Pluto Flyby / Full Moon in Aquarius

New Horizons Probe - NASA

Lovely full moon coming!

But first I want to talk about Pluto, everybody's favorite sex-dwarf fascist power planet.

I've written before about how the conditions under which a planet is discovered connect up synchronistically to the meanings assigned to it in astrology. (Here and here.)

Pluto, which signifies the Shadow – the darkness everyone is afraid to look at in themselves and would prefer to project outside – was discovered in 1930, during the run-up to World War 2 and the rise of fascism.

Fascism is about the union of corporate/business interests and government. Money and politics in alliance. It's a relatively new word for a dynamic as old as civilization – but it's basically about power being concentrated in a very small circle.

Fascism, in the 20th century, has also been about scapegoating in order to promote a perfect facade of order and control. The people turned into scapegoats are always the ones whose presence undermines the state ideology of order/purity – anyone with a bit of ambiguity to their identity is targeted for extermination, because they become the repository for the collective Shadow.

So the meaning of Pluto in astrology has to do with death, ruthless elimination, and power in its most brutal form. It is about the ugliness in ourselves that we are afraid to come to terms with – it is more easily projected outside ourselves and disowned.

As lord of death and the underworld in classical mythology, Pluto also has an association with transformation and wealth. Death is a transformation. And precious stones and metals are usually found deep underground, where heat and pressure transform ordinary minerals into something rare and valuable. (And psychologically, the greatest treasures are often found in the deepest, darkest parts of our psyches – the places we're most afraid to go.)

Pluto is also about extremes: the controlled and orderly surface reality vs. the rot at the core. The death drive (Thanatos) hidden in all life.

It's no accident that the 20th century's fascist societies were outwardly focused on creating a vision of peaceful utopia...but to live within them was to know the reality of hell.

Anyway, in light of the intensity and ugliness associated with Pluto, it's ironic that he has been demoted from planetary status in recent years, to dwarf planet. This is exactly what we do with the Shadow – we minimise and deny it. It seems like what this planet represents is too scary to include in the established representation of our solar system!

But psychological growth, per Jung, depends on a reckoning with the Shadow in ourselves – the internal acceptance of our submerged power drives, our socially unacceptable behaviours and ideas, our own darkness. Everything in us that is the opposite of what we'd like to believe we are, or be seen to be by others.

Pluto, in this respect, is one of the most psychologically important of archetypes. It is the descent into hell, into our unconscious darkness, that allows us to become conscious human beings (which just means being capable of acting outside of our unconscious conditioning – a monumental and unending task).

Reckoning with the Shadow involves a kind of dying: the destruction of what we thought we were, the acceptance as part of us of all we'd like to pretend we are not.

It can feel like an abduction. In the mythology, Pluto was an abductor and rapist. He kidnapped Persephone (symbolic of spring or the life force) and took her down to hell to be his queen, holding her there without her consent.

Anyone who has dealt with an addiction, a destructive obsession or an abusive relationship will be able to understand the symbolism of this myth at a deep level. Being in the grip of a compulsion can feel like being at the mercy of something much larger and stronger than you - something intent on your destruction.

In the myth, Persephone doesn't get free of Death – she has to spend half the year in hell for eternity. It's winter on earth while she's down there, summer when she returns. So she is a liminal figure. She doesn't belong completely to the light or the dark, but to both. She has to live with her knowledge of hell in the middle of summer – but she knows summer is coming, even when she's in the depths of hell.

In psychological terms, this is like owning your shadow – your darkness, your 'badness', your destructive compulsions – your death-drive. Your devil, whatever form he takes.

(see here)

You don't defeat the devil. You learn to look at him, and to live with him, in yourself – and you stop projecting him outside. But this is enough work for most people's lifetimes.


--Anyway, I'm writing about this now because our little downgraded Shadow dwarf planet Pluto has recently come under scientific scrutiny! The NASA New Horizons probe approached Pluto in mid-January of this year, and did a close flyby on the 14th July – just before a very Pluto-influenced new moon, with Pluto opposite Mars and Mercury.

So we now have detailed pictures of Pluto. It's a strange place! There's a heart-shaped plain of moving ice (!), there's apparent volcanic activity, there are 11,000 foot high mountains, there is a methane atmosphere that may be on the verge of collapse – all on a world smaller than our moon.

The heart-shaped glacial plain is symbolically kind of amazing, considering Pluto's rulership of Scorpio, a sign concerned with deep, intense emotion buried under an icy facade. In fact, all the features seem symbolically amazing to me – there are such extremes at work on this tiny world.

So our unknown Shadow-planet turns out to be a very interesting place, and worthy of deep examination!

The New Horizon probe's timing is synchronistic - Pluto is important right now. We are just past the historic Uranus-Pluto square series, which was about radical change on the collective and individual levels. That was some fairly intense and gut-wrenching Pluto action.

And right now we have Saturn in Pluto's sign (Scorpio), and Pluto in Saturn's sign (Capricorn). This is called a mutual reception, and is about an easy dialogue between these two planets. The theme here is deep psychological excavation and restructuring. Unearthing the deep rot beneath the facade of 'normality' or respectability.

We had a Pluto-themed new moon in Cancer on the 16th July, and if anybody has gotten through the past few weeks without some sort of poisonous emotional or psychological vomit coming out of them or being spewed at them – well lucky you! At the very least, we are looking at deep, seismic shifts in family and relational structures and power dynamics at this time. And a reckoning with old hurts and grievances, old pain – our ghosts and demons.

We have a full moon in Aquarius on the 31st July (around 11:15 am GMT) – and this should be the culmination of this process, and a big shift.  It looks like relief and a breath of fresh air to me!

