Gibbous Moon: It Was a Dark and Stormy Night ...

into the woods ...

Gibbous Moon in Pisces
October 25, 2012

"Gibbous" is an odd word, don't you think? It makes me think of gibbons ... gibbering gibbons.

Its origins are equally odd. Gibbous means something convex or bulging, but comes from the Latin gibbus, a hump or hunch. In the fifteenth century, "gibbous" meant hunchbacked.

This Moon phase, which peaks as the Sun and Moon form a square-and-a-half (a sesquiquadrate), is like hitting a bump in the road. We've met the First Quarter square challenge, we can see the Full Moon reward looking ahead, and––wait ... what? I just fell over something.

This Gibbous Moon is the log you trip over on a foggy night in the woods when you've made a wrong turn, the compass needle spins crazily, the matches are wet, and the flashlight battery's low.

The Grand Trine in Water I've written about earlier in this lunar cycle is still with us, emphasized by a Sun–Saturn conjunction in Scorpio, trine Neptune and Chiron in Pisces and Ceres in Cancer. With the Moon also in Pisces, we're going to have a tough time getting our bearings. These energies are filled with glorious spiritual connection, and the cruelest of illusions. Healing and wounding, clarity and confusion, innocence and decadence, light and shadow.

At times like these, rational logic goes out the window. It just doesn't work. The choice point is, are we driven by fear? Or do we tune in to intuition?

Let's not dismiss the fear option out of hand. When I look at the world, our situations politically and ecologically, the treatment of all people in any way disadvantaged, I am afraid. Fear feels like a realistic assessment.

So maybe the question is, what's the purpose of fear? And, beyond that, what do I do with fear? Where does it lead me? Are there healthy ways I can experience and work with fear?

Karla McLaren describes fear as the mood state evoked by change, novelty, and the possibility of physical danger. Oh, snap. "Novelty" seems like a weak word indeed for the level of change coming at us––even "change" doesn't evoke the speed-of-light flows of information, innovation, and transformation swirling around.

Karla sees emotions as moving, calling us to action. Fear, she says, leads us into our instincts and intuitions, the ways we know, outside of logic, what to do right now to stay safe––sometimes by freezing or running away, but often by orienting to the coming changes and flowing with them.

Fear and intuition are not opposite choices. When experienced well, fear connects us to intuition.

Today, intuition is often glossed as "inner knowing." We think of tuition as teaching, and in as inside, so, intuition is an inner guide who tells you stuff.

The origin of intuition leads back to the Latin teuri, a word so old its origins are lost, which means not teacher, but guardian and protector.

Intuition is the guidance within that keeps us safe, activated when we feel the emotion we know as fear. Nature intended this to work seamlessly––the inner alarm bell goes off, we correct our course of action, the alarm bell goes quiet.

This is not a case of "feel the fear and do it anyway" when the action we're choosing makes the alarm bells get insanely loud. Neither is it a call to stick our heads in the sand because this momentarily reduces panic. This is about learning how to respond in ways that make us safer, by accepting, understanding and responding accurately and effectively to our circumstances.

This is the beauty of a trine, especially a Grand one: Trines flow easily.

Even as this part of the lunar phase leads us into the dark, misty forest and lays a log in our path, the energies out there are standing by to offer powerful, easily accessible experiences of how well intuition can work.

Seriously, with a Grand Trine like this one, plus Mercury conjunct the North Node in Scorpio, if we can't get in touch with our inner guidance now, when can we?

OK, that was a bit Scorpionic and snarky. How these transits affect you will depend a lot on your birth chart and how your life's been going lately. At the same time, we really are offered a chance to experience intuition at work (and at play) this week.

Watch for synchronicities. Remember your dreams. Dust off the runes, I Ching tiles, Tarot cards. Watch flights of birds. Listen to the wind.

Important safety tip: Choose ways of working with intuition that keep you safe and in contact with trusted guides who have your best interest at heart. Plan for invocations, prayers, or blessings.

If fear comes up, try not to immediately shy away. Look for a calm space within. Watch where the fear leads you. Listen to what the message is. Take effective action that increases safety.

Blessings for all of us.