New Moon in Pisces

March 12, 2021 / grayastrology / 2 Comments

New Moon in Pisces

The New Moon in Pisces on March 13 will serve as an expansive container for imaginal activation and revisioning the way forward. Pisces is a boundless sign of nocturnal water, providing the lunation a moist environment ideal for sinking into embodiment of whatever sense of soulfulness has been stirred up recently. The underwater zodiacal terrain of Pisces can blur and erode the places we have been fixated with certainty, nurturing intuitive flexibility in how to adapt in alignment with the flow of changing dynamics. Yet the capacity of Pisces for bending boundaries and remaining open to new influences is not about fickleness, for Pisces can sustain faith in its vision against all odds and challenges that arise with surprising strength and determination. The undulating rhythm of the New Moon in Pisces favors slowing things down to fully absorb surrounding influences and feel into what aspects of plans and perspectives need to be washed away, realizing the essential pearl of meaning to continue forming and shaping within.

The New Moon in Pisces is separating from a conjunction with Venus and Neptune in Pisces and applying to a harmonious sextile with Pluto in Capricorn. The astrological movements surrounding the Pisces New Moon in mid March are less volatile and overwhelming than they were a month ago, creating an opportune time for contemplating all of the deep seated material that has been stirred up, collected and gathered in our mind and body over the past year of a global pandemic that has affected all of us in one way or another. The New Moon at 23º03′ Pisces is not only forming a constructive sextile aspect with the present placement of Pluto in Capricorn, it is also forming a sextile to the degree of the conjunction between Saturn and Pluto that formed last year on January 12, 2020. At the bottom of the oceanic expanse of the New Moon are buried gems of purposeful vision that the subterranean senses of Pluto may detect. Sink down into what the Moon, Venus, and Neptune may discover and retrieve under the waves of the fertile lunation.

2021 began with the thrust and chaotic volatility of a new era of Jupiter and Saturn conjunctions in tropical air signs spiraling outwards. Whatever new ideas, plans, and projects have been incubating since then will be able to be more readily developed and creatively expressed during the course of the lunar cycle ahead. Indeed, the Full Moon in Libra that will occur on March 28 will provide a catalytic impetus to push forward with significant development on the ideas and plans we have been formulating. In contrast, the New Moon in Pisces is less suited for action and more in accord with deep dreaming akin to taking a long luxurious bath wrapped up in our own thoughts, fantasies, and ruminations.

by Gustave Le Gray (1856/57)

Neptune in Pisces is at center stage of the lunation. The New Moon is separating from Neptune within three degrees, with Venus applying within one degree of an exact conjunction with Neptune during the moment that the Moon unites with the Sun. The influence of Neptune can lull us into a trance, and while in some cases this can lead to confusion and ungrounded decisions, the billowing bliss of Neptune can also sensitize perception to the divine life force pulsating through our material circumstances. Neptune can open a portal to other-worlds, like a diversion into a faerie realm where we become absorbed with the non ordinary rather than the routine. From the outside being seized by Neptune may seem unproductive, like a procrastinating paralysis, yet the imaginal insight that can be revealed under the waves of Neptune can become incomparable treasure once brought back to dry land.

With Venus closely applying to Neptune as the New Moon forms, we will encounter the strange solutions and numinous notes of Neptune within our relationships and creative expression. The conjunction between Venus and Neptune in Pisces on March 13 will be the ninth time they have united in the exaltation of Venus since their first conjunction in Pisces on February 28, 2013. Neptune dissolves the boundaries of Venus in her exaltation of Pisces, functioning like an oceanic chariot pulled by brilliant dolphins and seabirds carrying the star of Aphrodite blissfully high above the turbulent waves below. Venus is in fact soaring toward a union with the Sun that will come at the end of the month, with the fiery rays of the Sun burning off what needs to be purged and shed from her past cycle. The influence of Neptune upon Venus can help bridge what previously felt like an uncrossable impasse, dissolving the complexity of problems so that the essential issue in need of addressing reveals itself.

Venus is wrapped up in dreams and mystery within the darkness of the New Moon in Pisces, undergoing a secretive metamorphosis away from the light of day. From the New Moon on March 13 until Venus forms its superior conjunction with the Sun on March 25 at 5º50′ Aries, Venus will be in the process of ending a cycle and so we may need to focus on laying to rest and resolving older issues rather than initiating something new. Yet the storylines ready to burst open with the new cycle of Venus may already be building and deeply felt, and so we may simultaneously find ourselves beginning to embark on exciting new creative directions at the same time we may experience a cathartic release of old patterns. With the Moon increasing in light, waxing into the blossoming of the Full Moon on March 28 at the same time Venus is ending and beginning a cycle, it will be an especially illuminating period for deep patterns related to Venus in your life.

The Morning Star phase of Venus ending now began last June when Venus emerged into visibility before sunrise during her retrograde phase in Gemini after forming her inferior conjunction with the Sun on June 3. The full arc of the cycle Venus is closing now can be traced back to the last time there was a superior conjunction of Venus on August 13, 2019 at 21º11′ Leo. However, if you wish to dig into the five pointed star timing of the synodic cycle of Venus, you may also wish to consider the last time there was a superior conjunction of Venus in Aries eight years ago on March 28, 2013 at 8º10′ Aries for patterns of your story beginning and ending then that could relate to now. There was also a conjunction between Venus with the Sun in Aries four years ago on March 25, 2017 at 4º57′ Aries, but Venus was retrograde then and so it was a different phase of her cycle than now.

Horus

Jupiter in Aquarius rules the New Moon in Pisces, but is in the twelfth place from the lunation and not forming any aspect with the Sun, Moon, Venus, and Neptune in Pisces. Jupiter’s lack of a major aspect to the lunation will craft a liminal atmosphere that amplifies the influence of Venus uniting with Neptune. It’s as if Jupiter in Aquarius is away on pilgrimage or sabbatical, removed in contemplative isolation or immersive travel from the fantastical festivities taking place in its home of Pisces. Once the Moon is waxing in light in Aries it will form a sextile with Jupiter on March 15, making the first aspect between the Moon and Jupiter within the new lunar cycle.

Jupiter is at the beginning of its solar cycle, freshly emerging into the sky each day before dawn, heralding sunrise along with Saturn and Mercury. The triple alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mercury in the sky before sunrise recently has been a stunning visual symbol for the renewal and creative potency available as Jupiter and Saturn bring forth the new movements emanating from their union on the Capricorn solstice. The forthcoming lunar cycle is ideal for making strident effort to develop and move forward with whatever ideas have been gestating, as the Full Moon in Libra on March 28 will be applying closely to a flowing trine with Saturn in Aquarius as well as a trine with Jupiter in Aquarius.

Mercury in Aquarius is moving fast in its explorative Morning Star phase, carrying forward the insight and information it gathered from an extended period of time it spent in proximity with Jupiter in Aquarius. Mercury has been in Aquarius since January 8 and formed its first conjunction with Jupiter on January 11, its second conjunction with Jupiter while retrograde on February 14, and its third and final conjunction with Jupiter on March 4. Mercury will speed through the final degrees of Aquarius in the days following the New Moon, not forming any major aspects with other planets until entering Pisces on March 15, at which point it will begin applying toward a sextile aspect with Uranus in Taurus.

Mercury in Aquarius combines the fluid volatility of air with a fixated focus that inventively cultivates enduring forms and covers the ground needed to bring work to completion. Though the massive pileup of planets in Aquarius in February could have felt overwhelming in whatever aspect of life they impacted for you, the capacity of Mercury for mediating polarity and holding tension means that ultimately it was a gift for Mercury to spend so long digging into the complexity of issues stirred up by the gathering of planets in Aquarius. Mercury reached maximum elongation as a Morning Star on March 6 and is now in a phase in which we can implement whatever realizations and revelations we gathered during its period of being retrograde in February.

