Releasing Self-Criticism and Embracing Compassion and Sacred Feminine Wisdom

Here we are, nearing the end of this potent eclipse season with the Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo on March 3rd at 6:38 a.m. EST. What is stirring beneath the surface that the stars will illuminate for us? As our guides for the changing energy of the cosmos, they are showing us how best to navigate these intense times.

Overall, they are pointing to embracing compassion—for self and others—and reclaiming sacred feminine wisdom. With the potent energy of eclipses, we are invited to explore our shadow, release what no longer serves, and develop our spiritual awareness.

In this guide, I’ll cover the major themes occurring during this Full Moon so you can experientially work with and witness the energies of this time. Each section comes with reflective questions to meditate or journal on that will help you delve into the support and wisdom of this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo.

Virgo Lunar Eclipse Overview

Full moons represent a culmination of energy and a release point. They show what has reached its fullness and is now ready to wane. They also illuminate what has been hidden in the shadows of our awareness.

With a Full Moon South Node eclipse, the theme of release is intensified. We are being asked to face our shadow and begin the process of letting go of patterns, identities, wounds, or habits that no longer serve.

The South Node in Virgo shows us which aspects of the self are up for review, revision, and release. We want to reflect on where in our lives we experience self-criticism, self-judgment, over-analyzing, anxiety, tension, and a need for control.

Virgo also represents our daily habits, routines, workflow, physical health, and service to others. Since eclipses are about detoxifying and releasing energy, we want to pay extra attention to our physical health during this time.

The North Node points to the qualities we are encouraged to develop and refine. The wisdom of Pisces shows us that we want to redirect our criticism to empathy, judgment to compassion, anxiety to faith, and over-analyzing to letting the “little stuff” go. We are asked to release the tension we hold, and relax into something wiser and greater than our limited understanding.

Pisces says it’s okay not to understand or to have it all figured out. Release your expectations for perfection for yourself and others, and lean into the infinite grace of a higher power—within and without. This is a time for being creative, free-flowing, whimsical, and imaginative; it is a time for deepening into our spiritual practices, strengthening our faith, and releasing patterns of self-judgment.

Reflective Questions:

• What has reached its “peak” when it comes to my daily habits or patterns that is now ready to decrease or fully release? 

• In what ways do I experience Virgo’s shadow (self-criticism, self-judgment, over-analysis, anxiety, tension, and need for control)? How can I tend to this part of myself? 

• How can I have more compassion and empathy for myself and others? 

• What are habits or patterns that I can start practicing that would benefit my physical, emotional, and/or spiritual self? What about for my work, home, or family?

Receiving the Wisdom of Jupiter, Pallas Athene, and Mercury Retrograde in Pisces

During this eclipse, the Sun and Moon are in supportive aspects to Jupiter in Cancer. Jupiter is reinforcing this call to anchor into your faith. It is calling us to lean into our family support system, whether they’re your actual relatives or close friends. Show the ones you love compassion, tenderness, and mutual support.

Because Cancer represents the home, we want to reflect on our relationship to home and the people we share our home with. Is there anything that needs to be addressed, released, or re-envisioned? Again, we are asked to review our daily habits (South Node in Virgo), which, of course, are linked to our home life.

Jupiter in Cancer is also pointing to harnessing the strength of our ancestry, our heritage, and healing karmic ancestral patterns. What wisdom has been passed down through the generations, and what generational trauma is ready for release?

During this eclipse, the North Node and the Sun are conjunct the asteroid Pallas Athene, who is reminding us to listen to the wisdom of our intuition. Pallas Athene is linked to strategy, wisdom, and detail orientation. She has a similar energy to Virgo. Conjunct the North Node, Pallas Athene is encouraging us to combine the gifts of discernment, strategy, and analysis with our feminine intuition. To balance logic (Virgo) with our emotional and intuitive inner knowing (Pisces).

Along with Pallas Athene, the Sun and North Node are conjunct Mercury, who is currently retrograde. A Mercury retrograde in Pisces essentially means that the mental realm is immersed in the sea of the unconscious. Everything that resides in the mental realm (thinking, communicating, understanding, clarity, focus, perception) may feel foggy. You may feel a bit disoriented, confused, unsure, or lacking clarity.

