September 8, 2014, Full Harvest Moon in Pisces – “A Moon of the Imagination”

September’s Full Moon is called the Full Corn Moon, but this

The Moon, tarot's card for Pisces
by "Shadowscapes"© by Stephanie
Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore

year it has the designation of being our Harvest Moon as well. The title of “Harvest Moon” is given to the full moon closest to the Fall Equinox, which occurs on September 22nd.  This year September’s full moon occurs fourteen days before equinox while October’s full moon occurs sixteen days afterward. Good to know, huh?

This year’s  Harvest Moon occurs on September 8th at 6:38 p.m. PDT, in sixteen degrees and nineteen minutes of Pisces.  It is a moon of compassion, spirituality, great intuition and above all, imagination.  Full moon in Pisces enflames of our creativity. It is idealism coupled with romance – a moon that asks us to view the world and its occupants with unvarnished optimism.  That may not always be the wisest view, but it is one that consistently entertains positive potential.

The High Priestess as depicted in
MMark Ryan, John Matthews and
Will Worthington's fabulous deck,
"The Wild Wood Tarot"©

Pisces is a mutable water sign meaning that people born under its influence (either as a birth sign or one featured prominently in their chart) can change their nature to match their environment, or to match the people around them.  Fish folk are highly intuitive and empathetic. This full moon, coupled with Mercury in Libra’s (See blog: Astrology for September 2014 Part 1) penchant for balance and diplomacy, allows us bridge gaps between ourselves and others.  If your job requires the use of diplomatic skills and empathy, Monday should be a particularly productive day for you.  

Venus in Virgo also gives a power boost to our creative side during this full moon.  Pisces’ idealism helps us move past our self-limiting behaviors to listen to our intuition and let our creativity flow. Venus, strongly positioned right now in Virgo, is the essence of creative energy.  In tarot she’s represented by The Empress, who is the very embodiment of abundance and creation.

The things to watch out for during this full moon period is the

The Empress is tarot's association for
the planet Venus - the essence of
creative abundance From "Steampunk Tarot"©
by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell

‘thin skinned’ effect from Pisces  emotional makeup rising to the surface, and our heightened empathy and intuition with those around us.  Keep your boundaries with others firmly in place. When you feel overwhelmed take a moment to determine whose emotions you're actually feeling – your own, or someone else's.

Full Moon in Pisces is a gift to our spirit.  It is dreamy and mystical just like Pisces ruling planet, Neptune.  September's full moon is a time for fresh awareness and for tapping into our own creative process.  Enjoy this lunar period and make something magical happen.

LADY ORACLE

LUNAR VOID OF COURSE INFO FOR THE FULL MOON

Void begins: Sept. 7th @ 10:20 a.m. PDT

Void ends:    Sept. 7th @ 4:48 p.m.   PDT

Void begins: Sept. 9th @ 12:11p.m.  PDT

Void ends:    Sept. 9th @  4:34 p.m.  PDT

For more information on what the term 'void of course' means, see blog "A Void is a Void, of Course, of Course"

Tarot’s #9, The Hermit - “Lighting Your Own Way in the World”

#9, The Hermit (RWCS Deck)
solitude, the inner journey, guidance

Yesterday morning we had one doozy of a Void of Course and it left lots of us feeling ungrounded and anxious.  Voids, of VoCs occur when the Moon is about to change houses and there are no more planets in the Moon’s present home to guide her on her way.  Lady Moon is left to drift without a celestial body to help ground and stabilize her energy.  (see blog: "A Void Is A Void, of Course of Course" or "Slipping Into The Moon's, Void of Course") Left to her own devices, Lady Moon drifts aimlessly and turns inward much like her tarot card, # 2, The High Priestess. 

There are times in our own lives when we likewise feel uncertain and turn inward.  We sit in our metaphoric towers using our intuition to guide us through the darkness as we reflect on our lives.  Sometimes the journey gets a little edgy, but nothing that can’t be handled with a bar of really good chocolate and our favorite book.  However, there are times when our fears and anxieties gain the upper hand and a tower feels too exposed.  That’s when we head straight for a cave – the deeper, the darker, the better.  This is the territory of tarot’s #9, The Hermit.

Where the High Priestess uses introspection coupled with delicate, high-mindedness, The Hermit, forges a path through the discomfort and travails that come from following one’s destiny.  His path is very rough at times because he joins the fray in the real world.  As a result The Hermit, who is further along the journey of the soul, needs a deeper retreat from the world in order to reaffirm his connection to Spirit.  The risks The Hermit takes in life and the demands he places upon himself are far more rigorous than those of the High Priestess.  Where she represents reflected light and a passive nature, he represents true illumination – the kind you carry with you to light your way in a not always serene world.

