Gibbous Moon: The Ripening Promise

Gibbous Moon: June 1, 2012 (EDT)

Tomorrow very early (overnight, really), the Moon reaches her square-and-a-half with the Sun that marks the Gibbous Moon. What is that word?

A gibbous Moon is a bulging Moon, full but not quite, round but not quite, promising but just a little off to our eye. "Gibbous" is an old word for "hump" or "hunch" and was used for hunchbacks as well as the Moon.

Awkward, then, this Moon. Something we can't look away from and yet don't want to be caught staring at. It pushes at us, wanting to be adjusted.

Sesquiquadrates, the square-and-a-half aspect, are like that. We've made it past the First Quarter challenge, heading for the illumination of the Full Moon, and here comes something else to trip us up.

It doesn't seem fair, and yet all the great stories have this one-more-challenge pattern. This is the falling action, the dénouement. The hero has passed the crisis and all seems resolved, but wait––who is that hiding in the shadow?

At this Gibbous Moon, we find the Moon conjunct Saturn, both in Libra and Saturn (still) retrograde. They sit at the apex of a Finger of the World, as they are sesquiquadrate both the Sun and Chiron, who square each other.

The Sun, conjunct Mercury, Venus and the South Node, also squares Mars, who opposes Chiron. Meanwhile, Neptune and Chiron square the Nodes of the Moon, and Uranus is one degree away from his first exact square to Pluto.

This is looking like the scene in the frontier cantina when everyone has his/her weapons drawn and pointed at everyone else, and no one can move.

Definitely awkward.

light increasing

There's another image of the Gibbous Moon that offers hope. Looking at the almost-full profile of this brightening Moon, we see the profile of a heavily pregnant woman not quite ready to give birth, "big-bellied with the wanton wind," as Shakespeare had it.

This is a delicate time, when we wait with some anxiety, ready to celebrate the coming birth and hoping nothing happens so close to threaten the outcome.

The signs in the sky point to surprises, flashes of energy, and hidden support: the Gibbous Moon flows in trine with Neptune and Venus, and sextiles Pluto. Mars trines Pluto, and Uranus trines the North Node.

At this time, we may feel a strong need to act without being able to see clearly what action will be best. The heady mix of planets standing around this particular cantina suggests action will be needed. It's a good time to stop the cycle of anxious thinking, and tune in to a deeper, more intuitive channel.

As we move toward the powerfully energized Full Moon, careful steps are called for, yet we want to move without anxiety, calling in our intuitive connections, and finding the way.
        

First Quarter Moon: Rising Storm

First Quarter Moon: May 28, 2012

I woke early this morning to rolling thunder, thick, roiling, grey clouds, and the electric feeling of change.

I got up, put the kettle on, and began my morning tai chi with releasing old chi and gathering fresh chi from the four directions. The new chi is then mixed in the cauldron of the body. Just as I reached the mixing movements, the storm broke and rain pelted down.

We're in the First Quarter Moon now, having arrived yesterday afternoon (EDT). Not only is the Moon squaring the Sun, she is conjunct Mars, opposing Chiron, and squaring the Nodes. Again, the question is presented: What steps have we missed on the way? What details (Moon and Mars in Virgo) have escaped our attention, that will leave our healing vision (Chiron in Pisces) incomplete?

The Sun is conjunct Mercury and the South Node, and therefore completing a Grand Cross that includes Sun + South Node + Mercury, opposite North Node, squaring Mars + Moon, opposite Chiron + Neptune. Here we have messages, mind, action, analysis, dreams, wounding and healing all tied together.

Are we at cross-purposes in this Grand Cross? Or are we checking our bearings, making adjustments, and gritting our teeth in determination as the wind rises? The saving grace here is, this Grand Cross is in the mutable signs––wiggle room is available.

Look at Saturn in this First Quarter chart, where he forms sesquiquadrates to the Sun group and to Chiron. Yep, there's another Finger of the World here, with Saturn at the apex.

This is another message we've heard before, the one Saturn continues to offer in his long, long trek through Libra: Patience, balance, careful planning. We're in a time of tremendous change and massive energy shifts; our responses must remain calm and measured to create the world of peace and tranquility we seek.

May 25 was Towel Day, celebration of Douglas Adam's work, and the key motto is highly appropriate now: Don't Panic! (in large, friendly letters ...)

As the Moon moves through Virgo, opportunities for anxiety will surely arise. What should we be doing? What will help? Can we make a list, at least? Interestingly, Gneiss Moon's new post is a Tarot spread whose opening card is the 9 of Swords, the nightmare card. Virgos everywhere know this card!

