Reality Bites: September 2019's Full Moon in Pisces

What is a Full Moon?

A Full Moon occurs when the sun is opposite the moon, representing the peak, or climax of the lunar cycle. Throughout history, Full Moons have been known to cause unexpected events, and strange behavior. Because the two luminaries are in opposition to one another, Full Moons are known to highlight any opposing forces or polarities in your life, such as the balance between self and the other, the balance between the masculine and feminine, and the balance between work and home.

Full Moons are also good times to reflect on where you are in life, and where you are headed. While the period between the new moon and the Full Moon is a time for setting (and achieving) goals, the period between the Full Moon and the next new moon is a time for letting go. Full Moons can also bring about climactic events, and awaken us to powerful truths and realizations. The effects of a Full Moon usually last about two weeks, until the new moon comes along and starts a new cycle.

The Full Moon in Pisces (opposite, the Moon in Virgo) highlights the balance between dreams and reality, compassion and criticism, feelings and facts.

It may help to think back to whatever intentions you set around the New Moon in Virgo, for they should be coming into fruition at this time, as well as six months back to Pisces New Moon. Certain themes may be repeating themselves. Whatever thoughts or intentions you plant now should come into fruition by the New Moon in Libra, on September 28.

Those with personal planets or angles between 16 and 26 degrees of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) will most especially be affected by this Full Moon.

Full Moon in Pisces

The Full Moon on September 14 (or 13, depending on where you're located) will occur at 21'05 degrees, Pisces, the sign of the fish. Pisces is a mutable water sign, traditionally ruled by the planet, Jupiter. Idealistic and imaginative, Pisces is known to be the most spiritual sign of the zodiac, but sometimes, their search for what lies behind material existence can cause them to neglect and escape from the responsibilities of everyday life. Compassionate, kind, and gentle-hearted, Pisces is known to look out for the underdog, but has a much harder time looking out for itself. Lacking the protective shells characteristic of the other two water signs, Cancer and Scorpio, Pisces often has a hard time asserting its boundaries, often losing itself in the name of connecting with others, and simply swimming away from any conflict that comes at them. Virgo, on the other hand, is a realist, a responsible earth sign working hard to perfect material reality. But, sometimes, their perfectionist tendencies combined with their sharp observation skills cause them to be critical and judgmental, seemingly lacking in empathy. This Full Moon represents a balance, an integration of these two opposites. We can be compassionate, imaginative, and spiritual while still being conscious of our everyday existence, and the responsibilities that are expected of us.

The Full Moon will be conjunct Pisces's modern ruler, Neptune, at 17 degrees Pisces, emphasizing the spiritual, psychic, and empathic qualities of the sign. We may all find ourselves extra sensitive while this Full Moon is in effect, and extra influenced by the emotions of others, even causing psychic and telepathic experiences. We may find all of this emotion overwhelming and want to escape, whether through drugs, alcohol or sex, or something more wholesome, like music, movies, a good book, or even creative work like painting, drawing or sculpture.

However, the Sun will be conjunct Mars at 17 degrees Virgo. Mars is a very aggressive, antagonistic influence, and in the sign of Virgo, it likely represents the people and forces that nag at us, endlessly scrutinizing everything we do as if looking for errors, reminding us that there's always more work to be done. Employers and supervisors, and even sometimes teachers and professors, often seem to forget that we have a life outside of work/school, as if we're just cogs in the machine, or robots with no emotion or feelings of our own. We need to take care of ourselves, too, and the Full Moon in Pisces reminds us of that. However, while the Full Moon in Pisces conjunct Neptune might tempt us to swim away from any conflict, the Sun conjunct Mars in Virgo reminds us that we can't do that without needing to attend to even more responsibility later on.

All four planets will be making a T-square to Pisces's traditional ruler, Jupiter, now direct, at 17 degrees Sagittarius. Jupiter is a planet of both faith and knowledge. Jupiter's square to planets in both Pisces and Virgo indicates a conflict between faith and rationality. There might be a conflict between what you know based on intuition and anecdotal experience, and what you know through quantifiable, scientific means. There might be an issue relating to how to integrate these two modes of thinking.

The Sun's trine, and the Full Moon's sextile, to Pluto at 20 degrees Capricorn, is a very beneficial influence, helping us to get to the heart of the matter, and see through any illusions that may be obscuring us from seeing things clearly.

Some other notable aspects include the conjunction between Mercury and Venus, at 29 degrees Virgo. This conjunction represents an integration of intellect and aesthetics, and a blend of logic and love. I think of verbal witty flirtations and dirty talk between lovers, but also kind, gentle, reassuring words between anyone. It's a good aspect for getting your ideas across in a palatable way, but the possibility of overthinking what's generally considered to be a matter of feeling is also present. This conjunction occurs at the last degree of Virgo, before moving into Venus's home sign of Libra later that night, making it a good time to wrap up any lessons we may have learned during Virgo season—lessons relating to loving in a logical way. This conjunction, especially at the last degree of Virgo, teaches us the importance of setting boundaries and seeing things clearly, before we get swept away in the illogical nature of love, using both our head and our heart to make decisions about who's right for us, and who we want to be with.

Overall, this Full Moon teaches us the importance of nurturing our dreams and listening to our intuitions. Our beliefs aren't silly, no matter how irrational they may seem. Just because we can't see it or measure it with any empirical tools doesn't mean it's not real. Our beliefs give life its meaning. What we imagine and dream about is just as real as anything else, but it's a different level of reality. The ground we walk on and the air we breathe is real too, and it's also important that we don't abandon our responsibilities here on Earth in search of a higher meanings, but use our visions to guide us on how to live life here on Earth, and how to make our material reality the perfect world we dream about.