FULL MOON IN VIRGO ~ GROUNDED DIVINITY
February 19, 2019: Full Moon at 0º Virgo ♍️
The sun has melted through the frozen clouds of Aquarius and we've now entered the shimmering waters of Pisces. This is our last stop in the current solar cycle before the Sun's rebirth in Aries at the Spring Equinox. While the sun floats in the vast eternal sea of Pisces, the moon walks through earthy Virgo.
Pisces represents the space beyond the mundane world--the place of spirit, of divine, the collective unconscious, the beginning and the end. It is the experience of formlessness, free of physical boundaries and constraints. For this reason it is also associated with ungrounded states of consciousness: fantasy, intoxication, deception, and even madness.
If experienced in a balanced and intentional way, Pisces is the connection to divine that supports and inspires us, inviting us to surrender to the pull of intuition, allowing faith and compassion to support us as we move through the uncertainty of life.
Whereas Pisces dwells in the immaterial, Virgo operates on terra firma. Ruled by Mercury, planet of the mind, communication, and commerce, Virgo applies intellect to organize and optimize on the level of tangible reality. Virgo is skilled at stewardship, planning and administering resources for daily functioning, with an eye toward healing and wellness of the body. As the scholar Virgo gathers and analyzes all the relevant facts and determines the correct answer, the right way to do things. As the priestess, Virgo uses her talent for practical magic to serve with devotion and integrity. The virgin archetype of Virgo is not truly about youthful purity; rather, it describes an individual who remains self-possessed and grounded in her own essential wholeness.
As with all full moons and planetary oppositions, the challenge is integration. At their highest expressions, Pisces and Virgo are linked by a shared orientation to service and ministry. Pisces serves the emotional and spiritual needs while Virgo cares for the physical. Taken together, Virgo has the skills to carry out the divinely inspired visions of Pisces. If we are floating too far away on a Pisces shadow of escapism, some Virgo grounding will bring us back to reality. Likewise, if we are caught up in Virgo’s shadow of perfectionism, analysis paralysis, and hyper-vigilance, some Piscean faith and surrender could help us relax and get into flow.
Today Mercury and Neptune are also joining forces in the realm of Pisces, opening us to divine messages and inspiration as well as the possibility of deception and confusion. Stay with the flow of the moment while calling on some Virgo discernment to evaluate and clarify what you are hearing, reading, thinking, and saying.
Another major development at this time is Chiron which has recently changed signs, entering Aries after an 8+ year journey in Pisces. Chiron will be transiting Aries from now until June 2026. We had a taste of Chiron in Aries between April and September 2018, before it turned retrograde for some final integration of our Pisces healing cycle. (Check the area of your chart where Pisces resides to gain more insight about the area of your life where Chiron has been active.)
Often referred to as the “wounded healer,” Chiron describes the holistic principle, and is thus aligned with the themes of Virgo. Whether we feel that some part of us is missing, fractured, or painfully wounded, Chiron is our guide to healing (being made whole). Chiron’s work is frequently accomplished via healing crisis, in which our wounds have been touched and our trauma is triggered so that we can see, process, and integrate it.
Those of us on the healing path know all too well that it’s not all "love and light" as all the new age memes would have us believe. There are moments when we find ourselves knee deep in the mud, or stranded alone in a deep, dark pit of despair. It can feel as though things are truly dire, that we are crazy or irreparably broken. We can be tempted to just give up, because it seems hopeless. But if we can stay present with ourselves in our process, seeking support from others as needed, the light of our consciousness can help us transform what we have found in the shadows. The trick is to bring loving acceptance, growing our capacity to hold all the different parts of us with the understanding that we are not defined by any one piece of the whole.
Chiron has also been known as the rainbow bridge, representing the expansive consciousness that links heaven and earth in a state of grounded divinity that brings the energies of Pisces and Virgo together.
Chiron’s transit through Pisces, which began on April 20, 2010, coincided with a time of spiritual healing and awakening. Many of us who had become alienated from the divine had experiences of transcendence and re-connection with Spirit and our inner divinity. Through these personal experiences we began to see past the illusion of separation to perceive the essential interconnection and unity of all that is.
Chiron in Pisces helped us to know ourselves as eternal, spiritual beings. Now Chiron in Aries is here to teach us about having that earthly experience as a unique individual expression of divinity in the container of a human body.
We are invited to turn our focus to healing issues of existence, identity, personhood, and belonging. To the extent that we are lacking in a strong sense of self, in which all parts of us are integrated and accepted into our self-concept, it is our work to seek ways that we can develop them in ourselves. It is also our work in the collective to cultivate the Cancer North Node energies of community and compassion, creating space to welcome all people in their full humanity, and opposing all systems and structures that dehumanize.
As you reflect on the last 8 years and move into this next phase of your healing journey, remember that you are now and always have been powerful and whole. If you are here on this planet, no matter who you are, what has happened to you, or what anyone might say, you are allowed to exist, to take up space, to breathe, to eat, to feel, to love and be loved. May you be welcomed as an honored guest.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
How has your healing journey progressed with Chiron in Pisces since 2010? Has your relationship to spirituality changed?
What parts of self do you identify with and which parts do you repress or deny? Why? When did you learn to do this?
Are you able to bring all of who you are into connection with others, or are you hiding, staying small, or trying to fit someone else’s mold?
How does your self-concept inform the way that you inhabit, care for, and steward your own body?