Capricorn Full Moon

• 3 July 2023, 10:39 pm (Local time: Bilpin, Australia)
  

When the Full Moon is in Capricorn, that means that the Sun is in Cancer. Full Moons always highlight a pattern of two – patterns of opposites, polarities and things that are binary in natural relationship. Astrology teaches us that every aspect and every energy signature is fundamentally about integration. Just because two things sit in a polarity pattern, does not mean that they have to be antagonistic. Oftentimes it is the very distance of opposing perspectives that offer the only opportunity we have to view the beauty and integrity of something in its wholeness. It is why artists step back from their work – to actually see it. When we are in close proximity (aka: conjunction) with something, we often lack the perspective needed to clearly view it. When the Sun and Moon sit opposite, we not only get to see the Moon in her Full Radiance, but we can also get in touch with our personal drives and logically grasp some of the numinous puzzle that is our emotional and intuitive realm. This helps the Sun (our conscious selves) to navigate, allowing for more heart centered action. The Moon similarly at these times, gives us deep insight into how we might possibly manifest our desires. The Moon helps make intuitive leaps and provides inspiration on where/how to put your foot next. We can work our internal or external polarities and lean into their signatures. We always have a choice. We can make our containers smaller and use the polarities to create division and othering, by telling ourselves stories that highlight the antagony of opposites and we can pit the sides against each other. Or we can welcome the perspective and distance they bring into awareness and use it to grow our containers - effectively stretching stories and thus ourselves to fit the complex paradigm that is wholeness.

And while Capricorn energy is all about "The Facts", when the Full Moon is here,it is not about paying attention with our logical minds, but rather we are meant to become immersed in our sense of values. Those are very legitimate facts too, and ones we might not always be in alignment with. This Full Moon is a time to ask yourself - what really and truly matters? Capricorn energy is often the most cognizant of all the zodiacal signs of the temporary nature of form and so Capricorn Full Moons can often call up feelings of separation, fatality and the weight of the world. Alternatively though, it can also charge us with a sense of duty and responsibility to use the limited time that we have in this body to its fullest effect. What story are you going to be telling this Full Moon? With Pluto being retrograde also in Capricorn, we know that there are deep systemic changes that we need to own and take responsibility for. And this Moon sits in trine with Jupiter in the energy of the Builder, Taurus. It puts not only great determination, but long lasting resonance at our disposal, but like all trine energy, it doesn't just create these windfalls, we must consciously activate it to utilize its full benefit. When we have trining energy, we can all too easily just get a bit lazy, but when we can rally and activate them - lean into them with intention, then they often are like magic wands.

Mars and Venus when they conjoin, can make for drama in our personal lives – especially in Leo. While these two energies might be natural polarities (like the Sun and Moon) when they come together we have an opportunity to integrate our passions. Like lovers in the tango, their individual and seemingly opposing natures, works to the advantage of the whole. With the Sun conjunct Mercury in Cancer our conscious focus centers easily around what do I need to nurture myself, to listen to my own needs and have better boundaries that support that.

So there is much energy available over the next 2 week period for us to gain insight and take beginning steps to working with our binary patternings both internally and externally in ways that are mutually beneficial and supporting. So when you notice yourself in a position of antagonistic opposition, see if you can take a step back and look at things with more heart, from a place of your actual values. This can help you shift your perspective (and more importantly - your story) to one of a polarity that honors the fullness of being. Can you use this Full Moon to allow life to be round and complex and full. Can you celebrate the paradoxes even! Make wild passionate love to the sultry complex dance that is wholeness?

Gemini New Moon

• 18 June 2023, 3:37pm (local time, Bilpin Australia)

