Full Moon Eclipse: The Instability of Stasis

new day dawning

Full Moon in Libra
Full Lunar Eclipse
April 15, 2014
3:42 am EDT / 8:42 am BST

In the middle of April, the cruelest month, we walk through a Full Moon Eclipse in Libra, dramatic sign of our nonstop-high speed-unpredictably changing times. (Like we needed another ...)

This Full Moon will shine most brightly on Monday night. The Full Moon alignment occurs Tuesday morning. The total lunar eclipse with its blood-red Moon will be visible in most of the United States beginning at 2am EDT.

All this month, we're cooking in the crucible of a Grand Cardinal Cross with powerful agents of change Pluto and Uranus triggered by Jupiter (let's make this really big!) and Mars (and then we can blow it up!). There's plenty written about the pattern, with Steven Forrest's essay one of the more balanced.

Not only is this powerful Full Moon highlighting an extra-powerful Grand Cross, it's opening a series of four total lunar eclipses, called a tetrad (scientists call it that ... this time it's not astrological jargon).  Learn more about the cool science here at NASA's Space.com and dive into an amazingly thorough exploration of the astrology part here at Blue Moon Astrology.

OK, now you've got multiple windows and tabs going, the virtual equivalent of piles of books and papers strewn across the desk and drifting to the floor ... and you ask, What does it mean?

One look at the chart for this Full Moon shows us the incredible focus we have. This is not just a Full Moon––this is a Full Moon PLUS. Libra and Aries polarized: This is what we're looking at.

The Full Moon herself is in Libra, sign of balance, harmony, fairness, diplomacy, charm, and consideration for others. She is joined by the North Node (our path of becoming), Demeter (goddess of fierce mothering), Vesta (goddess of hearth and home) and Mars (of all people! the warrior and ruler of Aries).

The Sun opposes her in Aries, sign of action, singularity, hard-driving focus, compelling energy, and protector of the self. With the Sun, we see the South Node (what we've brought with us), Juno (goddess of fair partnership), Eris (edgy goddess of karmic justice), and a Mercury–Uranus conjunction bringing instant messaging from the cosmos.

Are you noticing the same interplay of checks and balances here?

Mars who rules Aries is in Libra. Juno who rules fair partners is in Aries. Past and future are both implicated, as are gentleness and fierceness, with lots of energy all over the place.

So, this Full Moon will illuminate how we're doing balancing the many balls we've got in the air right now, especially in the arena of relationships.

As always, check your birth chart. Where does the Full Moon fall? This area of life, and any planets touched, will receive extra high-watt spotlighting. With this Full Moon, watch the world stage too. The Grand Cardinal Cross signals change at every level of life, and that too may be illuminated with this Full Moon eclipse.

This Full Moon is not likely to feel comfortable. (I don't know about you, but I'm feeling pretty jumpy already, but that could just be me.) With Aries and Libra facing off, we're looking straight into some of our toughest issues:

• When do I hold tight to me and what I want, and when do I let go and focus on others?
• How do I say what I want in a convincing, compelling way and still include, invite and take care of important others in my life?
• When is it ok for me to go it alone, and when do I need my team? How do I be on someone else's team while still reaching my own goals?

None of these are easy, and we can really start to squirm when we're forced to face them. What can we do?

Well, notice another group in the chart: The ruler of this Full Moon is Venus, and she sits right between visionary Neptune and Chiron the wounded healer. She's telling us sailing through these knotty problems calls for special skills:

In these times, we want to follow our dreams, use all our senses to be in the right place at the right time, learn from what's happened in our lives, and turn that learning into gold.

So, what about that blood-red Moon? The ancients saw it as blood, a sign of war, conflict, pestilence, endings. Today, we know a bit more about what creates the color, which leads to a new, deeper, more hopeful view of this sign.

Because the Moon is smaller than the Earth, when they line up and obscure each other (which is what happens at an eclipse), the edge of the Earth still shows. Around that edge is a bright red ring of light. That ring shines back to the Moon, coloring it red.

That bright red ring is every sunrise and every sunset happening on Earth at that moment, all shining at once. So, if you're watching the eclipse at night, you're seeing all the other places, all over, where the day is dawning or ending.

In other words, you're looking at change, at transition, and it's beautiful.

These days, the world won't let us stay still. Somehow we have to find the right place between the poised balance of Libra and the headlong rush of Aries. Looking at the eclipse, we're seeing a world full of poised balances rushing into what comes next.

We can do that, too.
    

Full Moon in Sagittarius: BIG Dreams, BIG Ideas, BIG Moon!

