Full Moon Eclipse in Aquarius

Themes in pictures: 

Calmly observing the primordial swamp from a progress-oriented vantage point

Cutting oneself free of old patterns and conditioning

To thine own self be true

 

This is tonight, the 27th August at 8:22 pm UTC.

So here we are at the big blood moon. Longest eclipse of the century so far, a super-moon (meaning closer to Earth than usual), and conjunct a Mars that is halfway through his retrograde period and closer in his orbit than he's been since 2003. It's a big deal.

I don't really know where to start with regard to this thing. The strings of the whole chart are pulled so tight – like a bow string, or a loaded gun. The moon is nearly exactly conjunct Mars on the south node, the sun is nearly exactly conjunct the north node in Leo, and Uranus in Taurus squares both poles at a tight angle. This is a fixed t-square - pretty uncomfortable, a bunch of immovable objects facing off against irresistible forces. Something's gotta give.

With Uranus so heavily involved, expect the unexpected. Whatever comes, shock will be involved. It may really be a liberation, but it won't necessarily feel like one -- it looks abrupt and uncomfortable.

Mars in Aquarius is squaring Uranus, the ruler of Aquarius. This is a blitzkreig aspect – sudden accidents and explosions of violence are more likely. Please be careful operating machinery and driving, and be careful around electrical equipment.

Also, stay away from angry, aggressive people if you can, and try to avoid being one. With Mars and the moon on the south node in Aquarius, the path of least resistance is cold rage and abrupt, emotionally detached violence – kinda psychopathic really.

The sun on the north node in Leo points the correct way forward: creativity, self-expression, generosity, good humour, playfulness, heart. These qualities may be harder to access than usual at this time, but it's important that you at least try to access them in order to avoid acting like a total psycho.

There is also a theme of maintaining personal authenticity in the face of group dynamics – acting from your core individuality instead of going along with the crowd. Being true to yourself is pretty much impossible if you're preoccupied with how you appear to others. The task here (and always) is to become your authentic self, not a curated persona. The ways in which you are not true to yourself are likely to be cast in sharp relief about now.

Authentic self-expression may be blocked or difficult, as we're dealing with a Mercury retrograde in Leo as of yesterday (26th July), and running till the 19th August. As always, I'd advise using blockage to look inward. Introspection is a prerequisite for true authenticity and self-expression, and you can use this Mercury retrograde to connect with what you truly think and feel, even if expressing it properly is tough at the moment. (Also, hold of signing documents and formalising commitments with Mercury retrograde, and expect the usual issues with travel and communications.)

Full moons are about culminations and endings, and a lunar eclipse is a full moon, only more so. So be prepared to say goodbye to something at this eclipse. Given the Uranian influence, something may be abruptly removed. Please remember that what feels like loss may actually be liberation: one less thing to carry around and worry about.

 Radical minimalism is one of the themes of Uranus in Taurus: the less baggage you're carrying, the more room you'll have to manoeuvre, and the more space you'll have for the new to enter your life. It's all about making space for the new this year: we are in the process of building new operating systems based on greater personal authenticity, because following the same old patterns no longer works. This is for everyone, across the board -- and this eclipse serves that imperative.

I think we're looking at a great opportunity here to cut ourselves free of old conditioning and pathologies. Remember we are still in Cancer lunar cycle, and the new moon solar eclipse in Cancer two weeks ago was about the death or transformation of unhealthy old emotional patterns and family dynamics. Aquarius, unlike Cancer, is emotionally detached and focused on the future.

So at this eclipse, we are facing an inward turning-point, where we can finally look dispassionately at the baggage we're still carrying around and drop what needs to be dropped, in the interests of moving forward. There is unlikely to be much point in dwelling on your hangups any further, unless you really enjoy doing that. But it'll keep you stuck! If you're interested in progress, you can use this eclipse to cut and clear.

At best, it looks like a kind of emotional shock-therapy – liberating, but not exactly comfortable:

Intense as this blood moon is, it really does look like an inward realization kinda vibe to me: coming to terms with reality and understanding how to move forward. We are dealing with a lot of retrogrades at the moment, so you can't expect much progress in the outer world, though you may have great clarity about where you're supposed to be aiming.

