Full Moon in Aries

October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 / grayastrology / 1 Comment

Full Moon in Aries

The polarity between Aries and Libra centers around change of the most primordial sort. In the northern hemisphere the entrance of the Sun into Aries brings the propulsive eruption of Spring from the darkness of Winter, its entrance into Libra the turn from the light and enlivening heat of Summer into the decomposition and reseeding of Fall. While the reverse is true in the southern hemisphere, the axis of Aries and Libra still holds the tension of shifting dynamics ready to give birth to new storylines, motion arising out of stasis, revelation from incubation, breaking through out of breaking down, and vice versa. The Full Moon in Aries on October 20 will be especially catalytic and volatile, as the brilliant Aries Moon will form an opposition with Mars in Libra and a square aspect with Pluto in Capricorn. Yet as the Aries Moon will also pass through a harmonizing sextile aspect with Jupiter in Aquarius as it waxes into fullness, there can be new opportunities for expansive growth to extract from whatever chthonic, internal process of change you have been engaging.

The Full Moon is in the fiery home of Mars and the exaltation of the Sun, forming an opposition with both the Sun and Mars. Mars in Libra is still within his invisible, underworld phase of being at the beginning of a new solar cycle which began on October 7 when Mars was reanimated by the Sun a day after the New Moon in Libra on October 6. The present lunar cycle is all about Mars, as the Moon began her cycle conjoining Mars and will reach peak illumination in opposition with Mars. While new visions and desires related to Mars may be taking root, we are still in the midst of gestating and coming to terms with whatever the new cycle of Mars may propel us toward. Mars is known for being off balance and off kilter, creating strife and separation within relationships in ways that pull you back toward a sense of your own autonomy outside of the dynamic. The opposition aspect in astrology has long been known as having the nature of Saturn, and with Mars occupying the sign opposite its domicile of Aries while forming an opposition with the Aries Full Moon, there will be a need to hold the tension of whatever relational questions or conflicts you may be facing, slowly but surely coming into deeper awareness of the underlying dynamics at play.

Mars also instills courage, the kind of courage necessary to face the unknown and cross thresholds of radical change. In the airy sign of Libra, however, there can be increased levels of mental anxiety regarding change and associated frustrations. As a result it will be helpful to find ways to release energy, calm nerves, and utilize available outlets of creative expression in the days surrounding the Aries Full Moon. Due to Mars and the Aries Full Moon both forming catalyzing square aspects with Pluto in Capricorn, the lunation will coincide with a deep stirring of unconscious desires and memories that may become activated within present relational dynamics. While the hard aspects between Mars and the Aries Full Moon with Pluto may dredge up difficult feelings, it can also provide important illumination regarding your relational patterns and attractors presently operating within your relationships.

Moreover, the Full Moon in the element of fire can help distinguish and separate insight that has accumulated from the recent retrograde phase of Mercury, as Mercury will have stationed direct two days before the Aries Full Moon. With the presence of Mercury saturating the astrological atmosphere, we can draw upon the gifts of Hermes for calibrating opposites, finding the threads that connect disparate elements, and weaving together meaning from whatever processes have been undergoing decomposition and transmutation over the course of the Mercury retrograde period that began on September 26 when Mercury stationed retrograde. In fact the Full Moon at 27°26’ Aries is close to an exact opposition with the degree of 25°28’ Libra where Mercury originally stationed retrograde on September 26.

Mars in Libra rules the Full Moon and is separating from a flowing trine aspect with Jupiter in Aquarius while applying toward an intensifying square aspect with Pluto in Capricorn, similar to how the Aries Moon is separating from both a sextile aspect with Jupiter and a square aspect with Pluto. While Jupiter is making the more harmonious aspect with Mars due to them both occupying air signs, Jupiter has the most intensified presence due to having stationed direct on October 17 a few days before the lunation. As a result, the new desires that Mars is incubating and the future quests he is beginning to develop are being injected with the enlivening vision of Jupiter which can instill hope for breaking free from past limitations and barriers to growth. Yet the simultaneous square aspect between Mars and Pluto may necessitate confronting deeply held internal blocks to becoming more fully actualized creatively. Mars will continue to harbor in darkness during the rest of the present lunar cycle, and so when possible it will be better to wait, contemplate, and continue to develop plans as you continue to deepen your relationship with whatever new pursuits, goals, and desires emerge as Mars gets closer to emerging again in visibility next month. It’s a good time to gather courage away from the glare of the public eye, as you continue to hone and develop plans with daily work and practice.

In addition to Jupiter having an intensified presence due to stationing direct a few days before the Aries Full Moon, Mercury will be embodying an extremely potent presence due to not only stationing direct on October 18, but also having recently risen again into visibility in his Morning Star phase. It will be wise to pay special attention to dreams, symbols, signs, and synchronicities in the days surrounding the Arie Full Moon, listening closely to whatever meaningful messages Mercury will be delivering. Mercury is in range of a flowing trine aspect with Saturn in Aquarius, and so with Saturn, Jupiter, and Mercury all recently having stationed direct, Mercury can help with coalescing insight and gaining greater clarity for the path opening up ahead and the next steps to take.

As the Moon begins to wane within its present cycle, Mercury will be generating forward momentum and will reach maximum elongation as a Morning Star on October 25, the point of its synodic cycle in which he begins to increase in speed and can more easily set in motion whatever changes and new ideas were gathered and generated during his previous retrograde cycle. Before the Scorpio New Moon on November 4, Mercury will completes his third and final trine aspect with Jupiter on October 31, followed by completing his third and final square aspect with Pluto in Capricorn on November 2, the same day that he also will move beyond the degree of the zodiac where he previously stationed retrograde on September 26. Mercury formed his first trine with Jupiter on September 20 and his second on October 3, so you may trace the development of innovative ideas and opportunities for growth across these dates until now. In contrast, Mercury formed his first square aspect with Pluto on September 22 followed by his second square aspect on October 1, and so the process stretching across these dates until now may have been bringing deepening awareness of how inner relational patterns and issues from your past intersect with the present as well as a sense of how to become more empowered in creating and cultivating the work, relationships, and life you desire to experience.

The Sun and Mars are both in the airy home of Venus, and so it is significant that Venus is not only traversing the fiery sign of Sagittarius, but is also out of bounds in declination. Venus will not only be out of bounds in southern declination during the Aries Full Moon but will be continuing to descend even further out of bounds during the waning half of the present lunar cycle into extreme declination for Venus. With Venus out of bounds in southern declination, within the fiery and visionary sign of Sagittarius, the leaps of desire for greater freedom of expression, creativity, and desire may be felt more internally within private places at times.

As Venus approaches a square aspect with Neptune she will complete on October 26 at 20°45’ of Sagittarius and Pisces, there will be great potential for imaginative use of creativity and artistry that can break new ground of expression and form. Yet the boundlessness of Neptune combined with the free spiritedness of Venus out of bounds in Sagittarius also means there will be greater potential than normal for becoming swept up into exciting desires that ultimately prove to be illusory or less than the ideal imagined. Whether within internal or external realms of relationship, however, Venus out of bounds will incite desires for breaking free from past restrictions or barriers. While in some cases there may be a need to take a breath, ground, and contemplate options before rushing heedlessly ahead in new directions, positively Venus out of bounds in Sagittarius can stoke movement and creative expression in places we have felt stagnated or stuck.

Aries 3 Decan

The Full Moon will illuminate the third decan of Aries associated with the Four of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. It’s not clear who the figures in the center of the image are, if they are performers being celebrated or celebrants participating in communal festivities. What is clear is the lovingly decorated garland filled with vivacious blossoms and the combined symbolism of a bridge and large castle in the background: the figures are in a centering and protective place from which to express their creativity and charisma. T Susan Chang in her book 36 Secrets described the Four of Wands as a “temporary refuge” and “safe haven” similar to Rivendell in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, a moment to take comfort and refuge from whatever ordeals you have been enduring. Although Aries is the domicile of contentious and combative Mars, the third decan of Aries is ruled by Venus and Jupiter, the two traditional planets most associated with fertile growth, sources of abundant pleasure, and creative vision.

While Venus is not naturally comfortable in Aries, she is capable of manifesting success and achievement in the third face of Aries despite it being an environment suited for the fiery assertiveness of Mars and the radiant grandeur of the Sun. Austin Coppock in his book 36 Faces ascribed the image of “The Burning Rose” to the third face of Aries, attributing to it “the power of art to overcome hostility,” and “the power of the spirit to unify and seduce, to motivate and to bond those of confluent passions.” Coppock further noted this decan requires “the martial heat of the battlefield,” as it is the battle-ready ferocity of Aries turned toward artistic performance and charismatic presentation that gives this decan its power “to create a commonality of spirit even in the most hostile conditions.” Yet Coppock also pointed out that the bonds formed within this face require its burning intensity to endure, whereas less intense passions are needed within longterm relationships. Thus it’s a face of “peak experiences” and “inspiring unions amidst life’s greatest struggles,” a place where “bonds are forged and spirits raised,” a decan which “grants the charisma to motivate and attract.”

Third decan of Aries image from Allegory of March: Triumph of Minerva (1476) by Francesco del Cossa

The image above by Francesco del Cossa of a figure who resides within the third face of Aries encapsulates aspects of numerous images found in ancient text. The trinity of Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Picatrix, and Liber Hermetis all reveal figures dressed in red and holding a staff or sword. This passionate figure is wearing either a golden or wooden bracelet depending on whether you consult Three Books of Occult Philosophy or the Picatrix, but both texts indicate the figure embodies the unrest of not being able to do desired good. The reason for not being able to manifest these good wishes is not stated, but Three Books proclaims there is “talent, tameness, joy, and beauty” to be found. The figure in the Picatrix is an iron worker and so has a medium through which to transfigure frustrated anger into works of vivifying creation.