In addition to forming a collaborative sextile aspect with Uranus on March 21, upon entering Pisces Mercury will also begin applying toward a catalytic square aspect with Mars in Gemini that will become exact on March 23. This means that Mercury will now begin investigating the disruptive influences that Mars and Uranus have been playing this year in relation to the new narratives initiated by Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. The sextile between Mercury and Uranus can feel like an emancipatory breakthrough in projects and plans that experienced delay or needed repair during February. Mars is in the airy home of Mercury, and so the fact that Mercury will be receiving Mars will bring more opportunities for constructively applying the fiery and frenzied force of Mars in Gemini to the imaginal visions gathered by Mercury in Pisces.

Complicating matters will be the additional factor of Mars applying to a conjunction with the North Node of the Moon in Gemini and Mercury applying to a square aspect with the lunar nodes at the same time they form their exact square aspect with one another. Information warfare within global politics as well as extreme verbal combat within social media platforms could be one manifestation, but there will be an especially important emphasis placed upon the relationship all of us have with technology and the flooding of information and viewpoints through the technological screens it is commonplace to now carry everywhere. We will be well served by prioritizing our use of time so we are not needlessly distracted and can instead utilize the blazing speed and insatiable curiosity of Mars in Gemini to make significant progress on plans and projects. Yet we will have to navigate extreme tidal forces and tumultuous air currents as Mars approaches its conjunction with the North Node of the Moon in the days surrounding March 26 through March 28.

Fishing Boats at Choshi in Shimosa from “One Thousand Pictures of the Ocean” (1833:34) by Katsushika Hokusai

Around the same time that Mercury completes its sextile with Uranus and square with Mars, the red planet will soar out of bounds in northern declination to an extreme height in the sky. Mars out of bounds in Gemini truly knows no bounds in its pursuit of information and desire to communicate its discoveries. While we will need to find ways to bring balance and grounding into our daily routines, the wild nature of Mars out of bounds in Gemini can lead to the kind of inventive solutions and unorthodox creativity that may be exactly what we need. Mars will remain out of bounds in Gemini until April 23, and then will continue being out of bounds in Cancer until May 24; as a result, the propulsive force of Mars out of bounds will be something we will need to get used to.

Fortunately, Mars in Gemini will also be applying to a flowing trine aspect with Saturn in Aquarius it will complete on March 21 followed by an empowering trine aspect with Jupiter in Aquarius it will engage for an extended period of time and not complete until April 16. Previously in January, Mars in Taurus united with Uranus while causing problems and forcing movement and reactions from the issues related to Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. In contrast, Mars is now out of aspect with Uranus and forming aspects with Saturn and Jupiter that can be utilized constructively and productively. While the massive breakdowns and breakthroughs constellated by the square aspect between Saturn and Uranus will continue to be an underlying theme during the rest of the year, Mars in Gemini in the weeks ahead will be in position to make rapid responses to address issues stirred up by Saturn and Uranus. If we can maintain our own sense of balance with Mars in Gemini, it can also play a liberating role in catalyzing development of the larger inspirations and visions we have been forming within our minds in recent months.

It’s also worth considering that Mars is receiving the conjunction forming between Ceres and Chiron in Aries on March 13 through a harmonious sextile aspect. Mars will then form an exact sextile with Chiron on March 17 and an exact sextile with Ceres on March 25. Ceres and Chiron will form their exact conjunction at 7°56′ Aries, close to the degree in Aries where Venus will form its superior conjunction with the Sun on March 25. Within the darkness of the Pisces New Moon, Ceres and Chiron will be ritually preparing and purifying the space where Venus will be reanimated by the Sun. The receptive sextile between Mars with Ceres and Chiron can spark courageous action in protecting and tending to those in need in our community and environment, with Mars in Gemini supporting those willing to speak out and take a stand for justice when necessary. Ceres and Chiron can utilize the unorthodox inventiveness of Mars in Gemini and its capacity for multi-tasking to find ways of bringing resources that can help nurture and activate the agency of those who have felt marginalized or on the outskirts of dominant cultural networks.

With Ceres and Chiron also forming a constructive sextile aspect with Saturn in Aquarius in addition to the sextile they will form with Mars in Gemini, the New Moon in Pisces can also be potent for those healing ancestral wounds as well as ways their own experience of growing up in family and cultural systems have created issues in their ability to form healthy attachments and connections with others. After Ceres begins to separate from Chiron, Venus will renew her cycle with the Sun on March 25 within three degrees of Chiron. Three days later there will be a Full Moon in Libra on March 28 that will form an opposition with Venus, Chiron, and the Sun in Aries. Chiron in Aries is the wise mentor focused on clearing the issues getting in the way of us claiming our authority to live authentically even if it means departing from working and serving within established power structures. As the Moon waxes toward fullness in the forthcoming lunar cycle, we will shift away from the deep visioning of Pisces into the creative actualization of Aries. Whatever internal or external issues we need to tend that are getting in the way of following our essential path and embodying our purpose will be revealed by the strong activation of Chiron in the coming lunar cycle.

10 of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith

Pisces 3 Decan

The New Moon in Pisces is in the third decan of Pisces associated with the Ten of Cups illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. An image of idealized happiness, it’s form of a joyous couple enraptured by a rainbow, their children blissfully dancing in front of their picturesque home is one manifestation of countless images that could be used to display the inspirational vision underlying and driving inner motivation. An earlier image for this face is found in Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy in which a nude male is present near a beautiful maiden whose head is decorated in flowers. Other old images for the third decan of Pisces show the other side of having a great dream: the terror of loss. For example, in Ibn Ezra’s The Beginning of Wisdom the image ascribed for the third face of Pisces involves another nude male, but this one is armed with a lance and yelling for fear of thieves and fire. The New Moon regenerating in this face asks us to contemplate the inner images of inspiration that have been motivating our work in the world, the full implications of our dream as well as how well it truly fits our sense of soul purpose.

The rainbow pregnant with abundant cups in Pamela Colman Smith’s image for the Ten of Cups evokes the great daimon of Hope found in of the ancient story of Pandora’s box. After Pandora opens the box that unleashes evils and ills into the world of humanity, the only presence left in the box is Elpis, the spirit of Hope. It’s the spirit found in cultural ideals such as a young Judy Garland wistfully singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” musing that somewhere exists where the most precious dreams you dare to dream really can come true. Fittingly, the ancient Hellenistic text The 36 Airs of the Zodiac attributed the figure of Elpis, the daimon of Hope, to the third decan of Pisces. The guiding star we wish upon, the guardian angel we pray to for assistance, the hope we are able to muster in even the bleakest and most desperate of times, is essential to the meaning found in the third face of Pisces, the final face of the zodiac full of the passion required to move through the end and rebirth of the entire cycle of the zodiac.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Cup of Blood” to the third face of Pisces, describing it as a place revealing one’s willingness to “sacrifice everything” for the “attainment of one’s greatest desire, no matter the cost.” Noting the images of romantic happiness found in the Ten of Cups card as well as in Agrippa’s masterwork, Coppock wrote that the third face of Pisces “inspires the lust and desire implied” by the images, “but the true object of the passions is a merger with the universe itself . . . The face and body of the beloved are a mask, an entry point into the experience of all-as-bliss.” Coppock noted that “the third face unfolds as the quest for true and perfect love,” yet the willingness to sacrifice all for the dream leads to the third face of Pisces becoming “littered with broken dreams and failed martyrs- those who sacrificed themselves for an illusion.”

