Building a New Mind

In the second full moon of August, the so-called “blue moon” that will occur next Wednesday, August 30th at 6:35 PM in California or 19:35 hours in Mexico City, we find two distinct themes: one around the full moon symbology of love and sacrifice¹ while the other continues the emphasis on relatedness we saw at the new moon. You may recall from the new moon write-up that Inanna (Venus) just came out from her stay in the underworld on August 21st, the day I’m writing these initial words. Venus is the planet of relationships and, as it begins to appear very low in the horizon just before sunrise, it brings light to the importance of establishing relationships based on love and compassion. And that includes the one with ourselves—especially so! Thus, the full-moon archetype of displaying brightly the maturation of the new moon seed may likely bring clarity to the intuitive knowledge gained while Venus was traveling through the underworld and we reflected on our own relatedness.

Virgo and Pisces

Any full moon interpretation should begin by discussing the sign polarities, and the Virgo–Pisces axis symbolizes times of crisis. The Virgo type is “characterized by his analytical and critical temperament, and by the urge to reorient or repolarize the essential energies of his emotional-personal nature”, according to Dane Rudhyar. Virgo represents a psychological crisis and may even represent ill health. But, it can also mean progression to a higher realm of consciousness and personal metamorphosis. Conversely, Pisces symbolizes a state of social and collective crisis. At this final stage of the zodiac, man finds himself swept by social storms against which he is powerless. He is controlled by the fateful consequences of the “sins” of his ancestors and, just as importantly, of his own past cycles as an individual.

In Virgo, man has to give up any personal limitations that bind whereas in Pisces he must give up what Rudhyar called “his allegiance to old gods and ancient laws” so as to “face the new God whose countenance is as yet unrevealed”. Another keyword for the axis is: service. Virgo is a most pragmatic sign so it will offer practical help while Pisces will offer empathy but also working with energies.

To Virgo, Spirit offers the gift of Tolerance, which is far deeper that adopting a “live and let live” attitude. It is not the absence of intolerance, either. The word originally meant “to bear”—mostly suffering—so we could say that it is about bearing the burden of the necessity for change and for growth. As Rudhyar beautifully writes: Tolerance is the ability to grow by becoming ever more inclusive.

Meanwhile, the gift of the Spirit for Pisces is: Courage. The Pisces individual has an exquisite sensitivity to the disintegrating surroundings felt at the end of any cycle. Upon that prospect, he can call his attention to all that is being lost, perhaps longing for past glories or even some semblance of stability. Or, he can prepare for the start of the next cycle in Aries, by severing ties to ancestral and cultural traditions that are weighing down—which requires courage. As Rudhyar emphasizes, the resulting seed of the cycle must be preserved, but only the seed, the quintessence, the spiritual harvest. All else must be cut away and surrendered.

On the Horizon

A person with a Virgo Ascendant will single herself out by her progressive transformations, her spiritual overcomings and even her bodily rejuvenations. In some cases, she will achieve much through a sense of humility and a will to serve her fellow human beings; in others, there will be criticism and an insistence upon technical achievements. There may be a deep yearning for purity and even sanctity which could lead to self-deception and unsound devotional attitudes. Although she is critical as an individual, she may be much too open as a lover or a partner, due to her Pisces Descendant. She longs to lose herself in a collectivity or a cause—cultural, ancestral, religious—where she can achieve the individual status of someone who has experienced a personal metamorphosis.

Someone with a Pisces Ascendant may be attuned to the collective unconscious—perhaps a medium or a true seer. She may, however, be a crusader of sorts: a leader of groups or even armies dedicated to a greater future for nations or humanity. This very openness to the unknown is balanced by partnerships of a critical type, as symbolized by her Virgo Descendant. She may demand endless metamorphoses of her loved ones, and rigorous discipline and a spotless conduct from her associates. With her vision absorbed by vast changes, she will often meet daily trivialities with impatience and meticulous care. Furthermore, she will seek to find intellect and accuracy of technique in her partners, or will display such Virgo characteristics in her dealings with others; all the while she relies on intuition for herself.

Sabian Symbols

If you look at the full moon chart, you can see Sun at Virgo 8⁰ (7⁰25′) which has the image: “A five-year-old child takes a first dancing lesson”, further explained as learning to use one’s capacity for emotional self-expression according to cultural standards. Its keynote is: Potentiality of Initiation. Meanwhile the symbol of Pisces 8⁰ (Moon) is: “A girl blowing a bugle”, expanded as a call to participation in the service of the race, as an evolutionary crisis approaches. Its keyword is: Summons.

I find it interesting that both symbols have children, symbolizing persons in The Path who still require guidance: a teacher or guru. The number 5 represents conscious manhood and so a five-year-old in Sun’s symbol refers to someone who consciously opens his (or her) mind to new perspectives. On the other image, a woman represents in traditional symbolism the biological and psychic aspects of human life, seen primarily as the nurturing or the intuitive (“psychic”) type of person. The latter could envision the development of a new consciousness and “sound the call”, for such an individual is both a seer-herald and an early mutant with the new consciousness. When combined with the new moon symbol of a prototypical holy man dedicated and concentrated on his spiritual transformation, the full moon reinforces the message of patience and faith in our evolutionary growth.