In contrast, the figure in Liber Hermetis wears a gold crown with glistening emeralds decorating her belly. She is full of magic and her staff has the heads of four serpents facing a polarity of directions. Her garments of dark rose are lined with golden strings and she seems to possess the grace of the figure painted by Francesco del Cossa rather than the fury over constraints described by other texts. The focused countenance in del Cossa’s figure suggests they have an inner knowing of being able to make a targeted impact, as they seem to be summoning an inner force to project through the golden bracelet held delicately with their fingers. Francesco del Cossa placed an arrow in the other hand, evoking the mythic Eros or Cupid.

Eros is in fact resonant, as the Hellenistic text 36 Airs ascribed the figure of Eros to the third face of Aries. Indeed, the capacity of Eros to arouse passions into creations that inspire collective forces lies at the heart of the decan’s meaning. While some spiritual lineages place Eros as a primordial, hermaphroditic deity at the dawn of Creation, later traditions made Eros into the cunning son of Aphrodite who constantly stirred up the troubles brought forth by lust in both mortals and gods with his bow and arrows. Austin Coppock in 36 Faces stated it is more likely that the 36 Airs had the son of Venus in mind with the third face of Aries as “Eros’ escapades make clear that the desire for unification is inflamed by separation, love by war, lust by forbiddance.”

Another version of Eros is found in Plato’s Symposium, where Eros is portrayed as a great daimon and described by Socrates as the child born from the union of the divine forms of Poverty and Resource. To Socrates, Eros is always poor, always in a state of need, but is also always resourceful in being able to gain what it needs. Within the polarity between Poverty and Resource, the daimonic force of Eros weaves together awareness of the wisdom to be found through our earthly desires that lead us to experience Beauty and Love. The opposing extremes of Poverty and Resource giving birth to Eros is further resonant with the meaning Austin Coppock gave to the third decan of Libra where the Sun and Moon will form an opposition with the Aries Full Moon. Indeed, Coppock described the third decan of Libra as facilitating a process of finding the center within wildly oscillating extremes, inhabiting “the eye of the storm, calm and clear as the chaos of desire and fear whirl all about.” With the Full Moon in the third face of Aries, may the enlivening passion of Eros create the movement needed to flow with the changes circulating around you, finding ways to center within the integrity of your purpose and values while remaining open to flexibly adjusting plans as needed.

If you enjoy my writing please consider supporting my work through a monthly subscription on my Patreon page. Take a look to see the benefits you will receive as a patron!

References

Chang, T. Susan. (2021). 36 Secrets: A Decanic Journey through the Minor Arcana of the Tarot. Anima Mundi Press.

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: the history, astrology, and magic of the decans. Three Hands Press.

Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius

May 25, 2021 / grayastrology / 2 Comments

Ultimum Conjunction: Jupiter and the Royal Eagles of Projection (2019) by Marlene Seven Bremner

Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius

The usual silvery luminescence of the Moon turns blood red during a total lunar eclipse. The thrust of primal change, the disruption of existing stability, the awakening of what had been dormant that pours down from one can feel as extraordinary as glimpsing the Moon cloaked in rose. It can feel like the emptying of bloodletting that imbalances while rebalancing, as storylines surge with stunning developments, old forms and relationships leave our life as vital new forms and relationships take root. After the Moon’s glow transfigures into vermillion vibrancy only to have its red mask peeled back again, the wake of the eclipse may bring about a shedding of crucial elements of past patterns that allows for new stories to emerge.

While total lunar eclipses normally have a more powerful impact than the usual full moon, they tend to correspond with dramatic life changes when impacting important degrees in one’s natal chart. The Total Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius on May 26, 2021 will be at 5°25′ Sagittarius with the South Node of the Moon at 10°43′ Sagittarius, and so if you have important parts of your natal chart in the first ten degrees of the mutable signs you will be more likely to be experiencing life altering events. In some cases, eclipses can correspond with experiences that result in radical changes that take us in completely new directions as we must let go simultaneously of the way things have been. For others an eclipse may come and go without obvious external changes appearing, but even in these cases there is typically an important inner metamorphosis happening in correspondence.

During the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse the Sun will be on the side of the North Node of the Moon in Gemini, casting the shadow of Earth across the face of the Moon. Dane Rudhyar described lunar eclipses as facilitating the emergence of new presence in how we meet experiences due to the Moon being covered in shadow, since the Moon holds memories and material from our past as well as unconscious patterns we have replicating. With the Moon forming a conjunction with the South Node of the Moon in Sagittarius, while the Sun is joined by both Mercury and Venus on the side of the North Node of the Moon in Gemini, we may experience a confrontation with inner beliefs that have been dictating what we do and do not engage with or conceive as being possible. We may be drawn back into old stories or have fears of old storylines repeating in the new stories we are beginning. Yet the dissolving impact of the South Node of the Moon can facilitate an emptying and release of the thought forms and belief structures that are no longer serving us and in fact are getting in the way of embracing inner changes, embodying and expressing the new desires emerging from within.

Jupiter in Pisces not only rules the eclipse but is also forming a catalyzing square aspect with the syzygy, further facilitating a deepening into disassembling old beliefs in order to synthesize and weave together new meaning and vision. The eclipsed Moon will be separating from a square aspect with Jupiter in Pisces and applying toward a trine with Chiron in Aries and a sextile with Saturn in Aquarius, aspects which can foster growth and development within any chaotic changes happening. It’s especially important that Saturn in Aquarius stationed retrograde only a few days before the eclipse on May 22, giving extra prominence to the influence of Saturn and the lessons that Saturn has been demanding that we face and develop understanding from. With Jupiter at full strength in Pisces and Saturn making the weight of its gravity felt through the stillness of its stationing, pay attention to the inspiring new visions and desires being stirred up, devoting yourself and committing to putting in patient and steady work that will please Saturn. At the same time, if we wish to align with what Jupiter in Pisces has to offer we need to expand our vision of the potential we can bring into reality and embody in our life.

With the eclipse moving in between aspects between Jupiter in its home of Pisces and Saturn in its home of Aquarius, its tidal force will bring propulsive developments to the ways we have been changed and are continuing to change in correspondence with the grand conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that rippled outward on the solstice at the end of 2020. In fact, the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse on May 26 as well as the Gemini Solar Eclipse on June 10 are the first eclipses to follow the Total Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius that occurred on December 14, 2020 only a week before the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn. It’s hard to properly conceptualize the enormity of the Jupiter Saturn conjunction arriving on the solstice while simultaneously ushering in a new elemental era of air conjunctions between them, and we are only at the beginning of recognizing how our collective structures and personal lives will be irrevocably transfigured in correspondence. Yet we may certainly say that the forthcoming eclipse season will bring about an acceleration of the elements that have been shifting, breaking down, reforming, and recombining into new mixtures full of vital potency.

Moreover, as the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn was applying to a square aspect with Uranus in Taurus, and since the waning square aspect between Saturn and Uranus that will be occurring three times in 2021 is the predominant astrological theme of the year, it’s further significant that the trajectory of the Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius on May 26 followed by the Solar Eclipse in Gemini on June 10 will be leading us into the second exact square aspect between Saturn and Uranus that will take place on June 14, 2021. While in the past month the liberating impulses of Uranus in Taurus were stoked by stimulation from Venus, Mercury, and the Sun, whatever far reaching visions and desires were awakened must now be brought into relationship with the reordering of Saturn in Aquarius. With Saturn stationing only a few days before the eclipse and Saturn in Aquarius forming major aspects with the eclipses in Sagittarius and Gemini, we can now begin the process of discovering how to tend to both our imaginal landscape as well as our physical reality so that we may slowly and surely build and modify, create and recreate whatever is needed for the new visions to be nurtured in their roots so that they may blossom into vibrant strength.

Waiting in the wings of the eclipse with a patient intensity ready to pierce through the underlying dynamics of events is perhaps the most important character in the eclipse story to come: Hermes. Just like Saturn is carrying extra intensity due to stationing a few days before the eclipse, so is Mercury as the star of Hermes will station retrograde a few days after the eclipse on May 29 at 24°43′ Gemini. Mercury not only carries important influence over events associated with the eclipses due to stationing, but also due to the fact that Mercury is ruling the North Node of the Moon and will be ruling the upcoming Solar Eclipse in Gemini on June 10. In fact, in between Mercury stationing retrograde on May 29 and the solar eclipse on June 10, Mercury will be descending into the underworld in its psychopomp role of releasing what needs to be shed from our past, bringing us into deeper relationship with the new interests and ideas incubating within our inner darkness. Amazingly, Mercury will be forming its inferior conjunction with the Sun, when it is reseeded with the creative potency of its forthcoming cycle, at the same time as the Gemini Solar Eclipse. The powerful role Mercury will be playing in the weeks to come will be important to remember, and so we will need to maintain a flexibility of consciousness that is curious about the unexpected, finds meaning in synchronicities and changes in plan, and is willing to shift and move with the twists and turns in storylines that will occur.

Yet Mercury will not be retrograde when the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse occurs, and instead will be twinkling with light in the liminal shifting of hues following sunset. Most importantly, Mercury will be joined in the sky by Venus who is getting brighter and brighter as an Evening Star each day. The applying conjunction between Venus with Mercury, the ruler of the North Node of the Moon, suggests being mindful of our relationships and the ways our relational needs are changing. It will be important to engage in communication within relationships, and the link between Venus and Mercury further suggests it may be a time of transition in relationships with certain ones passing away as new ones grow in strength. It can also be a fruitfully creative time for experimenting with writing, art, or any crafts where Venus and Mercury can combine. Since Venus is only at the beginning of her new Evening Star phase and we are still settling into what has been reborn in correspondence with her superior conjunction with the Sun at the end of March, the fact that Mercury is pausing to wait for her suggests he will receive an important message from her regarding our desires and creativity to carry with him during his upcoming retrograde journey through the underworld and back again.

Mercury and Venus previously formed a conjunction on April 25, 2021 in Taurus a few degrees away from Uranus and also closely in range of a square aspect with Saturn in Aquarius. Their next exact conjunction will be on May 28 at 24°41′ Gemini at the same time that Mercury is stationing retrograde, with both Venus and Mercury forming a catalyzing square aspect with Neptune in Pisces. Since they are uniting while also forming a square with Neptune in Pisces, on one level we can observe how Mercury and Venus have been weaving together storylines and setting off foreshadowing that links together the events connected with the square aspect between Saturn and Uranus with the conjunction between Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces that will be a pivotal influence during 2022. However, rather than being swept away by dreams of the future we will need to focus on how things are developing in the present, drawing inspiration from whatever exciting new visions are being stimulated by the tension between Neptune with Venus and Mercury.

Indeed, the square aspect between Mercury and Neptune will be unusually long and merits closer examination. Mercury first formed a square aspect with Neptune on May 22, moving within three degrees of a square with Neptune on May 18. Mercury will remain within three degrees of a square aspect with Neptune until June 11, meaning that it will be tightly forming a square with Neptune from now all the way through the upcoming Gemini Solar Eclipse. It will be a potent period for dreaming and exploring imaginal landscapes, surrendering to feelings and letting old blockages erode within the oceanic waves of Neptune. Yet at the same time, Mercury being strong in its own airy home will be capable of retrieving pivotal insight, curiously exploring and examining the shells washing up on the shoreline of our psyche. There will be added intensity to the square between Mercury and Neptune during the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse, as Venus will be amplifying their dynamic as she passes through an exact square aspect with Neptune on May 27 and a conjunction with Mercury on May 28.

In addition, another major underlying influence during the eclipse will be the opposition forming between Mars in Cancer with Pluto in Capricorn that will eventually become exact on June 5. Mars in Cancer will be forming a flowing trine aspect with Neptune that it will complete on May 30, while Neptune is also in range of a harmonious sextile aspect with Pluto. The opposition between Mars and Pluto can have multivalent meaning in many different contexts, ranging from an intensification of desire, enmeshment within difficult power dynamics, or a need to be resiliently empowered in the face of strong opposition among many other possible impacts. Due to Mars and Pluto also forming aspects with Neptune, it will be important to pay close attention to inner feelings and any way we may be projecting internal dynamics on others. At the same time, these same aspects could be bringing genuine ideals and visions of authentic actualization to develop within our relationships and work. Combined with everything else, it will be important to avoid negating the beautiful vision of what can potentially be developed while also making sure to remain grounded and tend to whatever needs care within relationships and what will need to be altered or modified within work and creative projects.

Although there are a lot of intense astrological aspects surrounding the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse, the fact that Jupiter in Pisces is ruling the eclipse brings greater potential for integration and being able to gather deeper meaning and inspiration from our experiences. Within the nocturnal water of Pisces, Jupiter can facilitate a sinking into deeper embodiment the more we let things slow down and take shape rather than trying to force things to happen or speed up events. Jupiter in Pisces can assist in seeing through and feeling into experiences, finding coherence through relating to what is happening within us as well as listening and relating within our external relationships. No matter what sort of volatile events erupt in the weeks ahead, see how you can draw on the combined strength of Jupiter in Pisces (ruling the South Node) and Mercury in Gemini (ruling the North Node) for blending, moderating, and measuring how you are internally impacted, finding outlets for circulating and moving the energy through you. As old beliefs and dreams are released into the eclipse portal aligned with the South Node of the Moon in Sagittarius, the presence of Jupiter in Pisces will be ready to spin new tales and construct new stories that will be more aligned with whatever new presence is emerging from within.

The XIV Temperance arcanum in tarot has been syncretized by many with the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. In their book on the tarot, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa wrote the following message spoken by Temperance:

“I’ve been called ‘guardian angel’; that is how the Church imagined me, with the appearance of a child. I am that, but I am also much more than that. I am a part of your subconscious, its benevolent part, the part that helps and keeps watch over you even when you are sleeping. I am there to urge you to act when an action is good for you. Trust me: I am here to balance you. Those who suffer and torture themselves do not know me, yet I am also there for them. I am only waiting for them to see me and to call upon me.
“I ask only one thing of you: that you recognize that you are not alone. But then you ask, what must be done to reach me? I shall answer you: you must begin by imagining me. You may first invoke my childish image of a guardian angel; that’s a good start. Play with me like a child speaking to his angel. Act as if I existed. Imagine me, there, right next to you, all the time, and that my sole purpose is to help you. Most importantly, like a trusting child, you must accept my aid.”
The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa

Sagittarius 1 Decan

The Moon will be eclipsed in the first decan of Sagittarius associated with the Eight of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. In the image we can see eight staffs or wands sailing swiftly across the sky and above a flowing river, evoking a focus on movement. Indeed, the Eight of Wands signifies a multiplicity of developments as well as the speed of thought applied to a passionate goal, which fits well with Mercury being the ruler of the first face of Sagittarius. Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces described the chief meaning of this decan being “the speed of an idea or vision, the velocity of imagination,” writing that “the essence of this decan entails the swift emergence of a motivating vision and the attainment of a vehicle to move one toward the pictured goal.”

Austin Coppock ascribed the image of “The Poisoned Arrow” to the first decan of Sagittarius, describing the complex relationship between the speed of vision found within this face and the potential to have thought manipulated by external sources. In part Coppock related this concept to the attribution of daimons of plague by the Hellenistic text 36 Airs to this face, noting this decan also involves “the secrets of propaganda” and other viruses that can “infect the psyche” and hijack our bodies, emotions, and minds, like influential ideas and propaganda that goes viral on the Internet. Coppock further noted that the “energy patterning of this decan is linear and ruthless,” like an arrow shot with violent precision at a target. As a result, the first decan of Sagittarius teaches the importance of remembering that our mind, body, and emotions are vulnerable to infections from external sources. By protecting our psyche from external manipulation, Coppock further pointed out that we can instead become infected with “enthusiasm.” Indeed, also present within this face is “the ideal self, the half divine hero . . . composed entirely of spirit fire” from whom “a story unfolds – a quest, a target, a driven myth.”

With Jupiter in Pisces ruling the Sagittarius Lunar Eclipse, we can expect new myths and stories to emerge within our collective psyche. As Wole Soyinka wrote in his introduction to his interpretation of The Bacchae of Euripedes, “Myth is part wish-fulfillment through hero projections” as well as “an outline for action, especially for groups within society who have experienced loss and deprivation.” Regarding the figure of Dionysus who is deeply resonant with Jupiter and Neptune in Pisces, Soyinka wrote that the history of Dionysus “was extravagantly rich in all the ingredients of a ravaged social psyche: displacement, suppression of identity, dissociation, dispossession, trials and the goal of restoration.” Just like Soyinka pointed out how Dionysus as “deity of the moist elements” connected the masses with the rhythms of Nature as well as allowed for the release of “the pent-up frustrated energy of all the downtrodden,” so can we expect a regeneration of collective myths and stories to emerge giving voice to those who have been on the outskirts of consensus, central narrative viewpoints. Within your personal life, listen for the voice of your guardian daimon/angel and the enlivening quests and stories ready to emerge from a new chapter in your life. The illuminated intuition found within, vivified by inner spirit fire, may guide the way forward if we trust it.

If you enjoy my writing please consider supporting my work through a monthly subscription on my Patreon page. Take a look to see the benefits you will receive as a patron!

References

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

Jodorowsky, Alejandro and Costa, Marianne. (2004). The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards. Destiny Books.

Soyinka, Wole. (1973). The Bacchae of Euripedes: A Communion Rite. W.W. Norton & Company.

Full Moon in Cancer

December 29, 2020 / grayastrology / Leave a comment

Hekate and the Three Graces (1st – 2nd Century CE)

Full Moon in Cancer

Around the hollow of her right flank a great stream of the primordially-generated Soul gushes forth in abundance, totally ensouling light, fire, ether, worlds.

In the left flank of Hekate exists the source of virtue, which remains entirely within and does not give up its virginity.

The Chaldean Oracles translated by Ruth Majercik, fragments 51 & 52

Full Moon in Cancer

The Full Moon on December 29 is in the watery sign of Cancer, the home of the Moon where its potency for nurturing restoration and drawing sustenance from memories and dreams can be expressed directly and fully. Ever since 2018 the Full Moon in Cancer each year has had to share its watery domicile with its North Node as well as forming an opposition with Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, creating greater volatility and a harder edge to our lunar experience. In fact, we entered 2020 with a Lunar Eclipse in Cancer on January 10 that set off the conjunction that formed between Saturn and Pluto a few days later on January 12. While the Cancer full moons and eclipses of the past three years have been helpful for drawing our attention to issues in need of tending, the Cancer lunation at the end of 2020 will deliver a purer dose of lunar medicine to imbibe. The silvery soulfulness pouring down from the Cancer Full Moon will be able to find its way to the parts of yourself in need of its nurturance, the more so that space is made to receive it and discover where it leads you.

The Full Moon in Cancer will peak as we prepare to cross the divide of calendar years into 2021. While the end of the year typically feels like a threshold experience, there will be an amplified sense of being at a collective crossroads due to the recent conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn on the solstice. The Cancer Full Moon will serve as a beacon of light not unlike the torch traditionally carried by Hekate, illuminating our feelings about what we are ready to release from the past year and what we are hopeful will emerge in the year ahead. We will need to draw from the perspective of the two-faced, threshold guardian Janus that can simultaneously reflect backwards while looking forward, as we need to honor the freshness of being at the beginning. The Cancer Full Moon will illuminate our arrival at the beginning of a new chapter in world history that has opened in correspondence with the new cycle set into motion by Jupiter and Saturn.

The Cancer Full Moon is separating from a sextile with Uranus in Taurus and applying toward an opposition with Mercury in Capricorn and a trine with Neptune in Pisces. The Moon’s opposition with Mercury will be mentally activating, while its movement from the sextile with Uranus into the trine with Neptune will activate the nonlinear realm of memories, emotions, and somatic material that often impacts us without our conscious awareness. Doubling down on the lunation making a potent subconscious impact is that in addition to immediately separating from a sextile with Uranus, the Cancer Full Moon is also separating from a catalytic square aspect with Chiron in Aries that will help to dislodge material that has been frozen in the psyche or held in the body so that it may become processed and released. The opposition between the Full Moon and Mercury may feel overwhelming if life events are creating excessive busyness and mental stimulation, and so if this is the case find ways to calm and soothe nerves. Otherwise the tension between the Moon and Mercury can be utilized in divination, journaling, artistic expression, or any other medium that can draw on the lunar activation by Uranus and Neptune to provide insight into important aspects of your inner parts and purposes that are ready to emerge in the new year and new era we are entering.

The Cancer Moon will form an opposition with Pluto in Capricorn on December 31 and then will form oppositions with Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius and a square with Uranus in Taurus after entering Leo later in the day. In the wider context of the astrology of 2021, it’s fascinating that the Moon will move from an opposition with Pluto into hard aspects with Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus as the new year begins. As a result, the Moon’s movement will connect us with the fact that on a larger scale we are leaving a period of time dominated by the cycles between Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto into a year that will be dominated by the cycles between Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The deep contractions and heavy gravity of years influenced by Pluto will now be erupting with the propulsive and shattering force of Uranus that can be erratic, unpredictable, emancipatory, and inventive all at the same time. Uranus can be a positive influence when connecting us with whatever makes us feel authentically passionate and inspired, and so the Cancer Full Moon can aid in shedding the dead weight of the past so as to feel lighter and more freely capable of aligning with the exciting opportunities that can emerge in the new year.

from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Venus in Sagittarius is making important aspects to consider during the Cancer Full Moon, including forming a conjunction with the South Node of Sagittarius that it will complete on December 30 with the mean node and on December 31 with the true node. Venus moving across the Sagittarius South Node will focus attention on material that was seeded at the Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius on December 14, with issues that were previously hidden becoming unveiled. With Venus tending to the release valve of the Moon’s nodes, the full light of the lunation pouring down upon us will bring realizations mediated by Venus in Sagittarius such as anyway we have been relating from dogmatic values, righteously believing we know the truth or crusading to convert others to our own viewpoint. Positively, Venus in Sagittarius can help in rooting our relating through awareness of not only the ways we are interacting with other humans but also in the ways we are interacting within the vaster field of animals, land, ancestors and other living spirits. As we leave the era of earth to enter the era of air, Venus in Sagittarius can help in revealing how it’s not only our relationships with other human beings that will need greater care and attention, but that our innumerable relationships within the vast realm of Nature above and below will also need greater focus and cultivation.

The lessons Venus can teach from its proximity with Ketu, the South Node of the Moon in Sagittarius, involve many themes covered by Jason Holley recently in a webinar entitled Sagittarius in Myth and Psyche. Holley focused on the tendency in today’s astrological world to project upon the nomadic consciousness of Sagittarius from the settler consciousness of the colonial cultures we live within. Some of the aspects of Sagittarius discussed by Holley led me to consider how they connect with our collective movement into the era of air, and in these ways it makes sense that Venus combined with Ketu in Sagittarius can help us cut through what is in the way of us becoming more spatially mobile, fluid in our roles, flexible in our social organizations, and capable of grounding in movement while retaining a differentiated perceptual field capable of restructuring interpretation and analysis as needed. Holley described the orientation of Sagittarius as carrying “an ancient memory that one is partly here to shepherd the souls of others and oneself- to free them from limitations.” This is a worthy lesson to remember from Venus as the star of Aphrodite journeys across the South Node of the Moon as we journey into 2021.

However, Venus is not only applying to a conjunction with the South Node of the Moon, but also to an imaginatively activating square aspect with Neptune in Pisces that it will complete on December 30. The square between Venus and Neptune will constellate fantastical images and enticing visions, but we will need to be wary of being led astray into dangerous tidal forces. As Venus is now forming a waning square aspect with Neptune, it may bring back important insights, memories, or relationships connected with the long series of waxing square aspects Venus formed with Neptune due to Venus shifting retrograde in Geminiin May 2020 (May 12, May 20, and July 27 were the three exact aspects). Although Venus has not garnered as much attention as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in the astrological world during the past year, it has been a major factor in reshaping our relationships and relational needs during 2020. The pivotal sequence of hard aspects formed between Venus and Neptune have been opening our awareness to previously unseen needs, desires, and values during a year in which severe social distancing restrictions around the world have limited physical contact.

The waning square from Venus to Neptune is additionally bringing focus to the fact that Neptune is presently residing at the southern bending of the lunar nodes, forming a square aspect with both the North and South Nodes of the Moon that it will eventually complete on January 26. With so many people locked into polarized conflicts and perceiving things from completely different perspectives regarding reality, the disorientation stirred up by Venus with Neptune can potentially lead to even more widespread delusion that will make it even more difficult to resolve differences and mediate resolution. It’s been noted by many that the deluge of conspiracy theories circulating coincides with the fact so many people have felt anxious and alienated due to the global pandemic, and mistrustful of those in authority. It also seems fitting that the disorder being brought to consensus reality is coinciding with the great reordering of structural realities that will ripple out from the great astrological cycles beginning now. The collective volatility will not be ending anytime soon, and so it will be up to each of us to figure out how to hold the tension of our differences in viewpoints when relating with others. The square from Venus and the South Node of the Moon to Neptune in Pisces can help us deepen into understanding the troubled history of our world and the ways in which the ripples from systemic oppression across time are playing into our present relational difficulties.

Musashi Plain moon, from the series One hundred aspects of the moon (1891) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

After peaking in light at the full moon, the Moon in Cancer will move through an opposition with Pluto in Capricorn into a cathartic square aspect with Mars in Aries on December 31. The tensions unleashed between the Moon with Pluto and Mars on the final day of 2020 further shows how it’s a time of releasing the trials and tribulations of the past year, while also needing to recognize that the impact of the troubles that were exposed all around global societies in the past year will not be going away and will need our continued attention in the future years to come. Rather than develop illusory hopes that the great conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn that has arrived at the end of the year is ushering us into a new era free from the suffering of the past, we instead need to utilize it like a lighthouse helping us navigate through the turbulent storms that will be coming in 2021 so that we may find our way to a stabilizing shore or harbor.

During the waning half of the current lunar cycle, Mars will enter Taurus on January 6 and immediately incite the explosive tensions building between Uranus in Taurus with Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. Mars will not form its exact square aspects with Saturn and Jupiter and its conjunction with Uranus until after the upcoming Capricorn New Moon on January 12, but we will begin sensing a notable increase in disruptive influences and social unrest as the present lunar cycle comes to a close. On personal levels, the friction stirred up between Mars and Uranus with Saturn and Jupiter will dislodge whatever has been stuck, creating rapid change in some cases. It will be much better to find your way into the flow of the changing currents rather than attempting to hang on at all costs to the way things have been in the past.

Two of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith

Cancer 1 Decan

The Full Moon will rise in the first face of Cancer associated with the Two of Cups card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. In the image we find two lovers coming together with equal passion, with a caduceus of intertwining snakes and a winged lion arising in the space between their merging desire. Fittingly for the erotic reciprocity found in the symbolism of this image, the first face of Cancer is ruled by Venus and the Moon. Yet Venus is not only about the romanticism of Eros and Psyche, nor the Moon only about the enclosure of their fertile love in the palace of Eros. The Cancer Full Moon can thus connect us with the Eros of care, love, and fellowship that weaves community together when focused upon a common purpose that brings practical help and resources to those in need. It can also reveal those in our relational field who we can form mutually supportive dynamics with. As we are entering an extended period of collective volatility, we will need to be actively co-creating community that can flexibly mutate in accordance with the changing societal dynamics.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the image of “A Mother and Child” to the first face of Cancer, as he wrote that the face holds the hungers of our emotions and biology, the womb that gives birth to us and all of our resulting needs. Coppock further connected the themes of mother and child to the pursuit of romantic love found in the Two of Cups since “it is the perfect support, half-remembered from the womb, that gives rise to the human dream of similarly nursing bonds between committed partners.” Coppock wrote that idealized unions can be realized in the first decan of Cancer, and that the “face’s magical virtue is to establish mutually nurturing relationships.” With Venus applying to a square aspect with Neptune during the Full Moon, we may also gain realization for patterns that have led us into unhealthy enmeshment with others, as well as a more lucid sense of the needs we seek within all types of relationships we form with others.

In contrast, the Hellenistic text 36 Airs ascribed the goddess Nike, the goddess of victory, to the first face of Cancer. A daughter of the underworld river goddess Styx, Nike allied herself with Zeus in the war against the Titans, a mythic war resonant with the astrology of 2020 that has ended with a new order being constellated between Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius. Nike served as the divine charioteer of Zeus in battle, while also rewarding victors of competition with the glory of wreathed laurel. In 36 Faces Austin Coppock connected the presence of Nike in the first face of Cancer with the ancient symbolic link between chariots and the body as the vehicle of the soul, symbolism also resonant with the connection in tarot between the VII Chariot arcanum and the zodiacal sign of Cancer. If we want to make a difference in 2021 and help to shape the world we wish to live in, we will need to take care of our body and mind so that we will have the strength and clarity necessary to be effective agents of change. Make time and space during the Cancer Full Moon and the following days to get all the rest and restoration you need. May the strength you cultivate now serve you in deepening into fulfilling your purpose and destiny in 2021.

