2013 Virgo Full Moon

February 25, 2013
12:26 PM PST / 3:26 PM EST / 8:26 PM GMT
7 Virgo 24 / 7 Pisces 24

This month’s Full Moon is in Virgo, the sign with the greatest bent for discernment and healthy boundaries. While Full Moons run to the emotional, this month’s has an analytical bent that is bound to counterbalance so much energy in free-flowing water just now.

In the chart for this event, the Moon is all by herself on one side of the sky, with all the other bodies forming a wide semicircle opposite her. It looks as if she were the handle on a bucket (which is, in fact, the label for this planetary arrangement). Fittingly, she has properties that may help us get a handle on everything else that’s going on.

The Virgo Moon encourages examining with a critical eye — looking at circumstances and situations with a knack for finding fault, some would say, but also with the view of bettering and perfecting them. The keen powers of perception and analysis she offers are somewhat blunted this time around, due to the fact that her ruler Mercury is retrograde, not to mention under spell of mystical Neptune. She is providing distance from the fog, confusion, romanticism and pain currently swirling in the waters around Neptune — but her vantage point might not entirely be objective. Some of the reactions she’s encouraging are along the lines of a fussbudget, or even outright pissy.

So: concepts, messages, desires, motivations and wounds with highly emotional, sensitive and psychic overtones are running through an intellectual filter. Several results are likely.

One is that this is not going to be a quiet time. The Sun and the Moon are pressuring Jupiter in a dynamic, action-demanding configuration called a t-square. Jupiter increases any action he’s near, and the sign he is in, Gemini, is also ruled by that retrograde Mercury. Minds are in overdrive, and so are mouths; we’ll be gathering info, chewing, talking, chewing some more, picking things apart, talking, gathering more info, chewing some more…

Another is that the flurry of talk and mental activity will dislodge important and revealing bits of information — most importantly, about how you feel. And that will, if you look at it, let you know how much you are soaking up and hanging on to from other people and outside energies right now. With so many bodies in Pisces, the vast sea that connects all of life, we are all in sponge mode now. The challenge is distinguishing your energy/issues/challenges from those of the other people in the water — recognizing what is yours and what is theirs, recognizing when you are succumbing to energy from an outside source, and periodically cleaning your own part of the pool.

Feeling bad now is actually positive, because that points to an overloaded sponge. If you feel judgmental (or judged) or critical (or criticized) or find yourself perseverating on flaws or negatives, look at your boundaries. Are they being crashed/ignored/washed away? Are you drowning in issues that belong to someone else? To explore these questions, listen to my free talk Navigating the Shift With Ease, which teaches simple tools for disengaging and reclaiming your energy.

Yet one more probable by-product of this Full Moon: all that talking and gathering and chewing may lead to rising above and gaining understanding of the confusion, weird synchronicities, heart openings and ancient pain that you have been experiencing lately. Ask to be shown the bigger picture (Jupiter’s got a bead on that). Ask to be shown what’s important. Ask to be shown what is real and what is fantasy.

The net effect has the potential to be grounding, clearing and therapeutic. If you spin into questions, consider these: Am I nit-picking, or is this truly important? What is my reaction saying about the state of my emotions? Am I not being fed? Are other people overly affecting me? How could I improve this situation? How could I improve my experience of this situation?

Want a road map for 2013? Get my 2013 astro-overview mp3 and/or book a reading with me.

© Kathy Biehl 2013. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Forecast for Feb. 25 – Mar. 3, 2013

My 2013 astro-outlook is now available on mp3. 90 minutes, $40.

The weather outlook remains peculiar and outside our ordinary range of experience. The vague, weird, foggy, sometimes confusing, sometimes magical atmosphere of the past few weeks isn’t backing off. In fact, it may be actually feel more diffuse and hard to grasp or steer.

Venus, the planet that rules what we most value (relationships, money, talents, possessions) is joining five other bodies in the universal pool of Pisces (the Sun, Mercury, Mars, Neptune and Chiron). Venus is said to be exalted in this sign, which heightens artistry, softens hearts and encourages seeing the best in others — even when evidence suggests otherwise. Remember that as this shift plunges the archetype of the feminine (and of our heart) into a melting pot with the archetypes of the masculine (and of our drive), the trickster, the illusionist and the wounded healer.

