Full Moon in Leo

by Yumiko Kayukawa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Moon in Aquarius

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeesh.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ulysses and the Sirens - Waterhouse

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

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

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

For “listening to the sirens sing”, substitute

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Spock says time out!)

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

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

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

Just remember:

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

Full Moon in Cancer / Cardinal Grand Cross

(From Ferguson, MO)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Winter Solstice / New Moon in Capricorn / Saturn into Sagittarius

From the Madonna del Parto by Piero della Francesca

“but set down
This set down
This: were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.”


As of today (20th December), we have 3 planets in Capricorn: Venus, Mercury and Pluto, all conjunct and squaring Uranus in Aries and the north node in Libra. We also have Capricorn's ruler, Saturn, on the last minutes of the last degree of Scorpio.

This is intense heaviness and seriousness. A profound reckoning is coming due. Capricorn and Saturn are about commitment to earthly reality, perseverance, work. Sobriety and absolute realism. What's before you may not be easy, but the path will be coming clear now...

Venus conjuncts Pluto exactly later today, and squares Uranus. The sextile between Mars in Aquarius and Uranus in Aries is also nearly exact.... This stuff is about endings, final ruptures – also commitments. Breaking with the past and starting anew.

The Venus-Pluto conjunction is difficult, and might involve the ghost of Christmas past rising from the grave and shimmying around in front of you beguilingly. Dead loves come back to fuck with us under Venus-Pluto aspects, and you have to beware – remember what's dead is dead for a reason. “The best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour”, per Dr Phil.

But there is such a counterbalancing push for the new at work - I don't think the ghosts are going to be able to do much damage. This looks more like a summation or final reckoning than a scenario where you get pulled back into past patterns.

The death-and-rebirth symbolism of the next few days is extraordinary. One door is closing forever, another door is opening. It's profound and it may be very painful - but it must be accepted. We are dealing with reality here, which is as it is, not as we might wish it to be.

Tomorrow (21st December) is the winter solstice: the darkest day of the year, but also the moment when the light begins to return. It's marked by the moment the sun enters Capricorn, which this year happens at around 11 pm (GMT). At around the same time we have Uranus (revolution and liberation) going direct in Aries, a sign representative of birth and new beginnings. This is a big jolt of light amid darkness – a significator of intense change. It's really beautiful and hopeful.

Then we have the new moon a few hours later, as the moon enters Capricorn. 22nd December, around 1:30 am GMT, 0 degrees Capricorn. New moons represent new beginnings – in Capricorn, we see the beginning of something austere, true, reliable. The symbolism here couldn't be clearer or more stark – or more beautiful. Like the face of the Madonna del Parto above: she looks like she knows exactly what she's getting into.

This is the 3rd in a series of 0 degree new moons – we are moving from possibilities (Sagittarius) to realities (Capricorn) here. This is the door opening into a new world. It might not be the life you've dreamed of, but it will be something you can trust – it will be credible.

Hope and change we can believe in. (Ha. Black humour. Black humour is very Capricorn.)

Then, the next day (23rd December), Saturn changes signs – from Scorpio, where he has been for the past 2 years, to Sagittarius. Because Saturn moves so slowly, a sign-shift is a momentous occasion.

Saturn is about limits, karma, duty, responsibility. He rules Capricorn, and we will have a total of 5 planets in Capricorn as he shifts signs. And this is all about the concrete solidifying on the road ahead.

Saturn in Scorpio was about dealing with our psychological shit, and it was not an easy transit. Many of us have been to some very dark places over the past two years. Hopefully we've come out of it with a lot of our garbage and dross burned away.

Saturn in Sagittarius is not as psychologically heavy at all – it's more about grounding (Saturn) a vision of the future (Sagittarius). So again, we are looking at a death-and-rebirth scenario with Saturn's sign shift - from purgation (Scorpio) to building a future (Sagittarius) - and this is fully in keeping with the symbolism of the winter solstice and the new moon in Capricorn.

