Full Moon in Capricorn: Releasing Inertia to Integrate Insight

Spider Woman by Susan Seddon Boulet

Full Moon in Capricorn: Releasing Inertia to Integrate Insight

Moon opposite Sun @ 11:51pm CDT on 7-27-18

This “Strong Sun” Moon phase surrounding the Solstice has brought forth a lot to process.  The ease of this process has been dependent upon how much we were willing to let go of what has been blocking our efforts to grow.  If we’re still clinging tight to the end of a chapter, we may never find what the rest of the story offers. 

Now is the time to break free of the inertia of the past…though this involves some heavy lifting before we can move forward.  This time, we return to Capricorn’s Mountain for the sheer love of the climb.  In January, we were here for a pilgrimage…we had much to learn.  Now we have some experience of the endurance and measured steps needed to reach our goals.  Now we walk the path in a new light.

Sun in Cancer 7:  Two fairies dancing under the moonlight

Dancing is one of the most powerful ways to release whatever might be holding us back.  Of course, we don’t need to take these symbols so literally…but I might, personally, for this one.  I do love a good dance to slough off any heaviness.  Whether or not you get your body moving in this way, the image refers to the hidden processes of nature and how the forces of nature are engaging in these ways whether you notice or not.  The Solstices and Equinoxes are the days of the year when nature spirits are most active in celebration of life’s cycles.  Since this is the Full Moon after a Solstice, it’s certainly a good time to celebrate how far we’ve come in the past several months.  It makes no difference to the nature spirits if it is a Wednesday night.  It’s all about Mother Nature’s timing.

Moon in Capricorn 7:  A veiled prophet speaks

Even as Mars Retrogrades back to the South Node of the Moon and dissects a bit more into our past, important messages about our future are being communicated through this Full Moon.  Listen to the messages you’re receiving.  Moon may connect to you through Dreamtime, divination, imagery in your environment, animals, nature, people you know, people you meet, etc.  Some of you might not want to hear it, but your parents may be the ones to transmit the lunar prophecy at this time…after all, Moon is conjunct Saturn Retrograde in Capricorn.  There’s definitely a strong parental vibe to this veiled authority.  However it may come across, Moon-Saturn is looking out for your best interests because Capricorn really does care about the next generations.  If you can find the time, call or visit one of your elders.  They may have some wisdom to share with you.

Saturn Retrograde in Capricorn 6: Ten logs lie under an archway leading to darker woods

We’re at a threshold, Saturn says (as he shines brightest while closest to us in his orbit, opposing the Sun), but before we can cross into new territory…we have a bit of clean-up work to do.  The ten logs lying beneath this archway are those remnants of past that block us from moving forward.  We’re going to have to put in some effort to move them before we can move onward.  We can’t bring them with us…so we have to leave them behind us.  This does mean we’ll have to spend some time going backward…but at least there’s a purpose that motivates us to succeed in unblocking the path.  But, it is retrograde season after all.  Saturn’s only one of 4 planets (and eventually, next month, 5 and then 6 planets) bringing up the inner work that needs to happen while we retrace some steps and reconsider the plan in new ways. 

Chiron in Aries 3:  A cameo profile of a man suggests the shape of his country

Chiron’s still direct right now (until July 4^th), and is in a square with the luminaries and Saturn Rx…taking the uncomfortable position at the apex of a T-square pattern (perpendicular to the Cancer-Capricorn axis).  The apex of a T-square configuration is where any of the stress of the opposition will pool and create the dynamic urge to make necessary changes.  So the healer of the cosmos is dealing with the brunt of whatever is in need of balance.  Perhaps there’s some medicine in this 3^rd degree where he’s slowing down to station retrograde soon.  We might combine two age-old pieces of wisdom to create what Chiron might be telling us here:  “Know thyself to heal thyself”.  Chiron in this ‘cameo’ degree of Aries teaches us that we are the true authority of our lives, and that we have a significant role to play within the bigger picture.  It also suggests, at this time, that the ‘shape of our country’ is under a lot of stress from the polarizations that keep occurring between the Cancer-Capricorn axis, which we will explore later this year with the lunar nodes.  Chiron, though, is trying to teach us that each oppositional axis is held together by a common thread.  My experience of this axis (as it is my Nodal axis), is that the point of balanced agreement is in providing whatever is necessary for our next generations.

And all of this is happening just after Mars turned Retrograde…joining Jupiter, Saturn, Pluto (and, next week, Neptune) in Retrograde motion.  By July 10^th, for a week, we’ll have 6 planets retrograde at once (Jupiter will station direct, but Uranus and Mercury will be retrograde by that point).  What is it like to have so many planets retrograde at once?  If you remember in January, at the time of the New Moon in Capricorn, all of the planets were direct (which was also the case the previous year when Trump was inaugurated)…the world moves quickly around us, and sometimes mistakes will happen as we’re all just trying to keep up.  Well, after those times, the retrogrades begin to return and things slow down a bit so we can backtrack to pick up some pieces we may have missed…this involves an inward journey of revision, rediscovery, and retrieval.  And in those times, like this summer, when so many of the planets are retrograde…we have a lot of reconsideration and revising to do.  Here's one of my many explanations of what is like to have 6 retrograde planets in your natal chart…any babies born in mid-July this year might grow up with a similar experience (although, it’s really more complex than the exploration included below).

The world likely appears much faster to those who are born with all or most planets direct. My main source of understanding for that is my older brother who has all planets direct...but it's significantly common for U.S. presidents to have APD birth times as well...and I doubt the world ever feels like it slows down for them. My brother and I couldn't be more different, it seems. While he has always pushed forward at the rate of a very fast-paced world...I'm often able to slow it down to a speed which allows me to see things coming before they happen. It's like those scenes in the Matrix where Neo is in a fight and everything slows down so he can avert whatever blow is coming his way. Muhammed Ali was born with 6 retrogrades too...I often wonder if it was similar for him when he would 'float like a butterfly and sting like a bee'. I'm no boxer...but I do spend a lot of time discussing with others how they can make the best of their gifts within this Matrix...and also how to use their gifts to hack and recode that Matrix to better serve Mother Earth.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Full Moon in Sagittarius: Fine-Tuning our Skill Set

Full Moon in Sagittarius: Fine-Tuning our Skill Set

Moon opposite Sun- 9:21am CDT, 5-29-18

This Full Flower Moon is a celebration of life, but there is a very magical structure to this celebration which holds much potential for creative collaboration and expression. We began this cycle at the New Moon in Taurus on May 15^th, and now we’re bringing those initial seeds to bloom. My New Moon class focused on the body...and the sensual enjoyment of life that the earthiness of Taurus generates to lead us into Summertime. Uranus moving into Taurus that same day has held some surprising weight throughout this cycle...and shifted us into new ideas in this realm of matter.

Now that Moon is full, she is in the fire sign of Sagittarius...burning the earthy wood of those initial intentions into a warm campfire that sends smoke signals up to the higher realms, reaching like prayers into the heavens. Now is the time when blessings can be realized.

Moon in Sagittarius 9: A mother leads her small child step by step up a steep stairway

Stairway to the Moon by Emma Blyth

The Moon illuminates this Sabian Symbol as she gives us guidance like a Mother. Full and pregnant with possibility, she helps us to conquer the illusions of our untrained bodies and minds with the truth of our potential. We are stepping up to a new vision of what is possible...and the mutable fire of Sagittarius illuminates our path to see the bigger picture. Full Flower Moon is a beautiful time to take ideas to a higher level, like seeds growing into vibrant flowers. The Sagittarian quest for truth brings forth the beauty from within. Here we are sharpening a new skill with the help of Mother Moon...who’s been gliding past Spica and Jupiter Retrograde in Scorpio this weekend, reflecting their gifts. If you follow where she moves each night in our sky...what house within your own birth chart is she gracing with these gifts now that she’s in the fire sign of Sagittarius? I’m seeing her illuminate my 7^th House of Relationships after a weekend where she lit up conjunctions with a lot of my natal planets.

Sun in Gemini 9: A quiver filled with arrows

This Sabian Symbol highlighted by our Sun is an image that has much to do with preparation. With energetic and mental preparedness, we find the key to stability and accuracy at this time is to be poised and confident…ready to skillfully aim our ideas toward action. Be alert to the energies building, and what the sextile between Sun and the North Lunar Node is pointing toward. The house in your natal chart where Saturn in Capricorn is retrograding now is where these forces are helping you to aim for success. No, it isn’t easy...there is a process of integration that must take place. New knowledge and new courage are difficult to work into the ‘down to brass tacks’ restructuring that Saturn inclines. Part of us feels like there’s no more room for something new to inform what we’re trying to work on...and another part of us feels exhilarated by the recent blasts of new information. Maintaining a sense of focus on the goal while acknowledging that there is integrative action needed makes it less difficult to make decisions.

Yod within a Masculine Mystic Rectangle floating on a Grand Water Trine

What the heck does that even mean??? Sure, it’s a strange language for some. Hopefully the image will help those unfamiliar with aspect patterns. The Sacred Geometry of the forces as they lay out on a chart wheel of the sky is beautiful in itself. Though much of it is invisible in our Living Sky, it still moves us as they move through the signs. Imagine it as an image in the sky...the finger of God (Yod) pointing to the recollecting wisdom of the Grandmother (Saturn Rx in Capricorn) as she rests upon a mystical raft (Mystic Rectangle) above harmonious waters (Grand Water Trine). Saturn is guiding this flow for all of us in different ways. Essentially, we’re being guided to work within the limitations of society’s structure of time and space. Ideas and inspirations are great, but how do we make them work in our physical reality? What kind of practical application of all this energy will help us realize our goal? And what will make it sustainable, enduring, and useful? Lots of questions...and each individual is carrying their own answers.  

The Saturn Yod (Sun-North Node Sextile pointing to Saturn)

Saturn is currently retrograde in the 8^th degree of Capricorn. The Sabian Symbol here is ‘birds in the home singing happily’. The usual interpretations of this symbol often speak of domestication. That very well may ring true to many of us, however I would like to offer another interpretation. Because Saturn also represents the structure and containment of our bodies...the bones and the skin that hold us together...perhaps an excerpt from Rumi’s ‘To Take a Step Without Feet’ might give another look into the meaning of ‘home’.  

“...My soul, where does this breathing arise?

How does this beating heart exist?

Bird of the soul, speak in your own words,

and I will understand.

The heart replied: I was in the workplace

the day this house of water and clay was fired.

I was already fleeing that created house,

even as it was being created.

When I could no longer resist, I was dragged down,

and my features were molded from a handful of earth.”

Dreaming the Owl Dream by Susan Seddon Boulet

So when we speak of Saturn in terms of limitations and restrictions, why is it that such a beautiful planet should carry such weight? Saturn was traditionally known as the farthest away of our planetary neighbors...at the edge of what we thought we could see of these ‘wandering stars’. We were limited, of course...not knowing all that was beyond what we were able to view with the naked eye. Interestingly, Uranus is actually visible during the times when he is closest to Earth (in ‘opposition’ to our Sun). Our vision can and should expand beyond our traditional views and human constructs...as Uranus often proves. But it is Saturn that is associated with the containment of our earthly reality. One of those containers is the vessel into which we were born so that we can fully experience life as Spirit and Soul within Matter. So many things about having a body to breathe through and to ground our movements are seen through our societal perceptions as ‘a blessing and a curse’. We might call our bodies ‘meat suits’...like a rented outfit of flesh and bone we wear for a time until we can break free from its limitations. But what of its potential? What of its capacity to carve out ideas into tangible creations? What of the beauty of our body’s movement?

These are things we might explore at this time...in however our bodies know to express them. And maybe...we might learn to sing our body’s praises.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Full Moon in Scorpio: Focused Forces

Full Moon in Scorpio: Focused Forces

Moon opposite Sun @ 7:57pm CDT on 4-29-18

Welcome to the Wind Moon in full! Isn’t she beautiful and powerful?! Soak her in this weekend. She comes bearing gifts.

I was born under a Scorpio Moon myself, so I especially love this full moon each year. It resonates with the depths of our feelings, so it’s not for everyone. But it holds the power to transform...and to create a focus of life force energy on those seed intentions we planted at the New Moon in Aries mid-month.

This Full Moon illuminating the Taurus-Scorpio axis can highlight the extremes of our sensory and extrasensory experiences, the physical and the metaphysical, the pleasure and the pain, the growth and the plunge, as well as the power within us and the power we interact with beyond ourselves. With any opposition (as every full moon is), we are meant to find the balance within opposing forces. Sun in Taurus wants to create growth and Moon in Scorpio wants to create depth...but they each want to create, and they each tend to do it in an involutionary way. What are you creating within you in this moon phase? Something transformative is happening under the surface. It’s a good time to re-enliven these creations now in whatever way resonates. This is also a good time to trust and create balance between your physical body and your intuitive body. This luminary opposition can aid in dropping into where we can really listen to that still voice inside of us that empowers us along our soul’s journey.

What was planted on 4-15 has now come to flower. Taurus Sun reminds us to ‘stop and smell the roses’ while Scorpio Moon reminds us to water them with care.

Moon in Scorpio 10: “a fellowship supper”

The soulful act of sharing life experiences with others is at the core of Scorpio medicine. Human bonds are created and relationships are strengthened when we come together to support a common goal. We join forces and create something that forever connects us. And then, we celebrate! There may be a desire to commune with others this weekend and create a shared experience. My daughter will be singing ‘Just Around the Riverbend’ from Disney’s Pocahontas at her recital just before the Full Moon, so there will probably be a celebratory family supper afterwards...which is almost a literal translation of the Sabian Symbol for this degree. Whoever you’re with at the time of the full moon (even if it’s just you), celebrate the support you’ve given each other (or yourself) in manifesting your goals…and you’ll be tapping into the fortifying power of this full moon!

Sun in Taurus 10: “a red cross nurse”

Taurus-like as a celebratory feast sounds, a fearless nurse compelled to heal those who are on the edge sounds very Scorpio-like. In an opposition, after all, we are meant to find the balance in opposites. At the time that Elsie Wheeler channeled the Sabian Symbols (1925), the symbol of the Red Cross Nurse was one of feminine heroism...taking care of soldiers and veterans, aiding the diseased, and providing relief during disasters. Taurus is a productive energy that uses resources wisely to provide something of value to the world. Compassionate and altruistic as the symbol is, it is also an image of ‘doing what needs to be done’ which resonates as a Taurus motto. As Virginia Henderson has said of nurses: “The nurse is temporarily the consciousness of the unconscious, the love of life for the suicidal, the leg of the amputee, the eyes of the newly blind, a means of locomotion for the infant, the knowledge and confidence of the young mother, and a voice for those too weak to speak.” Within this quote, we can recognize the vital nature of Taurus as the first sign of physical matter. With this earth energy, we use the resources we have to create what is needed. This weekend, we may find that we have something we can use to support another who needs it.

Luminary/Nodal Fixed Grand Cross

While the luminaries highlight the Taurus-Scorpio axis, they are dynamically linked at this time in 90 degree aspects (aka. Squares) by the North and South Lunar Nodes on the Leo-Aquarius axis. These four signs are known as the fixed signs. So, together, they create an aspect pattern called the Fixed Grand Cross. A grand cross is a geometric structure that forms a full square pattern with two oppositions crossing in the center. There is tension pulling from four corners, which creates a need for action to alleviate the stress of the squares and balance between the two oppositions. While this pattern is challenging, there is a center point to it that (when balanced) can be very productive and structurally sound for moving forward with things. With a fixed grand cross in particular, when it is out of balance (one corner is pulling too much focus away from the others), it can feel like a wheel that’s stuck in the mud. At some point, something’s gotta give...and then the wheel can get moving in our lives. If you were born with a Fixed Grand Cross, as my daughter was, then you likely come across many instances in life where you get yourself ‘stuck’ and are unable to move until you find your balance again. In early life, these are frustrating lessons until you build up an understanding of your own self-worth and personal power later on...then you can use the structure of the cross in balance to become a very productive finisher of life’s many tasks. Even if you don’t have a Fixed Grand Cross in your natal chart, this Full Moon is likely to make you feel what that is like. If you feel stuck and frustrated, check your self-talk about your self-worth...you may be the one who is actually disempowering yourself or holding yourself back. Feel pulled in multiple directions? Where can you strike a balance? The challenge here comes from resistance to necessary change. But under a Scorpio Moon, transformation is always in the air...so if you allow yourself to adapt to change and trust that everything will work out as it needs to, you can tap into some powerful momentum pushing you through the rest of this moon phase. When the lunar nodes are involved in such a configuration, fate is often at hand. Ceres, the dwarf planet named after the nurturing mother goddess, is also conjunct the North Node in Leo...so she’s reminding us to make sure we are taking good care of ourselves at this time. Before we set off to do whatever our Full Moon experience is, Ceres says “Here, I packed you a healthy meal in case you expend too much energy...and here’s a jacket in case the wind picks up...and don’t forget your boots just in case you run into some mud. Now go play nice with your friends!”

Saturn Support

It’s always nice to have a good outlet for the tense energy contained within the Grand Cross. Saturn, the planet that rules supportive structures, is in a sextile (60 degree aspect of opportunity) with the Moon and a trine (120 degree aspect of harmony) with the Sun. Saturn is retrograde in the 10^th degree of Capricorn, where the Sabian Symbol is ‘an albatross feeding from the hand of a sailor’. Here’s another nurturing influence...but one that is different from that of Ceres in Leo. Saturn here provides us an opportunity to cultivate trust by approaching the unknown with more confidence than we might otherwise have. Of course, we have to take the opportunity by our own volition...and perhaps allow ourselves to be vulnerable while facing some fears. Saturn reminds us that the rewards for our effort are worth it. In Capricorn, he’s providing us with nutrients from the earth for what we’re growing in this moon phase. And through his retrograde, he is re-boosting our roots and our structures that uphold our integrity.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Chiron in Aries: Heal Thyself

Chiron in Aries:  Heal Thyself

Chiron’s Aries Ingress @ 3:10am on 4/17/18

Chiron is like the Shaman of our Cosmic Neighborhood.  With an irregular orbit between Saturn (our last visible planet) and Uranus (our first transpersonal planet), Chiron travels between our experience of ordinary reality and non-ordinary reality.  In our chart, Chiron can represent both the original wound we carry as well as the medicine gift we find from the healing path of that wound.  And though the wound and the gift express differently (and at different stages) for everyone, Chiron always comes back around to where he was when you were born right around the age of 50.  During the Chiron Return, we may experience a healing crisis…or we may experience it as an initiation of the healer/teacher archetype within. 

Because of Chiron’s irregular orbit, it also spends more time (8 to 9 years) in Pisces and Aries than the rest of the signs.  Though Chiron is moving out of Pisces now (after travelling through that last sign of the zodiac since 2010), Chiron will retrograde back into Pisces one last time between September 2018 and February 2019.  So the next 5 months will be an introduction to the Chiron in Aries lessons we will be activating for the next 9 years. 

However, if you were born between 1969 and 1977, some of the Aries themes Chiron will be bringing up to the collective now are already part of your life experience as that was the last time Chiron was in Aries.  Within the next 9 years, you will be experiencing your Chiron Return and, hopefully, choosing the healing path that leads you into a fuller expression of the gift within your wounds.