(see here)

It's a blue moon, meaning it's the second full moon in the same calendar month. Astrologically this doesn't mean much. But you can take it as symbolic, especially as the moon will be in Aquarius, a freaky oddball sign: this is something a bit weird and special.

There'll be some drama, no doubt – full moons are good for drama, and for this one, the sun is in proud, shiny, dramatic Leo. But the moon (emotional tone) is in cool, emotionally distanced Aquarius – and this puts a lid on the emotionality.

As full moons signify endings, I think we are seeing the tail-end of the emotional upheavals of the past few weeks. So maybe your pride (Leo) got wounded...who cares? Fundamentally, you are free (Aquarius).

Saturn resumes direct motion in Scorpio the day after the full moon, as if to underline the theme of “job done”. We have gone back into the hellish wreckage since Saturn re-entered Scorpio in mid-June. Hopefully we have wrestled with our demons and stood for our emotional truths and done the deep work. Anything rotten that wasn't dealt with during Saturn's initial transit of Scorpio (2012-2014) will have come up for revision – and hopefully, it is being dealt with now. At this point we know what's viable and what's not in our lives and our psyches – we have sifted through the garbage and know what has to go.

I think the hardest part of this transit will be completed as Saturn resumes direct motion after this full moon. From now until the 18th September, when Saturn re-enters Sagittarius – we are moving forward, amputating what needs to be amputated, clearing out the psychic debris.

The point of all this psychological purgation and energetic re-balancing is, we are clearing space for new things to happen – especially in the realm of money and relationships.

Venus (love and money planet) entered nit-picky, analytical, perfectionist Virgo on the 18th July, stationing retrograde at 0 degrees Virgo on the 25th July. She re-enters Leo on the day of this full moon, and she will be hanging out there until the 8th of October, after stationing direct on the 6th September.

Venus in Virgo is about having high standards in love and money matters, and Venus retrogrades are about relational and financial reconsiderations, recalibrations and fine-tunings. So the fact that Venus stationed retrograde in Virgo, a very picky, pragmatic and detail-oriented sign, is pretty significant here.

The next five weeks of this Venus retrograde are about laying new foundations in love and money matters. Reading the fine print, getting the details right, figuring out what works in the real world, having exacting standards and sticking to them.

With Venus retrograde in heart-centered Leo, this is also about our personal pride and happiness. Figuring out what really makes us happy without compromising our pride and integrity.

In other words, if you are putting energy into loving someone or pursuing some project that is actually detrimental to your happiness and self-esteem, it's time to pause and take a good hard look at what you're doing.

This Venus retrograde is about tempering our love and our creative/entreprenurial endeavours with realism. Laying the groundwork, making sure the opportunities coming our way now can translate into viable relationships and livelihoods. Something or someone might make you happy in the short term – but will it stick? Is it healthy? Is it in accord with your values? Can you bank on it?

If you answer "no" to these questions – well all the love in the world is not going to be enough, and you should be careful of how far you involve yourself.

Venus is currently retrograding in conjunction to Jupiter and in square to Saturn in Scorpio – and this is also significant. There is tremendous luck and opportunity here, but there are also huge, karmic blockages and restraints. You can take the blockages as a signal to slow down, look deeper and be super-realistic about what you're getting into. What's going on under the surface? What do you really want from this – what do you really need? What's it going to cost you, energetically / psychologically / monetarily? What is the actual state of your resources - can you afford this?

Mercury (mind and communication) moves into Virgo on the 7th August, and Jupiter (luck, expansion, blessing) follows on the 11th. This will definitely help us to be super-practical and realistic, to analyse all our options carefully and to come up with ideas that will help us to flourish in the real world.

I'll write more about Jupiter in Virgo another time, because this will be a big shift. We've had him in big, shiny Leo for a year now, meaning our luck this past year was tied up with exuberance, drama and creativity.

But Jupiter in Virgo will be the opposite! Virgo is systematic, analytical, humble and detail-oriented – so this will probably feel like cleaning up after a big yearlong party, sorting the empty bottles for recycling, doing the dishes. Back to reality.

I think this shift of Jupiter (and Mercury) from fiery Leo to rational Virgo is a blessing - because for the first half of August, we are looking at a lot of planets in Leo squaring Saturn in Scorpio, and this looks frustrating as all hell. Big, open-hearted exuberance and passion – shackled by the full weight of reality and the past.

Remember, all the love and passion in the world is not going to be enough if the thing doesn't work in the real, everyday world. Passion is fine for writing songs or making art or starting new endeavours or being Elvis... but it isn't something you can live on, anymore than you can live on a diet of ice cream sundaes. Eventually you are going to find yourself really run-down and sick. (Poor Elvis.)

If we want to be happy, going forward, we'll need to be a lot more grounded, finicky and focused on what works in reality – and on what is healthy. I think August will be a good month for learning about this!

*** Forgot to mention: Uranus in Aries (dispositor of this full moon) stationed retrograde on the same day as Venus: the 25th July. These two retrograde planets will be trining each other later in August (the 19th August) and trining each other again after Venus goes direct (23rd September).

The theme here is the overall theme of the Venus retrograde: we are blazing new trails in relationship stuff and money stuff. We're not doing the same old stuff again or replaying the same old patterns. And we have to insist upon absolute personal authenticity in these matters.

Basically, we are opening up a new cycle here - but it's tricky territory, and full of blockages and delays. Quite frustrating really. There's nothing to be done but bear with it, and don't compromise on your values or on what's really important to you.

