A Moment for Healing: Astrology for March 12, 2017 Full Moon in Virgo

This month’s full moon in Virgo is an illumination of where we currently are in our ongoing processes of healing. For the last six years or so we have all been experiencing the effects of Neptune and Chiron in Pisces. Pisces, the opposite sign of Virgo (and where the sun and Mercury currently are as well,) symbolizes the space of our collective experience and ultimate oneness. This current full moon is an opportunity for each of as individuals to attend to a deeper layer of healing which will, in turn, contribute to the healing of our planet and all who reside here. The full moon is in challenging aspect to Saturn in Sagittarius and we are all being asked to show up and meet our lessons head-on, behave with integrity, and keep our eyes on the prize.

To learn more, listen my 30-minute podcast about the astrology for this full moon. In this edition I explain how the full moon is reflecting a longer process of healing and the last 2 years of personal growth and strengthening. In addition to my astrology podcasts I offer bi-monthly guided embodiment meditations. These meditations are meant to help you make the most of the astrological energy and take care of yourself during current transits. Listen to this week's guided meditation and use the horoscopes below to bring inspiration into the next two weeks as we travel from full moon back to new moon.

This magical full moon image was made by  Janna Dorothy

Are you interested in participating in community through shared dialogue, peer support, and a task-based approach to embodying ethics and creativity? Check out Doing Theory, an experimental, online learning community and expanded network of artists, activists, and seekers of a better, more equitable future. This year our topic is Learning To Love More. We are exploring the contemporary ethics of nonviolence through collaborative learning, personal practices and direct actions.

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These horoscopes are written partially as affirmations. Affirmative thinking and speaking are a form of magic that works through magnetism. If your horoscope affirmation resonates with you, print it out and place it somewhere visible for the next two weeks. Repeat it to yourself often and notice how the magic works. I suggest reading horoscopes for both your sun and rising signs. If you’re interested in a more personalized approach to your astrology you can schedule a reading here.

I offer these horoscopes and podcasts free of charge. If they are helpful for you please MAKE A DONATION and support  this work!

ARIES
What is yours to sort out, make sense of, and bring order to? What jobs are yours to do? In what ways are you useful and what good does that do for everyone else? These are some of the questions that come with this full moon which illuminates your day-to-day life, jobs and tasks that you may or may not be compensated for, and the areas of life in which you are here to serve.
You want to feel useful and apply yourself, yet the ways that you do must not only serve others, they must also serve your ambitions and goals. You also want to feel that you are connecting to something greater and grander in your jobs/service as well as your more deeply felt ambitions (they may be the same, or share some elements.)
There is a growing sense of mystery that can’t be contained in the plans you make or the tasks you perform. This feeling may be a far-away sensation that comes through in your dreams and shadows, it could be a heightened sense of faith or longing to experience divine essence, or maybe it’s a pull towards the kinds of creative expression which allow you to let go of your small self and feel something bigger. Whatever it is, this mystery is an important part of your healing currently.
The trick for you right now is to figure out how to bring form to what’s formless, and how to embody the essence of mystery in everything you do. If it seems like a paradox or puzzle, that’s because it is. We are not put on Earth to know the answers or control the master plan. We are here to respond and use the gifts given to us to express our hearts. The issues that may seem frustrating and tedious right now are made of the same stuff that makes dreams, art, and God.
Your full moon affirmation is, “I attend to my tasks as if each one holds the key to the universe. I am steady and unwavering in my mission, whether or not I know exactly what it is.”

TAURUS
It will be good for you to meditate on the creative instinct and essence this full moon. Consider all the things you think creativity is: What makes it? Who owns it? Is creativity synonymous with unique? Is everyone creative? What are the benefits? What are the dangers? Consider your personal relationship to creativity: Do I think of myself as a creative person? If so why? If not why? Is my creativity specific or multidisciplinary? Does my creativity exist only in certain spaces and times, or is it a lifestyle?
The answers you come up with should hopefully provide you with further provocation to explore them deeper and in multiple ways. In fact, I would go so far to suggest that you make these considerations a daily practice for the next two weeks. With everything that you do, everything you think, speak, or express in any way – consider what, if anything, feels creative about it.
Without wanting to give you any answers, I’ll just say that my personal belief is that creativity is the essence of the universe, Earth, and whatever name you want to put on God. The ability to imagine, formulate, and reformulate anything – from a thought to an object, to a relationship – is a special kind of magic that for the most part goes unnoticed.
This full moon is bringing a lot of energy and attention to spaces you share with others: Intimate spaces that make you grow and require your discipline; Collective spaces that hold all the feelings, instincts, and drives we share in our many cultures and greater world. Whatever you’re picking up on these days, and I’m sure it’s a lot, don’t worry about making sense of it for anyone else. Your job right now is to be as present as you can with the ways you sense energy moving through your relationships and environments, and then practice consciously choosing what to do with it. Your full moon affirmation is, “I have creative genius and I use it wisely.”

