Full Moon Aries 10/5/17 Achin' To Be

Masculin Feminin by Godard

Basically, how I see this week into next: Mars and Venus in endless conversation with Mercury rolling its eyes in the corner, playing referee, devil's advocate, and color commentator by turns.

Oppositions abound! What does this mean? Tension? Attraction? War? YES! Am I shouting?! Sorry. We have a full moon in Aries to contend with.

Aries explodes onto the scene then makes a sudden departure. No announcement. No fanfare. It is pure action. It is immediate and impulsive. The eternal infant of the zodiac it never outgrows its direct line to its desires. Aries always finds ways to be born. If there are obstacles to its desires or anything that might thwart their need for rebirth it will be seen as an opponent. Or, it might not be seen at all. If you have nothing to do with what Aries is trying to accomplish, it will simply forget that you’re there and start a war out of pure obliviousness.

No. I do not like the sound of that either given our current political climate.

Aries is where you may feel your aggression, desire, and impatience calling you up. It’s where your trigger finger is going to get itchy and where you’re going to feel ready to floor the gas pedal. If you’ve been making your way down a birth canal of sorts…you’re ready to come out.

This lunation happens all over a stellium (3-4 planets) I have in Aries. And I happen to be doing a full moon reading at a friend’s birthday party on the 5^th. This moon will figure prominently in her Libra solar return chart as it will for all those born the first 2 weeks of October. I may not have much to drink this evening. I may not need to.

All of you out there with planets or sensitive points in the mid-degrees (11-17) of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn), KA-POW!! For better or worse, of course. It’s gonna get loud up in here.

 Here’s the Full Moon breakdown (Aries loves bullets):

·      Sun Libra-Moon Aries opposition (aka full moon) square Pluto in Capricorn: Passion, exposure, power struggles, transformation.

·      Mars Venus conjunction in Virgo square Saturn in Sagittarius: A strong urge to start new relationships or new phases in relationships and the urge to create using emotion and physical action— all being frustrated or delayed for their own good. Or you just have to put in a lot of hard work and patience, or display maturity to see any results in these areas.

·      Moon Aries-Mercury Libra opposition: sensitive communications around relationships, or insensitive conflicts surrounding what “I” want.

·      Neptune Pisces quincunx Mercury Libra: over-idealization leading to disappointment, disillusionment, deception, and lack of clarity with communications. Get your facts straight. Tell the truth. Discern what’s real from what you project on others. Extremely important with all the hot impulsiveness flying around.

·      Jupiter Libra-Uranus Aries opposition separating: The larger, big-picture version of the Aries full moon. It’s on its way out but this lunation pulls it back in to highlight the Venus-Mars conversation.

And now for something more lyrical in the style of Libra:

As we can see there is a lot of relating going on here. Venus-ruled Libra always wants to know “what’s going on with us?” Libra has a difficult time answering questions without knowing what it’s in relation to; and whatever it is relating to, the goal will always be the creation of harmony between this and that, you and me.

Harmony is a beautiful thing, except when it’s not.  Like anything, harmony and equanimity can be overdone. When a lovely exterior or one too many compromises are chosen at the expense of addressing uncomfortable, difficult or downright ugly feelings, all that pretty loses its charm.

I don’t love the way this Mars-ruled Aries moon looks (especially square a freshly stationed Pluto- direct motion). I don’t like the look of an emotionally reactive moon in the sign of “the infant” and war, square the planet of power and upheaval. It’s not pretty. I don’t think the Sun/Mercury in Libra is a match for it. Moon in Aries is too fast. But we'd be foolish to think that Libra won’t try to charm, intellectualize, and talk their way into a win. Libra is Venusian and beautiful and all that, but it is still cardinal, it takes action. What will we try to balance with our intelligence, conversation, and desire to make things fair? Will it be enough given the rampant inequity in the world? And if there are grave inequities in our personal lives, those will be felt as well.

