Welcome! Thank you for joining me for a closer look at the lunar cycles.
What is a Full Moon? A Full Moon is when our two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, are in opposing signs, at the same degree. The Full Moons complete cycles that began back at the New Moon in the same sign. This is where those new beginnings and opportunities presented 6 months before begin to bring results or culminate in some way. The sky is full with the harvest of any actions and creations made before. They may also bring intense periods of release, information and secrets revealed, or cathartic purging. These are times of heightened emotion with the two weeks following acting as a recovery and active integration period. The next 6 months after a Full Moon is a period of background integration so that we can begin again at the next New Moon in this sign with a clean slate.
For this particular lunar cycle, something is culminating in the two weeks surrounding the New Moon in Gemini back on June 18th 2023.
Sometimes a Full Moon theme is obvious– say you are quitting a job or graduating from college around a Full Moon, this is your Full Moon story. Sometimes the themes aren't obvious at all because something is culminating internally or you simply have to know where to look for the culmination.
The Full Moon in Gemini perfects on November 27th at 3:17am CST. The Sun in Sagittarius and the Moon in Gemini are both at 4º
The Major Aspects:
• Mercury at 24º Sagittarius square Neptune retrograde at 24º Pisces (0º orb)
• Mercury at 24º Sagittarius trine North Node at 24º Aries (0º orb)
• Mars at 2º Sagittarius square Saturn at 0º Pisces (2º orb)
• Sun at 4º Sagittarius is conjunct Mars at 2º Sagittarius (2º orb, separating)
• Mercury at 24º Sagittarius is sextile Venus at 21º Libra (3º orb)
• Sun-Moon at 4º Sagittarius-Gemini T-square Saturn at 0º Pisces (4º orb)
Additional Chart Features:
• Mercury, the ruler of this lunation, is in its pre-retrograde shadow
• Jupiter retrograde in Taurus, while not making any aspects, is the ruler of the Sun and Mars in Sagittarius and Saturn and Neptune in Pisces
• Essential dignity: Venus is domicile in Libra and is the final depositor in the sky, Mercury is detriment in Sagittarius; Venus currently has bound support; Saturn has decanic support.
Delineation:
Since this lunation is contained within the Mercury retrograde shadow period and Full Moons are already a time of intensity and sensation, we are likely to see the first emergence of burning (and possibly panicked) questions. Gemini is inquisitive already, but these are likely to be particularly perplexing questions that our minds are racing to answer, trying to fill in the gaps of the big picture with logical details and definitive answers and it's just not possible at the moment! Mercury is actually doing a lot here. It's ruling the Gemini Full Moon, debilitated in Sagittarius, exactly square Neptune retrograde, sextile Venus– our final depositor, and exactly trine the the North Node in Aries.
Mercury doesn't do as well in Jupiter's signs because these planets have different goals. Jupiter rules Pisces and Sagittarius, esoteric seekers, floating beyond the boundary, traveling across boarders, drinking wisdom by the gallon, prophesying what isn't yet there. Mercury rules Virgo and Gemini, the analysts, messengers on the road, birds in flight catching every little detail and technicality, communicators of words and words and words, mouths full of fact, definition, science, and strategy. When we have a Full Moon in a Mercurial sign, the Sun will always be in one of Jupiter's signs (and vice versa) because one will always be challenged by the other. Just like how science is always challenged by the unknowable, the synchronous. I've been reading Cosmos and Psyche by Richard Tarnas and this dichotomy between Mercury and Jupiter is very much present in his description of the enchanted verses the disenchanted universe. His idea that when we hold solely in our intellectual stance, we assume that we know everything, leaving no room for the universe to share its secrets with us. This, to me, is this Full Moon (and the reasoning behind the title I've given it).
If a Full Moon is not a moment of conclusion, it is often a turning point. It's the moment that something must change! But how? The answers are not readily available to us at this time, but we do have questions– the right question can open up so many responses. It is the right question that can teach us the profound, revealing what has been buried deep within us resulting in something more concrete later. Gemini is a sector of our charts that has been and will be going through a number of tests. Not only are we currently experiencing the Mars opposition of last year's Mars retrograde in Gemini, but we are also about to encounter a stellium of Gemini transits by the New Moon 6 months from now– and we know of course, New and Full Moons work in 6 month cycles. Each cycle escalates the last, building upon each other. By the time we have fully answered and integrated the questions posed now, the Sun, Moon, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury will all be in Gemini in June of 2024 signifying something auspicious happening– mind expanded, perception shifted, answers possible that weren't before.