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References

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

Majercik, Ruth. (2013). The Chaldean Oracles. The Prometheus Trust.

New Moon in Cancer: Cronus and the Comet

July 20, 2020 / grayastrology / 2 Comments

Egrets and Crows by Shibata Zeshin

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

— Antonio Machado from “Last Night I was Sleeping” translated by Robert Bly

New Moon in Cancer

The lunar cycle commencing with the Cancer New Moon on July 20 brings transition from the astrology of the past few months, initiating us into the major astrological themes that will be playing out in the next five months. The New Moon in Cancer is separating from an opposition with Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn and applying toward an opposition with Saturn in Capricorn. It’s exact opposition with Saturn retrograde in Capricorn brings us into the center of Saturn’s retrograde phase when Saturn is closest to us in orbit and in its brightest phase in the night sky. The lunation also initiates a deep encounter with the fallout from the conjunction of Saturn and Pluto that came at the beginning of 2020 and now will be intensifying again until Saturn ultimately stations direct on September 29 less than three degrees away from Pluto.

The New Moon in Cancer is the first lunation to not be eclipsed since the New Moon in Gemini on May 22, and during the forthcoming lunar cycle aspects associated with the past phase of Venus retrograde in Gemini, such as the square between Venus and Neptune, as well as with Mercury retrograde in Cancer, such as the square between Mercury and Mars, will bring resolution to associated narratives by completing the final aspect in their series. The focus of the lunation on Saturn invites unknowing to temper becoming fixated upon feeling like you have already gained clarity regarding the changes that have been developing in recent months. The scythe of Saturn may bring decisive judgment toward certain issues that are in need of harvesting or severing, but in general we are entering an extended period of collective dismantling that will require remaining open to new perspectives and insights that will shift understanding and development of plans. It’s a good time to devote work toward personal goals essential to your core purpose and otherwise allow plans to take shape and adjust to the reordering of societal systems that will be continuing to intensify in the next few months.

The opposition between the Moon in its watery home of Cancer and Saturn in its earthy home of Capricorn is at the heart of the lunation. A figure who can hold the tension of the opposites between the Moon and Saturn is Hekate, a lunar goddess of nocturnal pathways (1) who was also associated with the third decan of Cancer where the lunation is taking place by the Hellenistic text the 36 Airs. Hekate’s presence with the lunation illuminates the necessity of facing the darkness of the unknown during a collective crossroads that has been constellated across global civilizations. Hekate connects with the nurturance and nourishment of the Moon, as The Chaldean Oracles called her “the font and stream of the blessed noetic” who “pours forth a whirling generation upon All.” Moreover, Hekate can also be viewed as the wise crone and dark mother who connects with the nocturnal, chthonic fertility of Saturn’s home in Capricorn.

With the inner knowing of Hekate, we can let the debris, refuse, and putrefaction of what we have had to shed and let die during recent months to serve as guidance for what wants to emerge from inner dreamscapes and imaginal exploration. Within the unstable and chaotic flux of current events that will continue to be volatilized at a rapid pace, allow awareness to open to new streams of enlivening desires cracking open from within. There may be movements of social justice and activism you become called to participate in, or inner creative directions to follow that will require making space and time to discover where they will lead you.

Augsburger Wunderzeichenbuch, Folio 52 (erschrocklicher Comet, 1300): text at bottom translates as “In 1300 A.D., a terrible comet appeared in the sky and in this year, on St Andrew’s Day, an earthquake shook the ground so that many buildings collapsed. At this time, Pope Boniface VIII established the first jubilee year.”

Comet Neowise

An unexpected visitor to the astrology of July has been the comet Neowise. Although Neowise was first discovered on March 27, 2020 when quarantine and social distancing measures were peaking around the world in response to the pandemic, the comet burst into visibility during July resulting in many stunning photographs of its fiery flare. During the first half of July, the comet was visible in predawn sky and then in mid July shifted into being visible following sunset. Neowise was at the end of Gemini at the end of June and then entered Cancer on July 3 and then Leo on July 18. It will enter Virgo on July 25 and Libra on August 2. If it remains visible until August 7, it will have made it to about eleven degrees of Libra. As a result, it’s worth considering what sort of meaning the strange visitor has been bringing to the Cancer and Leo areas of your natal chart and what it may portend for the Virgo and Libra places as well.

Scientists say that comets like Neowise are covered in cosmic soot left over from the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago, and so as comets approach the Sun in orbit their tails are formed by the solar heat spewing gas and dust across the sky like a flaming stream. While asteroids are rocky fragments left over from the dawn of the solar system, comets have been described as cosmic snowballs of gas and dust that unravel in a fiery tail. Neowise was named for the infrared space telescope orbiting the earth that discovered it, and it was correctly predicted that around July 3 its approach to the Sun in orbit would cause it to become a bright object visible to skywatchers on Earth. There hasn’t been a comet this bright since 1995 and 1996, and Neowise will not be visible again for 6,800 years due to its extreme elliptical orbit that takes about seven thousand years to go around the Sun.

The astrologer Rod Chang wrote an excellent article on the meaning of comets in astrology you can read here that has suggestions for how to interpret the meaning of Neowise. It is well known that comets have long been viewed as omens of disaster in astrology, and so it isn’t exactly surprising that one would appear during a time of a global pandemic. I particularly like how Rod Chang interpreted the thawing and release of the ancient gas and dust of comets as symbolizing not only “frozen issues that ignite and grab attention, releasing from the abyss of our consciousness such suppressed emotions as fear and horror,” but also the freeing of new ideas and visions. In timing with the Cancer New Moon in opposition with Saturn, Pluto and Jupiter we can be curious about what old, frozen, and crystalized issues are being unravelled as well as what vivifying visions are being enflamed and freed from within.

Like many I had my first glimpse of Neowise at night underneath the constellation of Ursa Major. The living symbolism of Ursa Major in relation to the nocturnal appearances of Neowise is striking, for Ursa Major has long been seen as a Great Bear and Great Goddess standing guard at the central point and pole of the sky (2). Attuning with Ursa Major brings relationship with the Great Protector at the center of stillness of our world, and so as we center within our own core stillness we may also center within the many disruptive and disastrous changes erupting around the world. From this central point of stillness, open to how you can align with the wider collective changes taking shape and follow the path and vision bursting into awareness like the fiery flame of a comet.

Tomorrow is Never (1955) Kay Sage

Wanderer, your footsteps are
the road and nothing more;
wanderer, there is no road,
the road is made by walking.
Walking makes the road,
and turning to look behind
you see the path that you
will never tread again.
Wanderer, there is no road,
only foam trails on the sea.

— Antonio Machado from “Proverbios y cantares” in Campos de Castilla, 1912

The dismantled architecture of Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter in Capricorn that is in the middle of regeneration will be further volatilized and reshaped by the fiery heat of Mars in Aries during the forthcoming lunar cycle. By the time of the Full Moon in Aquarius on August 3, Mars in Aries will be forming a square aspect with Jupiter in Capricorn and will then move into forming a square aspect with Pluto it will complete on August 13. By the time of the New Moon in Leo on August 18, Mars in Aries will be within two degrees of an exact square with Saturn in Capricorn. Due to Mars moving direct and Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn all moving retrograde, these will all be mutually applying aspects that will catalyze events dramatically. The impact of Mars can incite hard work and determined effort towards goals as well as lead to further shattering of societal systems and structures.

It is notable that Jupiter, Pluto and Saturn are all in the exaltation of Mars while Mars is in the fall of Saturn. Combined with Jupiter, Pluto, and Saturn also occupying a superior position in the square aspect, it portends a difficult and destructive journey for Mars through Aries. Due to Mars stationing retrograde in Aries at the beginning of September, there will end up being three different passages of Mars forming a square aspect with Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto as well as three conjunctions with the disruptive dwarf planet Eris between now and January 2021. Thus whatever is stirred up by Mars in Aries during the forthcoming lunar cycle will only be the first installment of a dramatic saga, and so while we may gain a sense of some of the issues that will become important there will be many more developments before the full story is told. Although Mars in Aries can strike quickly and ask questions later, it will be advisable to keep the long game in mind, conserve energy, and continue to cultivate strategy to contend with arising challenges.

At the same time that Mars is initiating a sequence of square aspects, Venus in Gemini will be bringing to a close a sequence of three square aspects it has made with Neptune in Pisces that first occurred on May 3 and May 20, 2020. Venus will form an exact square with Neptune on July 27, and so the final lessons and awareness from the sequence will take shape in the week following the New Moon. There has likely been a combination of disillusioning as well as inspiring experiences in correspondence with the square between Venus and Neptune that have stirred imagination and activated idealism. With Venus direct and increasing in light and speed as a Morning Star, be curious in questioning and exploring the deeper meaning of associated events and how you can use the inspirational aspects to create the changes you wish to see happen.

Departure of the Ghost (1931) by Paul Klee

As the Moon unites with the Sun in darkness, Mercury in Cancer will be mutually applying to a tight square with Chiron retrograde in Aries as well as applying toward a volatilizing square aspect with Mars in Aries that it will complete on July 27. Mercury stirring things up with Chiron and Mars can bring contention that requires increased focus and determination in response. As current events will continue to make collective debate even more polarized, it will be easy to become pulled into verbal disputes so pick your battles wisely. By setting focused intention on whatever plans you have clarified as being important to your purpose, it can help in navigating through divisive distractions so you can use your energy for the work and relationships that are most important to you.