On a collective level, some intense reckonings with bedrock reality are underway. On a personal level I think this is all about being true to yourself. Your authentic core self, your essence – not your socially constructed self.

We'll round out eclipse season with a new moon partial solar eclipse in Leo on the 11th August, which underscores the theme of personal authenticity.

Per Shakespeare:
“This above all: to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man”

New Moon Solar Eclipse in Cancer

Yumiko Kayukawa

This is on the 13th July, around 3 am UTC.

So eclipse season is now upon us, starting off with this new moon which is also a partial solar eclipse. Eclipse season is an intense time of accelerated change with long-lasting effect. We have two eclipses this month so what's happening in your life this July is super-important. Long-term shifts are kicking off NOW, at this emotional pressure cooker of a new moon.

Cancer is a cardinal water sign. Cardinal signs are initiatory and forceful, and water signs are concerned with emotion. Cancer is about your roots – the deepest part of you, where you draw your emotional sustenance. It's about where you come from and what you call “home” in this world, so it's associated with childhood, mother, family, nostalgia and memories.

So a new moon in Cancer is about a new emotional start, bound up with issues relating to home and family and your roots. The fact that this is an eclipse gives it an added intensity.

But what amps the intensity up to 11 is that the sun and moon will exactly oppose Pluto. And Pluto is all about intensity and deep, gut-wrenching transformation. Pluto heaves everything we're ashamed or afraid of, the Shadow stuff we'd prefer not to look at, into the light of day. The process is analogous to pus coming out of a boil, and unpleasant as it may be, the purpose is purgation and healing. What's rotten has to come to the surface to be released.

So you can expect long-buried emotions to erupt this month, especially stuff connected with home and family and mom. Formative patterns that have been deeply unconscious may become conscious. Situations may come up that radically alter your notion of “home”, or painfully expose your vulnerability. Your feelings may seem overwhelming.

I'd say, don't attempt to shut them down – it won't work, they'll just manifest in destructive ways. Welcome them and let them wash through you like water, flushing out the pent-up toxicity.

Cancer is good at hiding and defensiveness and clinging to the past, but the point here is emotional catharsis and release. Pluto is retrograde at the moment, so it's all about going inward and facing your demons. With Pluto, there's also a theme of ruthless amputation of what's no longer viable, be it an attitude, a habit, or a relationship. So this is a great time to extricate yourself from toxic family dynamics or to deal with an addiction. This is potentially a powerfully healing new moon, despite the intensity and discomfort. You can't expect to get through it without some kind of drama,  but overall it looks very beneficial.

There's a lot of nice stuff happening in the sky around it. Jupiter, the “great benefic”, stations direct in Pluto's home sign of Scorpio on the 10th July. This is some very helpful backup for the process of dealing with our Shadow stuff. Jupiter will also be in beneficial aspect to Neptune in Pisces, and forming a grand water trine with the sun, moon and Neptune at the time of the new moon – more backup for letting emotions flow and trusting your intuition and your gut.

We also have a grounding and stabilising grand earth trine in effect at this time, involving Venus in Virgo, Saturn in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus. This is great for radical yet practical new approaches to money, work and relationships.

Mars is retrograde in Aquarius until the end of August. Traditionally, it's not advised to begin new ventures until he resumes direct motion. You may run into blockages and frustration despite your best efforts. It doesn't matter – things are developing all the same and you don't have to bang your head against walls in the effort to push forward. Refine your plans and wait it out.

Mars will be tangoing with the south node for the next three months, passing over it in his retrograde on the 20th July, and then passing over it again on the 26th September in direct motion. What this means is it's a fateful time. There's an imperative to act from creativity, generosity and heart, but also a greater potential for getting stuck in violent, reactive rage. This potential is really intensified at the time of the full moon on the 27th July, a total lunar eclipse which is just a doozy.

It's a blood moon, so-called because the eclipsed moon will glow a dark red. And it looks raw, emotionally super-heated and shocking – a blood moon indeed. It's a game-changer.

This will be the longest lunar eclipse of this century and also a supermoon, meaning it'll be closer to Earth than usual. And it'll be tightly conjunct Mars, who will be at his closest point to Earth in 15 years - so the bloody moon and the red planet will both appear uncannily bright. Uranus in Taurus will be involved, forming a t-square with the sun, moon and Mars. Uranus in Taurus, recall, is a force shaking up the stable structures of our lives, altering the ground beneath our feet.

Beyond the potential for political upheaval, I'm thinking of climate change in relation to this hotted-up eclipse. There is an unprecedented global heatwave going on right now. No question, the planet frying has long-term, serious effects for all of us.

I will write more about the full moon closer to the time, but I think as this is happening during Cancer lunar cycle, we are being given an opportunity at this new moon to release our toxic emotions and unconscious patterns. There is an angry flashpoint coming, but pain is at the root of anger. If you can allow yourself to feel your pain and flush it through, you can hopefully avoid acting it out unconsciously and destructively.

We are also getting a Mercury retrograde this month, starting on the day before the full moon, the 26th July. He'll be retrograding through Leo till the 18th August. Expect the usual issues with communications and travel, and hold off on signing major documents until the retrograde ends.

Full Moon in Capricorn

This is exact on the 28th of June, about 6 am UTC.

It's not a feel-good kind of moon. It's in Capricorn, a sign which is about authority, sobriety, responsibility. Not only is it in Capricorn, but it is also conjunct Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn.

Saturn is about maturity and earning your keep. He is also about karmic payback – he can reward, but only in proportion to the work you've put in. Not a penny more and not a penny less. There are no sudden lottery windfalls with Saturn – you have to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, inch by inch.

So if you've been staying on the right side of Saturn – being a grown-up, doing your work, living within your means and taking good care of what you're responsible for – you might just be rewarded here, in exact proportion to what you deserve. It's not a fun or light moon, but for you it should feel pretty OK! You'll have a sense of solid backup and you'll know you're on the right track, even if progress is a bit stalled at the moment. (Mars just stationed retrograde a couple days ago, on the 26th, so you can't expect to be barrelling ahead with anything at this time – blockages and delays are to be expected.)

If you're on the wrong side of Saturn I would expect this full moon to be a conclusive wake-up call and to feel kind of shitty. Look to where you've been evading responsibility, behaving childishly or selfishly, or enabling the bad behaviour of others. That's the stuff you have to work on.

The full moon squares Chiron in Aries, which means it could feel painful and wounding to your sense of self. Whether you're on the right or wrong side of Saturn, it's likely that you'll have to absorb a loss of some kind. The necessity of it will be clear and you're just going to have to deal with it, though it may feel like a punch in the gut.

Whenever we have a full moon in Capricorn, the sun is in Cancer. The Cancer-Capricorn polarity is about emotions (Cancer) vs reason (Capricorn), emotional needs vs. duty and responsibility, being the child vs. being the adult. Issues of work-life balance often come up: the domestic sphere vs. the world of work; private self vs public persona. Family issues also come up. So I'd expect some of that stuff here.

The way forward is shown by the north node in Leo, which is about living with creativity, heart, integrity, pride in yourself and joy. These qualities may be feel hard to access under this sober, austere full moon, but please try to remember they're your goal. And to reach that goal, your heart and your sense of responsibility have to be working in concert, not at cross-purposes. Otherwise you get this:

--The current furore in the US over separation of asylum-seeker families is a good illustration of the energy at work this full moon, by the way: heartless authority (Capricon) vs. families and children (Cancer), and a wound to America's sense of national identity (Chiron in Aries). What you're dealing with in your life is hopefully less extreme, but the themes will be similar: an identity crisis of sorts, involving the conflict between your heart and your head.

We are headed into eclipse season now, a time of intensity and accelerated change. With Uranus shaking up the status quo in Taurus, it promises to be a doozy, so be ready for a bumpy ride. (It's worth noting that Melania Trump is a Taurus, and we can expect to see bizarre and rebellious behaviour coming from Taurus folk with Uranus in their sign. That weird jacket was very Uranian.)

We have a partial solar eclipse in Cancer on the 13th July, where the themes of rules vs. emotions will be revisited and intensified. We have a total lunar eclipse in Leo on the 27th July, which looks like a game-changer and a profound shock to the system. And we have a partial solar eclipse in Leo on the 11th August which looks like a proud, inflexible ego kind of vibe. There's a lot of fixed energy in the sky at the moment, meaning people aren't likely to compromise or back down, even if they're demonstrably on the wrong track. I'd avoid waving the red rag at the bull if you can help it!

It's just a harsh, strange time and people are going to be prone to unpredictable aggression. Acting with integrity and real caring are not the easy path right now, but they're the way through.

New Moon in Gemini

This is on the 13th June, around 8 pm UTC.

Gemini is a mutable air sign: communicative, changeable, social, distractable, hyper. Ruled by Mercury, planet of thought and communication, the sign is about the multiplicity of information and choice. It's important to note that Mercury was also a trickster god, patron of liars, thieves and lawyers – with Gemini, the distinction between true and false is not such a big concern.

A new moon is about new beginnings, so this new moon in Gemini is about a new start in the realm of information, communication and thinking. The symbolism here is also of an abrupt shift in values and relationships, as Venus changes signs a couple of hours after the new moon, from Cancer into Leo. It's always significant when a planet changes signs at the time of a new or full moon; it colours everything.

Venus is about love, relationships, aesthetics, values and money. In the regal sign of Leo, she's a prima donna: the queen who expects to be treated as befits her rank. She will not be slighted or undervalued or play second fiddle to anyone.

In this case she's also moving straight into a square with Uranus at 1 degree Taurus. Venus rules Taurus, which is all about physical stability, comfort and security. Uranus is in Taurus as of last month, where he will shake up all these constructs for the next 7 years, roughly. As Venus squares Uranus, we will see people abruptly exiting relationships and work situations that no longer accord with their values or make them feel good. Attractive new options may suddenly appear out of nowhere. Whether those options are real or mirages is another matter – Neptune squares the new moon, which makes for plenty of confusion and delusion about what's real and what's not. Be that as it may, people will be looking to bolt the fences and go after something shinier. (You'll know by the full moon in two weeks' time whether it's fool's gold or not.)

This Venus-Uranus square comes on the heels of a Venus-Pluto opposition last week, which exposed toxicity, power dynamics and betrayal in the realms of love and money. So odds are, someone is feeling undervalued and “done” with something: “I'm worth more than this, I don't have to take this shit!” says Venus in Leo. She's beneficially aspecting Chiron in Aries, which is about a wound to our sense of self. Overall, this looks helpful and healing. Knowing when you've settled for less, coming to understand your true worth and leaving dynamics where you've been undervalued is bound to be a good thing.

We have another shift around this new moon, and it also involves wounded healer asteroid Chiron. Mercury, ruler of the new moon, changes signs the day before it, on the 12th June. He moves from Gemini into emotional, touchy Cancer, where he will square Chiron in Aries. Chiron is about wounds, and Cancer is easily hurt, so this means there's a lot of potential for wounding, emotional communication at this time – especially regarding family issues.

As I said though, there's plenty of potential confusion and delusion at play here, courtesy of Neptune. So if you're upset about something, please take a moment to check that your reaction is justified, and not some trumped-up wounded ego stuff. Think before you open your mouth, as it'll be easy to hurt people.

We are in for some WTF moments this month, as Neptune stations retrograde on the 18th June. This is like brain fog and distraction in warp drive. You may need to retreat from the Gemini stuff (parties, news, social media) to protect your frazzled neurons!

Things are likely to feel kind of edgy and weird leading up to the full moon. Mars will station retrograde on the 26th, and then we'll have five planets retrograde: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto – leading to delay and frustration. If going to be hard to make things happen this summer. If your progress seems to be hitting a wall, just take whatever baby steps you can and wait the blockage out. Jupiter will station direct in early July, Mars at the end of August, and Saturn in early September – things will gradually be feeling less stuck.

The full moon in Capricorn on the 28th is harsh, there's no other way to say it. The moon will be tightly conjunct Saturn in Capricorn, and this is hard, cold realism about the situation you're in. It'll be a necessary wake-up call after the confusion and delusion of this new moon, but a bitter medicine nonetheless. Chiron in Aries will be involved – very wounding to the thin-skinned, emotional sun in Cancer. Family issues and responsibilities are likely to figure heavily.

There will be blessing and help in the form of a trine to Jupiter, but I think it will be hard to appreciate that help with Jupiter retrograde – it's a behind-the-scenes sort of thing, not very obvious at all.

When conflict comes up, it's important to note that the way forward right now is shown by the north node in generous, open-hearted Leo. Venus will be conjunct the north node for the next few weeks, so if you can muster up some creativity, playfulness and love, you might as well use it! The alternative is Mars conjunct the south node in Aquarius – this looks like chilly, egocentric rage and selfishness, and it will be much easier to access than generosity and heart. Needless to say, things will not go well for you or your relationships if follow this path of least resistance.

Mars on the south node and Venus on the north node spell karmic make-or-break stuff for relationships especially. This is not an easy time. It's confusing, disjointed, abrupt. The full moon on the 28th June is a necessary dose of hard reality after the exciting mirages of this new moon, but it's not fun. The outlook into August is not easy – not terrible, but not easy.

This is to be expected after the sign shift of Uranus into Taurus last month. We are dealing with shake-ups to our sense of comfort and security, it's not supposed to be easy. Weird and uncomfortable is how we're rolling for the next while! So please keep doing your north node in Leo stuff: creativity, heart, a willingness to take risks and a sense of humour will pull you through.

Full Moon in Sagittarius

This is on the 29th May, 3:21 pm UTC.

It looks kinda mentally jangled and all-over-the-place, but pretty nice overall! Things will feel lively, to say the least. It's an upbeat, sociable time.

We'll have the moon in expansive, optimistic Sagittarius opposite the sun in thinky, hyperactive Gemini. The Gemini-Sagittarius axis is all about information and communication (Gemini), and how we draw the disparate bits of information into a guiding narrative (Sagittarius). It can also be about alternate interpretations, misinformation, and truth vs. lies. When we get a lunation along this axis, we usually see a lot of issues around information and communication coming up, and knowing what's true and what's false can be challenging. So it's fitting that we have the European General Data Protection Act coming into effect at this time, nobody seems to exactly understand what it's about, and there are a lot of scams connected with it. We also have weird reversals in international diplomacy – the US-North Korea summit is cancelled, oh wait, maybe it's back on, WTF is happening?

There's just a lot going on and it's confusing. And recall that this full moon comes on the heels of Uranus moving into Taurus at the new moon on the 15th May, which symbolises a thorough shake-up of the status quo, with long-term effect. Things are in mega-flux, you're probably coping with enormous change in some area of your life, and it's entirely appropriate that your mind should be reeling a bit.

Aside from the fried neurons, this full moon looks pretty nice and beneficial. It's part of a harmonius aspect pattern called a mystic rectangle – this one features Mars in Aquarius and the north node in Leo, as well as the sun in Gemini and moon in Sagittarius, which all together is a lot of air and fire. Air is thought and communication, fire is energy and inspiration, and they work well together. So this is clearly a time of revolutionary new thinking, progressive ideas, excited communication, blazing creativity.

And compounding this theme of accelerated mental shift, Mercury (planet of thought and communication) shifts signs on the day of the full moon. He moves from slow, conservative Taurus to the sign he rules: frenetic, free-associating Gemini. And he'll be moving into a trine with revolutionary Mars in Aquarius (exact 1st June). This means fired-up mental agility and a drive to think outside the box.

At the same time though, we'll be dealing with a yod, which is a tense aspect pattern that speaks of mutual irreconcilables. The focus of the yod will be Saturn in Capricorn, a force for structure, order, authority and conservatism. It looks like the weight of the past and of tradition will sit uncomfortably with the drive for new, creative, progressive thinking. Also, the task this year is to build a whole new operating system for some aspect of your life, from the ground up – and this is tough when things are feeling so unsettled.

Helpfully, we have a grand trine in the water signs forming at this time, as Venus moves into middle degrees of Cancer. It'll be exact from the 1st to the 2nd of June, and it looks really lovely and lucky. It involves Venus and Jupiter, the two “benefic” planets, and also Neptune in his home sign of Pisces.  This speaks of a great flow of intuition, compassion, healing and love. It should feel pretty good.

