Gibbous Moon: The Final Draft Dress Rehearsal

"All the real work is done in rehearsal" Donald Pleasence

Gibbous Moon in Sagittarius: July 29, 2012

Last night's Moon was beautiful here. An intense late afternoon storm moved through, dumping rain, upending umbrellas, dropping temperatures, and blowing the sky clear. Later, the growing, glowing Moon rose while the twilight sky glowed deep azure.

These were the last hours of the mysterious Scorpio Moon, moody and intense. She moved into optimistic, adventurous Sagittarius overnight, shifting us into a more upbeat mood. The struggles haven't gone away, but there's an easing of tension, a glimmer of hope, a bend in the road.

Tomorrow, the Moon reaches her Gibbous phase, the square-and-a-half with the Sun that marks the last stage before the Full Moon. It's a fiery point in this lunar cycle, as the Sag Moon pushes against the Sun holding strong in Leo.

The Sun is conjunct Mercury, trining Uranus in Aries, and trining the North Node in early Sagittarius. So this Gibbous Moon is actually bumping against a almost-Grand Trine in Fire that links the revolutionary trickster, the karmic signpost, how we think and communicate, and our heart's core. (Uranus and the North Node are too far to be trining each other, but the Sun and Mercury link them both.) Heady stuff, this.

Yet Uranus and Mercury remain retrograde, and we're not at the Full Moon yet. The intense emotions, the private and some very public challenges, the ongoing polarizations unfolding within this lunar cycle are still in process. Not quite ready for prime time.

The Leo Sun and Sagittarian Moon look outward, ready to share. Mercury and Uranus retrograde keep the focus inward. Messages are taking shape here. Insights gained, perhaps some conclusions drawn. But we're still working on it. Things are still in process, under construction.

This is a very creative time. Venus in Gemini trines Saturn in Libra, flowing energy from creative vision into form, finding the right container for what we see, feel and wish to say.

This lunar phase moves us beyond introspection into creation. It's time for active processing, for getting words on paper, paint on brushes, hands into clay. It's time to find the right key, the best chords, the melody and lyrics to express who we are and what we know.

The thing is, Mercury and Uranus will still be retrograde through the Full Moon. There's something about the coming illumination that will call on the inner work we're been doing to bring forward something we haven't felt ready to share yet.

With that in mind, it's time to get the show on the road. Those trial performances, the late drafts we bring to our best readers––the Gibbous Moon says it's time.