Hopping over Neptune’s “rabbit hole:” the astrology of a Pisces Full Moon

A Full "Corn" Moon is a glorious sight.

Sometimes it’s important to set aside the tangled complexities of outer planetary cycles and how they all relate to each other over generations in leaders, events and so on,  

and simply take time to bask in the light of our Earth’s lovely neighbor and satellite—the Moon.  Mundane astrology focuses so intently on outer planetary affairs that it’s often easy to lose sight of the all-important lunar cycle and what it can tell us from month to month.

So that’s what this short post will tackle; a quick consideration of what Lady Luna has seeded in our public discourse in the past month and what we can likely expect from what’s left of this August-September lunar cycle. Before we consider the charts, let’s map out the timeline, with all charts cast for Washington, D.C.:

New Moon August 18, 2020 – Sun-Moon conjunct at 26°35’ Leo

Full Moon September 2, 2020 –Sun-opposite-Moon from 10°12’ Virgo-Pisces

New Moon September 17, 2020 –Sun-Moon conjunct at 25°01’ Virgo

We’ll examine charts for the first two dates here. We’re including the August New Moon because that will give us some perspective on the “agenda” for this lunation—i.e., the dynamics that have worked towards “fullness” in today’s Full Moon . Obviously, depending upon the location of a lunation chart, those dynamics will express themselves differently (no, D.C. is not the center of the Universe, thank Heavens!).

One quick reminder: in a mundane context (which we’ve established by setting these lunation charts in the United States capitol), the lunar cycle reflects the ongoing interactions experienced by the People (Moon) in relation to their Government (Sun). It responds to the emotional times, often reflected these days in our streets and (as always) in social media. It reliably captures the “tone” of that month in the news and often reflects actual news events in some way. This critical Sun-Moon relationship takes on many forms, depending upon the nation and its system of government, but in the U.S. we would expect there to be a certain democratic (small “d”) give and take between We the People and our Government—particularly the president, but not limited to him. A mundane Sun represents not only the nation’s Executive branch, but the nation as a whole, thus taking in a great deal more than one man’s activities or influence in the national scheme of things.

So there’s a shorter-term rhythm to our life in society that interacts with the many other cycles we are forever responding to—importantly, the Sun and Moon don’t circulate in relation to each other in a vacuum: they interact with other planets during any given lunation and reliably trigger events that express those longer-term cycles in our daily lives.  We’ll see examples of how this works ahead.

But, before we get too caught up in all this, let’s consider the charts. We’ll begin with the August New Moon because even though it’s past, it establishes the context for what we’ll be experiencing in this latter half of the current cycle. 

A rare "black Moon," this New Moon was the 3rd of 4 in one season.

  The Seed moment

Chart #1: New Moon, August 18, 2020, 10:41:31 p.m. DST, Washington, D.C. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

The New Moon period that set the tone for our current lunar cycle was marked by the DNC (Democratic Party) Convention on one hand, and with Trump’s unrelenting campaign to vilify mail-in voting on the other. This campaign was not just talk, unfortunately—this mid August period was also marked by a major outbreak of concern regarding how Trump’s fund-raiser friend and Postmaster General appointee Louis DeJoy was imposing new rules on the Post Office that would effectively slow down the mail, just as we’re all trying to come to grips with voting in November, in the midst of a pandemic. In other words, that period was about powerful figures expressing themselves via communications media in ways designed to influence the public.

No surprise, the Sun-Moon conjunction launching this cycle fell in fiery late Leo, conjunct Mercury (also in Leo), and forming one point of a grand trine with Mars-Eris (Aries) and So. Node (Sagittarius).

This was a new, multipurpose dynamic that suited Trump’s bombastic, angry approach to swaying public sentiment (this lunation point conjoined his natal Mars-ASC, chart not shown), and it certainly facilitated his desire to impose his will on all of us through our institutions (the Post Office in this case), but this lunation also suited the DNC’s creative approach to communicating their Election message and to officially nominating November’s key players, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. To do so, they called upon several high-profile Democratic “Lions,” including (but not limited to) Michelle and Barack Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton (who was coincidentally celebrating his 74^th birthday during the Convention) , Jimmy and Roslynn Carter, Andrew Cuomo, Jim Clyburn, Bernie Sanders – if not Leo Suns by birth, all of them, certainly fiery characters in their own ways (many from the Pluto in Leo generation).

It’s relevant that this lunation point also opposed Sibly Moon—as mentioned earlier, the People, in a mundane chart. Interestingly, a record number of those People were vigorously demonstrating on our streets at that time, with Trump’s Leo Mars fully engaged in trying to vilify them and inspire violence against them , as well. Unfortunately, his efforts have produced an outpouring of violence involving self-appointed right wing “militias” who are taking the law (as they see it) into their own hands in many protests settings. 

Attempts to justify Kyle Rittenhouse's actions in Kenosha sparked further protest.

