A hot air Balloon fashioned to look like the Church of the Monastery of St Gallen
(photo credit: Bohringer Friedrich, June 2008)
Every time I think we’ve gotten to the end of this month’s complications, something else comes up. I’ve experienced that in my life and it’s also true in astrological terms.
Not everything has been in-your-face obvious, but the trends are there. The moments are there. Maybe it’s (in part) because I’m someone born with a chart heavily canted towards water, all sorts of emotional issues, challenges and questions have been surfacing, which certainly goes with the ongoing grand trine in water. I know this is time for me to do things – I can feel it. I can also feel how importance the people in my life really are to me. And how we’re all thinking our relationships through.
For those with natal charts heavy in air or fire, I can just imagine how tough…how uncomfortable, even unnatural this time must seem. ‘Earthy’ (earth sign) folks have it a little bit better, but I’ve seen not just a few of my earth sign friends bogged down in mental mud about what’s worth what and what really priorities really are.
Or what they should be – which goes with the ever downwards ebbing of the South Node in Taurus. Elements are – to put it in Sherlockian terms – elemental, my dear fellow humans. You don’t have to be a Taurus to feel this nodal ‘countdown’ acutely; any major movement in any sign of like element chimes to others of like elemental orientation – it’s just more pronounced when it’s in your personal sign.
Earth to earth, water unto water, I guess we’d say.
And then there’s air. This month’s Full Moon occurs at 6:17 in the evening (UT/+0 time) of July 22nd at 0 Aquarius, a degree known for great ability which needs to be tempered with the needs and focus of the moment. Responsibility, realistic feasibility, consideration of resources and possible consequences at stake, such are the question marks which go with 0 Aquarius. And when we think of the Full Moon being at this degree, that ‘highlights’ a moment when that which we have been forming, formulating, working or hoping for reveals its possibilities.
Or the lack thereof.
The 0 Aquarius Full Moon - July 22, 2013 - 6:17 p.m. (UT/+0)
(Aries Wheel, location not specific)
Maybe the time isn’t yet ripe. Maybe your ducks aren’t yet in a row. Maybe you’ve decided your time, energy and priorities are better invested elsewhere.
Or maybe you're just hesitant about something you know is right but which is trying (on a personal level) whichever way you cut it.
Being positioned at 0 Aquarius, all the aspects to this Full Moon start in the preceding sign and flow into the next, as we would think of by realizing that the 5-degree conjunction orb would embrace anything between 25 Capricorn to 5 Aquarius. Part of this idea is expressed in the lore on 0 Aquarius as a degree – there being great potential BUT it needs to be tempered by structure, well thought-through planning and all that.
Whether you’re talking about the personal focus which is the Capricorn/Aquarius conjunction, the ‘being confronted’ by quality of a Cancer-to-Leo opposition, realizing through the Libra-into-Scorpio or Aries-into-Taurus square how there’s more to this moment than you anticipated or continuing along in a Taurus-to-Gemini or Virgo-to-Libra mode, any of these are going to be far, far more “acute” (if you will) if the aspect you’re thinking of is closer to exact.
Why that would be goes with why I didn’t mention the Gemini-Cancer or Leo-Virgo inconjunct (adjustments needed) aspects or the typically somewhat off-putting Sagittarius-into-Capricorn or Aquarius-into-Pisces semi-sextiles which would be all about not being quite on track (at least with others).
What I’m getting to is that this Full Moon comes cloaked in the guise of a Yod.
The aspect part of this is simple: Yods are finicky configurations in and of their own accord…where many planetary pictures allow for aspect spreads of 3 or even 5 degrees, Yods are really only ‘in force’ when the three points involved (the points of the ‘Y’) are within 1.5 degrees.
And in this case, we have that – although old-fangled astrologers may get huffy about the…granting that one of those positions is occupied by Pallas and Phaethon, neither which are even dwarf planets. But Pallas is the third largest member of the asteroid belt (known to be) out there. It’s also in a 1:18 resonance with Jupiter, a fact which is rather lovely on the metaphysical level when we stop to think how back in 1802 (when Pallas was discovered) the idea of magnetic resonance wasn’t known.
And yet the asteroid still got named ‘Pallas,’ which in being short for Pallas Athena directs us to the story of how this particular Greek goddess was said to have ‘sprung full grown from the brow of her father, Zeus.’ And who is Zeus in planetary terms?
Jupiter.
