Shock To The System

All full Moons are about release, and this Aquarius Full Moon is no different. However, this one is also a lunar eclipse, occurring at 4-degrees 45-minutes of Aquarius–at 1:20 pm PT & 4:20 pm ET–whereby the Moon teams up with Mars & the South Node in Aquarius to oppose the Leo Sun conjunct the North Node.

To top it all off, the planet Uranus—modern ruler of Aquarius—is squared by both luminaries, the Nodes, and Mars…

So, when the Moon meets Mars, which has been retrograde in Aquarius sinceJune 26 & traveling off and on with the Aquarius South Node, there is the likelihood some sparks may fly.

Aquarius=air; Leo=fire. Together these two elements represent a potentiallycombustible or explosive energetic combination that can cause events to move swiftly. Often the fast-moving Moon (the Moon moves one degree every two hours) triggers events into action and, since Mars won’t exact square Uranus until August 1, the likelihood for such action is ongoing for the short term.

So, if it turns out the that the world remains calm at this lunation, chalk it up to a close call. However, it’s more likely we may see fireworks somewhere in the world between now and August 1 that set into motion change of some kind.

The slightly scary part is that the meeting of the Aquarius Moon/Mars/South Node consolidates energy around past karma, confirming not only that change MUST happen, but also that change may arrive with quite a jolt.

The more impactful the shock, the greater we know is our need for change. But, the more we’ve clung to our past, the harder change will be to handle. This is particularly true for those of us with planets, angles, or sensitive points in early fixed signs of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, & Aquarius.

To fixity—and this Aquarius Full Moon lunar eclipse is undoubtedly fixed in nature–change is anathema. This means the more we deny, sublimate, project, procrastinate, or otherwise defend against change, the harder it will be to consciously acknowledge that change is the only constant.

And, in such denial, we reinforce our own resistance to progressing into a more productive, co-created karma in this lifetime—future karma that sets us up for an easier time both during the remainder of our life now, and in our next incarnation.

You Say You Want A Revolution

The Aquarius Full Moon lunar eclipse takes the Leo Sun to task as it reflects back to it its own light, a reminder that the Leo archetype cannot live in isolation because each of us comprises part of the greater whole of humankind.

Whatever talents, creativity, generosity, and pride we have deep in our hearts that make us individual entities is supposed to be shared and not hoarded or hidden, so we may contribute to the greater good of all wo/mankind.

At the same time, however, this lunation reminds us also–because we are part of a greater whole—not lose ourselves in “groupthink,” but rather to stay true to our own solar identities for the same reason: so we may contribute our talents to the group.

   Some of us may keep our lights hidden under a bushel for a variety of reasons, not the least of which may be fear. Fear of not being accepted, fear of being perceived as eccentric or different, fear of being excluded, exiled, shunned, or cast out from a particular group or groups…

   However, by not sharing our individual creativity with the collective we avoid doing our part as a member of society. Individuation is a huge part of our soul’s mission in this lifetime so first we mustbelieve that simply by being alive we have creative worth!

Next, we may release our fears around exposing our true creative selves to the rest of the world. Only then may we claim our individual gifts and utilize them to make life better, not just for ourselves, but for everyone.

The battle royal—or revolution, if you will–at this lunation and eclipse occurs between our ability to honor ourselves as creative, unique, special, solar, divinely-inspired individuals AND yet remain part of a larger group without losing our individual identity.

Without such an individual identity, or solar consciousness, we may fall into the grip of “groupthink,” an energy that leaves little room for honoring the individual solar self.

In her book The Art of Stealing Fire, Jungian astrologer Liz Greene writes: “…the special brand of suffering that Uranus can reflect springs from the fact that the person cannot express a sense of individuality. He or she may be dominated or driven by a revelation or world-view that is collective.”

It may be a revolutionary or transformative perspective on life, but it is collective nonetheless…if someone is trapped in such receptivity to the collective, without any individual sense of self to monitor, sift, or shape the revelation, he or she may lose touch with what is nourishing and creative on an inner level, and many important aspects of personal life may be unwittingly crushed,” according to Greene.

“In its most negative form, these are the polemics of the terrorist, or the polemics of any mass movement…aimed at destroying institutions or structures…deemed in need of radical change,” Greene continues. “Recognizing the need for change may be right and appropriate—although sometimes, like beauty, it may be in the eye of the beholder.”

A Word About Trauma…

It’s the work of evolutionary astrologer of Mark Jones that enlightened me about the significance of both Uranian and Aquarian archetypes as potential trauma signatures in our charts. His work around trauma is brilliant, imo, and some of it can be found on youtube.

His significant work includes providing those of us interested in using astrology as a metaphysical tool an understanding of how trauma can hold us back fromexperiencing joy in our lives–on either a mental, physical, emotional or spiritual level, or perhaps even all of the above…

Jones notes that an Aquarius South Node in an individual’s chart, or Uranus square the Nodes, may indicate traumatic experiences either from this lifetime or past lives.

“Such experiences of trauma are the basis for splitting off parts of the psyche in order to protect the integrity of the whole,” he writes in Healing The Soul, Pluto, Uranus, and the Lunar Nodes.