GEMINI
The sensation of safety can be a double-edge sword. It is, on one hand, completely crucial for balanced emotional and mental health, necessary for any relationships to thrive, and a vital component for sustainable anything. On the other hand, safety can become its own danger. It can keep us from moving towards our true desires for fear of loss; it can breed complacency and stagnancy; and it can confuse our priorities in profound ways.
Humans are made to be adaptable. We’re made to shift, rearrange, accommodate, and evolve. Our nature though is to seek balance and happiness. So it makes sense that if we find moments or situations that feel like they could be dependable, we might be quite reluctant to upset anything. However, we’re also made of constantly moving materials. Even if outer circumstances are fine, we have all kinds of thoughts, feelings, and body predicaments that will inevitably create change. And if we happen to be in any relationships at all… well, change is a given.
You may be experiencing some nervousness right now on the home front. And by home I don’t necessarily mean your house, I mean the place(s) where you retreat to and find nourishment and safety. It may feel that the demands of your relationships, and your shifting desires are completely contrary to your instinct for statis. And, this is in fact true.
The thing is though, that there is more going on than this tension. You are also starting to open up, perceive, receive, and heal in the parts of your life that deal with your leadership and ability to go for the things you want. The ways you are developing into your own agency are not about being comfortable, they are about taking risks and climbing higher. They are about letting people in in different ways and allowing yourself to be seen.
You should of course, make wise decisions that care for your body, mind, heart, and spirit. That said, if something or someone right now is feeling scary because you’re being pushed to grow in some possibly uncomfortable ways... try and see this as an opportunity to expand your horizons. The lesson of this moment is to figure out how to remember a sense of your own safety even when free-falling into the unknown. Your full moon affirmation is, “When I let go of attachments to outcome I find safety and growth.”

CANCER
Details, details, details. They never end. They come one after the other, multiply as you age, expand with each relationship, and are infinite no matter where you look. It’s all in the details, they say about work, relationships, and finishing anything. Details make or break communication. Attention to detail determines value, functionality, and efficiency. There are so many details, everywhere, all the time.
Your life currently might seem like a mess of details. Figuring out how to sort and make sense of them is something that you’re probably much better at now than you were two years ago. Yet currently it might feel like you’re back at the beginning. In regards to communications of all kinds, and close relationships such as neighbors, colleagues and siblings, discerning what is a detail to pay attention to and what is going to be a waste of your time is especially pressing right now.
This full moon is an invitation to remember how details make the whole picture. It’s a call to see the universe in a grain of sand; the ocean in one drop. This full moon wants to remind you that for every detail there is a greater whole it comprises, and all the details together is profound unison, even when individually they may feel fragmented. This full moon calls you to open your eyes a little wider and take more in, but also to let your vision soften so that you can be less specific.
Treat every detail is a space for release. Pick something up and remember it will fall again, then laugh about it. Isn’t it funny how we get so hung up on trying to create order when the everything-ness is constantly chaotic! Letting yourself appreciate the wholeness in the details is, right now, the essence of your healing and spiritual growth. Remember that you don’t need to look very far to see that we’re all part of the same thing. Your full moon affirmation is, “The details create the whole. I am a detail in the whole of all things. I love how we all depend on each other.”

LEO
The big questions for you right now my friend are these, “Is this worth it?” – "Does this (whatever it is) provide as much value to my life as it takes to sustain? Am I energetically and financially compensated for how I create in the world? Do I feel valued and supported in the many ways I give and share with others? What is the appropriate use of my time and vital energy? Am I, or have I been, giving too much? Do the ends justify the means?"
This full moon is bringing illumination and reflection to the part of your chart that symbolizes value and resources. Currently, and for the last few years, there has been a huge amount of movement in the ways you perceive and receive resources from others. Hopefully you’ve become less rigid and more generous. Hopefully you feel more equipped now to ask for what you want and need; more confident in your ability to create and show up for your creations; and more willing to see how letting others into your process can make the whole thing better.
The growth you’ve been experiencing is not over though, you still have a bit to go, about eight months to be exact. In November you will begin a new cycle that is about applying yourself in new and different ways, refining your services, and strengthening your skills. Until then you are still in a cycle of determining how to best channel your energy into what it is that is uniquely vital for you to express.
Between now and then you must honestly examine how you use your energy, and where it gets depleted. Intimate relationships and arrangements that have to do with shared finances, inheritances, debts, sex, and death are the main points for examination. It is important for you to see clearly how your own confidence and healthy boundaries serve the health of your relationships. It is important for you to feel enough pride in who/how you are that you understand it is an act of love to lay down a line in the sand.
This isn’t about shutting anyone out or getting rigid. This is about really understanding what you need to keep your energy flowing in the ways that will best serve everyone, and not being afraid to make the necessary arrangements to ensure those needs are met. Your full moon affirmation is, “I am a valuable resource. I see myself as such. I heal all relationships that have made me think otherwise. I feel valued and supported by others.”

VIRGO
Identity is always shifting isn’t it? You thought you were one way at some point, and here you are now feeling something different. Probably not too long ago you looked different than you do now; you had different priorities and values; listened to different kinds of music; wanted to eat different kinds of food. You’ve changed a lot haven’t you? Yes you have. Think of all the ways the details of you are constantly a work in progress.
Out of all the many forces that change and shape us as humans, relationships with other humans are some of the strongest. Every adult has at some point felt the power of deep love, the hurt of deep loss, the frustration of conflict, the manipulation of jealousy, and the freedom of trust. We are here to grow each other. What else we are here for, no one really knows.
This full moon is a reflection on your identity and the relations that have shaped it. This full moon is a mirror for you to examine each detail that makes you unique, and remember how it has been effected or even caused by another person. This full moon is an illumination of the ways you form yourself, lose yourself, and find yourself again and again through those who touch your life.
You have been working hard these last few years to strengthen and steady your sense of home and safety. Challenging as this may have been at times, this has been good work and I hope you can see how your determination and persistence is starting to pay off. I hope that this grounding is now felt as a positive growth factor for you as an individual and all of your meaningful relationships. I hope that your sense of personal belonging has erased the question of what others’ fluctuations might bring.
I invite you to consider where you have come from. I invite you to honor the past and the forces that have created the present. I invite you to soften around anything that feels like grasping or fear in your relationships and remind yourself that we are all, always, in a state of becoming. Give yourself and others the room to grow. Your full moon affirmation is, “I am all that I’ve been looking for. Thank you for helping me find myself.”

LIBRA
In yogic philosophy there are five causes of suffering, they are: improper perception, attachment to pleasure, aversion from pain, the “I” feeling, and fear of death. According to the sages, if we are seeking liberation we should approach resolving the causes of suffering in the opposite order that they occur.
Fear of death is biological. Our evolution as a species is dependent upon the reflexes that keep us from jumping over cliffs. Conquering the fear of death isn’t a small task. However, there are many ways we fear death that have nothing to do with actual survival. The fear of endings and change, otherwise known as fear of the unknown, is the the primary way many of us embody this fear. And of course, with each ending and change, we will cease to exist as we knew ourselves before. The “I” will become something different… and undoubtedly at some point the “I” will become irrelevant. As soon as we start to examine this fear of losing ourselves, we find the answers to the other three causes.
One of the main reasons we fear the unknown is because there might be pain. We don’t know for sure, but there might be… This fear forgets though that we’ve already lived through pain and survived. Maybe the pain we experienced in the past is actually now something we realized was essential. But then what about losing what we love? What about the things that feel good now? Attachment to pleasure is it’s own special kind of pain – do you remember and see how pleasure becomes normal so fast that we forget it was pleasurable to begin with? So what is this constant grasping? It’s also inevitable that pleasure will come again.
When we come to improper perception we see the crux of the issue. Humans have ridiculously small perspective and equally small lives. We see something or someone, give it a name, and then think it will be that way forever. We trap existence into our narrow-minded assumptions of permanence. We improperly perceive that the world around us was somehow made for us, and forget that we are here to be part of the making.
May this full moon be a steadying of your mind that comes from clear perception. May you embrace the unknown and honor the small deaths and births of each moment. Your affirmation is, “My mind is at its best when it’s not trying to control anything. Then I am open to inspiration.”

