I'm just returning from a Spiritual
Sabbatical at this Harvest Moon in Pisces. My retreat lasted for a
week and was so richly steeped in symbolism that I hardly know where
I should begin.
First, let's take a look at this Full
Moon in Pisces.
Full Moon in Pisces 9:39 PM 16 19
Pisces/Virgo
Sabian
for 17 Pisces: An Easter promenade
Sabian
for 17 Virgo: A volcano in eruption
My husband and I are very attractive to
children. This is fairly well known within our circles of friends and
family. What I mean by “attractive to children” is when we are
around, kids (particularly young fatherless boys) follow us as if we
were Momma and Poppa Duck and they are our ducklings. I can see the
reasoning for this in both our individual and collective astrology.
Yet, it never ceases to amaze me how regularly this plays out.
Children often speak without
inhibition. They are more likely to follow their true instincts
without giving it a second judgmental thought. And, if you pay
attention, the Universe speaks through them in amazing ways
sometimes.
Last week, I was outside in my backyard
contemplating this upcoming Full Moon. As I was throwing the planets
around in my head, our neighbor's two young grandsons came over for a
visit. This is not rare. Our neighbor's grandsons know who we are and
typically, our house is the first place they come when they are in
for a visit. As a matter of fact, we've been told that they get just
as excited to get to come visit with us as they do their
grandparents.
On this day, though, our two little
visitors came bearing gifts. The youngest of the two boys is four
years old. He proudly walked up to me and handed me a very large fat
reddish caterpillar. Now, I've raised 2 boys and I have 2 young
grandsons of my own. Do not think for a moment that I'm unaccustomed
to gifts of the squirmy nature. As a matter of fact, my Venus in
Virgo delights in them to some extent.
The only problem with this gift is it
came with a question. Josiah asked, “Joweeeeena (that's how he says
my name), what kind of butterfly will this grow up to be?”
Well, I didn't know. So, we decided to
research together and find out. In the meantime, I showed him a safe
place where we could put the caterpillar and allow it to cocoon.
I also thought Josiah's gift was
ridiculously appropriate since I had referred to my sabbatical as a
time for cocooning.
After a bit of research, Josiah and I
discovered that this caterpillar would not grow up to be a butterfly.
Instead, it would grow up to be a Luna
Moth. What a ridiculously appropriate symbol for an upcoming Full
Moon in Pisces!
In our research, we discovered that
Luna caterpillars squirm and worm around getting big and fat from
Spring until Fall. In the Fall they cocoon until the next spring when
they will emerge with their gorgeous green wings. Apparently, the
moths are a rare find as they typically dwell in the forests and
mainly only fly around at night. I didn't know this. I happen to see
Luna moths quite frequently and was a bit surprised to learn that
many report their sightings as rare.
After the Luna Moth emerges from the
cocoon, it only lives for a very short time. It does not eat because
it has no mouth. It's sole purpose as a fully grown moth is to find a
mate and reproduce. Then, in a fading glimmer, the Moths die and a
new generation of fat squirmy caterpillars emerge in a continual
cycle.
On a basic level, the Luna Moth's life
cycle speaks volumes. They spend a very long time (in comparison to
the length of their entire life cycle), as a fat squiggly worm in
preparation to find love. Then, in a final glorious burst, they
emerge from a cocoon in search of another moth to love. They have ONE
chance and it passes quickly!
On a deeper symbolic level, while moths
are similar to butterflies in symbolism, moths have some
characteristics that reach even more deeply than that of the
butterfly (intuition, psychic gifts and breakthroughs). However, each
(Butterfly and Moth) have been associated with themes of
transformation, death, rebirth and the myth of Psyche and Eros.
To be brief, Psyche was in love with
Eros (the son of Aphrodite). Aphrodite challenged Psyche to overcome
four obstacles in order to have permission to love her son. Psyche
successfully navigated these challenges. Then, Psyche was given the
gift of immortality by Zeus and allowed to rejoin Eros.
With that symbolism in mind, let us now
look at our Full Moon. First, Psyche and Eros are located at 9
degrees (retrograde) of Aquarius and 0 degrees Capricorn
respectively. The Sabians for their placement are:
For Psyche at 9 Aquarius:
A flag turned into an Eagle. Bovee's description of this Sabian
relates quite nicely to the sabian for the Moon in Pisces (see
above). Both symbolize a possible emotional eruption of sorts each
with a different stimulus and purpose.
For Eros at 1 Capricorn: An Indian Chief demands recognition
Bovee states: Power shifts can happen in many ways, but always involve a sensibility that determines much about the shifting. One is perhaps a little cool and ruthless… this is the way it is going to be. The other, perhaps a little naively romantic… reach for the dream, grasp the vision.
However, as Venus moves in more tight opposition to Neptune, Eros moves toward Capricorn 2:
Three stained glass windows one damaged by bombardment. Bovee says, “In Capricorn 2, we find a situation of bombardment such that one of three stained glass windows is damaged. Think of it this way: one stained glass window is broken allowing pure un-filtered light in; or, the destructive attempt to raze all three stained glass windows is futile... sacred space cannot be destroyed.”