Desires are entering the weird mix, and the addition has the potential to be both love-enhancing and painful. Let’s get the painful talk out of the way: Ancient heart wounds and deep-seated terrors are going into a bath, full of salts and tears and other substances. They promise a healing process, which might sting or worse, but the immersion could also, ultimately, lead to comfort and even resolution. Men are probably involved, or at minimum your masculine side. Stick with it and relief will be waiting on the other side. Or climb out of the bath, always an option; but it will be better for you in the long run to stay and soak.

On the more pleasant end, loving and creative vibes are in for a boost, too, especially when the two planets of love meet on Thursday and Friday. Moments are probable of all-encompassing connection with each other, nature, the divine and/or the vast mysteries of creation. Life could take on a chick-flick quality at times; other times might tempt you to pinch yourself to make sure you’re not dreaming.

In the middle ground, issues could pop up relating to sacrifice, taking a fall for others, carrying other people’s burdens/problems/you name it (what once went by the label co-dependency) and being an energetic sponge. With all of us in the water together, metaphorically, we are all susceptible to soaking up each other’s experiences, thoughts, emotions and energy.

Help for that is available from Monday’s Full Moon in Virgo, the sign with the greatest bent for discernment and healthy boundaries. While Full Moons run to the emotional, this one has an analytical bent that is bound to counterbalance so much energy in free-flowing water just now. If you feel judgmental (or judged) or critical (or criticized) or find yourself perseverating on flaws or negatives, look at your boundaries. Are they being crashed/ignored/washed away? Are you drowning in issues that belong to someone else? Listen to my talk with simple tools for disengaging and reclaiming your energy (it’s free), and read more in my Mooncast.

Don’t fear any of this. The weird environment is becoming more familiar. We’ve been in it long enough that we’re starting to find ways to coexist with it more comfortably.

A few pointers: Don’t push; float. Park your rational mind at the door; it’s best for driving and traveling these days and otherwise being second in command. Ask for guidance; go with your hunches. Remember that Mercury is retrograde and take extra care with travel, negotiations and other important communications. For more, get a refresher from my forecasts for the week of Feb. 18 and Feb. 11.

More’s in my extended weekly forecast, which includes day to day analyses. For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. Please give it five stars on iTunes! You can also get my podcast as an app for Android and Kindle Fire at Amazon and as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Apple product info under this week’s podcast.

I have now been making this weekly forecast freely available for four and a half years. Please support it by booking a reading or making a donation via PayPal to kbiehlATempowermentunlimited.net. Thank you! And thank you to those who have donated — I truly appreciate your gesture.

Road Map for 2013: Astro-Overview Feb. 21

Want a road map for 2013? Join me by Skype this Thursday, Feb. 21 by Skype for my annual astro-overview of the year. I’ll discuss the major influences and explore how they’ll affect each sign. Includes an mp3 of the call. Details and sign-up info here.

Time Stops: Forecast for Feb. 18-24, 2013

Join me at 8 PM EST on Thurs., Feb. 21 for my annual call about the astrology of the year. It’s by Skype this year to make it easier for non-US readers to attend. Details and registration info here.

How are you liking the water? Figured out how to move through, with, in or on it? Used to the temperature yet?

Make peace with it, if you haven’t. Decide to have fun with it, too, because the water level is only going up. Another body is moving into water signs this week, for a total of six, two of which are going retrograde. All that water, mist and fog are affecting how we get around, our ability (and desire) to get anything done, how and what we perceive and communicate, and our awareness of pain, our pasts and each other.

Everything has the shimmer and morphing form of water in motion. Calendar entries are more like suggestions than commitments. How much rescheduling have you been doing? I’ve been finding the day’s schedule reshapes itself as the hours pass. Ancient flotsam and jetsam are coming to the surface and bobbing alongside us as we pursue our current lives — chronic physical problems, long-standing wounds, men who were once important to us. Music has played a huge role for some people, nostalgia for others.

