The Full Moon occurs at 12:56 (BST) on August 26, 2018 at 03°Pi12′.
The tide is beginning to turn. After an eventful eclipse season and a swathe of retrogrades, this lunation attempts to bring us to a peaceful spot. It’s the calm after the storm.
The Moon is in fluid Pisces in the global 12th house of the chart. This is the place of rest and retreat, solitude, silence. It’s also the place of wide open spaces – those kinds of places that are so far from civilisation you can hear a pin drop. It’s the place we’re often searching for in our frantic, work obsessed world. I get an image of an old-fashioned office (Virgo), with typewriters clattering and the steady hum of voices (Virgo is ruled by Mercury). Maybe you already know what it’s like when you have a big project, but your colleague insists on telling you every detail of their weekend shenanigans. Sometimes, we just want to escape to get some peace.
So Luna is floating gently on her back but as she opposes the Virgo Sun, she feels a little guilty. Perhaps you too find it hard to step away from your desk because your to-do list is piled high. Maybe you feel better when you’re doing something to help. The Moon is sesquiquadrate Venus, so you might even think that others won’t like you if you take time out. But still the Moon whispers, I need some time to drift and dream.
Thankfully the Moon herself is well supported. We have a Grand Earth Trine pattern at work between the Sun, Saturn and Uranus. I talked in depth about this Grand Trine over on my Patreon page but in brief, the Sun illuminates the potential now for slow (Saturn) progress (Uranus). This Saturn-Uranus trine is a replay from last year only now it takes place in Earth signs rather than Fire. Inspiration is now being given form. Although the aspect won’t become exact again, it’s very close – close enough to draw strength from it. We’re all being given an opportunity to work on (Saturn) the changes (Uranus) we’d like to implement. We have the potential to blend together the old and the new. Combining this Grand Trine with the Moon-Sun opposition, we get an aspect pattern called a Kite – so this chart symbolises the ability to rise above it all. Transcend.
Under a Pisces Moon, we’re encouraged to surrender – but not give up! This isn’t about defeat or weakness or apathy. This is about knowing when you need to take a break to reconnect with yourself. We push so much away into the storehouse of our unconscious. We sleep, we dream. And half the time we consign those long night -time conversations with ourselves to the lost sock cupboard, never to be seen again.
But now the cosmos is asking us to remember.
The Full Moon is a time of culmination as well as reflection. It’s about getting underneath the wants of the ego and uncovering the needs of the inner child. Perhaps we all feel a little more sensitive during this time but that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with getting emotional or shedding a quiet tear. Every salty tear cried eventually ends up back in the ocean, returned home to become a sparkling droplet thrown from the tail slap of a whale.
The Moon’s sextile to Saturn suggests that we can drop anchor here for a while. It’s just enough time to reconnect with our soul. We have an opportunity to create something tangible from our dreams. The Moon’s sextile to Uranus invites new perspectives. The more comfortable we are being alone with ourselves, the easier it is to receive flashes of cosmic knowing.
With Venus perfecting a square on the same day as the Full Moon and Mars stationing direct the following day, it’s not as if all tension and challenges have disappeared. Invariably there is always ‘stuff’ to deal with. Right now, with Venus square to Pluto, it’s shadow stuff about whether we’re loveable, whether we’re valuable, worthy. As the Moon semi-squares Pluto, it’s the moments we meet the undertow in our subconscious when we get pulled down by surges of envy or jealously. The Sun too is conjunct asteroid Lilith so we’re aware that the world we’re living in is anything but paradise. There’s so much that needs to be set right. But Moon ruler Neptune is trine to faithful Jupiter. It gently asks us to believe. The trouble is that Mercury is also quincunx to Neptune so somehow we need to reconcile logic with magic.
The Sabian symbol of the Full Moon is :-
Heavy Car Traffic On A Narrow Isthmus Linking Two Seashore Resorts
Deep down, we’re all trying to get somewhere. We’re all trying to find our own place of peace. The difficulty comes when we think there’s only one way to get there or that only one place will suffice. That’s when we end up feeling squeezed and wrung out. Take your time. Go with the flow. Let the tide lead you to where you need to be. Remember the Gods have a higher perspective. The more you surrender, the higher you fly.
Painting – ‘Sailboat at Le Petit-Gennevilliers’ by Claude Monet