Why not check in with fear? Rather than denying or suppressing it, invite your anxieties and fears to sit down a moment, have a cup of tea, and talk. Karla McLaren sees fear as a messenger with information about actions we need to take. Nothing makes a Virgo Moon feel better than something to do, so ask your fears what needs to be done, and do that.

Having turned the First Quarter corner, we're in the brightening phase heading for the Full Moon. More messages are available now (look at all that Gemini around) about what the New Moon has seeded in our lives.

What new shoots are poking their heads up in our gardens? Pay special attention to the unexpected and unusual ones (*cough* look at all that Gemini around). Uranus the revolutionary trickster forms an adjustment-needed inconjunct with the Moon, so expect the unexpected and prepare to laugh.

Change is the only constant. And, as a heart friend told me yesterday, the unaimed arrow never misses. We're looking for the way through the maze, when the best way is not to look ahead, simply to walk.
    

Crescent Moon: Careful Nurturing

Crescent Moon: May 24, 2012

First, my apologies for getting behind with the posts. My return trip from Scotland was a bit harrowing and I've been in the grip of jet lag. Without further delay, let's get on with this amazing lunar cycle and see where we are:

The Gemini New Moon and accompanying eclipse dubbed "The Ring of Fire" initiated a cascade of new somethings that will be popping up for a long time to come.

Wherever this New Moon touched your chart, you may already have experienced synchronicity, surprise, communication, connection, youth, sudden shifts, newness––or not quite yet.

The thing about the New Moon is, it's dark. Masked by the Sun, we can't see the Moon at all for about three days. The night is dark as the earth, where seeds wait to germinate, dark as the womb in which new life stirs.

At the New Moon, we note where energy is flowing and allow our energies to flow with it, in the form of wishes and intentions. But until seeds begin emerging, we can't see what we might be growing. Yes, we wished for roses, but are those sunflowers growing there? Or stinging nettle?

The Crescent Moon arrived on Thursday evening (in the Eastern Tome Zone) with the Moon in her home sign of Cancer. Semisquare to the Sun in bright Gemini, the Cancer Moon felt protective of those newly emerging seedlings, knowing full well Gemini may have completely lost interest by now, drawn to the latest shiny thing. Or remembering the seedlings, Gemini would want to see, right now, how they were doing, examining them so exhaustively the attention alone could wilt them.

So, the Cancer Moon hid the seedlings a bit longer, nurturing them. It's a harsh world out there. The Crescent Moon placed the Moon at the apex of an unusual aspect pattern called the Finger of the World, which is a broad isoceles triangle of challenging aspects.

As the North Node (the point of unfolding fate) and Chiron (the wounded healer) squared each other, the Moon formed a sesquiquadrate (a square and a half) to each. This places the Moon in the hot seat, driven to solve the problem presented by the North Node–Chiron square. In a contest between fate and wounding, a Cancer Moon will choose to protect.

Even though the Crescent Moon usually offers the first glimpse of our emerging seedlings, I'm wondering if, for many of us, we're still feeling a bit in the dark about what this New Moon will actually bring into our lives.

Now, the Moon is in bright and sturdy Leo. Early this morning, the Moon and Sun formed a sextile, and we look to the playful Leo Moon to give our seedlings the support and care they need without too much swaddling. Now we look to see what's growing in our gardens, in the energy of Air and Fire.

Challenges are still out there, though. At the moment of the Sun–Moon sextile, the Moon was also in the hot seat of a yod, in which Chiron the wounded healer sextiled Pluto the transformer, who each are inconjunct the Moon.

But wait ... the Sun–Moon sextile itself forms the base of another yod with Pluto at its apex. And, if that weren't enough, the Moon is part of a Grand Trine in Fire with the North Node and Uranus.

It's time to check in: How committed are we to those New Moon wishes? We're on our way to the First Quarter Moon, the square that will put that question right in front of us. Our seedling wishes are already on the receiving end of powerful energies, so it's good to be sure this is really what we want.

The thing is, New Moon eclipses carry power. Events, patterns, stuff reach back and forward in ways difficult to discern. The aspects we see at the Crescent Moon and this morning's Sun–Moon sextile remind us that transformation is afoot. Continue to watch the parts of your chart touched by the New Moon, and take care of your wish garden.
   

New Moon in Gemini: Both Hands Full of Seeds

New Moon in Gemini: May 20–21 (depending on your time zone)

New Moons are times of planting, sprouting, germinating––seed times when stuff gets started and we can't see where or how it's going to grow. New Moons with eclipses link us into larger cycles, and we're reminded of the long sweep of time in which we dance.

