Full Moon in Virgo: The Particular

Sewing in the Garden by Henri Martin

Full Moon at 26 Virgo
Sunday, March 16, 2014
1:08 pm EDT / 5:08 pm GMT

Tomorrow's Full Moon in Virgo will shine her light at a slant, in the way side lighting makes the subject pop out, highlighting the detail Virgo loves.

Opposite the Sun, awash in diffuse and glorious Pisces, this Virgoan Full Moon points out something we really need to see. But even as She picks out the telling detail, this Full Moon does her best to be compassionate and calm.

We're swimming in some pretty choppy seas these days. The strong cardinal T-square of Pluto opposite Jupiter squared by Uranus continually throws transformational opportunities our way. (Ready or not, here they come!)

Saturn, retrograde in Scorpio, trines the Sun while squaring Mercury in Aquarius who trines Mars retrograde in Libra––plenty of stop-and-go there. We think we have The Plan (Merc in Aquarius) only to have some hidden factor show up (Saturn retro in Scorpio) or realize we need to make room for someone or something we'd overlooked (Mars retro in Libra) and then things get confusing (Sun in Pisces).

Now, that's not the only way those energies can combine, but the key factor is, they ARE combined, so things we thought were certain and set (Merc in Aquarius again) turn out not to be (any or all of the other players) in some important ways.

How do we fix it? ("It" being whatever we're working on right now.) The Full Moon will show us.

Stephanie Austin, writing in The Mountain Astrologer, reminds us that the Virgo–Pisces opposition is like the particle–wave situation in physics: definitely a both–and but we can only see one at a time. Pisces is the wave, a word so ancient it comes from what it is: the Old Norse vagr for moving billow of water. The fact that it's also linked to the Gothic weg, which means tempest, reminds us waves aren't always easy.

Particle comes from the Latin particula, which means "little part," the smallest bit of the whole. Particular comes from the same root, and Virgo is nothing if not particular.

The thing is, we often don't like "particular." It feels critical, too pointed, fussy––all the things we tend not to like about Virgo. Writing at virgo magic, Emily Trinkaus brings back an earlier view of Virgo as the sign of the Goddess.

She reminds us that goddesses were often keepers of sacred waters, in rivers, in pools, in the Grail. These Piscean waters were filled with creative and intuitive inspiration, and also dangers.

It was the role of the goddess of each water to serve as a gateway, protecting not only the water, but anyone who would come to taste, or bathe. She knew these waters were powerful, and specific, detailed actions were needed to encounter them safely.

Check your birth chart to see where 26 Virgo falls for you, and there you may find a message from the goddess at this Full Moon. Her gentle, if inexorable, side light will show us something we need to know, something we may need to do or be aware of, so we can move into our transformations safely.

Virgo is the sign of seat belts, warm sweaters, and an extra little snack for a reason. As anyone who's gone camping knows, there is NOTHING as wonderful as an expected pair of dry socks, or the bit of chocolate you forgot you had, on a cold and rainy night.

At this Full Moon, I'll close with Emily Dickinson, whose attention to precise detail seems fitting:

Tell all the truth but tell it slant,
Success in circuit lies,
Too bright for our infirm delight
The truth's superb surprise;

As lightning to the children eased
With explanation kind,
The truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind.

Emily Dickinson