Full Moon to New Moon: In the Spotlight

Leo saves the world ...

Disseminating Moon in Pisces
July 26, 2013 8:58 pm EDT

Last Quarter Moon in Taurus
July 29, 2013 1:43 pm EDT

Balsamic Moon in Gemini
August 2, 2013 3:41 pm EDT

New Moon in Leo
August 6, 2013 5:51 pm EDT

The Full Moon has been luminously beautiful the last few nights, shining in clear skies filled with bright stars, bringing cool breezes unusual for late summer in southern Indiana. In these crazy-filled days, we accept every grace that comes our way.

Because that was some Full Moon, amiright? Interrupted sleep, vivid dreams that disappear as I jolt awake, and more illuminative insights that I care to absorb.

Mercury is direct now, so communications can proceed ... with care, with care, because there's still plenty of free-floating emotionality around. Not only are we not out of the woods, we're actually headed deeper in. Here's how to read some of the signposts:

If the Full Moon revealed who we are, this waning lunar phase asks what we're planning to do about it. In other words, what are our goals, intentions, plans and desires? The Sun's in Leo now, the next New Moon will occur in Leo, and the spotlight is on us.

"Wherever you go, there you are"
–– Confucious, Buckaroo Bonzai, or Jon Kabat-Zinn, depending ...

Each waning Moon phase is a time to focus on how we bring whatever the Full Moon delivered into the world. Since the Full Moon most likely showed up with some new version of us, we're now faced with where to go with it ... us ... whatever.

This is challenging, a challenge that shows up in the form of a Grand Cross, a big box in the middle of the chart: oppositions to mark the cross, surrounded by squares. In this case, the oppositions are the Nodes of the Moon, and Juno, and whoever is transiting the middle of Leo, which right now includes the Sun, Vesta and Ceres.

This Grand Cross is in the fixed signs––Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius––who are convinced they're right, stubborn, and don't always play well with others. The Nodes of the Moon mark a karmic pathway in the chart, how we get from where we were to where we're karmically heading.

Leo, the sign of me (in all its positive and less than positive shades of meaning), squares the Nodes. This means figuring out who we are, who we really are, needs to happen before we can make serious progress on the path.

This is a bit of a "duh" but the fact is, every time we think we know who we are, we find out we were at least a little, and sometimes majorly, wrong. If the Full Moon was a wake-up call in this regard, now's the time to integrate that message.

Juno in Aquarius also squares the Nodes, and opposes the Leo party. Juno, known as Hera to the Greeks, is a classic (pun intended) example of what happens to goddesses under patriarchy. She predates the Olympian pantheon, with a deep history as a protector of women and families. Later, she devolved into the shrewish nag we read about in school.

Googling will bring you to astrological interpretations of Juno that focus on wifely goals, finding a soulmate, and so on, which in my view reflect a too-narrow view of this queen and goddess. Juno stands for partnership, all kinds of partnership, for what is fair and just, and for honoring our contracts and commitments.

So, part of this waning Moon cycle is about balancing who we are and what we want as individuals with our contractual obligations––social and family contracts as well as business ones. Like self-understanding, getting a good handle on how to honor our commitments is essential to getting on with our (real) lives.

This Grand Cross was in place at the Full Moon, and continues straight through to the New, when it will be, if anything, even stronger.

Both of the Grand Water Trines (Emotions R Us) also continue. Feelings are the ocean we're swimming in, dreams will continue to be deep and compelling, intuition is intensified.

Meanwhile, a new Grand Trine shifts into place. (You do remember what I said about sky patterns and intense being the new normal, right?) Beginning with the Disseminating Moon tomorrow, A Grand Trine in Earth comes into being, as Venus moves deeper into Virgo, connecting with Pluto in Capricorn and the South Node in Taurus.

Grand Earth Trines would ordinarily offer stability and grounding, but this is Pluto, and one of the Nodes. Rather than staying put and feeling solid, this Grant Trine is about creative transformation. Specifically, taking energy from the past and alchemically transforming it into strengths for the now.

