Tuesday, August 24, 2010

FULL MOON IN PISCES 2010

Well it is quite shameful, how rarely I have posted since starting this blog.  I have no excuses.  (I blame facebook, and the ease of posting status updates to communicate quickly with other magickal folk on my friend's list... shameful and lazy, I know...)

However, last night a new friend called to ask me "What is the meaning of a full moon? What exactly happens for you, that you celebrate it each month?"

To really understand the power of the full moon, we have to travel back in time.  It is only in the last 100 years (150 at the most) that humans have had things like electricity, and forms of transportation that weren't animal based (and therefore vulnerable to predators, like wolves).

Except in the most remote and undeveloped of areas we do not need the moon's companionable light for our travels.  We have cars, GPS, iPhones and all sorts of things.  We can live luxuriously in places formerly uninhabitable to humans: the city of  Las Vegas,the Burning Man festival, scientific stations on Antarctica.  Poverty is the only thing that keeps us from comfort now.  (Barring natural disasters, etc.)

Humans have set foot on the moon.  Probably someday it will be a tourist destination, perhaps especially popular with witches.

But for most of humanity's tenancy on planet earth, the moon was the night traveller's, the witches, and the lovers, best friend.

Especially for witches!  Save new moon nights for magick (and dark moon nights for banishing and cursing), but the full moon was the time to meet with the coven and the Elders, to dance with the faery folk, for animal familiars to shapeshift, and, of course, to ride broomsticks across the sky.

And if you are a witch (or a psychic, or a mystic, and perhaps if you are a Jedi Knight from this Galaxy) the more work you do with the moon, the more you will begin to feel her energy.  And how powerful she is.

She has no light of her own.  She illuminates by travelling into the darkness to reflect the light of the sun.  Moonlight is sunlight that is safe to look at directly with mortal eyes.  It can heal all sorts of ailments. (And actually get rid of warts, which is how I believe warts and witches came to be intertwined. Although now it is a bit mixed up, with witches supposedly having more warts than other people!?)

Astrologically, the full moon is a sun-moon opposition.  An opposition is usually considered a negative aspect.  However, typically the full moon is the emotional high point of the "month"; the peak of the inner life.

Mythologically, there are many stories about her.  The most famous among modern day pagans is probably the story of Aradia, the daughter of the moon and an avatar sent here to teach witches magick.

But my favourite is the story of Selene and Endymion.  Selene was an older Greek goddess (related to the Titans) that was both the body of the moon, the planet, and also the moon and moon's light at fullness.  (Artemis/Diana was the waxing moon, and Hecate was the waning dark moon.)

Selene fell in love with a beautiful mortal named Endymion.  His beauty was so great it angered the other gods, and eventually he was marked for death.  Selene pleaded that he be spared, because she loved him so, and Endymion was sentenced to sleep eternally instead.

Each month Selene, unable to keep her gaze from her beloved, turns her face towards him (waxing), and then away (waning).  The full moon is when she is looking at her sleeping lover, and it is said she will deny no lovers' request when put before her at this time.

The full moon in Pisces is always the "fullest" of the year, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.  The sun is in the sign of Virgo, the only barren earth sign.  (Barren because you cannot plant in fields about to be harvested.)

During Virgo, there is no lack, no scarcity.  The fruits of the earth are all in full bloom. (Again, you must travel back at least 150 years ago, when nature had much more control over our food supply.)

The Martyr, the Sacrificial "cold" fish, is at emotional climax right now.  Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac and comes at the end of winter.  The cruellest loss for our ancestors came at this time.  Green was a promise hanging in the air--about to burst through the ground--but often that promise was not enough to save those that had endured starvation and exposure during hard winters. Gruesome discoveries were often made during the sun in Pisces, before facebook and iphones could alert us to deaths and illness among loved ones.

But during the moon in Pisces, when the sun is Virgo, the Martyr can feast, can look ahead and perhaps store some sunshine, some plenty, for those cold and hard months in late winter; and maybe even try to seduce his maiden mate.

I wouldn't recommend eating fish during your full moon feast.  And you might not be as randy as you were last month during the Aquarius full moon (or as "horny" as you will be next month, during the Aries full moon!), but that's okay.

What this moon is really about is plenty.  "Fullness" in its truest sense.  This is a time to really appreciate everything that you have, and all the work that you have done since March.  And with Virgo's Mercury ruler retrograde right now, I would say now is a good time to really go over your plans for the future and revise and  edit... if you aren't feeling to indolent with the luxuries of summer!

Celebrate, laugh, eat, drink.  Make Merry!!!!

And if you are a witch, ride your broomstick across the night sky, across the face of the moon, and don't touch down on earth until sunrise!

With Love from my heart to yours!
Lady Rae
laladyrae@gmail.com

5 comments:

  1. Well put! And welcome back! *^_^* I always love the feeling I get when bathed in the Moon's beautiful light.
    Also, the Japanese manga/anime, Sailor Moon, is loosely based on the story of Selena and Endymion.

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  2. I use to always think that the full moon had an effect on people, then I worked in a mental hospital and KNEW that it did.

    I have an odd question: Have you ever heard of a thirteenth zodiac sign?

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  3. You worked in a LUNA-tic asylum. I have heard of, but know nothing about, a 13th sign.

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