A 16 Pisces Full Moon

Moonrise on Hobart Bay, Alaska

(photo credit: Commander John Bortniak/NOAA, October 1990)

Somewhere back in my early astrological days some fellow defined Pisces to me as ‘the trash can of the zodiac.’

I’m not sure he knew he was talking to a Pisces at the time or not. I just gave him the benefit of the doubt. 

(Which yes, is very Piscean of me.)

That being plural decades ago, I’ve learned several things about what he said, the first of which being what struck me as a better definition for this most oceanic of water signs: Pisces represents the distance by which we will fail our own expectations.

Esoteric? Yes... and yes, that probably means I’m esoteric too.

But I digress. That definition is a singularly opaque way of saying something very Pisces and very true: Pisces is the sign which is all about all our experiences of feeling our own feelings. And thus Pisces becomes also the realm of all we do to control what we feel, however we do it - and to whatever end(s) we do it.

As for that first definition (the dust bin thing)...it was only once I faced my own Piscean-ness that I finally understood the fact that what had been said to me about Pisces and the trash hadn’t been... and shouldn’t be discarded.

(Yes, I said that.)

But it’s not all bad. It’s not even half bad once we get to the reality of what all the ‘trash’ talk really means... namely that wherever we find Pisces (in your chart, as an energetic focused by some object moving through Pisces, etc.), that’s where we will - at some point in time - experience ‘feeling trashed.’

That’s an expression which has a whole bin of feelings, to be true - and all of them apply. Wherever or however we experience feeling crumpled or sincerely, vulnerably concerned - that’s a Pisces moment which will stir or bestir your world, your life, your spirit, moving you to be or do something, to think about something or perhaps to imagine something or surrender yourself to some inspirational ‘greater feeling’...

Within us, when a Piscean wave overcomes us, some of us fight, some of us surrender and accept. And whatever that situation, what’s most and finally at stake is having to live with - and through - the depth of our feelings.

A trash can. Our trash can. That place where we feel how we feel about our most vulnerable of mortal feelings.

Good or bad, despairing or marveling, that’s what life taps into this month as the Moon comes to its  Full phase at 16 Pisces on September 9th at 1:39 in the morning UT/+0 time.

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (glyph chart)

The Full Moon at 16 Pisces (text chart)

Known for protectiveness and often a touch of caution some would think borders on suspicion, 16 Pisces challenges our priorities in ways basic, very human and entirely understandable. The crux of the matter begins with some situation which has two sides of it: the localized or personal and a more worldly, mortal or universal. Alliances and perspectives become important, especially where we have made a choice under duress/stress which shows some sort of weakness.

The weakness itself may be valid or something easily coped with - that’s not the point. The point is how we feel about having chosen to ally ourselves with someone or something without yet knowing its/their true capacities... and that not knowing is what has set us up for whatever we feel now.

Again, this can be good... or it can be a problem. That depends on how well we deal with how we feel about reality - and separate from that, the realities of our emotions/emotionality and our own relationship (or ability to relate) to that.

There are two planetary ‘pictures’ in the chart for this transiting event, the first of which is a grand trine (above) which has our emotionality - for good or not - tied into things and bound up with matters which are ongoing whether we want them to be or not. With Vesta sitting in the degree (16 Scorpio) that Saturn went direct in back on July 20th, some part of what we are dealing with comes out of a ‘turn of events’ (or fortune, or a decision) made then.

Chiron retrograde in an emotional degree (15 Pisces) of an emotional sign tells us that when we do not know what to do we rely on inner instinct [Moon-Polyhymnia]... and yet at this point, something [Saturn at 18 Scorpio] challenges our ability to interact successfully with others.

Mostly such challenges are simply about who goes first. (We’re waiting for someone who is waiting on us.) But in certain circumstances there is so much grievance collecting and imagining of injustices (read: having forgotten one’s personal boundaries) that things could get very sticky.

Fortunately Full Moons are merely ‘a phase.’ Like teenagers, they move on.

Eventually, that is.

As for the other planetary picture, that’s a grand cross (or grand square).

...And though this grand cross doesn’t include the Moon or Sun, it does connect to the grand trine we just talked about - through Sirius/Juno, a combination which speaks to ‘brilliant management’ best realized by dealing with one thing at a time.

In opposition to Sirius/Juno stands Pluto (in retrograde) plus Hera (the quality of support) and fixed stars Facies (negative complications) and charismatic Vega. This is a recipe for complications, most of which will require that we not get overly frustrated (or panicked) in order to get through successfully.

So are we being brilliant in the cause of dealing with a problem? Or are we carrying on being brilliant when... (as was said in the film version of ‘The Wizard of Oz’)... when someone drops a proverbial house on us?

Alpheratz-Uranus in Aries speaks to interruptions of effort, a retreat of some kind or a very sudden feeling that something is ‘gone’ without notice or ‘gone too soon’ in some cases. In opposition to this, Charybdis-Atropos speaks to trying again - or ceasing to continue trying (shades of Saturn-Vesta!) depending on which mode you have been in, and this stopping or starting may well be all about timing, timing, timing as Mercury-Diadem indicates a stream of critically clarified perception. However... the degree of this conjunction (9 Libra) isn’t always all that directly productive - there is a strain of wanting to push others into doing something simply because you can’t be bothered to consider here.

This is also the degree Mars went direct in back in May, raising a second direct note (the other being Saturn) to events which have already taken place.

The degree 16 Pisces has a Sabian Symbol which reads as follows: the capacity inherent in all great sociocultural images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence.

Will we connect and unite or not? And if we do connect and become united, what belief will we allow ourselves to 'phase in' so that we can be and live united in something which fits us equally and all?
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