A Mind for the New Consciousness

Quite a while ago, I wrote about the meaning of the planets and we saw how Moon and Saturn form a complementary pair related to an individual’s consciousness. Saturn, you may recall, represents the form and structure of the conscious mind, what Carl Jung called the ego-complex: a hierarchy of cognitive faculties, namely thinking, feeling, sensing, and intuiting. On the other hand, Moon represents the emotional content of the conscious mind, mostly from perceptions, thoughts and memories. Moreover, we also saw that Saturn retrograde “opens” the door to the intuitive energy of Uranus.

Moon in Pisces represents the highest emotional sensitivities and behaves like a big antenna attracting compassion, universal love, and spirituality. Saturn, according to Heather Ensworth, is our “inner shaman” who guides us as we move between the conscious and subconscious realms, and between our current and our new levels of consciousness.

Together in Pisces, Moon and Saturn provide the needed energies to build a mind that can reach and hold subtler levels of consciousness by being attuned to universal love and compassion, one could call it a mystical type of mind. Beware, as the conjunction may overwhelm your emotions or stifle them, depending on whether the effects of Moon or Saturn are too strong. Either one can be avoided by focusing on the opposing energy (Virgo) to ground us.

Sun in Virgo adds realism and exactitude to the Moon and Saturn energies. Like the five-year-old who learns emotional self-expression by dancing, we must experience the spirituality in our body and not in a world of fantasy and escapism—the shadow side of Pisces. The initial “dance steps” are known: relate from the heart, feeling love.

Near Total Retrogradation

Practically every planet that can move in retrograde motion will do so in early September. Besides Saturn, Neptune and Pluto which have been retrograde for a while, Mercury began its retrograde motion on August 23rd, Uranus on August 28th, and Jupiter will do so on September 4th. Meanwhile Venus won’t return to direct motion until September 6th so all of them will be retrograde for a couple of days! Well, all of them except Mars who paid his penance last year with seven months in Gemini, a sign with “too much thinking!”—according to Mars.

All these planets going back to degrees already visited invite us to step back and reflect on what has been going on, although with Mars direct there will always be some action. As they retrace their steps, however, the planets will form aspects with our natal charts—transits—they already formed earlier in the year. Stay tuned to synchronicities that will present opportunities to reconsider or renew our past decisions.

Mercury, Jupiter and Uranus

Jupiter entered Taurus on May 16th, a sign that had been occupied by Uranus since early 2019. As you can see in the chart, Jupiter (Taurus 15°33′) will form a loose conjunction (8°) with Uranus (Taurus 23°04′) in early retrograde motion—the letters SR mean very slow (“stationary”) retrograde movement. Such conjunction will be exact at Taurus 21°50′ on April 20th² of next year, after both resume their direct motion.

This is a very important conjunction of the two planets that are most connected with the future. Jupiter represents new visions, that which we desire and strive to reach because we can “see” it, perhaps as a goal, a strategic plan or an ideal. Uranus, on the other hand, symbolizes new concepts and ideas that may lead to ideologies when combined with beliefs, perhaps driving people in a particular direction. The visionary and the idealist get together about every thirteen years and usher humanity to accept changes, this time around our relationship with Nature and the Earth (Taurus).

In astrology, we define the midpoint of two planets as the location in the zodiac bisecting the arc between them, it is a place where their energies blend. Strictly speaking, there are two midpoints located 180° apart; the one bisecting the shortest arc presents a blend similar to a conjunction—joint action—and the other to an opposition—awareness. The closest midpoint of Jupiter and Uranus will fall on Taurus 19°19′, forming an exact trine with Mercury at Virgo 19°18′! The second half of this lunation may be a prelude to next year’s conjunction and bring out the visionary and idealist in us, probably in the form of intuitions or dreams (Mercury retrograde).

These are stormy times and that must be acknowledged, for we are feeling massive changes, things are hectic everywhere and there is much darkness all around us. Our relationship with the biosphere is being transformed and we are asked to raise our consciousness and relate from our hearts, emitting the light of faith in a future with new visions and ideas founded on love.

Wrapping Up…

The current lunation cycle began with a two-fold message at the new moon: Venus would give us opportunities to reflect on our relatedness, how and why we form relationships, and Moon would provide a desire for patience and concentration in our evolutionary work.

At the full moon, Sun says that such work must begin consciously and practically, we must learn the first steps and dance to the tone of the new consciousness, which we may now reach and hold with the help of Saturn. Moon and Venus point at those first few steps: establish relationships of love and compassion, directly from the heart (Venus in Leo) and rooted in universal love (Moon in Pisces). Once again, this includes the relationship with ourselves.

Be especially aware of situations where you can ratify or rectify prior decisions, given the amount of rétrogradation available. You may also be in a reflective mood, able to change your mind about previous concepts or ideas. Take a moment, for this is the eye of the storm, the energies will come back over these same degrees once more, in direct motion, making sure that lessons are properly learned.

Always Love. 🌹🙏💝

1. To sacrifice literally means “make sacred”, from the Latin sacrificus, which combines sacra (sacred things) and facere (to make). ↩︎
2. A special day in the marijuana culture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/420_%28cannabis_culture%29 ↩︎