In the RWCS depiction of The Hermit, we see Diogenes, the Greek philosopher who, taking a vow of poverty, lived in a large clay urn in Athens’ marketplace.  (Close to shopping, reasonable rent) He carried a lamp through the streets looking for an honest man. #9, The Hermit, asks us to retreat into ourselves so that we can honestly assess what we’ve learned along life’s journey and plan for where we go once we leave the sanctuary of our cave. He also asks us to shine the lamp of enlightenment on ourselves; to put our lives in perspective.  That’s a scary thought, because we are our own toughest critics.  However, the cave of The Hermit gives us time to think and heal, to make adjustments to our life path as we find necessary.  Once we reemerge into the sunlight, our lantern is held firmly in our hand and we are ready for the next step in our journey.

LADY ORACLE

Dreaming Way Tarot – a terrific tarot deck!  Click here to purchase!

Rome Choi's fabulous Dreaming Way Tarot

"A Void Is A Void, of Course of Course" ( Apologies to "Mr. Ed") or "Slipping Into The Moon's, Void of Course"

Our moon completes one revolution around the Earth every

twenty-nine days, twelve hours, forty-three minutes and roughly 11 seconds.  During her monthly journey, our lady also travels through the twelve signs of the Zodiac and graciously presents herself to the planets she meets along the way.  When the moon and planets meet in the same sign, their angular interface is known in astrological terms as an 'aspect.'  The type of aspect they share, like any angle, is measured in degrees and seconds.  Once Lady Moon has met and passed all the planets within a given sign, we say that the moon is 'Void of Course' and that there will be no further influences from her until she enters another sign with new planets. When the moon is Void of Course, or, VoC, there is a brief pause in the breath of the Universe and you should, be all means, honor that pause.

It takes the moon approximately 2 1/2 days to enter and leave a sign in the Zodiac.  Consequentially, VoC periods occur about every 2 1/2 days.  These voids can last a few moments, several hours and occasionally, for the entire 2 1/2 day cycle.  That means we experience roughly twelve to thirteen VoC moons in a month.  We often sleep right through them as they can also occur in the middle of the night.  There is some debate amongst astrologers as to how many planets should be included in the calculation for lunar voids, as well as what particular aspects should be considered.  (See the basic aspect table below)  Some astrologers favour Ptolemy's ancient system, while others wish to include more newly discovered bodies like Pluto and Charron.  I'm not convinced that it really matters.

The truly remarkable thing about a lunar VoC is that the Universe, in its wisdom, has created time and space for inconsequential drifting.  You'll hear the usual warnings about starting new ventures, unexpected results, etc.  Wiccan's and magician's won't normally try spell work during a VoC.   Regardless of all of that, during a VoC you have the Universe's permission...no, assertion that it's right and proper to slow down and simply enjoy the state of being.  You might feel a little aimless, slightly ungrounded as if life has an unreal quality to it.  Not really a surprise.  Reality as we perceive it is, after all,  is merely an illusion.

It's suggested that we use the minutes, hours and days of VoC to connect to ourselves, to promote our spiritual growth.  A hike in the woods, good music, a deck of tarot cards - whatever it is that helps you connect to your higher self.  During  VoC periods meditations can be deeper, more profound.  We have the ability to more easily slip our earthly bonds and do spiritual work in the higher realms.

Western society moves at an abominably fast pace.  As

Deva Padma created the marvelous
"OSHO Zen Tarot"©, a deck designed
to lift simultaneously lift the spirit and ground
our emotions

society increases its expectation of our productivity and status, we frequently judge ourselves as falling short of arbitrary guidelines as to who we should be.  We become so caught up in achieving, often only for the act of achievement itself, that we lose sight of what we initially wanted to do with our lives.  During the next VoC ask yourself whose guidelines you've chosen to use - your own, or those manufactured for you on glossy, media pages.

On August 15th at 21 minutes past midnight PST, we will experience the Moon's next Void of Course.  It will last until 10:04 a.m.  Here's your opportunity to begin your quest to find your own guidelines about who you are, what you believe matters above all else and what you truly want to create as your spiritual framework.  Just you and your Creator doing some inconsequential drifting.  Turn off the morning rhetoric and instead, start your day with a mediation.  Take a moment before 10:00 a.m. to just sit quietly in this space in time, on this tiny planet and honor the peace of the void.

LADY ORACLE




COMMON ASTROLOGY ASPECTS  (PLANETS AND/OR MOON)

Term                       Degree or Relationship To Each Other              

Conjunction          approximately on the same degree

Semi Sextile           30 degrees

Sextile                    60 degrees

Square                   90 degrees

Trine                    120 degrees

Opposition           180 degrees