So it would be sensible to say that Pallas always carries the need or desire for knowledge or knowing, which with Pallas we think of as being ‘dispassionate’ because the goddess was not ‘born of’ any passionate act.
And let’s face it – Zeus/Jupiter was famous (if not infamous) for his passionate acts…which many of us express through the ‘passion’ with which we pursue ‘things’ Jupiter in our charts.
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Jupiter and Antiope by Rembrandt (1660)
Anyway, here we have a Full Moon expressed with the Moon in Aquarius highlighting the energy of the Sun’s Leo ingress. And facing off against it. Given that the Sun in Leo is always about what we can create and want to do, this Full Moon is ‘highlighting’ the need to consider the implications – which yes, ‘highlights’ the meaning of the Moon’s 0 Aquarius placement.
Reasons, people! Whether we like it or not, we need to have a reason to be doing what we’re doing and a plan for getting it done!
But yes, there’s more. A Yod is made up of one point (in this case the Moon) which is inconjunct to two other points, one of which is at the 150 degree inconjunct point – in this case Pallas/Phaethon - and the other of which is at the 210 degree inconjunct point (within that fussy 1.5 degree orb).
In this Yod, the 210 degree inconjunct point is occupied by Venus-Regulus, a combination which is all about ethical results, against which Pallas/Phaethon could be thought of as a ‘rush to perspective’ which in common parlance, particularly as positioned in the emotional ‘basics’ sign of Cancer might be better phrased as a ‘rush to judgment.’ Such judgment may be external (as in others rushing to judge you). Or it may be all about your having rushed to judge someone or something – and if so, that is probably based on your ‘emotional habits,’ if you will.
Then we get to the ‘solution’ of any Yod (Yods being one of those difficult-to-live if plain-enough-to-solve sort of configurations). The Yod of this Full Moon expresses an ‘adjusting’ force as Pallas/Phaethon. So this Full Moon comes a need, or a traditional expectation that you will choose in a given way. Or act in accordance with what you think is safest. Or that you will respond out of (emotional) habit or merely go along with the known, the easy or the comfortable. The other ‘side’ of this Yod (the 210 inconjunct position) is saying ‘ethical results’ are the best way to get/have what you want. Or that ethical considerations at least are wanting to be considered in the building of alliances.
And yet, the solution to this Yod is also plain. Yods tend to ‘hang’ us on the horns of a dilemma (which sounds seriously uncomfortable). One might say they have a point. But the ‘point’ isn’t what we will tend to think it is as the quandary expressed by the ‘rock and hard place’ horns of the ‘Y’ isn’t the solution of the Yod.
No? No. The solution to any Yod is defined as the midpoint between the two inconjuncts…which in this picture would be the point in opposition to the Moon.
And that would be the Sun.
So...! If there is something you really want or feel you need to do in order to be, become or grow into being the person you know you should be deep inside, this is a moment which highlights that choice. “Sitting” on the Moon’s point – the highlighted issues of plans and societal mandates – that may be part of what you’re dealing with.
But in the end, the object is to be you. Considering everything else which is going on this month there would seem to be much going on which is about ‘breaking out of our shell’ or maybe breaking away from some situation or preconception or estimation of what’s true, or what your limits are – or aren’t. Every year when the Sun comes into Leo life presents us with an opportunity to be and have more of what we want for ourselves…but it can’t all be about just what you want (which would seem to be where a lot of Leo sort of plans go awry). Much as taking a vacation to a beach in the middle of a war zone would have its problems, when we set out to do anything Leo – in this case, expand the bounds on our possibilities or what we can possibly do, be or create – we have to take our ‘real world’ surroundings and the others in that real world reality into account.
Associated at the ‘primary level’ with our pre-teen years, Leo has a whole ‘idolization’ quality which doesn’t always quite live up to the hype (or maybe that’s our imagination) if you meet it in the flesh. Known for ‘what it looks like’ this is sort of the ‘dream date’ syndrome which has us going for the thing which looks fabulous, but which in reality may not be all that satisfying.
The solution with Leo – always and forever – is to use Leo energy to invest in your Self…not what you provide yourself with.
That difference between ‘Self’ and ‘yourself’ is pretty much the Leo game. To make something of who you are takes a lot of hard work, which is the first Leo divider. In some realms, the dream is more appealing than the work it takes to get there. But even if we are willing to take on that effort (which would be ‘step two’ in the Leo process) we have to at least understand what the world around us likes and how the world around us works.