I think come mid-September, we'll gain a much clearer view of where this story is going. It might seem like a long way away, but it's only a month and a half.

New Moon in Cancer

This is on the 16th July, around 2:30 am GMT.

I'll be very brief here - there is some incredibly violent emotional energy going on with this thing.

Energy is only energy, and it can be directed in a lot of different ways. But I have to say, I don't like the look of this new moon. There is so much potential for violent speech and emotional warfare here. Eruptive rage, power struggles, shocking revelations, amputations, battles to the death. It is stomach-turning stuff.

It reminds me of January's full moon in Cancer, another violent stomach-lurcher. I put up this photo from Ferguson MO for that one, and it applies for this one as well:

Anyway, there's an air of inevitability about it – whatever ugliness comes up during this month-long cycle has to come up. It has to be dealt with. We are in the thick of Saturn's retrograde through Scorpio, and this is all about taking the garbage out. Intense and somewhat brutal emotional excavation, dealing with energetic imbalances and debts. Also buried emotional stuff coming up for revision.

This new moon is all about puking it up. Or having somebody else kick the shit out of you, verbally.

We have Mars (war, violence, aggression, energy) conjunct Mercury (thought, communication) in Cancer – a sign concerned with emotions, home, family, nurturance. This is all very emotionally sharp and aggressive.

Mars and Mercury are opposite Pluto in Capricorn – this will be exact to the degree at the new moon. Pluto is the Shadow. Basically there's some rot deep under the surface that needs to be churned up into the light of day.

Because this stand-off is happening across the Cancer-Capricorn axis, the stuff likely has to do with emotional truths vs public persona. Capricorn can be very structured and rigid, all about public respectability and achievement in the outer world. And Cancer is private and emotional – concerned with protecting the inner, emotional world.

These poles and the new moon will also be squaring Uranus in Aries, which is about rebellion and shock.

Love and money issues are highlighted. Venus in late Leo is squaring Saturn exactly – and this is about delays or blockages in love and money matters. Also huge fears. Someone may be stonewalling.

Just be aware that you may not be able to get what you want right now – the blockages are strong.

At the same time, Venus is still conjunct Jupiter and trining Uranus, meaning it's a lucky, magical time overall. You can still have fun; awesome stuff can still happen.

It does look like there will be conflict, violent speech and a lot of buried relational and family shit coming up for examination. Remember it's unpleasant but necessary. Try not to get in over your head emotionally - there is the potential for saying awful things that can't be taken back.

With Mars-Pluto and also Mars-Mercury, if you start feeling intense pent-up rage, it's a good idea to get in some heavy exercise.

Full Moon in Capricorn

.


This is on the 2nd July, around 3 am.

It's a very tense and angry full moon – full of potential emotional violence. Also full of potential happiness, blessing and freedom. It really looks like a fairy-tale battle to me: the forces of light vs. the forces of darkness, simplistic as that sounds. There is such a contrast between the heavy, dark, emotionally claustrophobic stuff and the joy and release on offer. (But they are two parts of the same story, remember.)

It's like, Perseus cuts off the Gorgon's head – this monster whose gaze has the power to turn life to stone. And Pegasus, the beautiful winged horse representing freedom, inspiration, poetry – is born out of the wound.

I keep thinking of that story in relation to this full moon! I guess it's really an allegory for facing what we fear. Fear ossifies.

Anyway, there are some very scary monsters to be faced here. And there is the possibility of really defeating them, really getting free – getting to the root of the toxicity and amputating it from your life.

There is also some crazy magical aid on offer to help you in this task. I am not exaggerating here – it is actual magic, and it's on the side of human happiness and freedom.

I think this is all about the idea of a 'threshold guardian' - the force you have to defeat before moving to a new level, like in a video game. When you've just reached the crossing between two different states of being, there is always a struggle, and this can be internal or external. There are powerful forces of inertia and fear that manifest as blockages, setbacks or demons you have to fight. If they can scare or discourage you enough, you back down, stay on the same level and stagnate. If you keep fighting to get past them, you eventually break through to the next level - a new world., where you are no longer defined by your pathology or other people's craziness or the family ghosts or whatever.

A new world is definitely on offer - life really can turn on a dime right now. You really can get free between one minute and the next. But it looks like you have to fight for that freedom.

Maybe the freedom on offer takes the form of a painful loss or an amputation – you might have to let go of something you thought you couldn't live without. Loss can open up a space for something new and unimaginable to enter your life.

Anyway, re. the dynamics of this full moon: Mars and the sun in Cancer will be facing off against the moon and Pluto in Capricorn.

Mars in opposition to Pluto is quite violent, focused, brutal energy. It is likely to play out as interpersonal conflict - the kind that feels like a fight to the death.

Having the moon involved with Pluto and opposite Mars – and disposited by Saturn in Scorpio - means there is quite a hellish emotional load here. This speaks of buried emotional stuff coming up to be dealt with – especially family stuff.  Toxicity, rage, control issues, manipulation, secrets, debts, illnesses, shattering losses. The full weight of the past. It's tough.

If battles, ordeals or painful revelations are coming up in your life, externally or internally – well you just have to face what you're afraid of. Have to. You can't let fear ossify and block up your life – there are absolutely no rewards for doing that.

Saturn (duty, karma, fear) in Scorpio is the dispositor of the full moon, and the stakes couldn't be higher. Saturn in Scorpio is intense, scary and all-or-nothing. It demands a fierce commitment to emotional excavation and dealing with your shit. Sorting out the energetic imbalances, the debts, the trauma and garbage. Doing the dirty work.

I have written plenty about Saturn in Scorpio and won't re-hash it here. It is quite dark and hellish, but the effort to deal with your demons will pay off.

At the same time, we have heaven on offer: Venus is now conjunct Jupiter and trine Uranus. This is intense, unexpected sweetness and luck. Magical loveliness, lucky breaks, open doors of possibility.   Unicorns and rainbows, seriously.

Neptune in Pisces is also involved with the full moon, harmoniously aspecting the moon and sun. Meaning dreams, art, compassion and faith can carry the day.

More unicorns and rainbows!

You cannot go wrong with unicorns and rainbows, and that's a fact.

It reminds me of all the epic fairy-tale battles in Lord of the Rings-type movies. Somehow, against all odds, good always prevails. Life defeats death.

Ask yourself: what's the worst that could happen, if I face what scares me most? Is it worse to take a chance and potentially fail...or to go on living under Mordor's rule?

It's really about life or death – that's the choice on offer. And the life option involves fighting what you're afraid of, fighting for the kind of life you want.

This may involve hardship and pain - but please remember that this story favours bravery, openness, joy. Taking chances, accepting new opportunities, walking into the unknown, getting unstuck.

Unicorns and rainbows, seriously. And magic, and singing frogs.

(Please note - when I talk about fighting, I don't mean fighting by returning whatever ugliness is thrown your way. To win this fight, you have to be better than the forces arrayed against you - more aware, calmer, more compassionate, kinder. You have to be the bigger person and keep doing the right thing, even when it would be easier to just blowtorch everything. Good is all set up to prevail, so you have to put yourself on the side of the good, and not be dragged down to the level of whatever is opposing you.)

New Moon in Gemini

See here:

This is tomorrow, the 16th June - around 3 pm.

For the past month we've been looking at nearly too much mental energy, frenetic socialising, and a driving need to communicate.

This new moon in hectic Gemini, sign of thought, communication and social networking, continues the theme. We are opening up another very busy 30-day cycle here. One in which anything – really anything – could happen.

– It has all the elements of a good fairy story, really. A seed in the mind coming to fruition...then suddenly it's a magic beanstalk, a road to the otherworld. And later this cycle, we come face to face with the giant – what we most fear maybe.

That's at the full moon in Capricorn in two weeks' time. I'll write about it closer to the time - it's a heavy one. But for now we'll focus on the new moon:

The sun and moon in Gemini will be conjunct Mars in Gemini. And all these planets are disposited by Mercury, also in Gemini, his home sign - and direct since the 11th June.

This is just a lot of busy-bee energy. A lot of jittering around, mentally and socially. People are going to be needing to talk and share information.

The new moon will also sextile the Jupiter-Uranus trine, which is nearly exact now. It will be exact on the 22nd June, but it's in effect. Lightning grace is underway.

It's about bravery, eureka moments, sparkly energy. Creativity, magic words; artistry and mastery. Inspired communciation and derring-do.

Magic, per Crowley, is "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will". This new moon looks like a pretty good setup for magic. Inspired solutions to old problems, or a new point of departure entirely. An opportunity to turn dreams into realities.

But please remember, magic is not something you play around with. Saturn is back in Scorpio as of this morning.

I've written about this plenty (see the tag-cloud entry for “Saturn in Scorpio” below) and will try not to repeat myself here. But this is a last-chance kind of transit – a three month window (mid June to mid-September) for dealing with Scorpio issues (sex, death, power, transformation, the Shadow, shared resources and energetic transactions).

It's time to take your psychological garbage out – unless you want to carry it for the next three decades or so.

There is great opportunity here - also great peril. Great pain, maybe. This transit feels so somber to me, and final. And frightening. It's not for wusses.

But it's what's required. After all, what is magic worth if there's nothing real at stake? What would a fairy tale be without monsters to fight? What is bravery worth without the possibility of loss and failure?

Saturn currently opposes Mercury – and this new moon is all about Mercury (mind, thought, communication, messages). What this means is, beneath all the surface social energy and activity, beneath all the chatter - there are very weighty, karmic issues preoccupying us. It may seem like a light time because of the Gemini emphasis. It is not light.

Further, Chiron in Pisces – representing an unhealable, inchoate sense of wounding – will be squaring the new moon and Mars. This is quite raw and uncomfortable, emotionally and mentally.

Again, very fitting for a fairy story. What starts a story in motion is dissatisfaction, unease, the sense of something wrong or lacking. Something out of joint with the world, something you desperately want, just out of reach...

Mercury is also trining the north node in Libra – so remember the aim of this story is harmony, balance, justice, right relationship.

So as in a fairy story, there are quests to undertake, dragons to be defeated, risks to be braved, prizes to be fought for...and a big alchemical wedding at the end.

--Sometimes I wonder how anyone could possibly find life boring. It's the biggest, most dangerous adventure anyone could ever undertake. People forget - in the grip of routine or inertia or ego – that the ground of our existence is magic and amazement. Magic is our birthright.

Beneath the 'mundane', socially agreed-upon surface of the world, beneath the scripts and programming we live by, life is a deep mystery and an endless strangeness.

T.S. Eliot, from “East Coker”:

There is, it seems to us,
At best, only a limited value
In the knowledge derived from experience.
The knowledge imposes a pattern, and falsifies,
For the pattern is new in every moment
And every moment is a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.
In the middle, not only in the middle of the way
But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,
On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,
And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,
Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.
The only wisdom we can hope to acquire 
Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.


OK, so to sum up: we are living in a weird fairy tale this month. (Always really. But especially so this month, and this summer.)

Remember fairy tales are brutal and dangerous, like life. There are awful people in them who create terrible suffering. There are murderous bridegrooms, evil sisters, usurping kings. There are man-eating giants and wicked witches and monsters galore.

Also fairy godmothers, magical helpers, tricksters, talking animals. And moral laws whereby evil ultimately destroys itself and kindness and humility prevail.

There are quests and follies; there are inescapable realities of violence, injustice, loss... and the possibility of ultimate redemption.

And there are lucky portals of dazzling promise that open at a moment's notice – but you have to be brave or foolhardy enough to step through, into the unknown. To leave your known, comfortable reality behind.

Fairy tales and myths encode the way life actually works. If you're in any doubt on that score, watch how reality twists and morphs this summer.

Anyway...Let's look briefly at the next couple of weeks:

--the sun moves into Cancer the 22nd, followed by Mars on the 24th. Mars (warrior planet) is uncomfortable in Cancer, sign of emotions, nurturance and family. He can get very emotionally reactive, moody, manipulative and defensive here.

Mars will be in Cancer from the 24th June till the 9th August  – the best use of this is to be a warrior, emotionally – to express feelings, to stand up for your emotional truth, to defend those who are in your care. To feed people like a big Italian mama. It is a fiercely protective energy – like a mother animal defending her young. Fiercely focused on family, clan, 'your' people and belongings and emotional security – your home and personal domain.

The worst use of this is emotional warfare, moodiness, clinginess, guilt trips and general emo crap. And getting all butthurt and sulky over stupid shit. Especially family shit. Over-identification with 'your' people to the point where you think you have a right to control and manipulate them.

(Grumpy care bear)

Another dumb expression of Mars in Cancer is comfort eating (or drinking, or drugging). Stuffing feelings down via food or other addictive behaviours:

On the plus side, having Mars in Cancer should help with Saturn in Scorpio's requirement for deep emotional excavation. Intense energy will be available to do the necessary emotional work - it's just a matter of channelling it properly.

In other words, do not get sucked into moodiness and drama. Do not construct a sob story around your shifting emotional states and use it to manipulate others or turn your life into a soap opera.

But do use this energy to understand your moods at their roots. What is going on way under the surface? What is this really about, deep down? When have you felt this way before – what kind of emotional pattern is being manifested here?

Other things happening in the next couple of weeks: Mercury will square Neptune on the 23rd June. This is about intuition, inspiration and messages from the aether. Beware wooly-headedness and delusion though – and imprecise, confusing communication.

At the very end of the month and during first week of July, we have some hardcore loveliness. Venus conjuncts Jupiter and trines Uranus. This is incredibly sweet and liberating and lucky.

But it's also quite powerful and deep. July 2nd, while all this sweetness is at its height, we have a really heavy-duty and dark full moon in Capricorn. It looks emotionally cathartic and intense – like a full-on fairy-tale battle. Dragons and monsters to fight, like I said. And magical helpers with gifts.

I will write it out closer to the time, but it looks like a great story.

Full Moon in Sagittarius / Summer 2015

by Mary Hamilton Frye

This full moon is tomorrow, the 2nd June, around 5 pm GMT.

It looks like fun to me. Hectic, and full of potential mind-fuckery and confusion – but fun all the same.

It's really hard not to like a moon in Sagittarius! This is about a buoyant, unsinkable emotional tone; very happy-go-lucky. Exuberant, expansive, hopeful.

The moon will be facing off against the sun, Mercury and Mars in restless, mentally excitable Gemini. This is big mental and social energy: jittery, hyperactive, communicative, distractable, relentlessly networky.

So things will be buzzing like a beehive, or a crazy party.

And because Mercury is retrograde, a lot of the buzzing may be internal – it can be hard to get your own mind to shut the hell up under these circumstances. (Physical exercise is a good way to ground excessive mental energy, if you find yourself beset by swarms of angry bees in your head.)

Anyway, things are sure to be busy. Adding to the mayhem, the moon and sun (plus Mercury and Mars) will be squaring Neptune in Pisces, which is about dreams, inspiration, art, faith, compassion, delusion, deception, addiction...

So this is about big dreams, big opportunities, big inspiration and intuitive understanding and faith – or big delusion. A magical portal – or a lot of hot air.

Or a shot in the dark, a leap of faith. Trusting intuition to guide you.

see here

This should be a great influence for artists, musicians, gamblers, pontificators and shit talkers, adventurers.

But you can see how confusing and frenetic this set-up can get. Exuberance, intense mental and social energy, and blurred reality. It's like a big insane super-happy party where everyone gets way too drunk and nobody talks any sense at all.

Or like this:

Nonsensical! And insane! Lots of fun though.

I wrote about the rumour mill running at warp speed in my last post – and this full moon amps it up like crazy. So beware of gossip, check your sources, don't believe everything you hear, watch your mouth. And as this involves Neptune, try not to drink yourself silly in public. It's looking like very drunken cosmic weather out there.

Mercury (mind, communication) and Neptune (dreams, delusions) do some nutty things with each other this month – they both shift direction within hours of each other on the 11th, and will be squaring each other for most of the rest of June. Meaning June is a headfuck, however you look at it – magical and dreamy, blurred and delusive. This can be great if you're an artist or musician or intuitive type; less great if you're looking for clear communication and solid facts.

Anyway, communication should be easier and clearer after Mercury goes direct on the 11th June.

The best use of the Mercury-Neptune stuff is to channel intuition and inspiration. This aspect, at best, is about a surrender to the larger design – a suspension of the ego, which is nothing but a control-structure made of thought.

