Upcoming Full Moon in Aries and Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio

October 18 to 21 will be a dynamic time.  On the 18th the Moon will be full in Aries, inviting all of us to assert our independence at a fundamentally emotional level wherever Aries rules our chart.  As the New Moon offers us a new beginning, the Full Moon brings those monthly beginnings to culmination, then declining as the Moon moves towards the end of its current cycle.  With the Sun in Libra until the 21st, this month is one about decisions, which we should all be using to bring any out-of-balance situations back into balance, or as close to balance as we can.  The Full Moon Aries energy will encourage you to express yourself independently, aggressively, and selfishly.  At its highest vibration, you recognize what you must do to be true to yourself and will feel the emotional push to take the necessary actions to protect or bring that truth forth.

In my case the Moon will be passing through my 6th house of Service, where a majority of Energy Points reside (Chiron, Venus, Mercury, Eris, Vulcan, Saturn, the North Node, and Sun).  I can expect a powerful impact from this Full Moon.  Each point will be charged emotionally for me to be assertive with my feelings as they relate to each part of my life that those points represent.  If there is action to take regarding healing my wound (Chiron), I will want to take it.  I will want to actively (Aries) do something to heal it.  If I am operating on the low end of this vibration, then I will likely take action to create or aggravate a wound.  Aries is the energy that will not take enough time in recovery or rehabilitation, resulting in a reopening of the wound.  I will face this high/low vibration test regarding my relationships (Venus), my communication (Mercury), my need to stir things up (Eris), my productivity (Vulcan), my patterns (Saturn), my stretch goal (North Node), and my primary drive (Sun).  If Aries is a dominant theme in your chart, then you can expect this Full Moon to have a powerful impact.

Right on the heels of the Full Moon, Mercury will go retrograde for the third and final time this year from October 21 to November 10 in Scorpio.  Scorpio deals with deep, intense emotions and Mercury represents our thoughts and how we communicate.  Mercury entered Scorpio on September 30, and thanks to the retrograde phase, will stay there until December 6, creating a very long period of Scopionic communication and thinking.  Do not be surprised if your thoughts take you to some of the deeper parts of your psyche, leading you to address issues as powerful as your mortality, or any unresolved subconscious problems.  You may find yourself on unplanned Shamanic psychological quests that require your undivided attention to resolve.  The retrograde phase only deepens the journey because it turns outward energy inward and demands that we slow down and address whatever issues the retrograde energy represents.  Uranus and Neptune will continue to be retrograde during this time, forcing us ever deeper into our own psychological issues.  

Mercury retrograde gets negative press because we are told to be hard driving all the time, so trying to go at life with a-business-as-usual approach is what actually causes the negative outcomes.  We are supposed to slow down, rest, review, take inventory, digest, and process during the Mercury retrograde.  If we can, we will enjoy its benefits and avoid its pitfalls.  While in Scorpio, this reflective energy is going to ask us to do all these things around the issues that transform us emotionally, like our most important relationships and our deepest secrets.  This can be a time to bring those secrets slowly and carefully to the light or bury them even deeper, depending on how we want to treat them.  With an Aries Full Moon it will be much harder to keep emotions tamped down and much easier for them to explode into full view.

Additionally, Saturn is currently making it's way through Scorpio as well, forcing all of us to evaluate our deep emotions and see what is working and what is not.  Depending on the location of Scorpio in your chart, this could mean evaluation of your identity, values, how you communicate with others, family, creativity, responsibilities, partnerships, intimate relationship, expertise, career, community, or spirituality.  I get all my Scorpio fun in the 1st house of identity.  This next month will be one of deep introspection and reorganization of my identity terrain.  If you happen to have any birth energy points in this sign, they will get "touched" by Mercury and it will force you to think about that energy at the deepest level.  I have already spent a fair amount of time digging deep into my commitments (Juno, from mid-September to now) and how I want to communicate with those people I am committed to, especially my daughter.

In general, expect to feel especially intense while Mercury and Saturn share time in this sign.  Saturn will remain there until December of 2015.  Luckily Mercury will be done by December 6 of 2013!

Full Moon in Aquarius

The moon will be full today at 6:45PM, but its effects are felt most powerfully over a three day span (8/19 to 8/21). During its time in Aquarius 8/20 to 8/21, we will process emotions through the energy of Air; we will be cerebral about our feelings. Aquarius processes thought with a focus on authenticity, idealism, community, and originality, and does so with Air's usual sense of detachment. We are like a scientist looking our emotions, evaluating what comes up during this full moon. Aquarius is also a fixed sign, so it organizes ... cardinal Air (Libra) initiates and mutable Air (Gemini) adapts. In general you will likely find yourself comparing your current feelings about a situation, relationship, or belief to an idealized thought about the best way a situation, relationship, or belief should manifest.

The farther the reality from the ideal, the more the discomfort. To resolve any difference between the Aquarian ideal and the lived reality, we are called upon to be authentic with our feelings. Being authentic will help us move towards, if not achieve, the ideal. We must also evaluate the ideal and honestly determine if some close approximation is possible or if a more radical change is required to address our feelings. Say you are in an unhealthy relationship and the ideal is a healthy one, but no amount of authentic expression on your part is going to change the circumstances that are making the relationship unhealthy. You know, for example, healthy relationships do not have alcoholic partners and during this full moon phase you can see, with scientific clarity, that your alcoholic partner does not think he or she is an alcoholic. The authentic expression of your feelings may finally lead you to end the relationship in order to give yourself a real chance to have a more idealistic and healthy relationship.

The key to any understanding of an Energy Point transit (Moon in Aquarius) is knowledge of your own chart and where Aquarius has influence over that area of your chart. In my case, Aquarius covers my 4th House of Family and Roots. In particular, it will be passing over Astraea (the Energy Point of Community, and the only Energy Point in my 4th House and Aquarius) and forcing up my need to evaluate my feelings about not only my family, but my most important community members (friends). I find myself, today, thinking about the structure of my most personal relationships and how well they fit or are tracking towards/away from my ideals. The relationships and the interactions in my relationships that do not match with what I envision (Aquarius) as the best of those relationships will bring emotional discomfort that I can choose to address or ignore at this time. Best to address it. Relationships that are close to or meeting my ideal vision will feel particularly great during this full Moon phase. And thanks to human complexity, we will be able to hold space for both experiences. If the negative ones, however, significantly outweigh the positive ones, this may be the ideal time for some authentic expression that changes the circumstances supporting and perpetuating the negative feelings.