The best things in life happen unexpectedly.
The best stories begin with, “all of a sudden.”
They best adventures were never planned
As they turned out to be.
Free yourself from expectations.
The best will come when and from where
You least expect it.
The Mind Journal
The Super Full Moon on August 11, 2022 at 19 Aquarius reminds us that we are in the midst of unprecedented change, a revolution in the way we live. Information, revelations and truths are continually becoming available to us. We have only to welcome the changes, embrace new ways of seeing ourselves and life, and to learn how to ride on the fast-flowing river of life that holds the promise of sudden, unexpected twists and turns. The Full Moon illuminates how to not get swept up in the current, but to find the calm, the center within ourselves so we can successfully navigate our days towards an unknown and promising future.
Moon conjunct Saturn Retrograde
Uranus, Ruler of the Full Moon is conjoined the North Node and Saturn.
A Fixed Cross with the Full Moon, Uranus the nodal axis and Saturn
Mars in Taurus trine Pluto Retrograde
The Aquarian Full Moon is yet another planetary configuration that heralds dynamic change. Life is about growth and change, but we are in times of accelerated and unprecedented change that is potentially volatile and disruptive. And frankly, it is not just change but transformation, anf not just evolutionary growth but revolutionary shifts in our perceptions and approaches. It naturally follows that there will be a series of astrological dynamics that will reflect what we see as happening, so why would we be surprised that one after another of the astrological events say the same thing in different ways?
August is a month that is fast paced and we may feel like we are trying to keep up with what life is throwing our way. Plans may need to be altered and beliefs questioned as we integrate information and events that demand our attention. It is a month where we can make great strides forward and take resolute action, all the while staying light on our feet to dance with the times. We are to readily ascertain when we should hold our ground, or when we should release our position in favor of something new, different and perhaps foreign to how we have been operating.
Typically, I write a breakdown of each of the energetic components of a Full Moon that surround a core theme. But, as I sat down to write this, I felt like I am was going to write some version of what I have already said in multiple posts over the last couple years - perhaps using different words or images, but that inevitably I would sound like a broken record harping on the same themes. I was stuck and needed to shift gears and approach this newsletter in a different ways. So, this Full Moon write up will be more my contemplation about the overall feel of what is unfolding.
Massaging a Hot Spot to the Point of Release
17-21 degrees of fixed signs (Taurus, Aquarius, Leo, Scorpio)
Beginning last year there has been a lot of activity happening within 17-21 degrees of fixed signs. The Full Moon further catalyzes this activity because it is happening in the same sphere of the sky as the Uranus/Mars/North Node conjunction of August 1, the Saturn/Uranus square of 2021 that will culminate in their final square this come December. It also the same place in the sky of the upcoming November 8 eclipse. Disruptions, changes, release of new information and revelations are expected to continue, and even build in intensity, through the remainder of 2022. We have only to look at the increased tensions within our own country or between countries across the globe to see affirmation of this. Individually, we are absorbing, trying to normalize, looking at what we are to change and releasing old beliefs, habits and plans. We are moving forward in the best way we can as we live in a world that is changing from one day to the next.
Six Planets are in Fixed signs. Fixed signs are good to sticking to our guns, being steadfast and staying the course. Yet, we are being prodded, even compelled to embrace change. We are to question our beliefs and dreams to uncover deeper truths. The process is unsettling, but the outcome can be quite liberating. We are challenged to acknowledge and let go of what no longer serves us and to set a course for a future that is sustainable, less complex, and one that recognizes our vital relationship to the earth, our home.
For those of us with planets between 17 and 20 degrees of fixed signs. we may experience truly seismic shifts in our lives, where we change course or change our ways of seeing in some fundamental, and ultimately, liberating way.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf,
"and so do all who live to see such times.
But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do
with the time that is given us."
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
We Hold a Map that Shows a Terrain that No Longer Exists
We each operate from a map that shows us where we are and the route to take for a successful life. This map took its shape through the process of our conditioning and socialization. . This inner map orients us to the world and how we see ourselves within it. And yet, we have come to a point where we as people and as a culture are disoriented. The map we are holding is insufficient to navigate the terrain we need to cross. The terrain has changed, and may not even be recognizable when we compare it to our trustworthy map.
The map we received over the course of our youth was honed by the accumulated experience and wisdom of those who came before us. We have held it as trustworthy and reliable. But again, the terrain has changed. We can toss the map or try to work with it the best we can. The whole of the map is not inconsequential, but how do we discern what to rely on and recognize what will mislead us? Questioning what we think we know and considering new information is essential as we each revise the inner map that will support us in knowing where we are, where we are going, and the best route for getting from here to there.
Pluto in Capricorn: Transformation of our Shared Reality
Pluto is: Transformation
Capricorn is: Structures, Systems and Responsibilities that Maintain Them
There has been a steady, irrepressible deconstruction of the status quo, of societal agreements on how to live and how to be governed (since Pluto moved into Capricorn in 2008). A revolutionary impulse took hold in the people, leadership was questioned and held accountable, and the resulting upsets and fissures to this system revealed weaknesses and flaws. (Pluto square Uranus 2012-2015). 2020 was a breakthrough and defining year that destabilized the status quo (Pluto conjunct Saturn and Jupiter). At the end of the year, people collectively began to envision a new future, a new map, as they could see the old order, the old terrain, crumbling. (Jupiter conjunct Saturn in Aquarius).
2021 and 2022, we are feeling a pull between stabilizing what we have and what we have built versus letting this go and reaching for a future that holds more promise, yet takes us into uncharted territory (Saturn square Uranus). Next year Pluto will complete its sojourn in Capricorn and begin shifting into Aquarius. The deconstruction will be complete and we will discover how prepared we are for the next chapter of our transformation, which carries us towards a future that is less about material comfort and accumulation. The measure of one's worth will begin to shift to how much we value and care for all life, with wisdom and innovation as the most sought after commodity.
