Sometimes a moment contains more than the present. Rites of passage (like graduations) especially tie up loose ends from the past while also providing a time to at least address the future. It looks as though this upcoming Pisces Full Moon on Saturday, shortly after 2:35 pm EDT (18:35:10 UTC) might be just such a moment for three planets — this year, next month and next year.
First off, this will be the last Full Moon with Saturn in Scorpio for nearly three decades hence. That’s saying something. You can’t be blamed for thinking that Saturn’s Scorpio tenure has been overly long.
In fact, the net amount of time Saturn spends in any one sign is very much the same as any other, about 2 1/2 years. In the case of this particular traversal, however, Saturn’s occupation of Scorpio has not been continuous.
This year so far Saturn has been oscillating in a very narrow corridor of the zodiac. By moving very slowly back and forth over the cusp separating Scorpio and Sagittarius, Saturn has set a trend, largely defining this as a transitional year.
It is thus fitting that Saturn in the penultimate degree of Scorpio, where it has been since July 4, should be very nearly at right angles (90 degrees of separation) with both the Virgo Sun and the Pisces Full Moon in opposition to each other. This configuration is called a T-square because of its shape. The upper part of the “T” is the Sun and Moon in opposite parts of the sky (and opposing on the zodiac circle). The lower part of the “T” is represented by Saturn in between the Sun and Full Moon – both in the sky and on the edge of the zodiac circle.
The angular relationship from Saturn to the Sun and Full Moon will be fitting to a theme of transition because the Sun and Moon will not be alone in their opposition. The Pisces Full Moon will be snuggling up to retrograde Neptune, while taking its opposition from the Sun. The Virgo Sun in turn will still be in a functional (albeit separating) conjunction with Jupiter while both Sun and Jupiter (for all intents and purposes) oppose the Moon and Neptune.
Long after the Sun and Moon move on from their opposition on Saturday, the T-square from Saturn to both Neptune and Jupiter will continue to be operational in a very broad sense for about a year. (Saturn will finally enter Sagittarius for the long run next month.)
Hence, with this Pisces Full Moon, a new trend (which will go a long ways towards defining 2016) will begin just as an old one (defining much of 2015) is nearing its end.
Last, but certainly not least, the Pisces Full Moon this weekend will represent a segue into an astrologically eventful September. Next month we will have the usual (but always momentous) equinox when the Sun enters Libra on Sept. 23. Unlike most Libra equinoxes, however, this one will take place during a Mercury retrograde in Libra, which begins on Sept. 17. There is also the not-so-small matter of eclipses.
A Virgo New Moon and solar eclipse will take place on Sept. 12 (or Sept. 13, depending on your time zone). The following Full Moon in Aries on Sept. 27 (or, for some of you, Sept. 28) will also be a total lunar eclipse. Between them, this upcoming pair of eclipses will serve to as bookends to the change of season the Libra equinox will most fundamentally represent.
It is therefore reasonable to say that the Pisces Full Moon this weekend will represent a rite of passage. It will herald your graduation from a long matriculation represented by Saturn in the final stage of its transition from Scorpio to Sagittarius. Additionally, and at the same time, you will be ushered into an eventful month, and initiated into an astrological pattern that will at least contribute to define (if not dominate) the astrology next year: the T-Square aspect from Saturn in Sagittarius to Jupiter in Virgo and Neptune (opposed by Jupiter) in Pisces.
Like most rites of passage, this one should be celebrated, not feared. That being said, however, the Moon’s proximity to Neptune this weekend would dictate festivities more sober than otherwise. So it is that you should be cautious with the use of alcohol or any other mind-altering substances over the next few days. You have a lot to look forward to, and you will want to get off to a good start.
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Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks Len, as usual right on the money.
Has everyone been feeling ‘shift’ going on? This one is definitely on an earthly plane for me and the very solemn, important task of shoring up future retirement plans. (aka – what am I really going to do when I grow up?)
