The Pisces Full Moon Eclipse approaches, making its appearance on Tuesday, September 17th at 7:34pm Pacific/10:34pm Eastern, bringing with it an abundance of opportunities that call us home to ourselves, if only so we can bring the wisdom within to the world of form that we all share. Pisces, in its true essence, recognizes the interconnection of all things, sensing our inherent kinship with one another, as well as to a force that can be sensed, felt, and perceived, but that is perhaps a bit more challenging to put a finger on. The Mystic and Meditator knows that this bigger energy, one that we might call, ‘the force,’ or ‘the innate intelligence everywhere,’ or ‘the spirit that moves in all things,’ is truly at the heart of life, and the more in touch with this aspect of reality we are, the more beauty we bring to the world we are a part of.

Before I continue further, I’d like to make a list of all the aspects this Piscean Eclipse is making, not to daunt the reader, but rather to show why I named the post what I did, and just what I mean by the ‘multifaceted’ part of the title. The Full Moon is conjunct its own ruling planet of Neptune and is also loosely conjunct Saturn, which moved into the sign of the Mystic in the Spring of 2023. It is forming a sextile (60° angle) with Uranus in the latter degrees of Taurus and Pluto in the latter degrees of Capricorn, and a quincunx (inconjunct if you prefer; 150° here) with Venus in her home sign of Libra. Lastly, it is squaring Jupiter in the sign of the Twins, and of course forming an opposition to the Sun in the sign of Virgo. Hence, the title of this post!

Let’s get to it! One thing to remember about eclipses is that they always represent times when things that have been brewing beneath the surface come to light in a new way. Sometimes these are in ways that surprise us, others in ways that are clarifying and revelatory, yet always they are meant to bring us to a more unified placed of awareness within ourselves. This Eclipse Cycle one on the Virgo-Pisces axis last took place from 2015-2017 when the lunar nodes were reversed, and before that when the lunar nodes were in the same position they are now from 2006-2008. This particular Pisces Full Moon Eclipse begins a cycle that will last until February 20, 2027, and until then, will move from the latter degrees of the axis through the early ones, touching upon the issues of Being and Becoming, Wholeness and its Expression, Buddha Nature and how to live it, Christ Consciousness and how to be it. More on this in a bit!

Now, Neptune has been in its own sign of the Dreamer since 2012, with not much time left until it moves into Aries next Spring. It encourages us to connect with the inherent intelligence of life in all the ways we know how, or in at least one way, so that we remember who we are and ultimately where we come from. It reminds us that especially in the midst of what seems to be intense division on the ground, we are all interwoven together in an unseen web that holds us, supporting us to do what we will, regardless of what that choice is. While the Moon always carries an energy of soul craving and yearning to the fore, as well as the feeling and expression of our emotional landscape, in this case it encourages us to meditate and connect with the whole of life; it asks that we choose to dream individually and collectively, tapping into a vision that remembers that at the core of reality, we are all One. Though the ways that we express this unity are diverse and varied, they cannot be disentangled from one another, nor from all forms of life, sentient or non-sentient. When we remember and deeply know this to be true, the way we interact with all of Life is one that honors, respects, and holds dear each inextricably linked part of the greater net.

Neptunean and Piscean energy both need to experience this sense of deep, inner knowing that lives at the heart of all things. Yet when this has not been chosen or for a multitude of reasons cannot be experienced, they both move into a shadow state, one that has escapism and confusion taking the place of connection and unity consciousness. As my teacher, Steven Forrest, would say, “Neptune is the planet of patron saints and drunks, both,” and he is right. The liberating side of the Neptunean spectrum is about fully knowing the interconnectedness of all of life and of oneself within it. The limiting or shadow side of the spectrum brings addiction to any and all the things that may bring momentary relief in the forms of alcohol, drugs, television, porn, work, and food, especially sugar. Relief from what, you might ask? From the discomfort of perceiving oneself as separate from all of life, and the only actual way to get here is to remember and know that we are truly all part of something so much greater than ourselves that it’s hard for our minds to perceive of this.

