For the past few months, our values have taken center stage. Venus in Leo made her journey through the underworld, asking us to take a deep look at who we are and what is important to us, at the heart.

During Leo season we had the opportunity to play, to love, and to practice expressing our desires. We also had the opportunity to have hard conversations, and to sit with ourselves to dig deeper into what actually makes us happy.

The sun has now moved into Virgo, and on August 30th (or 31st, depending where you are) we will be met with a full moon in Pisces. This is the second full moon of the month, so this makes it a blue moon.

Take that as you wish.

This full moon screams that we get serious about our connection to self, spirit, and to put up healthy boundaries which will allow us to step into our true purpose.

Pisces is a mutable water sign—it’s the mist in the morning air, the dew drops on a luscious green blade of grass in the morning that evaporates as the temperature rises and the sun shines. It’s the rain that falls on us, cleansing us, only to be evaporated back into the atmosphere to do it all again.

Pisces knows no bounds.

You can try to grab the morning mist in your hands, but you can’t catch it.

That’s mutable water. It’s there one moment, gone the next. Nobody owns it, you can’t put it in a jar, because it belongs to all of us and none of us at the same time.

I had a few conversations this week with separate people about spirituality and religion. It’s amazing to me that so many people believe we need to go to church to speak with God, the creator, the universe, or whoever it is you believe in.

As I told my mom yesterday; I’m grateful she didn’t force me to go to church when I was young. All of my extended family went to church. I always felt weird or out of place when someone would ask me what church I went to, and I never had an answer other than, “I don’t.”

The look of horror on their faces made me feel as though I had done something wrong. That I had booked a one way ticket straight to hell.

It was isolating.

And this is how Pisces energy can feel. It can feel isolating.

I would tag along with my cousins and friends to their churches and church camps—I still remember the smell of the basement of the Catholic church in my town. It smelled like old people and moth balls. I was always trying to find my place in a church, but I never did.

It felt as though I couldn’t find God because I couldn’t find my church. I thought God could only be found within the walls, and maybe I was just unworthy to know God in the way everyone else seemed to.

The older I got, the more I explored.

The closest I felt to home in a “church” was the moment I stepped into my first Buddhist temple in Thailand. The smell of incense somehow felt familiar. The sound of monks chanting in perfect harmony made my heart explode with emotion. The slow pace and the feeling of acceptance made my heart feel warm.

Eventually my body became my church. The world became my church as I traveled around the world to witness people living within their culture. I found God in conversations with a stranger, or music on the radio, or in the taste of a delicious meal. I found God in my paintbrush on the paper, in a cool breeze on an Autumn day, and in the moments of laughter when I allowed myself to feel.

I mostly found God when I put down the bottle and got sober.

Life became brighter, more challenging, and more beautiful.

I found God in myself when I truly started loving myself again. This is when I realized I have a direct line to God, and I don’t need a third party to connect.

I continue to borrow practices from other religions and find my own style—I never did fit in, so why start now?

You don’t need to go to church to find God.

God is within you and all around you at the same time.

Just like the morning mist of mutable, Pisces water; you can try to reach for God with your hands, but you can’t grab it.

So under this full moon in Pisces, find your “God”—whatever that means for you.

The invitation is to honor yourself as if you’re holy; because you are. Set the boundaries required to honor your energy, time, and love because it is sacred. You have a gift to offer the world, and my wish for you is that this moon illuminates the path to your purpose.

Take the first step.

You’re worth it.