The burning desire pulsating through the third decan of Pisces, its grandiose dreams of ecstatic bliss as well as the agony of loss that comes from the failure to materialize dreams all fit well with the fact that Mars is the ruler of this decan. Along these lines its further compelling that the New Moon’s proximity with Neptune is demarcating the establishment of Neptune in the final decan of Pisces for the rest of Neptune’s journey through Pisces that will last until 2025. While Neptune spent part of 2020 in the very beginning of the third face of Pisces, Neptune will spend the entirety of the next four years within this face. As a result, the New Moon in Pisces is ideal for putting you in contact with the inner visions and desires driving your conscious action from unconscious sources. May the darkness of the New Moon in Pisces aid in deepening your relationship with the inner images, patterns, and desires that have been shaping your external goals in the greater world.

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References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Full Moon in Virgo

February 27, 2021 / grayastrology / Leave a comment

Beatrice (1897) by Odilon Redon

Full Moon in Virgo

The Full Moon in Virgo on February 27 serves as a lighthouse guiding us from a period of great volatility and tumultuous rupturing toward a restorative shore. The light of the Sun reflected from the Moon in Virgo will accentuate a sensual attuning to the deep changes underway and emerging processes at work. No matter what trouble or difficulties you have had to endure recently, it will be essential to stay with the processes underway to see where they lead, altering navigation and changing the ways you are participating within dynamics as needed. The polarity between Virgo and Pisces serves transitions and liminal passages, possessing facility for mixing together insight from our past with discerning guidance into where our path is heading into the future. Make whatever space is available for deepening into the changes of the past month, sifting through shifting feelings and the nostalgia of what is passing away as you turn toward what is entering your life and arising anew.

The Full Moon is separating from a trine with Uranus in Taurus and applying to an opposition with Neptune in Pisces. The Virgo Moon is also applying toward a square aspect with the transiting lunar nodes at their northern bending, placing the lunation at the midpoint between the eclipses of December and the ones that will be coming in May and June. With Uranus forming a flowing trine with the Virgo Moon and a harmonizing sextile aspect with the Sun in Pisces, there can be an exciting reception of inspiring vision regarding future potential as well as insightful revelations regarding how to deal with present challenges. Yet we need to also take account of our dreams with grounded awareness that will enable our imagination to discover creative solutions and innovations that will make a practical, tangible impact within our current circumstances. There can be an experience of forward momentum unleashed that can create meaningful progress and results in the month ahead as long as we do not become unrealistic about available resources and relational dynamics.

Before the Moon forms its opposition with Neptune it will unite with Vesta retrograde in Virgo. Vesta is separating from an extended opposition with Neptune that has been in effect for months, as Vesta formed its first opposition with Neptune while direct on December 20 and its second while retrograde on February 9. The meeting between Vesta with the Moon on February 27 can help in focusing with devotion on the work and interpersonal relationships we wish to prioritize. Since we are in the middle of so many large scale collective changes as well as dramatic personal shifts, it can feel overwhelming to orient within it all especially with so much accumulated grief from the lingering pandemic impacting us. The Full Moon with Vesta can help in centering as much as possible within a period of time full of immense decentering and deconstruction. For some it may be necessary to get extra rest and relaxation for restorative recovery, while for others it may be necessary to become more active in bringing certain tasks to completion. Let Vesta guide you toward whatever needs to be prioritized so that you do not waste time and effort on inessential and unnecessary distractions.

And Another Angel Came Out of the Temple Which is in Heaven, and He Also Having a Sharp Sickle (1899) by Odilon Redon

Mercury in Aquarius rules the Full Moon as a Morning Star visible before sunrise along with Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. Mercury stationed direct a week before the Full Moon on February 20 and is presently generating forward momentum as it applies toward a conjunction with Jupiter that will become exact on March 4. As Mercury moves forward for the third time through Aquarius (it first entered the degree it is occupying at the Full Moon on January 16) we will be in position to craft inventive solutions to issues we have been confronting for the past month and a half. Mercury traveling with Jupiter through Aquarius can envision longterm plans and facilitate important decisions that will have enduring consequences. While the groundbreaking changes brought by 2021 are far from over, the week following the Full Moon is an especially fruitful time for reorienting and revisioning the direction forward.

Mercury is at 13°01′ Aquarius during the lunation, and so is not forming a traditional aspect with the degree of the Full Moon at 8°57′ Virgo. However, the Virgo Moon is in an otherworldly seventh harmonic with Mercury and later in the day the Moon will form a quincunx aspect with Mercury. Moreover, the Full Moon is forming a close quincunx aspect with Saturn at 8°17′ Aquarius. There is no common ground between Aquarius (diurnal, fixed, air) and Virgo (nocturnal, mutable, earth) and so the strange connections between the Full Moon with Mercury and Saturn is illuminating material out of the direct line of sight of the planets in Aquarius. Since the lunation is forming a propulsive trine aspect with Uranus, we may receive far reaching visions of potential that feel beyond our present scope to manifest and materialize. Although we may realize certain inspiring dreams are currently beyond our capacity to create, we can continue to incubate ideas in our imagination while finding ways to experiment with bringing smaller aspects of larger visions into reality.

With Mercury, Jupiter, and Saturn visible in pre-dawn skies and increasing in light, we will have opportunities during the waning half of the lunar cycle to make productive steps in developing whatever new ideas have been germinating since the seeds of the great conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter were planted a couple of months ago. You may notice greater clarity emerging regarding the visions that have been swirling within without taking definite shape. The astrology of the month ahead is not as volatile as it has been since Saturn and Jupiter formed their conjunction, and so it will be an ideal time for making forward progress while continuing to deepen in imaginal engagement with larger goals we can develop that can have far reaching impact within our own lives as well as in the wider community.

Fisher King by Leonora Carrington

Within the light of the Full Moon, Venus in Pisces is applying towards a conjunction with the Sun that will eventually occur on March 26. Venus will spend the next month traveling close behind the Sun, rising and setting under the beams of solar radiance as it remains invisible from view. Although combust under the burning rays of the Sun, Venus presently has protection due to not only being in its exaltation and triplicity, but also its own bounds. Venus will remain in its bounds until March 3, lending extra potency to Venus during the same time that Mercury is applying toward a conjunction with Jupiter. With Venus possessing a lot of essential dignity while traversing the underworld, there will be deep reservoirs of imaginal resources to access and explore creatively in the week following the Virgo Full Moon.

Vitally, Venus and the Sun will be applying toward conjunctions with Neptune in Pisces during the waning half of the lunar cycle. The Sun will form a conjunction with Neptune on March 10 followed by Venus uniting with Neptune on March 13, the same day as the upcoming New Moon in Pisces. Venus and the Sun ending and beginning new cycles with Neptune within days of one another will create a quality of time vastly different than the recent period in which Venus and the Sun passed through conjunctions with Saturn in Aquarius. The combination of the Sun, Venus, and Neptune within the oceanic realm of Pisces may dissolve and wash any anxiety or emotional overwhelm constellated by the large gathering of planets in Aquarius during February. During the first two weeks of March we can sink into the soulfulness of our senses, finding ways to nourish emotional needs and nurture the imaginative ideas we have been gathering and gestating.