This June New Moon finds us in Gemini with its ruler Mercury holding court nearby also in Gemini. Gemini is mutable air energy. So it moves and wants change and stimulation. Gemini is the ‘youngest’ energy of the zodiac. It has a lot of “giddy-up” and the optimism that comes with that kind of juice. Remember that air energy has to do with our minds and our nervous systems. It moves up and out. It wants to disperse and have free range. If this New Moon is hitting a sensitive point on your chart you can expect tension and anxiety to have more impact on you, so do what you can to support your nervous system. Get enough rest, drink plenty of fluids and remember to eat. A handy trick when you are feeling especially ungrounded, is to simply put a few grains of salt on your tongue. Salt is a mineral and therefore grounding. A few grains can provide a reset moment to help deal with all the up and out energy. But the point is not to block this energy, we always want to integrate what is happening to its highest potential. Gemini energy is here to teach us curiosity. It wants us to ask more interesting questions. Gemini values breadth over depth and has a magical ability to take great leaps and move very quickly. For those of you who work with sect, Mercury can belong to either the day or the night. Mercury is the only god who travels in both the overworld and the underworld freely. Mercury knows no barriers. It can move in any direction. Symbolized by the twins, Gemini mimics that by emphasizing the kinship of polarities. Gemini know that polarities need not be purely antagonistic, but can, in their combined scope make for tremendous richness of opportunity and possibility. This New Moon is about coming to terms with binary models of thought and restructuring how we place ourselves in relationship to them. In its highest expression, this New Moon can help us break down limiting beliefs regarding binaries of ‘right vs wrong’, ‘good vs bad’. We have an opportunity to build new and more interesting bridges and structures of thought that create cohesiveness and understanding rather than a continued "either-or" fracturing that limits our possibility and scatters our strength and ingenuity.

It's all about free will – if we want to continue to draw lines of ‘us vs them’, then this New Moon is also happy to facilitate. We always get to choose how we respond to any energy – we can activate its highest potentials or its lowest ones. The energy really doesn’t care – its job is simply to express. We are the storytellers.

The ruler of this New Moon - Mercury - sits in sextile to Venus in Leo, who has been chasing Mars trying to catch up to him. Sextile aspects energize and enliven. Whenever Venus and Mars get close to each other we can always expect a lot of fireworks. This is the passionate dynamic duo of the zodiac. They are planetary opposites like the Sun and Moon. So we are seeing a double emphasis with this New Moon on binary models - the patterns of two – the Yin and Yang dynamics coming together and wanting to join forces. When Mars and Venus do so in a sign like Leo, we can expect the drama factor to rise. This ups the ante for whatever way you want to play the Gemini energy. Leo energy makes everything personal and it needs to be seen, so it can really blow things up and put them in your face. How you respond again is up to you. This New Moon is not about NOT having drama or trying to avoid it (good luck with THAT), but it becomes more about whether or not you are going to make high art out of the drama that does unfold. Leo lends a lot of creative spark into the mix. Leo energy is daring and transformative. You can whip it all into an energetic, soul sucking frenzy that costs a lot of time and money – drama as sword. Or you can use whatever drama that arises as pen – can you inspire with it? Can you weave a story that has people dreaming something life-affirming with you?

Gemini gets short shrift a lot of the time, because it is so fast and can move all over the place. Because it is so youthful, it is seen as naive. But when we are stuck - when we are locked into our own soul cages of chosen circumstance, dead beliefs and ideals of habit, Gemini energy is exactly what is needed to usher in a fresh wind and carry us out of the dull drums. This New Moon is especially strong in its ability to help you stick your neck out and make some authentic changes in your life. So if you have been wanting to make a change or knowing that you need one, but not sure what to do, this New Moon is here to help you. USE IT. Gemini energy ripples out and side steps easily into different planes of being, so follow your curiosity – however tiny the spark. Take a different route to work. Say yes, if you normally say no. Say no if you normally say yes. Walk on the opposite side of the street. Part your hair differently, wear your johnson in the other pant leg for a change – you get the idea. The point is to invite in opposing energy, welcome a shift of perspective and embrace change. It doesn’t have to be huge – that Leo juice is waiting in the wings to work whatever you do to its big screen potential. With this New Moon, if you want to make art rather than just more drama, then keep it authentic. Put some skin in the game and Be Real. What you begin to align yourself with on this New Moon, you can use to set your Winter Solstice intention for the New Solar year ahead on 22 June.

And on a side note, pay attention to the day following the New Moon (19 June), as that is the day Venus hits her degree of direct station in September. Notice your relational themes and any topics relating to your values as well as your finances, but more importantly interpersonal power dynamics, as it will help give you some insights into what the upcoming Venus retrograde period is all about for you. (Venus will station retrograde 23 July at 28 degrees 36 minutes Leo and stay retrograde until 4 Sept at 12 degrees 12 minutes Leo).

Sagittarius Full Moon

•  4 June 2023, 2:42pm (local time: Bilpin Australia)

This Full Moon is in Sagittarius - mutable fire - meaning its dynamic and all about making change. Fire element is associated with transformation and things of the spirit. This Full Moon is not about safety or comfort. It does not color within the lines. It is the cosmic collage artist. If it sees something interesting or relevant, it doesn't avoid it because it comes couched in a framework that bores or offends it, rather Sag plucks out those sparkly bits wherever it finds them and from all its gathered treasures, weaves something glorious - particularly when it comes to beliefs, ideals and philosophies. This Full Moon is a time to release your too small ideas about things. What beliefs are you carrying that hold you back and keep your possibility smaller? DARE to dream bigger.

This Full Moon is trine Chiron, meaning there is deep healing available at the end of this long journey, but first we must actually begin. SO LEAP. Jupiter rules this Full Moon and he is not only conjunct the North Node in Taurus – signifying his devotion to soul evolution - he squares both Pluto and Mars (and is in an out of sign square to Venus). Jupiter as ruler of Sagittarius wants big picture concepts. Truth and Faith with their capital letters. He is considered the ‘greater benefic’, meaning that he likes to work for us...but keep in mind, if we have our minds set on making unhelpful choices, he is still happy to help us. Jupiter expands whatever he touches. Even the out of sign square to Venus in Cancer tells us that we are poised to deeply examine our values – particularly those that relate to empathy and nourishment. Squaring from Taurus, Jupiter wants to build something. He is ready to get his hands dirty and put his prodigious shoulder to some material wheel. Squares in general are about turning a corner, shifting directions and integrating something that steers us from our current trajectory. Squares are meant to grow us and round us out. This Full Moon we are meant not simply to have big dreams, but to center our dreaming around our values so that our dreams actually tangibly nourish our relationships and our connections to what really matters. This becomes very important later when Venus goes retrograde. So take some time to really sit with these matters this Full Moon.

In Aquarius, Pluto wants deep psychological change and naked emotional vulnerability at a collective level through the process of personal individuation. Mars in Leo wants courageous authenticity and brave commitment to walk off any stage in search of one’s right audience. Yes, there are less helpful roads – this Full Moon can really blow up our egos and our sense of doom and isolation. We can get really dramatic about this story and stubbornly insist that our unhelpful feelings and thoughts are true. And sure, they are… but only from one tiny perspective. Which stories are you going to choose to keep telling and what ideas are you going to choose to believe in. We are the storytellers and the dreamers. We weave our collective reality with our individual dreamings and our individual stories. This Full Moon has quite an agenda. It stands ready and willing to look with eyes and heart wide open. It dares us to dream profound change and growth. This Full Moon challenges us to be seen for who we really are (Mars), knowing that we cannot heal our fractured collective, if all we keep doing is the small and safe measures we have been holding to up to this point (Pluto). Saturn sextiles Jupiter from Pisces and so this Full Moon is about walking our spiritual talk. We actually have to change our patterns of thought and action, if we want things to be different. Jupiter in Taurus can give us a lot of assist in tangible ways, but the mixture of Saturn means that we also have to grow up and do some adulting and be accountable for our piece of it. The squaring energy speaks of strong challenge. It needs to hurt some. It needs to be uncomfortable. The Sun in Gemini will provide energy and insight as to where to put our foot next, but at some point we have to leap away from the safe and slowly strangling beliefs that keep us from true individuation. Use this Full Moon to release what doesn’t support a more authentic you and drop the relationships to things that don’t reflect your values of care and accountability. Thanks to Jupiter’s influence, even small actions can have big impacts at this time…. So just think of what big actions might do?!