Saturn always wants us to have clear boundaries, especially when it comes to creating healthier habits around the behaviors and activities we are continuing to engage with even though we know we should be done with them. He invites us to put these limits on what we’ve outgrown, in this case, shadow Piscean escapist tendencies, in order to create new practices and rituals that actually give us a more direct route to connection with the Source energy of all of life. This can look like whatever it needs to, as long as it’s a true, directed route to the spirit world or spirit self, and not just more kidding ourselves into thinking that our chosen escape patterns are actual patterns of connection.

Uranus is the planet of authenticity, and also of things that come “out of the blue,” and “all of a sudden.” This energy invites us to change that is more in alignment with who we are in our heart of hearts, not who we’ve been socialized or have conformed to be. He moved into the sign of the Goddess, the Earth Spirit, and the Musician in 2017 and will be there until Summer 2025. Taurus is the sign of the body and what is most natural, encouraging us to follow our animal instincts and to be comfortable in our own skin. If we have unresolved trauma from this lifetime or others, karmic or epigenetic, Taurus looks to its opposite sign of Scorpio to help us to do the deep work required to unpack, transform, and integrate the wounds that can be turned to nectar in order for us to be living, breathing, and walking the earth with a connection to tranquility, serenity, and placidity within ourselves. Uranus needs us to find this embodied peace in our own unique ways, ones that are tried and true and encourage us to face all we need to in order to claim ourselves as the humans we came to this planet to be. Rather than carrying on old paradigms that we’ve inherited, this energy is about breaking free from what does not and may have never worked in order to create and maintain what is aligned with a deeper and truer part of ourselves. Uranus is about breaking free of tiresome systems and is not afraid to shake them up a bit to make it so. Yet if we don’t feel comfortable in our skin in the many ways we can, we run the risk of doing what brings perceived stability and security, giving away our own power for what we think will bring this security. Instead, in this case, we’re met with less freedom and soveriegnty simply because we chose from a place of fear rather than a place of true and deep knowing within.

And this is the perfect segueway to Pluto in Capricorn, for who is more archetypically aligned with fear, at least in his shadow expression, than the god of hell himself?! Pluto is actually about real transformation, and all that keeps us from our truest and most empowered natures. This planet wants us to look death square on, to find the edges of reality that are most uncomfortable for us to face, meeting them anyway, so that we may alchemize any and all that keeps us from moving from a place of fear in the world, and instead to come from one of empowerment. But this innate power can only come if we choose to look at the traumas and wounds, secreted no doubt, that evade our rational and conscious awareness. With Pluto, we are only able to come from a tranformed space if we are willing to confront all that lies hiding in the darkness of our own subconscious minds. Anything else, and we fall short of his ultimate objective, which is complete and full transformation, and thus a willingness to confront anything and everything that makes us uncomfortable, challenging all aspects of what we think we know in order to gain new ground, giving us the energy to move toward a distinct sense of purpose and mission. Capricorn loves gaining this ground in its climb to the top of the mountain, cultivating patience and perseverance that are formidable in so doing. Yet it runs the risk of growing so rigid in the climb to the top that the goat loses sight of the real reasons why it set out on the journey in the first place, hardening what was once clear vision into an uncompromising goal. The balanced part of the spectrum here is about cultivating integrity and developing this virtue in the most challenging of scenarios, and with Pluto’s help, facing the most uncomfortable parts of ourselves in order to birth a vision that is worthy of creating, then climbing the hard road ahead with steadfastness that is necessary on any journey toward a meaningful objective.

Venus in Libra is as lovely they come, for it gives us the ability to really meet another with open-heartedness, seeing through the eyes of the heart in order to find the connection that is always there, no matter what. Venus and Libra both need reciprocity and to be met with the same kindness and grace that they offer in return. They ask us to see the goodness in others as we would have them do for us, putting aside petty differences that have nothing to do with our true humanity and everything to do with judgment or pettiness, or perhaps with keeping the status quo a certain way. Yet in shadow, this combination lends itself to being too accomodating, giving too much of oneself for the sake of keeping the peace, but at a cost to the person doing so.

