4:34 pm  AHST  09/17/2024
   7:34 pm    PDT  09/17/2024
  10:34 pm    EDT  09/17/2024
   5:34 am    BST  09/18/2024

This Full Moon is a Super Moon, meaning it is the closest it gets in its orbit around the Earth, and at the same time it’s dipping into a zone that causes the Earth’s shadow to fall on the surface of the Moon, called a lunar eclipse. This is also the Harvest Moon, the Full Moon that falls nearest to the Equinox. The Harvest Moon is special in that it rises at sunset at nearly the same time for a few nights around the Equinox, thus giving farmers more evening light to harvest their crops.

Always at this time of year we are given to pause and reflect at the Pisces Full Moon, opposite the analytical Virgo Sun, what it is we are bringing to harvest, what is coming into fruition. However, this year, with Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, only three degrees away from this Moon in Pisces, we have a Super Pisces Lunar Eclipse Full Moon! The possibilities for visioning are strong on this day, and as a chart also for the next two weeks, to prepare us for the New Moon Solar Eclipse on October 2nd.

When I look at this chart, I can see that there are many opposing or paradoxical forces at work, other than just the Sun opposite the Moon (the definition of a Full Moon). I would say that this Full Moon chart depicts a very powerful doorway that we are all going through, a doorway after which, when it’s passed, nothing will be the same.¹  And so whenever any one of us is going through an energetic passageway where there is no turning back, the best advice is to gather as much powerful loving energy as possible to ourselves, in order to help establish the kind of reality that reflects our heart’s desire.

Neptune’s presence here is strong, and gives us access to the great field of dreams and possibilities that the unconscious holds. However, the challenge with Neptune is to maintain our focus, and not get lost in fantasy or delusion. The Virgo Sun is in a Grand Trine (three planets in harmonious 120˚ angles to each other, forming a triangle) to two powerful outer planets, Uranus and Pluto. If you had this in your natal chart, you would be called a “manifester” of possibilities. The light of the Sun (the will) is connected to innovative and creative insight (Uranus) as well as a strength of will that regenerates and deeply transforms situations (Pluto). Venus is also trine Jupiter in air signs which brings us the desire to talk about the Power of Love (rather than the love of power, as Carolyn Myss would say) or a focus on what unites us, as Kamala Harris said in her debate. Mars is also trine to Saturn, which brings an energy to work hard, tirelessly, with a purpose in mind.

And then the caveats: (there are always some!) Both the Sun and Mercury are square (at a challenging 90˚ angle) to Jupiter, and Jupiter also squares the Moon and Neptune, forming a T-square. Jupiter T-squares always involve some aspect of “too much.” Over-confident, over-indulgent, over-extended, focussed only on a future of possibilities rather than looking at what needs to be worked with in the here and now. We may finally see a horizon in which some of our ideals are possible, yet forget that there are significant shadowy elements to our own psyche and in the collective psyche that must be addressed and spoken to.

And a Lunar Eclipse in Pisces is just such a shadow moment. With Mercury in opposition to Saturn at this juncture, we can see the verbal attacks and outright lies that are taking place on the political stage here in the US. In our personal lives we must be cautious with our words and agreements, and we may give in to the shadow of Jupiterian optimism by feeling depressed at the state of world affairs happening elsewhere around us.

More than ever, with all our ever-in-touch technology, we are being exposed to all the shadow aspects of the human psyche. Our work is to realize that we ourselves contain such dark elements, and come to an understanding of how karma is influenced by the choices we make every day. So we can use the analytical and precision-thinking energy of the Virgo Sun to navigate these alternating murky and shiny waters, choosing the most practical and sensible paths forward. We need to be very down to earth in these times, while also making important, quiet times to meditate, to key in to the possibility of receiving greater vision. This is the time, now! 

As humanity is on a kind of razor’s edge of choice at this time in our history, with both sides loaded with possibilities, I suggest we pass through this doorway with a nod to both sides of the fence, seeing each as a possibility, and yet reminding ourselves to make the kinds of choices that reflect the myriad possibilities of creating fundamental changes in the ways we live our lives together.

¹If you look at just the lines in the center of the chart, the lines of energy (red for stress, blue for ease) you can get a feeling for the many different energies at play.