When 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse showed up in Kenosha, WI, toting a rifle he was not legally registered to own (and which he allegedly went on to use in killing two protesters), he was only the latest in a trend represented by more than 497 instances of militia vigilantism in the past year. That’s troubling enough, but also key here is the way the Police forces in various states have been enabling (or certainly not stopping) these armed groups. From WAMU NPR:

“Police often deny links to extrajudicial groups. But a recent report from the Brennan Center for Justice highlights links of varying severity between police, white supremacists and militias. These ties have been discovered in Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.”

This disturbing revelation certainly fits with the more authoritarian dimension of a Leo lunation, but of course, there are other planetary cycles chiming in on this trend, which is why it hasn’t been confined to this one month period of time. It’s certainly being illuminated during this period, however: this is a good example of how a lunation can trigger dynamics that are already in motion, but perhaps not top of mind at the time. It’s also a good illustration of that fiery grand trine we see in this chart (between the lunation, Mars-Eris (Aries) and So. Node (Sagittarius).

Of course, Mars is feeling his “oats” in Aries here, which doesn’t do anything to moderate that militant, macho energy flooding our streets, and a Sagittarian So. Node suggests that there’s a strong “default” energy afloat these days that will go after what it wants and isn’t likely to back down in the face of reasonable argument. The Gemini No. Node  is counseling a more reasonable approach, but with Trump’s Sun-Uranus-No. Node (Gemini) also falling in that vicinity while his Mars (Leo) works to dominate, the “cues” people are picking up on are scrambled. Those who want to hear “attaboy” from the White House aren’t likely to listen to more reasonable voices.

Saturn-Pluto-MC-Jupiter conjoin ( all except MC Rx in Capricorn), with MC-Jupiter Rx widely conjunct Pallas (Rx, Capricorn). These heavy, but somewhat stagnant retrograde Capricorn energies have been with us for a long time and most of the time they register like a dull ache in a tooth we’ve been neglecting, but in this chart they are elevated in the 9^th, and conjunct MC, they reflect how the U.S. is projecting itself in the world these days. Trump’s approach to foreign policy is clearly more demanding and punitive than it is diplomatic or cooperative, so very much in keeping with Saturnian Capricorn. This raises questions regarding the much-hyped UAE-Israel Agreement Jared Kushner apparently finalized this past August (on the 14^th, just before the lunation) for Trump. I’m not familiar with the entire agreement, but experts seem to think there’s very little in it for Palestinian interests because it requires no real commitment from Israel to stop annexing Palestinian territories.

So, not the Middle East peace deal that’s really needed in the end, but one that probably suits Trump’s desire to help his long-time ally Netanyahu politically. Apparently, the UAE has been coaxed into opening their diplomatic relations with Israel despite their long-standing defense of Palestinian interests, so I guess there’s one success here: the Trump administration has succeeded in dividing Arab states against one of their own and has further isolated the occupied Palestinians, who do have an ancestral claim on their lands.  When all this came down on August 14th, the Capricorn energies we see at the top of Chart #1 were pretty much in the same degrees, and Mars was also already in late Aries, so this square has been calling the shots for some time now. When we consider that the August 18^th Leo lunation sextiled Capricorn Saturn-Pluto (both Rx), we see aother example of ways in which lunations interact and express ongoing transits.

Returning to our domestic issues and Chart #1, it’s easy to see with the Mars-Eris square to this Capricorn stellium that violence and disruption are being seen as a means to an end right now, and that’s a trend that is likely to persist because Mars turns Rx on September 9^th and will thus prolong its volatile stay in late Aries. More on that in another post, soon.

Finally, Uranus (Rx, Taurus) rises in this chart, conjoins the ASC (Taurus), sextiles chart ruler Venus (Cancer) and trines Pallas (Rx, Capricorn). There are forces afoot that are militating for Justice, with a capital “J,” but unfortunately they don’t seem to be in our official Department of Justice. This quest to hold the Justice Department accountable for doing its job and not simply acting as Trump’s personal law firm is meeting and overcoming some challenges—the Pallas-Venus opposition (Capricorn-Cancer) and Uranus-Venus sextile that accompany this suggest that powerful, significantly-placed women  (like NY attorney general Letitia James)  are key players in this dynamic.

And of course, there’s the nomination of Sen. Kamala Harris as Joe Biden’s running mate—see here and here for much more on her and her astrological “fit” for that role. Last, but certainly not least, it’s also significant that we just celebrated the 100^th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage on the very day of this lunation! This amazing coincidence—considering how Trump is trying his best to suppress the vote this election—also speaks to the strong, but somewhat subtle Venus dynamics in this chart. Simply put, She rules!

In folklore, sturgeon are most easily caught during this Full Moon.

