This is an interesting Moon indeed, with the potential for a considerable amount of confusion! We are now in Sagittarius season, which generally brings a dose of hope and optimism as well as the tendency towards excess! The phrase “Goodwill to all” definitely has a Sagittarian feel to it! This year, however, we have Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, in Scorpio, helping us to face those parts of ourselves that we may usually deny. We can gain great benefit from being willing to plunge into the shadows of our psyche and confront what we find there. This can be a time of considerable transformation and metamorphosis, where we come face to face with issues of power and powerlessness, both personally and collectively. We can grow so much from allowing ourselves to really get to the nitty gritty with our loved ones, baring our soul and the hidden parts of ourselves so that we can really be seen. This could make us feel a bit vulnerable, and as we approach holiday season it brings the potential for us to connect with one another on a deeper level and could also exaggerate our shadow sides! If there is any year for talking about whatever is hidden beneath the family’s proverbial carpet, this is the one!
The Moon is in Gemini, directly opposite the Sagittarius Sun, and we are asked to find the balance between the energy of the two signs rather than veering too far in either direction. Gemini is a very curious sign who likes to have as many experiences as possible in order for us to understand ourselves in relation to the world we live in. As such, this Moon could bring a certain “busy-ness” and increased interaction with our everyday environment. Our minds might tend to race somewhat as thought roll through at a million miles an hour and we could also feel strong urges to communicate whatever is on our minds! There is a restless quality to Gemini, as it likes to collect lots of information and share it with others, much like a butterfly flitting from flower to flower, spreading pollen. Gemini represents our logical, rational left side of the brain, while Sagittarius represents the right side of the brain; our intuition and the part of ourselves that just knows without quite knowing why we know. Gemini collects facts and data while Sagittarius helps us to put it all the facts together and interpret them so that we can understand the bigger picture.
It is quite possible that this Moon could bring such a plethora of beliefs and opinions that we find it hard to know what to think or believe! Gemini represents the media and so we could find ourselves completely overwhelmed by advertising and the news; information being bombarded at us so that we are completely overloaded! This is where Sagittarius comes in, for while Gemini is busy piling on the information and represents busy city life, Sagittarius is less sophisticated, preferring the simplicity of the natural world and the wisdom that can be found from the plants and trees. It is important that we look within for the answers and quiet the busy mind so that we can find the truth on an instinctual, gut level. Indeed, Gemini can bring duplicity, while Sagittarius is known for exaggerating or embellishing the truth, so we could find it hard to know what is the truth and what is lies during this time. Bear in mind that this could be lies we tell ourselves and have convinced ourselves to be true, or lies that others are telling us. Certainly there can be a lot of value in looking at our thought processes during this Full Moon and recognising their power to affect our lives and the decisions we make. One can never underestimate the benefit of positive thinking!
Interestingly enough, Gemini’s ruler, Mercury, is literally stationary during this Moon, getting ready to go retrograde. When Mercury is retrograde it is an opportunity for our rational, logical left brains to take a bit of a break and for us to exercise the intuitive, imaginative right side of our brain. This is compounded by the fact that Mercury is going retrograde in Sagittarius, the sign of the intuitive right brain! In the days before and after Mercury turns retrograde, the Trickster tends to go into full gear, bringing the potential for confusion and misunderstandings as well as our minds not thinking quite so clearly! The beauty of Mercury retrograde is that it gives us an opportunity to look back and go over anything that might need a rethink or a review. The retrospective quality of this time can be very useful and could also bring up people from our past with whom we have unfinished business. Sometimes we have to go back in order to move forward!
Mercury is also sitting right next to Saturn and is being challenged by Chiron the Wounded Healer, which may cause our minds to focus on more serious concerns and could make it rather difficult to communicate. We may become all too aware of how words have the power to hurt and it is possible that our minds could play tricks on us so that we are more fearful than usual and find it a bit harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Mercury is also forming a positive aspect to the Mars Uranus opposition, which gives us the energy and motivation to think outside of the box and recognise where we make changes in our lives. Our thoughts may also be racing at a million miles an hour and we could feel very antsy and restless indeed. We have the potential for some amazing shifts at the moment but it might not be very comfortable, as we may find ourselves being challenged or confronted by other people or events in rather shocking ways. However, these shocks are exactly what we need to shake us up a bit and propel us to break certain patterns that are simply no longer serving us. Whatever messages we receive during this time may be somewhat painful to receive, but we could accept them as gifts that will help us to understand ourselves better and also to recognise where we might be stuck in old patterns.
Neptune in Pisces is forming a challenging square aspect to the Sun and Moon, which could make things a bit confusing, as if Mercury going retrograde isn’t enough! We could find it very difficult to separate fact from fiction and it may be necessary to make sure that we communicate very clearly with one another to avoid any misunderstandings. Mixed messages are a distinct possibility here! Reality may not be as it seems, the unreal could become very real and chaos may rein! In fact we may be asked to look at things very differently, as we are offered another perspective that challenges our view of so called reality. We could become very aware of how we delude ourselves and create imaginary fears that then become our reality. We are being prompted to use our intuition and our imagination to transcend our logical, rational mind because some things quite literally won’t make sense! There is the potential for disillusionment and disorientation during this Moon, so it might be better just to relax and accept that all is not necessarily as it seems.
Neptune’s mission is to dissolve our ego and any barriers and old patterns of behaviour that are preventing us from having a conscious and direct connection to God, the Creator, the Source, the Divine, etc. As such, this Moon could bring a strange experience that can’t be rationally explained, or an experience that is utterly disillusioning, both of which can dissolve the ego and help us to become more conscious of our connection to the world of spirit. It could enable us to understand that we are so much more than our human ego, with all its fears and limiting beliefs, can comprehend. We could either experience confusion and bewilderment or enlightenment and illumination, depending on how open we are to the magic of life and the unseen aspects of reality. The Sabian symbol for Neptune and the Sun/Moon midpoint, at 12° Pisces, is “In the sanctuary of an occult brotherhood, newly initiated members are being examined and their character tested”. This gives a sense of having to go through some kind of initiation in order to gain entrance to higher realms of being. There is also a sense of having to give something up in order to become part of the greater Whole.
Well, although Gemini is a fairly logical, rational sign, this Full Moon seems like it is far from rational! Full Moons rarely are, as they bring the emotional, more irrational part of us out into the light and bring to a head anything that has been bubbling away below the surface of our lives. This is a time to look within for the answers instead of falling prey to the overwhelming amount of information we may receive from the outside world. Confusing occurrences that can’t be explained rationally may abound, but it is important to have a sense of humour and to be open to the magic rather than succumbing to fear or paranoia, or thinking that we are going out of our mind! We are being offered an opportunity to get out of our heads and into our hearts. Just because most of us can’t actually “see” the world of spirit, it doesn’t mean it’s not there! This Full Moon has the potential to make us more aware of a thinning of the veil between the worlds, opening the doors of perception, so better to relax into it rather that resisting. Whatever experiences we have during this time, no matter how shocking, disillusioning or painful, could produce breakthroughs that have the potential to open us up to a much better understanding of who we really are and how we fit into the greater Whole.
Much love
Amy
xoxo
Artwork by Susan Seddon Boulet