“The traumatic component of past experience can exaggerate the necessary detachment that arises in this placement, leading instead to dissociated states and psychological dissolution,” Jones adds.

Again, to return to this Aquarius Full Moon lunar eclipse where the Moon & Mars band together to pull us back toward the Aquarius South Node’s potentially traumatized karmic past, the Leo Sun & North Node beckon us forward toward a more cohesive, less fractured ego identity.

It will pay now to look at where we’ve been traumatized in the past. The irony is that Uranus/Aquarius energy often gets interpreted as “alternative” or “different,” but as Liz Greene points out it’s often far more difficult for an individual to march to the beat of her own drummer than it is easy to join in with the crowd.

Past wounding or trauma may center around our ideological beliefs, since the rational, fixed, air sign Aquarius bears the negative connotation of group think and the inability to break away from friends, groups, or association that carry philosophies they believe to be right & true to the exclusion of all others.

It’s these negative past experiences that may make us afraid now to move toward the Leo Sun & North Node at this lunation, and to remain safely back in the comfort and habitual realm of the Aquarius Moon & South Node. After all, when the Moon’s concerned we’re always looking for security. The trouble is that what makes us feel secure because it’s part of the past is not always what makes us strongest, healthiest, or most conscious.

It’s this lunation that may trigger an internal revolt in all of us to move away from safety in numbers and find greater value in our individual selves…

The Only Way Out Is Through 

Still, reliving past trauma is by no means fun!

My work as a past life regressionist has proven to me that we can learn uncanny information about our soul’s journey thus far in its travels, and often such information proves reveletory to us.

Trauma centers around feelings, thoughts, & beliefs that our soul has adopted through its past experiences. Often, history has shown that these experiences may not have been pleasant ones. In fact, they may have traumatized us to such a degree that we’ve buried them deep within so that we do not have to relive them EVER–not now, not in the future!

  But astrology is the study of cycles, and what goes around comes around. This make it difficult to bury or hide any kind of trauma for too long. And if that’s true, then we know that sometime in our current life’s journey through this physical incarnation that some trauma will resurface from time to time.

 This Aquarius Full Moon lunar eclipse provides us one of those times now. We may well see it through the collective, an excellent way to watch the current energy of the heavens reflect back to us both the energy of the collective and our individual lives.

Here are some questions you might ask yourself now:

·        What battle have I been too afraid to fight?

·        Where does my alignment with groups or the collective (read: beliefs or philosophies) impede expression of my own true, solar, creative, individual self?

·        How can I step out from behind the bushel and shine more brightly without anxiety, fear, shame, blame, or the need to play the victim?

The Home Of The Brave

Mercury stationed retrograde in Leo on July 26. This makes six planets appearing to swim backwards in the heavens right now.

The significance of this is that it’s not time for action. It’s a time to review, re-analyze, re-strategize, continue to plan but not to act, and just to generally allow yourself to receive rather than make waves, either in your personal life or within society in general.

Mercury’s backward motion between July 26 & August 18/19, combined with Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, & Chiron currently retrograde, always asks us to chill so that we may recognize that our brain is attempting to bring information that’s been embedded in our subconscious into consciousness.

This lends greater validity to the conclusion that this lunation’s revolutionary energy is meant to be internal! We’re called toward thought, contemplation, review, etc., in order to decipher and plan how to move forward–eventually.

Mercury retrograde in Leo, a fire sign, asks us to go deep about the source ofour inspiration. Fire is life, the spark necessary to sustain us, it gives us our creative ideas which we may take and run with.

While you’re slowing down during these hazy, lazy, crazy days of summer you might meditate upon from where you draw the greatest inspiration in your life and see where your passion truly lies. Passion and purpose go hand in hand, and through greater identification with both, we can all progress on our path toward individuation, or the freedom to be exactly who we came here to be!

The more we work on this now, the less impactful any shocks will be, especially at the August 1 Mars retrograde exact square to Uranus—so no time to waste!

The revolution in which we’re asked to participate at this Aquarius Full Moon lunar eclipse involves releasing any fears around either not being special enough, or thinking we’re SO special that we’re better than everyone else.

This requires bravery, but the good news is that courage is the Leo Sun’s mission! We’re all here to develop the kind of courage it takes to allow our individual Suns (regardless of zodiacal sign) to shine.

It’s now we are to rethink, review, re-strategize how we communicate our specialness to the world. If we’ve fallen into the pit of Leo’s dark side archetypal energy, we may be too proud, too selfish, too arrogant, or too unaware that we’re connected to the whole of mankind.

If we believe we deserve more attention than anyone else, hog the spotlight, think we our specialness is greater than anyone else’s, then we defy our divine right to create and express in order to SHARE our gifts willingly and generously with the world.

We must remember, however, that it’s this connection to our Sun that gives us our purpose for being! We cannot live in a microcosm—we can be the greatest thing since sliced bread, but if there’s no one there to appreciate us, to notice us, what’s it all for?

We have to fight now for our right to consider ourselves unique, special, divinely-inspired individuals, but the fight for the moment is an internal one–a heart-centered one, because that is where we truly find out home of the brave…