I am quite anxious about it, but also crazily confident. I am leaning heavily on my early Capricorn North Node to steadily and relentlessly power through. And the universe adds in the kick of the market correction. I know these sound like first world problems, but that’s how this shift is affecting me.
Fe: Thank you. Yes, i’m feeling it, with empathy for your situation as you describe it. Set a timeline for yourself. Capricorn solstice 2017. Sun and Saturn enter Capricorn essentially together to conjoin your natal ascending lunar node. Have a specific goal in mind to attain by that day, and you will be in better shape than many others.
Thank you Len.
I believe the operatives, in the following order are:
1) Shape and refine goals
2) Set up and follow through on concrete accomplishments to attain them
3) Have it ready to go by Winter Solstice 2017.
My Capricorn NNode is telling me:
Be serious about your goals AND your belief in YOURSELF!!
Oh, I do love me a good rite of passage! Seems they’re plentiful these days. With Saturn stationed square my nodes after a long bout of restructuring so many other aspects of who I am I’m feeling this one so keenly. Big time shifting indeed, Fe. Not to say that hasn’t been constant for all of us for a long time now, but something is different about it in the past few weeks. And I dare say it does feel like it’s more on the earthly level.
Len, you are such an incredible teacher and we’re really frickin’ lucky to have you as a guide. Really, truly. Thanks for all you do!
Amanda: Thank you for being so kind. Please accept my sincere gratitude in return for your Sunday column here at Planet Waves (which has, more than once, given me a better start into the week to follow than i otherwise might have had). From what you describe (of Saturn stationed square your natal lunar nodes) this Full Moon (and the opposition of Jupiter to Neptune) is at least somewhat aligned with your nodal axis. If i’m correct about that, the recent ingress of Jupiter into Virgo might very well be a key correlation with what you have been feeling as “different” in the past few weeks. You might want to compare this feeling with what happened when Jupiter was last in Virgo (beginning approximately 12 years ago) to find information useful for you now.
Interesting, too, that next year’s T-square involves Saturn in Sagittarius square to both the ancient and modern rulers of Pisces.
Geoff: Excellent point. Please refer to Eric’s lead article in the weekly edition being published here today, where he looks deeply into into the eyes of the Jupiter-Neptune relationship as regards to this impending Full Moon and further.
Amazingly coincidental, Len. Looks like my Notes from the Future experiment seems to be working. Now for some lottery numbers…
For all of us living in the USA, another rite of passage, the end of the square transiting Saturn has made to the U.S. Sibly natal chart Moon. This latest span of time began mid June and ends on September 17 as Mercury starts his retrograde. Already we might sense a reduction in the pressure on our emotions as Saturn moves away from the exactness of that square. The next phase of this process will release all kinds of vibes on We The People as Super Moons and Eclipses bombard our senses into new awareness.
While Saturn squared the U.S Moon he also sextiled the U.S. Pluto in Capricorn where he reinforced hardline resistance to change in the prevailing world power order, simultaneous with restructuring lesser powers. That position remains in effect via the U.S. solar return chart until next July. After that, all bets are off. The next U.S. solar return will place Saturn less than 2 degrees from the U.S. Sibly ascendant in Sagittarius, and full into his square with Neptune, meaning Neptune will be square the U.S ascendant too, and a very unfocused sense of (U.S) self will hold sway as Saturn tries to maintain face.
Of course! 4 months after the U.S. 2016 birthday (solar return) we registered U.S. voters will be picking a replacement for President Obama and the world will await to see just what form will emerge from all the Neptunian shape-shifting that will transpire between now and then.
But before we get too far ahead, note the present U.S. solar return chart has Mercury at 24+ Gemini opposite Pholus at 23+ Sagittarius rx, and they both T-square Chiron at 21+ Pisces rx. Compounding the energy of that T-square in the U.S. solar return is the newly conjunct team of Jupiter and Venus in Leo making a trine with Solar return Pholus, a sextile with Solar Return Mercury and a quincunx with solar return Chiron. The 2 benefics seem to make life a little easier for Pholus (find that dayam cork!) than Mercury (stand by; incoming data), but something’s gotta give with Chiron (this will only hurt for a while).