I’m hoping by this point you see how the concurrent Mars-Venus in Virgo conjunction has such a strange and sonorous echo for this full moon. Instead of Mars and Venus being opposed, the rulers of Aries and Libra are conjoined in the sign of Virgo. This is sacred sex.  They want to be together and start a new relationship. We have that available to us as well (especially if you have planets in mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces) in the later degrees (18-23). Think back a couple of weeks to what your new moon Virgo intention was; here is your full moon Aries baby.

 ARIES RETOLD

So let’s extinguish the fire of Aries for a moment and reflect on other aspects of Aries at our disposal.

On the other side of that obliviousness is innocence and honesty. Aries usually means well and wants to be courageous. Because it’s so immersed in its own being, it forgets to look around. It doesn’t know how to complicate its pure directive with so many different motives, worldviews, and agendas. It simply aches to be.

Can we all find ways to be brave enough to be naked with our wants, but still try to do relationship with each other and the world? It’ll take guts to get through some of these difficult encounters and conversations. But that’s where Aries shines.

For all you Paul Westerberg fans:

Achin’ To Be

Well she's kind of like an artist
Sittin' on the floor
Never finishes, she abandons
Never shows a soul

And she's kind of like a movie
Everyone rushes to see
And no one understands it
Sittin' in their seats

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes out's a mystery
Thought about, not understood
She's achin' to be

Well she dances alone in nightclubs
Every other day of the week
People look right through her
Baby doll, check your cheek

And she's kind of like a poet
Who finds it hard to speak
Poems come so slowly
Like the colors down a sheet

She opens her mouth to speak and
What comes out's a mystery
Thought about, not understood
She's achin' to be

I've been achin' for a while now, friend
I've been achin' hard for years

Well she's kind of like an artist
Who uses paints no more
You never show me what you're doing
Never show a soul

Well, I saw one of your pictures
There was nothin' that I could see
If no one's on your canvas
Well, I'm achin' to be

She closes her mouth to speak and
Closes her eyes to see
Thought about an' only loved
She's achin' to be
Just like me

Virgo New Moon. 9/20/17 Critical-Care (Perfection Paradox redux)

Medicine Woman Tarot Deck by Carol Bridges

Where do we draw the line between criticism and care? Or, how about fixing and care?

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard a Virgo-type lament, “how come I’m the only one who cares enough to get it right?!” “Good thing I care so much about_____, otherwise everything would fall apart.”  “I’m only on his/her/their case because I care about their welfare, and they need my help to fix their problem.”

Well, I’d have a shit-ton of nickels.

This new moon brings us not one, not two, but all 3 personal planets (Mars, Venus, Mercury, in addition to the sun-moon conjunction) in Virgo. That’s a lot of analysis, purification, service, work, and, yes, care. This new moon opposes Chiron in Pisces. During this lunation we can think of Chiron as a wound (physical, psychic, emotional) that hasn’t quite healed yet, or maybe a recent incident pulled a scab off and here it is exposed. This is sure to get Virgo’s attention.

Virgo needs to be of service and practical use in the world. It needs to create systems of high efficiency for the utmost quality, free from filler. Where it senses illness it aims to restore health…and no one is better at this. When Virgo goes off the rails, due to an imbalance (like the 5 planet pile-up we have in the works), we can be headed for nit picking, anxiety, and creating problems so that there is something to fix. This can be directed at others or ourselves.

SELF-CARE

Even though it has become a cure-all-catch –phrase, the idea of self-care is wonderful. What could be a more solid foundation for doing all this important work that’s needed out there…in the world? Hope we’re all, at some point getting out there. During this time it may be too easy to fall down the self-care rabbit hole of obsessing over every perceived flaw or problem we encounter: nursing the belief that we can’t move forward until all is perfect. And, perfect according to what and whom?  We are on the receiving end of a lot of conditioning about what is acceptable: “care for yourself until you feel like this, look like this. Work on your relationships, your sex life, your career, your children until it produces this, performs like that.”  Fix everything until it’s perfect. It is self-care after all, you deserve to indulge in all your fault-finding, and there are a million products and systems that you can subscribe to to help you, all for a low low price. (Can we say “capitalism” ?)

This is a side of narcissism and egotism that is often over looked, but is still egocentric nonetheless. Shyness and self-criticism can be just as egotistical and attention seeking.

Keywords for Virgo are criticism, critical, and crisis. In order to DO Virgo, we DO the words in this family that all involve preparing for a turning point by analyzing what works and what doesn’t. Therefore it’s very important to be clear about our standards; how we measure what’s “good or bad.”  We need to use the Virgoan discernment to understand if the yardsticks we’re using for measurement have anything to do with the actual quality and health of a situation, product, or person.  Have we adopted sets of arbitrary standards of quality from our early environments, authority figures, or popular culture? When we edit out “the bad parts” of something/someone according to rules that don’t really apply, we might be editing out crucial bits of humanity and authenticity as well. These are Virgo key words too. When we measure ourselves against ideals that we had no part in creating, and make efforts and sacrifices to obtain them we’re left with a hollow perfectionism. (Can we all say “patriarchy”?)

**

I have this client who has a Virgo-heavy chart (a handful of you do, so this could apply to any of you). They’ve been super-diligent for a major chunk of their lives in all-forms of self-study, therapy, and self-improvement. There has been this eternal quest to kill ALL the demons…to become so clean, and so extraordinary at all they do so they can finally achieve peace. They courageously set up challenges, and knock them down on this relentless pursuit to be pure. This person is approaching their golden years. I had to ask, “Is this what your life is about?” “At what point will you be perfect enough to allow yourself to just live your life?”

We all go to the grave in some state of “incomplete.” We will all go to the grave leaving something unfinished. How perfect do you have to be to do what’s important to you right now? We don’t have all the time in the world. Any Virgo worth their salt would tell you to prioritize and make decisions about what to cut.

I suggested that instead of dedicating the rest of their lives to working at deserving the right to feel good about themselves, they do the work to accept themselves as they are.

This is hardest of work of all. It’s the work that needs to be done if you ever want to have a shot at joining the rest of humanity and being of service…which will inadvertently heal you from any sense of separation.

Care for yourself this season by being kind to yourself…all of yourself. Bring that self to all you do for others. Let's think of self-care as listening to what we need, all the places that experience pain and shame and healing them by including them as we move forward into life.

Pisces Full Moon 9/6/17 Perfection Paradox/True Info

This lunation is loaded:

(I consider a full moon “in effect” 3 days before and after its peak)

Mercury Rx conjunct Mars on the eclipse point September 3,              Sun opposite Neptune September 5,

Mars ingress Virgo Sept 5, Mercury stations direct on the eclipse point Sept 5, Full moon Pisces conjunct Neptune Sept 6

                                 

If this lunation doesn’t hit you square in the soft and vulnerable parts, or drive you to drink (or watch too much TV or sleep too much, choose your favorite escape hatch), consider yourself more sturdy than most. If a game-changing piece of info isn’t unveiled I’d be surprised, but not outrageously so. You could miss it. Information coming to us now is hard to decipher—it could be deeply felt, but we might have an especially difficult time trying to identify it in any concrete way.

We have a full moon in Pisces conjunct Neptune (Pisces' ruler). This is as spaced out, blissed out, and fogged up as it gets. It’s also as sensitive, imaginative, and healing as they come. Pick your elixir or poison. Neptune/moon Pisces is about the erosion of barriers to feeling. Pisces dissolves what’s in the way so it can all get in. It’s overwhelming.

In the throes of Piscean overwhelm our most natural inclination might be to find the closest numbing solution and apply liberally. We can do that, or we can take advantage of what is meant to be a growth opportunity and feel as much as we can by listening. There’s some emotional gold in the information bubbling up now; clues about how to heal, where to soften, and what to let go of.

