Full Moon in Leo

by Yumiko Kayukawa

This is on the 3rd February, around 11 pm GMT.

But first the run-up. As of today (1st February), we have a bunch of planets in beautiful, dreamy Pisces. Venus is conjunct Neptune in Pisces, and squaring Saturn in Sagittarius – the square was exact a couple days ago. Venus-Neptune aspects and Venus in Pisces are about impossible, boundless, delusive love and sweetness...and Saturn is about reality and constriction. So this is a potentially painful awareness of limits in love and money matters – a reality check.

And we also have Mars in Pisces conjunct Chiron - an asteroid symbolic of the “wounded healer” archetype. And this is also painful – but potentially an aspect of great healing and spiritual awareness. It is a sacrificial kind of aspect – what gets sacrificed here is personal will and ego.

So we are looking at some major dreamy love-and-loss and sacrificial holy devotion in the sky right now, yikes. And the moon in Cancer is trining these planets in Pisces today, adding emotional force – as if more were needed. It's all too bittersweet and soulful.

We also have a cardinal grand cross involving the moon in Cancer, Uranus in Aries, Pluto in Capricorn and the north node in Libra. This was the same set-up we were dealing with at the full moon in Cancer last month.

So it's a revisiting of that scenario, to some extent – whatever it was about for you. Except that scenario was very stark and violent. In this one,  healing and forgiveness are on offer. Emotional release, kindness, catharsis. It all goes very deep.

It's a day to forgive others – or yourself. I think it's incredibly beautiful. Have faith. Pisces is about faith...and trust in the larger design. Have faith in life no matter how much it hurts.

OK, so this sets the stage for our main event – the full moon in Leo late on the 3rd February. And tricky and intense as this thing looks, I really like it.

The moon will be conjunct Jupiter in Leo – and this is a happy, bouyant, creative, emotionally generous kind of emotional tone.

And the moon and Jupiter will be bound into a very beneficial 'mystic rectangle' formation involving the sun and Mercury in Aquarius, Uranus in Aries and the north node in Libra.

This is about new ideas, liberation, creativity, energy and enthusiasm. Radical new approaches to intractable problems are likely, especially in relationships. And at the same time, we'll have this stellium in Pisces, which is about deep faith, love, healing, sacrifice...

It looks pretty nice. That's not to say it's easy: there will be plenty of weird juxtaposed feelings and mutual irreconcilables. We'll have two yods going, and these are tricky aspect patterns, all about irrecconcilable imperatives.

Yod 1 involves Pluto in Capricorn sextiling the Pisces stellium, and inconjunct the moon and Jupiter in Leo. So here we see dedication, very deep seismic change, deep love and faith, austerity and truth... vs. lightheartedness, fun, partying, good times! Obviously these poles are hard to balance...and the point about yods is they DON'T balance; you cannot get them to balance and it's no good trying.

Yod 2 involves Jupiter and the moon in Leo sextiling the north node in Libra, and inconjunct the stellium in Pisces. And this is about creativity, fun, generosity, social harmony, happiness in relationships...vs. siren songs, impossible loves, soul-deep wounding. Again, the poles don't compute – you cannot balance them.

Just know you don't have to decide in favour of anything. In fact you'd be better off NOT deciding. You can let all these mutual irreconcilables hang spinning in the air. Let them balance themselves like a gyroscope.

Diplomacy is possible, reconciliations are possible, balance and fairness are possible – and remember that with the north node in Libra, these are the aims of the story right now. But with all these planets in Pisces, you have to let things flow. There is no need to push anything. Don't rush for premature closure, don't try to argue things out. Try to stay open and tolerant of ambiguity, hard as that can be.

Focus on staying internally free and true to yourself and to your own heart. Uranus in Aries and the sun and Mercury in Aquarius are about personal integrity and freedom of expression, and the Moon in Leo is about emotional generosity and open-heartedness...and remember these points are all beneficially aspecting each other.

I guess maybe the best way to approach this is to just have a good time with it and have faith (Pisces) that the whole crazy mechanism will balance (Libra) itself out somehow. (It will, too! It always does.)

