FULL MOON, 15 Pisces-VIRGO
March 5, 1:05pm EST, 10:05am PST, 6:05pm GMT 
Image: The House at Pan-du, by Paul Gaughin, 1890. Photo by author from the winter 2015 exhibit, From VanGogh to Kandinsky, at the Montreal Musee des Beaux Arts.
Here, I have what is needed to recharge my forces. Here, poetry exudes from everywhere…One has only to drift away into a dream to find inspiration.—Paul Gauguin
Practical Virgo brings Pisces vision into manifestation, revealing the divine nature of Earth. This Full Moon is compatibly empowered by Pluto in Capricorn’s mandate for simplicity and back-to-the-basics in the way we live our lives. Pluto’s agenda insists we take back responsibility for how we are living, for what and whom our daily activities are serving. In the Arthurian legend of the Quest for the Holy Grail, the key question is “Who does the Grail serve?” How do you answer that question in terms of what you are doing on a daily basis? This Moon is a turning point, as we consciously apply our values into our daily lives over the next two weeks— until the next New Moon, a total solar eclipse!!
VENUS and MARS make a sandwich of URANUS, erupting with emotional fireworks. Arts and flowers are called for and standing in our heartfelt integrity, with and without an Other. Still close to the South Node of the Moon, something is coming through from our collective past. Among other things, I was inspired to review the art of Paul Gaughin. Such a colorist as he was, his unconventional vision moved Impressionism well toward Expressionism, inching toward Surrealism. We can engage a similarly exciting and expressive creative process this month. Catch the star that comes your way and let it shine.
We have a second cosmic sandwich, with the Sun flanked by Chiron and Neptune, that rarified, ongoing dream world combo that is evoking numerous synchronicities and creating a nebulous veil between the mystic and mundane, between spirit and reality. I’m writing this in a snowy, blowy Vermont veil of March snow. Remembering that a nebula is a cloud of gas and dust that gives birth to stars, I just know that sun and spring will—sooner than later and maybe tomorrow—burst through this landscape of whiteout. Dreams, visions and inspirations may be worth wakeful nights. When the daylit world is sleeping, something else arises in us. Let’s not let apparent reality or ingrained religious dogma shrink our dreams. Our imagination may find a way to bring them through into the “real” world.
So, the Sun has its two subtle companions (watch for rainbows and crystal glitter dancing in the sunlight), while the Moon has the Black Moon invisibly standing by. This extra-sensory vortex opens the door to our subliminal senses. Go to your local store where you might find essential oils and play with the testers. Don’t overdo it. Or you may have lavender, peppermint or tea tree oil at home. All of these powerful oils are the distilled essence of Nature’s wisdom. Their subtle compounds awaken dormant senses, heading through the olfactory nerves (our most deeply-embedded of the five basic senses) right into the brain, affecting our chemistry and perception in profound ways. Use your intuition to choose one or two oils that appeal to you, then appreciatively inhale the scent. Take an extended moment to be present with it. See how your day goes on from there. I had an unexpected, potent uplift one day from Palo Santo, an extraordinary sacred wood oil with a long history of healing, a powerful and mysterious treasure that dispels negativity, uplifts and protects. See more about it at: http://www.floracopeia.com/Essential-Oils/Essential-Oils-sub/wild-harvested-palo-santo-oil.html
Seek out what calls to you from Nature’s organic magic. Black Moon Lilith in Virgo taps into a deep desire in the heart of each of our cells for communion with the holiness of Mater Nature. Your body will love you back for doing so.
Along this line, my orchid flower essence recommendation for this Full Moon (another suggestion among infinite possibilities to optimize the healing potential and extraordinarily spacious vibrational quality of this lunation) is named Laughing Butterflies (Laelia anceps, from Mexico and Guatemala). Imagine bubbling up with laughter and finding that butterflies are fluttering from your mouth. You’ll laugh with even more delight. Watch the awesome and exquisite dance of this orchid blossoming at http://www.healingorchids.com/video-pages/laughingbutterflies.html
This ego-busting pairing of the Full Moon/Black Moon Lilith in Virgo is specific; there is a best way, and that way must bypass the ego’s judgment, criticism and shame, to tap the organic wisdom of the body, our temple of the soul. This requires radical trust. These two celestial factors, the most personal and the most impersonal points in the chart, also form the specific key point in another kind of sandwich, which is called a Finger of God or, in this case, the Finger of Goddess, formed by planets five signs away on either side. We take the spicy Uranus jelly sandwich made by Venus and Mars in fiery Aries and the higher mind wavelength of Mercury in airy Aquarius. From those two points we zero in on Moon/Black Moon in earthy Virgo. This complex blend of cosmic elements, when finely tuned, leads to extraordinary sensations and gnosis. It might be a bit like eating the cookie Alice found down the rabbit hole.
We are each the priest or priestess of our own lives. As we humbly acknowledge this truth, we feel the blessing of the divine. Life reveals an unspeakable secret, with a Mona Lisa smile and a kaleidoscope of laughing butterflies— or flutterbys, as the late, great pioneering brain scientist Karl Pribram called them. Butterflies are delicate creatures who gather to socialize, communicating solely by the movement of their wings. This is called a flutter. I’ll flutter at you if you flutter at me! Let’s all flutter together with our aetheric angel wings. We have heard how powerful butterfly wings are, carrying them across oceans! In the face of Such surrounding hardship and sorrows as we see around the world, we need this other level of sharing the true essence of love as we journey across the stormy oceans of life.
********************************************************