A Dreamer's Moon

Full Moon in Sagittarius
Lunar Eclipse and Lunar Perigee
May 25, 2013 12:25 am EDT

Full Moons bring illumination, something we sorely need after the intensity and challenge of recent weeks. It hasn't been all bad––we've celebrated beautiful births as well as grieved deaths, seen miracles in the midst of tragedies––but it's definitely been intense.

So looking ahead to a Sagittarius Full Moon should be a jolly time. Sag is the party sign, right? Sag never met a stranger, the eternal optimist. And all those Gemini planets! With all those ideas floating around, and connections being made, it's got to be good,

It is good. In fact, a Full Moon in Sagittarius looks at the world and thinks, it's all good!

The intensity, though ... that's going to continue. This isn't the whew-it's-all-behind-us-let's-let-our-hair-down party. This is the wow-we-made-it-this-far-what-comes-next? party.

Plan for BIG DREAMS at this Full Moon. The Full Moon arrives just after midnight in my time zone (EDT), meaning she'll arrive during the night of May 24 on the West Coast, and in the early morning hours of May 25 in Europe. (Farther away time zones boogle my mind, I'm afraid.)

Neptune, planet of dreams and visions, squares this Full Moon from her home sign, Pisces. Saturn is also in the frame, trining Neptune from Scorpio and inconjunct the Gemini Sun––he adds depth and shadow.

If you work with dreams, don't miss this opportunity for deep dream travels and exploration. Even if you don't pay much attention to your nigthtime adventures, put a notebook and pen next to your bed tonight––big dreams, vivid dreams, amazing dreams will be happening.

Watch for BIG IDEAS at this Full Moon. Both Sag and Gemini are idea signs, ready to offer solutions, plans, advice, whatever, at the drop of a hat.

In addition to the Gemini Sun, Mercury, Venus and asteroid Lilith are tightly conjunct in Gemini, with Jupiter nearby. There's either serious brainstorming or major league flirting going on here, maybe both.

Need to generate creative solutions to intractable problems? This Full Moon could turn on the lights big time ... except ... we need to be alert for the Shadow side.

Neptune's square means things could get confusing and foggy, and the rose-colored glasses might be on. The Gemini party could generate so many ideas, it's impossible to sort out which are worth pursuing.

Another downside is the possibility of staking out a position and insisting we are right, we have the answer, we know the way. Sagittarius is prone to certainty, even when it's not warranted. And take a peek at Mars––he's in late Taurus, conjunct cerebral Pallas Athena, and also conjunct the Sun, so he's right close in, opposing this Full Moon.

If you find yourself overwhelmed by circumstances, options, new, people, it could be tempting to put your foot down and declare, this is where I take my stand! I'm right, forget about everyone else! An understandable response, but do try to resist going there. Not, I might add, by resisting the thoughts. Instead, notice where your mind wants to go, and use that as a springboard for reflection.

Because one thing this Full Moon could illuminate for us is where we're ready to be sure, where we've decided we have it all figured out. While I'm not advocating tossing all our values and convictions out the window and starting over, it's good to be aware of those areas where we think we're done. Because, you know, we're not. Just sayin'.

... light the lights ...

This is a BIG MOON. Sagittarius is a supersized energy, expansive, inclusive and, yes, optimistic. This Full Moon falls the day before a lunar perigee, one of the times the Moon is closest to Earth. So, while this Moon won't be quite as super as next month's Full Moon, it is a supermoon, larger than usual.

This Full Moon also comes with a lunar eclipse, emphasizing her power. Eclipses add oomph, influencing events for six months or so, and also punctuating the long-term saros cycles.

This Full Moon also draws in the Uranus–Pluto square, with Uranus widely trining the Moon. We're linked in to the major movements of our time, and could feel that connection strongly.

So, if skies are clear, we'll see a big, bright, gorgeous Moon sailing overhead tomorrow (Friday) night. Even if she's hiding behind clouds, of the physical or the Neptunian kind, her presence will be felt. It's a night for celebrating life in all its blooming, buzzing confusion.
    

Full Moon Eclipse in Scorpio: Hecate's Magic

Hecate

Full Moon in Scorpio
April 25, 2013 3:57pm EDT

Full Moons are hard to miss. Even when the night sky is full of clouds, somehow we feel a full Moon. Life becomes a bit crazier, wilder, over the top.

THURSDAY's Full Moon comes with a partial lunar eclipse, opening this year's "eclipse season" –– May brings two more eclipses, one solar and another lunar. Lunar eclipses always accompany Full Moons, giving this Full Moon extra strength––think espresso, or really dark chocolate.

Eclipses are turning points, times of emphasis and change. Eclipse patterns repeat at roughly 19 year intervals; to understand what might be coming up for you at this Full Moon, look back to what was happening in your life 19 years ago. This eclipse might revisit that same territory in new ways.