And, right at the Last Quarter Moon on July 29, the Earth and Water Grand Trines line up in a way that creates a rare event, a Grand Sextile. This is a six-pointed star that covers the sky (we can't see it, but we'll most likely feel it). You might see it as a Star of David or a Merkaba.

Sextiles are flows of positive energy. More energetic than trines, and therefore easier to feel, sextiles show us where opportunities are, where doors and gates are opening. On July 29, and through the Balsamic Moon period, there will be gates opening everywhere you look.

This combination of personal challenge (a Grand Cross involving the Sun and the Nodes) and big opportunity mojo (Grand Trines and the Grand Sextile) offer a combined message: Times are tough and we are not alone. Help is always available to those who ask ... when the asking happens from a place of openness to truth, willingness to grow, and acceptance of who we are.

This is not about will-based affirmations, of the "I see it, I want it, I visualize it, it's mine" variety. That kind of grasping is Leo in the smallest size of ego. This lunar cycle is about honest self appraisal, compassionate self acceptance, and stepping into our roles in family and society.

In other words, it's about growing up. Growing into who we are, who we can be. This is how we create the lives, the families, and the societies we long for. This is Leo of the compassionate heart, Leo the courageous, Leo with the ego that grew twelve sizes and burst its old box.

As we move toward the New Moon in Leo, we're asked to step into something wonderful. OK, it's also scary. It's not easy to look beyond our limited views, beyond stereotypes, beyond misconceptions. The news every day shows us with increasingly stark clarity what happens when we live in and act from our fears. We know that's not what we want.

During the next few weeks, look for (at least) one limiting idea you're holding on to. Take a compassionate look at where that idea came from and how it served you in the past. Then let it go. Look for the opening gate. Step through into a new idea. Repeat at will.

Let me know how it goes!
    

Seeing Who We Are: The Full Moon in Aquarius

a full house ...

Full Moon at 0 Aquarius
July 22, 2013 2:16pm EDT

Some time ago, I pledged to stop using "intense" to describe the New and Full Moon patterns we've been seeing. Not because the intensity went away, mind you, but because "intense" loses its meaning when every single lunation is, well, intense.

Beginning with this Full Moon, I think I'll stop using "rare" and "unusual" too.

Monday's Full Moon includes an amazing combination of aspect patterns:

• a Grand Cross of Ceres and Juno squaring the Nodes,
• a T-Square of Uranus squaring Pluto and Mercury,
• a T-Square of Saturn squaring the Sun and Moon,
• two Grand Trines in Water, of North Node, Chiron and Mercury, then Saturn, Neptune and Mars–Jupiter–Lilith,
• two yods mirroring each other, of the Sun at the apex of Pluto and Neptune, and the apex of Venus and Pallas Athena, and
• two quintiles linking Venus and the North Node, and Uranus and the Moon.

To describe this combination of patterns at a Full Moon as "unusual" or "intense" feels lame, at this point. Intense and unusual have become the new normal.

This Aquarian Full Moon fall at the beginning of the beginning of Aquarius and Leo: Only 5 minutes inside the 0 degree. After the somewhat behind-the-scenes and under-the-radar energies of past weeks, this Full Moon will feel like stepping onto a fully lit stage.

In fact, this could feel like stepping onstage for what we think is a full dress rehearsal, only to find it's opening night and the theater is packed. Friends, family, well-wishers, strangers, enemies, critics––everyone's here. The opening applause dies down, the spot focuses in. Time for the opening speech.

Fight. Flight, Freeze. Is this an amygdala highjack? Or are we ready? Can we grab that fraction of a second we've got to shift attention into a calm, centered place?

This is a Full Moon for feedback. The Sun and Moon, the luminaries in the sky and the guiding lights of our inner selves, are at the twin centers of a whole passel of attention from powerful others. We are going to be illuminated, quite possibly with a level of brilliance we've not experienced before.

In the past weeks (or months or years, depending on your chart and life choices), we've been preparing. Personal work, creative exploration, diving into the unconscious or dreamscapes or Imaginal realms, everything we've done to build a meaningful life––all the projects, efforts, plans, desires we've fed with our energy and time and love for longer than we can remember––what are they, really? Do we know?

