is brought to light. From this perspective it is not surprising that Full Moons tend to bring our emotions to the surface.
This Full Moon, in Pisces, on August 30th is the only blue Moon of 2023 and an exceedingly rare super blue Moon. To give you an idea of how rare, the next super blue Moon takes place on January 31, 2037. That’s right, a full fourteen years from now.
And to add to the super emotive vibe it is a Full Moon during both a Venus and Mercury retrograde and the Moon is conjunct (right next to) Saturn.
I have nicknamed it the Alchemical Full Moon. In alchemy, the process began with Saturn (lead) and ended with the Sun (gold). So you might find what weighs upon you (Saturn) becoming a big louder over the course of this week, let alone during the Full Moon, which is potentially going to bring all of our emotions, and our tenderness to the surface.
Saturn is indeed a rigorous taskmaster. He desires nothing more than the mastery of ourselves. He too lies within the Sun’s gravitational field and just like the caterpillar instinctively yearns toward his transformation into a butterfly When touched by the Sun, Saturn within our charts, in transit and most certainly in conjunction with this Full Moon, is being illuminated by its life-giving rays.
Often when the Sun is opposite Saturn, which extends beyond the actual moment of the Full Moon, we find ourselves bumping up against our own control issues.
This split of consciousness into an interior and exterior existence is also related to the Moon and Saturn. The Moon and Saturn create another relational archetype which is divided into sexual roles: Moon as mother (interior experience), Saturn as father (exterior experience) is the most common one. Basically, it is about how me in here relates to you out there, the separate being.
So how do we meet this moment? How do we flow with the current of the energy, and thus work with the energy that is active within ourselves and the world around us?
We turn to our inner world and let it guide our journey.
Moths evolved long before butterflies; moth fossils have been found that may be 190 million years old. This symbolically mirrors our relationship to both our inner and outer worlds. Our inner experience not only proceeds but also shapes our experience of life. It gives it form. As Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Consider: How do you parent yourself? How do you parent your dreams? Do you nourish yourself, and your dreams by showering them with love and compassion? Or do you starve and shame them? Do you swallow them, denying them the experience of life?
At its best Virgo, where the Sun currently is transiting, is about bringing order to chaos, about consciously choosing. Used well it helps us focus and direct our energy. Virgo is about being willing to do the work necessary to bring our creations into being. It is the vessel.
For Pisces, where the Moon and Saturn are during this Full Moon, on the other hand, it is easy (natural) to experience the all. Boundless, it senses everything. It is full of compassion and creativity and yearns for the connection with everything it senses. And it can get lost in all that boundless possibility experiencing disillusionment not quite knowing how to connect this vision to everyday reality and feeling overwhelmed as a result.
It needs the polarity of Virgo to bring all this boundlessness into being. Pisces needs focus, Virgo needs inspiration and compassion, and together they feed each other. Virgo is the vessel that is the receptacle of the universe’s (Pisces) boundless creative energy so that it can be contained and focused. Without the compassion and vision of Pisces the vessel is empty.
This week is also the last week of the Venus retrograde in Leo, it goes direct on the 3rd of September. Contemplate what has been going on in your life since the 22nd of July. In particular, where have issues of self-worth, relationships, or finances arisen? It is a good moment to reflect on what has arisen within your life during this period. We consciously align with the flow of the energy when we bring our attention to it. Everything is indeed connected.
One of the meanings of the word reflect is to give back. Our outer experience of the universe mirrors our inner experience. This is not about being a “good person.” A mirror doesn’t care whether you are subjectively good or bad. It simply reflects what is in front of it. The universe radiates love whether we are open to receiving it or not. Our judgments about it are ours alone. This Full Moon illuminates this as well.
While this just scratches the surface, here is one of the more powerful ways that you can use to look at this polarity: Wherever Virgo/Pisces lies in your chart you are being asked to consciously look at what you are devoted to and then to focus how you demonstrate that in the actual nuts and bolts of everyday life. In other words, how do you make your visions a reality?
Both moths and butterflies are believed to have co-evolved with flowering plants, mainly because most modern species feed on flowering plants. Like their sister species, moths are pollinators.
Our inner world and our relationship to it pollinates our life. When we tend to it we bloom and share the fruit of that blooming nourishing both ourselves and the world around us. We are able to contain (Virgo) We learn to act with the world because we understand that the world is our teacher. We no longer set ourselves outside of it, or against it. We are at one with it.