Bovee states: Power shifts can happen in many ways, but always involve a sensibility that determines much about the shifting. One is perhaps a little cool and ruthless… this is the way it is going to be. The other, perhaps a little naively romantic… reach for the dream, grasp the vision.
However, as Venus moves in more tight opposition to Neptune, Eros moves toward Capricorn 2:
Three stained glass windows one damaged by bombardment. Bovee says, “In Capricorn 2, we find a situation of bombardment such that one of three stained glass windows is damaged. Think of it this way: one stained glass window is broken allowing pure un-filtered light in; or, the destructive attempt to raze all three stained glass windows is futile... sacred space cannot be destroyed.”
Next, I'll remind you that Aphrodite, a
Venus archetype, was born of the sea and at this Full Moon, Venus is
in waxing opposition to Neptune Rx (Sacred space and unfiltered
light). Also, we've just spent a week with the Sun in trine to Pluto
and waxing opposition to Chiron in Pisces. If that doesn't sound like
an opportunity to retreat to the underworld in an effort to heal
one's soul, I don't know what does. Look around you, seen many people
walking through a personal “dark night of the soul” journey? The
energy has been present for that. It was a wonderful week for
cocooning.
But, how do we emerge from our sojourn?
What is it that we should be seeking? Well, according to our fair
Luna Moth, love should be at forefront. With Venus in practical and
sometimes critical Virgo opposing Neptune Rx, expect issues
surrounding love and money/value/worth to get real.
For one thing, I don't believe that all
of us are incarnated on Earth for the purpose of learning about
ethereal and unconditional love. Some of us may be (looks at our
North Nodes in Pisces). But, for the most part, we are here to learn
how to build relationships with others in a world where unconditional
love does not readily exist.
In Soul form, we already know what
unconditional love looks and feels like. Why would we need to come to
Earth and learn that? What we need to learn is how to get along
without that in place. We are to learn compromise, boundaries,
acceptance, tolerance, team work, effective communication and
interdependence. With unconditional Soul level love in place, we
don't need these talents.
On the Earthly plane, relationships
become more difficult. Earth relationships are dependent upon many
factors that can be ridiculously hard to navigate. And, finding two
people who are willing to commit to one another and work through
problems as they arise in an effort to sustain a healthy and
productive relationship is rare. Finding a person with whom you can
do this is just as uncommon as a Luna Moth sighting. Relationships
are hard work. That work comes with a continual set of choices
brought to all parties within a relationship. In a successful
relationship each partner must CHOOSE to hang in a do the work even
when “love” is not the sparkly ethereal thing our Soul's
continually remember and yearn for.
Also, on Earth, just because we love
someone that doesn't mean we are able to foster a healthy
relationship with them. Sometimes, we are tasked to sit in loneliness
while in love because our loved one is inaccessible or toxic to us.
These scenarios offer up a totally different set of lessons in regard
to love. Love can be a continual process of letting go and release in
these instances. As my good friend Cat puts it, “To
love is to grieve.”
What the Luna Moth reminds us of is the
fact that finding love and fostering interdependent relationships is
worth it. Our lifetimes on this planet are short. These lifetimes
spent without love or relationship lack in value and depth. We learn
from, assist and need one another...obviously, or we would each be on
our own little individual planets and the ability to procreate
asexually. You know?
With Neptune Rx, veils are certainly
dropping and Venus in Virgo is running around trying to make sense of
it all while realizing the impracticality embedded in many of our
relationships. She will soon trine Pluto in Capricorn and sextile
Saturn in Scorpio while creating a Yod with Uranus in Aries and
Saturn in Scorpio. This will give her a chance to fortify her values
and see how healing and personal freedom work hand in hand to bring
us more close to the practical Earthy sense of love.
Get the whole “soul mate” thing out
of your head. Seriously. You are never going to find someone that
fits your “ideal” 100% and NO relationship is going to fall
together without mutual work, commitment, trust, the ability and
willingness to forgive and self-acceptance/awareness on BOTH SIDES. I
don't care how ethereal your love for another person feels.
Eventually, you are going to have to learn to talk to one another and
work through difficult and sometimes emotional situations. This is
real life here.
However, once you realize this, believe
it or not, relationships become a bit easier. We don't feel as if
we've failed because everything didn't fall divinely in place like we
wanted. We realize that fostering relationships takes effort whether
those relationships be with ourselves, our children, our parents, our
co-workers or the dude at the checkout counter at Kroger.
With this realization, we stop waiting
for everything to magically fall into place and start laying the
ground work to put it deliberately in place which is exactly what the
Luna Moth discovers as it emerges from its cocoon.
One question that this Full Moon begs
of you is “Are you ready?” Are you ready to emerge from your
cocoon and attempt to begin to foster working relationships in the
world around you? If so, great! Welcome to the Party! Our inconjunct
from Pluto to Jupiter at this full Moon says, the reformation (Pluto)
begins with the wisdom (Jupiter) within you (Leo).
Be sure to check back for more on the Pisces Full Moon and find out what we received as a second gift.
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