Mercury will reach its maximum elongation as a Morning Star two days after the New Moon on July 22, demarcating the phase when Mercury will have picked up enough speed to match the steady course of the Sun again. From this day forward, Mercury will move increasingly faster as it proceeds through its Morning Star phase, making it a productive time to work on or embody whatever new ideas and awareness were discovered during the destabilizing and regenerative period of Mercury retrograde at the end of June and beginning of July.

4 of Cups by Pamela Colman Smith

Cancer 3 Decan

The New Moon is in the third face of Cancer associated with the Four of Cups illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. In the Four of Cups image we see someone sitting on the roots of a tree considering three golden cups ready to be filled in the foreground. While the figure appears be engrossed in contemplative thought, allowing inner exploration to guide subsequent choice, a fourth cup has become magically offered by an otherworldly hand. Ruled by the Moon and Jupiter, it’s a face in which we must come to terms with available resources and questions of our fair share and how much is enough.

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” (3). Coppock noted that the ascetic air of the figure in the Four of Cups refusing to accept more than he needs reflects having awareness of the “hidden violence and secret competition entailed within the quest for luxury.” Yet in the way the figure also appears to be conjuring the magical fourth cup, Coppock declared that the third face of Cancer also involves the spiritual dimension of abundance and luxury, the “ever-refilled” cup offered by Spirit, “the endless luxury of the limitless,” and the “ever present energy of the natural world- the chi which emanates from all living things.” As previously mentioned, the connection of Hekate with this face in the 36 Airs also reveals the chthonic fertility of the third decan of Cancer and its capacity to magically manifest what we need to survive.

With the Moon in its own face and domicile as it is reanimated in the heart of the Sun, its stark opposition with Saturn will draw attention toward the availability of resources and the limitations and restrictions you must contend with. The contemplative nature of Saturn will also demand ethical questions concerning pursuing wealth for yourself versus helping others in need of support through service or charitable giving. With many out of work or facing severe economic barriers related to the pandemic, many will be feeling the constraint and contraction of Saturn through feeling restrained by available resources and afraid concerning the uncertainty of the unknown future. The connection of Hekate with the decan of the Cancer New Moon points to the need of cultivating faith in the unknown, facing our fears, setting intention, and descending into the darkness of the lunation to discover what will emerge as the Moon waxes toward fullness in light once again.

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References

(1) Burkert, Walter. (1985). Greek Religion. Harvard University Press.

(2) Brady, Bernadette. (1998). Brady’s Book of Fixed Stars. Weiser.

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

Taurus New Moon & Uranus

April 22, 2020 / grayastrology / Leave a comment

Image by Michelle Doucette (2020) for the Taurus New Moon for graycrawford.net – her work can be found at The Dreaming Canvas

New Moon in Taurus

The monthly lunar cycle ends and begins in darkness. While the New Moon in Taurus on April 22 is an inception of a new cycle, there is a death and rebirth process for the Moon to undergo under the rays of the Sun that is necessarily nurtured by darkness. There is wisdom to be found from descending into darkness, as ancient scholars such as Peter Kingsley in his book In the Dark Places of Wisdom have described darkness as the source of the light that illuminates our world. Kingsley examined how finding “clarity meant facing utter darkness” in ancient traditions, how not only was the ancient goddess Justice as well as other powers of cosmic law said to reside in the cave of Night, but also how the radiant, enlivening Sun was viewed as having its home in the nocturnal underworld where it is reborn every night. To Kingsley, “it’s impossible to reach the light at the cost of rejecting the darkness,” and so there is vital importance in descending into our inner depths of darkness rather than rejecting or ignoring it, distracting ourselves away from it. We must be brought down and descend before being able to reascend with the new perspective and needed ideas for reform and renovation we have gathered.

The New Moon in Taurus is full of electricity and chthonic rumblings that can bring feelings of societal and personal structures being destabilized from the roots, corresponding with the many anxieties being stirred up by the unknown extent of how public health and economics will continue to be impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. Within the living symbolism of astrology, the element of earth is considered to be the most dense and stable; since Taurus is a fixed earth sign, it can further be considered as the earth sign that is most resistant to change. Uranus within astrology brings the kind of Promethean fire that can dramatically incite change and reshape the most solid of matters in shocking and unexpected ways. Since the Taurus New Moon is applying within three degrees of a conjunction with Uranus in Taurus, it reflects the extraordinary and rapid change caused by the pandemic across all facets of global civilization with the propulsive discharge of a lighting storm.

The Taurus New Moon is separating from a constraining square aspect with Saturn in Aquarius and applying toward a volatile conjunction with Uranus in Taurus. The fears and frustrations of people feeling confined within quarantine have led to numerous unfounded conspiracy theories about the pandemic and a desperation in some to protest the social distancing measures intended to protect public health due to fears over a stalled economy and loss of liberty. The strife and contention over how to manage the pandemic will continue during the forthcoming lunar cycle, as the New Moon is moving from a conjunction with Uranus into a discordant square aspect with Mars in Aquarius that will form on April 23 as the first sliver of crescent light becomes visible. While Mars is finally beginning to separate from Saturn within the sign of Aquarius, the New Moon will reforge the connection between Saturn and Mars in Aquarius that formed at the end of March and coincided with global populations having to come to terms with the grim reality of the pandemic. These are all indicators of caution and protective, defensive measures needing to be maintained in the face of uproar to break free from containment.

In addition to the Taurus New Moon triggering dynamics between Saturn, Uranus, and Mars, during the dark phase of the Moon before the lunation it will also form catalyzing square aspects with Jupiter and Pluto in Capricorn. We have been living through a dramatic time period that has corresponded with the intensifying astrological alignment of Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto all coming together within harsh aspects, and in combination with the stark impact of the pandemic it has laid bare numerous inequities across global society. While 2020 will end with the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Aquarius that will signal a new era, during the closing of the old era we are living within we must experience the expansive and growth oriented significations of Jupiter being taken into the underworld of Pluto. Some people are predictably attempting to take advantage of the crisis to accumulate greater power and wealth in accordance with one side of Jupiter and Pluto’s meaning, but the greater potential available is to not only witness injustices but also utilize the exposure of corruption, oppression, and unfairness to reimagine ways to reorder societal systems and to take direct action in helping those who are vulnerable.

Within our personal lives as we have had to release future plans and rearrange daily responsibilities in order to acclimate to the societal disruption brought by the pandemic, there is an opportunity with the New Moon in Taurus to make a complete reappraisal of every way in which we have been using the time and space available to us. The Taurus New Moon is close to the exact degree of the Moon’s exaltation in Taurus, bringing strong imaginal capacity to help contend with the fact that the lunation is surrounded by difficult astrological aspects. It’s also worth remembering that what goes up must come down, and that the motion of Fortuna’s wheel means that what becomes exalted must fall within nature and the natural cycles of our world that astrology reflects. We are in the midst of a collective descent that while difficult is also illuminating our interconnectedness across barriers and borders, and since the New Moon is being mixed with the innovative voltage of Uranus we may receive numerous ideas and brainstorms for solutions and remedies in the forthcoming lunar cycle that had not occurred to us previously.

Within the past week I was personally struck by the significance of receiving separate emails from separate colleagues about the alchemy of the invisible simultaneously, all reflecting in different ways about measuring the unseen and reckoning with the invisible unconscious emerging into visible and conscious awareness. The pandemic has constellated a decisive turning point in personal narratives all around the world, a rare occurrence in which shadowy unconscious material will be emerging through the dreams and daily interactions of people at higher levels than normal all across the Earth at the same time. The astrology of 2020 suggests there will be many more twists and turns in storylines to come, creating circumstances in which it will be possible to cultivate an entirely new direction to follow. The fixed, earthy quality of the Taurus New Moon favors embarking upon a slow and steady course to make a better world, nourishing our inner strength so we may hold the tension of present instability to allow new supportive forms and ways of working together to emerge.

Image by Michelle Doucette (2020) The Dreaming Canvas

The New Moon is in the earthy home of Venus, with the star of Aphrodite continuing to shine brightly at night in its Evening Star phase. After the waxing crescent Moon enters Gemini on April 25, it will begin applying toward a conjunction with Venus that it will complete on April 26. The April 26 conjunction between the Crescent Moon and Venus in Gemini will take place at the same time that Venus culminates in its brightest phase as an Evening Star on April 28, and so it will be worth finding ways to commune with their union in the night sky. Due to Venus being out of bounds in declination at an extreme northern height, the Moon and Venus will be visible setting together into the western horizon far into the night on April 26.

At the same time that Venus is increasing in light to reach its brightest point within its Evening Star phase, Venus will also be getting closer and closer to our Earth in orbit and therefore becoming more influential in worldly events. Venus shining bright while out of bounds is untethered with wilder instincts for free expression than normal, and so when combined with the New Moon in Taurus conjoining Uranus there will be the kind of chaotic creativity accessible that Venus in Gemini delights in exploring in a variety of versatile ways. While the New Moon in Taurus promotes a consistently thorough path toward completing endeavors, Venus in Gemini swiftly swoops back and forth in seemingly disparate directions when following its muse of inspiration. Venus in Gemini is less interested in sensual earthiness and more excited to converse in stimulating conversation involving a diversity of perspectives, weaving poetry from experiences and using its lilting voice to make melodies to share.

Vitally, Venus in Gemini is applying toward a mystifying square aspect with Neptune in Pisces that will become a major astrological theme during the next month. Since Neptune is in the exaltation of Venus it brings a degree of mitigating reception to the tension of their square aspect that can be especially beneficial when engaged in artistic and creative expression. However, the influence of Neptune over Venus can be tricky to navigate and can coincide with illusory attractions that magnetize while concealing the nature of their source. Neptune brings longing for the ideal, yet can also bring debilitating pain once a shattering experience breaks us free from an illusion. This of course does not mean that all new attractions and desires emerging into awareness during the next month will be delusional, but it will be helpful to keep in mind that the imaginal fantasies constellated between Neptune and Venus may not be grounded in reality. Creative collaboration with others can be especially fruitful as they can be enlivened to inspired heights through Venus and Neptune fantasizing together.