Now factor in the sign of this Full Moon: Scorpio, sign of the underworld, the subconscious, the Shadow; sign of the detective, the therapist and the spy. Scorpio knows who has skeletons in the closet and where the bodies are buried.

A Full Moon to prepare for.

This Scorpio Full Moon eclipse arrives with deep emotion, boatloads of karma, long-term effects, and high voltage. Am I planning to hide under the covers, or, better yet, leave the planet? Nope, I'm not. I'm looking forward to pressing yet another cosmic reset button on my adventurous way. Honest.

Full Moons illuminate. Their spotlights show us where we are, and how we're doing with whatever that is. With this Full Moon in Scorpio, we're likely to see one or more of the following on our personal large screen:

• Power! This lunar cycle began with an Aries extravaganza. Mars (Aries ruler) is also the ancient ruler of Scorpio, and will conjunct the Sun at the Full Moon. So ... how are we handling power? Are we responsible? Afraid? Controlling? In denial? This will be a headliner.

• Deep emotion. Scorpio is a Water sign, so our feelings selves will be awake and aware. This Full Moon is part of the Grand Trine in Water that includes Saturn (conjunct the Moon in Scorpio), Neptune in Pisces, and Ceres in Cancer.

How are we feeling? What do we feel deeply about now? Where are we confused (Neptune) about our feelings, or perhaps unsure if our feelings are justified, accurate, or reciprocated? Where do we feel insecure, or compelled to nurture others? Where are we facing the consequences of emotions, perhaps because we became obsessed, or codependent, or overcommitted?

• Where we're stuck. Scorpio and Taurus are both fixed signs, and can be beyond stubborn––immovable, in fact. Mars and Saturn, conjunct the Sun and Moon, might push us to move, or might just decide to stay exactly where they are.

Meanwhile, there's a yod (finger of fate, as aspect pattern that points like an arrow) aimed to the North Node, which also happens to be in Scorpio. This yod is pushing, with Mercury energized in Aries and Jupiter expanding in Gemini, asking, why haven't we changed already? Are we waiting for an engraved invitation, or what?

Uranus in Aries, the revolutionary trickster, is inconjunct the Full Moon, adding his own considerable power to the equation. At this Full Moon, we're likely to see where we're stuck and (if we pay attention) what we can do about it.

• Self care. Taurus is the sign of nurturing the body; Scorpio is the sign of tending to the psyche. Finding balance between the two can be challenging, but is essential. With issues of power, emotion, and stuckness coming up for review, we also need to attend to how we're doing overall. Kindness and self compassion are good watchwords, and this Full Moon may point out where we need to bring some of that to the fore.

Why the scary goddess Hecate? She's a goddess of the crossroads and dark places, a goddess of choices and deep knowing. She's demonized as a witchy death goddess, but then, Scorpio gets a pretty bad rap a lot of the time too.

Hecate is a goddess of great power, connected to deep emotional issues, who knows how to move us on when we're standing at the crossroads not sure where to go. She helped bring Persephone out from Hades, restoring the Earth's capacity to grow and be fruitful.

One of Hecate's symbols is the torch. At this Full Moon, as we begin a new 19 year eclipse cycle, calling on the energy and guidance of a goddess who can navigate in dark places seems like an excellent plan.

Checking where this Full Moon will fall in your birth chart offers extra information about where and how this Full Moon will illuminate your life. Which house will this Full Moon appear in, for you? Will any of your planets be touched by the patterns this Moon will form? These are the pointers to look for, to see where Hecate's light may shine into shadowy places.
    

Full Moon Eclipse: Foolish Wisdom and Wise Fools

Lunar Eclipse

Full Moon in Sagittarius with Partial Lunar Eclipse: June 4, 2012

The Full Moon is on her way, visible tonight (where skies are clear) and including a partial lunar eclipse. EarthSky describes the science of what's happening and where the eclipse will be visible.

A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth lines up between the Sun and Moon, so, during the eclipse we pass between the two luminaries, the lights in our sky, lining up directly with those energies.

This alignment gives an extra boost to the energies flowing at this time, strengthening the natural polarity of any Full Moon.

This is the Full Moon in Sagittarius, sign of the journey. Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter, is the traveling sage, the benevolent philosopher, the exuberant explorer of many lands, the delver into great mysteries. With Sagittarius, we go farther than we have before, stepping outside the familiar to extend our knowledge and experience in many directions and dimensions.

This particular Sagittarean Full Moon points directly at the Great Attractor, the powerful and not-fully-known place in the cosmos toward which our galaxy, and the galaxies around us, inexorably moves.

Which means, since Moon, Earth and Sun are aligned at this Full Moon, we're all pointing like a Sagittarean arrow at the Great Attractor.

