March 3: Virgo Full Moon solar eclipse

The Virgo Full Moon total lunar eclipse peaks at 6:37AM ET on March 3rd. Eclipse season shakes up the little snow globe of life and we can either enjoy the chaos of pretty pieces falling everywhere or get annoyed at how long they take to settle.

Eclipses are Tower card moments (in the tarot Major Arcana) that send us careening into the unknown. This lighting strike energy has been in full effect since the solar eclipse New Moon on February 17th that activated the Leo-Aquarius axis for the first time. The ignition of air and fire is lit this year, but we are still finishing up our process of building with earth and water in Virgo and Pisces. 

The Full Moon at 12°54 Virgo on March 3rd, initiates concrete steps towards emotional trust and respect for ecological principles. Acts of service are Virgo's love language. The conscientious helper and consistent communicator seeks to be useful by fulfilling necessary tasks with precision and care. All relationships involve an exchange and Virgo is a giver. The earth itself is endlessly generous and abundant, but human consumption takes too much. Eclipse season creates turmoil to nudge us towards different and better practices in partnership with ourselves, family, beloved, and home on our green planet. Virgo enjoys getting into the nitty gritty details, but the focus is on feelings during Pisces season from February 18-March 20, 2026.

Life has felt like a dream sequence since Mercury entered Pisces on February 6, creating a time dilation bubble as it began slowing down. Mercury passed its retrograde shadow at 8°29 Pisces on February 11, and the retrograde challenges came like a rising tide of roads suddenly closed, flights rerouted due to storms, endless snow dumped with no place to put it, and essential information gone missing that was just there a minute before. Mercury in Pisces moves by instinct, amplifying our feelings, but it also dissolves our linear sense of progress. You can take the long road and still never get there. So best enjoy the scenery. 

Mercury stationed retrograde at 22°34 Pisces at 1:48AM ET on February 26, and for the next three weeks plans and promises are more like potential hopes and dreams as Mercury moves backward. Best not to overbook as time is like a slippery fish always escaping from our grasp. The Mercury retrograde cycles in water signs this year reveal blocks to partnership and romantic expression. If trust is the foundation of intimacy, Mercury sensing its way through these sensitive and vulnerable parts asks us to identify the foundation of trust in relationships.  

Pisces is considered a "mute" sign because it can have trouble sharing thoughts and feelings. Trust is the basis of intimacy but identifying exactly what that means can be difficult to identify. We should gain insight into what that means at the peak of the cycle when Mercury goes cazimi at 16°53 Pisces on March 7. If you have planets or points within three degrees then this retrograde is going to affect you more intensely. Mercury stations direct on March 20, and departs its post-shadow on April 9th. 

The Virgo Full Moon usually serves as an anchor to reality in the midst of storms, but because this lunation is ruled by Mercury retrograde in Pisces, we can't count on the sense and sensibility of earth to ground us this month.

Mars enters Pisces on March 2, splashing into the pool party of the Sun, Venus, and Mercury all together in Jupiter's mystical water sign. This Pisces stellium is creating a strong emo current during eclipse season. Earth is a stabilizer for water. What tangible acts can you plan to stay afloat during this eclipse? What do you trust to keep you, and the people you love, safe until you reach home?

Virgo loves to dissect and the creative elements of Pisces helps us pull apart core elements of trust. Trust is a feeling and a felt experience, but it contains specific essential qualities. Without the consistent nature of Virgo, Pisces doesn't feel safe expressing its vulnerability. The harvest maiden archetype knows that there are concrete, identifiable behaviors that cultivate trust over time–like showing up for people with a band-aid or friendly phone call when they need it. Emotional trust is built on care, consideration, and consistency.

Jupiter in Cancer is lending us support during this eclipse through its trine aspect with the Sun and sextile with the Moon. The great giver of the zodiac, invites us to consider what we wish to receive and what we have the capacity to offer. Virgo as a devoted helpmate expresses love through small thoughtful details that help people feel seen: remembering your favorite kind of jam at the grocery store, picking up the drycleaning while running their own errands, or sending a birthday card to everyone they've ever met.

Virgo devotion, reliability, and consistency are core components of emotional trust. Our actions must align with our words to create faith and belief. Following through on promises eliminates worry and anxiety for those depending on us. Dependability may not sound sexy, but it is the basis of functionality, and an essential form of love. Emotional trust is essential for building strong romantic and familial relationships, especially with children. Consider whether the caregivers in your life were able to show up in these tangible grounded ways. Journaling or making vision boards for what you experienced when you were little and what you'd like now is a great use of this energy.

In the past, providing for the basic needs of a child, keeping them fed, clothed, and sheltered, was considered the fulfillment of duties (Virgo). Now, we also seek to nurture the Pisces aspect in relationships. Together they create a beautiful balance. Saturn's transit through Pisces from March 2023-February 13, 2026, was a call to cultivate more of the creative, spiritual, and intimate in yourself and the world.

These reflections may feel especially strong for the late Gen X babies born from November 1977-September 1980, who have just completed the Saturn opposition–hurray, hurrah! The Saturn opposition is an illumination of the Saturn return lessons we learned from September 2007-July 2010. Boomers born from 1948-1950 also have this placement and were experiencing their third Saturn opposition–well done.

Saturn in Virgo can be  harsh and cause friction between parents and children who both hold this signature. The restrictive, disciplined nature of Saturn, combined with the analytical and critical energy of Virgo, creates a perfectionist mentality. The need to be right can drive productivity but amplify dissatisfaction. Nothing is ever good enough. You can work your hardest and still miss the mark.

This is the mindset of the reporter who posed to freeskier, Eileen Gu, whether her Olympic medals were “two silvers gained or two golds lost.” Thankfully, we are in a new generation of athletes who are speaking out about mental health challenges, the damage of unrelenting pressure and toxic culture of the media.

Ever graceful, Gu responded that his question, and entire framing and perspective, were ridiculous. The inability to recognize achievements, especially incredibly difficult ones, to give credit when someone had accomplished something on a world class level, is a damaging behavior that both Saturn and Virgo can invoke.

Gu herself is the perfect astro talisman to combat this energy. She holds both the skill and dexterity of Virgo with the wisdom of Pisces. Gu was born on September 3, 2003, in San Francisco, CA with Mars and Uranus conjunct in Pisces opposite a Virgo stellium (her birthtime is unknown so we don't know her ASC). Gu has the Sun, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury retrograde all in Virgo. It is no surprise that she has been able to accomplish a successful career skiing and modeling while also attending Stanford. She was able to name herself as the most decorated female freeskier in the world and the hard work and talent that takes while sounding grounded and grateful for where she is.

The healing aspects of Virgo are labors of love. The focus on health, nutrition, work-life balance, and consistent daily routines, are gifts that can be taught and practices to be passed down. The lunar North Node in Pisces is moving us towards the expansive watery realms where connection, love, and compassion are more important than arriving on time or getting all the chores done. We will be propelled into the bigger lessons of accepting the messiness of life, going with the flow, and recognizing that mistakes are inherent in learning and errors essential to growth at the Pisces eclipse on August 28, 2026.

It is more important than ever while Saturn is in Aries until April 2028, to cultivate trust, consistency, and security because the world is not going to give that to us. World leaders are lacking integrity but that doesn't mean we must feel in lack around love. Taking extra good care of ourselves, neighborhood, homes, bodies, and hearts is the medicine. May it find you exactly where you need to be met.