Full Moon 7º Pisces Wednesday August 30, 2023 7:35 PM MT
Full Moon in Pisces
Happy Super Blue Full Moon in Pisces! This moon may bring up a lot of emotion—and asks us to balance our heads with our hearts.
A supermoon is when the moon is closest to the earth in its orbit—amplifying its influence and effects. And a blue moon occurs when we have two full moons in the same month—in this case bookending August (8/1 and 8/30). This full blue supermoon brings the already dreamy, emotional, watery Piscean vibes to a crescendo.
Venus retrograde also wraps up this week, bringing to a close a 40-day period of reviewing our relationships and patterns, and reflecting on who and what we want to choose moving forward.
Pisces, mutable water, represented by the two fish swimming opposite directions, is the boundary-less ocean where we merge back into oneness, where our separate, isolated identities dissolve into the whole. Pisces is the final sign of the zodiac, where everything birthed in Aries comes to completion—the realms of death and afterlife, dreams, spirituality, art, and the unconscious.
Full moons are always times of heightened sensation, where the light shines brightly and intensifies whatever it touches. So, as you can imagine, a Pisces full moon can get a bit… messy. Watery, dreamy, blurry.
We may feel extra emo in the beams of this Pisces full moon, awash in our feelings, memory, nostalgia, idealism, dreams… It can be difficult to ground, to focus, to produce. But while the moon swims through Pisces, the sun sits across the sky in the opposite sign of Virgo, which, on the other end of the polarity, is all about the details, the routine, the mundane.
Full moons are always times of opposition—the sun and moon face each other from opposing sides of the zodiacal wheel—and we are asked to find the fulcrum, to integrate the polarity within ourselves and our lives. The Pisces-Virgo axis describes the spiritual versus the mundane, the sacred and the profane.
Virgo is the Virgin, the priestess: devoted to the Goddess, performing the daily rituals, giving offerings, maintaining the temple. The sun moves through Virgo from August 23 to September 22, aligning with autumn (in the northern hemisphere), season of the harvest, of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Virgo season is a time of organizing, productivity and preparation—the time of gathering and storing the summer’s bounty, readying ourselves for the long winter ahead.
Virgo is deeply focused on the small details, and sometimes misses the forest for the trees; Pisces, on the other hand, may see nothing but forest.
With the moon—representing our emotions, bodies, childhood—in dreamy, emotional Pisces, and the sun—our identity, ego, sense of self—in heady, grounded Virgo, this lunation asks us to strike a balance between the head and the heart. Leaning too much on one or the other will lead us astray; we must find ways to integrate and appease both.
We must balance the dream, the ephemeral, with reality, the concrete, the day-to-day. Bring structure to our ideals, contain some part of the vast ocean within the drinking glass.
If you find yourself bowled over by the emotional waves, bring in balance through small, achievable acts of discipline and presence—make your bed, prioritize your to-do list, clean out that junk drawer. If, on the other hand, you find yourself spinning out in anxious circles, trying to control what isn’t yours, try meditating or spending some time out in nature, especially near a body of water.
Moon Conjunct Saturn
This full moon may feel extra heavy or weighted, thanks to a conjunction to Saturn—ruler of rules, rigidity, structure and boundaries.
Saturn has been in Pisces since March 2023, and will remain here until 2026. Saturn is trying to bring structure and organization to the nebulous fog of Pisces—but it may sometimes feel like trying to contain a tsunami in a drinking glass. But remember, Saturn is trying to bring our castles in the sky down to solid, grounded foundations—and when we work with this energy, Saturn can be a great teacher and really help us achieve our goals.
With Saturn lining up closely with this full moon, the struggle between our dreams and reality may be heightened. Or, we may be feeling more isolated, lonely and disconnected.
Again, balance is important here. Where can you bring more discipline and commitment to your dreams—whether that’s career, family, or relationships? And on the flip side, where can you open and bring awareness back to your interconnectedness? How can you lean on others and ask for the help or support you need?
Venus Retrograde Wrap-Up
Seven planets are in retrograde motion this summer, giving a very introspective vibe and an orientation to review, rethink, retool. Mercury stationed retrograde on August 23, encouraging us to slow down and reflect on our communications, commerce and platonic relationships.
Venus, meanwhile, who has been retrograde since July 22, is getting ready to go direct on September 3. Venus retrograde—lovingly dubbed “season of the ex”—is a time to review and revision our partnerships.
It’s a time to reflect on our patterns, where we’ve been in the past (and yes, those pesky exes), and how and who we want to be in relationships moving forward.
Use this final week of Venus retrograde to get crystal clear on what (and maybe whom) you’re ready to release, and what you’d like to create and manifest in your relationships in the future.
Pisces Full Moon Writing/Journal Prompts
Reflect on the past few weeks, the two weeks since the new moon (August 16) and the weeks since Venus retrograde began (July 22). Free-write on any of the following questions that speak to you… And if you’d like, please share any of your answers with me, below, or via email.
- What have I learned over the past month about my relationship patterns that I am ready to release or shift?
- What no longer serves or fits who I am becoming in my partnerships, career and/or finances?
- What are new visions of how I want my relationships to look, sound, feel and function?
- How has my relationship with myself altered over the past weeks?
- What patterns of relating with myself do I want to change or release?
- What am I learning about what I need in order to move into the version of myself I want to be?
- What people, places, things, relationships, situations, patterns, beliefs do I need to now release in order to step into this new version of myself?
Pisces Full Moon Ritual
Full moons are times of culmination, celebration and release. Use this full moon in Pisces + end of Venus retrograde ritual bath to let go of the old and make space for new beginnings.
1. Add epsom salts and any of the following cleansing herbs and/or essential oils to a hot bath: rosemary, lavender, basil, mint, cedar, cinnamon, eucalyptus.
2. Light a white candle.
3. Look over your reflections from the writing prompts and recall what it is you are being called to release at this full moon. What have you learned from this moon cycle and the Venus retrograde no longer serves you?
4. Imagine these things (people, situations, patterns, beliefs, habits) dissolving out of your skin and into the water. Think of the way that water wears away even the strongest rock, even the oldest, most established patterns and ways of being. Let the water carry these past hurts, traumas, situations, experiences. Let the water hold it.
5. You can say aloud to the water (or just within yourself if you prefer), I release this to you now. Thank you for taking this and holding it for me.
6. As you drain the bath, imagine the things you are releasing emptying down the pipes with the water, washing away and being reclaimed and purified by the ocean.
7. Drink a lot of fresh water and rest!
Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash