THE ASTROLOGY of POSITIONS, PERSPECTIVES, & METAPHYSICS
by Boots Hart, CAP

Friday, May 4, 2012

May 6th: A Super Scorpio Full Moon





 A Full Moon as photographed by an unknown
photographer in Japan




Maybe you’ve heard we going to have a ‘Super Moon’ this month?

Occurring at 16 Scorpio, this Full Moon will occur on  May 6 at 3:36 a.m. UT/+0. And the 'Super Moon' part has to do with the fact that this Full Moon takes place in a moment when the Moon is pretty much as close to Earth as Luna Moon gets. So if you’re into Moon watching (and who isn’t, at least once in a while?) this is the time to go outside and stare at the sky.

In saying that however, there is another note about this Full Moon, namely that it's happening amidst Earth's annual Aquarid meteor.

Ah yes...Mama Nature puts on quite a show.

The Aquarid meteor shower is a product of (arguably) Earth's most famous comet - comet Halley. So apart from the 'sprinklings of ideas and insight' which go along with any comet, there would be a marked interest in - and capacity to be - famous (even infamous) which goes along with this moment. And yes, any birthday or wedding which happens during this time may have a touch or brush with same. Having known a few people with birthdays during these 'Halley days' I have observed a marked interest among such people in fame, the famous, broad societal movements (which fame is a sub-set of, fame being a mass focus on one given person or thing)...and even just the concept of being 'part of the group' (or their culture).

And yet...the question which evolves from this is whether such energies are about what we should be fascinated by...or what others should (or could) find us fascinating for. As a person, or as a couple - or even as a company founded during these days - is it right simply to be dazzled and awed by what you see in the world (or in the sky) or is there an essence here all about being dazzling and doing things which are worthy of respect or awe and which inspire delight in others?

Halley aside, looking a bit more closely at the particulars of this Full Moon, as with all Full Moons there's a polarizing energy which can represent a tug-of-war or a 'bursting out of confines,' depending on how we use it. Given how this Full Moon is at 16 degrees of any sign (in this case Scorpio/Sun and Taurus/Moon) there's an air of emotionality. With that 16 degree position being in fixed signs, maybe we should color that feeling as anticipatory or filled with wondering...or even wonderment. The Moon’s position at 16 Scorpio gives us this Sabian Symbol: a woman, fecundated by her own spirit, is “great with child” is an image all about our internal development. And that something indeed is growing within us.

Remembering that the Full Moon is the ‘highlight’ (the Moon’s ‘highest’ light) of the lunar month, this puts the spotlight on events ‘of the moment’ and on any project or effort which involves your having been building or working towards ‘growing’ something soon to be ‘born.’

16 Scorpio is an emotional degree of an emotional sign. And since any Full Moon tends to be an emotional time, this promises a real ‘high tide’ of feelings pleasant, unpleasant - and even unsuspected. Lore on this degree speaks of a kindness and generosity of spirit which is oddly offset by secret dealings and problems involving keeping one’s word. Some writers speak of 16 Scorpio in another disturbing sense: instead of the ‘child’ waiting to be born (which may be some project or moment you’ve been building towards) they refer to a ‘growth’ - a cancer or tumor which may or may not prove ultimately detrimental.
 



 The Full Moon of May 6, 2012




To know what’s what here, we would first retreat to the nature of Scorpio. When Scorpio is about what I want and my security or my pleasure or my family or my satisfaction - it inevitably leads to disruption, hard feels and more often than not, ultimate failure.

Why would that be? That would be because Scorpio is the polarity sign to Taurus, sign of self worth and inner (personal) security. In Scorpio, we ‘risk’ our self worth by joining or negotiating situations with others. The greatest Scorpio successes inevitably involve finding solutions which satisfy everybody - but everybody has to give and everybody has to get. There is no abdication of control or responsibility under Scorpio, just as there is no having total control or responsibility under Scorpio. It all has to be negotiated and everybody has to have an equal stake in making things happen…and an equal risk if they don’t go well.