There are some difficulties to be expected of this transit, though. For one thing, Saturn in Scorpio has been in a mutual reception with Pluto in Capricorn over the past two years. Pluto in Capricorn is about the rot underlying the old order – the process of unearthing that rot (Scorpio) has been relatively measured and grounded during Saturn's transit of Scorpio. But with the end of that beneficial relationship, we may see accelerated societal breakdown, and extremism spreading like wildfire.

Another difficulty is that Saturn will be squaring Neptune in Pisces for much of his transit of Sagittarius. This is about reality dissolving, and it reinforces the theme of societal breakdown that the end of the mutual reception portends.

“All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away; all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life and his relations with his kind.”- per Marx.

How do you build a new reality when the ground keeps dissolving underneath your feet? That's a question we'll probably be looking at in detail over the next few years.

But for now I am not going to speculate - we have enough to be dealing with over the next few days, and into Christmas (as detailed in the post below as well). Happy solstice to all.

Full Moon in Gemini / Runup to Christmas

The weeks ahead look brilliant for inspired thinking and communication – very exciting and energetic. Things envisaged or imagined begin to come into focus, and all kinds of new possibilities open up. Inspiration will be sparking like crazy, and socializing should be more fun than usual.

It's very lively. That said, this December will not be the most comfortable month –  as we move toward the holidays, things start to look fairly challenging. But unless you've been living under a rock, you'll be well used to this state of affairs by now. 'Challenging' is the new normal.

Keep in mind, it's not all bad! A lot of it is lovely looking: exciting and revolutionary. But the whole month is coloured by the 6th exact square between Uranus and Pluto on the 15th December – and this is about radical, wrenching change. We are saying goodbye to the old order, prying ourselves out from under the wreckage of our old lives in many cases... and trying to dream a new world into being. Needless to say, this isn't easy.

Ok, let's start with the day before the full moon: today, the 5th of December. What happens today is Mars (energy, will, drive) shifts signs. He's moving from Capricorn, which is solid, grounded, cautious – to Aquarius, which is all idealism, revolutionary fervor, jolts of electrical brilliance.

This is a major energy shift, and it's made more intense by the fact that Uranus - the ruling planet of Aquarius - is in Aries, which Mars rules. This is called a mutual reception: two planets holding a dialogue with each other via each other's signs. It speaks of a sparky, combustible mental energy – suddenly we're live wires. Brains on fire, synapses glowing like fairy lights.

(neural fairy lights)

So things are all jumpy and electrical and lit up.  And then we have the full moon on Saturday the 6th December (around 12:30 pm GMT), sparking everything up a notch!

This is a full moon in Gemini, a light, dexterous, communicative sign – so communication takes center stage. And the moon is facing off against the sun and Mercury (Gemini's ruling planet) in Sagittarius, which can talk as well! For hours, and about everything under the sun.

This is a hell of a lot of air and fire stuff going on, and it looks brilliant. Zingy, revolutionary mental energy, courtesy of some beneficial aspects to Uranus. What is your new status quo gonna be? What's your vision of the future; what are you dreaming up? There'll be plenty of new ideas on hand – people will be mentally and verbally on fire.

But it won't be the kind of idle, skittering, value-free thought and communication Gemini is known for - this is far more profound. The sun, moon and Mercury will be squaring Chiron in Pisces, which is about a deep and painful awareness of loss. So it's not your run-of-the-mill bullshit conversational stuff at all.

If you have any difficult conversations to be had, this should help a lot. It should be possible to go deep and to work on new approaches to existing problems without things getting too emotionally heavy or fraught. If you do run into any ugly topics, you can disarm the situation with humour and emotional generosity. Sagittarius and Jupiter are involved – we have another mutual reception between the sun in Sagittarius and Jupiter in Leo, active till the 22nd December – and this is a very good-natured, buoyant influence. It should be easy to keep things upbeat.

I really like the way this full moon looks. On a day like this you can take all your rotten past issues, understand them deeply, tie 'em up in a bag and leave them in the trash... then do a beautiful 180 degree turnaround and face into a different kind of future – something more appropriate to who you are now. It's the kind of scenario where you can look at life in all its pain and absurdity and laugh about it through your tears.