Running Horned Woman, (6,000-4,000 B.C.E.) Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

Ceres recently entered Aries on February 20 and will be applying toward a conjunction with Chiron in Aries during the waning half of the lunar cycle. Ceres will form a conjunction with Chiron at 7°56′ Aries on March 13, the same day as the New Moon in Pisces. The mythology of both Chiron and Ceres involves sacrifice, with the sacrifice of Chiron resulting in the liberation of Prometheus and the sacrifice of Ceres resulting in her daughter Persephone claiming rulership in the underworld as well as bringing the mystery initiations to the upperworld of humanity. Ceres and Chiron in astrology also can relate to both core wounds and grief we carry, abandonment and attachment issues we must work through to form healthy relationships, as well as profound capacity for being creatively productive in ways that can bring vital resources to others. Ceres and Chiron together in Aries can foster resilience in following an unorthodox path even when we fear it could lead to us being rejected or misunderstood by others.

In the fiery, cardinal sign of Aries both Ceres and Chiron will be empowered to take action and will be pleased when we go after what we want and determinedly makes things happen. Ceres in Aries has a mothering style focused upon fostering interdependence rather than dependence, tending to needs in ways that will animate a sense of sovereignty and nurture capacity for creatively self-actualizing one’s purpose. If we have been feeling wounded or angry due recent changes that have been occurring, find ways to regenerate just like Ceres in myth did in river currents so that you may regain your ability to productively make change happen in your surroundings. If you feel you are lacking agency in certain areas of your life, make an effort to actively seek the support you need through resources within your relationships or wider community.

While the last time Ceres entered Aries was on 14 April 2016, the last time Ceres and Chiron were together in Aries was in 1975 when they formed a conjunction on April 20, 1975. The last time that Ceres formed a conjunction with Chiron in any sign was on March 24, 2016 at 21°50′ Pisces; there was also a Solar Eclipse in Pisces on March 8, 2016 that was separating from Ceres closely and applying closely to Chiron. It will be revealing to reflect upon what parts of yourself Ceres and Chiron have nurtured into development over the course of their past cycle.

8 of Pentacles by Pamela Colman Smith

Virgo 1 Decan

The Full Moon in Virgo arises in the first decan of Virgo associated with the Eight of Pentacles card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. In the image of the Eight of Pentacles a craftsman is fully engrossed with his art, concentrating with full attention and focus in the moment. This image evokes the importance of taking things step by step, one task at a time, completing each aspect of the process with loving care and attention. Austin Coppock in his book 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Tree Bearing Fruit” to this face, noting the prevalence of images associated with “fruitful works” developed through “humble observation of, and careful tending to, the created world” in ancient texts. Coppock noted the significance of the “humility” present in the Eight of Pentacles image, writing that “the old apprentice represents a willingness to put away pride and submit instead to the demands of the craft itself.”

The Sun and Mercury are the rulers of the first face of Virgo, pointing toward a potent animistic capacity for relating to the spirit of the land within this face. Indeed, Austin Coppock described the first decan of Virgo as essentially being connected with watching, listening, and tending to the creative processes of Nature rather than imposing or forcing one’s will “rashly.” Both the Picatrix as well as Three Books of Occult Philosophy give agricultural images to this face involving sowing, plowing, and gathering a harvest and wealth. The chthonic nature of this face is further shown in the image found within Liber Hermetis of “a serpent put together awry” whose “head is the likeness of the Moon.” Coppock wrote that the first face of Virgo invites us “into the mysteries of incarnation . . . the prudence of postponing delight until the fruit is ripe.” While Coppock noted the first decan of Virgo involves “humility” at a core level, “it results in works of surprising glory.”

The Hellenistic text the 36 Airs ascribed the Titaness Themis, the divine embodiment of order and natural law, to the first face of Virgo. To Coppock, the presence of Themis in the first decan of Virgo is significant in relation to “mindfulness” and “observance of divine law,” as Themis spoke with the voice of the Earth from her seat at the Oracle of Delphi. In some stories Themis built the Oracle of Delphi, whereas in others she received it from Gaia before passing it on to Apollo. The divine order of Themis found within the first face of Virgo carries the gravitas of oracles and weighs matters on her scales in accordance with divine, natural law rather than the regulations constructed by humans. In the ancient Greek play Prometheus Bound, Themis is none other than the mother of Prometheus and the one who gave him his gift of foreknowledge. Approach the insights received during the Virgo Full Moon with the humility you would bring to deciphering an omen. Under the radiant light of the Moon, let the sword of Themis cut through confusion so that you may come into deeper relationship with the creative process you need to tend and nurture in the month ahead.

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References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Cancer Full Moon & Cardinal Cross

January 9, 2017January 10, 2017 / grayastrology / 9 Comments

The Golden Pill (2015) by Marlene Seven Bremner

Full Moon in Cancer

The Full Moon in Cancer on 12 January 2017 has a forceful intensity capable of dislodging us from wherever we have been stuck within rapid currents of release. The first lunation of 2017, the Full Moon unleashes the tension between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries that will dominate the coming year. The year ahead will bear the scars of Uranian lightning strikes as well as the enlivening heat stirred up from within that heals old wounds and liberates us from our past. Collectively it’s a pivotal time in which the freedom granted by the Internet and it’s potential of freely flowing knowledge has been corrupted by mass manipulation of messages at levels previously unimagined by those with a thirst for power and influence. Yet the vibration of Uranus can also disengage us from external conditioning influences, taking us within to discover our voice drawn from our deep well of soul.

Jupiter in Libra facing off with Uranus brings inspiring catalysts through relationships, but simultaneously asks us to own how we project into them, integrating the gifts stimulated through merging with others without losing sense of our center and core. A back and forth can develop bridging vivifying relational experiences with space allowing the inner freedom able to receive what we need and release the rest. However, because the Cancer Full Moon creates a cardinal cross, meaning that the polarity between the Sun and Moon forms a square to the polarity between Uranus and Jupiter, the volatile mix between all four cardinal signs can create disorientation over multiple paths of interest to follow at the same time. As a result discernment is needed in terms of the next step to take in every moment, losing attachment to whatever we had convinced ourselves the subsequent step would be.

Cardinal signs initiate and instigate to create change and movement. While cardinal signs set things in motions, they also involve a curious component of control. Perhaps it is the cardinal capacity to create change which leads each sign to want to compensate by attempting to control the outcome. Change is difficult for many as it brings the unexpected, yet the year 2017 the Cancer Full Moon heralds will encourage releasing attachment to expectations in order to flow with the fiery twists and turns eluding control. Creating a blueprint of goals while clarifying priorities will be important, but plans need to be written in pencil and open to continual modification. Each step taken requires the presence of mind to receive and allow for the next step to take shape beyond preconceived notions of what that step would be. Through openness to what we discover in each moment, allowing for the unexpected discharges of Uranus, we can free ourselves from both external and internal conditioning.

The shadows of control within the cardinal signs can be found in the modus operandi of each sign. In Aries where Uranus is holding space, we claim our needs through selfish assertion of our desires. In Libra where Jupiter resides, we manipulate relationships through attuning to the needs of others in a way that ensures, or so we think, they will correspondingly do what we want them to do for us. In Capricorn holding both Pluto and the Sun, the control is around claiming power in time and space so we can make sure we are responsible for what is happening rather than surrendering to someone else. In Cancer where the Full Moon falls, control comes from the ability to draw on emotional intelligence to manipulate outcomes. Trying to exert control in these ways will lead into a spinning out of distracted fragmentation within the Full Moon’s torrential force.

The cardinal cross is the interface between self and other and how we navigate and utilize form. Primarily, all four of the cardinal signs possess profound gifts for finding one’s path and creating the forms necessary to fertilize and nurture essential growth. Releasing control opens the lunar capacity of Cancer to receive subconscious content that will replenish and clarify conscious choices.

