“Most people guard and keep; they suppose that it is they themselves and what they identify with themselves that they are guarding and keeping, whereas what they are actually guarding and keeping is their system of reality and what they assume themselves to be. One can give nothing whatever without giving oneself—that is to say, risking oneself.”
~James Baldwin
All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Matthew 26:52
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The Full Moon in Sagittarius, exact on May 21, 2016 at 5:14 PM EDT highlights the pursuit of expansion anchored in an overall life reconstruction.
This year, the Full Moon in Sagittarius happens while Mars and Saturn are also in the sign and can be seen rising not far from each other in the night sky. Symbolically this represents a simultaneous energization of a spiritual code at the same time that a critical fundamental philosophy is being reworked and becoming more fundamentally embedded into the core bedrock of our lives.
This Full Moon on Mars speaks of the outward expression of an inflamed feminine principle. This ranges anywhere from an active feminine (contrasted with female) — from athletic to the feminine principle emerging as Being rather than the more typical and more common Doing that is aligned with a dogma, a schedule, a container, a goal, or an expectation. And the challenges of categories and categorization that follows from that, and the discord or acceptance that follows from that.
Full Moon conjunct Mars
Mars in Sagittarius is a fiery crusader for its beliefs. Functioning at a high level, it is an outspoken protector of a spiritual code. It is the embodiment of physical action in the world that is a reflection of the beliefs it holds. While retrograde, the lights on this Mars demonstrate an unusual leadership, something being resurrected, and dredged up to be disseminated outwardly.
When the Moon joins Mars in Sagittarius, the effect can be doubly physical. This is a time when our beliefs shine through in automatic instinctual responses. However, a darker expression of this lunation can show up as rash actions, impulsivity, impatience, moving quickly away from a situation quickly, and being careless of the details in the process. Expressing emotional violence internally or externally. Watch for that from yourself and others and know that mental, physical, and emotional distance both in immediate situations and within the self are responses that are not as damaging to the self or to others.
Although there is something to be said for righteous rage, that is not a topic to be taken up in this post.
The combination in this lunation also speaks of insatiable desire, represented by the overexpansion and enthusiasm of Mars in Sagittarius, or the severing of such. It speaks of contempt at a cultural level, or cultural or racial division that has entrenched social effects. It can speak of anger irremediable by human measures, but that can only be remediated by holy measures like unconditional love and forgiveness.
This lunation also speaks of violent dispersion. A diaspora undoing something that was previously coherent. Like the recent decision by Kenya’s government to close all the refugee camps in the country, including the largest one in the world, Dadaab, further displacing more than 600,000 refugees.
It is a great time to get clear about personal anger. That does not make it go away, however, being aware that it is there makes it more likely that if the inner situation appears outside of the inner experience, it is more readily recognized and processed. This is especially the case since the Sun (the other half of this Full Moon), will be in Gemini and ruled by a stationary Mercury, making the multiplicity of Gemini and the trickster quality of Mercury more likely to show up at this lunation.
It is a lunation when we are likely to be impassioned about our beliefs. This is a time to consider multiple viewpoints and to really allow ourselves time to think about what is coming through. This is also reflecting the longer retrograde process of Mars. This is a lunation when we want to be careful about letting the ego become overly associated with its beliefs, such that you become emotionally sensitive or outraged if somebody disagrees with your point of view.
The hard core of human egotism is hardly to be dislodged except rudely.
~ Paramhansa Yogananda. Autobiography of a Yogi
Mars Retrograde Midpoint
This Full Moon is also a big spotlight on the Mars Retrograde cycle. With this Full Moon, Mars retrograde is officially half over (without including moving back over the degrees it has already transited once it moves forward again). Take this Full Moon as an opportunity assess how you are doing with self assertion, your orientation to your desires, and how you live or even fight your for your beliefs. With Moon shining so bright and so near to Mars, and with the Sun illuminating Mars directly, these messages will all be clearly demonstrated.
Venus Invisible, Under the Beams of the Sun
At this Full Moon Venus is very close to the Sun, trailing behind it and invisible to the naked eye. Rather than being combust, Bernadette Brady calls this planetary phase being enchanted. In this view, Venus’ closeness to the Sun does not weaken its power to act, but rather re-orients it to a different place of activity.
That being said, and keeping in mind that Venus is moving toward more intense activity over the coming week, we can say that now is a time when Venusian matters are considered in a way that are not standard, linear, or according to the traditional rules. It is akin to getting oneself into a state of reverie and thinking about money, relationships, art, physical pleasures, and creature comforts, noticing the revelations, and grounding them into lived experience.
Wishing you a safe, illuminating and spiritually awesome Full Moon!
Warmly,
Ichrak
My study of Gandhi convinced me that true pacifism is not nonresistance to evil, but nonviolent resistance to evil. Between the two positions, there is a world of difference. Gandhi resisted evil with as much vigor and power as the violent resister, but he resisted with love instead of hate. True pacifism is not unrealistic submission to evil power, as Niebuhr contends. It is rather a courageous confrontation of evil by the power of love, in the faith that it is better to be the recipient of violence than the inflicter of it, since the latter only multiplies the existence of violence and bitterness in the universe, while the former may develop a sense of shame in the opponent, and thereby bring about a transformation and change of heart.
~Martin Luther King,Jr. My Pilgrimage to Non-Violence.
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The final Jupiter Saturn square is exact this month – The Year Ahead Guide includes a description of this alignment and guiding questions for how to work with it in your own life – and more! Check it out here: Year Ahead Guide: The Astrology of Spring 2016-Spring 2017
