Full Moon reading, August 16, 2008

See image here

Saturday evening, August 16, 2008. Entering point for Sun-Moon opposition

To explain, the above chart shows when the period of Sun-Moon opposition first begins (Saturday night). True astrological aspect of opposition doesn?t occur until about 7am the next morning. For all intents and purposes, we can say that ?Full Moon? (as perceived by the naked eye) is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night.
In a couple of days we have the Moon in Aquarius sitting opposite the Sun in Leo. Making things a little more interesting in all of this is the grouping of planets. We can see that Mercury, Venus, and Saturn are all in conjunction in Virgo (Mars is also in Virgo, however is not huddled together with these three), while Luna is in conjunction with Chiron and Neptune in Aquarius.

What I look for when I draw up a chart like this is themes and patterns - what is the energy or the vibe of the time?

The most important thing to look at in this chart is the interaction between the Sun-Moon/Chiron/Neptune oppositions. The cards I threw confirm this somewhat, essentially showing tension between our Conscious (Sun) and Un/Sub-consciousness (Moon). The energy of the time directs us towards a desire to achieve for ourselves, to shine forth as victorious leaders and heroes (Sun in Leo & 6 Wands); however there is also a deep-seated and unconscious behaviour that takes us to places less desirable, darker and more mysterious - the 7 Cups points us to the Moon/Chiron/Neptune conjunction.


Neptune is the dissolver of boundaries, and Chiron is the wounded healer. Both planets embody the idea of the unconscious to a certain degree; they both also point to associations with deeper parts of ourself that are sensitive and empathic. Our emotional states at this time could be keys that open doorways into some deep personal healing, possibly even surrounding our relationships with our mothers (or primary nurturing parents from our childhood). Journeying to this personal ?underworld? can often be fraught with dangers, and is traditionally the domain of the shaman or the Orphic hero. However, in this post-modernist world we live in, we are all capable of being our own shaman, descending into the depths of our own personal Hades to retrieve the lost treasure or person. There is another struggle going on here, that between the intellect (rationality) and the heart (emotion, intuition, feeling). Do we aim to achieve and succeed for own glory, or do we do it for others? In a sense, that is what the heroic Leonine Sun is doing: shedding light of this deep aspect of ourselves.

Why?
Well, that is usually what the times of Full Moon usually bring about: an en-lightenment, a throwing of light onto that which is obscured or in the dark at other times (the Moon of course symbolising a more primal, deeper, unconscious aspect of ourselves). As the card-throw suggests, all this is pointing to a union of opposites (the Lovers, symbolising the union of Male and Female, Yang and Yin, Sun and Moon) where the differences are reconciled in order to achieve something greater than the sum of the parts. In tantric philosophies, it was only because the God and the Goddess opened their eyes and became aware of each other that they split apart from being one, and became two. Tantra is the practice which seeks to re-unite God/Goddess (or Yang/Yin, Male/Female, etc) by re-embracing and becoming one again.

So this Full Moon time heralds a time where we may be able to catch a glimpse of what is keeping us separated. If we can see this, and deal with it in an appropriate manner, we have a very good chance of making whole our seemingly polaric parts.

What does that mean for me?
Well, the best way to see how the Full Moon affects you is to see where it occurs in relation to your own personal Birth Chart. What House is it placed in? What does it aspect with? For answers to this question, you can contact me or your local Astrologer and/or Tarot reader to see how the energy of this time plays out in your life.

I am available on Thursdays and Saturdays for consultations at the Belly Belly Pregnancy Centre, Canterbury Victoria.

So how has everyone's Full Moon been like?

I have had a very interesting four days, starting with waking up Friday morning with a cold (or in Chinese Medicine terms, an "invasion by an pernicious, exogenous Wind-Heat evil"). I brewed up herbs and drank them all day, and by the next day I was pretty much over it, but still not feeling kosher. We were meant to be going to an old friend's wedding that day, but being as I was still not 100% and daughter had developed her own lurgy, we thought better of it.