Origins (2012) by Marlene Seven Bremner

The Cancer Full Moon not only creates a grand square with Jupiter and Uranus, it also re-activates the square between Pluto and Uranus that dominated astrology between 2011 and 2015. Primal feelings that feel overwhelming under the light of the Full Moon also carry a valuable message buried under their density like hidden treasure. There is support to dig deeper and receive a more penetrating perception of underlying unconscious dynamics than previously realized. In other cases the electrical charge of the Full Moon catalyzing Jupiter and Uranus can allow for a purging of toxic feelings that need release. To paraphrase the harmonizing of Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris in “Return of the Grievous Angel,” you will see your devil and you will see your deep blue sea. Subconscious contents unearthed will become a resource helping to balance and center within the dissolution and shattering of surrounding collective structures.

Joining Uranus through conjunction are the dwarf planets Eris and Ceres, with Ceres finally beginning to separate after stationing direct in conjunction with Uranus last month. Ceres invites us into the abyss of surrender that ultimately leads to greater understanding and regenerated strength. When Ceres in her story of losing her daughter was paralyzed in mourning, at the crossroads of her struggle appeared Hekate from the void to offer counsel that eventually led to her resolution. Similarly the Cancer Full Moon will serve as a guiding torch directed by Hekate for those willing to listen to inner guidance. Ceres in Aries offers active, loving care that fosters mutual independence and empowerment in outer relations.

Another guiding light within the Full Moon is Mercury, now direct as a Morning Star and arising at dawn to herald the rising of the Sun and our awakening from sleep. Mercury is at the threshold between Sagittarius and Capricorn at the peak of the Full Moon, and as the lunar cycle wanes Mercury will move forward through Capricorn. Like the colorful cock celebrating the return of solar heat, Mercury will be up at the crack of dawn, alert to daily priorities and curious to discover the path that will lead to desired goals. Due to the recent Mercury retrograde in Capricorn, this will be the third time that Mercury has crossed over the first fifteen degrees of Capricorn since the beginning of December 2016. Replenished from its time in the retrograde underworld, Mercury has freed the space needed for revitalized authority in navigating life as it approaches a conjunction with Pluto during the waning Moon cycle.

by Marlene Seven Bremner (2016)

Venus in Pisces is closely applying to a conjunction with Neptune while separating from her previous union with the South Node of the Moon. Venus in her exaltation of Pisces may express the full range of her boundless sensuality, a euphoria heightened through her union with Neptune that can elicit feelings of unconditional love and acceptance for loved ones. With the South Node of the Moon having passed over both Venus and Neptune, there has been a purifying release of old relationship desires and patterns possible. Signs and symbols illustrative of the love story we have been living for what feels like ages may have appeared, giving us the gift of being able to create a new story through our deepened awareness. Recent experiences of disillusionment in relationship can serve as a necessary awakening to what we need to cultivate for ourselves in relationship and nurture from within ourselves to avoid external dependencies.

Both Venus and Mars in Pisces are Evening Stars who can be seen together in the transfiguration of twilight, distilling insight into our past relational desires through their balsamic relationship. Mars in Pisces is applying to a conjunction with Chiron at the Cancer Full Moon as it also begins to form a square to Saturn in Sagittarius. Last year brought a series of eclipses aligned with Chiron as well as a pivotal Mars retrograde that was bound with Saturn, and so Mars is in position to dredge up whatever remains unresolved from key 2016 storylines. Mars will form an exact square with Saturn as the lunar cycle wanes into its last quarter square on January 19, an important phase of initiation connected back to the conjunction of Mars and Saturn in Sagittarius that occurred on 24 August 2016.

Whatever was torn down last year has cleared the space for new forms to be built and fortified now. Saturn demands accountability and discipline but not limited thinking. In fact, the aspects surrounding Saturn in Sagittarius will support manifestation for those with far reaching vision and passion who are also willing to put in the hard work and effort necessary to bring immaterial ideas and plans into material form. These are not transits that support playing it safe or doing things the way they’ve always been done. This is a time to risk working and living for the animating aspirations, hopes, and dreams you may have previously held back from pursuing with full force for one reason or another.

4 of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith

Cancer 3 Decan

The Full Moon falls in the third face of Cancer, associated with the Four of Cups card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The Moon rules the third decan of Cancer, bringing added potency to the lunation. In the image of the Four of Cups illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith above, we see someone sitting on the roots of a tree with three golden cups ready to be filled in the foreground, with a fourth cup being magically offered by an otherworldly hand. The recipient of this magical offering appears to be engrossed in contemplative thought, allowing inner exploration to guide subsequent choice.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces gave the image of “The Overflowing Cup” to the third face of Cancer, declaring that it reveals the conflict of choosing “luxurious excess” within “a world of limited material resources” in which “the attainment of luxury for one entails deprivation for others,” leading to a “hidden violence and secret competition entailed within the quest for luxury” (p. 115-6). Coppock noted this seems to be the perspective of the young man seated in the Four of Cups with an ascetic air of refusing to accept more than he needs, and therefore bringing up questions around choosing the extra cup of luxury. Significantly, Coppock additionally noted the spiritual dimension of luxury:

While this face has much to teach about the material dynamics of scarcity and excess, not all matters relevant to it can be confined to matters of food, wealth and shelter. Our world also provides gifts not so easily exhausted. The ever present energy of the natural world- the chi which emanates from all living things- is an ocean even a thirsty god could not drain. Likewise, the spirit offers cups ever-refilled. This decan thus offers a vision not only of hoarding the finite, but the endless luxury of the limitless. (p. 117)

Resonant with cycles of creation and destruction that bring limitless luxury and spiritual gifts, Coppock also noted that the Hellenistic text The 36 Airs of the Zodiac connected the goddess Hekate with the third face of Cancer. Hekate rules over the phases of the Moon, all realms of the upper world and the underworld, crossroads, magical craft, midwifery, and prophetic mediation among many other significations. For ages Hekate has been available to call for regenerative power, as described in the following excerpt from “The One Who Waits at the Crossroads” by Soror Basilisk:

When one is at a crossroads, Hekate is there to show the options. The crossroads is also an initiatory ground zero . . . one disposes of unwanted remnants there and this can apply to the unwanted remnants of the Self. With that in mind, attitudes, beliefs, outworn and outgrown patterns of behavior and thought can be shed. The whole of the Self can be completely destroyed and rebuilt anew. Hekate, mad as she is, wise as she is, can be trusted to guide and clear the mind.

The Cancer Full Moon brings a revelatory clearing, a release which will open space and freedom for the unknown to arrive in the next two lunar cycles involving eclipses tightly connected to the opposition between Jupiter and Uranus. In the shedding of the past an intensification of our essence will be felt and able to be transmitted with love into our personal works of passion as well as our relationships and greater community.

References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Hekate: Her Sacred Fires. (2010). Compiled and edited by Sorita D’Este. Avalonia.