Jupiter in Gemini has been expanding our capacity to receive information, to communicate with the magic of the universe (if that’s how we’re choosing to use it!), to invite us to use our voices in ways we may never have before, and to be discerning when it comes to which information we’re engaging with, and which we’re not, perhaps because we initially let too much in when the “guru planet” made its way into the sign of the Teacher. Jupiter always makes big whatever issues the zodiac sign it moves into deals with, and when that is the sign of the Storyteller and the Journalist, we’re encouraged to leap into places of perceptual possibility and potential, and to open ourselves to a message that the universe may have been trying to communicate with us, perhaps unsuccessfully, until now. But we will only get this memo if we remain mentally receptive and use our cultivated discernment as a tool. Otherwise, psychological chaos ensues, giving us garbled communication that leaves us baffled and anxious.

Virgo, she who is sovereign unto herself, needs meaningful, purposeful service and work to feel fulfilled in the world. As she continues pouring herself into what brings her a deep sense of import, honing and refining her skills as she does, she becomes a master of all she sought to become, growing into the excellent standards she first set out for herself when she initially began her trade. Remember, the Virgo-Pisces axis is that of Being & Becoming, for no sign of the zodiac feels such divine discontent as Virgo, and as she learns to let her perfectionistic tendencies soften just a bit, giving way to the Sanskrit view of perfection, purnatva, the wholeness or fullness that is everyone’s innate nature, she recognizes that every act she creates is part of the larger picture, every ounce of what she does has value. She learns to value herself and her contributions, taking heart and believing in what she offers, contributing these gifts to the whole in real and lasting ways. This eclipse cycle will undoubtedly bring up energetics that invite us to fully see, feel, and understand old patterns that have been at play for perhaps longer than we have been aware of, in order for the deepest nature within to witness what no longer serves and must be integrated in order for us to live fully as the bright beings we truly are, not the people we’ve been karmically or epigenetically assuming oursleves to be. When this has to do with Virgo and Pisces, these issues are around self-doubt and self-worth, value, includng our own, and recognizing ourselves as the divine beings we are in order to purposefully live from this place in the world. Included are matters of our innate fullness and the inherent nature of goodness that lies in our hearts, all the ways we seek to escape our lives rather than live the truth of who we are within them, and our ability to plug into Source energy to ‘be the change’ in the world, starting with ourselves and our own lives.

Now, if you’re feeling like there’s an information overload going on with all of this info, don’t worry, I am too! It helps to know which planets and angles in your own birthchart are being impacted by all of this, as certainly there will be a few, but now I’ll attempt to bring together some of the themes addressed.

Pisces needs to connect with the Source of all of life, to feel its innate magic in all things. The more it does its practices to remember and maintain this connection, the more fulfilled it is. Virgo seeks to know that what it contributes to the whole is valuable, making a difference in the world through its meaningful service and work. This axis invites us to make useful and purposeful all that is mystical and esoteric, grounding the divinity of who we are into all we do on the planet. Uranus wants us to embody our most authentic selves, even if they’re radically different than who we’ve been conditioned to be, and Pluto asks for the most empowered version of who we are to come forth, the part of us who is committed to a vision of reality that might take time to create, but that is based on having faced our deepest fears and has won. Venus encourages us to see through the eyes of the heart without giving away too much, and Jupiter to expand what we think we’re capable of, especially when we open to the synchronicity of the universe, for this is certainly one of its primary languages.

And of course, all of this just a few days before the Autumnal Equinox, the time when there is almost an equal amount of darkness and light in most parts of the world. In the Northern Hemisphere, this marks the turn toward cooler days and longer nights, a shift that is meant to bring us more deeply into ourselves and our inner lives. Not that we’re not meant to celebrate our time outside with the turning leaves, crisp air, and changing seasons, but that we are also meant to gather into ourselves, drawing toward us what we’ll need for the times of growing darkness ahead, taking stock of what is meant to come with, and what will need to be released for another time.

As we embark upon this journey toward the mystical Full Moon and the Fall Season’s appearance, may we connect with our truest Hearts, letting them lead the way so that we may engage in the world with the presence and grace, authenticity and empowerment, open-mindedness and kindness that we as humans have always known. And may we remember that we are held by a greater force that is forever with us, whispering its sweet but subtle encouragement along the way, so that we may enhance our world in all the ways we’re meant to, for certainly, the time is now.