As Aries is the beginning of our zodiac, signified by the point in the sky where our Sun is at the Vernal Equinox point, the Aries wound often has to do with birth and identity of self.  ‘Who am I?” and “Why was I born?” are questions that may bring up feelings of inadequacy or pain when Chiron’s lessons teach us about the Aries wound to be healed.  This wound can have many expressions…it might just turn our focus to others to escape ourselves, or it could express as bravado and hubris to mask the feeling of purposelessness.  The healing path here, though, is about returning to our own Divine Spark…our individual gifts and self-realizations.  Chiron spends so much time focused on Aries because it is one of the most difficult gifts for us Earthlings to express in healthy ways…the gift of being who we were born to be.  After all, being human is a difficult process with so many confusions along the path.  There’s no instruction manual.  Most of us are winging it. 

But, we do have guides along the way…and astrology connects us with such archetypal teachers as Chiron.  Interestingly, this half-animal/half-God centaur archetype understands the dualities of human nature and holds the key to discovering the gift that humanity has to offer.  And though nobody really likes to face their own wounds as part of gaining this key understanding, Chiron is a patient and benevolent guide.

In these next nine years, we will see much more need for self-love and self-healing. We will likely, by the end of Chiron’s journey through Aries, see many more healers arise to shine their own unique medicine.  Allow your own healer within to be your guide in the coming years, as each of us holds our own keys to our individual healing process.

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi

Chiron's glyph...representing the key to our healing

 P.S.  To discover more about Chiron's mythic storyline, insight into natal chart placement, as well as a bit about the Chiron in Pisces journey were wrapping up at the end of this year and beginning of the next...you can read my post from last year called Chiron the Wounded Healer

Full Moon in Libra: Relating Under the Pressure of Performance

Full Moon in Libra:  Relating Under the Pressure of Performance

Moon opposite Sun @ 7:36am CDT on 3-31-18

Welcome to the second, and final, blue moon of our year!  As it was at the end of January, this is another social ‘blue moon’…significant only to the calendar month (which is a more modern way of tracking time than the stars or the seasons).  The ‘once in a blue moon’ advice still applies, though it is less of a cosmic urge (blue moon within the same sign) or a biological urge (blue moon in a particular season)…and more of a subtle, societal opportunity that can arise.

This Full Moon is primarily influenced by Mercury Retrograde in Aries, since the Interior Conjunction of Sun and Mercury will be the next day (April 1^st).  During these inner planet retrograde conjunctions, the planet is always closest to Earth.  With Mercury in close proximity to us, mercurial energy has a potent effect on our world…and especially on our minds (the personal mind, the collective mind, and the Mother Mind of our Earth).  The archetype of the Aries Mercury Mind could be defined as the Mental Motivator.  New ideas are forming like seeds from the fruit of the last Mercury cycle.  Aries can be a spicy seed, no doubt, as it is the first of the fire signs. 

Sweet or spicy, this pepper seed within the Aries Mercury cycle means to motivate some mental action during this shift.  Whatever it is that you need to do at this time (and Eris will make sure that you honor it or she’ll chuck a ‘Golden Apple’ at your head), this Mercury energy is meant to encourage and inspire you to blaze your trail.  How it does that is actually more up to you, personally, than some astrologers you’ve read might project.  Do you want to get this Mercury lesson from Heyokah…who teaches through humor and opposites?  Tap into the Fool archetype and enjoy it this April Fool’s Day.  Would it work best for you through Thoth…the ‘voice of Ra’, creator of language, and patron of the written word?  That’s my go to, of course.  If that resonates for you, write your rapid-fire, inspired thoughts this weekend.  Is Jesus your go to guy?  Connect with the phoenix-like rebirth of this Easter weekend and rebirth yourself along your spiritual path.  I was born on an Easter Sunday, so even though I’m only connected to Christianity through the paths of others that I love…I do resonate with the Phoenix/Butterfly totem medicine that permeates the collective consciousness of this season.  There are many more beneficial teachers of this mercurial medicine, and if you resonate with one…set your intention with them to be inspired and transformed from the inside out.