These energies manifest as verbal gymnastics vs. lack of control, aided and abetted by bombastic Leo Jupiter and Venus, but at what cost says Chiron. U.S. Solar return Mars in Cancer squares U.S. Solar return Vesta in Aries who sextiles U.S. solar return Ceres in Aquarius conjunct the U.S. NATAL South Node which is quincunx the solar return Mars. (Saturday’s Full Moon chart Sun at 6+ Virgo completes a yod with the U.S. solar return Mars in Cancer and Ceres in Aquarius) This pattern has been providing energy for the homeland’s western fires as well as hapless politicians fighting the unstoppable Donald.
Along comes transiting Neptune in September (2015) to complete a yod with U.S. solar return Vesta and Ceres, and trine solar return Mars. This might put out the western fire threat but can it dampen the enthusiasm for Donald Trump? Trans. Jupiter by then will be opposite trans. Neptune and both forming a T-square with U.S. natal Uranus in Gemini so it’s anybody’s guess.
In April-May-June 2016, when the transiting Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune T-square is at it’s peak, and trans. Uranus has returned for his 2nd conjunction to U.S. Chiron, I wonder if we will even recognize ourselves. The Masons have a rite of passage for their officers called Moving Through The Chairs, the chairs being the various offices a Mason holds from the lowest to the highest, and it takes 7 years to complete that rite of passage. I’m wondering if the 7 squares between Uranus and Pluto were trying to tell us something like that is happening to humanity. If so, June, 2019 will be 7 years from the 1st of those 7 squares and Uranus will have moved into Taurus.
We should check that out don’t you think Len? Only weeks before the 2019 U.S solar return? Or maybe better, the 7th year after the LAST conjunction? That would be March 2022, when U.S. Pluto is having it’s return (conjunct trans. Pluto) and trans. Neptune is opposite U.S. Neptune! .
be
Barbara (be): Thank you for the head’s up regarding the last days of transiting Saturn’s aspect to the USA (Sibly) Moon. May the passing of that transit result in an America better for the experience of stern Saturn trying America’s good heart. Thank you for the look ahead as well. Hopefully voters in the USA will be better than to pick a blow-dried blowhard bully for our next president.
Here’s a question for you, Barbara. How long would you say a solar return chart holds sway. All the way until the next birthday? Or do the solar return chart’s anticipations gradually dissipate as the year progresses and the reality of what was only potential at the previous birthday gradually takes form?
And yes, given the graphics on the back of a US dollar bill, we should look ahead to (and as you put it “check out”) that “seventh chair” date. Off the top of my pointy head (and using my intuition prior to studying the matter in depth – which i intend to do) i would say the June 2019 date FEELS more resonant than the March 2022 date. i will look into that and see if my first intuition holds up to further research. Thank you!
Regarding solar returns Len, I think both. I do think there is progress (movement) but that the imprint of the exact aspects and degrees of a solar return stays vital the whole year, you know, like the way a birth chart is always the birth chart, even though the planets do progress and life isn’t static. Maybe we could think of it as a mini-re-birth every year and then the solar return becomes an overlay of the birth chart itself. Any aspects the SR makes to the natal chart will emphasize growth or challenge or support of that natal planet or aspect.
Let me know of any intuitive or cogent thoughts you have regarding the 7 year passage following those 7 squares Len. The June 2019 date coincides with Uranus’ 2nd ingress of Taurus, which is exact on March 6th, the same day as the Pisces New Moon. Transiting Chiron will have just made his 2nd ingress of Aries at the time of that Pisces New Moon.