The Full Moon is another moment where we may receive surprising information, new revelations, or experience something unexpected and surprising that has us question and thus move in a different way. We are again prodded to see the rut in which we are living, like a needle on a turntable stuck on the same groove, playing the same note over and over and over. We may be compelled, even catapulted into jumping a track or taking an unforeseen detour.
As I look at this month's dynamics, I feel exhausted by the promise of more surprising and disturbing news coming my way. Yes, there can be revelations, and a waking up to some new truth or fact or way to live. Still, I find myself seeking stability. Mars in Taurus trine Pluto tells us that we can find the calm within the storm, the calm within the change. We can slow down. We can take care of our bodies and move at a pace that is beneficial and not detrimental to the well being of our bodies. There is a sensuousness to life, and we can be present to what is actually happening in the movement - noticing the flavors of what we are eating, how the wind is rustling the trees outside our window, or the color of the eyes of the person to whom we are talking. Within tasks to accomplish, we may get more done if we do not rush but give our attention to each step, each breath, each detail. This is how we find grounding and balance, and feel centered in a fast moving world.
And as for the continued promise of accelerated change that the planets are reflecting to us…
I look at the last 15 years or so since Pluto entered Capricorn and I think of all the changes that I have already undergone juxtaposed to all the changes that have taken place on the world stage, and I think: Okay, I moved through these okay enough; I have learned some things I didn’t know before, have changed jobs and locations and friends, and my life seems to be better for it.
Live as if everything is rigged in your favor
Rumi
Uranus is in Taurus (2018-2026)
Taurus: Earth and Resources.
Uranus: Sudden change with a purpose to liberate and free up what was repressed.
Hence: Earth Changes.
.While Pluto is like a glacier, immeasurably slow and impossible to shift it from its intended course. Uranus is more like lightening. It is unexpected, sudden and electrifies what it touches. It finds the weak spot, the spot that is not working or is repressing something vital, and it cracks us open. The Full Moon is of the Uranus variety.
The Uranus in Taurus years promise sudden, disruptive and volatile events surrounding food production, soil conservation, food distribution, financial systems and banking, as well as record-breaking earthquakes, fires and hurricanes.
If we look at our lives juxtaposed to 14 years ago when Pluto entered Capricorn, we can see the trajectory of transformation that has taken place and perhaps how this transformation was accelerated beginning in 2018 when Uranus moved into Taurus., I believe most of us will say that something has radically changed with our beliefs, our hopes, our goals, and even in how we live our life. I read somewhere that the amount of change our great grandparents or their parents experience over a lifetime, we now experience in a decade. And the amount of information they received over a lifetime, we receive now on an annual basis. Recently, it was recorded that the world completed a day in just under 24 hours, meaning the day was shorter. Even the world earth is speeding up.
So, we live in a time of accelerated change and of rapid information. There is an awareness that continuing the way of life we have grown accustomed to, even are dependent on, is the fast course to extinction. Most of us feel powerless and overwhelmed in the face of this. But perhaps it is less up to us to individually change the course of humanity and more about looking about how to respond well to what is immediately facing us in our lives.
The Full Moon illuminates a way on how to be with the disruptions, new information and changes that we are being compelled to make.
The Moon in Aquarius Opposes the Sun in Leo
The July 28 Leo New Moon was an invitation to align with what lights us up and to not feed the fear or the activities that darken our spirit. We were to identify where our commitment lies and to what we are devoted to growing in our lives and the world. This was our assignment that would help us move well with the energies of August.
The Sun, still in Leo, reminds us that we are to be guided by our heart, by our love. Our minds may be overwhelmed, tired, busy trying to figure things out. Yet, if we can sink into our heart, into what will bring us joy, this will guide us through.
The Moon in Aquarius, is in the sign of vision and future direction. In the midst of all that is happening, we are reminded that there is a knowing inside us. We may not have wanted to recognize it until now, because to shake off the denial of it means that something fundamental may need to change. When we cannot make sense of which direction to go or how to respond, or what truth to believe the truth is that there something within us that already knows the way forward. There is a seriousness to the Moon, conjoined Saturn. We are asked to take responsibility, not play the powerless victim, but to hold the reins and determine how to respond to the surprises or shifts that are happening.
A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid
Of the branch breaking
Because its trust is not in the branch
But in its own wings.
Believe in yourself.
Charlie Wardle
We can wonder why we were not born into more stable times, or we can feel the tremendous gift to be born and live in the time we are living. We have only to look at nature to recognize that life is perpetually about growth and change. We can acknowledge what we are experiencing and what the planets are reflecting to us: that we lives in a time of unprecedented growth and change that is truly transformative. There is tremendous opportunity for each of us within this. We can each awaken, heal, and transform ourselves as never before, because the shared beliefs are not so entrenched, are up in the air, and are being questioned by so many. It is harder to stay on a particular course, to go on automatic, or stay in a rut when the ground beneath us is not solid. It is a time not just to live, but to feel alive. The desire to fulfill our soul’s longing is being supported. And if we can trust our heart to guide us, and if we can care and listen to our bodies, than we will be able to navigate the road ahead in a beautiful way. The changes do not need to slow down, but we can slow down our pace and the way in which we move with ourselves and each day.
And so, the Full Moon becomes one moment in a series of moments that can jolt us with an awakening that has us see a deep truth about who we are, what we are truly about, and what we are called to undertake - this calling, is most likely a radical departure from what we were taught or what have been thinking our lives would be about. And if we are ready, we will feel it as enlivening and liberating! And either way, the times we are living are enlivening and liberate us from illusions that don't serve us.