Full Moon in Pisces

Visions of Inactivity in a Time of Industry

Sep 15, 2024

The Full Moon and Sign Polarity

What is it about a Full Moon? Why does it seem so magical? Why might it make some people “crazy”? The astrological answer is in the illumination of the two “lights”, the Sun and the Moon, through opposite signs of the Zodiac.

The Zodiac can be viewed as 6 pairs of opposite signs, or polarities. The signs of each pair are poles of an axis whose function they both share and serve in contradictory, yet complementary, ways. For example, Taurus (birth) is at one end of the axis it shares with Scorpio (death), the sign at the other end. There’s a time for everything, including “a time to be born and a time to die”. It’s the natural economy, the way all values in Time are kept in balance with one another. A different value is toggled in each of the 6 polarities.

Sunlight is the light of conscious life, shining steadily on our thoughts and activities through a single sign for a whole month at a time. Moonlight is the light of unconscious life, reflecting our feelings, moods and dreams through signs that change every 2 - 2.5 days. While we are always functioning in the present in the objective clock time of the Sun, we may feel and dream of a remembered or imaginary past or future in the subjective dreamtime of the Moon.

During the days and nights when the Moon is Full, the Sun and Moon are in opposite signs, ‘speaking’ to us simultaneously from opposite poles of an axis. The Sun affirms conditions of the current moment. The Moon reminds us that there was or will be another moment in time with conditions exactly the opposite of whatever they are now.

The effect of the contrast between the opposing lights is a feeling of bittersweet poignancy as we experience simultaneous contradictory emotions. They are equally compelling. We seem to be stuck with one of them, while the other haunts us from somewhere out of reach. For relief from any discomfort from the effect, we can seek connection with the paradoxical center point between the two extremes, where they meet in timeless union and perfect peace.

In this series, we explore the Full Moon’s effects each month as the two lights confront each other across successive sign polarities.

Full Moon in Pisces: The Real Workplace vs. Some Other Place

When the Moon is Full in Pisces, the Sun is opposing it from Virgo. The two lights are illuminating the Virgo-Pisces axis, bringing us in touch with its complementary energies. The purpose of Virgo-Pisces is the maintenance of good health and proper function. The dynamic is that of Doctor & Patient or Maintenance/Repairman & Complex System.

Virgo, at the helpful end of this axis, is the skillful and busy sign of practical knowledge and clear focus on the real situation at hand. It’s all about the details of how a system is supposed to work, how to keep it working as it’s supposed to, and how to correct any malfunctions that may be preventing it from working as it’s supposed to.

Pisces, at the helpless end of the axis, is passive, unfocused, asleep or adrift in a dream world, unaware of any details. If conscious at all, it’s in a state of otherworldly enchantment that brings respite and may lend itself beautifully to spirituality or the arts. However, for all practical purposes, Pisces is more or less inert. Like a disabled patient or malfunctioning machine, it doesn’t/can’t work. It could be merely ‘switched off’ and temporarily at rest, as in normal sleep or meditation. But in some cases it’s broken or sick, in need of some sort of adjustment or repair to restore it to functionality.

The influence of the Virgo Sun puts us mentally in the practical and helpfully alert place of the fix-it person, the Doctor or the Maintenance/Repairman. We’re on the lookout for work that needs to be done, and when it’s a job for us, we do it with all the skill, concentration and accuracy we can muster. When the Moon is New in Virgo (barring interference from some other energy), our feelings are aligned with that, and it’s all pretty clear cut.

But the Full Moon in Pisces can bring up feelings and visions from our unconscious that contrast strongly with our conscious focus and effort. We may find ourselves busily occupied in a workplace, yet paradoxically preoccupied with thoughts of being somewhere else altogether.

We really need both work and leisure, so it’s best if we keep them in balance. If we’ve been getting adequate sleep and downtime while keeping up with our personal maintenance needs, the Piscean Full Moon may draw us gently into empathy with someone we’re helping, or it may remind us of reasons or rewards for our work, incentivizing rather than interfering with it.

But if our work seems pointless, or if we’ve been working too hard or too much (Virgoan extremes), the Full Moon in Pisces can set us up to be easily distracted from our tasks. We tend not to feel much like working then, and the Lunar energy beckons us to flip into the opposite, passive role to escape into Piscean extremes of fantasy.

Of course, escape isn’t a practical option. In the eternal spirit world we may need nothing, but as long as we are ‘doing Time’ on earth in physical bodies, we all have real needs to satisfy through some kind of work. There is reason to be glad that we can be useful in the world and be compensated somehow for our labor. Maybe conditions for ourselves or others could be better than they are, but almost certainly they could be worse. Maybe we can improve on them. For now, they are what they are, and so far we’re still alive. And so we continue to work as we need to, day by day to maintain physical life, and life goes on.