This misty, free-floating atmosphere requires special navigational gear: fog lights; an inner GPS, higher guidance; the heart leading the mind. It also requires letting go of the clock, expectations regarding timing and your personal estimation of what’s most important. Go with the flow is the mantra of the moment, and it’ll be useful for longer than you are going to want.

Saturn is beginning a four and a half month retrograde on Monday. This week, as he stations, we may feel suspended in time; when the slowest influence in the sky effectively stops, the pace grinds to a halt. Once he begins his apparent backward motion, life will continue to feel as if we’re dragging something behind us in the water, but events won’t have the dropped-in-molasses air they do this week. (Can you say: snowstorm?)

His retrograde allows us to revisit and go deeper into issues of what and how we invest and share with others (trust, intimacy, sex, time, money) and what we get in return. All those newly forged connections are entering deeper waters, challenging us to new, rarer levels of sharing, and possibly putting us face to face with some personal demons.

In the meantime, we get a double-dose of braking action now, because Mercury is also stationing retrograde on Saturday. He’s moving backward (or so it will seem) through the middle of March. The Mercury retrograde cautions go double and then some when the trickster god of communication and transportation is retrograde in the all-connecting, nonrational waters of Pisces. Thoughts, words and moving objects are probably not as they seem. You may be confused, other people may be confused, and someone could be lying.

Double and triple check fine print; put off signing contracts (unless you want to renegotiate later), making major purchases and launching new projects. Don’t assume you understand the words in or intent behind any important communication; the two sides could interpret the terms differently. (I once signed a book contract under a retrograde and watched it get terminated under a later retrograde; we never agreed on what the book was supposed to be about.)

On the positive end, Mercury retrograde is an excellent time for researching, for investigating and for finishing up old business. This retrograde has a direct feed to a cosmic crystal ball. Ask for guidance and answers; work with your dreams; listen to your intuition and your heart.

Several other factors heighten the week’s slowed, dreamlike atmosphere and encourage floating in it. The Sun is moving into Pisces on Monday and gliding toward a super-conjunction with Neptune that spans Tuesday through Thursday. Their link baffles “reality” in gauze or cracker smoke or fairy dust; it encourages escapism, sentimentality and viewing everything (people included) in the best possible light, no matter how damning the evidence. Use this channel to calibrate your guidance. Allow love to flow through you. Taking in a movie or music would also harness the vibe. Looney alert: keep in mind that some people are going to be coming unmoored from rationality.

As if to underscore the importance of going with the flow, long void of course moons will undo anything we shove forward. Watch for them Tuesday afternoon and all day Friday till nearly quitting time.

Continuing last week’s caveat: More than ever, it is critical to monitor and maintain your boundaries. We are all sponges, soaking up each other’s energy as well as whatever’s bubbling in the complicated stew of the collective unconscious. It is appallingly easy to be influenced by other people’s wounds, pains, dramas, beliefs, insanities, issues, fears, anxieties — get the picture? Emptying yourself periodically is essential. I give several simple techniques for doing this in my one-hour talk Navigating the Shift With Ease. If you haven’t listened to it yet, download it for free here.

More’s in my extended weekly forecast, which includes day to day analyses. For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. Please give it five stars on iTunes! You can also get my podcast as an app for Android and Kindle Fire at Amazon and as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Apple product info under this week’s podcast.

I have now been making this weekly forecast freely available for four and a half years. Please support it by booking a reading or making a donation via PayPal to kbiehlATempowermentunlimited.net. Thank you! And thank you to those who have donated — I truly appreciate your gesture.

Catch a Wave; Ride the Love Boat: Forecast for Feb. 11-17, 2013

Join me on Thurs., Feb. 21 for my annual call about the astrology of the year. Details and registration here.

Last week’s extraordinary atmosphere is with us still. It’s a weird, not entirely graspable mix of energies: misty, watery, foggy, weepy, dreamlike and sleep-inducing, not so much derailing plans as dissolving them. It’s inspiring, too, occasionally outright blissful, while also dredging up ancient pain and wounds from the core of our beings.