Reading through what I've written feels scary. And yet, what this Full Moon offers is a gift. In the bright white limelight of an Aquarius Moon and Leo Sun, we're given the chance to see who we are.

I've been listening to a lot of Marion Woodman lately. She describes key moments in therapy sessions when, experiencing a deep insight, the client comes into wholeness. These moments don't generally last, but the experience, however brief, lights that client's unique and individual path.

center stage

If we're willing to step into the light and reach deep within for the insight, we can experience a wholeness that lights up where we are and (hopefully) where we go next.

This Full Moon can be like that.

Seeds we planted at the New Moon will bear some fruit. And, given the number of players, and the strength and precision of their focus, the illumination of this Full Moon could have a much deeper, broader impact.

Who are we, really? Yes, this is about embracing Shadow. But this isn't a Full Moon for playing small. It's also time to step into our gifts, our grace, our vision and our passion.

Look into the faces in that packed theater. See what's mirrored there in all its complexity. This is who we are. This is the curiosity, challenge, excitement, delight and love the universe offers.

It's mind-blowing and heart-opening to think about. I'm hoping I remember my lines. If I stumble a bit at the beginning, though, it's still be awesome.
    

The Unconscious Rudder: Scorpio Moon and North Node

Infinite Dreams Tarot @2013 MP Lynch

Wednesday, July 17, 2013
between the First Quarter and Gibbous Moons
Moon in Scorpio

The unconscious is the rudder controlling everything up above.

 ––Marion Woodman

As I write this morning, the Scorpio Moon conjunct the North Node, focusing our attention on where we are and where we're going.

This Moon–North Node conjunction forms one of two strong Grand Water Trines: Moon–North Node at 13 Scorpio, Mercury retrograde at 13 Cancer, and Chiron at 13 Pisces.

The second Grand Water Trine links Saturn at 4 Scorpio with Neptune at 4 Pisces and Jupiter at 4 Cancer, with Mars conjunct Jupiter at 2 Cancer.

Could we ask for a stronger invitation to look under the boat and see what kind of shape our rudder is in?

This day, of all other days, if you haven't found an hour to spend with dreams, intuition, insights, journals, the Shadow, old patterns, complexes, some or all of these, do it today.

That's really it, all that needs to be said.

OK, I'll say something about the idea of the unconscious as a rudder. The unconscious is (by definition) the stuff we're not aware of. It's our blind spots, what we deny, what we don't want to admit to even to ourselves, what scares us, what might be true.

The unconscious includes the things our culture says are taboo, as well as the things we've learned through painful life experience are taboo for us. It's vital to know that what we hide in Shadow, what we dump into our long black bag, includes powerful creative gifts as well as unpleasant and uncomfortable truths.

"I am a good person and could never do anything wrong, so it's good that I can clearly see how wrong those people are over there."

and

"I couldn't possibly paint watercolors ... It's much more important for me to take care of my family."

are BOTH Shadow messages. And the crazy thing is, we can only connect with the creative energy when we embrace the "bad" stuff.

Does that mean it's OK to behave cruelly? No, it doesn't. What it does mean is we need to look within and see the possibility of cruelty, the impulse to anger, the desire to grab whatever we want, because that awareness opens us to the fullness of life, to compassion, and to creative expression.

Remember that the purpose of the rudder is to steer the boat. The goal is to keep a light hand on the tiller, turning a bit one way or the other, to get where we wish to go.

The light hand responds to conditions we see around us and to what we feel coming from the rudder underneath the water. Sometimes we maneuver around a rock we clearly see; sometimes we feel the rudder resist and know it's time to stop and see what's going on under the boat.

Take time today to sense your hand on the tiller. Does it respond smoothly, easily? Is something stuck? Find a safe and quiet cove. Drop anchor, and slip over the side. Take a look at the rudder. If seaweed or fishing line or something else is impeding your ability to steer, unwind it, cut it, release it, heal it. Then you can push out to sea again, ready to steer a steady course.

A note on today's image: For some months now, I've been working on a new project that came to me in a dream. Called the Infinite Dreams Tarot, this deck is wound through with what I've learned about dreams and dreamwork, and from dreams. It will be a while before the project is complete, and this felt like a good day to share a first image. This is the Moon card.