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| Art by Sonal Poghat |
Full Moon in Aquarius: The Blessing of Detachment
Moon opposite Sun- 7/23/21 @
9:36pm CDT
This Blessing Moon shines full
in Aquarius, which is Saturn’s diurnal expression. Saturn is also co-present in this sign, where
Saturn and Moon will meet the following day.
Saturn in Aquarius holds a very objective view of the future, and one
that focuses on the work required for the greater good instead of how such
responsibility may feel to each of us on a personal level. It is both humanitarian and relatively detached
from human drama all at once. So Saturn Retrograde
is informing this Aquarius Moon with his plans for reconstruction of Humanity’s
systems, while Moon illuminates the needs of the community.
While not all of us with
Aquarius planets are so detached and objective (you really have to take the
whole natal chart into account), this particular time in our lunar cycle has
that underlying signature. The Air element,
thus intellect and discussion, is highlighted through a Grand Trine with Libra
Vesta and Gemini Persephone. So while
the Air element does tend to bring people together through relating and
communicating, it operates on the mental plane…which often works to distinguish
one thing from another to describe a concept clearly. The amplification of Air at this time
suggests an ability for each of us to reach a point of clarity about what began
in the dark of the New Moon two weeks ago.
'Vesta' by Pamela Matthews
These asteroids, Vesta and
Persephone, represent two mythic storylines where detachment for the greater
good also plays a key role. Vesta, named
after the Goddess of the Hearth, is Keeper of the Sacred Flame…her Vestal
Priestesses tasked with the responsibility of tending the Sacred Flame of the
community. In dedication to her Sacred
Work, Vesta willingly chose to remain chaste…detached from the pursuit of Gods
like Apollo and Neptune. The Latin word
for Hearth is ‘Focus’…and Vesta shows where focus and dedication is
needed. In Libra, this focus is on maintaining
balance in one-on-one relationships…but Vesta brings a more platonic focus to our
relations. Echoing the call of Venus,
who recently moved into Virgo, Vesta asks us to consider relating with each
other through acts of service.
'Hades and Persephone' by Sandara
Persephone, named after the
Queen of the Underworld, is another Goddess with a rich storyline. And while
her abduction by Hades (Pluto) is a well-known part of her story (which relates
to the later patriarchal takeover of the Great Mother’s rulership over death
and rebirth), it is a reframing that happened later. As Demetra George notes in her book ‘Finding
Our Way Through the Dark’: “In the
Pre-Hellenic version of her myth, Persephone voluntarily went into the
Underworld for part of each year to tend to the dead.”
Persephone’s significance in
this Grand Trine, and through Gemini, brings up her conscious choice to move
across the threshold (a sacred object of Vesta’s) from maidenhood to her
womanhood as Queen of the Dead…which necessitated that she be an integral part
of two worlds. In each story, Vesta and
Persephone chose to become what was needed for the greater good…by their own
volition. This suggests that one of the amplified
themes of this Full Moon is about making a conscious choice that takes us
beyond our personal experience to serve a greater goal.
This call to step beyond the ‘why
me?’ and just choose to do the hard work required of each of us is also
indicated by Sun’s conjunction to Psyche in Leo. This conjunction is the fiery anchor point of
the airy flow of the Grand Trine, creating a Kite pattern and suggesting that
there is more opportunity to use the trines in a beneficial way.
Art by John William Waterhouse
The Asteroid Psyche, which I
refer to as the ‘Mind of the Soul’, is intricately tied to her lover Eros
(which I call the ‘Heart of the Soul’) in their mythic storyline. There is a separation…a detachment…involved
in their story too, where Psyche must complete some seemingly impossible tasks so
that she may be reunited with her love. This
separation resulted from her own choice to reveal the true identity of her
lover, Eros. And while ‘the path of true
love never did run smooth’ (as Puck says in ‘Midsummer’), Psyche’s choice led
to her becoming who she was meant to be (just as it was for Vesta and
Persephone). It seems The Heroine’s
Journey is written all over this Full Moon.
And to bring it all back
around to Moon in Aquarius, this Moon is also tightly conjunct Chariklo (in the
same degree of Aquarius). Chariklo is the
largest body classified as a Centaur, whose orbit moves between Saturn and
Uranus without moving beyond the orbital paths of those planets. As her name means ‘Graceful Spinner’, she
represents the graceful enforcement of boundaries. Her unique rings indicate the ability to
uphold personal boundaries while her dance between Saturn and Uranus indicates respect
for other’s boundaries.
Art by John La Farge
As the loving and supportive
wife of Chiron, Chariklo went from nymph to what some have called ‘Lady Shaman’
in her mythic storyline…in some accounts even transforming into a centaur
through this marriage. One of her
significations is the ability to hold space for others through any process of
transition or transformation. She was a
midwife to the healing process of her husband as well as a midwife for others
through birth, death, and all Rites of Passage in between. She creates a container of grace in which the
difficult, but necessary, work can be done.
And while she is known for her compassionate care, she also employs some
amount of detachment so that she can hold this kind of space for the larger
process that needs to take place.
The Full Moon reflects
Chariklo’s graceful enforcement of boundaries so that we may all be held in
that safe container as we make our individual choices now…to heal, to step up
to our challenges, and to become what calls us beyond the Self.
Love and Gratitude,
Felina Lune Kavi