It's the sort of thing that brings out the best in people – the deepest humanity. And it is very welcome, because the rest of the month becomes considerably more fraught.

In the interests of helping you navigate the holiday season, let's do an overview of how things go down as we move toward Christmas:

8th December - Fairly tense afternoon as the moon moves through cardinal cross territory in Cancer, setting off the Uranus-Pluto square. Then in the evening, Jupiter stations retrograde in Leo. This is the start of a 4-month retrograde period – till the 8th of April 2015. It will carry through to the end of the Uranus-Pluto squares in March, and I think the message here is about having some faith in the larger design and in yourself, however emotionally charged and difficult things may get.

10th December - Venus (love, money, relationships) moves from happy-go-lucky Sagittarius into sober Capricorn – and this means she is also heading into a conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn and a square with Uranus in Aries, exact on the 20th December. Love and money matters will start feeling a lot more weighty and serious. The dreaming and planning phase initiated at the new moon in Sagittarius is coming to an end over the next few weeks – we are moving from possibilities into commitments and responsibilities.

11th December - Grand fire trine involving Uranus in Aries, the moon and Jupiter in Leo, and the Sun and Mercury in Sagittarius. This is absolutely brilliant for future-oriented thinking and communication. It also looks like a really fun day.

15th December – This is the big one: the sixth exact Uranus-Pluto square. The next (and final) exact square in this series is on the 16th March 2015. But from now till March, this square is going to be really tight...a final cranking up of the big wrecking machine this aspect represents. The imperative of radical change won't be denied – the landscape is undergoing intensive demolition and restructuring. You can work with this energy by embracing radical change in your life. Do not attempt to resist or block it.

16th December - The moon in Libra will be in cardinal t-square zone. This drives home the themes of the Uranus-Pluto square the day before, especially in regard to love, money and matters of social justice and right relationship. Pretty tense.

17th December - Mercury moves into Capricorn. Communication takes on a subdued, businesslike, pragmatic tone. Plans are beginning to solidify now. Things will be looking less theoretical and fanciful, more stark and realistic. Whatever cannot work in the real world will have to fall away.

Over the next week, we'll have Venus and Mercury heading into conjunction with Pluto in Capricorn. Mercury will conjunct Pluto on Christmas eve, squaring Uranus. This does not bode well for holiday jollity...It looks like quite a stressful time, and full of potential losses and relationship breakups.

19th December – In line with this building seriousness, the moon conjuncts Saturn in Scorpio today. Saturn will revisit Scorpio for a brief revision session next year, from the 15th June to the 18th Sept 2015, before moving on for the next 30 years. But this is nearly the end of the main part of this transit, and it's an emotional summing-up. Try to feel what the past two years of Saturn's transit through Scorpio have meant to you. What deep dark crap has been churned up? What deeply ingrained patterns have you purged yourself of? What have you learned about Scorpio issues (power, emotional intensity, shared resources, trust, your shadow)?

20th December - Venus conjuncts Pluto in Capricorn, squaring Uranus. Also, Mars in Aquarius sextiles Uranus in Aries exactly. Deep, radical, seismic changes (Uranus-Pluto) involving relationships, money, values (Venus)...and the will and energy (Mars) to be true to ourselves and as unconventional as we like (Uranus). Chiron in Pisces also sextiles Venus and Pluto: this is depth work, involving an awareness of the pain we carry, and a willingness to engage with it.

It's very stark and beautiful, and it encapsulates the themes we are dealing with for the latter part of December. If you are still clinging to behaviour patterns or relationships that don't work in the real world – time to let go. Something old has to die so that something new can be born.

21st December - Driving this theme home, we have Uranus (the liberator) going direct on the solstice. The symbolism of this is amazing: the solstice is the darkest day of the year, but also the point where the light begins to take hold again. It's like the tarot card for the 10 of swords. Something has reached the end of the line; it's utterly dead....but dawn is breaking over the corpse. One door shuts permanently, another opens.

22nd December - Here is the new door opening: a zero degree new moon in Capricorn. There'll be five planets in Capricorn: Venus, Mercury, Pluto, the sun and the moon. There'll be a big cardinal t-square involving the north node in Libra. And Saturn will be at the last minutes of the last degree of Scorpio, just about to switch signs.

