Virgo Full Moon - Welcome the Inner Healer

The Full Moon in Virgo brings with it a Supermoon (closest Moon to the Earth in 18 years), the Spring Equinox {Autumn Equinox for us folks in the Southern Hemisphere - FB}, and Mercury Retrograde ghost period: that is a lot of heightened energy and power for an already emotional lunation.

We have two options:
1. to find the inner critic, or
2. to find the inner healer.

Last Monday night, the night with all the crazy wind, I was driving home when a white owl flew slowly past my car. I saw it clearly and was amazed, I have never seen an owl like that. When I looked up "white owl" in animal symbolism, I found two opposing views. The first said it was a Goddess totem, representing wisdom and healing. The second said it was a death totem.

Virgo is smart, methodical, organized, questioning and perfection seeking. She wants to make it all right and fix everything. This sign is also one of a natural healer, an empath, a medicine person who knows just the right combination of herbs, foods, plants and exercises to bring anyone back to wholeness.

A Supermoon (lunar perigree) means the moon is physically closer to us then normal. The Full Moon is already the highest emotional night of the cycle, but with the moon closer, there is a much stronger pull on tides and feelings. The Full Moon always opposes the Sun's sign (currently Pisces), and so the dance between these energies is magnified. Pisces is mutable water and Virgo is mutable earth — so the movement is quick, fluid, adaptable, and the balance sought is between consciousness and form. With the addition of the nearer lunar proximity, they actually resemble tidal waves and earthquakes, on a literal and metaphorical level.

The day after the Full Moon is Spring Equinox {Autumn Equinox for us folks in the Southern Hemisphere - FB}, one of two days where night and day are equal as earth sits balanced on her axis, but symbolizes the shift to the lighter, warmer time of year afterward, as our hemisphere now tilts closer to the sun. It is always a celebratory time and quite profound for cleansing rituals, preparing seeds to plant and honoring the end of darkness and beginning of light {opposite for us folks in the Southern Hemisphere - FB} .

Mercury, planet of communication (which also happens to rule Virgo), is preparing to move backwards: the "dreaded" Mercury Retrograde cycle. The intense period is actually March 30th till April 23rd; but right around the Full Moon it starts its "ghost" period, where it appears to be stopping and getting ready to go the other way. This is a cycle that is intended for anything starting with "re": re-new, re-view, re-lease, re-store, etc and generally considered to be a less ideal time to start anything new. Its initial slowing down is in Virgo, which also amplifies the desire to make change — and this is a cycle better used for doing inner work than making outer adjustments.

There are all these signs, planets, feelings and stuff swirling and shifting, and we have two choices on this Full Moon: give in to the inner critic, the one who saw death in the white owl and decides to focus on all the things that are wrong, the problems, fears, feelings and decided now is the time to fix it — which will probably lead to more frustration, anger and fear. Or, invite the inner healer to the Full Moon party: the one that recognizes and honors the need for healing, love and self-care so that when the time is right for action, she will be fully present and capable of making sustainable change.

What can you do to welcome the inner healer and release the inner critic? Take a look at your exercise and eating habits. This is a great cycle to start preparing the garden, weeding out the old, cleaning out pantries, fridges, medicine cabinets. Connect to water and earth; do a detox or cleanse. Maybe get a massage, see an ayurvedist, nutritionist, acupuncturist or other teacher you have been wanting to seek out. Perhaps have your astrology chart read. Go to more Yoga classes, take more hikes, and maybe even get to the woods or beach.

Remember this is a time for inner work, so be gentle with those around you who may not do what you think they should be doing. Keep the focus on yourself, and let this Full Moon highlight those places that need a little more love. The greatest gift we can give a world so desperate for healing is our own wholeness; only then are we truly able to be of service. That is my wish to the Full Moon, to help me remember my wholeness, clear out my own blockages so that I may serve in whatever way is needed. To me, that is the purest teaching of Virgo.

Listen to those wild winds, look to the Full Moon and open your heart and mind so that you can honestly hear the response to your own wishes — and be guided through the rest of this magical and magnetic cycle.

© 2011 Bekah Finch