the full moon at 27’38 scorpio is exact on saturday may 18th 2019 at 2:11pm PDT, marking the midway point of the current lunar cycle we are in that began with the new moon in taurus on may 4th. that new moon was a day before solar beltane- and this full moon marks lunar beltane. we have a rare alignment of solar and lunar gates happening 2 weeks apart due to the lunar cycle aligning with the solar cycle. beltane is a festival of passion, Union, vitality and fertility. it is the start of the bright half of the year and it is the midpoint between spring and summer- flowers are popping up everywhere and the earth is fully alive with sensuality!
this full moon is in deep, watery scorpio- ruled by pluto the Lord of the Underworld. this is a potent lunation that is exceptional for shadow work, therapy, shamanic journeys and diving DEEP within to get to what is going on way beneath the surface. facing fears, obsessions, jealousy, possessiveness, our relationship to power/control, to money and abundance and to our sexuality is in focus. this full moon is opposite algol- the fixed star connected to medusa! she is the epitome of female passion and intensity! she is also a VERY POWERFUL Dark Goddess who can see into the shadows and see what others do not want to be seen.
the contemporary version of medusa’s myth is a patriarchal re-write as pre-patriarchy she was a powerful, beautiful and loved Goddess. she can be understood symbolically when we remember that the snakes in her hair are an ancient symbol of chthonic power, the ancient primordial Goddess and the capacity to navigate the Underworld. her capacity to make someone turn to stone when looking at her is symbolic of her ability to see through the ego and shatter it. she gets beyond the facade and she gets to the Truth. adding her potent seer-ing power to this lunation is POWERFUL.
with the full moon in this deep and intense sign with algol involved- there can be A LOT that is coming up to the surface that we need to address emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, sexually and more. luckily this full moon makes exceptional aspects to the entire capricorn confluence- to saturn, pluto and the south node. this is where the heaviest astrology is this year and it’s where things are karmic. the past is present and we must deal with the past in order to move forward. where do we resist change? where do we need to be the authority in power OR where do we give away our power and look for authority outside ourselves? where are we adhering to outdated, toxic patriarchal principles? where are we being asked to let something go so we can grow? this full moon supports doing the deep work of excavation, transformation and evolution. the only way out is through and this full moon can help you move through some very deep layers!
we have some potent asteroids showing up in the full moon chart. most notably mercury the winged messenger with aesculapia and arachne. martha wescott says aesculapia speaks to accessing the inner healer and being able to question our beliefs around our capacity to heal and be whole. arachne has to do with intrigue, entanglement and layered meanings. she is the spider that weaves our existence but also can keep us trapped in limitation. put the two together with mercury and we have amazing opportunities for insights and information incoming around our path of healing and where we are blocked or trapped! do we think healing is so complicated we can never attain it? are there beliefs around our worth and value that are blocking us from greater wholeness and integration? does it really have to be complex and so detailed to heal or is it possible to have a sudden insight in the moment that turns all the lights on and creates a profound and lasting shift? what do you believe? ‘to live is to play at the meaning of life’ (ernest becker). our beliefs and the meaning we attach to things informs our existence. are we willing to question what we believe in?
we also have venus and uranus just separating from conjunction (exact earlier in the morning before the full moon) and they are both conjunct pandora. pandora and her box is a story of a encountering unexpected consequences. did you know that when you opened the box you were going to be led on this journey? if you knew then what you know now- would you have taken the same path? does it even matter- as you are where you are today and everything previous to now got you here! can you find the gratitude for this now moment? this astrology can be sudden and unexpected (particularly with uranus involved) but it can also be JUST THE THING you needed to get you on a brand new path and journey. the key here is to stay curious, open and willing to change- rather than stay small, play it safe and cling to the familiar and the old.
i leave you with the sabian symbol and star sparks meditations for this full moon degree. i usually only post the star sparks- as i find them much deeper and more profound. but from time to time the sabian symbol really stands out and this full moon it most certainly does. the sabian symbol is ‘the king of fairies approaching his domain’. it talks about the Self- the Jungian concept of the TOTAL PSYCHE. we are learning about this in my Astrology & Your Shadow course! are you weary of the outer shows of your culture? are you over the realm of ‘the proud ego’ and find an “Inner allegiance” to yourSelf?
