Auntie Moon

The Full Moon of August is known as the Full Sturgeon or Ripe Berries Moon. To followers of astrology, this is simply the Full Moon in Pisces ~ that time of the year when we seek to balance our everyday life with the hopeless abandon of handing control over to the unknown, the “mystery. “

The sturgeon is found around the world. It’s practically a dinosaur, covered with bony plates, and is especially sacred to the Native Americans of the Great Lakes territory. Like the salmon, the sturgeon swims upstream to spawn. Needless to say, it’s an arduous task rife with the possibility of death as an end to the journey, if not before, and a necessary part of the continuum of life.

You’ve been there ~ metaphorically ~ right? Taking steps toward something that can signal the end of life as you know it and that holds the promise ~ the possibility ~ of a new life once those steps are completed. It’s a sacrificial journey, but the reward is monumental, life altering. This is the promise of Pisces.

There are some who say that Virgo’s natural 6th house is a mystical house, positioned as it is across the wheel from the most mystical of all houses, the 12th. How can a house that’s so concerned with everyday matters and minutiae, frequently performed through redundant repetition, and focused on the body, have even a hint of mysticism? Because it’s intrinsically connected to “the source,” Pisces’ cozy little cottage in the otherworld. One of our 6th house duties is to take the inspiration, the “magic,” the spirit of the 12th and present it to mankind as an everyday, no-big-deal miracle. It’s also the challenge for the axis that Virgo/Pisces occupies. We have to make it work. In Pisces’ house, the tendency is to just trust that those matters will be provided for. In Virgo’s house, you must take that which you have been blessed with through Pisces and make it as plain and simple and workable as possible.

For those with a 6th house focus, this chore can certainly make you feel as though you’re swimming upstream. Being the secretary of the zodiac is more demanding than it might initially appear. It’s not easy bringing order to chaos. You have to carry out the “boss’s” orders, and yours is not the average boss. Yours is the boss of all bosses, the big guy in the sky, the all there is, the great spirit, the creatrix.

Wherever Pisces is in your chart, you are going to be carrying out her orders in your Virgo house. It’s a direct line from the source, and you’d better pay attention to the details of your Virgo house or you’ll find swimming upstream on the return journey more arduous than you can possibly imagine. This is karma at work. You are the Head Butler in this area of your chart and you have to make the issues it governs appear effortless and seamless to those who are being served.

The Sturgeon and Hiawatha ~ Journey through Pisces

In the poem, The Song of Hiawatha, Hiawatha goes to battle with the Big Fish, Nahma, a sturgeon. Nahma sends several decoys to battle Hiawatha, but Hiawatha is not fooled by Nahma’s illusions. Eventually, he lures Nahma to the surface but is swallowed whole, canoe and all, by the great sturgeon. He thrashes the  canoe back and forth inside the great fish and eventually lands Nahma on the riverbank where he slashes the fish from the inside and overtakes him. He calls on the seagulls to slash the fish from the outside to hasten his escape.

“O ye sea-gulls! O my brothers!
I have slain the sturgeon, Nahma;
Make the rifts a little larger,
With your claws the openings widen,
Set me free from this dark prison”   

From The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow

Pisces is, indeed, associated with “prisons,” but they don’t have to be the county jail or life without parole. We each have the capacity to build our own Inner Prison from which we must eventually break free. Once the process is started, we can call on the seagulls in our lives to help us escape. Who are your seagulls?

Note about the Sturgeon: Because of mills along river banks, the Sturgeon’s journey has become more and more difficult, reducing the numbers of this great fish and placing it on the endangered list in many areas. This fish is slow to mature, taking about 20 years, so its numbers continue to dwindle.