So if you find yourself confused and unable to make sense of anything mentally, you can use your heart and your intuition as a guide at this time. These will tell you what to put your faith in and which way to flow.

New Moon in Taurus

This is on the 15th May, 12:45 pm UTC.

It's a big deal. Something is bound to be shifting for you at a very basic level about now, and the effects are going to be long-term. You are not going to be able to stay stuck in the same old ruts. And collectively, the events unfolding now will have long-term consequences.

This new moon is all about Uranus, planet of shock, revolution and upheaval. Uranus is changing signs within 3 hours of the new moon, from Aries into Taurus. Uranus changes signs roughly every 7 years, and the odds that he'll be changing signs at nearly the exact time of a new moon in the sign he's shifting into is... wildly improbable, to say the least. The universe is being pretty heavy handed with its symbolism here. And the symbolism is of a thorough-going shake-up of an established order.

Then the day after the new moon, Mars shifts signs into Aquarius, the sign Uranus rules. His first order of business in Aquarius is perfecting his square with Uranus in Taurus – it will be exact at 0 degrees of each sign. More heavy-handed symbolism – and here we are dealing with a shock to the system, a bolt from the blue, a trigger event. A Mars-Uranus square is liable to be explosive, aggressive and abrupt: it's a blitzkreig aspect. And here it acts as the starting gun that sets off Uranus's rampage through Taurus - or the red rag to the bull, if you like.

Taurus is habitual, slow-moving, conservative, attached to comfort / possessions and resistant to change (but implacable once set in motion). Uranus, in contrast, is a live wire, very erratic and unpredictable, chaotic, uncomfortable by nature – and he demands change. So the transit of Uranus through Taurus is likely to set the ants loose in your pants. Over the next 7 years, we are going to be dealing with disturbances and abrupt shifts to our finances, our work, our values, our habits, our possessions – everything we cling to for a sense of security in this world. Shocking reversals of fortune are likely. Unpredictable political changes and environmental shifts are also likely.

I think it's a good idea to streamline and get rid of stuff you don't need in preparation for this – radical simplicity is one way of making this energy work for you. It's also a good psychological tactic, as the less you're holding on to, the less you'll have to lose and the easier it will be to maneuver.

You probably already have a pretty good idea of what this is about for you and are itching for change in some sector of your life. We had a Mercury-Uranus conjunction at 29 degrees Aries on the 13th May, just ahead of this crazy new moon. The moon in Aries was also involved, and everything was squaring Mars in Capricorn. And all this represents an intense lightbulb moment, a newsflash, a surge of tremendous irritation and insight. So I'm sure you know by now what has to change.

But it's one thing to know what you want to be free of and to open up space in your life for something new – it's another thing entirely to build a new operating system, from the ground up. That's the challenge we're looking at this new moon, and for the forseeable future. Thankfully, the sun and moon will be beneficially aspecting Mars and Pluto in Capricorn, which should be very good for making long term, practical changes. Whatever is set in motion at this new moon should have long-lasting effect and staying power.

There'll be plenty of impatience and irritation as Mars squares Uranus, but please try to keep things slow and steady. Also, with Mars square Uranus, please be careful around electronics and while operating machinery or driving. Sudden accidents are more likely at this time.

We'll have a full moon in Sagittarius on the 29th May, and it looks quite confusing and unsettled. I guess that's fitting after the Uranian shocks of the new moon – people will be rattled, and it will be hard to know what's true. Lunations along the Gemini-Sagittarius axis usually have to do with information, communication and truth vs. falsehood, and the full moon is no exception. But amid all the fried neurons and crossed wires, you'll have a strong ally in the form of your intuition. We have a grand water trine forming between Venus in Cancer, Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter in Scorpio, and it will be operative around the time of the full moon. It looks like a soulful, soothing influence in a jangled-up period. I'll write about it closer to the time.

Full Moon in Scorpio

This is on the 30th April, 2 am UTC.

The sun in Taurus will be facing off against a Scorpio moon.