Taurus New Moon

New Moon in Taurus  *  20 May 2023, 2:54am (local time - Bilpin, Australia)

New Moons are times of manifestation. They are the turning points of the dark cycle where the light of attention and awareness begin to grow into being. Taurus as fixed earth energy is particularly strong when it comes to manifestation, and this New Moon finds not only the Sun and Moon in Taurus, but Jupiter, the North Node, Mercury, Vesta and Uranus all in Taurus as well. With this lunation trining Pluto in Aquarius and sextiling Mars in Cancer we have a very heady and potent mix of energy available should we choose to activate it. Trines and sextiles are considered easy energies and as such while they offer much stability and juice into the mix, their gifts are often wasted unless engaged with consciously. If you have any placements in Taurus in your birth chart or placements in fixed signs in the late degrees this Moon can be particularly potent for you.

Taurus energy wants tangible stability. Ruled by Venus it is particularly concerned with stability in our relationships to the material world. This can mean money and finances, but more deeply it is about stability in relationship to our sense of personal power in the world. With a New Moon, both the Sun and the Moon are conjunct and therefore they are yoked into the same vision and desire. Taurus is an energy of embodiment. It rules our animal natures. And so it wants our animal body to feel content. This is achieved by seeing to our most basic of needs – food, shelter and safety. Taurus wants to be nourished and craves simple pleasures like a nap or the sun on our skins. Taurus can work hard, but it also rests hard. It does not need to brag and boast, in fact Taurus prefers silence – so that it can listen to the rhythms and messages of its own body and own animal instincts.

This New Moon is a potent time to review where you are falling short in terms of attending to your own instincts and what your body is telling you. The sextile from Mars can lend us a ferocious commitment to taking care and nourishing ourselves and trine from Pluto suggests that when all these energies are consciously yoked, great healing can happen at a collective and societal level - simply through the process of individuation and attending to our most basic needs and standing strong in our core values. Uranus helps us to make radical shifts and Mercury lends our intelligence to sort out how to bring about those changes. Jupiter always makes everything bigger, so he can lend a generous wind to those efforts. Having said that, every energy has two sides. This combination can very easily lead us into the extreme opposite direction. Taurus energy can be very pigheaded and Taurus really does not like to change. We all know that the health of our planet and our society and most likely our own lives is degrading at a rapid rate. Change is happening all around us and very quickly, and mostly due to a result of selfish idealism that fears diversity. Taurus energy can dig its heels in and stubbornly stick to its own story. We all have a somebody-done-me-wrong sob story where we are the hapless victim. There is no shame in that. Its simply a product of being alive in a human body at this time. Not being able to drop the story or tell a more interesting one is where the danger is. Mars in Cancer can lend a lot of ego to the pity party should we choose to throw one. Taurus can be determinedly shallow and selfish, believing that if it accumulates enough it can build a fortress of safety for itself. The energies and ideals of the last 500 years can double down with a continued Me-First mentality. These kinds of choices can catapult just as easily into an extreme manifestation as those aiming towards a healthier, more equitable planet and society. The things we decide to elevate as our values in our personal lives will ripple out into the collective. The world out there is a direct reflection of the world in here. Its time to do some house cleaning, to grow up and take responsibility for the state of the world by owning your part and getting clear on your values. If we are to have a healthy community, we need to have a broader vision of society than the BOOORIIIING, dumbed down homogeneity and monoculture vision capitalism and colonialism has been spoon feeding us. Lets all use this New Moon energy to commit instead to stop being sheep those in power can fleece to continue to line their own pockets and instead take responsibility where we can. This not only means daring to individuate - actually to be our honest, naked, vulnerable and diverse selves, but also to make room in our stories for the individuation of others. We do not all have to believe the same thing, we do not all have to agree on what is right or best for there to be respect and tolerance. We are smart enough and creative enough to build a more interesting world we can all be proud of. Taurus can help us tap into what we already all know: that biodiversity creates a healthy, strong and resilient ecosystem of abundance and overall peace. Taurus knows that it isn’t complicated. Its actually quite simple. Conserve your energy for what truly matters and bask in the beauty and aliveness of the present moment.

