“There are many ways to be free. One of them is to transcend reality by imagination, as I try to do.”
-Anais Nin
Hallo bbz,
Happy Mo(o)nday. How are you, my loves? This evening at 7:54 PM ET, there’s a Full Moon in Pisces. Like the New Moon in Virgo earlier this month, this Pisces Full Moon is sensitive. It’s also, tbh, confusing.
Virgo Season has felt like a major turning point. We’re halfway between eclipses. The parts of our lives that sped up, crashed down, or completely mutated back in May and June are back with something else to say. It’s important to pay attention to what’s playing out now, to recognize what parts of ourselves are being unearthed: the beautiful visions as well as the decay. Murmurs from 2011 and 2012 are playing softly in the background. Experiment with turning up the volume on some of those motifs. What does that era have to teach us? What’s worth remixing into the future?
Today’s Full Moon is also loosely conjunct Neptune—the planet of haze and illusion. Under Neptune’s influence, we’re drunk, disoriented, and dangerously idealistic. We’re also burned out. I wrote about the Virgo New Moon as a moment for setting up a long term plan, something that isn’t meant to come to fruition until much later. This Full Moon might feel like a disappointment, like a checkpoint of failure. We might get frustrated with our own lofty goals. Full Moons are culminations and this one might be smoke and mirrors. But we need to have a sense of humor about our own ambitions. We need to remember that we’re only human. “We’re all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.” (-Oscar Wilde, Libra) Why not transcend success?
We’re barreling into Fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Libra Season arrives with the Equinox on the 22nd. We’re reaching the time of year that’s all about Not/But and Both/And. Libra and Pisces are antiscia, which is a fancy astrological term used to describe these two signs as mirrors of each other across the solstice line. We get the same quality and hours of daylight during Pisces and Libra time. During Pisces Season, the days get brighter, but during Libra Season, the days get darker. The scales and the fish are each other’s shadow. Libra wants to know every side of the story while Pisces wants to feel every side of the story. Both have a difficult time just being themselves because of how much of other people they contain. Both signs make it a priority to meet others where they’re at. These proclivities are less about an “unreliable narrator” and more about nuance. But who are Pisces and Libra anyway?
This Full Moon is waterlogged. It’s peak saturation. We’re floating in the ocean but salt water isn’t always gentle. During Libra Season (and especially during the upcoming Mercury retrograde, beginning on the 27th), we’re going to be mentally constellating and collating all of this information, repairing and restructuring our social ties. But we’re not quite there yet. We’re quite ready for analysis. This Full Moon is about holding still, filling our cup, making something. Channeling this overwhelming energy into a song or a poem or an effusive, emotional text message. Letting a full heart become our offering. To the moon. To the “gods.” To our own well-being.
This Full Moon is about making time for wonder, and setting the table for awe. It’s about remembering the last time we cried. It’s maybe about crying again. It’s vulnerable to care about anything. This Full Moon lets us find love that makes us feel like salt in rain. Melting. Part of a cycle. Nostalgia can be a trap but it can also be a balm. It’s OK to stay for a little while as long as we remember that, eventually, we have to get up and leave.
“What a terrible mistake to let go of something wonderful for something real.”
- Miranda July, from no one belongs here more than you
“When will I learn? Nobody knows you’re thinking of him, or her, of our walk along the Thames, eight years ago I think it was, after seeing Peter Doig’s white canoe at the Tate, unless you call or write and say so.”
-Durga Chew-Bose, from Too Much and Not the Mood
Going to leave my thoughts on this Full Moon here. When has Pisces ever been wrapped up nicely with a bow? Horoscopes follow for each sign. If you know your rising sign, reading that horoscope provides insight. Tbh, reading any/all of them will give you something. As you may have noticed, this newsletter is now on Substack! Paid subscriptions support the creation of this newsletter for $7/month. Bonus content for subscribers arrives later this month/for Libra season! Subscribe now & be ahead of the curve.
You can also tip me here or @Jaime-Wright on Venmo. I really appreciate it if you do! My books for readings are open! I’d love to talk about what you’re moving through together. You can book here.
Virgo
Today’s Full Moon welcomes longing. Hurries passion. You’re pining for a muse, remembering who you used to be when you were falling in love. A cord cutting might be in order if you want to fully shake this phantom from your periphery. But consider: is it them or the dynamic that you want to banish? True partnership requires presence and participation. Time to transcend what’s unrequited.