I'll write more about this closer to the time, but it is intense. So serious. Time to get down to business now – no more fucking around. It's like growing up overnight – your possibilities narrow into a definite path.

23rd December - Saturn moves into Sagittarius. I'll write about this closer to the time as well, but in relation to the new moon, it reinforces the theme of the solidification of a definite path.

24th December - Christmas eve. We'll have Mercury (mind and communication) conjunct Pluto (death) and squaring Uranus (shock); also the moon moving into an emotionally jagged conjunction with Mars in the evening. This does not bode well for family peace and contentment. If you can do something mentally engaging and exciting with your family, that's a way of using this energy in a good way. Otherwise it could be arguments, slammed doors, flying crockery and exploding Christmas trees.

It's probably better not to expect everything to run smoothly and be super-fun. That way you won't be disappointed. And whatever you do, try to avoid piling any extra holiday stress on yourself. NO you don't have to drive yourself nuts with the fancy cooking, or the presents, or the attempts to please everyone. It's ok to schlump your way through this and just try to have a decent time – you don't have to enforce holiday spirit on yourself or anyone else if it ain't happening. That'll only make things more stressful.

25th December - Christmas day. Again we are looking at great mental and emotional tension. It's not an easy day, but a profound one.

I think the key to dealing with this tension is: it'll help if you can do something DIFFERENT, with or without your family, this Christmas. Create a new tradition. The old traditions will likely be fraying at the seams and ready to fall apart, and it's not going to be pleasant trying to uphold them. Or feasible! It'll be like sitting at a festive holiday table with a black hole as the centerpiece.

New moon in Sagittarius

This is on Saturday, the 22nd November, around 12:30 pm (GMT).

The sun and moon will be conjunct at 0 degrees Sagittarius – this is the second in our series of four new moons at zero degrees of their signs. It should be a bit of a jolt!

We're moving from Scorpionic depth, intensity and psychodrama to the sign of freedom and open vistas... So it might feel like walking out of a dark, hot, stifling little room and finding yourself on the open range with the wind in your hair.

As the sun and moon will be conjunct Venus in Sagittarius, the new terrain we are headed into likely has to do with relationships, money, personal values, art. And really it's a wild frontier, uncharted and free. Very exhilarating – but this is the kind of freedom that can make you feel dizzy and dazed - or lost. There are no signposts in a wild frontier. There are no roads to follow - you have to make your own. You may have no pre-existing model for what you're trying to create in your life now, and this can feel disorienting and dangerous. And it can be hard to tell if what you're envisioning is real or a mirage...

“I'm set free to find a new illusion...”

Overall, the tone of this new moon is exuberant and exciting - but the scenario it describes doesn't look particularly easy or light. Saturn and Mercury in Scorpio are also conjunct the sun and moon, holding us in thrall to the past. Jupiter in Leo is squaring these planets, magnifying the tension and intensity of this backward pull. And Neptune, newly direct in Pisces, is squaring Venus, the sun and moon, and Saturn – and this is about siren songs and disorientation.

It's like: OK, you've left your stifling little room and you're walking on the open prairie, dazed by all this sudden light and air. Everything seems perfect and magical, and you're utterly amazed. But your mind is still preoccupied with whatever happened back in the room. You haven't quite left it yet, however giddy with new freedom you may feel.

And therefore, you're in a somewhat dangerous and vulnerable situation – unsteady as a newborn foal. It's going to take some time to settle into the new reality, and you'd better not go galloping off after any exciting possibilities until you've adjusted properly. You could easily trip and hurt yourself.

OK, so how long is this shaky foal stage going to last? What kind of adjustment period are we looking at?

Saturn, lord of time and form, will take another month to grind his way through the last degrees of Scorpio. The last part of this transit could be fairly tough and wrenching, coinciding with the 6th exact square between Uranus and Pluto on the 15th December. He moves into Sagittarius on the 23rd December, the day after the new moon in Capricorn, which is Saturn's own sign. Capricorn is about structure and stability – so this is when you should see your dreams taking on a concrete form. Plans and possibilities should begin to solidify into something real.