SCORPIO
Having a broad vision is essential. In terms of being able to imagine your current conditions in relation to possible futures, keeping a broad vision allows you to contextualize whatever the present is and keep moving towards what you want to create. Because life, as we all know, is unpredictable, having a broad vision can make or break your ability to adapt and shift with the flux of change. Further, having a broad vision keeps you humble. It keeps you responsive and relational with the larger contexts and bodies around you. It keeps you from making foolish mistakes based on arrogance.
However, it’s also important to be discerning and precise. It’s important to know specifically what your aims are, so that when you shoot towards them your course is on target. It’s important to see that within the broad possibilities, there are many details that all need to come together. It’s important to apply yourself with persistence, dedication, and the willingness to be critical when that is what’s called for.
This full moon brings up the balance between letting go and holding on; between taking it all in and choosing just a bit; between the everything and precise. This full moon is a reminder that with an abundance of information and feelings to sort through, it’s important to keep in mind what your larger vision is. This full moon is a reflection of the ways you can heal through the surrender, and how surrender can create forms of the future. This full moon illuminates all the feelings, instincts, desires, passions, and pleasures… it yanks on the yearning and prods the purging. But it does so for you to get clearer, quieter, and calmer about what is to come and the part you have to play in it.
In figuring out of how much to take vs what to hold out for, you will find the answers to the questions you’ve been asking about sustenance. Choosing what to prioritize in the future and how to honor the needs of right now is a balance that we all have to face in our own ways. One word of advice though… you don’t have to know how it will turn out. You can keep your eye on the prize, but don’t do it at the expense of expressing your life, and your love, right now. Your full moon affirmation is, “My life is part of something much larger than I can see. I navigate my course by trusting my joy.”

SAGITTARIUS
You are created from that which you come from. Where you go in life is determined by where started. What you do, you do with what has been given to you. This full moon reflects the axis of origin and destination. It is a reflection on the way you’ve become the ideas that you were born with. It illuminates the ways you change what you came from by telling the story of where you arrive. This full moon is an honoring of yourself and the ways you have distinguished your own path, as well as an honoring of those who put you on the path.
The last few years have been a struggle to define yourself in many ways: what you want, how to prioritize, how to advocate for yourself, and how to embody your truth. You have made a lot of progress to be sure. You are in a remarkably different place than you were when this process began. Hopefully you are starting to feel more integrated, confident, and clear about who you are and how you want to be.
There is however, the desire to lose all the lines around yourself and feel instead that you are held and part of something greater. There is a yearning for home and belonging in the deepest, most emotionally poignant ways. There is an inescapable desire for boundarylessness and sharing that sometimes seem to be completely at odds with the questions of autonomy and self-determination that have been such a huge theme.
Perhaps it will help to look very objectively at the place we all call home. Perhaps you can provoke yourself to remember that no matter how you might self define, or advocate for your self-definition, you will never really leave home, or be left. Perhaps you also might remember that what you do and how you create will in turn become your home.
Is there something that you are longing for right now, some craving for ambition or a goal you want to reach for? Don’t let yourself be fooled that you have to choose between reaching for what you want and having support beneath you. Remember that the home you want for yourself in the future is created by the person you are in the present, and that you are not bound to the needs or expectations of those who came before you. Your full moon affirmation is, “I easily release what keeps me constricted and disempowered. I joyfully become what I am here to be.”