I know that’s some pretty soft talk for the middle of Virgo season. Virgo’s excited to get back into the office after a very sloppy summer. Virgo’s ready to fix everything this summer broke, reorganize what summer dismantled. This Pisces full moon says, “hey Virgo, I wanna have another swim, another drink, another nap. Let’s feel our way into fall. TECHNICALLY IT'S STILL SUMMER!” This oppostional energy might have you feeling at odds with yourself. Try to remember that Pisces and Virgo are two poles on the axis of perfection. They’re actually trying to achieve the same end. Pisces tries to achieve this by way of wholeness. When we talk about a “perfect” circle, we’re talking about perfection in terms of completion, totality, the all-encompassing. Virgo’s pursuit of perfection is about the essential. It’s constantly discerning what is integral from the dross. Virgo is the master editor. Virgo keeps it lean.

We are encouraged to work both ends of the spectrum at full moon time. But, what does “full moon time” mean? Quite simply, there are times that are loaded and times that are more neutral. This lunation is loaded. That’s it. Sorry to burst any mystic bubbles, but one of the reasons I counsel and teach is to demystify. I actually DO intend to poke some holes in some cherished enchantments. Ironically when we extinguish some fantasies---some illusions, we get some real magic. How’s that for a paradoxical Piscean paragraph? The Pisces symbol is two fish swimming in opposite directions. Pisces leaves the earthly plane to come home.

Some examples of how you can work this Pisces/Virgo paradox:

Be disciplined about letting go. Work hard at experiencing without judgment. Channel deep sensitivities and surreal imaginings into precise words, images, or sounds. It’s a wonderful time to be in the painting, writing, or dance studio, get behind the camera, see your Jungian dream analyst, be in a flotation tank, or sauna. You could also sleep, drink, or binge Netflix through this full moon, but we’re more susceptible to toxins right now (remember, no boundaries), expect a nasty hangover. And yes, binging on mental and emotional crap can give you a kind of “hangover.”

THE SPIKE IN THE COSMIC PUNCHBOWL

And now for something completely different. As we swim in a sea of illuminating yet murky emotional info, Mercury stations direct on the Leo eclipse point after it conjuncts Mars. This energy, along with Mars freshly in Virgo can be spiky, hypercritical, and quarrelsome. It will be around for the rest of the month. The Pisces moon actually softens the blow of this a bit.

The eclipse point is still hot and will be reactivated. When Mercury stations direct we can experience important info coming to light, info that could help us move forward. It’s happening in Leo, so it could be dramatic. It’s happening on the eclipse point, so it could be life altering. It’s conjunct Mars so it could be aggressive, or at the very least spur you to action.

Some of us will be dealing more with Pisces activity, others with eclipse-y/Virgo. Some of us will have the joy of interacting with both, making for a possibly schizophrenic time. But, here is where astrology becomes useful; see if during the course of the next two weeks you can identify what you’re working with. Are you fired up or floating away? Making active decisions about the way you engage with and name what life throws at you can help you to feel considerably more sane.

One thing that these two disparate modes of activity have in common is information crossing the threshold from unknown to known.  It might bubble up from the deep recesses of your heart, it could be a piece of gossip you overhear, and yeah, the time is ripe for skeletons to tumble out of closets. The truth, however it comes out, is nothing to fear. And, it’s a VERY important time to define for ourselves how we know what’s true (shout out to Aaron Dias for bringing this up in my last yoga class).

When something that’s been suppressed sees the light of day it gives us something to work with. I think that’s something we’re all hungry for; something that feels true within ourselves, the sense that we have access to the info necessary to make decisions, and trust the people we surround ourselves with to share information that effects us.  

A lot may come up and out right now. With the Piscean influence, some of it may be cryptic, hazy, or just plain confusing. With the Leo/Mars influence it might be overblown or defensive. Let’s see how much we can take in, and rest when we need to. We’re being called to take it all in so we can feel it…but, once felt, we don’t have to keep it. Think of it as emotional hygiene.

Total Solar Eclipse Leo 8/21/17 Cycles, Containers, Change, and Choice.