This New Moon in Gemini invites us to plant a million seeds, press the restart button on our lives, and watch the emerging newness with the eagerness and delight of a four-year-old. This is Gemini! Youthfulness, playfulness, trickery, and connections spark everywhere like fireflies on a summer night.

Raven Kaldera calls the Gemini New Moon the "Little Brother's Moon" to highlight its curiosity, inventiveness, energy, and cleverness. This is not the most tender of Moons, having a fondness for practical jokes and streak of sheer cussedness. Think Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes, or Dennis the Menace (Kaldera's suggestions) or the Weasley twins whose Wizarding Wheezes were the epitome of schoolboy pranks.

So, it's good that Venus retrograde is also in Gemini, and trining Saturn who is still retrograde in Libra, at this New Moon.

Retrogrades help us slow down, something Gemini absolutely hates to do. Venus, present as herself and as ruler of Libra, brings an awareness of others as hearts and souls, not just minds or targets for cleverness.

Gemini is not known for compassion, approaching other people with endless curiosity that often includes a willingness to poke and prod just to see what happens. Venusian sensitivity can be useful here.

Saturn is the old man to Mercury–Gemini's youth, the senex who potentiates and then seeks to control the puer's sparkling life. Saturn understands consequences and values responsibility while Gemini wonders what would happen if you connected these two wires together and flipped the switch. Saturn's presence and connection to Venus help us remember there are long, long consequences to the seeds we plant now.

Gemini is all about options, variety, cross-fertilization, and lots of it. I'm reminded of a book we had when my kids were little called More! More! More! Said the Baby … this is Gemini. With that in mind, here are links to other astrologers' writings on this amazingly open-ended New Moon. Read them all, see what happens!

Gneiss Moon Astrology is a wonderfully mercurial place to begin. April Elliott Kent focuses on the sibling bond at the hear of Gemini.  Molly Hall lists many options for engaging with this possibly scattered energy. For a cosmic perspective, read Anna Chapman's essay at The Cosmic Path.

Then dive into your birth chart. Where is 0 degrees of Gemini? (Probably in the house ruled by Taurus, so look there.) Which house does Gemini rule? (Most likely the next one.) Where is Mercury in your chart, and how strong is how presence?

At this New Moon, Mercury is conjunct Jupiter, both in Taurus, making the New Moon's mercurial energies even bigger and also more grounded than they might be. It's likely (not certain, so check your chart), that Mercury, Jupiter, and the New Moon will all fall into the same house for you. This brings a whole lotta change into that area of your life!

Look also at what the New Moon aspects. Anything in the early degrees, especially in mutable signs, or the very late degrees, especially in the fixed signs, will be strongly stimulated. Planets and points touched by this New Moon might feel as if they've been dipped in the Fountain of Youth, seeing the world with new eyes.

This New Moon arrives just after midnight on the 21st in the UK, where I am. I'll welcome this New Moon on the Isle of Iona, a multivalent, mutlilayered crossroads of time, space and worlds. Communications and connections are crowding in, and trickster-ish surprises popping up everywhere. This New Moon could open up so many channels, we might need new switchboards.

Remember that we're now in the last days of the waning Moon, so if you're already feeling Gemini's impatience to be out of the starting gate and down the track, channel a little Saturn and wait. Look ahead to what this New Moon will offer, and use the next day or so to clear the decks, making everything ready for the bags and bags of seeds we're invited to plant in this New Moon garden.
  

Balsamic Moon: Honoring the Past

Balsamic Moon: May 16-20, 2012

We enter today the time of the balsamic Moon, that nostalgic, final lunar phase before the dark Moon. We look ahead to the New Moon time––how could we not, with a solar eclipse on the horizon?––yet the more important directions are back, down, and in.

The feeling of being part of very large patterns could be strong now. Venus just turned retrograde, leading us inward in many ways, heading for her historic visible crossing of the Sun in June. Eclipses also occur within the epochal Saros cycles and the shorter, 19-year metonic cycles.

Each balsamic Moon offers a chance to reflect and release; this one calls us to look back over long years of our lives, allow awareness to focus on recurring, haunting patterns, and consciously let them go.

Contemporary culture pretends to look forward––to the next new gadget, new show, new style, new budget cycle––but since this forward motion often seems to resolutely ignore the past, we wind up carrying it with us. Without the chance to explore, understand, and integrate, we can't let go. We wind up with pockets full of left-over stuff that weighs us down.

