A Full Moon Time of Solace

Thursday's Full Moon in Pisces provides some sweetness amidst the angst of these fraught times, and the difficult outer planet configurations that reflect them. The Full Moon in any case represents a reaching out for balance, in this case the balance of the undefined and numinous otherworldly dimensions of reality represented by Pisces versus the detailed nuts and bolts of Virgo, the earth sign where the Sun still resides. Later in this same day the Moon enters the more feisty and forward-going sign of Aries, there to collide with surprising and trickster Uranus, but the sensitivity and spiritual beauty of this Full Moon configuration involving Pisces remains as the flavor for this second half of this month's Virgo lunar cycle.

This is indeed a difficult time, when many factors of daily life and of relationship are radically changing. This Full Moon is taking place in the context of massive conflict in the current picture of life on earth as reflected in the heavens. Among the personal planets, Venus is coming into a square with Mars, and remains in close conjunction with Saturn, bringing a serious side of relationship issues. Jupiter squares Mercury bringing optimism and even over-enthusiasm to our thought process. The conjunction with Venus also highlights the sextile aspect between Saturn and Pluto, as the Uranus-Pluto square continues to build in intensity toward the November 1st exact hit and the difficult configurations of the end of the year, thereby emphasizing this revolutionary aspect that calls for radical and significant change. The Sun stands at the midpoint of Mars and Venus, mediating their forming square, while Saturn sextiles Pluto almost exactly, touched off by the triple conjunction of Venus, Saturn and the Moon's North Node. All this translates to a time of greater recognition of the structure of our lives, including the important relationship component, and the deep necessity for a change to that existing structure. We are also attuned at this time to the pain that those changes might bring.

It is a truism that everything that lives must alter, while developing and continuing to grow, and relationship is no exception. The current pressure for change is life affirming, because the illusionary reverse concept of stasis leads to stagnation instead of new opportunity. Although we are all faced with the same dire necessity, manifesting however in vastly different forms corresponding to our individual stage of development and our potential, we tend to fight this with all our might, even though — just as in the evolutionary movement of the larger society that surrounds us — radical change actually represents our very salvation.

The situation is heating up, both now and toward the end of the year, and into the thorns of 2014. In the current fall skies, the presence of Saturn in alignment with the forming Uranus-Pluto square means that we are in the midst of a very definite structural alteration that could result in an entirely new set of underlying principles heading into October and the end of the present year. It does not get any easier, although with the acceptance of the idea it does get far more possible to bear. We benefit from losing the blinders that we normally wear, that limit our view and hold us hostage to our fears.

As we move on through, and recognize our potential as well as the necessity for massive changes to the very structure of our lives, there is thus optimism as well as fear and anxiety in our emotional makeup. Faith in our process, and in the essential beneficence of the universe to sustain us, goes a long way. We might feel the calmness that comes from no choice but to move ahead, from the decision being made and the eventual results on their way. We have nothing, really, to lose but our chains.