Full Moon in Pisces. 8.31.23
A watercolor portrait shows a young girl with wings holding and looking down at a large orange gold fish, as well as their collective reflection in a pool of water. A frog on the left side of the painting looks up at them.
Happy Full Moon in Pisces, beautiful souls!
I hope you’re all taking care good care of yourselves and getting lots of rest in a supercharged, all-the-feels, big-energy Full Moon week.
Last night at 9:35pm ET, we marked a Full Moon at 7 degrees of Pisces. The sign of the fish, and arguably the wateriest sign of the zodiac, Pisces is deeply connected with intuition, empathy, and emotions—and linked with the 12th house of dreams, spirituality, the unconscious mind, and our shadow sides. It’s associated with the archetypes of The Mystic, The Dreamer, The Psychic, The Empath, The Artist, and The Hyper-Sensitive, among others.
When we were setting intentions back at the New Moon in Pisces in late February, Luna encouraged us to dream big and set intentions around the dreams we wanted to bring into reality. She also invited us to deepen our trust when it comes to our intuition; seed intentions around cultivating our intuitive gifts and raising our consciousness; and make time for the practices that support us in tapping into our inner wisdom.
Now, co-ruled by Neptune in Pisces (upping the Piscean themes) and Jupiter in Taurus (which rules the body), the Pisces Full Moon six months later invites us to take stock of our growth over the past six months when it comes to cultivating, listening to, and trusting our intuition, and expanding our consciousness—including how we’ve been getting more deeply into dialogue with our unconscious minds through our dream lives and/or by bringing our awareness more fully into the body.
And with this Full Moon closely conjunct Saturn—the queen of manifestation, discipline, responsibility, and making things real—I also read this lunation as an invitation to review what we’ve been learning about our power to turn our dreams into reality when we take responsibility for making them manifest. (And with Mercury retrograde right now—something I suspect we’ve all been feeling 😆; more on that below)—this Full Moon is also encouraging us to reflect on how our inner critic may hold us back from creating that reality.)
I’m sending you all good wishes and many blessings in this Full Moon week, and without further ado, scroll on down for the 6-card tarot spread/journal prompts I crafted to work with the Full Moon in Pisces energy at its highest vibration, as well as some tips for working with this Mercury retrograde stretch (which lasts until September 15th).
XOXO,
Rebecca
P.S. Before we get into the tarot prompts or anything about Mercury retrograde, I can’t overstate how important prioritizing self-care on every level is in a Full Moon week (and especially this one). I’m feeling it; extra-sensitive folks (which definitely includes all y’all Pisces folk) are DEFINITELY feeling it; this is big, emotionally charged energy.
Your Practical Woo rx: Drink plenty of water. Take a nap. Watch a cheesy Hallmark movie. Let yourself have a good cry and let whatever emotions want to flow, flow. Lean into your favorite grounding and energy shielding practices if you’ve got to be out and about. But above all, listen to your body and give it what it needs right now without apology. (Which is advice I'll stand by every day that ends in Y, and doubly for any Full Moon, but with an exclamation point around a Full Moon in Pisces.)
Ok, self-care rant over. Now, onto the tarot/journal prompts <3
A cement engraving shows two fish, one on top of the other, in opposite facing directions, as well as the astrological symbol for Pisces at the upper left corner.
How do I work with a Full Moon?
In astrology, Full Moons are the time for reflecting on and marking your growth in a particular area of life during the past six months. Just as New Moons are the time to set intentions, Full Moons are the time of harvest when we reap the seeds/intentions sown at the last New Moon in that zodiac sign. This makes Full Moons a great check-in moment for pausing, getting still (even briefly!), and assessing how far we've come (and how much further we might still have to go) in a particular area of life. So: the intentions we set back in late-February 2023 at the New Moon in Pisces are what we're reflecting back on with this Full Moon.
Full Moon in Pisces tarot spread.
Here are the prompts for the 6-card tarot spread I crafted to work with this week’s Full Moon in Pisces energy at its highest vibration. As always, feel free to use any/all of these as journal prompts and to skip the cards.
How have I been cultivating my intuitive gifts since February? How have I been deepening my trust around listening to my intuition?
How has my consciousness risen/expanded over the past 6 months?
What has been moving from shadow into conscious awareness?
What is being spotlighted now about the wisdom of my body? How have I been learning to listen to my body’s wisdom?
What practices have I been learning help me most to tune into my intuition? What do I want to make more time for and bring more discipline to as a regular practice?
What have I been learning about my power to make my dreams into reality—when I take responsibility for creating the reality of my dreams?
