Pisces full moon

Planetary news this week: Virgo season, Pisces Full Moon, much more!

Astrological update for the week of August 21-18, 2023

There’s a lot to unpack this week! Grab a coffee or cup of tea and let’s get cracking.

Sun enters Virgo August 23. The Sun’s entry into Virgo technically marks the beginning of Virgo season, but with Mercury and Mars already in Virgo the focus on order and the world of the mundane is already well underway. The shift from Leo to Virgo will help to soothe some of the fiery energies that have been flying around lately – the only planet left in fire will be Venus in Leo. Since Venus is retrograde, though, some of that fire will be muted as Venus looks back to the past in order to revise and recreate our values and passions. In Virgo season (in the northern hemisphere) the days may begin to cool somewhat, symbolizing the passage from the heat of Leo to the cool deliberation of Virgo.

Mercury turns retrograde August 23. Speaking of Virgo, Mercury has been in Virgo since July 28 and thanks to the retrograde cycle it will remain in Virgo until October 4. Virgo is one of the signs ruled by Mercury meaning it is at home in Virgo where our mental data processing can be done purposefully and efficiently.  Mercury is an air planet but is quite at home in Virgo, an earth sign, where our ideas have a practical application. With Mercury in Virgo the flood of ideas and chatter that we sometimes see with Mercury in Gemini can be assembled into a cohesive picture in the pursuit of perfection.

By now most people know that when Mercury is retrograde communication and information processing becomes more important. Mercury is at its closest point to Earth […]

Share this article...
By |2023-08-21T10:27:33-04:00August 21st, 2023|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
Read More

Astrological update for the week of September 20, 2021: Full Moon, Equinox portal!

art by Lisa Hunt

There’s a lot of astrological juice in the skies this week, which means quite a few potent energies swirling around to affect us in a variety of ways. Emotions could be extreme under the Full Moon, and the portal point of the September Equinox will open up doorways of change.  Be ready!  We are heading into Deep Retrograde season with Mercury’s retrograde turn next week, and some potent challenges from Mars which will keep things lively.  😃

Monday September 20.   The Pisces Full Moon culminates on Monday just before midnight EDT/Tuesday 4 am UTC, and is packed with generally positive forces for awakening and illumination. (You can read all the details of the Full Moon here.)  The Moon conjoins Neptune before noon on Monday EDT/4 pm UTC, paving the way for the Piscean burst of spectral magic which can cause a lack of clarity as we make our way through the mundane details of our daily life to reawaken the spark of divine inspiration. 

A harmonious trine from Mercury to Jupiter, Pisces’ modern ruler, culminates at 10:52 pm EDT just before the Full Moon.  This is a beautiful gift of hope and optimism to pave the way for the Full Moon shower of grace.

Tuesday September 21.  The Moon enters Aries just after 3 am EDT/7 am UTC and begins to translate a challenging opposition between Mars and Chiron that is just beginning to form.  Mars is in Libra where we can find it difficult to express ourselves clearly, and Chiron is in Aries and has been since 2018 – calling out areas of our self-expression which have been wounded and […]

Share this article...
By |2021-09-20T08:07:44-04:00September 20th, 2021|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
Read More

The meaning of the pre-Equinox Pisces Full Moon

artist unknown

by Lynn Hayes.  At the Pisces Full Moon the Pisces Moon is opposite the Virgo Sun, requiring us to bring into balance the polarity of these  two opposing astrological signs. Pisces, as Virgo’s opposite, lives in the realm of Spirit and ideals rather than the mundane. Where Virgo is concerned with worldly matters required by humans who live in a physical world, Pisces opens the door to the realms that lie within and beyond the soul and psyche. Where Virgo is practical and teaches us to create order, Pisces longs to transcend reality and ascend into more soulful experiences. Neither is better than the other – the mysticism of Pisces can bring delusion and illusion, and the organization skill of Virgo can lead to a limited perspective where the view of the trees obscures our ability to see the forest.

Under any opposition we must learn to create balance and integration between the polarity of two opposing signs, and this is also true at the Full Moon.  The Pisces Full Moon is all about connecting to Spirit, to the Divine within us, to our imagination and a sense of magic.  However, when the Moon is full in Pisces it opposes the Sun in practical Virgo so there is a necessity to balance that dreaminess with a firm footing in the material world.

click to enlarge

The Full Moon is the peak of the waxing phase of the lunar cycle and begins the waning phase of completion, so this is a time of culmination of the dreams and ideals (Pisces) so that we can harvest the seeds that we have sown. Mercury, ruler of the Virgo Sun, is stationary in […]

Share this article...
By |2021-09-19T11:10:40-04:00September 19th, 2021|Uncategorized|2 Comments
Read More

Astrological update for the week of September 13-20, 2021: Full Moon Rising

art from Astrosignum

Retrograde update:  We currently have five planets (including Chiron) in retrograde motion: Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, and Chiron.  Mercury, in preparation for its retrograde turn on September 27th, has slowed down and we are in the “shadow phase” of the Mercury retrograde cycle, where communication becomes more personal and therefore more important.  Mercury is retrograde when it is closest to Earth, and its influence becomes more critical.  Once Mercury is retrograde there will be seven planets retrograde for a short time, the peak of the 2021 retrograde season.  During these periods our world seems to be at a standstill, making it difficult sometimes to make new plans until the old situations are resolved.

Full Moon on Monday September 20:  The energies will begin building this week for next Monday’s Pisces Full Moon which follows last week’s Virgo New Moon, taking us from the details of life which is Virgo’s domain into the Piscean realm of fantasy and spiritual transcendence.  I’ll be writing more about this later in the week so stay tuned.  Full Moons are times of potential peak experiences, and in Pisces there are opportunities for moments of intuitive breakthrough and surges of creativity.  Not, however, the best times for dealing with important details especially with Mercury preparing to retrograde so just use the best common sense you can muster in those situations.

And now, the week ahead… (dates and times are given in EDT and UTC, please adjust for your own locality)

Monday, September 13.  We begin the week with the Moon in Sagittarius, and around 10:30 am EDT/2:30 pm UTC it makes a pleasant sextile to Mercury, helping to instill positive thoughts and optimistic viewpoints.  The Moon is active all afternoon, forging […]

Share this article...
By |2021-09-13T21:18:08-04:00September 13th, 2021|Planetary news this week|0 Comments
Read More

The refreshing mysteries of the Pisces Full Moon

This Full Moon in Pisces is a watery pool of magic!  In Pisces we see through the heart and the soul, using our amazing creative intelligence to unwrap gifts of consciousness from the Universal Mind. However, with the Pisces Moon opposite the Virgo Sun we may lose sight momentarily of the worldly details (Virgo) that keep us rooted on Planet Earth.  Pisces is a sign of magic and imagination, as well as mysticism and spirituality.  Under its influence we seek to merge into a feeling of bliss and unity with the One, but it can also be somewhat destabilizing in its watery call to realms unknown.  However, there is a great deal of Earth energy in the skies right now, with three planets in Capricorn and the Virgo Sun providing a balance point to help ground the Piscean mysticism into a mundane form to which we can more easily relate.

Embedded in the chart of the Full Moon is a harmonious trine from Uranus, planet of innovation and change, to the Sun (and a sextile to the Moon.  This Uranian aspect helps to break up a little of the earthy practicality and offers a taste of liberation and an opportunity for a paradigm shift. A trine from Mercury to Saturn offers even greater stability and diligent patience to assist in crystallizing the Piscean experience into something we can make practical use of.

We do have some pote