LUNAR ECLIPSE : Scorpio Full Moon

     * 6 May 2023, 4:34am (local time)

There is a lot of online astrological hype. As counterpoint lets review some Astrology 101:

Astrology describes energetic weather patterns. Having a thunderstorm at my home in Mount Tomah, doesn't mean that everyone in the entire universe is going to get wet. Further, there are personal planets, social planets and trans-personal planets. If Venus and Mercury (two personal planets) are conjunct, this might be a ‘non-event for you, UNLESS you have planets or other significant points in your birth chart falling on the same degrees or in aspect to this event. Likewise, if Uranus and Pluto (two trans-personal planets) are square, this speaks of a more universal energy, affecting the zeitgeist and as such will be noticeable more in the headlines than in your personal sphere (UNLESS it hits something in your birth chart). This is true across all of astrology. And if the ‘weather’ is not affecting you personally, understanding what others might be dealing with, helps you to step out of the drama and instead make informed, wise and compassionate responses. GO TEAM !

Ok, let’s talk about the Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio!

Scorpio rules intestinal digestion and decomposition. Its idea of a good time is being eaten and transformed. Full Moons are culmination points, so they're heady energies - like being at the top of a roller coaster hill about to race down. They can be 'ah-ha' moments, or times of tremendous release, or times to look around and decide where to put your foot next. The twist with a Lunar Eclipse, is that as the Sun (conscious understanding) gets blocked by the reality of the Earth plane, something deeply primordial (Moon) enters our awareness. Often what we have been ignoring comes front and center. It's a good time to notice your dreams, coincidences and gut feelings. Warning: Scorpio energy may not feel pleasant. There is a necessary amount of discomfort, as Scorpio often works with things we fear, things that disgust us, things that cause us to cringe and flinch. Don't let that deter you. Keep your senses open and try to be with what arises. Transformation, by its very nature, requires some discomfort. It also requires time. Eclipses have ramifications that become apparent in 6 month’s time.

The Sun’s energy activates from the polarity of Taurus. Scorpio likes to release, Taurus likes to accumulate. Taurus prefers basic, obvious, tangible concepts, whereas Scorpio prefers complex, hidden, emotional ones. This Sun is conjunct Uranus, Vesta and retrograde Mercury, suggesting an opportunity for something surprising (Uranus) to be illuminated (Sun) that can revise how we think (retrograde Mercury) about our patterns of accumulation and possession (Taurus). If you know which houses this Moon and Sun fall in your chart, look to those areas of your life to hone in your attention further. Vesta is our internal flame, her job is to tend our spiritual light. Taurus energy, concerned with our basic needs, works hard to build our reserves giving us a secure base from which we can then relax and be at ease. With Uranus here, we can assume something to throw a curveball into that base. Expect some upheaval. And while this has visible consequences on the material plane (Taurus), with Vesta here and the opposing Moon in Scorpio, there are much deeper reasons for this upheaval. Scorpio always asks for some form of purging. It makes the space needed for new life to emerge. As much as Taurus might resist change and letting go, this Lunar Eclipse is here to show us its necessity. This Full Moon is a great time to review your finances and make a budget; or clean out your closets and take a load to the Op-Shop; or clean out your fridge and take stock of what you think of as food. Pay attention to what comes up and ask yourself "What is unnecessary here? How can i let go of unhelpful excess and use that energy and space to address my actual basic needs?" Make a 6 month plan to simplify and get back in touch with what really matters.

Lets also remember that Scorpio is fixed water. Water signs in general are not about isolation, but about connectivity. This particular Full Moon especially is not really a great time to be alone. Facing the dark is often more productive with company. This Full Moon also finds Venus sextile Jupiter and square Neptune. Venus always shows us where we cannot do our work alone, for she is a relational energy. The square to Neptune suggests that we run a risk of falling into the spell of our own story, rather than doing our hard work and the sextile to Jupiter means that we can get into deep water without even trying. This is not a good time to 'check out'. This is a time to be in touch with people who can check us. It is a time when we need to lean into our relationships for support so that we can face what we need to face, own what we need to own. It is a time to be in community with others, so that our individual shadows do not overwhelm or hook us into simply feeling powerless, afraid, miserable or bitter - all perfectly possible manifestations of this particular Full Moon. It can be difficult to share space with folks when we are so close to our own internal discomfort, but if we can call ourselves in, and remember that there is a bigger play going on in the macro-cosmic level than the little bit we can see or the part that we carry... if we can remember that it takes all of us to shift culture and paradigm, then we can realise that our piece is just a part of a larger story and we don't have to feel so alone in it.

In-person classes available through YogaFromTheInside studio in Berambing. Check it out here: Information on Classes