Taurus wants to hold on to comfort and possessions. It's a rooted, habitual kind of energy. Scorpio, in contrast, wants purgation, intensity and transformation. So there's a conflict at work every Scorpio full moon, between holding on to the past and letting go. It's like a cicada leaving its old, flightless shell to take up a new airbourne existence – not a comfortable or easy process, but necessary. You can't move into the future if you've one foot stuck in the past. Something has to be shed and left behind for good.

This full moon, the Scorpio side of the equation – purgation, intensity and transformation – are definitely the way to go. It's all about letting go of the past in order to have space for a different, more authentic future. There is a theme of ruthless, extremely pragmatic culling going on. Whatever in your life is superfluous or non-viable has got to go, so you can channel your energy toward what you really value and want. Building and maintaining something of real, solid value in your life will take all the energy and commitment you have, and you can't afford to waste energy on people, things or situations that drain your resources. You have to erect boundaries around what you care about and defend those boundaries.

Scorpio is all about energy exchanges, particularly psychological ones. These dynamics are hard to quantify, but easy enough to discern on a physical, gut level: if an exchange leaves you feeling depleted or queasy, something is off. The energy balance has to be righted or the dynamic won't be tenable long-term.

It's very useful to do a cost-benefit analysis of relationships and situations at this time: what kind of energy do you get back for the energy you invest (and this applies to work, as money is a form of energy); is it an equal exchange or does it leave you feeling consistently drained and used? If a draining, parasitic situation can be transformed, this is your moon for trying to put the energy balance right. If it can't be transformed, it must be amputated from your life – and this is your moon for amputating. You'll know in your gut what needs to be done, and it will be all-or-nothing. Trust that instinct, cut cleanly and don't look back. There isn't a lot of room for sentimentality here, and odds are, you won't be feeling sentimental.

The cost-benefit analysis can be done on your bad habits, addictions and internal pathologies as well. That stuff is non-viable by definition, and this is a great time for getting to the root of it and cutting it out.

Scorpio's rulers, Mars and Pluto are conjunct in Capricorn at the time of this full moon. This is a very violent, ruthless, dangerous energy, and caution is advised, especially around conflict scenarios. An argument can escalate into a fight to the death under this aspect. Fortunately, it's in beneficial aspect to Jupiter in Scorpio, which rewards deep psychological excavation work. I think this is the best use of the energy, but you can definitely use it to achieve big in whatever area of your life you want to focus on.

We'll also have the Scorpio moon beneficially aspecting Saturn in Capricorn - so all in all, we are looking at a lot of helpful Saturn-Pluto action. It means that what's been hidden under the surface will come to light in all its ugliness and corruption, but that unearthing will feel necessary and beneficial - even cathartic. It will be very hard for us to lie to ourselves about what's actually going on in our lives, or to cover shitty situations in a haze of pretty sentiment. The truth will be laid bare, and uncomfortable as this may feel, the truth is what will set you free.

I think this is a fantastic scenario – very liberating. But if you're heavily invested in your ego, it's sure to be painful. In fact I think being too heavily invested in anything is not a good strategy at this time, because we're in for a thoroughgoing shake-up where fortunes can reverse in an instant. If you have all your eggs in one basket and that basket gets knocked over, what then?

The shake-up is fast approaching. Uranus will move into Taurus at the new moon in Taurus in two weeks' time. A few hours later, Mars will move into Aquarius, in exact square to Uranus in Taurus – this presages sudden, blitzkreig shocks and accidents, so please drive carefully and be careful around machines and electrical wiring.

On a more internal level, the stage is set for sudden, life changing insights into the nature of reality; lightning mental revolutions and breakthroughs; sudden reversals of stuck mental ruts; brilliant discoveries. It looks exciting, but we should all be prepared for some unexpected, and maybe unwelcome, shock and awe. Uranus in Taurus will shake our stolid certainties and complacencies right out from under us.

So I think it's a good idea to get on board with this energy in advance, and use this uncomfortable, powerful full moon to cull what's no longer viable in your life. If you're actively moving toward transformation, you're less likely to feel victimized by sudden change. It'll be easier to maneuver.