Like the gyroscope above, which is a totally weird yet simple contraption. I can't get my head around how the thing works, but it works.

Having some faith in the larger design looks important for the days after the full moon – the moon in Virgo will be making all kinds of tense aspects to the rest of the sky. Don't let your worries get the best of you. Steady as she goes. Remember moods are only a kind of weather...They pass. Be a gyroscope – spinning around your own internal center to keep steady.

--An aside on Saturn in Sagittarius, which I've been thinking about lately, as we are at the beginning of this transit. Saturn is about solidity, and Sagittarius is about philosophy, meaning. And I think to get through the next few years, people will have to concretise (Saturn) a personal philosophy of life (Sagittarius)...and live by it.

Saturn will be squaring Neptune for much of its transit of Sagittarius – and this complicates things. Neptune dissolves boundaries and structures, and makes it hard to know what's true and what's illusion. But it also dissolves ego – it is an intensly spiritual, mystical influence.

So we have pragmatism (Saturn) squaring off against idealism (Neptune). Given these skies, I think the task is to find a workable, realistic philosophy of living that is rooted in our highest spiritual ideals....and to maintain it in the face of disillusion and despair.

Stoicism is what springs immediately to my mind. A philosophy (Sagittarius) of endurance (Saturn) – of equanimity in the face of life's ups and downs.

If you allow yourself to live at the mercy of your fluctuating moods and emotions, you are pretty much screwed. You will be doubly screwed under the Saturn-Neptune square, which is an inherently disillusioning kind of energy. We're all going to need something stronger than mere emotional reactivity to get us through the next few years.

I think your personal philosophy is a good place to start. What can you actually put your faith in? What in you endures, beyond hope and fear? What do you commit yourself to, even in the face of disappointment? What kind of future do you envision, and what will you do to secure it?

These are Saturn in Sagittarius topics and I think they're worth thinking about!

Anyway...

As we move on through the 2nd week of February, Venus will be catching up to Mars in Pisces. The two of them will be 3 degrees apart in Pisces for freakin' Valentine's Day, which is a real dreamy romantic love scenario, yikes.

All this Pisces stuff can be very delusive, but Venus and Mars will be moving into harmonious aspect with Saturn in Sagittarius – so whatever this is about, it looks like the real deal to me. Grounded and true. Quite lovely, really.

And then we have our weird new moon late on the 18th February. I say 'weird' because it's a bit of a departure from the last four new moons, all at zero degrees of their signs. This one is at the very end minutes of the end degree of Aquarius...so technically it is a new moon in Aquarius, same as the last one. A herald of intense change.

Except with this one, the sun and moon meet in Aquarius around 10 to midnight (GMT), then immediately move together into the next sign, Pisces. They will be together at zero degrees Pisces at the stroke of midnight on the 19th. It's like a fairy story – very heavy on the magic and romance. At the stroke of midnight, we move from emotionally distant, rational, clear-sighted, future-oriented Aquarius...to dream cities at the bottom of the sea in Pisces. To the otherworld.

It is something incredibly beautiful and powerful, I can't help feeling. And it shifts...everything. The next day (20th February), Mars and Venus and the moon will be together at 0 degrees Aries – this degree is called the Aries point, the most potent significator of rebirth in the zodiac. When the sun reaches this point, it means the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere.

This is a burst of raw, fiery energy and will, and it signifies new beginnings, in relationships especially.

(It could also signify the beginning of World War 3, but I'm trying to be positive here.)

I'll write more about the new moon closer to the time...but all in all, the next few weeks look really interesting. Get out the popcorn, we are watching a big weird movie!

New Moon in Aquarius

This is on the Tuesday the 20th Jan 2015, around 1:15 pm (GMT).

It has been a hard couple of weeks following the heavily emotional full moon in Cancer on the 5th January. We had Mars (energy, will) moving into Pisces on the 12th of January – and this represents a real dissipation of will and of emotional boundaries.