And whilst there are some residual signs still lurking within my system (chronic stuff that has been triggered), I'm finding my Qi-levels considerably low, with little ability to sleep - and yet not even feeling tired!

And so I checked out the chart for the Sun-Moon Opposition, and compared it to my Birth chart to observe what we call the "Transits" - this is where we see where the chart for a specific time (usually the current time) compares with the Birth chart.

And sure enough, the issues which I mentioned in the above posting as generalities were playing out in my life at this time. Important events like Full Moons, New/Dark Moons, Eclipses, etc usually trigger transits with outer planets, whose time of transit can last for anywhere up to a few years, due to their slower orbit.

So I thought I would share some of this with everyone to give an example of how generalities of astrological charts can apply to the individual. But it was also a part of my own healing process, and using the 'forum' of a Forum (and Blog) to gather our thoughts.

Essentially there were 4 main transits that have been affecting me over the last 4 days:

1. Pluto opposing (180) natal Saturn
2. Mars squaring (90) natal Saturn
3. Chiron opposing natal Venus
4. Chiron trine (120) natal Uranus

Amongst other things, Pluto's transit of my Saturn reflects the lack of energy I have. This is a big-picture transit, in that for me it is signifying a time of great change (it is in the process of moving through the 10th House in my Birth chart, which will take some years), and this time of change actually started around the time of my daughter's birth - so no surprise really that there is 'stuff' coming up in regards to being a husband/father. But it's also about 'letting go', and indeed that has been a major theme in my life since DD came into existence.
Assisting all of this is that rascal Mars, who really is just a hot-headed little boy - great in a fight or on a quest, but he can be a bit of a bugger when he's lurking through the House of personal (ie, one-to-one) relationships (the 7th House in our charts). His energy combining in this difficult way with Saturn creates a lot of restraint and restriction which we would otherwise bound over. However, the wisdom here is to go with it, proceed with caution and understand that the times require such constraint.

Chiron's transit to natal Venus is also challenging, dragging up all those past wounds and pains from our personal (and also our collective) unconscious. And again, we see the theme of the discord between head and heart, which I mentioned in the original post.

But as a beautiful balance, Chiron is combining well with Uranus to give me some alternative ways of going through this process of change, growth, and letting go. This could also be why I don't feel like a mental zombie after such little sleep, whilst my body is crying for rest.

And yes, in the wee hours of the morning, as I am trying to lull myself to sleep with overnight TV (unsuccessfully), rugged up on the couch in my wife's favourite blanket, I was going through many thoughts and emotions in regards to all that is going on in my life. And (maybe this is Chiron trine natal Uranus talking) perhaps this is the beauty of Astrology, the ability to find meaningful patterns in nature and the wider cosmos to help us grasp some understanding of the why/when/what/wherefore's of our lives. But then, it doesn't have to be Astrology, or Tarot, or religion, or spirituality to help us in this regards - just so long as we spend that time reflecting on our lives and what goes on in it, learning from our mistakes and successes, and using it grow, develop and evolve into the Self we want to become. It's a truly remarkable and equally mysterious existence that is life....

So that's been my experience of the Full Moon's energies over the weekend.... how has yours been?
:rolleyes::pray::wtf:

PS: To top it all off, I got in trouble from a Mod because I put the images of the Full Moon chart and the cards from the Tarot reading in the original post. They were taken off not long after it was all posted, which means most of you probably didn't get to see them in situ when reading it. There's that button-pushing Mars again, poking me into potential conflict...:lol: but I do suggest checking out the chart (the cards aren't there yet, I'm working on it...) and seeing how it pans out for you in relation to your Birth chart. It's all a learning curve......:doh:

hmmm...very interesting considering the events of the weekend at Casa Menagerie...my DF got rolling drunk for the first time in many many months and i had to go "rescue" him, my DD2 had her 16th birthday cancelled by her father calling the police on her and her friends in her own home, and i did some soul-searching that shed light on where i am still self-sabotaging...Chiron, indeed.