Until that solidification begins, hold your horses and don't rush into anything, however much you might want to. People can be very vulnerable to hotheadedness and delusion under these influences - so much Jupiter (inflation) and Neptune (delusion) action going on - and it is imperative to COOL IT and stay grounded.

I think the weeks ahead are for weighing possibilities and dreaming up new ones, and also for working through past issues. It's a good time for drawing blueprints and making sure the designs are workable in the real world. There'll be plenty of inspiration and energy on tap... But the actual construction phase starts later, with the new moon in Capricorn on the 22nd December.

On dreams and plans: we've had two years of sifting through our psychological garbage with Saturn in Scorpio, culminating in an intensely purgative Scorpio season this past month...and with all this behind us, plus these transformative Uranus-Pluto squares going on, you must understand that your old status quo just will not cut it anymore. There is absolutely no point in trying to make it work, or in re-creating scenarios that used to work for you in the past. These times are about radical change, so you have to try something new – maybe something you might never have dreamed of doing.

Dreaming up something new is the best way to roll with this new moon, I think. Sagittarius is about future possibilities, inspiration, conviction, enthusiasm. It's not a pragmatic sign, but a visionary one.  It can easily be misled by enthusiasm, and that is something this new moon is clearly warning against – don't go overboard! Step carefully! Look at where you're putting your feet!

OK, speaking of folly, I want to talk about Neptune for a bit, because Neptune is very caught up with this new moon.  And also he just went direct on the 16th November, after a retrograde period that started in June. With Neptune, it can be hard to tell the difference between forward and retrograde motion, because Neptunian energy is so dreamy and unclear and diffuse. It is inherently deceptive. And as Neptune is in his own sign (Pisces) – well it's a headfuck on multiple shimmering levels.

Neptune is about high delusion – fairy realms and castles in the air - and the disappointment that follows the return to reality. Addiction is also a useful metaphor for how Neptune works – you have the experience of something intensely sweet and blissful, and diminishing returns as you attempt to recapture that state over and over again.

In everyday life, I think Neptune is mostly about disappointment. But it's the kind of disappointment that leads you to the divine, when you realize that nothing earthly – nothing – is going to satisfy your discontent. You hit some rock bottom of degradation trying to fill up this hole in your heart...and then you give up; you give your life over to the Higher Power like they say in AA.

So anyway, Neptune is all caught up with the new moon and with Venus and Saturn also, and in light of this, it's important to really be careful about over-idealizing any romantic or financial prospects, because the kind of disillusionment that can follow idealization is potentially crushing right now. It's also important to keep your ego in check: to restrain your delusions about how much you're capable of. Look at the fool in the picture above. He's so delighted with himself, he doesn't even notice he's walking off a cliff.

Also, be very careful about alcohol and drugs, because they can throw you way off course about now and for the next couple of weeks.

--One other thing: these squares from Jupiter in Leo to the sun, moon, Saturn and Mercury look potentially pretty ugly. Inflated egos, overboard emotions, death-dealing words. Be careful of what comes out of your mouth and try not to be drawn into disputes, because that stuff is liable to drag you back into the claustrophobic Scorpio territory we're trying to exit.

Full Moon in Taurus

Hasui Kawase - Winter Moon over Toyama Plain

This is the 6th November, 10:15 pm GMT.

The moon in Taurus will be facing off against a stellium of planets in Scorpio: the sun, Venus, and Saturn. Taurus-Scorpio axis issues will be all lit up.

Taurus-Scorpio issues have to do with money, sex, power, personal and shared resources, possessions, values. Taurus is about holding onto things in order to create security and stability, and Scorpio is about letting go of what has become dead or outworn. Acquisition vs. purgation. Or anabolism (the processes that build and grow body tissues in an organism) vs. catabolism (the processes that break tissues down).

Obviously, these polarities require each other. Taurus can become overly materialistic and complacent without Scorpio's drive toward transformation. And Scorpio can be all perpetual upheaval and crisis without a bit of Taurean calm and stoicism to ground it.

