Fear and Love: Full Moon in Capricorn 2015

An artist's impression of Pluto and its moon Charon; Pat Rawlings/NASA.

Full Moon @ 9 Capricorn 55'

July 1, 2015

10:20 PM Eastern

7:20 PM Pacific

The current lunar cycle culminates in the tropical sign of Capricorn. As the Moon waxes to its opposition to the Sun, it will be applying to a conjunction with Pluto and will have just passed an opposition to Mars. Here the Moon illuminates the heart of darkness, as Pluto symbolizes the gateway to the ego-dystonic realm—the threshold beyond ego and self-identification. As this Full Moon culminates, you’re invited to get a little bit serious about something in your life. Perhaps, you will find yourself focused on a specific task or mission—one that requires that you transcend your own ego based needs to consider your influence upon others or the collective.

We each come into this life with a purpose. For some of us, that purpose is beyond simply making our way in the world. For some of us, our purpose is to contribute something to the larger community in a way that will impact the whole of humanity, not just our individual lives. Pluto reminds us of this. We are not only here to work out our karma, but we are here to serve the greater human tribe. Capricorn teaches us about the necessity of solitude and focused concentration to achieve any great work. The Full Moon in Capricorn brings to culmination a dynamic endpoint or goal that we may feel compelled to accomplish.

Capricorn doesn’t take shortcuts or the easy path. To master a Capricorn mission, you must apply yourself, and that may be difficult and challenging. Pluto connects us to a place within the psyche that holds deeply embedded karmic memories—the experiences we have brought with us throughout our many lifetimes. As the Full Moon illuminates this terrain, it equally illuminates the dynamics within our lives that we may not fully understand from this lifetime alone. Sometimes the choices we make, and the people involved, stem from something our soul had decided to do a long time ago. This Full Moon not only brings about a deep awareness of our responsibility to the community, but it also brings about an impetus to do something about it. This Full Moon is as much about action as it is about awareness. And that action is likely to involve some hard work, commitment, and dedication. 

However, with Saturn retrograde ruling this Full Moon, we are likely to take action in ways that restructure an existing plan or system. Are you ready for it? Can you handle the path that lies ahead of you? You must go within and truly connect authentically so that you can realistically assess your capabilities. The separating conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in Leo adds a bit of enthusiasm and lightness to this otherwise heavy Full Moon. These two planets in Leo remind us that hard work must be equally accompanied by a healthy balance of focused commitment and play. While you face whatever mission you have chosen to endure, don’t lose sight of your basic human nature. Pleasure, joy, and laughter still have a place in all this serious business. Our great work may require some sacrifice, but our true purpose should feed our soul and fill our lives with bliss. If you’re not experiencing that, then you may need to reconsider what you’re really here to do and why.

Any depression, emptiness, or fear that accompanies this Full Moon is the existential biofeedback emanating from your soul. Your soul is calling you now. It is calling you to take a moment and look within yourself and realistically assess the path you're embarking on. That may require a difficult, hard look at reality, but remember that you are always being guided by the natural processes of the body and the world around you. Some part of the universe wants you to succeed, and some part of the universe equally wants you to fail. Which one will be your guide? Sometimes it’s as simple (and difficult) as a choice between fear and love. A wise person once told me, when given a choice between comfort and passion, choose passion. And that has served me well. Choose the passion that compels you to live your life to its highest potential. While life is anything but easy, it’s in the tension and struggle that we truly know we are alive. 

If you're interested in a personal reading, please e-mail me directly at kosmicmind@gmail.com. Also, head over to my Readings/Consultations page for reading options and pricing. 

Engage Your Life: New Moon in Gemini 2015

False color image of Mercury; image
by NASA/JPL/Northwestern University.

New Moon @ 25 Gemini 07

June 16, 2015

10:05 AM

7:05 AM

This month’s New Moon plants its seeds in the tropical sign of Gemini just after Mercury turns stationary direct. Mercury’s retrograde cycle in Gemini was quite influential for many people. It seemed to be one of the most pronounced cycles I’ve experienced.  While it’s difficult to predict exactly how any Mercury retrograde will influence us on an individual level, we can theoretically assume that Mercury turning retrograde in its own sign is particularly powerful and dynamic in its expression.

