Overall Big Picture

This full moon is a big one. It’s the full moon between two new moons in Aries. The first new moon happened in the first degree of Aries and the second new moon will happen in the last degree of Aries.

This emphasizes the idea of a new identity beginning.

It is the first full moon since Pluto changed signs (from Capricorn to Aquarius), which happens every 20 years on average. The significance of this cannot be understated for the change in the scope of consciousness on earth.

It’s also a significant full moon because it’s the first full moon after a new moon that was exactly aligned with the spring equinox.

It’s also a significant full moon because several uncommon occurrences are happening simultaneously.

Maybe you are sensing a theme.

Highlights:

Now that Pluto has entered Aquarius, we begin to get the glimpse I spoke about in my most recent new moon article.

The sun has “trampled” over Chiron and straddles the midpoint with Jupiter

There’s a new level of consciousness awakening in the collective… showing up in the creative potential of collective rhythm.

The sun-chiron conjunction occurred just a few hours before the full moon became exact, so the full moon was almost — but not quite — full at the moment of exactitude. From a phase standpoint, there’s an inherent quality of yearning for full expression. From an archetype standpoint, our suffering is being highlighted.

Chiron is classically known as “the wounded healer” because he could heal others but could not heal himself.

I look at Chiron’s task, regardless of how he’s classically known, as “the challenge to transmute.” Can Chiron be present with his pain and suffering and yet make the mature choice that helps to invigorate the soul expression of life itself? Rather than just living selfishly to get one’s own needs met?

Pro tip — Think about where (and how) Chiron lands in your chart. It’s where and how (aspects) traditional structures/boundaries are breaking down for you.

I use the word, “trampled” because…

Mars stands wrecked, looking for new ways to cooperate with unconsciousness.

The task, particularly as it relates to Pluto (the other side of the moonless bowl) is to develop skills of “poise” to stay balanced while one’s life force is managing cyclical cosmic forces efforting in multiple directions at once. For example, on a Merry-Go-Round, a youth encounters circular motion and the horse bobbing up and down while, at least traditionally, they’re trying to reach for a ring that’s hung just outside of the merry-go-round.

One is challenged to reach beyond established forms, but this youth/person must maintain balance, focus, control, and extension, all at the same time to reach out and grab the ring.

Dear Mars (and Mars strong personalities)

Open to realities that you may have never been present to before. The world is bigger than your five classically described senses. Your consciousness is more capable than you’ve traditionally been taught.

The irony is, the harder you hold on (clinging to what you’ve always known), the harder it will be to hold on.

Venus passed the lunar north node and Uranus

Passions are running high- like someone that’s lactose intolerant ate something they knew they shouldn’t have, and are now searching frantically for a bathroom. They know they need to be polite, but urgency to alleviate the discomfort in their belly is clouding their judgment. It’s an early stage of learning to trust one’s own biorhythms.

The need is to stay poised and focused on what’s important — not relaxed nor over-stressed — so you don’t overreact and blow a gasket, or a pair of underpants.

The person who can be open to the felt sense that each breath is the very first breath of their life will have an easier time integrating new values, and these values will ultimately support that person to be a more self-aware, balanced, and stronger person.

Mercury is now right on top of the lunar north node

We’re awakening to the next level of our individual mission within a greater collective purpose.

It’s the beginning of (an awakening to) a larger phase of integrating our physical and spiritual natures.

The composite inner planets

The three inner planets — Sun, Mercury, Venus — are bisected by Jupiter, the north node, and Uranus.

Metaphorically and quite literally (as least as far as astrology goes) our inner worlds are being injected with the opportunity to cleanse our ego-consciousness.

This brings to light the distinction between walls and hedges: both are boundaries, but walls are impermeable and inflexible, whereas hedges are porous and organic.

How are you able to receive new information that refines who you are while honoring what has led you to where you are?

The midpoint of a moonless bowl:

The midpoint of any bowl helps centralize and focus the energies of the bowl.

The midpoint of Pluto and Mars is 18° Aries: it’s right in the middle of the Chiron-Sun-Jupiter conjunction, adding to the tension of accepting new levels of reality, but providing a centering point to bring it down to the physical material level.

The midpoint at 18° Aries calls for taking a step back, living at neither extreme of total involvement nor impotent/steely withdrawal, but for recuperation and integration at the level of identity and personhood.

This is a month that highlights the need to take a step back and take care of yourself.

What does self-care look like for you?

First of all, I’d suggest self-care looks like boundary identification, consolidation, and management. This midpoint reveals the critical need to recuperate and build boundaries that set you up for long term growth.

Boundaries exist differently at different levels. The physical self-care you need and the boundaries you create work as a container that holds space for your spiritual evolution and growth to expand.

Jupiter only recently passed in front of Chiron. The sun is less than ¼ degree ahead of Chiron (exact a few hours before the full moon), and the midpoint of the Pluto-Mars bowl is in the middle of this spread that’s less than 5 degrees. It’s a complex energy, but really emphasizes an awakened visibility of reality beyond traditional frames and boundaries.

The more we (you, me, anyone, consciousness itself) are able to step back to sense beyond our suffering and straining, the more present our presence will be to the movement of the moment.

How this bowl “keeps containment” to the midpoint

The spread from Pluto to Mars tells the story of how “individual ambition” operates within the context of this “complete cultural transformation”. The size of the spread is slightly less than 156°. In the entire cycle of wholeness, that refers to the early 6th degree of Virgo.

The Sabian Symbol for Virgo 6 degrees, then, describes how consciousness itself might “keep containment,” just as your breakfast bowl keeps containment of cereal and milk, on the gravitational forces at play in this *chart.

This is where I get the image of a Merry-Go-Round, which opens to the larger ideas about inwardly-focused balance while outwardly-reaching for a symbol of ego satisfaction.

“Chart” literally means a snapshot of consciousness in the solar system as seen from earth at a particular moment.

Within patterns of wholeness

Another pattern that describes the relationship between light and shadow operating between Mars and Pluto is:

“significance is exemplified to those who see the light, while the official narrative is established for those whose focus is the darkness.”

Therefore, focusing the light of your essence, just as the merry-go-round image implies, is a practice of focusing inward on a felt sense of stability and balance under a variety of centrifugal forces.

Summary:

I subtitled this article, “Pluto’s foreplay begins,” because Pluto has entered Aquarius from Capricorn for the first of three times for the next year and a half. Tensions are high, pulling in multiple directions at once, and the last thing you want to do is rush ahead to get your ego needs met.

Foreplay is foundational in sexual relations. Yogis have argued that foreplay starts when flirting begins and rises and falls like the breath until physical engagement increases and intimacy occurs, which can last altogether for many hours or days. We essentially have 18 months or so to play tantra at a cosmic level.

Let the light in like it’s breathing. You’ll know your new boundaries in each moment as everything is evolving. Let the rise and fall happen. It’s an opportunity to let spirit put you in the game where it sees fit by attuning oneself most perfectly to the forces of nature. Ride the wave. Be a good partner with consciousness itself.

This will be more easily achieved with awareness to transcending, cleansing, and integrating ego-consciousness. The ego is a terrible master, but an incredible servant.

A more straightforward way to think about it is:

Force vs. Grace

Don’t lose your cool and scream for a bathroom. You’ll disturb your fellow partygoers and ultimately alienate and embarrass yourself. The opportunity for grace might be in letting go of your ego and politely, honestly, sincerely, vulnerably, asking for what you need before it’s too late.

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