Full Moon in Gemini

December 12, 2016December 14, 2016 / grayastrology / 10 Comments

Remedios Varo (1956) Roulotte

Gemini Full Moon

The Full Moon in Gemini on December 13 illuminates not only experiences since the Sagittarius New Moon on November 29, but catalyzes insight into events across 2016 due to being square to the eclipses that occurred in Pisces this past year. The Gemini Full Moon is in square to both the degrees of the Total Solar Eclipse in Pisces that happened on 8 March 2016 and the Annular Lunar Eclipse in Pisces that occurred on 16 September 2016, suggesting a deeper layer of meaning can now be received regarding related personal and collective experiences. Gemini compels us to loosen dogmatic viewpoints, release our attachment to the philosophies and beliefs we derive our sense of security from, and explore how we can reconnect and weave meaning from the multiplicity of life occurring in the moment. Gemini facilitates not only witnessing and communicating about life, but distilling underlying meaning that unifies elements that appear disparate on the surface. Gemini is not only about expansive curiosity in our outer environment, but also involves deep exploration of our psyche and inner life. The Full Moon in Gemini holds powerful aspects for going within our emotional bodies and exploring the way our subconscious is projecting into our outer relationships and viewpoints, taking responsibility to be aware of how the shadow elements we tend to deny about ourselves are at play.

The Gemini Full Moon is in square to Chiron in Pisces, with Saturn in Sagittarius conjoining the Sun. Saturn in Sagittarius is close to forming a last quarter square to Chiron, a cycle that goes back to the mid 1960s when Chiron and Saturn last came together in Pisces. The square forming between Saturn and Chiron is occurring at the same time that the opposition between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries is tightening, with Saturn in Sagittarius forming a trine with Uranus and a sextile with Jupiter. Identity is vital to consider within these aspects, and Chiron is a figure from myth who had to overcome abandonment issues over his identity as a centaur. To reach the transpersonal realm of Uranus beyond Jupiter and Saturn that Chiron bridges, we must face our identity issues and open our presence beyond the ego conditioning of how our identity fits within society and the myriad projections others are constantly making from their own unconscious they do not claim any responsibility for. Focusing within on what we truly value and want to create will help guide us in the choices to make and actions to take at this Full Moon, as there are extremely supportive aspects for liberating breakthroughs that are simultaneously grounded and capable of being manifested in the material realm.

Mercury in Capricorn rules the Gemini Full Moon and is approaching a conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. Mercury is an Evening Star that has now reached its maximum elongation and is preparing to station retrograde, and in fact will station retrograde before it forms a conjunction with Pluto. On the threshold of beginning its descent into the underworld, Mercury in Capricorn with Pluto can open perception beyond the consensus definitions of linear time and space and the type of logic fixated on causation. Synchronicity is always at play, yet this Full Moon ruled by Mercury holds aspects suggesting the importance of paying attention to the full scope of messages in your surroundings. Mercury in Capricorn supports being accountable and responsible for your perceptions and the manner in which you convey the meaning generated to others, honoring your own boundaries while being respectful of the boundaries of others.

deborahturbeville_silhouette-on-banister_300

Deborah Turbeville November 24, 1980

The Sun in Sagittarius is conjoining Saturn and at the beginning of a new cycle with Saturn the week of the Full Moon. You can look to the aspects made in your chart by twenty degrees of Sagittarius to analyze how the new cycle between Saturn and the Sun is impacting you, but in general it brings a more serious and determined quality of Saturn into the normally lighthearted and flowing energy of a lunation involving the polarity of Gemini and Sagittarius. Saturn is bringing solidity and grounding to the visionary quality of Sagittarius, a willingness to put in the work, discipline, and commitment necessary to manifest goals. There can also be a heaviness and depressive sense of limitation surrounding anything that is currently not working effectively, but with Saturn also in sextile to Jupiter and trine to Uranus there is support for making dramatic changes and modifications focused on improvement and problem solving. The Sun separating from Saturn in Sagittarius calls us to claim our inner authority to act from our core values with the integrity to patiently work in accord with our highest standards rather than try to cut corners, take shortcuts, or manipulate information to make things look better than they actually are.

Roberto Matta (1951) La Mela

The Full Moon in Gemini is a gateway into the first exact opposition between Jupiter and Uranus in their current cycle, as in the dark Moon of the forthcoming waning lunar cycle Jupiter will form an exact opposition with Uranus on 26 December 2016. The opposition between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries, with Saturn in Sagittarius forming a trine to Uranus and a sextile with Jupiter, is one of the dominant aspects of astrology in the year ahead. We are only at the beginning of getting a sense of what these transits will mean for us in our lives, and although there are already signs of potential meaning there is such an unexpected, shocking quality to Uranus that becomes strikingly catalyzed through an opposition with Jupiter, that its impossible to know fully what to expect given that experience can rapidly shift and change with sudden developments that come seemingly out of nowhere. In the tension between the opposition between Jupiter and Uranus, it will be fruitful to make space away from relationships in order to attune within to everything being activated from external sources. There is dynamic inventiveness found within these aspects to express into all manner of creativity that needs channels of release that will support its flow, rather than projecting it at walls of resistance that will only block and repress it.

As Jupiter begins to form its exact opposition with Uranus, the dwarf planet Ceres is also present with Uranus. In tandem with the supportive aspects with Saturn, the path to accessing the full creative potential of the opposition between Jupiter and Uranus involves nurturing and taking care of our own needs so that we do not need to become overly attached in codependent relations in which we expect others to fulfill us. The more we can resist projecting expectations and instead be present in the moment with all that we feel within, the more we can access the liberating dynamic of Jupiter and Uranus that is capable of taking us beyond previous limitations and barriers we had imposed upon ourselves. It is possible to maintain commitment in relationship while also giving oneself the freedom and space to make breakthroughs from within a secure sense of self stabilized from nurturing one’s own needs.

Mariage d’Amour…Mariage de Raison (1927) Erte

Venus in Aquarius has the dignity of decan at the Full Moon, for she rules the first face of Aquarius. This gives Venus greater strength and an ability to decondition from external circumstances in order to enjoy one’s unique sources of pleasure and harmony. Venus in Aquarius has now entered supportive sign-based aspects with Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, and as the aspects between Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus become exact later in December, Venus in Aquarius will also form harmonious degree-based aspects with all three. Venus in Aquarius holds a mirror that clarifies and objectifies our relationship dynamics, shedding light on our shadow and the way we project unconscious dynamics into our relationships. Whether you view Saturn or Uranus as the ruler of Venus in Aquarius, Venus will be making a sextile to both in December. Venus being in the home of Saturn is compelling in terms of making a commitment to embody one’s authentic inner values, being responsible to maintain personal integrity in all relationships.

Venus and Mars are both in the sign of Aquarius at the time of the Full Moon, in their balsamic phase. As a result, the Gemini Full Moon that forms a trine to Mars in Aquarius illuminates a distillation of the past Venus and Mars cycle that goes back to 2015 in which there were three conjunctions of Mars and Venus in February, September, and November. Inner reflection can reveal insight into the most significant relationships that have come in and out of our life since the beginning of 2015, as well as how the new relationships being developed now integrate our newly arising needs and values. In the upcoming time period, Venus will station retrograde in Aries in March 2017 before she reachers her conjunction with Mars (though Venus will get very close to Mars in Aries in February 2017), and then Mars and Venus will begin to separate and leave the balsamic phase (meaning moving more that 45 degrees apart) over the course of the Venus retrograde. Eventually, Mars and Venus will unite and begin a new cycle in Virgo in October 2017, around the same time we will experience the final exact opposition between Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries. While the Jupiter and Uranus opposition will correlate with extraordinary changes and inventions in collective events, in our personal lives theses same transits will also support breaking free from old relationship patterns we have outgrown.