Balsamic Moon

As we enter the balsamic phase, the Sun and Jupiter are conjunct in Taurus, as are Mercury and Ceres. Taurus is calm and sensuous but also likes to hold on tight.

Taurus is wonderful at saving, not so great at letting go. It will take the Aries Moon conjunct Uranus to pry open Taurean fingers.

The driving Fire of Aries, fueling the revolutionary energy of Uranus might feel like a confrontation, if not a conflagration: Remember that Uranus is also a consummate trickster, and look for the surprise move, the quick sleight of hand that startles us into letting go.

Uranus and the Moon are squaring Pluto, who adds his inexorable force to our release work. The Sun and Jupiter form an awkward inconjunct with Saturn, who firmly points out the consequences of hoarding what needs to move on.

A Grand Trine in Earth continues to support and ground us, and Mars, who steadily anchors the Grand Trine, opposes Chiron. Do we stubbornly hold on to old wounds? Or are we ready to accept healing?

The choices we make over the next few days will echo for many years to come. They are our choices, no one else's, to make. Where, with honesty and clarity, are we ready to release the past? If we cannot, what can we learn about why, and move gently toward resolution? This is a time of endings, which are not often easy but are needed, to open space for beginnings.
    

Last Quarter Moon: Good Work

Iona North Beach: Ancient Rock

 Last Quarter Moon in Aquarius: May 12 through May 16

Today, the Sun and Moon square off to mark the Last Quarter Moon, when we turn the corner toward the New Moon to come.

This New Moon in Gemini is an Eclipse, following the powerful Super-Full Moon in Scorpio, a signal that we're in a time of making an unmaking, of initiation, rededication, and choice.

I am on the isle of Iona, ancient center of the Celtic world, on rocks among the oldest exposed on the surface of the Earth––including anorthosite, which is also found on the Moon. As my personal center shifts, I couldn't resist running a chart for here at the time I began writing.

The sky as I began writing this entry

Look at all those planets in the 12th House! The fortunate, expansive, Sun–Jupiter conjunction is there, along with Mercury, Ceres, Venus and the South Node.

It seems my hopes of connecting with the land here, and receiving messages, is supported today.

Meanwhile, the Moon is at the top of the chart in visionary Aquarius, hopefully helping me read the tenor of the times.

Here, too, is the Last Quarter Moon chart drawn for Iona (and British Summer Time, please adjust as needed).

The Grand Trine in Earth continues strong. Chiron the wounded healer replaces Neptune at the point of the kite pattern, opposing Mars and sextiling Pluto on one side, and Mercury and Ceres on the other. Seeking healing of the body, and through the body, of long-standing issues is supported now.

The late Aquarius Moon approaches Neptune and the apex of the kite, drawing our attention to this healing opportunity. The time is now! During the Last Quarter, we release whatever trips us up, gets us down, and keeps us looking back over our shoulders.

The Last Quarter Moon (Iona chart)

That Aquarian Moon forms another Grand Trine, this one in Air with Venus and Saturn. This trine invites us to release old patterns of thinking and connecting, so we can step into new ones.

Saturn remains retrograde in Libra, and Venus will soon turn retrograde herself, a time of reflecting on relationships, values, creativity, and balance.

Under a waning Moon, we prepare for what is to come. Sometimes this phase feels nostalgic, regretful, full of longing.

This Last Quarter, with trines in Earth and Air, and the Sun and Jupiter together, feels like a full, deep breath of clean air before digging in to work––the solidity of work to be done and the strength to do it.
     

Disseminating Moon in Capricorn: Bringing It Home

Disseminating Moon: May 9 through May 12

The Moon moved in sturdy, pragmatic Capricorn overnight. With the Sun remaining in Taurus, and Mercury newly arrived in Taurus as well, Earth energy is strong. After the heady magic of the luminous Full Moon, we might feel a bit of a bump as we land on the ground again––or the sense of solid rock underfoot could be very welcome.

What did you see, learn, uncover at the Full Scorpio Moon? What secrets came to light? What mad journeys through mysterious realms did you take? We're entering the Disseminating Moon phase, and it's time to sort things out.

Sometimes, in this phase, we meet resistance to the Full Moon's enlightenment. The resistance could come from outside, or within, as we adapt and integrate.

Since the Full Moon was filled with magic and mystery, and this Disseminating Moon is nothing if not practical, the first resistance could arrive as the question "Was it real?" When we enter into mystery, or come face to face with Shadow, or a combination of both, there's a temptation in the full light of day to shake it off and get on with things. It's a tricky balance to find, with becoming ungrounded and unstable on one side, and denying the presence of magic altogether.

