Tonight, the Full Moon in Pisces will be slightly but importantly eclipsed. Even the most partial of eclipses count as significant astrological events, high tides of potent influence that unfold over months (and years).
Tonight’s Full Moon is the Harvest Moon (in the Northern Hemisphere) and also one of this year’s series of Supermoons, being closer to Earth and therefore larger and brighter in the sky.
This is a Full Moon with presence.
We’re already feeling it. Since ancient times, eclipses have been experienced as momentous, world-changing events.
They are part of the origin story of astrology. The Babylonians first perfected a method to predict eclipses around 700 BCE, chronicling these disturbing events in their Astrological Diaries. Throughout history, solar and lunar eclipses have been seen as portents, warnings of the disruption of ordinary time, and the opening of the unusual.
Tonight’s eclipse stands at a crossroads.
This is the first eclipse in Pisces after a series of eclipses in Aries and Libra. The October eclipse will return to Libra, as the transition between these two will be gradual. Eclipses across the Virgo–Pisces axis will continue until 2027.
Eclipses occur when a New or Full Moon lands within 18º of the Nodes of the Moon. If you follow astrology, you’ll know the Nodes are still in Aries and Libra, so how is this a Pisces eclipse?
We name New and Full Moons for where the Moon and Sun are. At 25º40’ Pisces, the Moon is in an out-of-sign conjunction with the North Node at 06º36’ Aries. The Sun and South Node are in a mirrored relationship, with the Sun at 25º40’ Virgo and the South Node at 06º36’ Libra.
If this feels complicated and confusing, welcome to the Pisces Full Moon Eclipse.
This is the fall eclipse season. Since the influence of every eclipse extends before and after its occurrence, we’re inside the eclipse envelope already and will be through at least the first week of October.
With this eclipse happening in Pisces, we find ourselves adrift on a cosmic sea, watching for portents, tracking how the eclipse and related celestial events affect our birth charts and our lives. Eclipses are not a time for intentional workings. The forces are simply too large for us to encompass or enlist.
Instead, we are noticing. Taking in what emerges for us, what shows up in our inner and outer lives.
Tonight’s Full Moon Eclipse offers a complex set of patterns to watch.
The Moon is conjunct Neptune retrograde in late Pisces. This conjunction magnifies and deepens the Piscean signature.
Neptune is the modern ruler of Pisces, carrying the creative, spiritual, absorbing, dissolving, connecting, enhancing, confusing, mystical influences that now surround us.
This is a night for dreaming. Even if your dreams are normally elusive, tonight may bring vivid, colorful, mysterious dreams your way. Keeping a journal, pen, and dim flashlight near your bed will allow you to record nighttime dreams without waking up fully.
You can also record dreams by speaking into your phone or other recording device. When I’ve done this, I find listening to the recordings themselves an eerie experience as my voice sounds quite different waking from a dream.
Whatever you choose, keep the lights low. You want to reenter your sleep cycle with the least disruption possible.
This Full Moon Eclipse and Neptune are part of a larger Kite aspect that includes the Sun in Virgo, Pluto in Capricorn, and Uranus in Taurus conjunct the fixed star Algol. Uranus has been traveling with Algol for some time now, deepening and intensifying his power to transform.
Kite patterns include a Grand Trine surmounted by paired sextiles with a conjunction in the middle. The overall pattern looks like a kite.
The conjunction is obviously the Full Moon Eclipse with the addition of Neptune.
The Grand Trine is an Earth trine that includes the Sun, Pluto, and Uranus. A Grand Trine in Earth is normally considered very stable and well grounded. With Pluto and Uranus at two of apexes, though, we need to ask, what are we grounded in, as well as, what does ‘stability’ mean in this kind of a process?
Deep change is at work here. If we feel, with this eclipse, that the ground is shifting beneath our feet, I think there’s good reason for that. Yet this is a trine, and a Grand Trine at that, which means there is solidity and stability here. Perhaps we’re being invited to trust in what we cannot see, but can sense deep within the structures of our world.
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The sextiles again include Pluto and Uranus, with the Moon and Neptune forming the 60º connections on each side. Sextiles are also positive but more active aspects. The ship of the Moon moves on strange tides tonight. We’re not staying still. We’re not in Kansas anymore. Yet the deep structures of Pluto and authentic rebellions of Uranus will somehow bring us through.