Ego is useful and necessary, because it's how we get practical things done. But it's only a tool and it's fairly limited. Intuition is much more important, and much more neglected – it's the empty space in us that directs us, the part of us that connects us to the whole and instinctively knows the right path.

It's how all great art happens, and music, and real morality. I think it works like this:

Safe to say, those starlings are not thinking or worrying about anything – there's no ego at work there. There are no concepts or rules to what they're doing.

They are feeling out the unseen paths of least resistance in the air, flowing along them – making the invisible visible, and creating something new and strange.

That's how intuition works. It uses the natural flow of things instead of setting up obstacles to it. And it is inherently magical – it brings what is potential or unmanifested into the visible world, through us.

Anyway, it should be easier than usual to connect with intuition now, because of all this Mercury-Neptune stuff going on.

Plus, speaking of magic: Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius and dispositor of the full moon, is perfecting his trine to Uranus. It'll be exact on the 22nd of June. The remainder of June and the start of July are coloured by this aspect, with Mars and the sun in Gemini currently supporting it.

This is about sudden, lightning luck and opportunity – magical doors that open out of nowhere and shut as suddenly. So be alert to those openings, and ready to accept your opportunities quickly. Seize the moment, because with Jupiter-Uranus, a moment may be all you're given. Don't be afraid to take a risk, because fortune favours the brave this month.

This is where intuition comes in, because you'll need it to avoid second-guessing yourself into immobility. Trust what you know deep down. Don't let your ego-stuff and incessant thinking and rationalising get in the way.

It's like this song: being a good gambler is all about timing and intuition. Luck too, of course. But there's a lot you just have to deep-down know and trust – and that knowing runs deeper than thinking.

Good gambling is also about reasonable caution. There's a lot of luck and opportunity on offer this summer, but it's still important to be cautious about what you get into, and to stay grounded. Saturn (constriction, duty, karma) retrogrades into Scorpio on the 15th June, for a transit that will last till the 18th September. So if you get yourself into any kind of stupidity involving misuse of sexual energy or other people's resources, Saturn will kick your ass – and I can tell you, it will hurt. Further, Saturn will kick your ass for the energetic stupidities you've committed during his tenure in Scorpio over the past few years (October 2012 to December 2014).

Scorpio is about intimacy, trust, emotional and energetic transactions, psychological issues and pathology, shared resources, sex, death, transformation. These are areas of heavy emphasis under this final transit of Saturn through Scorpio. The karmic backlash for dealing flippantly or unfairly with these matters will be extreme, and long-lasting.

By long-lasting, I mean approximately 29 years. Saturn is no joke, and neither is Scorpio. I think you can actually fuck up your life under this transit – you can set yourself up for long-lasting regret and pain, to a degree that just doesn't happen when Saturn transits other signs. It's serious and frightening.

Mid-June to mid-September 2015 will be payback time for whatever was left unresolved during Saturn's initial transit of Scorpio. It also represents a final chance to put things right to the best of your ability before Saturn leaves Scorpio for another 29 years.

So be prepared to approach Scorpio-themed matters with absolute seriousness and respect over the next three months. There's no such thing as getting into a light romantic fling under Saturn in Scorpio. There's no such thing as 'innocently' misusing other people's energy or resources or trust. There are no excuses for your refusal to look deeply into your own pathologies, and there are no rewards for clinging to situations you know are toxic.

--All that aside – there is a Jupiter-Uranus trine happening, so if a magical dragon offers you a lift to Narnia, you should probably accept ASAP. Or if a warrior cat riding on a unicorn wants to talk to you about philosophy, or whatever. That stuff is all OK.

In other words, if any kind of sudden opportunity opens to you – especially if it involves creativity, travel, opportunities for expansion and learning, or talking fairy creatures – you should accept it, as long as it doesn't potentially harm anyone.

But with Saturn back in Scorpio all summer, remember sexual and romantic (and also financial) opportunities are very fraught. They have to be approached with due caution and respect, and a willingness to follow through. Scorpio is extreme: it's all or nothing.

It may seem like a good summer for having flings, but it's really not. It's a good summer for having fantastic lucky romantic gifts dropped in your lap from heaven – but you have to honour those gifts, and not take them for granted. There is a heavy price-tag involved with Saturn in Scorpio. If you aren't willing to pay it, or you underestimate what's required, your gifts will turn into curses – and I can't state that strongly enough. This is not a time for playing around.

Anyway, re. the fantastic lucky romantic gifts from heaven: Venus moves from Cancer into fiery Leo on the 5th of June, and this heats things up on the relationship front. It happens on the same day that Mars sextiles Jupiter, and Venus will also be trining Saturn. In plain English, this is a good influence for taking (reasonable) risks in love and money matters – for the pursuit of happiness.

Venus will be in Leo until the 8th October, aside from a brief stint in Virgo in July. This is pretty nice! She'll be retrograding through Leo all summer, passing over Jupiter.

Venus and Jupiter are known as the lesser and greater benefics - lucky planets. So these conjunctions in Leo – the sign of loyalty, pride, joy, creativity and open-heartedness – are super lucky and wonderful. They happen on the 1st July and the 4th August, but they color the whole summer. I think people will be hard-pressed not to find something sweet in this – some gift or blessing.

It's shaping up to be a beautiful summer overall. Really truly magical – just please remember this is not the kind of magic to play around with or take lightly.

New Moon in Taurus

6 of pentacles - about having and not having - see here

And here's a poem by Yehuda Amichai -


This is on the 18th May, around 5 am GMT.

The sun and moon will be conjunct at 27 degrees Taurus. This is a slow, steady, solid, grounded energy. Also utterly determined. Fixated.