So, this Full Moon in Libra is our pre-show to this big Mercury transformation…setting the stage with a luminous spotlight day and night.  The players are many, though Retrograde Mercury has a lead role in this.  The conflict of the cosmic storyline comes from Saturn and Mars in Capricorn, the Wise One and the Worldly Warrior (like Felix and Oscar in ‘The Odd Couple’ in some ways).  Some astrologers might focus on these two as ‘malefics’…and their version of the show might sound a little more ‘doom and gloom’ than it has to be.  Remember the Fool archetype of this season, and lighten things up as a counter balance.  It is truly a Divine Comedy playing out, and when we fail to see the humor in our oppositions…we can color a whole event through an unnecessarily depressing lens.  Just because it’s a Blue Moon doesn’t mean the gels on the stage lights need to cast a dark blue glow…bright blue might be a better choice if you want the effect to be more awe-inspiring. 

The cosmic storyline of this Divine Comedy teaches us how to relate with opposites.  Full Moons do this in general, but when they are on the Aries-Libra axis…it illuminates the essence of our relationship between Self and Other.  And because Mercury is the star of this show (in the spotlight of our star, the Sun)…the dialogue of the script is key.  Appreciate the comic timing of it all, and it may inspire you to laugh and learn to change your mind all at once.  Get swept up in the drama, and you could have a very different interpretation of the show.  It really is up to us to enjoy it or not. 

In your own personal show inspired by it, you might forget your lines or trip on your fellow actor’s performance…but you might also be able to save the show even with the mishaps, if you play it right.  The Aries energy of Sun-Mercury gives you the encouragement to understand your role, your character, within your personal performance as well as the collective production.  However, it is the Moon in Libra that insists we get outside of ourselves and relate to our fellow actors and the collective audience.  The symbols of this celestial show will give us clues along the way as to what we might glean from the story.

Moon in 11 Libra:  An Aside to the Audience

Cuthbert Binns, Hogwarts' History of Magic professor,

was unaware that he had died long ago and just continued to teach. 

"I teach the facts, Miss Granger, not myths and legends."

The Sabian Symbol of the Moon’s degree is “a professor peering over his glasses at his students”.  This image presents the necessity to transmit knowledge to a new generation of thinkers and seekers.  In this symbol, the glasses are key.  These glasses allude to the strain on sight that so much knowledge (from reading) can lead to.  So here we have a professor with a wealth of knowledge to pass on to younger generations, but he can only really ‘see’ his students by looking away from his book or notes and out into where his students are.  This is about an ability to relate to others, though our knowledge can sometimes set us apart or distance ourselves from others as well.  This technological age is like that blessing/curse conundrum brought up here.  It helps us to relate our knowledge to many diverse groups of people while being very inwardly drawn in this retrograde energy…but it also separates us from people at the same time.  Essentially, a boring lecture on whatever your most pressing topic is will not connect to others.  How best to engage an audience?  Tell a story that makes them think and feel…move them and motivate them.  And that brings us to the Aries energy of this time.

Sun in 11 Aries: The Emperor Stripped Bare in the Spotlight

"The President has the finest clothes, made of the best fabrics.

The media just unfairly reports on it."

The Sabian Symbol of the Sun’s degree is “the ruler of a nation”.  Here’s my story of this symbolism:  There once was a beautiful notion of the Sovereignty of the land.  In order  for anyone to rule upon the land, they had to have a respectful relationship with Lady Sovereignty.  Rulers were wiped out or usurped if this relationship was lacking.  This notion was widely accepted and honored, for a time anyway.  Fast-forward to present day rulership, though, and we are often left wondering where that relationship was lost.  Conflict after conflict arises because of this lack of reverence toward the land and the lives upon it.  The greedy few are often in control of the masses as well as the land’s resources.  For as long as we’ve all been alive, we’ve seen how this kind of ‘rulership’ plays out, accruing more and more damage over many cycles of the same old thing.  Now, you can apply this story of Sovereignty both collectively as well as personally.  Collectively, it is inspiring more and more people to either fight this fire with raging fire, drown it out with the water of compassion, fan the flames with the air of their displeasure, or ground it down into the earth with 6:20 minutes of reverent silence for those who have taken unnecessary hits in the madness of our modern times.  It is hard to find any humor in what is happening here in our own nation, but evoking laughter is not actually the superobjective of a comedy.  The purpose is actually, much like Heyokah medicine, to teach by uncovering the truth in opposition. 