Forceful, straightforward motion is not the way through — have you noticed? These energies require floating, trusting, going on guidance, sitting quietly and emptying our minds and ourselves. Release your grip on schedules and expectations. We are riding the currents; we have to ride them. Speed depends on so many factors outside the control (or understanding) of your conscious mind. The best you can do is position yourself well, steer when possible and go along for the ride.

We’re experiencing this particular blend for the first time in our lives. It’s the result of an unprecedented (for us) coming together in Pisces, the sign of the interconnectedness of all being. Pisces is the hardest energy to grasp (think of what happens when you grab a handful of water), and right now it’s hosting heavily masculine archetypes, the rulers of our minds (Mercury) and our drive (Mars). We have never lived with them together in Pisces at the same time as its ruler Neptune (which entered his home in February 2012 for the first time since the mid-1800s).

Our minds’ and wills’ usual modes of operation falter in these waters, especially with Neptune directing his cosmic fog machine into their line of travel. Little happens linearly here. Instead, knowing and hunches are heightened; dreams and songs carry messages; wrong turns deposit us to places we needed to be; magic works; and inaction is often the most appropriate course.

It’s a big pot of paradox. As other-worldly and unhinged from ordinary reality as this combination is, it is making us keenly aware of our physicality, and how much that can hurt. Mercury and Mars are traveling with Chiron, embodiment of abiding, incurable wounds as well as mastering physical existence despite them. Longstanding health issues are stirring; soul-level emotional wounds are being exposed and aggravated. All hold the potential for transcendence and a level of healing beyond what we have previously experienced.

Forgiveness is a huge element in this. The most important focus for forgiveness is, of course, yourself — in this life, in all times in this life, in all lives and levels. Let yourself off the hook for the choices you’ve made, for the hurts you’ve inflicted on yourself and others, for the situations and hurts and insults that you have tolerated, for — basically — being human. To paraphrase Fleetwood Mac, stop dragging your heart around. Do that and the next organic step is extending the same courtesies to others.

Maybe the underlying issues remain, but our internal relationship to them is undergoing therapy, soothing and calming. Outer behaviors are shifting, especially involving men who have deep wounds or who inflicted deep wounds (often one and the same). I’ve heard about some parent/adult child turnarounds lately that amount to miracles — some on the level of previously so far out of your concept of reality that you never wished for it, much less considered that it could ever be possible.

Don’t discount what you’re seeing. Don’t underestimate what is possible. We are currently floating in the sea of limitless possibility. Really. Jupiter, who ups any action he’s involved with, is escalating all the action in Pisces right now. (Go back to the first paragraph and put “more” or “extreme” in front of every adjective, and that’s his contribution.)

Jupiter has the cooperation of Uranus, the awakener, pattern breaker and lobber of lightning bolts. Electrical flashes are striking and illuminating the water. Anything can happen. Anything. So why not go for broke?

This is the time for excessive, wacky, insane dreams, the ones that have been building in your soul, the ones that are so precious that you haven’t dared ask for them because hearing “no” would hurt too much. Dare. Voice them to yourself. Reach for them. Ask your guides or angels or God for them. If they’re ever going to break through, it’s now. Or maybe this summer: energetically we’re in a warm-up for the flow that will carry us all along when a grand trine connects all the water signs beginning at the end of June. Don’t wait till then, though. Use your guidance. Trust. Ask. Begin the process now.

One caveat: More than ever, it is critical to monitor and maintain your boundaries. We are all sponges, soaking up each other’s energy as well as whatever’s bubbling in the complicated stew of the collective unconscious. It is appallingly easy to be influenced by other people’s wounds, pains, dramas, beliefs, insanities, issues, fears, anxieties — get the picture? Emptying yourself periodically is essential. I give several simple techniques for doing this in my one-hour talk Navigating the Shift With Ease. If you haven’t listened to it yet, download it for free here.

More’s in my extended weekly forecast, which includes day to day analyses. For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. Please give it five stars on iTunes! You can also get my podcast as an app for Android and Kindle Fire at Amazon and as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Apple product info under this week’s podcast.

