Fulll Moon in Sagittarius

This is tonight, the 21st May, at 10:14 pm GMT.

It looks kind of explosive and warlike. Sagittarius can be crusading and self-righteous; a moon in Sagittarius inflates emotion. And this moon is conjunct a retrograde Mars, which denotes major pent-up emotional intensity and irritation.

Plus the moon is facing off against the sun in Gemini and Venus in Taurus. This has to do with communication (Gemini) around matters of love, money and values (Venus).

So expect some repressed emotion around these issues to come bursting out in potentially over-the-top fashion. There will be a big need for freedom of expression, and because of the levels of frustration and blockage involved, speech could be inflammatory.

Issues between men and women are highlighted, with Mars opposite Venus. Venus in Taurus isn't likely to budge – she knows what the bottom line is, for her. So this looks like an intractable kind of conflict. And consequential.

Communication planet Mercury resumes direct motion in Taurus late tomorrow. He is bound into the grand trine in earth, which is all about careful attention to the facts, calm consideration, realism and internal reckoning.

So whatever gets said or revealed around this full moon – it's weighty, and it has probably been building a while.

It's really about knowing where you stand, what you stand for, what you value. And communicating that, if necessary.

But the danger here is of an uncontrolled explosion of dammed-up emotional material. If you find yourself in a touchy conversation, try to stick to the facts and rein in the emotional reactions. And state your case as succinctly as possible - fewer words are better. More words will only lead to confusion.

We have two major patterns in effect at this full moon: a grand trine in earth, which is steady, calm, reality-based energy. And a t-square across the mutable signs, which is jarring, edgy, frustrating and unstable.

The grand trine involves Mercury, Pluto and Jupiter, and it denotes great mental clarity, insight and quiet attention to the facts. Also intense mental focus, analysis and restructuring.

The t-square involves Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, and it's about conflicting or deceptive versions of reality, frayed nerves, confusion and dissipation of energy. Nervous breakdown stuff.

So both these influences are in play right now, and the full moon will likely bring them into conflict. And as this full moon is happening across the Gemini-Sagittarius axis, which has to do with information gathering and the construction of guiding narratives – well this really becomes about which version of reality to trust, what to believe.

If you're conflicted and confused as to what's trustworthy information, consult the still, small voice within you. Intuition is never emotional. It is very quiet and calm.

I'd be wary of anything said or thought in the heat of emotion, because emotions are likely to be really overblown here, and there may be a lot of conscious or unconscious obfuscation or manipulation going on.

We have a pretty intense few weeks ahead, and these issues will likely take center stage. The grand trine in earth will gather force toward the end of the month, heightening our capacity for solid, deep, pragmatic thought and communication. At the same time, Venus and the sun in Gemini will turn our jangly, dissonant mutable t-square into a grand cross: an extreme tension necessitating change. Venus issues – love, money, self-esteem and personal values – will be highlighted.

Things will be in major flux, and this sets the stage for the new moon in Gemini on the 5th June.

Gemini is changeable, communicative, adaptable, networky and frenetic. It's like social media: a constant stream of information, gossip and amusement. Interesting and distracting - but knowing what's actually true can be tricky. 

With the sun now in Gemini, that's the season we are in! And it looks like this June will be more relentlessly Gemini than usual. Potentially really neuron-frazzling.

New opportunities will be popping up all over the place, and the ground will be dissolving from underneath our feet. It'll be a blooming, buzzing confusion – reality will be shifting in previously unimaginable ways. 

So if you can connect with your bedrock sanity and sense of reality now, under the grand earth trine, you'll be better situated to navigate the shifts that are coming and to know real opportunity from pipe dream.

The grand trine will break up in the second week of June, so what we have now is a brief window where you get to clarify what you really value in your life, before 12 million dizzying options get thrown at you.

Mars (energy, will) backs into Scorpio, sign of psychological depth and transformation, on the 27th May, and this will help us to dig deep and parse truth from falsity. Mars in Scorpio is a good bullshit detector. His retrograde will involve excavation of past patterns and possible re-opening of old wounds – but in order to heal them. We can't move forward until we've adequately dealt with this stuff.

We'll have a second full moon in Sagittarius on the 20th June – tonight's is at the beginning of the sign, and June's will be on the very last degree. So for the next month, we are really on a journey – Sagittarius is about travel, learning, mental expansion and the search for meaning and truth. 

Because of the involvement of retrograde Saturn in Sagittarius, it's a serious, inward journey, with long-lasting import.

