The Capricorn Full Moon arrives today, this evening (overnight tomorrow if you’re in Euro and farther eastern time zones), with a vibe that takes us way beyond what we usually expect from Capricorn.
Capricorn is cardinal Earth, ruled by Saturn, the sign of the Father archetype, traditional authority, setting your shoulder to the wheel, putting your back into it, and gettin’ it DONE. All this is still true, and on this Full Moon night, our ideas and experiences and commitments to authority, work, and boundaries will indeed be illuminated … but …
This Full Moon sits with Pluto, the deep transformer who looks at foundations, those roots reaching below soil right into bedrock, the alchemist who wants us to step into the cauldron and come out wholly new and yet more ourselves than ever before. Jessica Shepard writes of the connection between this Full Moon and the ancestors, in her post at Mooncircles.
This Full Moon is, as always, opposite the Sun. The Sun is now in Cancer, sign of the Moon, of the archetypal Mother, of home, family, where we go to ground, where we protect most fiercely what is ours, where we are also most tender. The Sun sits with Mars, also in Cancer. There is a lot of feeling with this Moon, and Capricorn’s pragmatism will not hold it back.
Mars and Pluto are both associated with anger, so this Full Moon might illuminate where we draw the line, where we take a stand, what we will defend no matter what. Or perhaps we will see where we are holding anger because we have not set good boundaries, where we are giving away more than we can stand, where our foundations might be eroding, leaving us too vulnerable.
Then there’s Venus and Jupiter in passionate Leo, together at this Full Moon. This not-to-be-missed conjunction brings together the planets of good fortune, liberality, creativity, love in the Fire sign that shines brightest of all. We can’t not feel at the time like this, we can’t not participate in the emotions around us.
What’s been illuminated this week in the lead up to this Full Moon? Tony Howard’s July newletter for Forrest Astrology is titled “Love Wins” and calls our attention to the Supreme Court in the US ruling supporting marriage for all that shook foundations even for those who knew this was the right, inevitable decision: To see it happen! To experience the responses, to feel, yes, the love.
Venus–Jupiter are sharing energy (in a trine of Fire) with Uranus the revolutionary and Eris the edgy asteroid goddess of what needs to be put right. With Mercury in Gemini sextiling both, we may find ourselves feeling many emotions, in quick succession, not knowing where to go with it all: Let the foundational Full Moon pull you back to your roots, what is most important, where your ground is.
Another part of the foundational message in this Full Moon is the square between the Full Moon (Sun and Mars, Moon and Pluto) and the Nodes of the Moon in Aries (South Node of the past) and Libra (North Node of where we’re headed). Are our feet firmly on our path? Are we heading in the right direction? There’s so much passion and energy available now, let’s take this Full Moon illumination and check in with where we’re flowing it. Are we serving our core needs, our key goals, our deepest desires?
If we’ve walked ourselves to the edge of a cliff, this Full Moon could show us, giving us a chance to pull back, get back on track.
This Full Moon is (as always) about more than just us. Neptune in Pisces shares energy with this Moon, sextiling the Moon and trining the Sun, adding more than a touch of magic, possibly a bit of fog, and her constant reminder that we are never alone, we are part of All That Is. The ruler of this Full Moon, Saturn the lord of boundaries, sits at the edge of Scorpio, the intense final degree that focuses our attention on what is deep and lasting.
Check your birth chart. See where this Full Moon falls for you. Molly Hall at About.Astrology offers a guide to the possible effects of this Capricorn Moon in the various Houses. Check also which of your planets or chart angles might be touched by this Full Moon: Anything in and around 10 degrees (the Full Moon is very close to the end of 9 degrees), especially in the cardinal signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.
Apart from Mercury in Gemini, there’s not much Air in the Full Moon chart. Clarity of thought might be challenging right now. Be wary of reaching major decisions, especially if these involve communicating big messages to important people. The results could be explosive and irrevocable. Instead, follow this Full Moon light to where you can feel, and feel deeply. Stay in your body. (Get back into your body if you’re not there–get your feet in touch with the ground, feed yourself well, get a massage.) Let yourself experience your emotions as fully as you can, allowing them to move through, inform, cleanse, rejuvenate. We’ll all be so much wiser if we do.