I feel called to begin writing about this relatively rare full moon on the Summer Solstice by first acknowledging that this is the second Sagittarius Full Moon of the year. It is what qualifies as an astrological “Blue Moon.” In my personal world, since the last Sagittarius Moon until today’s, I have been in the midst of an arduous and seemingly never-ending moving process – which is my excuse for being so cyber aloof – and one of the reasons why I feel compelled to look at today’s astrology through the book-ends of these moons. So though this post is about the present astrology (I haven’t quite mastered the art of writing blog posts with a great deal of advanced timing) with a bit of a recap of the past month, I hope you will find it informative and helpful to spite my tardiness. I expect to do some writing on July sooner rather than later – but felt that June was too important to let it pass by without comment!
The energy of the past month has been intense, to put it lightly. The key factor at work in the cosmos has been the massive, omnipresent Mutable T-Square between Jupiter, Saturn & Neptune. This formation has been especially tight the past few weeks (including an exact hit between Saturn & Neptune) – and highlighted by the lunations in mutable signs – Two Sagittarius full moons very much emphasizing the themes of Saturn in Sagittarius – and of course the super whirlwind of the Gemini New Moon which landed right smack dab in the middle of all of the action – rounding off the T-Square (a stressful configuration of three points) to create a full on grand cross (a stressful configuration of FOUR points). I usually feel the New Moon as a quieter time of the month – but this was absolutely not the case with the Gemini Moon that we just had. The energy has been extraordinarily volatile and unpredictable.
The factors here are numerous, so I feel it might be best to break them down a bit.
Two Sagittarius Full Moons and Our Vision
As I mentioned already, the past two consecutive full moons have both been in Sagittarius, the sign of the prophet, truth speaker, and traveler. This is interesting to me for two reasons – 1) Of course, because it emphasizes the influence of Sagittarius and 2) Because this “Blue Moon” phenomenon happens to also be occurring during Saturn’s transit of Sagittarius – a transit that lasts approximately 2 ½ years that we won’t see again for another 28!
No matter what, Saturn always has a strong influence on what is happening with the collective – because Saturn essentially governs those aspects and structures of society that are more or less agreed upon by the collective. Saturn in the sign of the truth speaker is really giving us a great deal of feedback surrounding our beliefs. Sag is an extroverted sign that is known for being bluntly opinionated – and everywhere we look, we are surrounded by “truth” reflections. In the most prominent news stories, in U.S. politics, in the stream of endless dialogue that is the online social media landscape – beliefs – and their fallibility, their veracity, their quality, etc. – are dominating the conversation.
Full moons have a culminating effect. And there are a number of stories that have come up recently that seem to be asking us to really look long and hard at some of the beliefs held in the collective subconscious, and how these beliefs are actually quite caustic to the health of our society as a whole. Though there have been many people concerned about the many human rights & political issues that are currently at the fore of the collective consciousness – I have felt this lunar cycle bring those issues and discussions to a much more central position. Ultimately this carries with it the potential for a genuine shift. For Saturn in Sag, it must happen in the heart before it later comes to form. Our lessons on a personal and societal level under this influence are experiential. Each and every one of them is informing what it is we need to DO to arrive at the vision that we’ve been striving towards, cultivating & developing. What’s missing? What needs to shift? Be removed?
Sagittarius operates through the journey. Nothing can be set in stone because we’re still traveling through the layers of ourselves and learning how to get out of our own way.
Mars Retrograde in Scorpio
Also very influential throughout this month of Sagittarius Moon-ness has been the Mars retrograde. It first dove back into Scorpio territory just a few days before May’s Sag. Moon and go direct at the end of June to finally leave Scorpio on August 2nd. This transit of Mars through Scorpio connects directly to the Saturn transit of Scorpio that we just recently finished. Many of us are likely even revisiting an aspect of our life that we thought we had been liberated from only to realize, rather rudely, that there is still a bunch of super un-fun stuff left to do.