So whatever you’re doing, whatever is on the table at this time, let’s hope it isn’t out of emotional balance. To whatever degree your world is out of balance, that will shadow your Scorpio Full Moon and hey, nobody does shadowing like Scorpio!

On the Sun’s side of this Full Moon figure (the Taurus side) we have the Sun at 16 Taurus, bringing up a very old question. In Sabian terms it’s ‘a symbolic battle between swords and torches,’ which otherwise is the eternal battle between old and new, between intellect and emotion, between give and take, between tradition and autonomy.

So this Full Moon…this ‘SuperMoon’…being so close to Earth…is that anything like something getting stuck in our face?

Or shown up IN REALLY BIG LETTERS SO WE CAN’T IGNORE IT?

(No, I'm not shouting...my fingers are!)
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Known as a degree which is distinctly stubborn (what, in Taurus? No! Say it ain’t so!), 16 Taurus is stubborn about what? About that whole ‘rose colored glasses thing,’ which in Taurean terms is probably being nice, living well, sitting pretty - physically and financially.

But this is also a degree which is known for being endowed with a certain amount of luck which, if not appreciated with some degree of integrity, runs out rather suddenly.

And for those of you who are interested in the end of the Mayan creation calendar (the Maya had a lot of calendars, so I’m specifying)…this 16 Taurus/Scorpio thing is going to be opposed by the 21 Scorpio solar eclipse of this coming November, which as someone with a distinct interest in the Maya I would suggest is the ‘beginning’ of the end of the creation cycle. And if that November 21 Scorpio solar eclipse is the onset of the evolutionary process which will move mankind into our next phase of growth, then this Scorpio Full Moon may well represent a marker which operates rather like the ground tremor which signals the coming eruption of a volcano.

In this figure, we have the Sun conjunct Tantalus (the temptation to do as you please) and the Moon conjunct ‘rainmaker’ Huya. That’s something like a celestial commentary on the order of just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD.

Another indicator that this Full Moon is a foreshadowing of things to come: in this figure, Tantalus is conjunct the Sun and Huya is positioned with the Moon. Come November, the Sun and Moon will be conjunct (as is always the case in a solar eclipse) and by then, Tantalus will have arrived in Scorpio. So we will have Tantalus-Sun/Moon-Huya.

Coincidence? Or is this an opportunity to plan our life going forward, correcting course and making improvements where needed while cutting loose those things which can only come back to haunt us?  

And with all this happening as Venus is beginning to slow down to take station and go retrograde…and that in advance of this May 20th‘s solar eclipse at 0 Gemini?

Someone posed a question this morning about what this SuperMoon means. I almost laughed. At a certain level, who can tell one influence from another right now? We all have so much on our minds that we’re thinking over what to think about next. Or why we think about things as we do - and whether we think that’s a good idea.

With this Full Moon positioned a degree past the 15 Taurus cross-quadrant point, we know we need to apply ourselves. It’s time to do some growing and where necessary, growing up. (Yes, this applies even for adults!) We may be hesitant. We may have trepidation about this or that. We may have misgivings. Still, we also know we can’t just SIT here.

Our status quo isn’t of sufficiently good status to quo with, y’know?

The Sun/Tantalus in this figure virtually guarantees there will be lingering regrets masquerading as annoyance (even downplayed anger) lurking in the background - or in those shadows we mentioned a while ago. (See? I told you nobody does ‘shadowy’ like Scorpio!). And with Venus (ruler of Taurus) found at 22 Gemini (and conjunct Bellatrix) in this moment there’s a definite sense of difficulty mixed in. You may feel denied, picked on - even persecuted. Making your point, even defining your position in a workable manner - it’s tough.

To understand this part of the puzzler, we look to Mercury as ruler of Gemini and find Mercury in Aries - at 24 Aries, to be precise. Positioned nearby are Hel (how we challenge ourselves) at 23 Hel along with Atropos (endings).

Okay. So plainly we want something to stop or end. Or maybe we’re challenging ourselves as to how to stop making things just so hard for ourselves!

With Eris at 22 Aries (right next door to Mercury) in opposition to Saturn, Arcturus and Spica (all at 24 Libra), have you been misjudged? Or have you misjudged others? Is that part of the rose colored glasses thing?