A cartoon image shows a girl with wild curly hair sitting in a meditation post, while surrounded by dozens of cats on both sides of her.
Working with Mercury retrograde in Virgo.
Happy Mercury retrograde!
As you’ve probably felt or read about (or both) by now, Mercury stationed retrograde on August 23rd and will stay retrograde until September 14th.
Mercury governs communications, as well as travel, and the technology we use for communicating, like phones, computers, email, etc.—among other things. So during the 3 to 4 times per year when Mercury slows down and appears to move backwards in the sky (aka: goes retrograde) for about 2 to 3 weeks at a time, we can expect those types of things to go a little screwy—and it can be helpful to build in the expectation that a lot of them will.
So why in goddess’s name would I wish you a happy Mercury retrograde? Because I happen to love Mercury retrograde. (It’s true!) Friends and coworkers often ask how I work with Mercury retrograde energy (and why I love it), so I’m reupping my favorite tips for moving from fearing to working with Mercury retrograde energy to expand your consciousness and catalyze growth.
Shot: Survival tips!
Being prepared for things not to go as they usually do is the best place to start. Interpersonally, Mercury retrograde is fertile terrain for communication breakdowns and misunderstandings—so it's a good time to ask questions and NOT to make assumptions. Aside from that, it's a good time to update and back up your technology, build in extra time to troubleshoot if tech goes down or calendars get screwy, double and triple check your data and facts and dates and times, and to leave extra buffer on your schedule for things, including travel, to go sideways. It's also a good window NOT to sign contracts unless you really have to (and if you do, give 'em an extra extra thorough review).
Chaser: Work with the energy!
Pain in the a** though they can be, especially on the tech front—-Mercury retrograde periods are actually a feature, not a bug, of how Mercury works; and it’s not an accident that they happen 3 to 4 times a year. When we choose to embrace what they offer, Mercury retrogrades can become powerful invitations to turn within. It’s in that spirit that I love to work with the periodic Mercury retrograde stretches we get each year as opportunities for getting deeeeeep into “observer” mode, with the winged messenger’s energy turned inward, dialing up our capacity to observe ourselves, how we think and communicate, and to witness our minds at work. It can be a powerful time for meditation and for journaling, whether or not these are already regular practices for you.
Working with Mercury retrogrades in this way can make them powerful windows for expanding your awareness of how your mind works; mental patterns you’re stuck in; your inner critic and how s/he talks to you—as well as how you and others communicate; how your communications systems (and tech!) are or aren't working; and what within this realm is ripe for change. . . IF you take the cues from the universe as teachings, instead of melting down with frustration or taking it personally when a conversation doesn't go as planned or miscommunications happen.
(NOTE: Mark your calendar and keep a journal handy on September 6th, when Mercury conjoins the Sun (aka forms a “cazimi”)—it’s an especially powerful day to be open to whatever downloads may come your way.)
An opportunity to review and revise our inner voice.
The invitation to review our inner critic is doubly powered up with Mercury retrograde in Virgo—a sign associated with judgment and criticism (which can be super valuable at high vibrations, but in its shadow expression, can be like a tape of your inner critic stuck on loop in your head; think: mental spirals, anxiety, perfectionism, self-criticism with no end). So, just as astrologer Darby Costello likes to say Venus retrogrades are an opportunity to redecorate our inner selves, you can think of Mercury retrogrades (and especially the ones in Virgo) as an opportunity to redecorate our mental realms; to review our inner critic; release limiting beliefs and thought patterns that hold us back and keep us small; and revise how we speak to ourselves.
P.S. Shout-out to my fellow IBS-ers . . .
For anyone else with IBS, gastroparesis, or other gut/digestive issues like me, I’ll throw in a note that when it comes to medical astrology, Virgo rules the intestines. So just as Mercury retrograde is a time when our communications, conversations, and emails etc. etc. may not go as usual—it’s also a time when our digestion may be acting up, sending us messages from our body (aka our unconscious mind) about any imbalances of Virgo energy we’re being invited to notice and address. It may not be fun, but (as with so many other ways the body speaks to us) it can often be a message from our subconscious mind reminding us of the mind-gut connection—and inviting us to make the most of Mercury retrograde invitation described above in ways that can benefit both sides of that coin.
P.PS. For folks looking to explore how this Mercury is showing up for you personally based on where it’s activating your chart, I’ve still got a few slots open for $45/45 min Mercury retrograde unpacks. Click the link below in the footer to book <3
Much love to you all in this Full Moon in Pisces x Mercury retrograde week, and feel free to holler with any questions this sparks for you!
To book a reading, click here for a list of my current offerings <3