This brings us to The Leo Process Part Three: the Being Your Own Person thing. We are each and every one of us asked to be our own person. An individual who is known as who they are. That confronts us with the challenge to not just be that person, but to be willing to not be like everyone else. For a lot of people, this is a horrifying prospect as it carries with it the ‘risk’ of all we go through in being different, being unique, being an individual.
Oh, rejection! We all hate rejection.
This gets to the heart of the fixed sign process, a process which is all about being willing to stand out for the unique person you are…and to thus be respected for what you have come to know yourself as and accept yourself for being…which individuates you as something different so that you can garner the rewards of individuality.
That ‘separating’ of our Self from the easy-to-sublimate-me-in-the-group non-confrontational dynamic is the Leo-Aquarius process. That which follows is the forging of alliances in this world, alliances which start with our being willing to risk initial rejection in favor of forming eventual alliances. That’s where we test ourselves against our own willingness to own our power to be who we are and earn the respect which ultimately leads to our greatest rewards, all of which is part of the Scorpio/Taurus challenge.
The zodiac works in overlapping groups. Most of us think of it in elemental terms: fire, earth, air and water.
Then, when we juxtapose elements against modalities (or ‘mode’) we start seeing that there are many ways that elements ‘express’ their nature. But it’s only once we assemble all of this into a zodiac wheel that we see life’s fullest expression: the cycles and the natural tendency to start with ‘who I am’ and ‘my understanding of self’ first quadrant, the still-localized ‘learning how things work’ second zodiac quadrant, the out-in-my/the-world interactive third quadrant and the ‘full worldly perspective’ of the forth quadrant.
As the Sun move into Leo on July 22nd at 3:57 in the afternoon (UT/+0) time life moves into a ‘I want to do…(insert goal)’ mode which this Full Moon may ‘highlight’ in terms of the shifting of your gears.
Then again, it may represent a moment when you realize you aren’t moving and you aren’t growing. Or when you refuse to change, grow or alter a single plan.
All may have a true and valid place in your life, in the world, in the greater scope of your personal process. That’s for you to decide. And with Venus also changing signs on the 22nd (at 12:42 p.m. UT/+0), chances are you will at least be considering the yea’s and nay’s and your mental ‘this works, that doesn’t’ list.
Venus in Virgo isn’t known for fun and frolic. But it is known for getting things done. Sometimes that’s all about the grumble-grumble stuff we HAVE to do…and sometimes that’s all about what we deserve to have done so that everything else in our life will work better because we have some inner balance.
With royal fixed star Regulus currently positioned at 0 Virgo there is an ethical question being asked. And while the most basic of ethical questions is whether we are living our lives so as to fulfill our potential as a human individual…there are those ‘other questions’ (pesky though they may be) which ask us whether we work and play well with others.
Any time we talk about Virgo, we’re actually talking about one end of the Virgo-Pisces polarity. Virgo works so as to support the whole in which we live. This is why Virgo people are so often so intuitive by nature, though the earthy nature of Virgo as a sign tends to often push the instinctive ‘knowing’ to one side. With Virgo, the reality rules – and well it might, as reality is where we really live.
So we have Venus’ ingress of Virgo, a symbolic pressing to focus on processes which will lead to concrete results and getting things to happen in real time…set against life (the Sun’s) visionary Leo motivation.
ALL at a Full Moon, and a Full Moon which is itself set up as a Yod which points to that Sun in Leo.
Plus (by the by) this is when Mars is moving into position to oppose Pluto from Cancer. Change is thus in the works, it just depends on whether we are willing to challenge ourselves to work with it or whether life is going to foist change upon us.
Put in most simplistic terms, this would seem to be a moment all about who we can be, not that person that others think we 'should' be. And so long as we remember that we are part of this world and not simply endowed with ‘amazing powers’ to be who we want to be without taking anybody else (including their feelings or their hopes) into account, life will support our forward motion.
All of this would seem to be about celestial signposts. Where life is raising blockades, where life is saying ‘no,’ that suggests we may be on a wrong track. Or we may have left something out. Or we may simply be being too much about our vision without any consideration of the world we live in, the humans we interact with and the fact that life really is about growth and not just about our personal desires.
This is a lunar phase, so it’s unlikely to signal any ‘end of the world’ moments. But all moments, all clicks of the cosmic time wheel do mark our opportunities to become more aware.
And thus we move on…hopefully into an ever more authentic world of our own making and design.
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