That certainly played out for a lot of people I’ve spoken with. Luckily I made it out alive and I assume that you did too. You can rest assured that things are on the mend and that Mercury is moving forward now. Reality is slowly but surely going back to normal—whatever that means. The world that we perceive exists only in the mind. That means that we don’t see things as they actually are. We see only what we need to survive in physical form.

When Mercury turns retrograde, it seems to poke little holes in the façade that the mind creates. It allows us to glimpse more deeply into things, which will ultimately expand our perception and our awareness of our environment. We can choose to integrate these new perceptions into our personal life if we wish, or we can simply brush off all setbacks and accidents as evidence that sometimes shit just happens for seemingly no reason at all.

I typically choose the latter, though I don’t always find it easy to discover the meaning behind every “happy” accident that occurs in my life. But wisdom has taught me that there’s logic to the flow of events in my life, that there’s a reason for everything even if it’s not readily apparent. As I mentioned in the previous Full Moon reading, the mundane can be magical if we look deep enough. Every moment is a spiritual experience.

If the physical reality is an illusion conjured by the mind, then the mundane is just as valuable for spiritual evolution as a meditation retreat or an ayahuasca ceremony in the Amazon. From the evolutionary astrological perception, all experiences are catalysts for growth and change. Every choice we make furthers the evolution of the soul.

Gemini is a sign we associate with the mind and the reality that we experience in our everyday lives and routines. You don’t get any more mundane than Gemini. But Gemini, by nature, isn’t a boring, prosaic sign. Gemini dominant individuals are usually quite stimulating and often loquacious. Gemini seeks awareness, information, and constant stimulation. When reality becomes dull, boring and routine, it’s a sign that you’re not properly nourishing your mind with new information.

Knowledge and awareness expands your understanding of the world. The more you know the more interesting life becomes. You begin to see things that you didn’t see before. You become aware of possibilities that you never imagined. With Mars conjunct this New Moon, you are invited to conjure up the courage to expand your reality by trying something new and by actively engaging in the process of discovery.

You might expand your perception intellectually, or you may choose to do it physically. Gemini, in its highest expression, is open-minded and willing to try or entertain any possibility. Give yourself permission to experiment; play, loosen up, and maybe have a little bit of fun with this lunation. While a New Moon is typically a time of lower energy, a time to recharge, Mars’ presence gives this New Moon an added jolt of energy, enthusiasm, and momentum. However, every New Moon favors more personal and intimate activities. So while you may feel quite restless and less willing to stick to your usual tasks and routines, you’re not likely to go overboard. And that’s a good thing, because the dark side of Mars can cause a lot of pain.

And speaking of pain, Chiron makes a square to this New Moon. Chiron invites you to transmute your pain and wounds into gifts and empathy. While you can’t ignore your pain with this lunation, you can at least drown it out and learn to transcend your suffering. Sometimes all you need is a good laugh, great sex, or a stimulating conversation and suddenly you don’t hurt so much, suddenly you’re not so obsessed with it. This is different than trying to numb or avoid your pain. It’s a way of consciously engaging with life to shift your attention away from what hurts you to raise your vibration so that you can truly heal.

Ultimately, pain exists in our minds. We don’t always have to engage it. And we certainly don’t have to identify with it. What hurts us is often something that simply points us to that which we are unconscious of. Pain is a kind of existential biofeedback. It’s how the body communicates to us how far off our spiritual path we truly are. When you consciously engage your mind, you may realize that you have more control of your experiences than you have led yourself to believe. And to engage your mind requires that you engage with your life. So, stop suffering and start living. 

The Magical Mundane: Full Moon in Sagittarius 2015

Neptune and Triton three days after Voyager's flyby; photo
by NASA/JPL.

Full Moon @ 11 Sagittarius 49'

June 2, 2015

12:19 PM Eastern

9:19 PM Pacific

I was never taught that the world was a magical place. That sounds like some sappy new age rhetoric, but I think that it’s fundamentally true. Life can be magical. I was never told that synchronicity underpinned reality or that it happened every day. I wasn’t aware that some completely unconscious aspect of me, my psyche, was actually making all of my decisions. I learned to objectify nature, myself, and my body—to perceive the natural world as a product to be exploited for financial gain. I was molded by a mundane shell, a perceptual prison constructed out of banality.