10 of Swords by Pamela Colman Smith

Gemini 3 Decan

The Full Moon falls in the third face of Gemini, associated with the Ten of Swords card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. Her illustration of the Ten of Swords took on new meaning for me when I read Austin Coppock’s book on the decans, 36 Faces, and realized that since ancient Egyptian culture is the source of the decans in astrology, it is significant that Egyptian as well as the Hellenistic astrological tradition viewed Cancer as the first sign of the zodiac in astrological arrangements. For example in the Thema Mundi, the chart said to represent the birth of the universe, it is Cancer that occupies the first house and Gemini that occupies the twelfth house. Therefore, if we conceive the zodiac as beginning with the Cancer Solstice, or the first decan of Cancer, it means that the third decan of Gemini would be the end of the cycle, the final of the 36 faces of the zodiac.

Thus the image of a dead man with ten swords plunged into his back resonates with surrendering to the end or death of a cycle. While the card’s image contains dark skies and death, there is also brilliant light present in the sky revealing the new beginning of a cycle to come. Austin Coppock linked the death found in this image with the necessary death or sacrifice of one of the twins of Gemini:

It is important to understand the precise nature of the death which occurs here properly, for it is not the self-sacrifice of Jesus, nor the cognate immolation and rebirth of the Phoenix. The third decan of Gemini sees Castor fall, Cain slay Abel and Set slay Horus. It is the climax of a story of polarity. The death which occurs here reduces a warring pair back to a stable unity . . .

For by the third decan of Gemini, dualities have permutated far beyond the shades of grey previously explored. The ultimate extremities are present here, taken to the point that they cannot truly coexist. Day and night must split time- they cannot take place simultaneously. Good and evil must do the same. In the end, the conflicting wills of the body and spirit cannot be wholly equilibrated. While the other decans of Gemini involve discovery, exploration, and simultaneity, in the third wait choices- judgments that must be made. To achieve actuality, a multitude of possibilities must be sacrificed. Though such burnt offerings are a necessary inevitability, it does not spare those who walk this face difficult decisions (p. 98-99).

As the Sun rules the third decan of Gemini, it is fitting that the Sun in Sagittarius at the time of the Gemini Full Moon has passed from ending an old cycle with Saturn into beginning a new cycle. In the brilliant light of the Full Moon in the sign of the Twins, we may let go of old self constructs, releasing old identities in order to open to the truth we discover in the moment. The Sun with Saturn in Sagittarius supports facing current adversity with determined consistency, honesty, and principled resolve to lead by example. Leading by example also includes supporting the work of others and helping to protect and shelter whatever we find valuable yet vulnerable in an early stage of development. As Rainer Maria Rilke once wrote in a letter:

We have to be committed not to miss or neglect any opportunity to suffer, to have an experience, or to be happy; our soul arises refreshed from all of that. It has a resting place at those heights that are difficult to reach, and it is at home where one can advance no further: up there we have to carry it. But as soon as we put it down for dead at those extreme spots it awakens and takes flight into skies and celestial depths that from now on belong to us.

I confess that I consider life to be a thing of the most untouchable deliciousness, and that even the confluence of so many disasters and deprivations, the exposure of countless fates, everything that insurmountable increased for us over the past few years to become a still rising terror cannot distract me from the fullness and goodness of existence that is inclined toward us. There would be little sense in approaching you with good wishes if each wish were not preceded by this conviction that the goods of life arise pure, undamaged, and, at their very bottom, desirable out of upheaval and ruin.

— Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Ulrich Baer

References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Rilke, Rainer Maria. (2005). Letters on Life: New Prose Translations. Edited and translated by Ulrich Baer.

Taurus Full Moon 2016

November 14, 2016November 14, 2016 / grayastrology / 7 Comments

joseph_wright_of_derby_-_a_lake_by_moonlight_-_google_art_project

A Lake by Moonlight by Joseph Wright

Full Moon in Taurus

In Taurus we discover our capacity to surround ourselves with a sense of beauty, comfort, and stability. When lacking material resources or in fear of threats to our survival, we have a choice to succumb to fearful paralysis or instead draw from our fathomless inner reserves in order to nourish ourselves and ground into the roots of our present. Taurus is the inner home of Venus, the exaltation of the Moon, and a living image of our zodiac containing the essential value within we can foster and then share with others through acts of love, creation of arts and sciences, and collaborative efforts that increase the welfare of our surrounding community. The Full Moon in Taurus on November 14 is ruled by Venus in Capricorn, bringing additional meaning of taking responsibility for our thoughts and actions, being accountable to embody and live from our inner integrity. The past year has brought a steady stream of shattering world events that have caused many to fear impending doom. The full light of the Moon in Taurus is a moment to illuminate the current opportunities available to bring greater solidity and stability into your daily life, as well as to liberate your will force in service of the greater good for all.

Writing in the United States of America, it is impossible within the current vicious, divisive political atmosphere to ignore the fact that many are currently panicked about the future few years of this country, just as innumerable other people around our planet whose nation is in even more dire circumstances have reasons to fear for their future. The Taurus Full Moon connects into some longer term planetary cycles I will discuss that reveal the importance of fully embodying and living from our inner values in order to contribute to the collective shifts coming in the years ahead. However, as Taurus is a fixed sign, it is likewise vital to deeply question the current state of your values and whether or not the perspective you have been fixated upon is truly for your own best interest as well as the greater good of all. The need of Taurus to feel secure leads to obstinate attachment to the way things have been, yet the light of this Full Moon in Taurus arrives in a period of collective dissolution calling for radical change. No matter the circumstances we find ourselves in, we possess imagination to envision a more fulfilling tomorrow, creativity to transfigure elements of our struggle into cathartic work of quality, humor and compassion to find solace with others.

The Scorpio Sun is conjoining both the mean and true nodes of Black Moon Lilith at the Full Moon. There is a vast collective shadow perceptible further exacerbated by Neptune being tightly bound with the transiting South Node of the Moon. Abuse and degradation of women, oppression and persecution of anyone labeled an “other” outside of societal “norms,” greed and avarice in the material realm at expense of safeguarding surrounding nature, all of this and much more has been flooding collective events. The resolution found through Black Moon Lilith is in embracing and accepting ourselves four our own authentic nature in spite of societal judgment or cultural conditioning. Black Moon Lilith bound to the Taurus Full Moon can coalesce understanding into how to reclaim and assert ourselves in the face of oppressive cultural forces, creating a life that enables us to discover our inner happiness, desires, and spirituality.

photograph by Beau Vandendolder (2016)

Venus in Capricorn rules the Full Moon, on her way toward a union with Pluto as the Moon wanes into darkness in the forthcoming cycle. Last month we experienced a conjunction between Mars and Pluto that awakened new desires we can now feel more sensually alive within, as the full feeling nature of Venus is more tactile, earthy, and deeply felt in the body in Capricorn. In romantic relationships the waning half of the lunar cycle supports erotic depth and cathartic release, while in mundane and work related relationships we can feel more ambitious drive and the need to responsibly implement plans of action. While passions can become enflamed as Venus and Pluto approach each other, their placement in Capricorn stresses the importance of honestly asserting one’s needs without fear of judgment or rejection. This will be the balsamic close of the cycle between Venus and Pluto that began in early February 2016, and so there will also be a sense of wrapping up deep relational issues from the past year while opening to regenerated depth in the coming cycle.