Venus will form its first square aspect with Neptune on May 3 a few days before the Full Moon in Scorpio on May 7. After Venus stations retrograde on May 12 and begins shifting backwards, it will form its second square aspect with Neptune on May 20 that will involve the more intensified form of Venus that emerges when retrograde (the third and final square between Venus and Neptune will not be until July 27). During the week and a half following the Taurus New Moon as Venus becomes increasingly engaged in its square aspect with Neptune, it can be a productive time for journaling, art making, and any other form of creativity that can help process unconscious content and any new desires rising into awareness. Venus is especially curious and interested in pursuing diverse interests in Gemini, and so making time for creative exploration will not only give us a healthy energetic outlet but also help begin to orient us toward the inner changes that will become more prominent once Venus stations retrograde in mid May.

Image by Michelle Doucette (2020) The Dreaming Canvas

Pluto will station retrograde three days after the Taurus New Moon on April 25, 2020 at 24°59’ Capricorn, saturating the astrological landscape with its volcanic, underworld force. Pluto will remain retrograde until stationing direct on October 4, 2020 at 22°29′ Capricorn and so its retrograde movement is most impactful for those with natal placements in between twenty and twenty-five degrees of Capricorn, Cancer, Libra, and Aries. The stationing of Pluto may feel like being pulled down into the depths of the underworld to confront unconscious material that has been simmering, but can also correspond with surface level events and experiences that force us to confront our fears on a primal level. It’s an especially intense stationing in relation to the pandemic as so many people around the world are facing the fear of not having adequate financial, medical, nutritional, and emotional support during the crisis. By going down willingly with Pluto into its purifying purgation we will empty ourselves of what is no longer essential, gaining clarity for what is most important.

Pluto is at the beginning of new cycles with both Jupiter and Saturn, and although Saturn is no longer in the same sign as Pluto the extreme contraction and division within civilizations that becomes provoked when they form conjunctions is continuing to reverberate throughout current events. While Pluto and Saturn will be coming back into close proximity again later in the year, Pluto’s impact is currently being most intensely felt on all things related to Jupiter such as justice, law, knowledge, abundance, prosperity, alliances, and stewardship. As previously mentioned, one shadow side of Jupiter and Pluto coming together involves obsessive drives for extreme power and wealth, and so we will need to be on guard for how some in power will be attempting to manipulate the fears of the public at the cost of what is best for the public livelihood and health. The reality of the pandemic and its invisible threat that can infect and spread without surface symptoms is a hard reality to come to terms with but a necessary one when formulating how to begin reopening sectors of the economy and increased social interactions.

The stationing of Pluto close to Jupiter will be further amplified due to Mercury in Aries applying toward a square aspect with Pluto and Jupiter in Capricorn that will become exact on April 25 and 26. Jupiter in its fall in Capricorn (a fact that is now true in both the tropical and sidereal zodiac) signifies that the way is down into descent and into relationship with the earth at our foundation. Making time to simply lay down in the grass or on your floor in order to incubate and receive guidance from within can be a productive way to interact with Jupiter’s present condition. The hardships being faced by so many have been revealing the myriad ways present societal systems are inadequately arranged, and so while being brought down by Jupiter and Pluto we can remember that when we rise back up together it will be up to each one of us to persist in full participation in reshaping our societal systems to better address the inequities being presently exposed.

At the same time that Mercury in Aries is forming a square aspect with Jupiter and Pluto, it will also be forming a conjunction with Eris in Aries and highlighting the ongoing discordant square aspect formed between Jupiter and Pluto with Eris. The union between Mercury and Eris is yet another indicator of needing to pay attention to those on the fringes and outskirts of society such as the homeless, the incarcerated, or those weighed down by poverty, and how their present condition is intrinsically related to the condition of all of us. In particular the living symbolism of a New Moon in Taurus is especially resonant for those laboring in agricultural systems and fields, including the immigrant workers who lack access to services.

5 of Pentacles by Pamela Colman Smith

Taurus 1 Decan

The New Moon is in the first face of Taurus associated with the Five of Pentacles card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. The Five of Pentacles is often associated with worry and fear over not having enough money or resources, or experiencing bodily or material hardship. These material concerns and fears are fitting for the dire circumstances brought by the present pandemic, yet there is a deeper meaning found in relationship between the Five of Pentacles and the first face of Taurus that can be glimpsed through the light of the stained glass window in the image. The light from the cathedral window reveals resources that can be found when in duress, not only through the charitable sustenance of societal services but also through the living spirit found in the earth.

Mercury rules the first face of Taurus, linking the commerce of Mercury with the fertile, earthy nature of the sign of the Bull. Mercury makes the connections we need for our livelihood, physical as well as spiritual nourishment. In the first decan of Taurus we discover our capacity not only to plan, grow, and gather enough resources for our own survival but also to contribute assistance to those in greater need. The New Moon in the first face of Taurus is a call to notice those in need around you, those suffering from lack of housing, food, and other forms of financial or emotional support, and to join with others in finding ways to address the societal inequities being presently exacerbated by the pandemic.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces ascribed the image of “The Plow” to the first face of Taurus, noting the “face is traditionally connected to all of the sciences necessary to draw forth fruit from the land.” Yet Coppock further described that the first decan of Taurus is not only associated with the fertility of the land but also our own inner agriculture, adding that we must also realize that “the mind, heart and body are all ripe fields, which offer abundance when cultivated.” Coppock stated that though the first decan of Taurus “reveals the ways one may work with whatever one has to gain more,” that the images and interpretations associated with the Five of Pentacles card bring up the shadow of fear that we will not have enough money, food, or material resources and that bleak times may arise if we disengage from our constant planning around cultivating resources. Thus the threat of not having enough in the future inspires us to work hard and plan for how to gain enough resources for the moment as well as save for later times of need.

In the Liber Hermetis there is a striking image for the first decan of Taurus that evokes both the material and spiritual fertility of the land. The body of Osiris, adorned with gold and dark tie-strings, is found buried in the ground while a goddess with a queen’s crown is standing in between the horns of a bull. This link between the divine and the land is further shown in the Hellenistic text the 36 Airs, which ascribed Charis to the first face of Taurus. While Charis is a Greek name for “grace, kindness, and life” it is also associated with the mythic Charites who are associated with the three Graces that include Splendor, Mirth, and Good Cheer, though various traditions have additional names and numbers for these charming, fertile beings who were said to dance and sing with the muses and attend to the adornment of Aphrodite. Ancient cults of the Charites have been described as similar to the nature worship of nymphs near rivers and fresh springs, chthonic deities associated with the fertility of the land.

While humanity is struggling in many places to come to terms with the pandemic, the natural world around us is continuing to bloom and pass away in its constant cycles of growth and decay. With many external systems and structures of society no longer serving as stable supports, the New Moon in the first face of Taurus reminds us of the wealth of resources to be found when engaging with the divine fertility of the land around us and the inner realm of soul within. May you find moments of grace and good cheer amidst whatever difficulties the pandemic has brought into your life.

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References

Brennan, Chris. (2017). Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. Amor Fati Publications.

Coppock, Austin. (2014). 36 Faces: the history, astrology, and magic of the decans. Three Hands Press.

George, Demetra. (2019). Ancient Astrology: In Theory and Practice. Rubedo Press.

Kingsley, Peter. (1999). In the Dark Places of Wisdom. Golden Sufi Center Publishing.

Full Moon in Sagittarius: Tides of Jupiter & Neptune

June 16, 2019 / grayastrology / 9 Comments

Rufino Tamayo Landscape with Moon

Sagittarius Full Moon

The Full Moon in Sagittarius on June 17, 2019 illuminates the intersection between our beliefs and ideals with the reality of our current experience. It’s a perfect time to take a contemplative look at oneself and one’s behavior in the world to note however we can make changes to be more aligned with the values that are most important to us. If we are undergoing any disillusioning experiences, the lunation can also bring light to how our personal vision and perception needs to be readjusted in order to flow in greater harmony with the life around us. The Sagittarius Full Moon can also help open a wider view of anything we have been struggling with in our day to day efforts at survival and managing the difficulties of life. Rather than denying the suffering happening around us, the lunation can facilitate acknowledgment of present struggles within a larger perspective of the greater cycles of time we are traversing. Let your mind wander beyond the short term goals of the moment in order to envision ideas of what you want to create and where you wish life to lead you in the next few years.

The Sagittarius Full Moon is at a pivotal point within the Jupiter and Neptune cycle, as Jupiter retrograde will form its second exact last quarter square aspect with Neptune on June 16. Previously, Jupiter and Neptune formed the first of three square aspects in the sequence on January 13, 2019 at 15° with both direct; Jupiter and Neptune will do so again a third and final time on September 21 at 17° with Neptune retrograde. Jupiter and Neptune form a conjunction once every thirteen years within their cycle, typically in a successive sign of the zodiac, with their last conjunction occurring in 2009 between 24º – 27º Aquarius. Viewing the 2009 alignment as a seed of the new vision being birthed by Neptune and Jupiter, we are now at the point of harvesting the meaning of their cycle and utilizing the knowledge gained from our experience to reorient and reorder our vision for the future. Dane Rudhyar believed that the Jupiter and Neptune cycle is one of the most important cycles to pay attention to, as it reveals the ripple effect that comes from changes in individual perception and meaning-making impacting the wider collective.