CAPRICORN
The process of learning is not a linear thing. Even in elementary education there is a complex and holistic nature to learning the alphabet: one has to reduce non-defined feelings into small parts and set forms; one has to learn to go from A to Z and accept the order of the letters in between. There is a misperception though, that defining forms and putting our impulses into structures needs to be at the expense of creativity. There is some confusion that many of us feel in regards to how rules can actually create pathways for freedom.
This full moon is a reflection on your learning process. It is an illumination of the languages (verbal and non) that you have used to become what you are. It is a ponderance of the ways in which you keep yourself stuck, or under illusion. It is an invitation to graduate to a higher grade, to shift your thinking, learn some new vocabulary, and develop critical skills that will eventually serve the liberated self-definition you crave so deeply.
In this current moment you may be coming to a head with deep frustration or issues that feel very young and childish. This energy might feel encompassing and inescapable – you may actually feel like you’re drowning in it. But please remember that the parts of your brain where these instincts reside are not the same parts that recognize linear time. Just because the feelings are as strong as they ever were doesn’t mean that progress hasn’t been made.
In fact, certain sensations pushing to the surface are cues that you’re ready to advance to the next level of development. When you cease to feel gripped, fearful, overwhelmed, and start to feel bored and redundant you know you’re at the right place. What’s called for now is to take a moment as your own mentor. Think about what words of wisdom you might offer the inner child who’s frustrated and confused. How can you example willingness to be uncomfortable while maintaining faith in eventual progress? Your full moon affirmation is, “I am the teacher and the student. I easily perceive the lessons I am here to learn. I courageously move forward towards my own growth.”

AQUARIUS
In myths and legends worldwide there are stories of magical strangers. These folks somehow find you on your path, and through some kind beckoning, trick, or advice influence your course completely. Sometimes their influences are benefic and lead to pleasures and thrills. Sometimes their influences are malefic and lead to hardship and strife. As many of the myths remind us though, we are the ones who have the capacity to determine whether or not to take what they have to give. And of course, whether we do or do not take what they give isn’t always the answer is to whether or not we experience pain. The ultimate lesson though, is that when we meet these folks there is no avoiding the teachings and tests they have to give.
However… many of these myths also advise prudence and mindfulness on our own behalf. Misfortune is inevitable if we see the strangers as objects to our own aims rather than beings worthy of respect in their own right. We are bound to encounter disaster when we don’t listen to our own moral codes, and surely will lose our way if we go off after a quick fix.
This full moon holds the essence of these fables for you. It is an illumination on the messengers who come in the guise of someone who has something to give you. It is a remembering that our lives are short, and even if you think you know someone well, they might be a magical stranger too. They may have money, sex, resources, or tools that you need. Or do you? This full moon asks you to consider the reasons you say yes and no. It asks you to be courageous in defining how you share and what you take. It asks you to stay honest, upright, and impeccable with your word.
What you are learning right now has everything to do with your own value, and how you create and maintain value in your life. This is self-esteem, finances, and all the means you need to survive and thrive. Healing and growth come through the ways you recognize the value that others bring you is mirrored in your own being. The same can be said for pain. If you think that someone else is responsible, it’s important to look at the ways you provoke, maintain, and perpetuate the same things. Learning these lessons has everything to do with your place in society as a whole, and the future we all share. Your full moon affirmation is, “Pain for another is my pain. Joy for another is my joy. I am wealthy in all the ways I receive the wealth that is shared with me.”

PISCES
All of us have to come to reckon with the ways we fall short of our own goals. All of us have to modify, refine, and adapt what we reach for as the realities of our own abilities evolve. This is not a bad or good thing. It just is, for everyone. Satisfaction though, comes from working with and through our limitations. It is the result of maturing because of our own disappointment and making better choices with less to choose from. Accomplishments are something we’re proud of when we know how much it took to get there.
This full moon is a time for you to give yourself some serious pats on the back. It is a moment to be your own best friend, to look objectively at who you are and how far you have come from the places you started. This full moon invites you to consider everything you’ve worked through these last few years and to heal deeply in places where you thought you’d never make it through.
Notice all reflections that come from others, but know that any reflection is only that. Judgement or criticism can stay with those who give it. Know how much and what it is that you give, and then you will know what and how much to take in return. Accept help and support from others, especially when it comes to managing details or taking care of tasks. If you don’t try to be everything all at once then you will be able to be all the things you need to be when you need to be them.
Can you take some time in these next few weeks to get quiet and let your brain relax? I would love it if you could take the space to just feel and let all the feelings flow until you only feel yourself again. You have taken on a lot, and you have made it into something. What that form is will continue to develop through the end of this year, but you are now through the hardest parts.
In this moment you can give yourself acknowledgement and rest. Allow whatever it is to just be, and know that the rest will get done when it needs to. Don’t worry. Your full moon affirmation is, “I am healed. I am whole. I see myself clearly, and I appreciate what I see.”