Within the context of the collective disillusionment of Neptune tightly conjoining the South Node of the Moon in Pisces, the coming together of Venus with Pluto is an opportunity to be completely accountable to bring your sense of harmony and unity into manifestation in the face of external disharmony. Realms of art, writing, and social activism will be fertile arenas to pour and shape energy into creative forces that will not submit to oppressive systems of power and instead subvert and inspire active change. The self-determination of Capricorn is healthier and capable of creating greater stability when coming from a place of inner emotional security, rather than wielding power or control as compensation for emotional issues. As Venus approaches Pluto, each of us needs to dive into and face our own shadow without denial, rather than only projecting rage at the shadow of collective events that trouble us.

beau-vandendolder-trees-trees-trees-lines

In addition to Venus being at the beginning of a new sign at the Full Moon, Mars is freshly in Aquarius in sextile with Mercury also at the beginning of Sagittarius. Mercury in Sagittarius has not quite come out from under the beams of the Sun at the Full Moon, but in the waning half of the coming lunar cycle will emerge with an important message for us to receive as it forms a sextile with Jupiter in Libra and a conjunction with Saturn in Sagittarius. The current sextile between Mercury and Mars is highly visionary in quality, as Mars in Aquarius has a persevering drive to set future-oriented vision into motion while also having more objective clarity than Mars normally has. Mercury in Sagittarius is fast and radiant in expression, and though its coming conjunction with Saturn will bring more of a sobering seriousness, it simultaneously being received by Jupiter through a sextile will make this a fertile period to not only receive a vision but take direct action in implementing it into reality. There is also strong Mercurial vision available into our relationships with an eye toward what is developing on the distant horizon. Jupiter in Libra is entering a period of becoming strongly activated by multiple surrounding transits, and so clarifying what we want in our relationships will make the direct expression of Mercury in Sagittarius able to transmit our needs and desires with immediate spirit.

Into the Darkness by Judy Chicago

Jupiter + Pluto + Saturn

This Full Moon ushers us into a period of Jupiter in square to Pluto and Jupiter in sextile with Saturn. Jupiter is being initiated by Pluto, as it hits the square with Pluto prior to forming its sextile with Saturn. It is paramount to realize these are last quarter, or waning aspects between Jupiter with Pluto and Saturn that involve reorientation and turning away from past beliefs while undergoing a process of disillusionment and decomposition. The current cycle between Jupiter and Pluto began in 2007, and we reached the opposition point of their cycle in 2013 and 2014. While we could interpret the current square through the lens of visionary forces of justice with Jupiter confronting the manipulative, controlling, and judgmental forces of Pluto power structures, this is only one small side of a much vaster whole. On personal levels we need to claim the responsibility to create the life we want to live instead of repress and restrict ourselves to fit into conditioned roles we feel enslaved to perform. Often people are afraid to quit soul sucking jobs for good reason, such as needing to be responsible for loved ones, but we are also being called to strike a greater balance in terms of liberating our ability to go after what will bring us greater fulfillment and harmony. We must confront our inner judgement that restricts us from opening to greater love and abundance in relationship, allowing old limitations of belief to evaporate.

In terms of the ripening last quarter sextile between Jupiter with Saturn, there is a fascinating aspect that the Full Moon happens to be at the degree of the conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn that began their current cycle in May 2000. As a result, the Full Moon appears to be illuminating important collective events which will be continuing to resolve until the end of 2020 when Jupiter and Saturn will begin a new cycle in Aquarius. There is a window of vision into this 2020 threshold available now: where do we want to be as individuals and a collective then, and what in turn do we need to be accountable to do in our lives now to make that happen. There is mutual reception between Jupiter and Saturn since Jupiter is in the exaltation of Saturn, and Saturn is in the home of Jupiter. This is not a time to be passive or hold back from going after what you want, but rather is a time for decisive action and movement that can be a step-by-step or nonlinear process. The important element is making clear choices to align with supportive surrounding structures and relationships or to bolster one’s own inner resources, and to boldly begin moving in a new direction without becoming overly fearful of the old way dying.

ceres

Ceres & Uranus in Aries

There has been a lot of speculation into the meaning of the newly discovered dwarf planet Eris being aligned with Uranus in Aries in the past year, and this duo welcomes a third in the flowering of the Full Moon: Ceres retrograde in Aries. You may remember that at the Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere earlier this year, there was a conjunction between Ceres, Uranus and Eris: now Ceres has moved back retrograde to join Uranus and Eris once again. Ceres in Aries is a fierce protector and nurturer who does not want to foster co-dependency or enable people to keep themselves within helpless, needy relational patterns. Ceres in Aries wants to foster relationships rooted in equality and interdependence, wants to embolden your courage to be yourself fully in the face of any cultural conditioning, and wants to nurture a sense of freedom and independence relationally while maintaining a supportive, attached presence.

The combination of Ceres with Uranus and Eris in Aries makes it easy to think of the myth of Ceres in which she becomes so enraged over the abduction of her daughter by the lord of the underworld that she refuses to produce growth, food, and the creative force of nature on our planet. Ceres in Aries united with Uranus brings the lesson that anger and rage over traumatic experiences can ultimately be redirected and channeled into activism and productive work that will nurture and feed the souls of our surrounding community. This is not an easy lesson, yet the willingness to grieve and lay our souls bare in a dark night of the soul ultimately brings profound spiritual revelations and understanding through the release of pain. Ceres combined with Uranus now on a collective level brings echoes of past collective traumas into our personal experience of current collective traumas, yet there is also strength we can find in the knowledge that for ages upon ages others before us have faced even more difficult circumstances than we currently find ourselves within.

7 of Pentacles by Pamela Colman Smith

Taurus 3 Decan

The Full Moon falls in the third face of Taurus associated with the Seven of Pentacles card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. For what it’s worth I’ve always loved getting the 7 of Pentacles card in a reading, even though it signifies delayed gratification. To me it’s a card that suggests a process is at work, a harvest full of delicate ripeness is on its way, which requires patience and nurturance but also involves a savory climax to come. Applied to the full light of the Taurus lunation, the illumination we receive can be integrated into a long range perspective that will carefully tend to and nurture the needs of our endeavors and relationships so that they may ultimately bloom in healthy wholeness.

Austin Coppock in his book 36 Faces brings up the shadow side of this meaning of the 7 of Pentacles, noting figures of “toil, destruction and poverty” reside in this face due to everything that can go wrong in between the germination of a seed and its ultimate flowering and fruiting. Coppock noted that forces of destruction such as “floods, drought, and pestilence” will destroy what we have carefully planted, and that a lesson of this decan is that “sometimes catastrophe befalls us through no apparent fault of our own” (p. 81). As Saturn is the ruler of this decan, it is fitting that the positive virtues of Saturn, such as “wisdom, patience, humility and foresight are the unexpected fruits of the destructive forces which prowl this face” (p. 81). Coppock concludes that as this is a face which entails confronting catastrophe and disaster, it is also a place from which we can call for support from higher powers and worthy allies.

Saturn’s journey through Sagittarius has brought unexpected shifts and endings befitting the mutable nature of the Centaur, and the danger is that our inner fire can become stifled through Saturn’s attempts at control and exclusion in defense. Mercury is now on its way toward a union with Saturn at the same time Jupiter forms its mutually receptive sextile, aspects that can open and expand the parameters of Saturn beyond previous limits. As Saturn has now made it halfway through the sign of Sagittarius, we are at the cusp of Saturn breaking into new degrees of Sagittarius not previously traversed as it also approaches a trine with Uranus in Aries that will open the boundaries of Saturn wider. This is a time to contain the visionary nature of Sagittarius within the protective boundaries of Saturn and face the coming challenges with the support of resonant alliances. There is incredibly important work in need of doing in the world right now, and we would not all be here together in this moment for it to be any other way. Saturn in Sagittarius is not looking to support complaints and grievances, but rather spirited vision bound to disciplined, resilient effort.

References

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: The History, Astrology and Magic of the Decans. Three Hands Press.

Gray Crawford

ASTROLOGY

Ceres in Aries

New Moon in Pisces