The eclipse is a big deal, and it’s not. WE are a big deal though. This eclipse is a rare and significant symbol of a time in a cycle. Read your history books, your economic and social studies books, read your geology and agriculture books or this article in NewYork Magazine. All things cycle through; the lunar cycle, the seasons, plant life, the menstrual cycle, sun up and sun down. We are at the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. Cycles and time frames are pretty reliable containers.

Our actions at different points in a cycle are what make the difference. Change happens to every living thing. Change defines cycles. You can’t stop it. When we try, things get ugly. Change has already happened and what’s been percolating has already reared its head. Any suffering and discord we experience now are at the hands of the hands that won't let go of the old…most likely out of fear. According to the poetry of the sky and my latest astro-crush Austin Coppock, what we are dealing with at this eclipse is a “crisis of leadership.” When we have 18 months of Aquarius and Leo on the nodal axis and a history-making total solar eclipse in Leo, it’s all about who’s running the show. I’ve heard a lot of astrologers refer to this time in a lot of different and very specific ways, but I think Austin put it most succinctly and diplomatically, without divining war, impeachment, or global totalitarianism. Quite simply, who’s in charge (Leo)? And, how are the beneficiaries of said leadership responding (Aquarius)?  

The way these times of great change unfold depends on all of the decisions, small and large that “we the people” make everyday. How well do we look after each other? How actively involved are we in the small, unglamorous, and anonymous (Leo hates these words btw) decision-making processes of how we’re governed and how we live? When we buy things and participate in groups what are we REALLY supporting? How much responsibility and therefore ownership, and therefore LEADERSHIP do we take over our own lives? And here’s the big one: how much do we still subscribe to old paradigms of competition, hierarchy, and “progress” for progress' sake? Because those times are already over. Anyone still scrambling for the spoils of “making it” to “the top”  to have more (power, recognition, resources) than someone else, or securing an elite or privileged position are living in some sorely outdated constructs. C’mon. So 1980! But the interesting/scary/precarious thing is that even though those constructs have been exposed as being broken they can still be edified by WHAT PEOPLE DO, and don’t do. How are we going to do leadership from here on out? That is completely up to us. All astrology tells us is what time it is and what the task at hand is. It tells us the shape of our containers.  But WE fill those containers with the content of our own making.

For example, my astrological container is strikingly similar to Donald Trump’s.  Along with every other astrologer in the world I’ve been watching the 28-29^th degree of Leo like a hawk, but with some vested interest. This is Trump’s rising point, it’s my rising point, and it’s where this powerful eclipse takes place. A new moon on one’s natal ascendant usually points to a major new chapter in one’s life; a new way of showing up in the world. The 29^th degree is often referred to as the anaretic degree, which can point to an exceptionally potent (for better or worse) expression of a sign. In this case, the sign is Leo. In this case we’re talking about a whole new expression of self that’s either ego driven or heart driven. DT and I are on the same cycle. For the past year we’ve probably been grappling with a lot of the same issues, and at about the same time we’ll have some similar karmic tipping point. When I use the word karma, I’m not talking about anything esoteric, just simple cause and effect. We both have made decisions, and acted upon them, and in the next 6 months we’ll see some repercussions and there will be change. (The corresponding full moon to this new moon is in 6 months--the culmination).

It’s solar eclipse time (basically new moon on steroids) so there will be big, irrevocable change that happens at an accelerated pace. Eclipses open a door to all of the latent karma that’s been building over time. It exposes it, then pushes out what needs to go and pulls in what needs to enter.  It's the fast track. Then those doors shut for good. Voila, whole new ball game. What happens to this man who is so different from me will be very similar. We live in this world together. We have very different lives because of what we were born into, but also because of choices during cycles.

Now, does this eclipse effect you even if you don’t have a strong Leo or Aquarius signature? Yes. Even if this special timing doesn’t hit your personal chart in a significant way, you live in this world at this point in time. You are in relationship with everything and everyone who is effected by this time. You are witness and participant during this time of leadership crisis even if you think you’re not. What happens to you, happens to me, happens to the world we live in. We are all part of the problem and the solution.