One question illuminated for us at this Moon, then, might be: What is the Great Attractor in our lives? What are we drawn to, always, steadily, almost without our realizing we're pointing that way? What mysteries and questions do we come back to again and again, bringing more understanding each time without ever quite working it all out?

The answer is likely related to where this Full Moon falls in our birth charts, and what is touched. Look to where the midpoint of Sagittarius and Gemini fall, and to any planets and points you have in the middle degrees of any sign.

With the Moon in Sagittarius, this places the Sun in Gemini, its polar opposite.

Where Sagittarius is old and wise, Gemini is young and foolish. Where Sagittarius loves deep exploration of the faraway, Gemini scintillates with connecting many aspects of what is right at hand. Where Sagittarius respects ancient traditions and seeks to understand their systems, Gemini spills everything out on the floor of the now to see how this and that might fit together in new ways.

These opposite archetypes potentiate each other. Like yin and yang, the more we have of one, the more the other pushes in. With an eclipse Full Moon at hand, we're placed right between––an excellent opportunity to explore this balance in ourselves.

We're in a strong Gemini time. The last New Moon came with an eclipse of its own, and a powerful jolt of Gemini trickster power. Gemini rules communications, among other things, and some folks are still struggling to get their computer systems back in working order!

Because the last New Moon happened at 0 Gemini, the next New Moon will also fall in Gemini, surrounding this Full Moon.

Gemini is the young student ready to question everything; the crafter, maker of handy, clever, usable things; the innovative problem solver; the irreverent trickster who sees the Emperor clearly and can't stop himself from asking why he's parading around naked.

Sagittarius can find Gemini exasperating, disrespectful, exhausting, and shallow. Gemini can find Sagittarius slow, stodgy, narrow minded, heavy handed, and too ready to accept traditional authority.

Another question illuminated for us at this Moon is where we find the balance between these archetypes in our own lives. Imagine yourself on a line between Sagittarius and Gemini. Are you at the thumb-your-nose-at-all-authority, let's-party, end? Or are you at the life-is-serious, tradition-is-important, end? How comfortable are you with where you are?

Of course we need both archetypes in our lives. We can't avoid it, really, as they call each other out. If we've become too entrenched at one end of this spectrum, chances are we're meeting the other end in people and situations coming into our lives.

The strongest way to work with this, as with other polarities, is recognizing the strengths and weakness of each end and finding our way to integrate them within us. Both are present, both need to be honored, and each of us can find a unique path.

Finding this path is, perhaps, the true illumination of this Full Moon. Venus, retrograde in Gemini, is conjunct the Sun at this Full Moon as she prepares to transit across the Sun's face. Venus draws our attention to our relationships, which includes relationships within ourselves.

Neptune is poised to turn retrograde a few hours after the Full Moon, so her energy is strong as she slows and turns. What is the big picture here? How can we integrate Sagittarius and Gemini, and then take things to a new level, transcending our old understanding and bringing in something new?

This Full Moon is in a wide T-square with Chiron, the wounded healer. Chiron, as a centaur, is also associated with Sagittarius and certainly partakes of the "wise elder" archetype. He challenges us to heal any splits we have along this particular divide, releasing old, wounding ideas and seeking integration.

The Full Moon is in a tight T-square with Mars in Virgo, a sign also associated with healing, and also with analysis and organization. Mars pushes us to act, and to do so in an informed and careful way.

And so we come to the archetype of the Wise Fool, in all its complexities. Sometimes the Wise Fool is seen as an oblivious, inadvertent carrier of wisdom––the "out of the mouths of babes" phenomenon.

There is a deeper aspect to the Wise Fool, though, that stays in touch with the roots of wisdom. The Fool in King Lear, the only one who speaks truth to this deeply disturbed elder, is one. Another is Nasreddin, the tricksterish figure found throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, about whom many stories are told.

At this Full Moon, we're invited to embrace the Wise Fool, holding on to youth and laughter and irreverence, and at the same time, respect for learning and tradition. Each of us will find our own best way, as Nasreddin says:

Nasreddin was walking in the bazaar with a large group of followers. Whatever Nasreddin did, his followers immediately copied. Every few steps Nasreddin would stop and shake his hands in the air, touch his feet and jump up yelling "Hu Hu Hu!" So his followers would also stop and do exactly the same thing.

One of the merchants, who knew Nasreddin, quietly asked him: "What are you doing my old friend? Why are these people imitating you?"

"I have become a Sufi Sheikh," replied Nasreddin. "These are my spiritual seekers; I am helping them reach enlightenment!"

"How do you know when they reach enlightenment?"

"That’s the easy part! Every morning I count them. The ones who have left – have reached enlightenment!"