But I didn’t always see things that way. There was a time, pre-social conditioning, when I saw the world as magical and the future filled with endless possibilities. But somehow I forgot. That promising vista of magical wonder faded like a naive childhood dream, recollected only as some vague and distant memory. Our cultural worldview is tainted by what astrologer and historian Richard Tarnas calls cosmological disenchantment. It’s quite a pandemic, and something most of us raised in a western industrialized nation have been conditioned by.

We have to make the effort to regain that magical wonder of the world around us. Most of the time it takes “divine” intervention or a hefty psychedelic trip to restore the original vision that is every human’s birthright. If it doesn’t happen before or at our Saturn return, we may never recapture it. Reality beats us down. As we grow older, we realize that life, while inherently magical and serendipitous, has its limitations.

Sometimes those limitations suffocate us until we give in to the mundane and become slaves to the illusion of time. This month’s Full Moon culminates in the tropical sign of Sagittarius just after the midpoint of Mercury’s current retrograde cycle in Gemini. If you’ve made it this far, you’re in a period of restoration, recovery and perhaps regaining trust that while bad things sometimes happen, there’s often a reason for it.

Sagittarius is a sign we associate with widening perception, seeking a larger, encompassing cosmology or ideological perception that gives us the ability to see the deeper meaning behind the mundane reality before us. As our cosmology changes, so does the everyday world around us. This is the interplay of Sagittarius and Gemini. Our wider cosmological perceptions affect the world of everyday objects. As our understanding expands, so does our prosaic experience. 

I used to think that telling people bad things happen for a reason was like dishing out some kind of empty, meaningless platitude to keep people from feeling empathy. Sometimes that’s probebly true. But my experience of Mercury retrograde cycles, and life itself has shown me that there’s some truth to it. Sometimes negative experiences or accidents offer us an opportunity to glimpse another reality if only for a moment. Bad things happen for a reason because, perhaps, the whole point of our existence is to gain consciousness and awareness.

Sometimes the universe needs to slap us upside the head, as if to say, “Hey, idiot! Wake up!” If you read my blog consistently, chances are that you’re one of those souls that intend to acquire more awareness this lifetime compared to other people. That doesn’t make you better or special, but maybe wiser; maybe you’ve been around the block a few more times. And then again, maybe not, who really knows.

Neptune makes a square to this Full Moon axis while the Sun finds itself pitted between Mercury retrograde and Mars in Gemini. This Full Moon challenges you to wake up to the magic of your everyday experience, not through delusion, denial, drugs or escapism, but through a conscious collaboration with reality the way that it actually is. What you may have forgotten, is that life is magical. Reality is governed by the laws of synchronicity. What your teachers and those pundits of scientism never told you about is abundantly clear if you’re receptive enough to notice it.

And conversely, reality has its limitations. There are rules that we must follow. Too much immersion in a magical world can render us the peur or puella aeternus—the eternal boy or girl who never grows up. If that’s where you stand, this Full Moon may shed light on the fact that you need to come back to the world and become a part of all that is visually apparent and obvious. You may need to realize that magic can be found in the mundane because even the mundane can be magical.

And so what’s happening right in front you, your life, whether you like it or not, it’s what you need right now. Perhaps, it’s what you’ve chosen to experience, and there’s a pretty good reason for it. Don’t try to avoid it, even if it’s painful, even if it’s a little unsavory. And if it’s great, there’s no sense in idealizing that it will last forever. Life is always a beautiful balance of pain and ecstasy. We can’t always avoid the pain, but we can consciously choose more ecstasy if we’re willing to let go of our attachment to suffering.

And both experiences, the good and the bad, break us open. They serve to tear little holes in the mundane shell that was ambitiously constructed around us. Allow this Full Moon to chisel away some of that shell. Can you trust that some part of you that you are not consciously aware of is guiding you toward wholeness? Can you take the risk of trusting that pain has a purpose? Only you can decide. And that is your ultimate existential plight. Choose expansion with this lunation, but choose wisely and soberly. Where there is risk there is both opportunity and tragedy. 

For personal readings and consultation, please e-mail me directly at kosmicmind@gmail.com