This moment in time is a call to be responsive to change without dictating it. Dictating comes from the ego and fear. Responsiveness is listening and acting consciously with courage (Leo key word). For a long time American culture especially has found a lot of value and pride (another Leo key word) in bending the environment and each other to our wills. It obviously doesn’t work. Neither does “going with the flow,” an idiom I’ve always had issue with, mostly when people use it to excuse a type of passivity or lack of consciousness which is just as harmful as forcing your will on life. In either situation there’s no listening or responding.

How much responsibility are we willing to assume for our own fate?  Will we continue to assign blame to others for what we’re unhappy with? Will we continue to ignore people we don’t “identify” with? These are the Leo-Aquarius questions. This is the focus for the next year. Look, we’re either all in this together or we’re not. We either use what makes each individual unique and special to usher in greater tolerance and understanding or we don’t. We create leadership that’s focused on serving all instead of ruling all…or we don’t. I ask these questions just as much of myself because what happens to me, happens to you. May this eclipse put you on the fast track to heart centered purpose and joy...Leo at its best.

See you on the other side. XC

Full Moon Aquarius 8/7/17 Partial Lunar Eclipse. The Breakthrough.

Jeanne Moreau and Sam Shepard

Hey Everybody. I’m writing this full moon report in sort of a wistful mood. I just learned earlier today that Sam Shepard and Jeanne Moreau have passed. I was a teenager when I happened upon both of these artists, and when I did it felt like I also found a way to experience parts of myself I didn’t know existed. These IDEAS were EMOTIONALLY stirring. This is how I THINK an Aquarius moon FEELS.

I’ve always had a thing for Aquarius. I’ve always had a thing for the iconoclast. Both Shepard and Moreau fit the bill (and btw, Shepard: prominent moon Aqua Moreau: sun/moon Aqua). Both were so important to the reimagining of America, theater, film, and the feminine. Aquarian ideals never fit in places that already exist.

Aquarius sees everything differently. It goes against the grain, and lives in the future. It’s left field, it’s lightning striking, it’s mad genius. It’s also the cool customer, the radical idealist, and the unsentimental intellectual.

Being ruled by both Uranus and Saturn, I’ve always felt that Aquarius was the most paradoxical of all the signs. It’s the sign of the collective and the rebel, detachment and passionate revolution, unconventionality and rigidity. My solution for working with Aquarius is to accept the whole frictive reciprocal nature of it and enjoy the sparks it creates. A keyword for Aquarius is “break”: it’s the big break, breakdown, breakthrough, clean break, break up or even the break in what we consider reality, i.e. time constraints and 3D reality (Saturn’s domain). It’s anything that finds its way into being against the odds.

Uranus needs something to break open or away from, hence it needs large communities, limitations, and institutions. If you’re into mythology you know about the gruesome showdown between Uranus (Ouranos) and Saturn (Kronos).

Without the container of tradition, rules, and laws, Aquarius has nothing to break from. It is hyper-aware, invested and concerned about these things but always in the interest of innovation. It always asks, “how can we do better for all?”  Its dedication to ideals for humanity at large is fierce, though sometimes too attached to the ideal or “the vision.”  It can be a little inhumane in the name of the very people it purports to help. Personal feelings and shining your individual creative light is Leo territory. That lives on the opposite end of the axis. Remember, at a full moon there’s always a conversation/balancing act between the two ends of an axis.

Both Uranus and Saturn figure strongly into this eclipse season. Uranus stations retrograde August 3rd, therefore concentrating its energy, Saturn is slowing down to station direct in a couple weeks (intensifying its energy), Uranus rules this full moon/ partial eclipse, and both are part of a fire trine that hovers around the solar eclipse point.