Normally Taurus is about pleasure and solidity – it is comforting. A new moon in Taurus is a good time to focus on eating a lot and lazing around in the sun like a simple happy creature. Or to focus on what makes you feel happy and satisfied in general.

In this case things don't look so comfortable, though. This new moon is quite stressfully aspected. This looks like steadiness allright - but of discomfort and pressure.

The moon and sun will be loosely conjunct Mars, now in communicative, mentally hyperactive Gemini – and this speaks of mental and emotional reactivity. Also mental fixation.

The new moon is also opposite party-killing Saturn in Sagittarius, a dour influence on our minds and moods.

Mars and Saturn are known as the lesser and greater malefics...not such easy planets to be caught up with...and Mars-Saturn aspects are about frustration, blockage and cruelty. We currently have an opposition between these planets - it peaked on the 15th of May and is waning now. But this energy colors the tone of the new moon and the month ahead.

Mars is life drive, will, desire, anger...and Saturn is limitation, karma, fear. So with this opposition, we are looking at blocked will, blocked desire, intense frustration – specifically in the realm of communication and self-expression, as Mars is in Gemini. A frustrating inability to say the necessary thing or to communicate, and potential violence and nastiness connected with that. Communication hitting a wall – painfully.

Also, the ruler of Taurus – Venus, dispositor of this new moon – is stressfully aspected. She's currently in emotional, nurturing, motherly Cancer - and opposing Pluto, king of hell (exact on the 22nd May).

Venus-Pluto aspects are about love and power. Also love and death, love and pathology. Love that takes you to hell, toxic love, obsessive love. Dead loves coming back from the grave to haunt you.

At best, Venus-Pluto can be about regenerative, transformative love...but at worst it's about power plays and destructive relationships. Because Venus is currently in Cancer, a sign concerned with emotion – there is some very heavy, hellish emotional stuff connected with this aspect.

Venus is not just about relationships – she also has to do with money, values and self-esteem. These are Taurean themes. So this new moon really highlights a poverty vibe - deep feelings of lack in the love, money and self-esteem departments; frustrated desire courtesy of the Mars-Saturn opposition...aargh.

No satisfaction!

The new moon happens in the late degrees of Taurus, and in a few days the sun moves to sparky, communicative, jittery, social-networking Gemini. So this is actually the opener for Gemini season – and a particularly neuron-frazzling, hyperactive, wyrded-out Gemini season it is. Communication issues and blockages take center stage this month.

Gemini's ruler, Mercury, goes retrograde in his home sign the day after the new moon (19th May). Mercury retrogrades are times of communication breakdowns, glitches, problems with transportation and communication devices...

This retrograde lasts until the 11th June, and Mercury will be in Gemini till the 8th July. So altogether, he will have spent about two months in Gemini and by the end of it I guess we are going to be kinda fried in the brains department.

And Mars will be in Gemini as well – till the 24th June. Mars is moving to conjunct Mercury in Gemini (exact 27th May).

This is nearly too much mental energy and communication. Just zingy as hell, incredibly social and distracted. Intense mental chatter – frazzled synapses. Repetitive thought loops that just go and go and go. A good way to ground this kind of excess mental energy is physical movement and exercise - you pull it down out of your head and into your body. Letting it run riot in your head is a recipe for craziness.

Re. craziness: Mercury will be squaring Neptune in Pisces for much of this transit of Gemini – in fact this Mercury retrograde ends on the same day that Neptune stations retrograde. Mercury-Neptune aspects are about inspiration, intuition, guidance from beyond, creativity and art. But also mental delusion, lies, siren songs, general wooly-headedness...

Gemini is not the most truthful of signs, and Neptune is all illusion – so watch what you say and don't believe everything you're told. The rumour mill will be running at warp speed this month – you might want to turn off the social media, turn off your smartphone, avoid getting caught up in the hype. There will be a lot of frenetic gossip going on, much of it bullshit and insinuation. Try to avoid becoming a source of it.

(Aaargh, silly video. But the song fits.)

This influence will be strongest the last week in May & heading up to the full moon in Sagittarius on the 2nd June – which looks like a bit of a headfuck. I'll write about it closer to the time.

An aside – I was confused about what this new moon meant. I got in my car and turned on the radio, and immediately heard the two songs linked above, which seem to encapsulate the themes – poverty consciousness, frustration, romantic obsession, hectic social chatter, gossip.

Getting guidance from the radio (or billboards, the tv, random things you overhear people saying, or wherever) is a Mercury-Neptune thing. Messages coming from the aether.

This is a good time to pay attention to the messages you get - signs and synchronicities, your dreams, the advertising jingles stuck in your head. All these things can be considered messages from the unconscious – your unconscious mind instinctively hooks onto the information it needs. So don't ignore this stuff – it's valuable.

But use some discrimination too. Not everything is meaningful, not everything is true. Let your intuition be your guide - you'll know deep down what information you can trust (without necessarily being able to articulate why).

All the Venus-Pluto and Gemini stuff is happening as part of a yod - a tricky, tense, uncomfortable aspect pattern, in effect from now till late June. I am not going to describe this yod thing in detail, because my brain will explode...but the apex of the pattern is Pluto in Capricorn, which is about unearthing the truth underlying a corrupt status quo. The point of all this dissatisfaction and confusion this month is finding out what's true - what you really feel, what you really value, what's really fulfilling (all Taurus themes). And acting on your values; voicing them - in order to regenerate situations that have become blocked or ossified...or to do away with them so that something new can develop.

