Full Moon in Sagittarius: Through the Gate

Tomorrow morning, Friday, June 9, the Full Moon in Sagittarius arrives, which means this Moon will look most full tonight.

Following the very-close-in New Moon we felt a few weeks ago, this is a minimoon, farther away and appearing smaller. This Full Moon is also low in the sky, so her color will be richer. She will embody her sweet names: Honey Moon, Full Rose Moon, Strawberry Moon.

Sagittarius can be a sweet sign. This is an optimistic, generous, expansive energy, keen to explore what is different, bizarre, unusual, and deep. This is a gypsy Moon, a philosopher, an explorer.

Opposite Sagittarius is Gemini, where the Sun sits with Ceres, the fierce maternal energy of glorious green growing things. Where Gemini is breadth, the far-reaching need to network, Sagittarius is depth.

Think of Gemini as the sharp young crow who brings shiny things home. Think of Sagittarius as the wise owl who studies the assemblage carefully, wresting meaning from the varied things of the world.

At this Full Moon, you might be called away. Depending where the Full Moon falls in your chart–find 18 degrees of Sagittarius and Gemini to locate her axis–you might be drawn into philosophy, religious systems, deep ponderings about politics and the social order, or far travel.

Where do you long to understand things deeply? Where do you seek a unifying theory of life? Where do you just want to cut loose and immerse yourself in something completely foreign and wonderfully strange? All these are Sagittarian impulses.

Bilbo Baggins was very Sagittarian, especially for a hobbit. He understood what traveling meant: “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

We’re standing at the gate with this Full Moon and it’s time to check the maps. Where are we, in the cosmos, in the world, in our lives? Where would we like to go?

Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius and therefore ruler of this Full Moon, is in an interesting place. He has been traveling retrograde in Libra since the beginning of February, an unusually thoughtful place for this large presence.

He is, right now, standing still at 13 Libra and will turn direct just after the Full Moon. This is a strong position, as if Jupiter were saying, right, I’ve had my time to think and now I am ready to act!

With Jupiter in a wide trine to the Sun and sextile to the Moon, both flows of energy that support what this Full Moon is about, we can expect a heightened sense of Full Moon-ness. However this Moon will touch our charts and our lives, there will be more of it. It will feel larger than life.

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This kind of expansion has pluses and minuses. Sagittarius can be bombastic in his philosophy. He can be so sure he has everything figured out, he is happy to explain it all to you. At length. Dim the lights, please, for my PowerPoint. Mansplaining, anyone?

Another less-than-ideal expression of expanded Sagittarius is the belief we are superhuman. We may feel so energized and optimistic, we sign up for way more than we can deliver, opening ourselves up to burnout and exhaustion.

An alternative expression of this intense level of Jupiter is offered by Venus, newly arrived in Taurus, a sign she loves. Venus becomes important as the ruler of Libra, where Jupiter is traveling. In Taurus, the Lady connects deeply with the Earth. She is loving her body and lavishing care on it in every way.

If you feel yourself getting too jazzed, too talky, or with too many brilliant ideas coming in, shift focus to the physical. Get your feet on grass, sand, rock, in the ocean. Schedule a massage. Hug people.

This Full Moon is squared by Neptune in Pisces, which brings us to another kind of gate. This is a mutable Full Moon, in signs that flow into other ways of knowing and other realities easily. With a Neptune square, intense dreams and visionary experiences are possible. Sagittarius is the sign of journeys. Sometimes our most profound journeys are the ones of mind and spirit. You may find yourself called away to Faerie.

Uranus the revolutionary continues to trine the North Node of our future and sextile the South Node. Chiron the wounded healer is inconjunct the North Node, semisextile the South Node of the past. These are transformational times. That energy too informs our experience of this Full Moon.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspects of this Full Sagittarian Moon, though, are the bodies flanking the Moon herself.

To one side is the asteroid Lilith, widely conjunct the Moon and strongly sextile Jupiter. Lilith is the fierce feminine. She is often portrayed in mythology as a negative: The failed wife and mother who steals living children and overshadows unwilling men. Deeper stories point to a strong, strong woman who stepped aside rather than submit to a patriarchal system. A female force who carries the power of women to change the world.

Think Wonder Woman. Notice that one of her most powerful weapons are called “bracelets of submission.” This term, according to recent stories, is a reminder of the formerly enslaved state of the Amazons and a guard against overweening ego. The thing is, they ain’t bracelets. They are vambraces, or, if you prefer, manica, armor for the forearm. They are sources of power.

To the other side is Saturn, currently retrograde in Sagittarius. In his current backwards motion, he and the Moon are moving toward each other, applying to a conjunction that will happen Friday night, about twelve hours after the Full Moon.

Saturn is, as we know, the taskmaster. He sets limits and establishes boundaries. So is he here to dampen the Sagittarian fun? At this Full Moon, I don’t think so.

Consider where Saturn is: He’s communing with Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole that sits at the center of our galaxy. Everything we are, not just our solar system but our entire Milky Way galaxy, is made and unmade right there at Sagittarius A. As black holes go, Sagittarius A is relatively quiet. Still, it’s the place where new stars are born and stars that get too close fall in and disappear.

Mysteriously, our supermassive black hole sings. The tone is very, very, very low and cannot be heard in the vacuum of space. But it can be seen and measured. What is this song? Saturn has been listening. He’s bringing messages back to the Moon, to be broadcast at the Full.

Rather than setting a limit, Saturn is marking a threshold. He’s saying, look, this is a boundary, an important one. You are being invited to cross over during this expansive, optimistic Full Moon, but don’t skip over thinking it’s all a picnic. Be prepared. Don’t be stupid. This is good advice.

At this Full Moon, we are offered a new perspective. We are invited to step into a wider, deeper view of who we are. If we accept the challenge, things might never look the same again.

Think back to your New Moon wishes and intentions. Where are they now? What else has come up in your life? What are you being called to? Any and all of these can become thresholds to cross at this Full Moon. The message from Jupiter is: This is BIG. The message from Saturn is: Things will be different on the other side.

Are you ready to step through this gate? Take my hand. We’ll go exploring together.