I would pay close attention to this full moon and how Uranus is touching your life/chart. I know the BIG eclipse is coming up, but the information you need to work with the solar eclipse is available NOW. It might show up as a rude awakening, bolt from the blue, or blessed epiphany.

This full moon is where you find your line

break. Your page

break. Where you break

with something, someone, somewhere, some

idea from your past

inspired by a picture

you can’t get out

of your head.

You’ll know where needs

breaking.

It’s the place that feels

too tight.

It’s the place you know

your picture

can’t fit.

New Moon Leo 7/23/17 Flaring Passions and Creative Juices

"Untitled" by Barbara Kruger at The Broad Museum

This new moon ushers in a Leo season that is bombastic! Dramatic! Exclamatory!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m already exhausted. This could go a lot ways folks, but whichever way it goes it won’t go quietly or without ceremony.

Leo is about showing. Expression. Putting yourself out there.

A Leo key word is creation; that includes recreation and procreation. Anything made out of love and joy, that bears the singular stamp of the individual. It’s  “This represents me!!” “Ta Da!!”

The biggest distinction to make with this new moon is WHY you are putting your beautiful, unique self out there. Leo WANTS the spotlight desperately, but NEEDS to give it away. It’s the sign of generosity. Leo is ruled by the life-GIVING sun. When Leo shares out of the pure spirit of giving, nothing is more beautiful. It’s what born-leaders are made of. When Leo gives to get, we run into some problems.

Leo is without question the ruler of the jungle; big, bold, and swashbuckling. What people often don’t know about Leo is that it can also be one of the most insecure and untrusting realms. Leo rules both heart and ego. The bigger the love, the bigger the anxiety, the bigger the needs. The bigger the ego the more vulnerable it is, and the more it wants something in return for what it gives, like absolute loyalty, control, certainty (it’s a fixed sign). It needs to show and be shown proof of love, acceptance, and respect. Hence the romantic gestures, the ceremonies, the parades and love of titles. Leo is nobility.

This overblown Leo new moon looks amazing for finally having the nerve to put your true self out there and find joy, but there’s also a chance for a lot of hurt feelings if recognition or responses come up short. It’s so important to examine whether we're spreading the love or if we're putting ourselves out there because we're hungry for other people to give us the feeling of love, joy, pride, or self-respect. A magical thing happens when you fill your own cup. We have lots to share without worrying about loss. That’s inspiring. That’s what Leo leadership is all about. Imagine a world where everyone gave freely without expectation of something back. All of our cups would be full.

This new moon is EXTRA potent for all new creations (hint hint use protection if you're not looking to conceive), and ushers in the total solar eclipse in Leo this August which will blast some us into a whole new life or point us toward new projects and people to love. This also means we get two new moons in Leo in a row (separated by a full moon of course), which is rare, and they’ll both be sitting with Mars. This Leo extravaganza could go off the rails.

3 days after this new moon, Mars dies unto itself and is reborn in Leo to start a whole new Mars cycle (Mars-Sun conjunction). With Mars in Leo we have extra fervor about asserting our individuality and putting ourselves out there with FORCE. I know you can already see how this can go a few different ways. It depends on our intentions. What is our answer to that question: WHY are we asserting our individuality? Is it to share our unique qualities and feelings or to prove our worthiness of love and admiration? When we go after the latter, all we prove to ourselves is that we don’t already feel worthy. Do we need to feel more special than someone else to feel special at all?

The way we express our individuality is going through an overhaul. Intention matters. It’s not everything, but in the midst of our creative processes, how else can we know when to course-correct, or when to shift gears? Without intention, we create at the whim an ego whose function it is to separate. Intention keeps us on track and conscious of our behavior so we can create from the heart.

This is a hot one y’all. Watch your tempers. Check the egos. We'll feel all kinds of inspirations and flaring passions. I hope those inspirations are centered on boundless self love for the express purpose of giving it away. You ARE special. Accept that and share it.

