I was having trouble getting a clear read on Saturday morning’s Virgo Full Moon opposite the Pisces Sun, until it occurred to me: it looks kind of like a scene in a movie when one character sings a beautifully heartfelt, sentimental love song to their crush — not knowing they used to work as a music critic for a major newspaper — and then the crush picks it apart and gives “helpful” tips on how to make it better.
Or it could be like when you over-empathize with some problem a friend is having, to the point that they feel compelled to help you sort through and analyze all the squishy emotions you’re feeling on their behalf (and they’re happy to help, but also a little confused as to why you’re just so sensitive to their dilemma).
In other words, there’s a meeting of seeming opposites — but they’re the type of opposites who actually have a lot in common. It’s just that the commonalities get expressed so differently, it can be easy to miss the ways they could be harnessed for mutual benefit. With this sort of misunderstanding or misdirected intentions, conflict can ensue. That can feel frustrating or painful.
Negotiating this kind of confrontation or meeting asks us to notice what’s being reflected back to us, and then to reflect on it ourselves. Are we really communicating as directly as we could be, and are we listening as sensitively as we could be? If you think about how you’re feeling in response to someone else, is there a discrepancy between your needs/desires/expectations and what’s being offered to you?
Flanking the Sun in early Pisces is Mercury to one side (describing a poetic, impressionistic communication style) and Saturn to the other side (describing possible inhibitions around expressing emotions). Both describe the potential for the energy of the Sun — representing whatever you are trying to shine out to others — to come out in a way that’s a little diffuse or indirect. Like hinting at something with your tone of voice instead of saying the actual words.
Exactly conjunct the Sun in this chart is a minor planet called Gonggong, named after a Chinese water deity associated with flooding, chaos, and knocking the Earth into its current, tilted axis. I’ve seen some astrologers delineate Gonggong as being about positive forms of compassion and sensitivity, as well as the potential for unconstructive oversensitivity.
In a sign like Pisces, during a Full Moon, that could feel pervasively messy emotionally. Or, it could describe the creative and compassionate tsunami needed to lift the boat of your soul above any nitpickers you face (including and especially the voice of your own inner critic).
Luckily there’s some assistance from other parts of the zodiac. Hanging out in early Sagittarius, square the Sun and Moon, is the asteroid Pallas, which relates to strategy and problem solving. Squares describe inner tension and feeling energized to take action.
Pallas in Sadge represents a lever you can pull to lift yourself out of any “squishy versus picky” stalemate you might find yourself in. It’s a big-picture, philosophical or spiritual perspective that can act like a compass needle.
What does the situation look like if you imagine you have a bird’s eye view of things instead of staring it all in the face? What would serve the highest good of all concerned, even if it’s uncomfortable? Where do you see the opportunity to step forward without stepping on toes — while still being completely honest with yourself and those you’re dealing with?
There’s also some help coming from the asteroid Ceres in Capricorn, which is aligned precisely and harmoniously with the Sun and Moon. I see a suggestion here that the more practical or structured a form of assistance is, the more useful and nourishing it will be. Give your emotions something to do, a tangible outlet — like preparing literal food for someone. Impulses to correct or critique could be channeled into helping to set organized goals that nurture and direct creativity, rather than cut it off at the knees.
Circling back to Gonggong for a moment: planet Earth’s actual, astronomical tilted axis contributes to our experience of the seasons in a way that feels balanced — though that balance is being threatened by climate change. (Ceres might argue the seasons were her doing thanks to a compromise with Pluto to share her daughter, not the results of a water-dragon deity during a big fight, but no matter.) Metaphorically speaking, however, so much in our world feels thrown off-axis, it can be hard to know where to start.
Maybe this Virgo Full Moon, which is exact at 7:30 am EST on Feb. 24, is actually offering another type of reflection: one where we can better see how to harness all of our compassion, creative visioning and critical thinking, powers of analysis, service, psychic and spiritual sensitivity, attention to detail, big-picture problem-solving and wisdom, and hands-on nurturing and ability to receive nourishment, and bring it all to meet the ways this world needs us.
With love,
Amanda
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