Additionally, we have Saturn in Pisces square this Full Moon and every transit through Gemini until its exit in 2026– more of this dance with Mercury and Jupiter's signs. Mercury's signs say, "This is how it is, this is the reality, here are the facts." and Jupiter's signs say, "But wait, there's more!" We still need Mercury– we need our minds to consume the information, we can't prepare for Jupiter's expansion without the proper intellectual foundation. We have to go back and forth between seeing and believing, both are important as human beings. There are inescapable facts, but there are also world establishing beliefs. Saturn in Pisces really tests this– feeling what the mind can't see yet, having to trust in its existence before the revealing, assembling in the dark. Jupiter's signs prepare Mercury and again, vice versa. The upcoming Jupiter in Gemini transit (Spring 2024-2025) is a hard one because while we will find the information we were looking for, it can spiral us. Disrupting the nervous system, Jupiter doesn't do very well in Gemini or Virgo because it knows that sometimes, we don't need to know. It is information overload, the weight of knowing too much too fast. We also have Uranus ingressing Gemini in 2025, heralding a time of mental freedom, releasing any binds, a true time of revelation... and while a part of me looks forward to both of these transits, I think it's wise to embrace this time of not knowing too. What do they say... ignorance is bliss?
I am pulled back to the Full Moon in Gemini of 2018 as I look at Mercury's cycles. Again, Mercury is in Sagittarius in its pre-retrograde shadow at the time of 2023's Full Moon and the last time we saw a Mercury retrograde in this sign was at the very end of 2018. I have compared where I am at mentally, emotionally, physically, and financially this year in 2023 to November of 2018 and it is eerily similar. I won't share too many details on this as this Full Moon is in my own 8th house of privacy (8th house transit happenings are really best kept under wraps until later), but I do encourage you to look at this time period, there may be some mirroring to what you're experiencing now. A main theme for me at that time was a palpable fear of the unknown. Wanting more, but not knowing how and not trusting the enchantment of the universe until Mercury's retrograde gave me a new perspective (see, retrogrades aren't always so bad!). I am in a similar spot now, but with so much more knowledge than I had 5 years ago and now with anticipation for the upcoming Mercury retrograde. How amazing to be consciously aware of what this transit means, how much more I can now gain from this, how spiritually full I feel in the waiting instead of the same level of paranoia, absolutely full of dread for what could happen.
Something quite notable about that Full Moon in 2018: Venus was in Libra as it is this year, Jupiter was in Sagittarius– the Jupiter opposition of the upcoming Jupiter in Gemini transit that I have mentioned the significance of above, Saturn was in Capricorn and Mars in Pisces both passing over the station degree of this year's Saturn in Pisces, the nodal axis is also in cardinal signs again. Perhaps most notable of all– Mars in Pisces was at 4º in a T-square with the luminaries in Sagittarius-Gemini at 0º mirroring 2023's Full Moon at 4º in a T-square with another malefic at 0º Pisces. Quite a bit of symbolism here that foreshadow a foundation built then that we leap from now, as if that were some kind of test run. This means too, with Saturn's transit having just stationed direct on November 4th 2023 and passing its station direct degree mere hours after the Full Moon? These next few months are pivotal to clarifying the first chapter, and the first year, of Saturn in Pisces. Saturn's cycle is fascinating! I love the author of Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape, Erin Sullivan's description of this phenomenon:
The Conception Phase (The Direct Transit): March 7th-June 17th 2023
The Gestation (The Retrograde Transit): June 17th-November 4th 2023
The Birth (The Post-Shadow Transit): November 4th 2023-February 14th 2024
Final Conclusions (The Sun-Saturn conjunction): February 28th 2024
At the Full Moon, we are in the "Birth" stage of Saturn's cycle. All that was conceived and developed so far is now birthing something in the Pisces sector of our charts, this is a new stage of maturity that makes it possible for the next steps, the next conception. A crowning Saturn is squaring this Full Moon and is setting motion to the nature, temperament, and personality of the baby that is in the process of emerging. The thing about mutable transits? Nothing is actually set in stone. Saturn's birth has been initiated and is signifying that we are delayed and stuck somewhere because the perception, the story, and therefore the solution hasn't actually been born yet! Mostly formulated, but not yet revealed. If we didn't know the astrological nature of this, we might feel like we've failed when really, it's just part of the process. The mutable areas of our chart are where things are already naturally fluid, not set, and subject to change at any given moment. Mars in Sagittarius square Saturn may help us PUSH Saturn forward and further down the birthing canal even while it is a slow emergence. Last year's revelations are important to this too with again, the Mars opposition and another Mercury retrograde in Capricorn (sharing the retrograde with Mercury in Sagittarius).
All of this to say: If you don't feel like you have any idea, any grip on reality, or any real answers yet, they are coming, but it's a slower story than we urgent beings expect. It is a much larger story. The tiniest seed, usually planted years before, grows a tree. I see this happening now– but we are forced to trust that it is growing even when we cannot see it and that our efforts are not wasted (this is exactly how Saturn works). We have dreams and hopes for a reason that our logical minds cannot yet hold and the things that we are wanting? We have to hope and believe that they are wanting us back.
Furthermore, the Mercury pre-shadow is a time of systems breaking down. If things seem to be going haywire, it is for the purpose of reshaping and reforming– remember, Mercury isn't out of retrograde territory until January 21st and Saturn isn't fully out of the womb until the conjunction with the Sun on February 28th 2024. It is a great time to reflect, write down your endless questions, but likely not a great time to move with certainty as things will change. Patience and flexibility are our friends at this time, clarity will come later.
Happy Full Moon, may you hold on to hope even when the world seems utterly disenchanted.
Your friendly neighborhood astrologer,
Katie