Aquarian Lunar Energetics: Uranus, Jupiter and the Full Moon

 Blue Vapour Planet by Timeastor (July 2009)

When the Moon reaches its Full stage at 1:46 in the morning of August 21st it will be generating ‘fulfillment’ through the ‘angle on Earth’ we call 28 Aquarius. So that’s where we start.

And there’s plenty to start with, as 28 Aquarius is (like most Aquarian degrees) all about the abstract level of life – in this case our mentality and how it stands up to everyday, or even extraordinary pressures. The Sabian symbol here is being A BUTTERFLY EMERGING FROM A CHRYSALIS, most of us will think of the charm, the beauty, the delicacy of a butterfly’s fluttering about the garden of our mind.

Or at least our garden in how our mind sees it.

But the image isn’t about fluttering and pretty things, it’s about the struggle to transform and to emerge after an uncontrolled encounter with forces beyond understanding which have wrenched us out of our former sense, style and habit of being, from that constructing a new life we now confront and must contend with.

In point of fact, the life span of a butterfly has three phases: the growth phase of the caterpillar, the transformative chrysalis stage and the ‘completion’ stage – that of the butterfly – where the object is not to ‘look pretty’ but to do what needs doing in order to assure the continuance of life.

 A female Lesser Fiery Copperbutterfly (Zeynel Cebeci, June 2013) 

This three-part phase evolution is very much like zodiacal elements. With twelve signs and four elements, each element is represented by three signs which follow this exact same evolution.

Thus we come to Aquarius, the third of the airy signs most concerned with the ‘idea of the thing’ and between lore on this point and the Sabian symbol’s imagery, it’s clear that this Full phase of the Moon is likely to ‘shine a light’ on areas in our life where we have been ‘cocooned’ or where we have been undergoing transformations – even where we have ‘gone underground’ or ‘died to our Self’ (and former notions of what life was going to be like) because of circumstances or life challenges.

Lore refers to responsibility here, but not responsibility in the sense of what we need to do, what time we have to be at the job, when the kids need picking up…none of that stuff. This is about the responsibility we have to ourselves to become the person we know (knowing being an air sign term) we are capable of being – which according to this symbol is a trying, sometimes exhausting and perplexing process.

What this is about in your own life is probably told by the sign,position and aspects to your natal Moon being how any lunar cycle is it’s own quotient for sure but still a reference to our personal evolutionary efforts.

And lack of same, yes!

(Would that life was easy, right?)

Making this obvious – at least astrologically - is the fact that this Full Moon is the ‘starting point’ for a t-square.
 
(I know…you’re just OVERJOYED at the prospect of dealing with this amidst all else, right?)

 
Nessus / Moon in Aquarius represents a tough energetic. It’s willful, it’s insistent, it wants to have it’s way even if that means blowing ourselves out of the water, out of whack, out of the running…or proving to ourselves that we’re out of line, out of our minds – and in general, ‘not part of the group.’ That group can be anything – from society to your circle of friends to the network created by co-workers, a belief system, blowing your budget…pretty much anything.

Holding that aside for a second (while remembering that the ‘degree’ of the Full Moon IS the degree of the Moon and therefore all the struggle is about being and becoming who we should be in our own estimation…next we turn to Ye Olde T-Square Sticking Point.

That point is represented here as Sedna-Capulus welded together at 24 Taurus and Algol (the urge to get ahead...or even ‘a head’) right nearby.

Capulus carries the energetic of Medusa’s head – which in turn is all about deep seated fears involving holding ourselves in check as we face learning about something which we think is going to scare us.

Will it scare us? Maybe yes, maybe no. How many times have we all been put off by something the mere idea of which brings up the urge to cut and run? And how many times have we all been forced to deal with those issues, only to emerge saying to ourselves ‘that wasn’t so bad…!’

If you’ve been around astroPPM for any length of time you know I’m into the full story of Medusa. In the symbolism and myth of Medusa we find some of our very deepest battles against insecurity being acted out at a vital and visceral level which in the end says you have to face yourself. Whether it’s something you’ve done or something you’re scared of doing, being or recognizing as a reality in your life, the more we evade the issue the more it grows snaky tendrils capable of scaring us into immobility (i.e., stone).

The face of a Lupine Blue Butterfly by Ingrid Talar (August 2009)

But when it comes to the head of Medusa, to understand how to wield the power to ‘freeze it in its tracks’ against those who would be bullies or do wrong or even some other factor in your life which seems to be ‘over-lording’ you? That’s a good thing.

Combined with Sedna, Capulus becomes a combination of facing ourselves and letting go. I described it not long ago to a friend of mine as ‘peeling posters off the walls of the corridors of your mind’…meaning that through facing the scary job of facing and ridding ourselves of preconceived or "pre-installed" notions about what you want life to be...or what someone (or society) has 'said' you should want...that's what allows you to then get on with making life into something you like. Something which, whatever it may be or look like, fulfills your potential.

