On Sunday evening, just before 9:00 pm EDT, April 29, we welcome the Full Moon in Scorpio.
You might ask whether a crazy Full Moon intensified in the sign of sex, death, and secrets is something we actually want to look forward to.
But this year, given the pressure we’ve been under, reaching this Full Moon more or less in one piece can be considered an achievement.
Let’s review.
The New Moon in Aries started off with a bang because there was so much Aries Fire. The Sun and Moon sat between Uranus and Eris (revolution and chaos), Mercury was retrograde in Aries, and Chiron poised to dive into Aries.
Which Chiron did, shortly after the New Moon – a sharp transition for many. The Wounded Healer stormed in and ripped bandaids off without really asking if we were ok first. I mean, we knew that was a possibility, but, ouch.
We were left to assess where healing was needed and get on with it. Aries doesn’t wait around.
Rising Moon Astrology is now a PODCAST on iTunes. Please listen, subscribe, and leave a review.
Thankfully, Mercury is no longer retrograde, but again, there were painful moments. Tech issues, transportation problems, communications glitches, and no-holds-barred conversations.
Meanwhile, Mars. He was out of bounds in Capricorn at the New Moon. Since then, he’s met both Saturn and Pluto, each moving slowly and deliberately into their own retrogrades.
The closer those key transits touched our birth charts, the tighter and more personal the pressure has been.
In the last two weeks, we’ve been face to face with things that are stuck. We’ve urgently wanted to move and been blocked. Sometimes it’s felt like we were blocked no matter where we turned. If we have found a way forward, it’s been due to consistent hard work.
It might almost have felt like a betrayal, of a kind, to have all this energy pouring in with nowhere for it to go. Irresistible force meets immovable object. Instead of getting on with things, we’ve been sitting with our own demons.
This Full Moon signals a shift. As Mars inches past Pluto, we begin to feel some traction. More importantly, we are offered illumination.
Let’s look at the Full Moon chart.
The Sun at 9 Taurus opposes the Moon at 9 Scorpio. These two fixed signs, Earth and Water, might not feel fierce in the way Aries Fire can, but they have a deep stability–one might say stubborness.
Imagine Gandalf on the high rock before the Balrog, intoning, “You shall not pass.” And yet, these two signs both recognize that life does change, shifting, growing, dying, dissolving.
Taurus focuses on the physically manifest Earth, everything that grows. Scorpio attends to the unseen, the underneath, the psychic, the mysterious. They each want the other to recognize and acknowledge their realms. Together, they hold all that is.
Saturn at 9 Capricorn trines the Sun and sextiles the Moon, supporting this Full Moon energy. Saturn support shows up as strong boundaries and the ability to manifest the invisible into the visible. Therefore, the illumination offered at this Full Moon will show up in Saturnian ways.
We might see exactly where we need to draw a boundary. After the pressures of the past weeks, the light of the Full Moon might be where we say, “Ok, I’m done with that.” Or perhaps, “This is something that no longer has a place in my life.” After struggling, suddenly, the decision is clear. Possibly not easy, but clear.
Or something that has been hidden might be revealed. Perhaps we had a sense we were missing something. Perhaps we were oblivious. But this Full Moon has the power to bring secrets to light. We might also have that “oh, I should have seen that coming,” reaction, like whatever shows up was really hiding in plain sight.
What do we do, once the secret is out there? Well, we might be setting some boundaries.
What if the light of the Full Moon is turned inward and we find ourselves confronting some of those demons? We can ask them to tea.
There is a Tibetan practice called chöd that involves approaching what is frightening, what is repulsive, what we cannot face. Instead of battling these things, as Aries might, we feed them.
We invite our demons to tea. We give them a voice. We listen. We might even offer them some measure of acceptance.
Consider this possibility when facing whatever shows up at this Full Moon. Instead of resisting (which is, after all, futile), instead of fighting, imagine tending and befriending. You could learn amazing things.
This Full Moon squares the Nodes of the Moon, which means whatever we learn will relate somehow to our life path. The North Node of the future is at 10 Leo, the South Node of the past at 10 Aquarius. This creates a Grand Cross, which is connected, but also challenging.
Saturn’s interventions do not always feel helpful, but he is the support here. At this Full Moon, we’re in deep waters with Scorpio. We need to find some solid ground. We need to know where the boundaries are, what our limits are. Once we know where we stand, we can move forward.
Look to see where this Full Moon falls in your birth chart and what it touches. Where are the fixed signs of Taurus and Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius? What planets and points do you have around 9 and 10 degrees? These are the places where the moonlight is likely to be bright enough to show you what you need to learn.
Once we see, then it will be up to us to take action.
I use Unsplash for almost all my photo illustrations. All astrological charts are my own. The images in this post include the title, created from the photo “The Fakir” by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen, the photo of the the racing cyclists by Markus Spiske, and the children running by Priscilla Du Preez.