We will be trying to find meaning and joy in the chaos, to be true, and to live with integrity even as conditions shift wildly. And I think we are liable to end up someplace very different to where we're starting from. Paths will open up, leading us to places we didn't think we'd ever see.


So over the next month, please try to keep a hold on what you really value and hold true. Define and hold to your own personal line. Keep focusing on what's simple, practical and sensible (per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo).

But also, leave some space in your mind for life to surprise you! Reality is much stranger than we can imagine - I think we're about to find out just how strange. 

Some songs for the full moon:

(PS: It feels like a Lee Ranaldo kinda moon! He always sounds so solid and steady in the midst of chaos.) 

New Moon in Taurus

This is today, the 6th May, around 8.30 pm GMT.

I don't have a lot to say about this new moon, except that it looks lovely. Solid, slow, pleasurable, calm – all the grounded, earthy, steady Taurus stuff. It's a taking-bubble-baths, eating chocolates, revelling in physical existence kinda vibe, and it should calm and slow us down considerably. After a month of shocks and unpredictable changes, this slowdown is very welcome.

That said, the key word here is SLOW. Patience is a virtue, good things come to those who wait, etc. This is not a month for beating your head against walls. If you encounter blockages and delays in your endeavors, please just sit tight and wait them out. Don't go trying to power your way through. You'll only exhaust yourself. Things will happen when they're ready to, not necessarily when you want them to.

If you find yourself pushing against big resistance to accomplish something, it's a good idea to take a step back. You can use the blockage to reconsider and refine your plans, or you can divert your energy toward avenues that are not blocked – and there will be plenty of these. We have a grand earth trine in effect until the first week in June, and it means there will be lots of material opportunities and blessings flowing.

So if something is just not happening for you at this time, focus on what IS working. You can probably do a lot with what you've got; there is no hurry and there's no need to punch yourself out trying to force things. The way things are set up this month, delay is a gift. Please remember that if you find yourself frustrated!

If all else fails, you could just sit in the sun and have a beer. Life is mostly good! Whatever your problems may be, you are probably not dealing with this – I think it puts the everyday first-world problems into perspective. There is always a lot to be grateful for.

Anyway, re. the sky this new moon: we have a lot of stuff in Taurus right now. Sun, moon, Mercury and Venus. This is very slow, calm, contented energy.

And those planets are bound into a grand earth trine with Jupiter and the north node in Virgo, and Pluto in Capricorn. It's just very HEAVY and solid – but in a nice way.

Jupiter beneficially aspecting Venus denotes new opportunities re. love and money matters – and with all this Taurus energy, it's likely that things begun now will have some stamina and momentum behind them. We are looking at new beginnings and opportunities that stick.

That said, there will likely be plenty of delay. Five planets – Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto – are currently retrograde. So your actions / effectiveness may be temporarily blocked in the outer world.

It doesn't matter! Remember Rome wasn't built in a day. Keep attending to the small stuff and the big stuff will sort itself out.

Things should flow much more easily after Jupiter stations direct on the 10th of May. He'll go direct in beneficial aspect to Venus, and this is like getting a beautiful present that you can actually use – something practical and real.

It's especially helpful because we have a jangly, tense t-square across the mutable signs, involving Jupiter in Virgo, Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces. This will be tightening all month, as Jupiter and Saturn square off (exact on the 26th May) – but this kind of tension will be in effect all summer, in one form or another.

Jupiter-Saturn aspects are about expansion vs. contraction: the tension between our grandiose visions of the future vs. what is actually possible and practical. This is hard enough to navigate on its own, but it's made trickier by Neptune's involvement. Neptune blurs the lines between the real and the unreal, so it's hard to know what is actually possible and what is a pipe dream.

So we'll have this background craziness and cognitive dissonance going on all summer – this low, constant buzzing drone of discontent, like a cicada chorus.

If you're in any doubt as to what's actually feasible and what is not, I'd say just focus on the small everyday stuff as it comes up (per Jupiter and the north node in Virgo). Don't drive yourself crazy with plans and schedules and long-term scenarios that may or may not pan out. Just do what needs doing on a daily basis, and have faith that the long-term will manage itself.

Under the circumstances, it's lovely to have the slowdown indicated by all the retrograde planets, and the calm and stability of the grand earth trine and stellium in Taurus. This new moon really does look like a soothing, happy, grounding influence to me.

So if you're feeling frazzled, please put your feet up and eat some ice cream for me, and don't worry too much. Things set in motion will come to fruition, even if it's slow. And in the meantime, life is beautiful.