Moon in Aries Today

The mood today could feel like a firecracker on the Fourth of July ... a blaze of light across the sky, and suddenly you're airborne and on your way who knows where. As I write this at 8:30am EDT, the fiery, impulsive Aries Moon is squaring the Nodes, challenging both past and future to break out of the Cancer-Capricorn tradition-bound axis into something really new.

By 10:30am, the Moon will square the Mom-and-apple-pie Sun in Cancer. The afternoon, 3:40pm EDT, brings an inconjunct, angle of irritation and adjustment, with Mars in careful Virgo. Twelve hours later (3:40am tomorrow), Mercury in nurturing Cancer gets a challenge from the Moon's Aries fire.

And so it goes ... if you've been feeling pinned in place by the Cardinal Cross or some other heavy aspect, today's Moon could give you the energy to break out and see things in a new way. If she touches sensitive places in your chart, impulsive, angry or other fiery reactions could be stimulated. Aries is unpredictable, so channel this blaze of feeling into something creative and wonderful.

Remember too we're in the last quarter Moon phase now, a time of release. Today's Aries Moon could provide the oomph to get rid of an especially sticky habit or pattern you'd like to change, or look over the stuff of your life with a fresh eye ready to let go of whatever is holding you back.

Check the safety precautions, make sure kids and small animals are at a safe distance, and let the fireworks begin!

Moon in Pisces Moving into Aries

Yesterday, a day of Pisces Moon energy, I could not get on the internet at all at my conference hotel. After a week of intermittent signals and random connection, the service provider decided to fix the network, taking it offline in the process. Pisces is about connection, but not of the technological kind. Pisces is also about releasing, relinquishing control, and going with the flow ... I finished packing, and drove home through the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains.

Today will carry a different energy as the Moon moves through the end of Pisces, enters a void of course time, and bursts into Aries, joining Uranus and Jupiter. This shift into Aries happens as the Moon moves toward her final waning crescent.

The Moon now opposes Saturn in Virgo, engaging in a dialogue about the balance between practicality and vision, individual detail and the full sweep of the cosmos, physical manifestation and soul. This opposition comes exact at 7:18am EDT, after which the Moon passes into her void of course phase, a time I find myself wondering about as I continue this daily practice of writing about the Moon.

In the birth chart, the Moon has as wide an orb as the Sun ... the two luminaries, the lights in our sky, reach out ten degrees to embrace planets and points. Yet in transit, the Moon is said to fall into a void of course time as soon as her last aspect in the sign she is leaving comes exact. Why is this?

This pattern is especially noticeable now with so many powerful planets clustered at the very late and very early degrees. Saturn at 28 Virgo opposes Uranus at 0 Aries, and yet the Moon is considered void as she moves from her opposition to Saturn until entering Aries two and a half hours later. Where has the Moon gone during this time?

I'm wondering whether the void time has less to do with aspects, and more to do with the Moon herself shifting from one kind of energy to another, as she moves from sign to sign. How we feel, what we sense, and what we remember may all shift at this time, clouding our ability to make clear decisions.

At 9:45am, the Moon strides decisively into fiery Aries, ready to move, decide, and act. Moving to join the change agent twins, Uranus and Jupiter, she shifts the mood to one of celebrating the new.

Tomorrow, the Moon enters her last quarter, the time in the lunar cycle when we release what no longer serves us, in the days heading toward the next New Moon. The Aries Last Quarter Moon could feel ready to let everything go, ready to send the entire past off in a blaze of July 4th fireworks.

A square with Pluto in Capricorn at 5:30pm EDT can slow down Aries impulsivity. Pluto supports deep transformation, rooted in understanding. Quick change is not always lasting change, so Pluto's message might be, don't just do something, stand there.

As hard as it can be for Aries, today may be a day for holding the tension and exploring our feelings about what we're letting go of, why, and what will flow into that space.

Moon in Pisces Today

The Moon swims through Pisces today, reconnecting us with our deepest dreams, visions and memories. Her first aspect is a bright flow of energy (sextile) with initiatory Pluto, signaling a time for descending into the deepest pools and wells.

The Moon holds our memories ... memories we hold in our bodies, memories we inherit, and our connection through memory with our ancestors. Look to where Pisces falls in your birth chart, and which of your own planets the Moon might touch today. Then consider these questions:

What can I remember about this area of my life that can help me now? Are there things my ancestors wish me to know? Can I connect to spiritual teachers or guides who have messages for me?

Who are our ancestors? Shamanic teacher Tom Cowan emphasizes the importance of our blood lines, but also what he calls milk line ancestors, those who have nurtured and taught us through their lives and their work. The Moon in Pisces can help us connect to all who support us.

At 8:15pm EDT, the Pisces Moon flows energy in trine with the Sun in Cancer, saying again that family, tribe and ancestors are vital. Overnight, the Moon will trine the Nodes, and then Mercury. Messages from ancestral teachers may come in dreams.