And why is it that the celestial statement says that something ‘Eris-radical’ is needed to improve a problematic situation?

Eris in Aries is a piquant challenge as Aries is plainly ‘I Am’ and ‘my life.’ We also know that Eris functions best for us when focused on others. Considering the Roman name for Eris is ‘Discordia’ we know Eris doesn’t mean smooth sailing. So maybe we have to put aside our ‘kind-and-nice’ thing for a moment? Or maybe we have to ‘disrupt’ something in the same way that protestors and social reformers do by challenging a status quo which flat-out isn’t working. There are lots of ways Eris energy can function. Sometimes a situation - even a building - needs to be ‘torn down.’ Maybe someone needs surgery. There are many ways that Eris energies can manifest as ‘disruptions of’ a status quo and still be in a very good cause.

Just be careful. This whole conglomeration of meanings - from the Moon to Sun/Tantalus plus all the rest, that could very likely be you doing something which you like, which you find comfy for you but which you know isn’t ‘fair’ from the perspective of what the world might think of someone who was behaving the way you're behaving.

(Dare I say maybe a bit selfishly?)

After all, remember November? Remember that tremor before the volcanic blast thing?
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 Indonesia's Mount Rinjani erupting in 1995,
its power attracting lightning from above.
(photo credit: Oliver Spalt)




That’s rather the point here. The fact that this is a so-called ‘SuperMoon’ means - astrologically - that this Full Moon is occurring in conjunction with the calculated Black Moon - also known as Black Moon Lilith.

Which it is. Calculated Lilith is at 15 Taurus…right next to fixed star Menkar (at 14 Taurus). A star which tends to represent ‘being influenced by others’ Menkar gives the choice to be the person to affects others or is affect by others.

Then we add in the Black Moon, a point about our tendency to ignore how society will view us - or society (or some social group) ignoring us. This also can be bad or good. On one hand, the Black Moon could be someone getting a second chance despite past errors. It could be a social group in which everybody puts aside their quarrels for the moment. It could also be our doing something in spite of what others say or do - and this may be the nicest thing of all about this Full Moon formation. With the Black Moon involved, we know there is some social or societal aspect in this picture. 

And then we add the Moon being conjunct Huya.
Huya is all about giving based on what you’ve learned. (Or maybe in this case, learned better about.) Using Oprah Winfrey as an example here is always great, because her hard-fought-for self respect in spite of a bad set of early years was what she gave to others. She said ‘never mind, be yourself. You’re fine the way you are, black, white, yellow, purple, fat, thin…you’re fine!’ And that stance, that sharing of a conviction which was not about her but universal is Huya in operation.

When we act as Huya - when we act to make life better for everybody, in making their lives better, the rain of goodness falls on us, too. That's the Huya point.

And that choice? The choice of whether to use what we know and what we've learned for the universal betterment of all? That choice is ours.

All ours. 

There’s an old short story by Frank Stockton called ‘The Lady or the Tiger’ which ends with a man coming to two closed doors. He has no idea which is which but knows that behind one of those doors is a beautiful woman who will love him and give him everything he wants. Behind the other is a tiger. And that tiger will eat him.

This Full Moon is very much like that story. The big difference is that most of us know which door we’re opening now.



 
 A Bengal Tiger walks in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve
 (photo credit Mayankkatiyar, December 2008)




Considering all, that’s a good thing as it’s a time when looking ahead and recognizing that life is not just what we can do but what we should do in this world is of prime importance. We’re used to thinking in terms of ‘should’ as being about ourselves and our families. But is that true? When we think only of harvesting the fruit we need and not of providing fruit for all, we deny ourselves the opportunity to be given to in turn by others whose generosity of spirit is made possible by our own.

So have a ‘super’ Full Moon. Considering what Full Moons are - a reflection of the light of the Sun (life) - maybe having the Moon come so close to us is about the wisdom of stopping in this moment to reflect. With the Sun in Taurus, life's emphasis is on our worth as being rooted in, and reflective of our self-worth.
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