Mars in Pisces at his best can look something like this:

Such an effortless-looking physical flow. Is it fighting or dancing?

Or he can be a spiritual warrior, like Gandhi or Jesus. Or an inspired artist, or a musician.

At his worst, though, he is a self-pitying, deluded, addicted, emotionally-confused mess.

Yeesh.

On entering Pisces, Mars moved straight into a square with Saturn in Sagittarius (exact on the 15th January), and he will conjunct Neptune in Pisces exactly on the 19th January – the day before the new moon in Aquarius.

These aspects represent exhaustion, depression and lowered physical resistance. Also heavy delusion, scattering and misdirection of the will, addiction, self-sabotage, pain, frustration, cruelty. So we're much more likely to be seeing the worse aspects of Piscean Mars these days, and it ain't pretty.

In addition we have a very fraught and ongoing situation involving Uranus, Pluto and the nodes of the moon. The moon's north node signifies the karmic 'direction' of the story – what we are meant to be striving toward. It is currently in Libra, sign of peace, right relationship, harmony and balance – so these are the imperatives of the story. The south node, which represents what we are trying to get away from (but where we are liable to get stuck) is in Aries, sign of self-will, rage and war. (And as these Aries placements are disposited by Mars in Pisces, we are looking at an unhealthy dose of self-pity and delusion in the mix. Rage-aholic zombie stuff.)

So basically we are meant to be moving from conflict to harmony and balance - especially in relationships - but it's very fraught and difficult. And what makes the terrain even harder to navigate is that these points are bound up with the historic Uranus-Pluto square, which is about upheaval, destruction and transformation. Uranus, representing shock and upheaval, is currently conjunct the south node in Aries – and this conjunction will be exact on the day of the new moon in Aquarius. And Pluto, representing death and transformation, squared the moon's nodes exactly on the 15th January. It's a cardinal t-square, very tight through the middle weeks of January, which is where we're at.

A cardinal t-square is an aspect requiring – even forcing – change and adaptation. It is inherently tense and uncomfortable. And as this one involves the Uranus-Pluto square, the tension and pressure for change gets ratcheted up a few orders of magnitude.

What it all represents is big shock and absolutely necessary change, in the context of relationships especially. Tests, breakups, forced evolution to a new model of relating. It is also about the requirement to cut yourself free of the past, of destructive habits and relationships, of what is unworkable in your life, of what you are completely fed up with.

The problem is, things are very volatile and explosive courtesy of Uranus conjunct the south node – so the potential for reckless, indiscriminate destruction is huge. And with this Mars-Neptune stuff going on in Pisces, the past has a deep and very dangerous undertow to it. You may find yourself hypnotized by it, unable to pull away, drawn back into the same shitty old dramas. Self-sabotage is a big risk right now.

The question is: do you keep your ship firmly on course while the sirens sing all around you? Or do you steer it into the rocks in pursuit of them; do you let yourself become a wreck?

Here is Ulysses, lashed to the mast of his ship and listening to the sirens sing - and tormented by his longing.

Ulysses and the Sirens - Waterhouse

I think the story of Ulysses and the sirens is very pertinent to these skies. He wanted to hear their famous song, though he knew it would turn him into a deranged, self-destructive imbecile. So he ordered his sailors to plug their ears with wax and tie him to the mast as they sailed past the sirens. And he got to hear them and survive - something no mortal had done.

The mast he's tied to in the story and the temporarily-deafened sailors rowing the boat out of harm's way can be read as metaphors for the will – for the backbone and determination it takes to escape the pull of destructive desire.

But another lesson of the story is that you don't fuck around with this stuff. You don't idly decide to listen to the sirens sing – not unless you have a crew of devoted sailors around you to keep you on course and steer you out of harm's way. Most of us don't have that, so we're better off staying well away from whatever undermines our self-possession.

For “listening to the sirens sing”, substitute

--looking up old boyfriends on facebook
--revisiting the past obsessively, with sentimentality and misplaced nostalgia
--having a little teeny tiny drink even though you know you're a raging alcoholic
--indulging your emotional excesses and self-pity to the point that they get in the way of your relationships and everyday functioning
--eating another cupcake
--watching "Purple Rain" again even though it disgusts you deeply and there are constructive things you could be doing with your time...