And that’s not all. The benefics Venus and Jupiter have roles to play. Jupiter, as the ancient ruler of Pisces, rules this Full Moon Eclipse.
Venus and Jupiter still hold on to their trine in Libra and Gemini. This is a flow of generative creativity and relationship. Venus is conjunct the fixed star Spica, one of the most beneficent stars in the sky. This trine carries themes of expansive harmony, widening circles of connection and relationship, and increased visibility for movements to expand freedom.
Venus and Jupiter are tied into the Eclipse Kite pattern as well. Venus squares Pluto while Jupiter squares the Full Moon axis. We are challenged to hold on to our highest and brightest ideals in the face of transformations inside and out.
Venus also opposes Chiron, the asteroid carrying the archetype of the wounded healer. If painful memories, experiences, or interactions arise during this time, look for the healing opportunities within them.
One thing for sure, this is a confusing eclipse time. The intense Piscean signature guarantees that, as does the presence of the eclipse itself.
Eclipses are a darkening of the light of the Sun or Moon, the luminaries of our world. The word ‘eclipse’ comes from root words meaning, darkening, forsaking, and abandonment. We can’t see the way we usually do. Everything looks different, darker, more mysterious.
Another aspect pattern challenges our ability to make sense. Mercury in Virgo, ruling the Sun, is opposite Saturn retrograde in Pisces.
Mercury in Virgo is all about the details. What do we have to work with? What can we make with this? How do we understand the pieces and then put them together?
Saturns constricts, limits, holds back, says “no.” This can be depressing, literally and emotionally. In Pisces, Saturn acts by confusing us, throwing out too many possibilities that don’t make sense.
We might be tempted to throw up our hands and say, ok, fine, whatever.
I see another possibility here.
What if we look at Saturn in Pisces and Mercury in Virgo as sensei and grasshopper. This Saturn is confusing us as a way to push us to expand our awareness, to reach for a larger understanding, a bigger picture. The world is more complex that we can know.
This alternate interpretation is supported by the fact that Mercury will reach their cazimi, the conjunction in the throne room of the Sun, on September 30, with the Sun and Moon conjunct the South Node, between the eclipses.
In addition, the fall equinox arrives within eclipse season this year, one more indication of change.
We’re on a journey to expand our understanding. Illumination within an eclipse season is likely to be startling and enlightening. We enter a time of fruitful darkness, trusting in the journey toward a new perspective.
Mars also has a role to play. In the first decan of Cancer, Mars squares the Nodes of the Moon, sitting at the South Bending. This Mars is also out of bounds, charting an outlaw course through the intense emotionality of Cancer that is not where Mars likes to be.
The South Node is the place of letting go. Mars is pushing to release what we’re done with, or what is done with us. This is letting things float out to sea. This is personal practices to say good bye to what we no longer have, or need, or want.
In the midst of everything else, our emotions can be intense and chaotic. Can we attend to our feelings enough to understand what action (Mars) is called for? What can we say farewell to?
The major players and patterns in this eclipse–the Sun and Moon, all the outer planets, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter– are in the late degrees of their signs. In each sign, that third decan is a place where we recognize and experience change. This too heightens the core transformative signature of this eclipse season.
There’s a lot going on here, which makes it a good time to check your birth chart. Out of all the placements I’ve talked about, which aspect your chart in significant ways? Figuring this out will let you know where to look for the influence in your life.
Eclipses are momentous events in the sky and in the public sphere but they don’t always impact us personally. You may not feel this eclipse much at all, which is fine. The more overlap there is between the eclipse chart and your birth chart, the more influential it’s likely to be.
Look for:
• Significant placements (planets or chart angles) in the mutable signs, especially Gemini, Virgo, and Pisces,
• Planets and angles in the late degrees of any sign,
• Aspects to your personal planets, especially the Sun and Moon, and your Ascendant or Midheaven.
It’s also worth noting where in your chart houses the Full Moon Eclipse and key aspect patterns will fall. The houses can alert you to the areas of life in which things might get a bit confusing and start to change.
In the end, the most valuable approach will be to watch and listen. What comes up for you, is what you want to pay attention to. This is where you may experience transformation, illumination, confirmation, or whatever this potent, numinous time will bring.
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