While the Jupiter and Neptune cycle is being amplified by the Sagittarius Full Moon, it is taking place within a wider context of Saturn and Pluto coming together at the end of their cycle while forming an opposition with Mercury and Mars in Cancer alongside the transiting lunar nodes. Following the Full Moon, the moon will begin waning toward the Total Solar Eclipse in Cancer that will occur on July 2, bringing us into the strange quality of time found in eclipse season and a further intensification of the polarity between Cancer and Capricorn. The divisiveness and acrimony in global politics, the decay of old societal structures, the obsessive attempts to consolidate greater power by those in power, the heartfelt anger and outrage over the myriad forms of oppression and injustice occurring, are all outer signs of deep internal changes beginning to take shape. Allow the light of the Sagittarius Full Moon to show you what elements of life need your full engagement, what needs to be protected and nurtured, and where you need to share and be more giving.

Victoire_de_Samothrace_-_vue_de_trois-quart_gauche,_gros_plan_de_la_statue_(2)

Nike of Samothrace (2nd Century BC)

Jupiter in Sagittarius rules the Full Moon while forming its catalytic square aspect with a stationing Neptune in Pisces. Neptune will station retrograde about four days after the full moon on June 21, which means that the archetypal influence of Neptune will be saturating the astrological landscape in the days surrounding the Sagittarius Full Moon. Moreover, while the Full Moon is separating from a conjunction with Jupiter, the true node of Black Moon Lilith is within five degrees of Neptune in Pisces. Altogether this points to the necessity of contemplating the bedrock of our thoughts, the oftentimes hidden beliefs that source the way we imagine and perceive the possibilities available. It’s clear in current events that many people around the world are clinging to old, outdated beliefs about the past they have distorted in their minds such as those consumed with nationalistic and racial pride and hubris. At the same time, there are traditional elements of our past and ancestry that can help us mediate strife and create a healthier and more fruitful lifestyle.

Allow the light of the Sagittarius Full Moon to shine upon your inner convictions, those ideas and ideals you are usually unwilling to question and tend to self-righteously act from. Do you wish to harness the power of creation for your own benefit or instead attempt to flow with natural forces in a way that can help others as well as yourself negotiate challenges? In the season ahead, with the intensity of the coming eclipses aligning with Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, there is no doubt that there will be tumult to contend with. In many situations it will be necessary to fight with resistance in order to protect what is held most dear. Let the Sagittarius Full Moon illuminate what will be worth fighting for and whatever can be let go and released.

Dorothea Tanning (1947) Maternity

Following the peak of the Full Moon on June 17, the waning Moon will occult Saturn in Capricorn on June 18 and then occult Pluto in Capricorn on June 19. This is due to the Moon aligning with its own south node while Saturn and Pluto are also aligning with their own south nodes. Simultaneously, Mercury will form an exact conjunction with Mars in Cancer on June 18, with both Mercury and Mars forming an exact opposition with Pluto on June 19. The volatility of this configuration will be amplified due to the fullness of the Moon, as the silvery Moon is the ruler of Mercury, Mars, and the North Node of the Moon. Thoughts can be irrational, dreams more intense, emotions more unhinged and exacerbated when the Moon is at its peak light, even more so when the Moon is ruling Mars and Mercury as they conjoin the North Node and oppose Saturn and Pluto. The loosening of passions can become difficult due to the widespread destruction signified by the rancorous configuration assembled around the lunar nodes.

The gift of having Mercury as an Evening Star aligning with Mars in Cancer is the wry wink and smile of the trickster Hermes. Moreover, the union of Mercury and Mars with the North Node of the Moon is also forming a flowing trine with Neptune stationing in Pisces. The more we can have a sense of humor about what’s happening, the more we can be willing to put our ego and pride aside when it is drawing us into petty conflict, the more smoothly we will be able to navigate the swirling tides that will be following in the wake of the full moon. In fact, the volatility of these aspects also makes this an incredibly creative time in which breakthrough ideas can be dislodged from stuck and stagnant places. If possible, find a creative outlet through which to transfigure fraught or explosive emotions into transmission of artistic expression, or take on a challenging physical expedition. There has been so much emphasis on the Capricorn side of the lunar nodes for so long with Saturn and Pluto camped out there, the dynamic onrush of Mercury and Mars across the North Node of the Moon can bring a productive jolt forward.

an economy of grace princess victoire of saxe coburg gotha.jpg

Kehinde Wiley, An Economy of Grace, Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Around the time of the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere and the Winter Solstice in the southern hemisphere on June 21, Venus in Gemini will descend under the beams of the sun into its invisible phase. As a result Venus is on the precipice of descending into the Mysteries of its upcoming underworld phase at the time of the Full Moon. Venus will eventually be re-seeded in the sacred heart of the Leo Sun on August 13 at 21º07′ Leo, and then will re-emerge in visibility as an Evening Star around the end of September. At the same time as the solstice, Neptune will station retrograde in Pisces while Venus in Gemini simultaneously forms an opposition with Jupiter in Sagittarius and a first quarter square with Neptune in Pisces. Adding to the mystery being nurtured by Venus, Venus in Gemini is forming a shadowy antiscia aspect with the Mercury and Mars conjunction as well as a contra-antiscia aspect with Saturn in Capricorn in the days surrounding the Sagittarius Full Moon.

Drink in the final light that Venus has to offer as a Morning Star in the days following the Sagittarius Full Moon. In Gemini, Venus promotes holding a multiplicity of perspectives and a willingness to question and contest dogmatic diatribes and stubborn viewpoints. Venus in Gemini finds depth in the connections found between what appear to be differences on the surface. Listen as closely as possible to your inner voice, the nudges of your intuition, the signs and omens of nature that cross your path, for the current phase of Venus signals a shedding of the values that have been prioritized and an expansive revisioning. Ask yourself what you can do differently, what potential path is available that up until now you have believed to be impossible due to your old conception of circumstances. Venus entering its invisible phase brings us into a long period of regeneration in which we can reconceptualize how we have been engaging in our relationships and work. Rather than seeking rapid success in the season ahead, focus instead on sustaining effort that will rebuild and reconfigure the foundation you launch yourself from.

10 of Wands by Pamela Colman Smith

The third face of Sagittarius where the Full Moon in Sagittarius culminates is associated with the Ten of Wands card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. Human toil, endurance and perseverance are some of the immediate associations evoked by the image of determination, and so there is strong alignment between the 10 of Wands with the astrological atmosphere of Mars and Mercury opposing Saturn and Pluto during the Sagittarius Full Moon. In tarot this card has been associated with oppressive dynamics and limitations, and in fact is called Oppression in the Thoth deck. Fittingly, the third decan of Sagittarius is ruled by Saturn, a planet that involves the type of difficult circumstances that force us to cultivate endurance and new structures of support.

Austin Coppock ascribed the image of “A Horse’s Skull” to the third face of Sagittarius in his book 36 Faces, describing how it reveals the unification of mind, body, and spirit through committed work and effort yoked to a goal. Coppock also wrote that the final face of Sagittarius brings a reckoning regarding whatever needs to be sacrificed in pursuit of desires, noting that “those who walk this face must choose which burdens they will bear to the bitter end, and which are not worthy of such feats of will and endurance.” Both the Picatrix and Agrippa’s Three Books of Occult Philosophy warn of the “evil inclinations” that can be harbored within this decan for those overly desperate to achieve objectives. Coppock described the intoxicating pursuit of victory that is found in this face, noting a need to realize when the “desperate fervor” of this decan’s power is appropriate and when it is inappropriate and will exact “a heavy toll.”

The Hellenistic text The 36 Airs of the Zodiac placed Ananke, the primordial goddess of Necessity, within the third face of Sagittarius. Ananke is the mother of the Fates and the overseer of souls incarnating in Plato’s Myth of Er and is the primordial mother of creation in some strands of Orphic cosmology who governs the cyclic nature of the cosmos. Ananke’s presence in the third face of Sagittarius which holds the full light of the Moon further amplifies the fateful feelings incited by Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn aligning with the lunar nodes and the season of eclipses on the horizon. It will not be possible to hide from the watchful eye of Ananke, meaning that whatever life dictates needs our attention we must do and follow through with full consciousness. Though there are things to do we simply must do, issues to face we simply must face, there can also be revelation and insight discovered through the effort of will applied diligently to the task at hand. As the traditional Irish blessing goes, “May the road rise up to meet you.”

References

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

Full Moon in Cancer

December 27, 2017December 29, 2020 / grayastrology / Leave a comment

Hekate and the Three Graces (1st – 2nd Century CE)

Around the hollow of her right flank a great stream of the primordially-generated Soul gushes forth in abundance, totally ensouling light, fire, ether, worlds.

In the left flank of Hekate exists the source of virtue, which remains entirely within and does not give up its virginity.

The Chaldean Oracles translated by Ruth Majercik, fragments 51 & 52

Full Moon in Cancer

from the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

However, Venus is not only applying to a conjunction with the South Node of the Moon, but also to an imaginatively activating square aspect with Neptune in Pisces that it will complete on December 30. The square between Venus and Neptune will constellate fantastical images and enticing visions, but we will need to be wary of being led astray into dangerous tidal forces. As Venus is now forming a waning square aspect with Neptune, it may bring back important insights, memories, or relationships connected with the long series of waxing square aspects Venus formed with Neptune due to Venus shifting retrograde in Gemini in May 2020 (May 12, May 20, and July 27 were the three exact aspects). Although Venus has not garnered as much attention as Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in the astrological world during the past year, it has been a major factor in reshaping our relationships and relational needs during 2020. The pivotal sequence of hard aspects formed between Venus and Neptune have been opening our awareness to previously unseen needs, desires, and values during a year in which severe social distancing restrictions around the world have limited physical contact.

Musashi Plain moon, from the series One hundred aspects of the moon (1891) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Cancer 1 Decan

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References

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

Majercik, Ruth. (2013). The Chaldean Oracles. The Prometheus Trust.

Gray Crawford

ASTROLOGY

Venus square Neptune

Full Moon in Aries