The scenario we are looking at with this full moon puts me in mind of clearing a space with a bulldozer and then building something new there, from the ground up. We are nearing the 6th exact Uranus-Pluto square, and this is part of a protracted cycle of change and upheaval. And we just had a new moon at zero degrees Scorpio a couple of weeks back, opening up a focused opportunity for purgation and transformation.

By now if you've been doing your work, you are hopefully opening up a space in your life where all your old shit and garbage used to be. What are you going to grow or build there? That's the question this full moon shines a bright light on. What do you want this open space to become? How do you develop it?

Because Venus is tied up with the full moon, new developments likely have to do with relationships. They could also be about money, investments, possessions, personal values – or art. But relationships really are a big focus right now with the north node in Libra.

Anyway, the message here is: there's no need to rush into anything. Taurus is slow and steady...and realistic. Keep your feet on the ground. Invest your resources carefully and cautiously.

There's definitely a danger of going kinda overboard: the full moon will be forming a t-square with Jupiter in Leo, and Jupiter magnifies anything he's involved with. So beware of drama and over-the-top emotional bombast. Stay calm and let things develop slowly, no matter how urgent it all might feel. Try to curb your enthusiasm.

Here are some I Ching hexagrams relevant to these themes: 53 ('Gradual Development') is about the steadiness and patience you need to build something lasting. The next hexagram (54 – 'the Concubine'), is its opposite: it's about rushing things, skipping stages, letting desire lead you into situations where your integrity is compromised. Becoming a slave to desire. Needless to say, you want to avoid that scenario.

There is a real builder's vibe going on with this full moon - solid and deliberate. We have a Mars-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn harmoniously aspecting the moon and the sun, and this represents an intense drive to construct something step by step, and to get it right. I really like the way it looks – absolute determination to build something real and true.

Mars and Pluto rule Scorpio, and are in a mutual reception with Saturn (Capricorn's ruler) in Scorpio – and I think you could conceivably build the Great Pyramid of Giza in your backyard with this stuff going on.

Or a viable new business, or a relationship that isn't as fucked up as all the others have been...

Or the Death Star...

Kidding! What I mean is, you can use this to really challenge and surpass yourself.

That said, Mars-Pluto can be very violent and destructive - it can be the Death Star all right. War (Mars) plus death (Pluto)... and this conjunction is presently squaring Uranus (shock). Please be very careful and mindful of sudden accidents over the next two weeks – especially around the 11th November, which looks like a really tense day.

Drive defensively. If you start feeling full of murderous rage, try to translate it into physical activity – go run 10 miles or hit a punching bag or break dishes or something. Don't kill anybody if you can avoid it, and try to avoid angry people and sharks and rabid dogs etc.

We have Mercury moving into Scorpio on the 8th November, and heading into a square with Jupiter – and with this aspect, you can blowtorch people with your words. So maybe try to be mindful of what comes out of your mouth.

There's a lot of heaviness and intensity over the next two weeks - the stinging tail end of Scorpio season. It doesn't look like the easiest fortnight ever. But it's definitely a huge amount of energy, and I think if you can channel it into constructive activity, you'll be doing well.

We have a new moon at 0 degrees Sagittarius on the 22nd November, and this should lighten things up considerably. It'll be the second in a series of four new moons at 0 degrees of their signs, which is really kind of amazing and exciting. Like a series of magical portals, or phase shifts.

We are doing some focused work in the context of these four successive signs (Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn and Aquarius) over the next few months - moving stepwise from psychological purgation and clearing-out (Scorpio) toward the establishment of a new status quo - something radically new and hopeful (Aquarius).

The overall theme echoes the theme of this full moon: catabolism (breakdown) and anabolism (building). Getting rid of what's outworn, dreaming up a new kind of life, building it in stages. Razed earth and the blueprint for something new, and the will to make it a reality.

I would advise going as deeply as possible into the themes of these signs while each is in ascendancy. Doing your Scorpio work as fully as possible over the next two weeks - however heavy and dark it might feel - will clear the ground for the next phase.

(That means dealing with your shit in a ruthless, focused way. Getting rid of whatever drains and devitalises you.)