I have now been making this weekly forecast freely available for four and a half years. Please support it by booking a reading or making a donation via PayPal to kbiehlATempowermentunlimited.net. Thank you! And thank you to those who have donated — I truly appreciate your gesture.

Forecast for 2013 Aquarius New Moon

February 9-10, 2013
11:21 PM PST / 2:21 AM EST / 7:21 AM GMT
21 Aquarius 43

The Aquarius New Moon signals that each of us has a unique mission to fulfill. No matter how floating and slow and otherworldly this week has been, we’re not meandering aimlessly across the sea of life. Each of us is the captain of his own ship, and the helm is ours to claim.

We’ve got both encouragement and impetus to get cracking. This Moon is in a harmonious link with the ruler of Aquarius, Uranus, agent of epiphany, awakening and volatile, unforeseeable change. Because of the nature of both the sign and that planet, this link beams in a message from the future. Who would you like to be months, even years from now? Exciting, isn’t it? Dare to be that person now. Act impulsively, courageously and true to your core being.

Come on; it’ll be fun. You know that, too, on some level. The New Moon is in an easy flow to expansive Jupiter, making visions bigger and more outlandish. (Are you feeling a connection to October? How about early last June?) If that doesn’t egg you on into taking a chance, at least point your spyglass in a direction that appeals to you. Like it or not, the journey is continuing. It may as well head in a direction you want.

Staying put isn’t an option, really. For one reason, the water isn’t going to stand still but will only get more active (and how). For another, the skies are pushing us all forward. With the New Moon in an action-demanding aspect with the Nodes of the Moon, it’s as if the hand of fate is pressuring you out of stuck places and into motion, in a very definite direction. You have a role to play in the greater scheme, and a new phase begins now.

For another reason, this New Moon is also squaring the the degree of the solar eclipse that took place in Scorpio last November. A rebooting that began then in issues of trust, intimacy, sharing, sex and other people’s resources. How have those changed for you since then? How are you handling them differently? We’re at a power-up moment that’s propelling us further along the new trajectory.

These issues are loaded under ordinary circumstances and feel particularly high-stakes right now. Venus, who rules what we value and desire, is moving into a harsh contact with Saturn, ruler of structures, rules, limits and obligations. The clash says we can’t have what we want, or presents obstacles to getting it, or requires commitment and responsible action as part of the package.

Although many people will experience this aspect as not getting something, it doesn’t have to be unpleasant or unwelcome. The pressure could easily push fence-sitters into serious connections. With Venus in a tight, maturing link to the other planet of desire, Pluto, some people will realize that what they’ve been looking for is right in front of them. If you find yourself in this position, take a deep breath and act boldly. The payoff is worth it; connections that sync up now have considerable staying power.

An important phase is here. This isn’t a garden variety New Moon (as if any is that these days!), setting a simple 28-day phase in motion. This month’s launches the Chinese New Year, the year of the water snake, appropriate for the elemental emphasis that’s coming to the fore from the standpoint of western astrology.

Energies are rolling out now that will continue for months. While you can still get above all the water that’s flooding in, take advantage of the inherent detachment of the Aquarius Moon. Enjoy the elevated perspective it offers. Look far ahead, and expand your periphery, too. Compare your course with possible destinations and consider where to turn the wheel. Who do you want to go with you? What alliances do you want to forge? What risks are you willing to take?

Now is the time to think. Soon, something quite other than your rational mind will be in control. Orient yourself accordingly.

Need a road map for the year? Book a session with me.

© Kathy Biehl 2013. All Rights Reserved. You may forward this article as long as the copyright notice is intact. No part may be used or reprinted without my prior written permission. Karma, ya know.

Forecast for Feb. 4 – 10, 2013

I’ve extended the special rates for astrology and Tarot consultations through Feb. 10. Purchase a consultation (or several!) now and you can book at any time this calendar year. After Feb. 10 my rates are going back to $200/hour and $150/45 min.

Tie down your grounding cords. Make sure your inner GPS is on. Both are critical aids for this week’s sea change in energy.

