On Sunday, August 26, just before 8:00 am EDT, the Full Moon in Pisces arrives. Because this is a morning Full Moon, it will appear most full tonight, Friday, August 25.
We’ve been through the Fire in recent months. Literal fires (some of which still burn), emotional fires, social fires, the fires of change. This Full Moon offers a window of calm.
It would be misleading to say we’re suddenly on East Street and the bad times are done. We know that’s not true anyway.
This Full Moon does create a shift. A big one.
Pisces is Water. The deep, unknowable, shadowy waters of the ocean. The vast blue expanse of sky, deeper and farther than anything we can touch or hold. There is peace here, a coolness we have been sorely lacking, and a sense of time and distance that offers perspective.
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Fire signs make us feel jumpy, electric, like everything needs to be done yesterday. Pisces water is soothing. The temperature is turned way down.
Of course we’ve faced floods as well. Water can become turbulent and destructive. But this Pisces Moon is anchored firmly in Earth, which reinforces the steady, slow side of the Water element.
There is a lot of complexity in the sky these days. For this Full Moon, I’ve created a gallery of charts to help illustrate this. If you’re listening to the podcast, you might want to find the blog post to scroll the images.
The Full Moon falls at 3 Pisces, with the Sun at 3 Virgo. This mutable pair share a commitment to connection, service to others, and to a kind of self-effacing humility. They differ in focus and scope. Virgo prefers the small, practical, and ordinary. Pisces swims in the cosmic, mysterious, and glamorous.
The most important pattern is a Kite (shown in the second slide) created by Saturn and Uranus, who are each trining the Sun and sextiling the Moon. This creates a communion among these four in which they support and inform each other.
A Pisces Full Moon can lean into shadows of illusion and addiction. Saturn and Uranus bring a gravitas that makes that kind of wandering unlikely. Instead, the Pisces Moon infuses the Grand Trine in Earth with true magic, enlivening matter with Spirit.
This is a wonderful Full Moon to experience outside, in the night, under the stars. This will be a night filled with wonder, in which other beings might come out to dance with you.
There is a saying I heard once (and cannot track down now) about the distance between the physical world and other worlds being no more than the width of a leaf. At this Moon, each leaf could become a doorway.
Pisces magic is important in another way. The third slide shows a Yod aspect in which Chiron and Mars each inconjunct the Sun. The awkward 150 degree push at the gentle Virgo Sun asks for action without being clear what is needed.
Mars is intensely Capricornian right now, edgy and demanding. Chiron in Aries can make our wounds bleed. What can the Virgo Sun do?
It is said the answer to any Yod lies opposite its apex, and here we find the Pisces Moon.
We need Spirit to heal. Sometimes we need to experience deep magic to understand how powerful we truly are.
More magic is afoot. Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Scorpio continue to trine each other. At this Full Moon, Pluto the alchemist sextiles each of them, creating the lovely triangle in the fourth slide. Not only is our Earth filled with magic, that magic will transform us.
It’s not all smooth sailing. A more complex pattern (shown in the fifth slide) shows Pluto squaring Venus in Libra, Mercury in Leo squaring Jupiter, while Pluto and Jupiter sextile each other and Venus and Mercury are also sextile.
Phew. Our thoughts, words, and actions have consequences, especially in our relationships. Despite our best intentions, we can touch raw places in each other.
The last slide adds the Nodes of the Moon to the Kite. Now we see how the Nodes are inconjunct the Sun and Moon, while Uranus squares the Nodes.
While we will learn important things under this Full Moon, the way forward may not be clear right now––which is only fitting for misty, illusive Pisces.
Why go to the trouble of breaking down the Full Moon aspects in this detailed way?
I’m not trying to be overly technical (although my Virgo Moon, aligned with the Full Moon, loves these details). Instead, I offer this perspective:
Our astrology these days is complex. There are multiple connections being made, some long term, some medium, some (like the Full Moon itself), very brief. When our thoughts, feelings, and lives become confused, it’s good to remember that the cosmos reflects this.
We live in interesting times.
As you know, I encourage you to check your birth chart to see where the Full Moon and its patterns will touch your chart.
Because each birth chart is unique, these patterns will touch each of us differently. Checking the separate charts I prepared this time can help you pinpoint which planets and aspects are hitting your chart most strongly. This helps fine tune your sense of what might come up for you.
Full Moons illuminate. At this Full Pisces Moon, imagine you are out at night. You walk to the shore of the ocean. The tide is going out, leaving magical things caught in tidal pools. The Moon is bright enough to shine into the water, revealing moving shapes, glints of color, and perhaps a claw or flash of teeth.
What will be illuminated for you?
As an example, I will share that my emotions and relationships will be floating through those pools. My Moon is conjunct the Sun and opposite the Full Moon. At the same time, Jupiter in Scorpio is conjunct my Venus, while Neptune trines and Mercury squares my Venus. That is a lot to sort out.
Maybe I’ll feel a little afraid to peer into my pool, but I promise that when the time comes, I will look carefully. I will find the glints of magic that will help me begin to weave together the things that have come apart during the fiery eclipse season.
Join me at the shore. We will find our tidal pools and capture a bit of the mystery and power of this Pisces Full Moon.
I use Unsplash for most photo illustrations. All astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title, adapted from the photo of the reflecting ball on the shore by Louis Maniquet, the photo of the night sky by Casey Horner, the yellow leaf by Oskars Sylwan, the photo of Skye by Robert Lukeman, and the underwater scene by Uriel Soberanes.
John O Hempstead
Beautiful! Another masterpiece! You keep getting better. The only thought I offer is: A leaf is too wide. The physical world and the inner worlds are separated only by the width of a thought.
Thanks for your wonderful gift to us.