and of course the star sparks degree is deeply insightful. ellias’ symbol for this degree is ‘a building, the only part of it left is the cornerstone’. he talks about being ‘stripped away from anything and everything that is externally hooked into as security, safety, stability, continuity, identity. at last, being left with only what will truly endure’. he talks about how ‘we (are) the main factor blocking our own path’. and this truly is the essence of the capricorn confluence! are we ready to take down anything and everything that blocks us from true evolution? are we ready to move out of identification with the ego and start doing the deep work of realizing the Self.
lest you think this is a choice you make and poof you are there- NO. it’s the work of lifetimes. think galactic marathon- not 5k race. it reminds me of the children’s story the velveteen rabbit. he is shiny and new at the beginning- but at the end as he is worn out and falling apart and he becomes real. letting down the facade and getting to the essence is not for the faint of heart. and yet as ellias reminds us ‘Our innermost soul has agreed to become naked to existence once again. The only thing we can keep with us is that core blazing spirit.’ and when we find that- we will know that it has all been worth it.
dive deep with this full moon and may the depths you reach help you find your true core!
blessings…
~divine harmony
STAR SPARKS
by ellias lonsdale
Scorpio 28 A building, the only part of it left is the cornerstone
Being up against a hard fate. Sooner or later, deprived of, stripped away from anything and everything that is externally hooked into as security, safety, stability, continuity, identity. At last, being left with only what will truly endure. Casting off the veil of semblance’s to get down to what would otherwise be buried under the rubble.
Having a very intense time of it. Knowing internally that the sacrifice, the letting go, the purging cleansing powers is immense, is long overdue, and so much resistance has built up against finally coming to grips with the karmas, the syndromes, all the stuff that gets between us and life and becomes so solidly heavily entrenched.
Being desperate to kill off the adversaries inside who turn us so heavily against ourselves. Having little choice but to uproot this completely, radically. For these do have a way of turning us into a waste dump if we continue to pollute our lives with self-importance, and with the drive to be a very special somebody.
The lessons that go with the personal shadow, casting a wide and deep rut. The pride that must suffer the eclipse of position. The ways that we perpetrate the old, in order to flee from the inevitable.
Yet when we do get down to what is asked and intended, we find each and every time that we were the main factor blocking our own path, and what we assumed in a self-righteous fashion to be our own impregnable position was in fact a monolith of stoppage to the whole works.
When we are accustomed to privilege, to status, to a certain kind of notoriety, it is almost impossible to get it when the time has come to give all of it away. We balk, we fume, we strut. But it’s all after the fact. Our innermost soul has agreed to become naked to existence once again. The only thing we can keep with us is that core blazing spirit.
SABIAN SYMBOL
by dane ruhdyar
THE KING OF THE FAIRIES APPROACHING HIS DOMAIN.
KEYNOTE: The capacity in man to recognize and to pay homage to an integrating Principle at the core of all existence.
This rather peculiar picture tells us perhaps a good deal about the limitations of the mind of the clairvoyant who saw it, though it can be related to the symbolism of the various creatures of a spirit world mentioned in some alchemical and Rosicrucian books. What seems to be implied is that beyond both outer nature and the realm of the proud ego, a spiritual world exists to which the intuitive consciousness of man can pay allegiance. In that world, all manifested entities are seen as multiple aspects of a central Power and Consciousness. It is such a central principle of unity that human societies have sought to revere symbolically in human, all-too-human kings. In an individual sense, this principle is the Self.
This is the third stage in the forty-eighth five-fold pattern of symbols. It adds a new dimension to the two preceding ones. At this stage the presence of a spiritual unifying factor begins to be sensed by the individual perhaps weary of the outer shows of his culture. An INNER ALLEGIANCE begins to polarize the consciousness.