Full Moon In Virgo ‘23

Mars is coming up to the final steps of its post-retrograde shadow as the Virgo Full Moon culminates at 16°40' here in the UK on March 7th at 12:40pm

In this lunation, we have a full moon that is superficially focused on confident preparations whilst internally trying to convert beliefs into tangible measures. 

I feel this directly speaks to Saturn's ingress into Pisces (also happening tomorrow!) where the imaginal realm is given the chance to be materially expressed.

I will have more to say about this in another post, but for now, the energy of this full moon is pointing to a careful stewarding of our intentions and an admonition to beware of getting carried away with anything...

Here are a few more deeper thoughts on this. The Moon in Virgo is in the terms of Jupiter. The Sun in Pisces is in the terms of Mercury (as is Venus and Jupiter). Mars is in its own terms. Saturn is in its own terms, too, but just about to tip over into Pisces, which officially happens about 1 hour later.

So how to parse this? We could say that this lunation sheds light on the capacity for curiosity (Mercury) and broad-mindedness Jupiter, while the benefics bless any initiative in Mercurial inquisitiveness.

Mars can be said to be confidently retracing its steps in the air (I picture Howl walking with Sophie in the air in Howl's Moving Castle) as it prepares to move into new ground.

And Saturn leaves no stone unturned in its preparations to depart its home for the watery depths of Pisces.

So we have themes of curiosity, initiative, and preparation bubbling up to the surface--certainly qualities associated with Virgo as the home of Mercury. 

But let's have a look at the Twelfth Parts of this lunation chart. The Dodecatemoria, as they are classically called, refer to the micro-zodiac within each zodiac sign. So we can imagine within the sign of Virgo, 12 smaller subdivisions, each representing 1 sign of the zodiac.

When looked at this way, we actually see the luminaries flip--the Moon is in Pisces (in the terms of Mars) and the Sun is in Virgo (in the terms of Jupiter). 

Now we're getting an image of the full moon behind the full moon and the underlying energy of Jupiter, Mercury, and Mars stands out.

Since Virgo and Pisces are a polarity pair (the signs are 180° opposite one another in the zodiac) the image of each containing qualities of the other springs to mind, as in the Yin-Yang symbol.

The explicate Virgo Full Moon has a Mercury-Jupiter vibe including what astrologer Renn Butler calls "a sense of optimism" and "a gift for planning and negotiating." The danger, of course, is biting off more than one can chew.

The implicate Pisces Full Moon also has Mercury-Jupiter, but now with the added flavour of Mars. Here, Butler describes this confluence as "courage [and] impulses to put one's ideal into action."

The caveat here is beware of overstepping the practical and over-idealizing things in general.

Wishing you all the blessings of the full moon!