On the individual level, this can translate to you as a question that brings about a necessary decision:  “How am I relating?”  The answer is, at once, the intention for this next cycle…and it begins with the Aries phrase followed by the Libra phrase “I am…and I relate…”  So, how DO you relate your self-expression to others?  Mercury Retrograde in Aries reminds us to “BE the change”.  After all, the only ones we can truly rule are ourselves. 

Mercury Rx in 13 Aries:  A Comedy of Errors

The Sabian Symbol of Mercury’s degree is ‘a bomb fails to explode’.  This symbol carries the essence of divine comic timing that is often apparent in Mercury Retrogrades.  We planned this thing, and then it doesn’t work out…but why?  I like to use this example to highlight the nature of this occurrence (because it has manifested this way on the mundane level for me many times).  Something happens that makes you late for work/an appointment/a meeting…even in all of your rushing it seems you are ‘doomed’ to be late (red lights, slow traffic, etc.)…and then you notice there is an accident ahead of you.  Being just a bit earlier may have put you in line to get hit in that moment.  For some reason, and for the personal mishaps that caused your delay, a worse crisis may have been averted.  A symbolic ‘bomb fails to explode’ and you realize that being late could have been the least of your troubles.  You can realize, in such moments, patience is needed…rushing can result in accidents.  Of course, you can also look at it as another thing to make you more late, but that’s not an outlook that will help you understand much of what’s playing out.  This degree of Aries, there is an element of flipping a coin in every situation.  Prosperity or destruction?  Especially with Mars and Saturn squaring off against this energy, impulsivity and caution are both in the mix.  However, the energy does suggest a sense of momentary peace and protection…or even lucking out.  Unless you’re the one trying to ‘drop the bomb’, I guess…in which case, your expectations might not come to fruition.  As it was in the last full moon where this symbol was highlighted (last October), planned out preparations are not the way of this energy.  There is a larger story pushing for us, the characters, to be in other situations than where we thought we’d be focusing.  The plot thickens as the Author/Playwright brings even the readers/audience to an unexpected turn of events.  If something doesn’t go as planned, there is likely a more pressing situation that will need to be defused elsewhere in your life.  This Comedy of Errors has much to do with social relationships, the kind where they may be thrust into crisis for the purpose of stripping down the unnecessary forms they have taken on over time...thus confronting the usual laws and social norms to reveal a higher state of awareness of self and others.  I wish you well on each crisis narrowly averted!

Of note is that Mercury Retrograde meets with the Aries Sun the next day in the symbol between the two described here.  In Aries 12, the Sabian Symbol is ‘a triangularly shaped flight of wild geese’.  So while the scene is set at the full moon for a distinctly socio-political Comedy of Errors, the planetary play concludes the following day with an image of cosmic order.  Just like most comedies, filled with human error and ridiculous mishaps, we are often brought to a sense of everything working out before the curtain closes.  The main difference between comedy and tragedy, after all, is how the characters respond to conflict.  The same conflicts of a comedy can be played out in a tragedy, and vice versa, and the tone is different based on the response to the upsets that arise…thus leading to either the happy ending or the tragic one.  There will certainly be pressure to perform pooling into the T-square of Mars-Saturn in Capricorn, but there are some very fortunate opportunities that can arise from the flowing aspects of the lunar nodes.  This weekend, you may be able to see how the aspects of fate (lunar nodes) can be improvised with your own free will choices of how you respond to them.  The energy triggered in Capricorn by our luminary axis this Full Moon is pushing us to respond wisely under pressure. 

Love and Gratitude,

Felina Lune Kavi