Full moon Capricorn 7/9/17 Necessary Surgery

“The brighter the light, the darker the shadow.”—Carl Jung

I also like this one: “The greatest darkness constellates the most powerful, answering light; the greatest threat constellates the most impassioned energy of creativity”—Andrew Harvey

I think that I’m beginning this post with quotations to avoid writing about this lunation. “Good” or “bad” is in the eye of the beholder, but man, this chart looks unnerving. Depends on how you feel about intensity. A lot of astrologers are calling this the “Hades Moon.” And, I get it. It has the forces of the underworld, Kali, and Scorpio written all over it. But, it looks necessary. Handled well, this could be a deeply healing time that gives birth to something we need to move forward. HANDLED WELL.

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I recommended staying close to your feelings, trying to understand your deepest needs and those of others, creating safe, flexible spaces, and building intimacy with your tribe? How’d we do with that?  We’re going to find out now. During the new moon Cancer we (hopefully) took some deep breaths and exposed our soft centers. This Capricorn full moon is the harsh light of day come ‘round to inspect what’s going on in there and maybe do a bit of surgery. It’s the doctor saying, “This is going to feel a little uncomfortable,” “you might feel a little pressure.” Let’s face it. This is going to hurt. Question is, when you feel that pressure and heightened sensitivity are you going to wall off, shut down, and don your armor? Or are you going to remember that this surgery is necessary, and surrender? This surgery aims to remove what blocks you from what you need most. I hope you tricked out your healing spaces and got real with your people.

Some of us will choose to fight.

Pick your battles. There will be many to choose from. Conflicts abound. Within and without. Well, as within so without…right?

At any full moon, we’re dealing with polarity. With a Capricorn full moon we’re dealing with archetypal big guns: Mother vs. Father, Public vs. Private, Work vs. Home, Form vs. Feeling, Tides of Change vs. The Establishment. Much as I try to deal with polarities as a continuum of a theme, which I still recommend we do with this lunation; this particular one has some gnarly challenges in the form of Mars in Cancer sitting with the sun, and Pluto in Capricorn sitting with the moon. You got a taste of this last week. It peaks this week.

Like all full moons, this one wants you to release something. What’s especially difficult about letting go with this one is the Mars-Pluto opposition. Mars in Cancer fights by defending, building walls, and hiding. Building walls and hiding your feelings is like waving a red cape in front of a bull—the bull being Pluto in Capricorn. Pluto is Scorpio energy. It is extreme, relentless, and it digs. Pluto in Capricorn digs all the way to the bottom. It will complete the job. Sounds violent. And it could be. But it doesn’t have to be. (PS this is an outstanding time to do research, detox/cleanse, finish a tough job).

All that Pluto-moon conjunction wants to remove are lies, and our false sense of security. It wants to remove what keeps us from feeling the real security of love, interconnectedness, and constant renewal. If we can stay open and awake, tolerate some poking and prodding, that Pluto-moon will take what it needs and be on its way, leaving us to heal and feel secure in a way no one and nothing can threaten.

Should we choose to harden against ourselves, the world, each other, that Pluto-moon might resort to unnecessarily destructive measures to get what it wants. That’s war…within ourselves, with each other, and the world. We don’t need astrology to see this playing out on the world stage.

I don’t think of myself as a fire-and-brimstone type of astrologer, but shit. This is challenging. Not that I think it’s important for life to be easy all of the time. This lunation, handled well, could lead to something much more powerful than feeling easy: feeling whole. There are deep changes that we need to allow for. To cling to old ways of being, to preserve some false notion of safety is to prolong senseless suffering.

Please do what you can to stay open. Let's try to catch ourselves being lured into battle, other-ing, and hyperactive defensiveness. See if you notice urges to escape, evade, or suppress. Those are not the optimal ways to deal with our fear. To quote Robert Frost, “The only way out is through.” Let’s hold each other’s hands as we walk through this…and ditch that armor. We are meant to be moved.

I don’t think of myself as a love-and -light astrologer either but please be kind. Please be loving, please be fierce only in your search for what is true. It is the ILLUSION that we are not already safe that creates war. XC