The first Uranus-ingress-Taurus will have taken place on May 15th, the same day as the Taurus New Moon (where transiting Sedna resides for now), and just as Chiron enters Aries for the 1st time. First ingresses, when there are two, seems (to me) to assess the situation, retreats to complete unfinished business in previous sign, and returns to new sign with a plan to deal with what the assessment revealed. Well anyway, that’s how I would handle it if I were a planet!
be
May 15, 2018 not 2019, is when the 1st Uranus ingress to Taurus takes place. Sorry for leaving that out./be
With Saturn in Scorpio on my 2nd house cusp the value of money and possessions as security in my life has been completely worked upon, and quite literally torn down. With any manner of materialism and my trying to keep this sense of self as a form of comfort during this period, it no longer worked. Period. I am aware during this transition that I called to myself, it seemed no matter what I tried, and often times the more i tried, it was like hitting my head against a wall. My Soul pushed me towards finding true self worth, even though still at times it remains counter to what much of our 3D society holds highest in value and weight..Money!!
It has been a difficult journey, but so many blessings in faith and trust along the way. Having been shown again and again i am loved and provided ..for come what may is the same passage I am now celebrating I have advanced in color. The brightness i found of inner strength in my creative expression and gifts of my 1st house. Here the value and possession were veiled for so long, hidden away. Yet during this passage, i began to recognize and emerge in me.
A time of challenge in survival, although I would not trade these past three years. What i have lost, i have gained 100 fold in inner worth. This is the greatest possession, a treasure, a value that can never be hidden, or once realized taken away.
Particularily in these last weeks of Saturn moving on, i am feeling there is now nothing I cannot attain in my life, accept, make, or be proud of in finding my purpose and contributing to the collective good. I am feeling quite invincible, and confident. Which is a fundsmental change in me. Most of all I am feeling so much gratitude and love for Saturn’s visit and this miraculous time.
Sorry for the long message, but you called it Len, it’s a rite of passage afterall. For your kindness, insight, and guidance along the way. Always I am so thankful to you.
P. Sophia: Thank you for sharing your inner journey in such an evocative manner. Please do not apologize for the length of the message – every word is golden. Each expression of your experience in your comment here today calls to mind a planet, or a centaur, or some other object which has manifested in my own experience – Saturn and otherwise. You have illuminated much of the solar system in your comment here today, and it is much appreciated. i’m especially grateful that you found my choice of a theme for the Pisces Full Moon to be resonant and authentic for you.
Thank you Len, very much and as Fe says..’on the money’ completely.
I am feeling all the ‘wobble’ of the Full Moon having woken from troubling dreams this morning, and having the thought..I know NOTHING…and crying about this sense of void/lack/emptiness.
I can recognise this as a rite of passage having had this experience time and time again in my life. so there’s some comfort in that, but it doesnt feel good!
Saturn has, no doubt, more to teach me. It has been squaring my Venus for a long time now, from 5th to 2nd ….themes of love of self and others and self value.
P.Sophia – yours are uplifting words and it sounds like you have made massive leaps in your sense of worth over recent times. Good on you:-)
beleclaire: i know nothing about dreams or dream interpretation, so i dare not speak to that. But i do know i’m grateful to you for your supportive comments (and for being supportive of P. Sophia as well). i do hope your dreams will take a more comforting course as the Pisces Full Moon passes its peak, leaving Jupiter and Neptune (along with Saturn) to commune with your natal Venus to further your personal evolution.
beleclaire, you could maybe google melanie reinhart and contact her through her website. She once told me from 6 i knew I knew nothing (absolutely true), linked to 12th house mercury? mercury transits (at least 15 years ago – I’m hazy), it may be that she could point you to some cycle or reading matter. Maybe.
Otherwise I still know nothing, but the emphasis changed to whom am I and what is my place in the world and back to not knowing. Mostly this is like a duck floating on water bobbing up and down with the waves, but I also felt that bereftness again today so it may be linked to the full moon or the nodes or my libra moon, or just where the lives of others touch mine.
Wishing you all the best beleclaire – I know nothing, and, i KNOW nothing, are other emphases, and sometimes knowing nothing is knowing something, or at least knowing what you don’t know and then you know something. Sometimes knowing nothing enables you to hear or see clearly (without preconceptions), or to hear a true note because there is nothing else but that, and occasionally knowing nothing is full with whatever you need to know – being open to what you don’t know and somehow that is the same as knowing it.