These days of the Disseminating Moon would be good ones for asking "what if?" What would it mean in my life, if the revelations of the Full Moon were fully real and true? How would I live differently? How would I feel, think and act?

Tomorrow (May 10) the Sun and Moon reach their harmonious trine in Earth, Capricorn and Taurus. Then perhaps we can feel our way into a new sense of balance, acknowledging the gifts of the Full Moon while keeping our feet firmly on the ground.

Meanwhile, today, we can experiment, trying things this way and that, looking for a new way to be in the world.
    

Travel Update

Full Moon over Tobermory, Isle of Mull

My adventure in Scotland is wonderful and is also including challenges getting online and keeping my computer charged––both happen, but intermittently and not always together.

It's time for more updates on where the Moon is and what she's up to, and I hope to be able to share that with you later today or (more likely) tomorrow, gods and goddesses willing (This will include Mercury and Uranus at least, and possibly others!).

Thanks for your patience, and I hope you caught a glimpse of the glorious Full Moon!

Full Moon in Scorpio: A Fey Moon

Supermoon

Full Moon in Scorpio: May 5

Special Note: May will be a month-long adventure for me, as I fly to Scotland tomorrow for intense time on the West coast, exploring Iona and the Hebrides. This begins a long-planned pilgrimage on the tiny island at the center of the ancient Celtic world. I plan to continue posting here, but ask for your patience and flexibility as I look for WIFI cafes and find time to write.

The Beltaine Full Moon in Scorpio arrives just before noon (EDT) on the 5th of May, illuminating the balance between the seen and the unseen, the manifest and the hidden, the mundane and the magical. As in the festival of Beltaine itself, this is a Full Moon that opens the ways between the worlds.

This is a supermoon––the largest, brightest and strongest of this year. The Moon is close to the Earth, and we'll feel her presence more fully than at any other time in 2012. A powerful time for divination, for dreaming, and for strengthening connections with psychic realms.

The grounded and sensuous Grand Trine in Earth continues, inviting us to stay present and fully embodied no matter what travels we might take.

The Moon opposes the Sun (as at all Full Moons), and Ceres and Jupiter too, while keeping a wide but flowing trine to Chiron. The presence of expansive Jupiter and the powerful mythic energies of Ceres and Chiron offer possibilities for revisiting old wounds, revealing stuck patterns, and finding paths of healing.

Venus flows energy with Saturn and Mercury, opening channels of relationship, abundance and artistry. Mars and Uranus are tightly trined as well, bringing in electric energies for unexpected happenings.

This Full Moon happens at 16 degrees of Taurus and Scorpio. Look in your chart to see where Scorpio and Taurus are. Where does the Full Moon fall? What other houses might be affected by Taurus and Scorpio? These areas of life will light up at this time.

Check also for planets and chart angles touched by the Full Moon. The middle degrees of all signs will be affected to some degree, with the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) most strongly involved.

Ask, at the Full Moon, what can I see now, that was hidden before? What aspects of my New Moon wishes are coming into flower? What patterns, perhaps long in the making, are ripening now?

As I'll be in Scotland, I cannot help but think of the Fae, the High Ones and little ones, the ancient and ever present. Many tales come forward and all may be relevant on the night. One idea asks to be shared now:

In many ancient tales, heroes and heroines are given gifts that come with conditions. Offered great strength, or the promise of being always undefeated, or second sight, the hero must also accept a prohibition, something that must always, or must never, be done. This is the geis, the magical condition.

Fairy Song ~ Arthur Rackham

Somewhere in the tale, the hero is faced with a terrible choice, to break the geis or commit some other prohibited act, and so tragic consequences unfold. Like the patterns of hubris and nemesis in the Greek tales, we see how triumphs and tragedies come wrapped together.

This might seem like a grim theme to introduce into a Full Moon so close to merry Beltaine, and yet Scorpio is the sign of the Shadow, of things we prefer to avoid and cannot escape. This Full Moon is connected to Pluto and Chiron, as well as to benevolent Jupiter––it is well to remember that gifts bring responsibilities.

As we stand in the light of this especially bright Full Moon, we can ask for the courage and canniness to see the full pattern before us, the pitfalls as well as the promises, the darkness as well as the light. If we labor under a geis, perhaps we can find a way to release it and move into a new cycle of our story. If we are offered a gift, we can be sure to read the fine print.

At the Scorpio Full Moon, we celebrate the full round of life from birth to death, and all the adventures in between. Each of us stands at a crossroads where many stories meet. This Full Moon could illuminate the full pattern, if we have the eyes to see it.