We’ve been aware of the ground shifting beneath our feet (and within our psyches); we’ve been heeding a cosmic red arrow and enjoying a bird’s-eye view of where (we think) it’s pointing. Whatever the specifics of your situation are, wherever your attention has been for the past month, it’s about to become diffuse.

The non-physical aspects of existence are getting a celestial boost in a taste of what’s to come. They’re increasingly dominating the show this month, which is itself a warm-up act for the energetic flow (aka grand trine in water) that awaits this summer.

This is not the greatest influence for pulling together tax data, unless you’d like to test-drive bookkeeping by spirit guide. Compassion, kindness, inspired action, and non-verbal communication, on the other hand, fit the vibe nicely So do escapism, martyrdom, confusion, deliberate deception (media spin in overdrive), and retreat to a bottle of wine. Some things are not as they seem. Strangely, though, some are exactly what you sense (not think); this week abounds with magic and romance that are absolutely real. Hence the usefulness of the grounding cord and inner GPS.

Two back-to-back events in Pisces are behind this shift. Mars, the planet of action, makes a super-conjunction to Neptune and his cosmic fog machine (by degree on Monday and by declination on Tuesday). This encourages non-action, illusory action and outright deceitful action; it also sabotages, blunts or subverts shows of assertion and aggression.

Like a pebble dropping into a pond, watch how one act has far-reaching consequences, rippling out to touch, affect and move widening circles of people. This aspect also embodies the butterfly effect, which connects the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the planet to a tsunami on the other. We feel what others are going through, consciously or not, as events tie together people regardless of geographic distance.

The highest potential of this meeting is gentleness, love and spiritual guidance leading us and guiding our behavior. Harness it; hand the reigns over to something greater than your conscious will and offer yourself as a force of good. Ask to be led to the most beneficial course or direction. The path and probably the destination won’t match your expectations, but I bet you’ll laugh at how perfectly they answer your request.

The soft, indirect, transcendent vibe moves to our mental processes when Mercury, the ruler of gab, gadgets and how we get around, plops into Pisces on Tuesday. He’s in that sign until the middle of April — a long time, yes, because he’s turning retrograde near the end of this month. His protracted Pisces bath brings the same softening, indirectness and spiritually guided potential to communication and travel that we are experiencing with our drive and actions.

An upsurge follows in telepathy, empathy and “knowing.” Hunches are strong. Someone crosses your mind and a text or call comes seconds afterward. Messages crop up in song lyrics, casual conversation, dialogue, street signs. Information and answers come in dreams (so program them with questions). Looks say more than words express. Conversations take on tenderness, too, laying sweet groundwork for Valentine’s Day next week.

This influence could (okay: will) make travel a bit weird. Roads you’ve driven for years suddenly look unfamiliar. Signs and detours don’t make sense. Wrong turns take you past places you realize you need to visit. People on the road or in public transit act like they’ve lost their senses. Or passengers have a group-mind reaction or a bonding event like breaking out in song together.

These characteristics are all-consuming this week. Like Mars, Mercury also has two-day meeting with Neptune (by degree on Wednesday and by declination on Thursday.) The masculine archetypes of our will and our mind are bathing in the ocean that contains all of existence. We’ll all grok the interconnectedness of all life, whether through nuanced, loving connections or events that drive the point home.

Rational minds aren’t in charge. Don’t fight it; embrace it. The water’s not subsiding for weeks and will be surging again this summer. Ride it. Go with the flow.

And don’t worry about going under. Sunday’s New Moon in Aquarius revives everyone’s ability to get intellectual distance. Think of it as climbing to the top of a mast with a spyglass. For more, read my New Moon report, which will be posted on the site by Saturday.

More’s in my extended weekly forecast, which includes day to day analyses. For another take on this week’s events, listen to my quickie podcast. Please give it five stars on iTunes! You can also get my podcast as an app for Android and Kindle Fire at Amazon and as an app for your iPhone, iPad or iPod! Apple product info under this week’s podcast.

I have now been making this weekly forecast freely available for four and a half years. Please support it by booking a reading or making a donation via PayPal to kbiehlATempowermentunlimited.net. Thank you! And thank you to those who have donated — I truly appreciate your gesture.