These are things that come to mind straight a way, you’ll find your own!
Sorry to gatecrash Len… if you look at my historique I read lots of articles here and appreciate them too! (Don’t always have anything to offer to the discussion)
xxxp
(would it be chiron in the mix?)
beleclaire, you could maybe google melanie reinhart and contact her through her website. She once told me from 6 i knew I knew nothing (absolutely true), linked to 12th house mercury? mercury transits (at least 15 years ago – I’m hazy), it may be that she could point you to some cycle or reading matter. Maybe.
Otherwise I still know nothing, but the emphasis changed to whom am I and what is my place in the world and back to not knowing. Mostly this is like a duck floating on water bobbing up and down with the waves, but I also felt that bereftness again today so it may be linked to the full moon or the nodes or my libra moon, or just where the lives of others touch mine.
Wishing you all the best beleclaire – I know nothing, and, i KNOW nothing, are other emphases, and sometimes knowing nothing is knowing something, or at least knowing what you don’t know and then you know something. Sometimes knowing nothing enables you to hear or see clearly (without preconceptions), or to hear a true note because there is nothing else but that, and occasionally knowing nothing is full with whatever you need to know – being open to what you don’t know and that is the same as knowing it.
These are things that come to mind straight a way, you’ll find your own!
Sorry to gatecrash Len… if you look at my historique I read lots of articles here and appreciate them too! (Don’t always have anything to offer to the discussion)
xxxp
pam: please feel free to “gatecrash” any time you want. You comments are always supported here, and your support of beleclaire is appreciated even more. My choice not to engage in dream analysis for any dreams but my own is (as Melanie Reinhart one put it) “a boundary issue”. Among other things, being an astrologer means staying within my proper boundaries so that my service does not become a disservice.
Dear beleclaire, just read your comment and thought I’d add something too. it sounds as if the repetitive sense of void you experience is old trauma that you’re carrying . You already know this feeling well – so maybe you could try to gently open up to it and flood that part of you with love and compassion. This seems to be the right time to do this sort of work – with this challenging but extraordinary full moon.
Thanks Pam…good call, tr Chiron transiting my MH at the moment and tr Uranua squaring Asc/Desc axis ..a big shake up!
Saturn has been degrees away from my natal moon/saturn for EVER and i’m getting the sesnse that we’re done with the dredging and feeling my way through a lifetime of hurt … my heart (what i’m calling my hurt locker) is feeling this radical new energy and i’m so grateful. Feels like self-love was buried underneath.
A 2nd Saturn return … I believe i made it!
Thank you, Len and all of you here who shared yourselves with me.
M2
Mary: Thank you so very much for sharing your own experience with transiting Saturn. Having the natal Moon involved with a Saturn return is not an easy road (i speak from personal experience). As Robert Hand put it (about transiting Saturn conjunct natal Moon): “The strict justice of Saturn does not blend well with the need to be human, as signified by the Moon.” Given all that it appears a though you owe yourself a pat on the back for having made a good show of trying transits. Now, please allow yourself to graduate with the full honors your deserve for having made this rite of passage your own.
Bless you, Len. The pats on the back feel very perfect. 🙂
Happy full moon, happy graduation to you.
M2
Hello Lizzy thank you for your kind and helpful comments…and a big hug through the ether to you
Yes you are quite right, it is old trauma which I have been working on for 11 years now ( whoa ). Spending some time with the full moon chart today I can see it’s shining a light on old synastry patterns.
Hope you had a good Summer::}}
Hello Pam
Thank you so much for all you helpful words which I have only managed to ‘see’ properly today.
Pluto is making its 3rd square to natal Mercury so you are spot on with your suggestion to look at Mercury transits.
I learnt lots from Melanie during my astro studies and will take a (re) look at some of her CPA books.
Thank you Len, thank you beleclaire, love to you Lizzy – don’t know what you are facing but when I was living with someone who asked for example the same question a zillion times I decided to never reply with the same answer and the answer always had to be sincere and ‘true’ – it took the frustration out of it somehow.
Thank you sweet Pam!