However, this is a ripe time for dissolving false ego images. The fog of unknowing descends, and when it lifts, it removes beliefs, identities, and perceptions that aren’t in alignment with our authentic self.

Welcome the disorientation, surrender to it, and trust that the fog will lift. It is a spiritual reorientation—a mystic fog. This is an opportune time for meditation, shamanic journeys, and experiencing altered states of consciousness to receive wisdom, guidance, and healing from the spirit realm.

Reflective Questions:

• In what ways can I honor and show my love for those around me? 

• What are the gifts I’ve inherited from my ancestors? What are ways I can honor my ancestral wisdom? 

• What are the trauma patterns I’ve inherited from my ancestors? In what ways am I called to heal and transform these patterns? 

• What in my life currently requires strategic planning and problem-solving? When I call upon my intuition, how is it guiding me in this situation? 

• What in my life feels confusing, disorienting, or unclear? What does it mean to me to surrender and trust this time of “mystic fog?”

Reclaiming Sacred Feminine Wisdom

Pallas Athene, conjunct the North Node, is just one of many feminine archetypes reinforcing the theme of reclaiming our sacred feminine wisdom. One prominent figure is Venus in Pisces, sextile to kundalini (feminine wisdom) awakener, Uranus.

Venus, the planet of the feminine lover, is happy here in the sign of Pisces, helping us to soften into compassion and unconditional love. This is a great time for self-care practices and showing yourself and the people around you how much you love them, just as Jupiter in Cancer is reminding us.

The more you lean into your feminine nature—soft, intuitive, nurturing, compassionate, sensitive, psychic—the easier it will be to receive and open up to the gifts of Pisces. This is a time of letting go of more masculine and mental ways of being and letting yourself float and be carried by the energetics of the time. The energy will soon shift to the masculine warrior (Aries), and we’re already feeling that with the Saturn and Neptune conjunction in Aries.

Before the spring equinox occurs and we’re fully in the sign of cardinal fire, this is a time for focusing your awareness around the feminine gifts of resting, being, and attuning to the frequencies and emotions of your environment, others, and yourself. These are the building blocks that will carry us forward. We need our feminine and Piscean nature to be fully online for us to experience the combustible Aries season with more grace and balance.

With Venus sextile to Uranus in Taurus, we are being supported in awakening our feminine through our sensual nature. Be present to your body, your senses, and the physical land around you.

Allow the cool touch of the wind against your face, the feel of the ground beneath your bare feet, and the aroma of the fresh earth to awaken a vibrancy within you. Feel it stir the aliveness within you that is reflected in the aliveness of the earth and the elements. Be open to sudden shifts of awareness, deep insight, and unexpected change that supports reclaiming your feminine nature.

Adding to this theme of reclaiming and embodying sacred feminine wisdom is Mary Magdalene, opposing Vesta and Medusa, who are all square to Uranus, creating a tension-filled T-square. T-squares are challenging aspects, so be aware of any triggers, inner conflict, or emotional reactions related to your feminine—specifically, your emotional heart, sexuality, deep inner longings, and sacred callings. There could be a sudden change, awakening, or a surprising experience that disrupts one of these themes. The disruption is calling for deeper alignment; it is guiding you toward what you are meant to learn, release, or mature into.

Reclaiming sacred feminine wisdom also means reclaiming the gifts of the dark goddess. During this lunar eclipse, Black Moon Lilith is perfectly square to the nodes of fate. This is womb wisdom, the mysteries of death and rebirth, magic, alchemy, the regenerative potency of menstrual blood, and the healing powers of our sexuality.

The wild woman—she who is connected to the land, her sexual nature, cycles, and the portal of death and rebirth; she who knows her power comes from within—has been demonized and suppressed for centuries by our patriarchal society. It is time now to reclaim her within ourselves, not only our soft, sensual nature, but also our deep, wild, and intrinsic nature.

The dark goddess shows us where we fear our feminine nature. We have been conditioned to fear and suppress this part of ourselves. This is a time for bringing those fears to the light of our consciousness so we may move past them and deeper into the truth of who we are. For many years, this fear served us—it was not safe to awaken to the power of our feminine nature. But for many of us, these fears no longer serve us, and this lunar eclipse (and other long-running themes) is showing us that it is safe to release them.