Libra
A large glass of water sits on your kitchen counter, awaiting your hand to lift the contained liquid to your lips. Take the bait. Don’t gulp it down too fast. You’ve been depriving yourself of basic humanity as you’ve spun through the cosmos on retreat. It’s not that this nostalgic detour was unnecessary. It’s just that: it’s time to take the return route. Give yourself a gift. Add some silliness to your everyday. The more you laugh, the more you’ll remember that you have a body.
Scorpio
On the opening (and titular) track to her (somewhat controversial) 2017 album Pleasure, Feist sings “Get what I want / and still it’s a mysterious thing that I want / So when I get it / I make sense of a mysterious thing.” Pleasure is all you crave right now but it’s possible that you don’t actually know what pleasure even is. The thing is: you’re supposed to dive head first into intimacy. Without holding your breath. This requires actually running into the ocean. You’re not getting any more answers while sunbating on the shore.
Sagittarius
It’s time to connect with your ancestors. It’s time to light some candles and pour out a cup of coffee for your grandmother on the other side. It’s time to humble yourself by heeding those who came before. Things are starting to make sense on the home front. The deep clean is done and the breeze is rolling in through your open windows. Now, there are ghosts to attend, spirits to appreciate. Today may feel like you’re floating so work with that. Simplicity is then gathered through grounded ritual.
Capricorn
Today’s Full Moon highlights the two holiest places of your chart: the house of god (Virgo) and the house of goddess (Pisces). The house of masterpiece (Virgo) and the house of repetition (Pisces). Something is culminating for you as you complete a small project, a granular piece of your great work. It’s tender to hold this itty-bitty novella, this tiny egg. Resist the urge to make this moment into something precious. Remember that movement comes from a daily practice.
Aquarius
Today’s Full Moon finds you looking through endless stacks of paper, scrolling through infinite digital diaries, falling deep into an abyss of your own emotional baggage. You’re holding onto more than just stuff. You’re holding tight to thought patterns and values that are keeping you safe but preventing closure. Pour one out (literally/figuratively/etc) for the collection of feelings you used to be. Our skin completely sheds every 7 years so why can’t we?
Pisces
Today’s Full Moon is a challenge for you to live authentically. Full integration is a fallacy. And yet. You want to feel whole. So pause. Close your eyes, breathe, and notice how far out your aura is stretching. Does it fit your body like a glove or is it more like a baggy summer dress? Are you allowing at lot of detritus into your sphere? If you are, it’s time to tighten up these energetic boundaries. This lunation is about claiming your own unique form of stability. You can be porous while still remaining strong.
Aries
It’s tempting to fall back into the shadows. What’s waiting for you in that haunted mansion? The one that sits on a hill in the farthest, deepest, darkest corner of your mind? It’s a long walk to get all the way there! Even metaphorically. Yet, you keep going. This Full Moon feels like a massive rainstorm. Don’t expect any kind of grounding. A retreat and a pause are advised. If you must move away from yourself, do so with intention. Choose a nearby escape.
Taurus
Sharing what’s on your mind is going to make you feel better. Tell your people what’s up. Your friends are like a slab of rich, salty butter on a chunk of freshly baked bread. Knives don’t have to be sharp. Sometimes knives are for spreading butter!!! This Full Moon falls in your eleventh house of community, audience and realized dreams. Your biggest goals may seem out of reach right now but what about what’s already in front of you? There’s something hearty there. Eat until you’re full.
Gemini
Tonight’s Pisces Full Moon lights up the part of your chart that rules your “public image.” Your calling. Your vocation. Right now, despite your best efforts for self-sabotage, you’re finding your footing and rediscovering your place in the world. You’re gaining notoriety. Power is horrifying. Yielding it is scarier. What are you going to do from your place at high noon? Remember: the high of achievement only lasts so long. So make sure you’re researching what happens after you dock the ship.
Cancer
Your ideas matter. You have so much knowledge that needs to be disseminated. But obviously, this Full Moon is in Pisces. You’re not supposed to make a powerpoint. You’re supposed to write a song. You’re supposed to make a collage. You’re supposed to share what you know as your most authentic, tender, nostalgic, dreamy, infinite self. So many people want to gobble up these gems of wisdom. Let it be fluid.
Leo
Today’s Full Moon is diffuse and sentimental. Your heart is stretched thin and your emotional bank balance is getting low. Is it time to change your passwords? Realizing that nothing you want can be accomplished through your singular efforts is both encouraging and suffocating. Tragedy and comedy. You must collaborate! You must open your heart again and again and again! Showing up isn’t easy but it’s required this semester. Who contains you like a bottle and who holds you like a bowl?