By itself, Sedna presents some tough and scary challenges. It’s a whole lot easier to do as you were taught to by your parents even when you can see your parents have totally screwed their lives up. Or when their ‘ways’ haven’t done anything but stunt them or create unhappiness. Sedna is the life precept which asks us to see the difference between an internalized expectation or image and reality - whatever 'reality' means to you in your life at this time.

Life isn't airbrushed. Life is raw, and it's through our willingness to confront its rawness - and our most raw issues that we learn who we really are and thus what is really worth the caterpillar-to-butterfly transformation...replete with the struggle to escape our outworn shells...in becoming that spirit which can soar.

Moon / Nessus says some of us are likely to cut our own feet out from under ourselves rather than deal with these truths. But truth is truth – it’s not cookie cutter, it doesn’t all look perfect, but truth is truth.

It is what it is.

Given that this is a t-square being presented in third decan degrees (degrees between 20 and 29 of whatever sign) we know that ‘all those folks’ are part of our present equation. So maybe we’re afraid of ‘what people are going to say’ if we do something… or then again, if we don’t do something (or be something we think they want us to be). This combination may even be about your wanting to help someone who is terrified by their own sense of inadequacy.

Whatever the issue is, it is. Truth is truth.

But don’t take it personally. That’s the essential lesson of t-squares – it’s not the ‘my thing,’ it’s the universality of the concept, the relating thing which counts. The ‘t’ in a t-square is a confrontation for us because we tend to think in me-versus-them (or my idea versus their idea, my ideal versus their ideal) terms. Yet whatever we find in a t-square has something to teach us about relating and our relationship to others, to the world, to the greater dynamics of any situation, profession, movement, aspiration… whatever it is which life is ‘highlighting’ as being central to your ‘at stake’ issue now. The focus may fall on the issue itself… or something which you consider a distraction or “side show.”

In life, hardly anything is truly dispensable. Everything has something to teach us, even if it’s about – for good or ridiculous - our sense of priorities.

Those of us who can see the bigger picture and overall dynamic will get past the Sedna-Capulus-Algol ‘self-blockaded’ feeling. And when we do, we’ll arrive in Sun-in-Leo-land, where a lineup of Sun-Byblis-Ceres-Pappos-and-Mercury speaks to the need… and willingness to communicate openly about our plans (Ceres), the where-we-are-today state of being we’re in (Pappos), our concerns for the state of our world inclusive of…or may not including anyone else… and the all important Sun-Byblis concept of being able to be who we want to be in spite of what others think, the willingness to discuss our vulnerabilities as well as our aspirations.

It’s a worthy goal we all have in mind…the only question is whether we can get past whatever old ‘programming’ and presumptions we may have to finding out what our truth and the truth really is.

So often we think we know about something and we haven’t a clue what it is in real time or how it really works. Just recently I had a moment to explain something I know about through experience which a friend mine had some pretty standard misconceptions about. The subject isn’t important here, merely that we had been having a great time interacting with each other except for how every once in a while I felt like a Hollywood film was being superimposed on my being.

Media…hype…rumors…gossip…even things we read which are written by reliable authors and authorities – none of those equal personal experience. 

Two Butterflies on a Flower in West Virginia (ForestWander, January 2009)

 
That’s why at various points in our life the ‘Sedna Factor’ comes along. All along the line, Sedna is that process which causes us to shed the old and become what we are now – in this time, in this day, at this age.

It isn’t easy, but we do it. And that Sedna is part of this Full Moon picture is interesting as Sedna will be taking its station in about a week from now.

Are you into movies? If so, think of this as a sort of ‘coming attractions’ sort of thing. Or maybe you want to think of this as a warm up for the main event which is yet (if soon) to come.

One more thing to be aware of here: barely hours after this Full Moon takes shape in our skies, Jupiter (in Cancer) squares Uranus in Aries.

This says great things can happen. Some of us will make strides – even breakthroughs now. With Jupiter conjunct Alhena-Lilith-Sirius-Eros-Tantalus, we may figure out that when we focus (Eros) on why we meet up with things good and bad (and what we can learn from them, that being the Alhena nuance) that instead of living a life which deprives us of the opportunity to have what we (Tantalus) want, it’s actually possible to get past our disbelief in Self (asteroid Lilith) and begin to grow more (Jupiter/Uranus) freely.

May each and every one of us find our way to that reflective inner light which now so wants to be seen. It’s there, if only we can get past struggling with who and what we've become after being transformed through these past weeks of chrysalis where we were not aware of what we were becoming.

Now we struggle to free ourselves not from daily encumbrances or the needs of those around us but the shroud of preconceived notions about who we are - which we are no longer.

Gaining perspective on ourselves will take time. Yet in this moment we have the opportunity to grapple with ourselves in the gaining of perspective on what we've become. Once we do that we will be able to spread our wings and take off for wherever destiny may lead us.

But first we have to finish getting away from that which we haven't yet freed ourselves of.
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