Full Moon in Virgo - Like a "Virgin"

Full Moon in Virgo

Moon Opposite Sun

Every full Moon is a scrying mirror waiting to be examined. What its depths reveal is unique to each who dares to look: intimate, illuminating, disturbing on the level that makes great art and shakes foundations ripe for demolition. The full Moon reminds us that "divine" is a verb, as well as a noun or adjective.

When the intuitive Moon shines in her full glory, she opposes her consort and counterpart, the shining Sun, creating tension between our internal needs and external expectations. If our emotions match our actions, and vice versa, we experience this energy as empowering, illuminating and evocative. Though we're likely to encounter challenges or emotional tensions leading up to the full Moon, especially those related to our past, those fossils are converted to the fuel that powers our ascension.

If we have attempted to bury our feelings, our intuition, issues with family or our past — all ruled by the inconstant Moon — we can experience tension today, a feeling of disconnectedness or emotional compulsion. Unpredictable reactions can bubble up from seemingly "out of nowhere" — which is always the deepest well of our feelings and memories.

At 12:30 p.m. CST on February 22, the Moon shines in the sign of Virgo, the high-minded virgin, the clear-eyed assessor, the humble servant, and truth-teller. Virgo is devoted, detail-oriented, and always does her best to get things right. This full Moon shines on the area in which the world needs your hard work, your humble servitude. Are you ready to put your God/dess-given talents to work? 

In the spirit of Virgoan purity and meticulous attention to detail, let us remember that the word "virgin" has not always meant "one who has never had sex." In ancient Greece, priestesses were "virgins," the original meaning translating to "one-in-herself." A virgin was a respected maiden, an unmarried woman who had full governance over her body and sexuality. Virgin, then, did not mean pure of sexuality — it meant free from mental or physical tyranny. A virgin was a woman of strength, independence, and wisdom, and this is the aspect that the full Moon in Virgo evokes.

When the full Moon in fastidious Virgo opposes the Sun in its opposite sign, dreamy Pisces, we are asked to "sacrifice" (Pisces' realm of expertise) our time and energy for the greater good. Pisces is the dreamer, poet, and painter of the zodiac, where Virgo is the pragmatist, accountant, and janitor. Under this energy we feel an intense, unconscious pull to "get busy," to tie up loose ends, to put ourselves to work. But there is an enormous difference between being busy and being productive, and this is where Pisces' spiritual vision is key in channeling Virgo's divine work ethic. 

The Moon represents what we feel, and the Sun represents what we must do with what we feel. Therefore, we must be sure that we are not just busying our minds or bodies, but occupying our souls, committing to our life purpose.

The planet of luck, growth, and fortune, Jupiter is also embracing the North Node right now, the astrological point of our karmic destiny, our life purpose. This incredibly fortunate, expansive energy only comes around truly once-maybe-twice in a lifetime — about once every 36 years. This only increases our soul-deep desire to devote our time and effort to something worthwhile.

Meanwhile, charming Venus and mental Mercury have shacked up in mad scientist Aquarius, inspiring flashes of brilliance, beautiful ideas, and sudden solutions. Erratic Aquarius never provides the whole puzzle — only pieces, the better to force your mind to think creatively — so don't expect a fully-formed business plan, novel, or answer to materialize. Don't demand perfection — what is key is that you begin to honor your ideas by creating space for them in your life. 

Everything doesn't need to be done in order, or perfectly (Virgo), in order to be worthwhile. Nothing can grow in an airtight, antiseptic space. Let things in the world be nebulous, messy, unfinished. Inside, your wheels will be turning, generating practical plans that will bring about spiritual solutions.

Today especially, and over the next two weeks (until the next New Moon), it's an ideal time to commit to a regular, quiet self-care routine, one that provides the physical and emotional breathing room for inspiration to rise.

The Full Moon has a reputation for a reason. The time of lunacy. Tensions rise, build, burgeon, and break. The Moon pulls the crashing waves over us. We can choose to heed Pisces' advice to dive deeply, past the waves, to see clearly — or suffer the futile chaos of observing the world from the superficial chop. Seeing everything that could be fixed, without ever perceiving the unity, the truth, even the beauty, of the imperfections that created us.

The South Node, the astrological point representing our past lessons, is also linking up with Chiron, the wounded healer. Some aspect of ourselves that was hurt in the past, or some wrong that was done to us, will likely become invaluable now, impossible as that may seem. Virgo wrote the book on "waste not, want not," and proclaims that every single sacrifice we've made, or altar that we have been sacrificed upon (there's Pisces again), has tempered and shaped our soul so that we may carry out the work that we came here to do.

Mars, the planet of energy and action, is in driven, passionate Scorpio, who always rips through artifice to devour the naked truth with piercing eyes. He's helping his fellow water sign, Pisces, to clean out those old wounds, transmuting them. 

Battle scars become badges of honor. Our pain, our shadow, may become the healing, the light, for others.

Are you ready to shine?

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