The Virgo Full Moon and the Fierce Feminine

Posted by Amanda Painter

feb25-2018

This week’s astrology peaks with the Virgo Full Moon on Thursday. This is the first Full Moon after the Aquarius New Moon eclipse, and therefore carries that event’s signature in some way — although it does so with a slightly different flavor, as Amanda Painter writes, thanks to the Sun and Moon being in new signs.

This week’s astrology peaks with the Virgo Full Moon on Thursday. This is the first Full Moon after the Aquarius New Moon eclipse, and therefore carries that event’s signature in some way — although it does so with a slightly different flavor, thanks to the Sun and Moon being in new signs.

feb25-2018

Photo by Amanda Painter.

As with all Full Moons, you may experience the sense of energy or emotions building, or an interpersonal situation that seems to be at a standoff. With the Sun and Moon in mutable signs, however, you might feel like there’s more wiggle room or flexibility available to you.

This could be especially worth tracking in terms of the youth outcry against the lack of gun control in the U.S. With the eclipse, a real seed seems to have been sown to change a cultural pattern of inaction on this issue.

By no means will the gun control problem come to its only peak or resolution within a month; it is far too complex for that. But I am curious to see what shape the current standoff takes this week. I suspect it’s highly likely that there will be further escalation of emotion and energy among the youth who are now fed up and demanding change.

This Full Moon has the Moon in Virgo opposite the Sun in Pisces (exact at 7:51 pm EST Thursday / 00:51 UTC Friday). You can think of this as the axis of manifestation: Pisces offers the vision and passion, and Virgo offers the way to make that vision tangible via intellect and method.

Yet the Sun and Moon are also making aspects to some interesting supporting cast members in this chart. For one, the Sun is flanked by Nessus and Neptune in Pisces. Neptune’s presence could increase the emotionality of this event, along with psychic sensitivity and a reminder to be honest with yourself — about how you feel, as well as about things like motives and who you are. Nessus heightens the ‘stop the buck’ quality of this Full Moon; noticing what is being reflected back to you by others could help you to get oriented if your sense what needs ‘stopping’ gets foggy. You’ll just want to remember the ‘reflective’ quality of a Full Moon: is it something about the other person or actually something within yourself that needs to be addressed?

Additionally, there are two intriguing ‘feminine’ bodies making harmonious contacts with the Sun and Moon during the Full Moon: Pallas in Taurus, and Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn. For one thing, having these bodies in earth signs should help with grounding all of the water-sign emotionality floating around this week.

Pallas and Black Moon Lilith also suggest that this Full Moon is both supporting and receiving on-the-ground support thanks to female independence. I’m thinking here partly about the widespread resonance of the speech made by Emma Gonzalez, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week. Her impassioned, determined call of “B.S.” with regard to the influence of the NRA and the resulting school shootings provides a clear link between the Feb. 15 eclipse and this Full Moon.

Black Moon Lilith is a little tricky to delineate, though I would offer this brief excerpt from Mystic Medusa’s book Bitchcraft: The Book of Lilith, as quoted in an article by Jill Miller that was published in the 2014 Planet Waves annual edition as a proposed, partial delineation:

feb25-1-2018

Simplified chart for this week’s Virgo Full Moon. Clockwise from upper-left: the Moon in Virgo; Pallas in Taurus; Chiron, Venus, Mercury, Neptune, the Sun, Nessus and Juno in Pisces; Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn; and Mars and Vesta in Sagittarius. The Sun, Moon, Pallas and Black Moon Lilith are in a loose ‘kite’ pattern. View glyph key here.

“Lilith is the sort of pure raw bitchcraft you have to draw upon in severe moments. The strength you suddenly summon post-breakup, unexpected career crap or when recovering from an abusive situation is Lilith. You know it when you feel it, right?”

To me, that passage describes the recent waves of women speaking up about sexual harassment and assault, as well as the youth of America calling for some actual action on gun control — with Emma Gonzalez suddenly its most recognizable face. Whether you are full-on plugged into this new call for action or whether you have your hands full with more personal matters, think for a moment about where you are receiving and offering support or assistance in moving something forward.

In what ways are you tapped into your body’s sensations (which offer a specific kind of wisdom), and what are they telling you? In what ways are you able to use existing structures to face your fears and channel your rage in the process of healing? What does your interdependence with women in your life look like currently?

I realize this might sound like a frighteningly volatile Full Moon, but I actually don’t think it is. My take is simply that it is deep: emotionally rich, intellectually focused, and buttressed by some fierce feminine archetypes. Granted, that description may very well be terrifying to anyone clinging to the patriarchy (or to their guns). If you’re feeling inspired to put your spirituality into action, however, this should sound inspiring.

Speaking of spirituality in action: I do want to mention that this week also features a series of events involving Venus, Mercury and Chiron in Pisces making square aspects together to the Galactic Core and Ixion in Sagittarius. It’s a fascinating pattern that appears to involve our heads, hearts, humanity, Source, ethics, awareness and healing.

In short, it looks like a reminder that spirituality and love need to be verbs. Sagittarius to Pisces is a square: an angle of action. Hopefully, as any fog dissipates from around the Full Moon, it’ll be even clearer how you can serve the higher good going forward.

4 thoughts on “The Virgo Full Moon and the Fierce Feminine

  1. Glen Young

    The Black Moon Lilith tricky delineation is spot on Amanda. Thanks again for another insightful look into the symbolism of the current astrology, that’s inside the Time & Space continuum of an eternal now of no beginning or ending. BML is at the end of a stellium in my fourth house of my deepest psychological sense of self. In the channeling of her rage in myself/others, to process a sense of healing, has been a life long journey of self realization and actualization. Eric calls it; ” the Art of Becoming”.

    1. Amanda PainterAmanda Painter Post author

      Thank you for that validation, Glen. BML is certainly a point I could stand to understand better — in general, and in my own chart. The original printout of my chart that I generally refer do does not have her in there, but I now know where she is.

  2. Glen Young

    Also for validation is your ‘Post Eclipse Surfing with Venus in Aquarius’ of group sex. Its seems to have appeared in the news as the Oxfam Humanitarian Aid sex abuse scandal in Haiti.

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