Mars in Scorpio is very much connected to our most primal emotions. As a result the influence cannot be overlooked or underemphasized with reference to the volatility of the recent charts and many of the events that have been brought to public attention. Scorpio governs issues of power, sexuality, psychology & shared resources – basically all the conversation topics that you try to avoid at the dinner table. The stuff with complex emotional layers and hidden motives.
For what it’s worth, Mars’ retrograde journey back into Scorpio does give us a chance to really unload some of those persistent hang ups, once and for all. Both on a personal and bigger social sphere level. The sooner we can start to embrace the dive back into spaces we’d hoped we were done with, the sooner the shadow work actually gets done. At the root of it all is access to our place of personal power. The events of our lives and the reflections brought to us by society all contain the potential for us as individuals to deepen our perception and see beyond the interference. Empowerment is an inside job. Always. But it often involves facing unpleasant truths and exploring what the reality is amidst complicated and conflicting emotions.
Saturn-Neptune Square
This influence has been active since approximately last fall. Just last week these two had an exact hit right around the time that Neptune was stationing to go retrograde super-fueling the impact.
This combination is very intense, because by nature Saturn and Neptune are basically opposites. Saturn represents form -- Neptune is all about what is formless. Saturn is rigid and authoritarian – Neptune is imaginative and spiritual.
On the positive end, Neptune really helps Saturn free itself from its own prison and ultimately put to form the spiritual vision of Neptune.
On the negative end, this influence is EXTREMELY confusing, extremely emotional, and very turbulent. Why?
Because when you introduce the shadow of Saturn in Sagittarius (self righteous preachy-ness) with the shadow of Neptune in Pisces (deception & illusion) – you have a stew of very unseemly situations that are difficult to see with adequate clarity. It is also seeming to have an amplifying effect on the deceptions themselves – making deceptive rhetoric more obvious. Yet to spite this, more insurmountable.
Yes, insurmountable is a word I would use to describe how this influence can feel!!! For those who are feeling lost or stuck right now, like you can’t see the future and you don’t know why you’re suddenly so down in the dumps, Saturn-Neptune could very well be your culprit, especially if it is making a strong aspect to your chart. The effect will pass and clarity will return. One of the absolute best ways to cope with the transit if it is affecting you personally is to allow yourself to remain still and let things settle within. Even if it means moving a slower pace than you prefer.
Saturn can assist Neptune – but first you have to see through the fog and understand that the erosion or outright collapse of certain structures is a necessary loss in this case. The purpose of it is to make room for the greater things that are coming.
Mutable T-Square, The Nodes of Fate & Mutability in General
Now add Jupiter to the mix with the Saturn-Neptune square we have the full fledged Mutable T-square. Currently and throughout the next two or three months, the nodes of fate will also be tightly involved with this Mutable T-square. What does that all mean?
Well – for one, Jupiter expands things. So whatever else is going on, Jupiter is over there INTENSIFYING everything. It can be all the negative scary stuff I mentioned, but it can also be instrumental in manifesting the miraculous – because Jupiter is a beneficial planet that tends to thrive on that sort of thing. It happens to be traveling through Virgo right now, so the focus is really on getting one’s mundane world straight. Not Jupiter’s best realm, but an important one nonetheless. Eat right. Get a good routine going. Devote yourself to something -- and you will find everything else much easier to bear.
At the same time, Jupiter is exactly conjunct the north node of fate during today’s Sagittarius full moon. The nodes also tend to have an amplifying effect – usually of a karmic or inspired sort of nature. Both of these points traveling together are asking us to grow in the direction of simplicity in order to understand reality – because the collective shadow is in all of the lofty and distant concepts that we cling to but hardly hold water in a real life test. In so many ways, that’s what this whole cosmic battle of energies boils down to – What is it that WORKS? What is it that MAKES SENSE? How do we adjust our lives, our thinking, EVERYTHING according to simple truths and simple human values?
Now I want to talk also about mutability. In astrology there are three modes of expression… Cardinal which is initiating. Fixed which is building. And Mutable – which is transforming. So if you understand nothing else about any of this understand this: Right now, in the sky, we have a very large majority of planets and configurations happening in mutable signs – the signs that are most reflective of change. Everything is changing! Rapidly! And there’s not much we can do to try and control it.
