Today’s Full Moon is a Supermoon, the second largest this year, with the largest being the Full Moon in Pisces at the end of August, which will be a Blue Moon since it’s the second Full Moon in the same month.
The Moon is closer to us. Her pull is stronger on the tides in our oceans and in our bodies.
The Sun at 9º15’ Leo and Moon at 9º15’ Aquarius are in the first decans of their signs. These decans form an intriguing pair, as both are personal expressions of where Leo and Aquarius begin.
In the first decan of Leo, we figure out how we relate to the spotlight. Do we want to be in it? Do we prefer to avoid it? Whether we’re ready to shine or not, the empty stage with its bright light is our focus.
Questions of audience come up. Will we, and more importantly, our work, be loved or reviled? Can we bear rejection? And what about fame, might that turn out to be more like a trap than a reward?
Yet somewhere in our psyches, we long for our moment in the Sun.
The Rising Moon Astrology Podcast is available on an expanding number of sites including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Stitcher, PlayerFM, Castbox, TuneIn, and Pocket Casts. Listen in on your favorite and please leave a review.
The first decan of Aquarius bears the mark of exile, Austin Coppock’s title for the first ten degrees of this sign. We have been rejected, or perhaps have chosen to leave rather than face denial or pressures to conform.
Aquarius as fixed Air is strongly committed to, and aligned with, principles. Where Leo is all about personal, passionate, playful creativity, Aquarius is serious minded. We’re focused on achieving our well planned and carefully plotted goals.
The Sun is strong in Leo, ready to shine brightly. The Moon is less comfortable in Aquarius, a sign in which emotions are cool, detached, and often ignored.
This polarity between the warmth and intensity of the spotlight and the clarity of choice and purpose that exile can bring, is stark. Where are we along this dimension? Which side do we identify with more often? Which is a better match for our chart and our character?
As with any Full Moon, we’re meant to experience both, perhaps find a new balance.
The Full Moon squares Jupiter at 13º45’ Taurus, a T-square in fixed signs. Jupiter is the Greater Benefic, a bringer of good things, pleasurable things. Jupiter makes this polarity between celebration and exclusion bigger. This is also the philosopher among planets, inviting us to explore what this means to us.
The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus said change is the only constant. Much of his work, and information about his life, is lost. Yet he is viewed as one of the foundational thinkers of Stoicism.
The Stoics believe that our characters and our fates are largely fixed. So the best way to have a satisfying life is to accept what comes our way without complaint. They roll with the punches and say things like, “it is what it is.”
This seems like a very “fixed sign” approach to life, and so well suited to our Full Moon in a T-square with Jupiter the sage. This feels especially true when Jupiter is in a sign-based conjunction and drawing closer to change-agent Uranus, the modern ruler of Aquarius.
Jupiter’s relationship with Uranus is interesting right now. These two planets will dance closer together for the rest of this year without reaching conjunction. Yet each will be triggered in turn by all of the transiting inner planets.
For example, Mars will form an exact trine to Jupiter 45 minutes before the Full Moon is exact. The Sun reaches their exact square with Jupiter on August 6 and with Uranus on August 15. Mars will trine Uranus on August 16, the day of the New Moon in Leo. Venus squares Jupiter and Uranus several times during her retrograde period.
Interestingly, Mercury will trine Jupiter on August 9 but turns retrograde just before reaching the trine with Uranus, which therefore won’t happen until later, when the retrograde is over.
What do we make of this? Well, watching this particular dance between Jupiter, Uranus, and the inner planets reminded me of the Heraclitus quote about the constancy of change.
Jupiter and Uranus are up to something. They point to a time of intense and unexpected changes. I can feel it. Of course, these two are flanking my Midheaven and opposing my Venus in Scorpio on my IC. I know something’s going on and I want to get to the bottom of it.
Saturn and Mercury are involved here as well, directly related to this whole question of problem solving.
Saturn is the ancient ruler of Aquarius and therefore the ruler of the Full Moon. Yet we find Saturn in the watery, unfocused, mystical sign of Pisces, opposing Mercury who is very strong and analytical in their own sign of Virgo.
A Saturn–Mercury opposition might lead us to expect feelings of stuckness and depression, as if our minds can’t think through the fog. Yet this Mercury is in a much stronger position than Saturn is. So in the face of Saturnian delays and obstruction, we become tenacious researchers determined to find the answers we need.
The Saturn–Mercury opposition is leaving a conjunction and opposition to my Moon while forming a trine and sextile to my Saturn, so this feels personal for me as well.
And here is my reminder to compare this Full Moon, and every lunation, with your birth chart. As you see in the examples I’ve shared, understanding the patterns helps us personalize key aspects and anticipate how they might show up in our lives.
Let’s not forget the Venus Retrograde in Leo. Venus is newly retrograde, although her journey really began back in June, around the 19th, when she reached 12º Leo, which is the degree she’s heading back to where she will stop and turn direct.
Venus is currently trining the asteroid Eris and the North Node, both in Aries, connections that have us focused on what we most desire (North Node) and what the world needs from us (Eris).
Here we have another way to consider the polarity of the Full Moon. What is the place of personal desire in a world that presents us with so many desperate challenges? Is there room for both following our bliss and helping our communities?
I’m not a Stoic by personality but I do appreciate the equanimity they say we should cultivate. We might criticize Stoicism as a philosophy that sees action as futile and encourages giving up. Yet that’s not the message.
Instead, the equanimity of the Stoics is designed to help us keep going, step by step, when our best efforts somehow don’t turn out the way we hoped. Or when we face a world that looks so very different from the one we thought we’d be living in, in 2023.
If we cast Jupiter in the role of philosopher, we might see that in the steady, Taoist sign of Taurus, we’re likely to find a Stoic. So Jupiter’s challenge for us at this Full Moon is to experience the spotlight and the mark of exile as the same.
Sure, the fame and acclaim that Leo craves looks a lot more fun than the loneliness of going it alone. But are they really? Maybe each side of this Full Moon has its own challenges as well as rewards.
The other quote Heraclitus is known for is that we can’t step into the same river twice, which is kind of like saying that change is the only constant, but reminds us it’s not just the world, not just the river, that changes.
We change too. Some days we crave the attention that comes with being center stage. Some days we long for the quiet that being ignored can bring.
In the tumultuous times ahead, we’ll be well served if we can use the tenacity of Mercury to research and analyze, if we journey with Venus and explore our creative passions, and welcome whatever comes our way while maintaining a calm, balanced view.
It’s a solid goal for the month of August.