Or whatever. Giving way to temptation, basically. You know what's good for you, you know what's destructive – so don't make excuses for yourself. Tie yourself to the mast and row on.

We are going to be dealing with a Saturn-Neptune square for the next couple of years, basically – so it's pretty important to learn how to be your own internal rock (Saturn) even when everything is crumbling and dissolving around you (Neptune). Fortitude and determination in the face of temptation and confusion – that's one lesson to take from Saturn-Neptune. This is a very good time to start learning it, with Mars in Pisces activating this square.

OK, so I have written a lot already without even looking at the main event! Which is, ta da... Our zero degree new moon in Aquarius on the 20th January! And what a zinger it is. Like a big jolt of electricity right up Uranus! Like a huge, cosmic kick in the ass. Like sudden, detached clarity and insight in the midst of pain and loss... Or like a door opening into a new world, a weird magical one where nothing is quite what you thought it would be, and everything keeps changing so fast you can barely keep track.

Aquarius is future-oriented, zany, progressive, excitable...and emotionally detached. This new moon should come as a relief to anyone slogging through the heavy swamps of Mars-Neptune right now. Aquarius is about liberation, so this is a great opportunity to get free of whatever is holding you in thrall.

But the danger is that all that murky, blocked energy will be released as rage. Aquarius is ruled by Uranus, which will be exactly conjunct the south node in Aries, and this means acting like a rage-aholic is the path of least resistance. Especially in the context of relationships, as we've seen. It's 'fight or flight' kinda stuff, and could potentially be very ugly and destructive.

Don't overstep the bounds of politeness and civilised discourse, no matter how stressed you may feel. There is a high road and a low road here. The low road is the hair-trigger rage-zombie stuff. The high road is represented by Venus conjunct Mercury in Aquarius – this is about objectivity, open-mindedness, insightful and tactful communication, free expression. It's about allowing people the space to be who they are and to make up their own minds.

“Liberté égalité fraternité laïcité” as the French say. (“Laïcité” means public secularism and is a new addition to the old revolutionary slogan.)

The Venus-Mercury conjunction is stressed by an opposition to Jupiter in Leo, which can be about big ego issues. So again, it's very important to try to think and communicate calmly and objectively, and not with your ego. No matter how provoked you may feel. It doesn't matter how justified your anger is – letting it rip over your petty little ego stuff is not going to get you very far under these skies. If you use it to look at what needs to change in a broader sense – in your life and collectively – you'll be better off.

The best side of Aquarius is always personified for me by Mr. Spock, who is rational, humane, calm, insightful... and also a complete unapologetic freak (he's an alien after all).

A good way for navigating the emotional rapids of this time (or any time for that matter) is to ask yourself: “What would Spock do?” Try and channel your inner Spock.

(Spock says time out!)

Ok, what else. We have a Mercury retrograde starting on the 21st January, the day after the new moon, taking him back through the sign of Aquarius. This means Mercury will be in Aquarius till March. And I think it's a pretty good place for him to be, whether retrograde or direct. It gives a bit of clarity and detachment to our thinking and communication, and some future-oriented insight. The Uranus-Pluto squares (the last of which is on the 16th March) are about revolutionary change, and Mercury in Aquarius will help us to wrap our minds around revolutionary change as it goes down. (Things will be moving fast!)

Also, we have Venus entering Pisces on the 27th of January, which represents a softening of the general emotional tone. 

All in all, it's not an easy two weeks ahead - when is it ever these days? But it really doesn't look so bad overall! Not compared to the last couple of weeks, certainly. We are moving from the heaviness and dourness of Capricorn season to something much more free and light and unconcerned, and that's a nice shift, even with all the attendant drama. And there is potential for all kinds of weird magic to happen. 

