the full moon in virgo for writers

featuring mary oliver

I have two upcoming offerings. The first, a 3-session class hosted over the next two weekends: How to Write a Book Proposal. Registration closes March 10th; class begins this Saturday. 

The second, Poison & Cure: The Art & Literature of Saturn in Pisces, this Friday at 2pm Eastern. This talk/lecture/webinar will be a 90-minute (at least) deep-dive of the last 500+ years of literary trends and artistic periods of Saturn in Pisces, with special attention paid to periods where there was a co-presence with Neptune (as we now have). The Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, Romanticism, pre-Raphaelites: there. is. so. much. We’ll go over trends, and also give some time to 20th and 21st century authors who have this natal placement and who’ve had notable Saturn Returns with it. I’m so excited to dig into this with all of you here at the beginning of this important transit. 

Registration is required. It will be available for download after, and will remain available for purchase on my website, but the price will go up after the live. 

And now, for the Full Moon.

Jeanna

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Mary Oliver once wrote, “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” Fitting words from a Virgo sun who knew the power of careful observation and tending. 

And it can be difficult to tend your heart when your environment is inflamed. 

Which is the whole of this moon story. 

Today’s Full Moon arrived at 16* of Virgo this morning at 7:40a Eastern. The moon in Virgo addresses how our feelings can feel more manageable and identifiable when there is some sort of organization (that works best for you), when there are names for things, when there are clear boundaries. The moon likes being in Virgo; there is a cooling kind of purification and purging of the muck here that is appealing, especially in this culminating phase. 

The issue is that the moon is in a sextile to Mars in Gemini. And Mars, as we have discussed so many times, is conflict, courage, how we take action, and, most especially, how we express and go after what we desire.

i watched legally blonde recently and this movie has such martial and also mercurial energy

In curious Gemini, it often manifests how these things are pursued in conversation and socializing, in intellectual research. At its best, Mars in Gemini is willing to have hard conversations, hold space for complexity of thought and discourse, and engage with viewpoints that are not our own. At its worst, it can be scattered and unfocused, all surface / no depth, and perpetually in pursuit of the next shiny object or big high. 

Most astrologers (myself included) will say that sextiles are a supportive aspect. With the malefics, Mars and Saturn, I tend to take this on a case by case basis, especially with the moon, which is so sensitive and touches on our emotional and psychic cores. Which is why I find it interesting that it’s not only this Full Moon that is applying to a sextile with Mars — last fall’s New Moon with Virgo (August 27, 2022), which had a sextile with Mars in the chart, too. An exact one, at that. The seeds, interests, and behaviors that were planted and fed six or so months ago in the Virgo house of your chart are now being harvested — and they powerfully connect to the Mars in Gemini themes we have individually and collectively been moving through. 

Which is to say: how have you explored desire, activated your courage, and otherwise handled conflict these last months as it pertains to the Virgo planets/points/house themes of your chart? 

This Full Moon story, arriving just before Saturn’s ingress into the moon’s opposite sign of Pisces at 8:34a Eastern, is potent. Saturn’s arrival heralds that some constriction in these areas might be felt. Some boundaries may need to be adjusted. Alternately, you might be leveling up: having passed the tests and otherwise rocked your Mars Rx, you might be receiving more responsibility from the Keeper of Time. (An extra congratulations to everyone who has officially, as of today, completed their first Saturn Return in Aquarius.)

If the story doesn’t feel clear, one possible key to unlocking how all of these things connect might be examining recent communication patterns, or even what you’ve been writing and journaling about. Mercury, the planet of writers, is the ruler of this (Virgo) moon and (Gemini) Mars (at least for the next few weeks), so some aspect of your intellectual life, writing life or practice, or general socializing and communication has been key to how these issues have come up over this period. 

If Mars has been all up in your environment, setting shit on fire (metaphorically or literally), I’d encourage you to embrace the best parts of this Virgo moon, which sincerely wants all of us to touch grass however we can. Whether that's going outside, getting coffee with a friend, or snuggling with your fur babies, remember that organization doesn’t always look like a trip to The Container Store and that having a plan doesn’t have to look like a checklist. 

Virgo energy is, if anything, harvesting your resources to settle in for a long winter. 

Finally I saw that worrying had come to nothing. 

And gave it up. And took my old body 

and went out into the morning, 

and sang.*

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Thank you for reading this edition of astrology for writers. I am a working writer, and this newsletter is only possible because of folks who support my work with paid subscriptions, which, to me, is rather like a Patreon — an indication of support. If you are interested and able, you can do so here.

*= from “I Worried” by Mary Oliver