Full Moon in Capricorn

(Tsuchiya Kōitsu, Nijo Castle, Kyoto, 1933)

This is exact tonight, the 20th July, at midnight (GMT). The sun in Cancer opposes the moon in Capricorn.

Cancer is private, moody, domestic, emotional, creative; Capricorn is status-oriented, focused on outer achievement, authority and public persona. So a full moon across the Cancer-Capricorn axis will tend to highlight issues of inner life vs. outer life:

-inner self vs. public persona
-home and family vs. work life
-emotional truth vs. money / career / status
-feelings and needs vs. responsibilities
-nurturance and gentleness vs. order and discipline

Because these signs have to do with matriarchal (Cancer) and patriarchal (Capricorn) values, family issues are likely to be highlighted.

So how do you, personally, navigate this stuff and integrate these polarities? That's the question this full moon shines a bright light on. The odds are, something in your work-life / public-private balance is changing pretty rapidly right now, or has to change. Or your family dynamics may be shifting in unexpected ways.

Full moons are always a bit fraught, and this one is no exception. The sun and moon are in cardinal (initiatory, action-oriented) signs, and both square Uranus in Aries, which is an explosive, impatient, erratic influence. It looks frustrating – Uranus wants to rebel and break free, but Cancer and Capricorn are quite conservative and attached to the status quo.

Emotional control and pragmatism will be pretty important in dealing with this kind of energy. I think these will be on hand, courtesy of the moon in Capricorn. This influence can be repressive and depressing, but it is also very sober, grown-up, grounded and realistic.

We have seen plenty of eruptive violence on the collective level in the past few weeks. Much of it relates to Cancer-Capricorn themes: homeland (Cancer) and order (Capricorn).

I hope we don't see more violence this full moon – hopefully having the moon in Capricorn will lend a bit of stability and sobriety. It does look violent though – like a crackdown.

(human kindness) 

Collectively and personally, we are dealing with the aftermath of the transformative Uranus-Pluto squares of 2012-2015. These set populist anger and desire for change against a rigid and corrupt status quo, with very unpredictable results. The landscape has altered - often in shocking and disturbing ways - over the past few years. The dust hasn't settled yet.

Compounding the confusion, we have a Saturn-Neptune square now – and this is about the dissolution of whatever we took to be stable and secure. Also, a corresponding mood of unease and free-floating dread.

Fragmentation and chaos are the order of the day, the future is lost in fog, and people are scared – and angry. Under these circumstances, extremist and reactionary movements gain traction. I think things will get worse before they get better, and it will take a good while.

It's not a cheery prospect, but it is what it is.

Some Yeats:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”

Anyway, how do we deal with this frightening collective stuff, and with the smaller-scale ways these influences play out in our everyday lives? The sky does indicate a way through.

1. Jupiter and the north node are in Virgo, and have been for the past year. This is about a humble, service-oriented, systematic focus on the details of everyday life.

-So: you could take out the garbage, walk the dog, cook the dinner, clean the house, honor your commitments, do the small stuff that needs doing. Keep your head down and your mind on the task at hand. This sort of thing is very beneficial and grounding right now.

2. Venus and Mercury are in Leo, just past an exact conjunction but still conjunct for the full moon. This is a beautiful, loving, heart-centered influence on our minds, communication and relationships. Both planets are beneficially aspecting Saturn in Sagittarius, which, at best, is about realistic vision, taking the long view and having a sense of proportion.

-So: you could let your words and actions be governed by kindness, generosity and faith in the future, not hatred, cynicism and reactionary fear. There isn't going to be much of a future otherwise.

3. Finally, Mars (now direct in Scorpio) is beneficially aspecting the full moon, and we still have a grand water trine in effect, involving Mars, the sun in Cancer and Chiron in Pisces. This is painful emotional force and insight that can be easily directed toward compassion, forgiveness and healing.

-So: you could let pain and frustration open you up to the world instead of closing you off.

I think what we do and how we behave in our small lives has a huge ripple effect on the collective. It's the only real influence we have. So this stuff is very important.

Anyway, it's a well-balanced full moon overall – harsh, angry, childish and emotionally reactive on the one hand; but steady, realistic, kind and grown-up on the other. You can pick which side of the equation you want to be on.

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.