February/March 2002
Full Moon Reflections: 

Soul Centering
By Pythia Peay

Traditionally, the annual Virgo Full Moon opposite the Pisces Sun is a time to reflect upon the balance of energies between such Virgo/Pisces qualities as service and compassion, craft and inspiration, analysis and intuition. In other words, Virgo Full Moon is that time of year when we work to put solid foundations under our dreams and visions.

This year's Virgo Full Moon, however, spotlights the impending climax to the year's most dramatic astrological aspect:  the Saturn/Pluto opposition, exact on May 26th at 16 degrees Gemini/Sagittarius.  Indeed, a grand cross formation lights up the sky: Sun and Moon opposite each other exactly square a freshly forward-moving Saturn at 9 degrees Gemini, as well as a slow-moving Pluto at 17 degrees Sagittarius about to station retrograde.

Modern-day symbolists may see in this planetary arrangement an expression of specific archetypal forces at work. A grand cross, for instance, may signify an impasse or a feeling of impending crisis. Occurring in the mutable signs, the energies of this February grand cross may manifest as a surfeit of restless energy with no direction; a lack of focus and indecision; feeling scattered in too many directions; or becoming overly mentally stimulated.  Those who have mutable signs prominent in their charts may feel drained and 
overwhelmed by the nervous tension swirling in the atmosphere.

Yet in the symptom is the solution.  In their most evolved dimension, for instance, Virgo and Pisces represent the principles of healing through becoming whole. Thus one way to honor this potent Full Moon Mutable Grand Cross may be to concentrate on drawing together all the disparate, fragmented parts of yourself into a coherent pattern. You may wish to do this by imagining your life as a jumble of bits and pieces of colored tiles. In your creative vizualization, picture yourself carefully sorting through and reassembling these tiny tiles, until a beautiful mosaic begins to appear - a harmonious design that magically realigns the chaotic forces of your life.  Or, get paper and colored pencils and draw the various images flooding your consciousness - grounding the disembodied energies within your psyche into form and meaning.

Another spiritual technique you may wish to employ this Virgo Full Moon involves working with the breath. With the four mutable signs ruling the angles of my chart, I often find myself drawn in too many directions at once.  Healing medicine for me is to imagine myself seated in meditation at the center of the whirling mandala of my chart, breathing in the scattered energies, holding them in stillness, then breathing out peace and tranquillity to the four corners of my own world - and the world without. In this way, I anchor my soul to the fixed point within - the unchanging and eternal spirit that lies behind the fluctuating veil of everyday life. 

This is the ideal Full Moon to draw upon the timeless wisdom of the world's spiritual traditions. Take time to meditate in silence. Sit on your cushion and just breathe. Walk in the woods in aware mindfulness.  Stroll along the riverbank of your life, metaphorically speaking, and watch in calm detachment as the ever-changing river of your life passes by.  Like a sage Taoist master, move in harmonious rhythm with any unpredictable or disruptive energies - calming them through your inner peaceful energy.  Practice a kind of "astrological Zen Buddhism" by recognizing the fleeting impermanence of the ever-turning wheel of life. For by mastering the rhythm of the powerful cosmic energies this way, we become masters of life itself.