Laying One's Sword to Rest: September's Pisces Full Moon

All those who take the sword will perish by the sword. The Bible

Do you know what astonished me most in the world? The inability of force to create anything. In the long run, the sword is always beaten by the spirit. Napoleon Bonaparte

You mean, you'll put down your rock and I'll put down my sword and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people? The Princess Bride

Never give a sword to a man who can't dance. Confucius

God grant me a good sword and no use for it. Polish proverb

A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. Proverb

September's full Moon, happening on September 4 in the US and September 5 in Australia, is on the Sabian Symbol of Pisces 13: A Sword, Used in Many Battles, Is Now In a Museum. This Symbol points to dropping issues, laying down one's sword, giving up the fighting, opting for more peaceful solutions. The following is my interpretation from my book 360 Degrees of Wisdom: Charting Your Destiny With the Sabian Oracle:

'A Sword' that has been 'Used in Many Battles' is 'Now in a Museum'. It has most likely seen many struggles, battles and conflicts. It may have had to defend the honor of someone or something, and now it is placed in a 'Museum' where people can come and look at it and wonder at its history. The 'Sword' is such a masculine image, strong, heroic, metallic, sharp, hard and forbidding. The 'Sword' has done its job and now needs to be put away somewhere where it won't need to fight or defend. That it is in 'A Museum' points to the fact that it is a reminder of the battles of days gone by.

When reminded of the 'Battles' of the past, hopefully we are influenced towards peace, but also uplifted by the memory of the strength of the participants, their bravery and valor. You may be faced with the choice of fighting for something or reasoning with the intellect. This can be confusing if you lack training or experience in the ways of doing 'Battle'. The obvious message is that it's time to lay down one's 'Sword', not in order to necessarily surrender, but to stop "the warring". Perhaps this pictures someone who doesn't know when to give up taking others on and fighting. This Symbol shows it's time to give up 'Battling', to aim now for more peaceful solutions. There may have been a lot learned in the 'Battles' you’ve experienced, but the thing that's best learned is that continuing to fight may lead to a bitter end, with no one being a true winner. Now's the time to put down the 'Sword' and accept love and peace back into your life. Putting the 'Sword' away in a 'Museum' can allow others to benefit from the struggles that have been undertaken, without worrying about how this weapon will be used in the future. How long can one go on battling, fighting and defending?

Keywords: Willpower. Martial arts. Putting aside thoughts of vengeance and revenge. Trophies of conquest that remind us of the past. History. Aging and maturing. Retirement. Remnants of battles. Souvenirs of the past. "Words as swords". The Spear of Destiny. The Sword Excalibur. Disarming weapons. The search for truth and justice. Suits of armor. Peace at last. Sexual impotence.

The Caution: A lack of sensitivity. A pretense of one's abilities. Giving up and "falling on one's sword" from defeat. Grudges. Wanting to go into 'Battle' at the slightest excuse. Selfish agendas. Weapons of mass destruction or weapons of mass distraction? Pre-emptive strikes. Defensive behavior. Domestic violence.

As always, I take note of the Sun degree in a full Moon. The Symbol is Virgo 13: A Powerful Statesman Overcomes a State of Political Hysteria. This degree speaks about the need to get the upper hand in order to gain control over a situation. 

Keywords for this degree include: The power to sway the mob (or yourself). Having the charisma and talent to turn situations around. Elements of personality that get out of control and take over. Pulling the rope tight. Mind control. Political savvy. Knowing what to say and when to say it. Keeping your mouth shut and ears open. Rhetoric. Putting out spot fires. Being motivated. Issues of success. 

So, the major theme of this full Moon is dropping the fight, dropping the defense, the attitude, the situation, in order to find or make peace. This is certainly a time for letting go, for softening the edges, for getting rid of things in your life that aren't furthering you. This is made far stronger by the fact that Saturn is on Virgo 24: Mary and Her White Lamb which speaks of purity of thought and feeling, sometimes codependent relationships, seeing how you and others contribute to relating to each other. With Saturn here, there could be a lack of relating, a sense of harshness and rigidity when there should be a more tender feeling, more sharing, more caring. Saturn can be a hard taskmaster. With the upcoming Saturn/Uranus opposition, we'll be asked to truly define what we want to take into the future and what we want to drop or let go from our lives. That deserves a newsletter of its own, which will be forthcoming.

These are very telling times with many lessons to be learned. Mercury is rather powerful on this full Moon as it's about to start it's retrograde movement. The Sabian Symbol shows how the power of our mind and emotions can take charge of situations in a wonderful way when we gain clarity, focus and determination to improve our lives. The Sabian Symbol for Mercury is Libra 6: A Man Watches His Ideals Taking a Concrete Form Before His Inner Vision.  This speaks of vivid confrontations with one's objectives. Creative visualizations. Imagining things. Meditations and affirmations. Ideas crystallized. Putting things out into the universe. Making things happen. Seeing things take shape and form. Clairvoyance. Filmmaking. Writing and getting published. The power of manifestation. Solidification. Builders. Sculptors. Dreams.
As we know, Pisces doesn't really like the fight, preferring more dreamy or visionary  solutions. Virgo likes very much to be in control and being in charge of our mental states is just the ticket to find a truer sense of calm and easier solutions to some of the issues facing us now. Letting go is not particularly easy, but there's a deep letting go occurring over the month of September. Numerology backs this up as September is a 9 month and speaks of letting go of issues that have happened in the previous twelve months in order to be able to move into the promise of the next year. How will you drop your sword? Are you ready to draw your real sword, your real mission in life?