Reflective Questions:

• What is my relationship to my feminine nature? To sensuality, pleasure, and sexuality? 

• What practices help me soften and fully relax into my body? 

• Have I experienced any triggers or inner conflict around my feminine nature, sexuality, tender heart longings, emotional wounds, or soul calling? What might this experience be teaching or trying to show me? 

• What is my relationship to the womb and menstruation, either in myself or others? 

• What emotions, visuals, or thoughts come up when I think about the dark goddess? In what ways can I open to her wisdom within me? 

• How do I feel about darkness, both literally and figuratively? How do I feel about death and the unknown? 

• What would it feel and look like if I were to embrace my wild, intrinsic nature? Does any fear or resistance come up when I think about this part of myself? 

Practice Ideas

Some simple ways to honor this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse in Virgo are to spend time outside, honoring the elements and the land, eating healthy and nourishing foods, and taking extra care of your body. Since this is a South Node eclipse, you may want to detox in some way, whether that’s a media or technology detox, a juice cleanse, or a purifying salt bath or sauna. Along with those, the following practice ideas will help you to embody and experientially work with the energetics of this lunar cycle.

• Day Review: Observe your daily habits as a curious witness. You can go about this by simply paying attention to everything that you do and think throughout a full day, or by meditating and imagining yourself going through your daily routine. Make note of how you spend your energy. Once you have observed a day in your life, you can think about or feel into what habits and patterns serve, and which ones don’t. Are there any ways you can reclaim your energy? We don’t want to become over-analytical of ourselves, but instead allow our inner guidance to nudge us on our path forward. This is also an opportunity to practice compassion and love for ourselves. Like Pallas Athene, you can strategically think about how you want to spend your days while being kind to yourself and honoring your feminine flow.

• Honor Sacred Feminine Wisdom: The snake is an ancient symbol of feminine wisdom. For this practice, you’ll be awakening and exploring the coiled snake at the base of your spine. You’ll want to give yourself full freedom to be wild through movement, breath,visualization, and sound. Start with some energetic hygiene and deep breaths, fully coming into your body and the present moment. Imagine a circle of support (spirit guides, ancestors) surrounding you—creating a sacred space that is full of love and safety. Once you feel grounded and focused, bring your awareness to your pelvic floor. Start to move and circle your hips. Imagine a snake or a coil of energy there, and through your intention, focus, breath, sound, and movement, you are gently awakening the snake. You’re stirring the energy. Give your body full freedom, allowing the wisdom of the sacred feminine to move you. Allow the snake to move and invite it to rise. Call the snake to rise up through your spine, passing through each chakra. As it passes through each, it awakens them and brings your energy into deeper alignment. Allow it to rise as high as it wants; perhaps it goes to your heart, or even out through your head as a crown of snakes. Play with the energy, allowing it to guide, heal, move, and awaken you.

• Pleasure Practice: To deepen into your sensual feminine nature, you can do a pleasure practice where you slowly and gently touch your body all over. The focus is to simply do whatever feels best, allowing your intuition to guide you. Perhaps you use a scented oil or cream, and everywhere you touch, you speak loving words over yourself. Allow it to be a luxurious and love-filled experience while deeply honoring your body for all that it does.

• Share the Love: Think about the people in your life who are precious to you and share with them how much they mean to you. Perhaps you write them a letter (and even send it in the mail for a pleasant surprise!), or you tell them in direct conversation. You can even share the love through cooking a meal or doing a simple gesture.

As always, trust your inner guidance for what most serves you during this lunar eclipse. Whether you try a practice above or you are guided to do something else, I hope this eclipse showers blessings and insights on your path.

May the energy of this Virgo Lunar Eclipse guide you in releasing what no longer serves. May it help you see the open doors and pathways meant for you to explore. May you feel the immense, extraordinary love of the Divine within you and within all that is.

With love,

Rhianna Quanstrom
Read my other works here on Substack!

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Want to make the most of the remainder of this eclipse season? Check out these supportive on-demand offerings...

• Portal: A Day-Retreat (on-demand day retreat)

• Yin Yoga: Eclipse Edition (on-demand class)

• 013 • Eclipses, oh my! (podcast episode)