In your own life, I recommend really working on staying centered in order to guide the process. But holding on is totally futile, so try not to do it. If you feel like you’re barely keeping up, the best thing to do is surrender to the flow of things. Surrender will save a lot of pain and strife, not to mention help you conserve your energy for when it is most important.
New Moon & The Venus Star Point
As I spoke of earlier, in the midst of all of this came the Gemini New Moon on June 4. It was a SUPER CHARGED New Moon that was connecting to all of this potent change energy – and also happened to coincide with the conjunction of Venus & the Sun – referred to in Astrology as the Venus Star Point. This is a moment when our desires (Venus) are directly in line with our ego self.
The recent New Moon in Gemini was one of the biggest moons of the year BECAUSE it packed some serious mind-to-reality manifesting power. It brought with it an acceleration of the energies and has thrown us full force into the change alchemy that is represented by the mutable T-Square. It was kind of like a point of no return. A jumping off point.
Gemini is a sign of choices. And so I see this New Moon also as a sort of choice point. There are a lot of possibilities, and then also some firm decisions. Plenty of options in current situations – but it seems like the fundamentals have been made clear.
Full Moon on the Summer Solstice
And – at last! Today. The Summer Solstice. The Full Moon. Moon & Sun at their height of power on the same day. The summer season beginning. The second Sagittarius full moon of the year.
This is a moon that contains all that I wrote about already and has a specific emphasis on healing. This is the healing of what it is unseen, invisible, and quite unconscious. It is the healing of what is harbored in the collective, and in many ways beyond our scope of even knowing.
One thing I have noticed during this year is that we’ve been seeing a lot of cultural icons pass whose lives were oriented towards integrity of self. I feel this is reflecting to us a reminder and review of how truth and authenticity really show up when embodied. In this time where it is so easy to get sidetracked, distracted, confused, or lost in complexities – we need these reminders. The transmission of these figures is to utilize the lessons left in the wake of others to courageously awaken our own authenticity and create ourselves in the image of resilience, transparency, discipline – and absolute self honesty.
Self honesty is really the bottom line here. That is the key to the Sagittarius quest. Who are we really, and will we have the all out gumption to be that person – to spite all obstacles, to spite our fears and misgivings, to spite danger, to spite expectation – but to do right and be righteous because it is right and righteous to be so. Because we are an example for other people, and because the health of our world depends on the integrity of each and every one of its inhabitants.
So we must heal this confusion within ourselves that prevents us from stepping fully into our divine power. We must find a way to transcend all of the masks we wear and have worn… to step out of the habituated patterns… and keep tabs on our “big vision.” We were who we were. We live where we live. We don’t need to do all that the same way next time. The fear that cycles repeat themselves inevitably & forever is among the countless purposeless fears that our entire collective has invested in. We need to reach further – not because of some kind of grandiosity – but because of necessity.
Because it is so appropriately perfect, I wish to conclude this essay with Ellias Lonsdale’s passage on the degree of 29 Sagittarius – the degree of this full moon.
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SAGITTARIUS 29
The ritual slaughtering of a lamb.
It is so hard to give up your fondest notions. It is so testing and trying to be asked by universal spirit to surrender your privileges, to renounce your claim upon your own life. And it is even an extreme act of self-transcendence to come to terms with the position you find yourself in as it really is. Ego-busting comes as a rude shock, even when the time is at hand to leap beyond your own shadow. The very idea draws out to the surface every resistance imaginable. The mind goes crazy with this edge. If only you could control it, manipulate it, relativize it. But excruciating self-awareness accompanies this edge--in particular no sentimentality towards your own excuses and reasons. For you are at that point where there is no place to hide and nothing to do except surrender gracefully, when you have exhausted every other option and found them to be null and void.
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Surrender gracefully – to who you are, where you are going, and to your higher mission. Your service is needed here.
Much love.