Just remember:

ps: forgot to say, this new moon is very good for creativity and creative thinking. For getting out of ruts of all kinds and creating something new. It could be a solution to an intractable problem, or a new work of art or music, or a new insight that completely changes the way you relate to some aspect of your life...The point is there will be creativity and inspiration on hand. So use it to do something new.

Full Moon in Cancer / Cardinal Grand Cross

(From Ferguson, MO)

This is tomorrow, the 5th January 2015, around 5 am (GMT).

I'll try to be very brief here, because I'm late in writing this, and the full moon is nearly upon us! Maybe you can feel what it's about for you already. The moon is in her own sign – Cancer – and this brings some heavy emotion into play.

It's a very tense full moon, and coming as it does after the holidays, it's safe to assume people will be feeling exhausted and jagged. It's like a big tension-dump, where all the issues you've been trying to keep a lid on all through the holidays potentially get vomited out. Or cried out, or yelled out. Or maybe you'll just feel them rotting in the pit of your stomach like an indigestible Christmas pudding.

We have a cardinal grand cross - a very tense planetary aspect pattern – involving the sun and Pluto in Capricorn (control issues), the moon in Cancer (emotions), Uranus in Aries (individual anger and revolt) and the nodes of the moon in Aries (war) vs. Libra (peace).

On the world stage, it could look kinda like the photo below from Ferguson, Missouri. We've been seeing a lot of pictures like this lately, courtesy of the revolutionary Uranus-Pluto square. The public demand for radical change coming up against an entrenched, inflexible power hierarchy, with explosive results.

On your own individual stage, it could be about what you're trying to establish in your life vs. the obstacles. Your own capacity for self-sabotage; the drama and rage that keep drawing you back into the past. Specifically, the issues here revolve around family (Cancer), career (Capricorn), close relationships (Libra) and individual will / personal autonomy (Aries).

The cardinal signs (Aries, Libra, Cancer and Capricorn) are initiatory and commanding – all about the establishment of a new order. And this cardinal grand cross is tied up with the Uranus-Pluto square, which is about radical change and upheaval. It also involves the moon's nodes, which are about movement toward an objective – in this case, the objective is signified by the north node in Libra, sign of harmony, fairness and balanced relationship.

This story is supposed to be about moving from conflict and war to peace and coexistence, in the context of radical, necessary change – try to remember that.

The problem is, the path of least resistance here is war. Selfishness, rage, jagged nerves, destructive emotional distancing, abrupt relationship breakups and endings – these are all things we're likely to see, courtesy of the south node conjunct Uranus in Aries.

Basically, a new order is being established, but there are some fierce emotional rapids to navigate before we get there. However this plays out in your life, if you can calm yourself and try to stay calm as the people around you have their temper tantrums and blowouts, that should be helpful. Don't get sucked into drama. We have three planets (Mars, Venus and Mercury) in rational, detached, free-spirited Aquarius now – and if you can access this energy, it should help.

I don't mean that it's OK to act like an uncaring, self-absorbed, emotionally cut-off dickhead, which is one of the dangers of Aquarian energy - and one specifically highlighted by this full moon! But try to maintain your sense of internal freedom and individuality, however externally bound you may feel – that space inside yourself that is always already free, no matter what happens.

Also, catharsis is something entirely different to unthinking drama, and could be a very good use of all this tension.

“Catharsis (from the Greek κάθαρσις meaning "purification" or "cleansing") is the purification and purgation of emotions—especially pity and fear—through art or any extreme change in emotion that results in renewal and restoration.” 

Here's a poem relevant to this theme of catharsis and release: Messengers by Louise Gluck.

A full moon represents a culmination or ending, so please remember that the emotional discomfort and intensity associated with this full moon is really a kind of summation, not a permanent state. This is the emotional high-water mark of a period of serious transformation that began around the time of the winter solstice a couple of weeks back. It's the release-point for what has been quite a stressful and heavy time.

We are headed for a zero-degree new moon in Aquarius on the 20th January, and Aquarius is future-oriented, progressive, full of novelty and excitement. Things will start to feel lighter, so hang in there.