Taurus is supposed to be about fulfillment and comfort. But in this scenario, discomfort, lack and frustration act as spurs to direct us toward what might actually be fulfilling. And our intuition - the Mercury-Neptune stuff - serves the same purpose. There is a guiding design at work here, if we can calm down enough to receive the directions we're being given and act on them.

--Also, Taurus is about what's tangible, what we actually possess. Focusing on what you actually have as opposed to what you lack should help with the frustration. And focusing on the tangible, physical reality of your life can cut through the mental chatter and distraction.

--Forgot to say - drug & booze alert for the remainder of the month and the beginning of June. It's pretty easy to get in over your head with mind-altering substances right now, so be careful.

Social stuff can also function as a drug / addiction / distraction. For example, it's funny how many people I've heard talking about facebook as an addiction lately...I think that will be a theme. If you are overly influenced by social media, it might be good to take a break about now or set yourself some limits, because our circuits will be overloaded enough as it is.

Full moon in Scorpio

Mary Magdalene by Georges de la Tour

Some poems, to get us in the mood:

Marina Tsvetayeva.

And Louise Bogan.

OK, so this is an intense and really stressful full moon. Maybe you can feel it building.

Today (1st May) the moon in Libra is tangled up with the Uranus-Pluto square, which is still in effect, though loosening. This is a jagged and disturbing emotional tone. Painful, eruptive, explosive...

People will definitely be on edge heading up to the full moon, which happens early on the 4th May, around 4:40 am GMT.

A full moon in Scorpio shines a stark light on what is viable in your life vs. what is unviable. It should be pretty damn clear. Full moons represent culminations or endings, and that's exactly what we're looking at here.

The moon at 13 degrees Scorpio (intense desire, emotional unrest, transformation) will be opposite the sun in Taurus (comfort, habits, values, self-esteem), and both will be in exact square to Jupiter in Leo, which amps up the intensity and tension. Ugh.

This looks like a very uncomfortable reckoning, especially as far as love and money stuff is concerned. Commitments and contractual obligations will be cemented and solidified – or ended.

It's kind of a life-or-death thing. What's viable, you commit yourself to. What's unviable – you let go of or amputate, painful though this may be.

It's very simple...but also hard as hell. It can be as grindingly difficult as breaking a long addiction.

Breaking an addiction is a good way of looking at this scenario, actually. We have Taurean comfort-seeking and habit coming up against the Scorpionic imperative for transformation and purgation, and something's gotta give.

Look back to the new moon in Scorpio in October of last year – that was the start of this cycle. What began for you then, or ended? What kind of psychological roller coaster have you been on for the past half-year, as we moved through the last of the Uranus-Pluto squares?

Basically, if you are still holding onto things that are draining or harmful – well you'll have had a good six or seven months of wake-up calls and revelations by now. Longer, probably! You can't really pretend not to know any better anymore, can you?

This full moon is a culmination and a cut-off point.

That's not to say we'll be done with the particular Scorpionic issues it raises...We still have some psychological reckoning to do, as Saturn heads back into Scorpio from June to September of this year. This is about the karmic fallout – the consequences. Or the processing period and recovery.

Scorpio issues revolve around sex, death, emotional intensity, trust, power, pathology, the Shadow. Also debts, shared resources, inheritances.

Energetic transactions, basically – and these can be emotional, monetary, physical. But you'll know what belongs in your life by the way it makes you feel: what gives you energy vs. what depletes your energy. If something – a habit, a relationship, a situation – consistently drains and devitalises you, it has to go. Or if leaving it is impossible, it has to be transformed somehow...

But please rein in your illusions that situations or people can be transformed if they have consistently disappointed you. With Scorpio, the most viable option is usually amputation. Cold turkey, yo.

Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, and retrograde Pluto in Capricorn supports the full moon with beneficial aspects – this is about internal reckoning, depth work and restructuring. Neptune in Pisces (dreams, compassion, intuition) also offers support – so it looks like there'll be compassion, hope and faith on offer. This is all nice, given the level of discomfort and intensity we're looking at.

Saturn is now at 3 degrees Sagittarius, moving backward toward Scorpio, which he'll hit in six weeks. We'll have Mercury in Gemini (hyper communicativeness) opposite Saturn (blockage) for this full moon, and both will be squaring dreamy, delusive Neptune in Pisces. And this looks tough. Blocked or deceptive communication; communication hitting a wall. A requirement for truth and free expression, or for absolute clarity – denied. Negotiations hitting an impasse. Anxiety, depression and the inability to think straight. Mental confusion.

I dunno – the whole thing just looks hard. Like something very deep and of far-reaching importance has to be hammered out and decided – and the emotional imperatives driving this are huge. But actually solidifying anything via thinking or communication will be difficult, with this Mercury-Saturn-Neptune square going on.

In circumstances like this, where you can't necessarily trust people's words or your own thinking – it's best to go with your gut instinct. If you feel like someone is lying to you or obfuscating, they probably are. If you feel you might be deluding yourself, you probably are. Don't talk yourself out of what you know deep down.

A Scorpio moon can be a ruthless bullshit detector, with great instinctive insight into people's deepest motivations and trustworthiness. It's a kind of tingly spider sense. That bodily knowing is much more reliable than verbal communication right now – so trust it.

Here is a link to hexagram 47 of the I Ching - it seems relevant. The hexagram is about fated adversity and constraint - a situation where words won't change anything, and you have to stake your life on following your deepest intuition and will.

This full moon setup also reminds me of the Tarot card for the 9 of wands:

It's like a line drawn in the sand. An energetic blocade - and the willingness to defend what you value. And what's at issue is crucial - this is a matter of psychic survival, and of safeguarding your will to live.