A Full Moon for volatile times

In their less fortunate expressions, Full Moons are often associated with peak experiences and outbursts that have been building up over time. These can take the form of serious outbursts of anger, violence and unrest. Protests in which the people are clearly fed up and feeling that “Enough is enough!” fit into this category, as we’re seeing play out on our streets nearly every day. The majority of protesters are absolutely peaceful, but the emotionality and attention gained by such collective efforts never fail to attract some individuals who are simply there for their own satisfaction and could care less about the aims of the protest. Unfortunately, during a Full Moon, we’re likely to see more of these latter types, right along with the armed militias that use those few violent actors as a pretext for their vigilantism.

Rewinding to the original intent of the protests (it’s been twisted every which way but Sunday), they began in response to the heinous execution-style killing of George Floyd in May of this year. This killing inspired a well-justified backlash against Police practices that routinely target Black individuals with excessive force. Since when does any civilized society support and encourage police abuse tactics of the sort we’ve seen in recent police killings? Choking and crushing the life out of a person with an officer’s knee? Shooting people in the back who don’t just lie down and submit to police apprehension for routine traffic and domestic stops?  It’s hard to see why criticisms of these tactics are even controversial—would the white people among us expect to be treated this way by the police? I raised five sons in my life, and never once had to worry that the police would kill one of them in the course of a routine traffic stop. 

One community near me decided to attack an alleged problem head on.

In other words, there are legitimate reasons for Black Lives Matter protests on our streets, and it would be a gross injustice if the aims of those protests end up being crushed by Trump’s desire to take political advantage of them. There are sane, reasonable ways to reform Police practices that should be as good for police officers as they are for citizens of all colors.  Calls to “defund the Police” have understandably rattled a lot of cages, of course, but very few of those who object to this idea are actually discussing what that would mean in practical terms. We will always need Law enforcement agencies, but the seemingly never-ending list of Black individuals being killed or maimed by Police officers is starting to remind too many people of the bad-old days of KKK lynchings in the South, and for good reason.

And now, with renewed Trump/GOP efforts to suppress voting across the nation—always targeting those in disadvantaged populations—there’s a palpable sense among Black Americans that the few gains they have made as a people over the past 50 years are being quickly rolled back and lost. Add to that their increased vulnerability to COVID (due to the inaccessibility of decent health care) and Trump’s seeming complicity with that, why wouldn’t they be upset?

With that in mind, let’s examine the chart for this surely impactful Full Moon. 

  

Chart #2: Full Moon, September 2, 2020, 1:21:55 a.m. DST, Washington, D.C.. Tropical Equal Houses, True Node. All charts cast, courtesy of Kepler 8.0 Cosmic Patterns software.

Sun opposes Moon (Virgo-Pisces); Moon rules and trines Cancer ASC, conjoins MC-Neptune (Rx, Pisces) and sextiles Uranus (Rx, Taurus).  In other words, this is a very Moon-driven chart, suggesting that People’s movements will find expression. These expressions will vary in their credibility and/or intent: Neptune’s capable of inspiring the highest and lowest of ideals and behavior (the poisoning of Putin opponent Alexei Navalny comes to mind) because we project our own spiritual states and ethos into the ways we treat all of Creation, especially including those who feel like “Others” to us. In my observation, most of the systemic ills that plague us (including COVID, at the moment) are heavily influenced by Neptune in the sense that there’s always a twisted view of reality at the heart of the darkest moments.

With COVID many have been deluded into thinking we can simply ignore it and it will go away—just like believing that our Black neighbors and community members will somehow stop worrying about their children being killed if we just look the other way and leave it to the “authorities.” This Cancerian chart, supported powerfully by Venus trine Neptune (Cancer-Pisces) asks everyone to consider what we would  do if our own children were at stake.

Venus also opposes Saturn-Pluto (Capricorn) here, shaking us out of Neptune’s seductive fog and suggesting that  we need to channel Neptune’s uplifting energies into practical solutions and institutional structures that work for everyone. Falling down the “rabbit hole” of delusion will do nothing for anyone, yet with Mercury (Virgo), ruling the 3^rd house of mindset and the 12^th of hidden, possibly conspiratorial influences and opposing Neptune, there will be those who succumb.

It’s worth noting here that the Progressed Sibly Sun is now at 15°+Pisces (chart not shown), conjunct this lunation chart’s MC, and the Progressed Sibly Moon is now sitting just 2 degrees from this chart’s Saturn, at 27°+Capricorn. This interesting combination certainly reflects where we find ourselves as a People at the moment—experiencing Saturnian hardship and limitations, while our leader (Progressed Sun)  openly flirts with deluded conspiracy theories for the sake of his own power. Obviously, these progressed points will be only slightly different by Election Day, but Progressed Moon will reach 0°+Aquarius by then, so there could be a change of tone afloat in our public discourse.

Protesters find themselves in the eye of a political storm.

Final thoughts

The trends we’re seeing these days in the news and as described above will tend toward some kind of short-term resolution between now and the next New Moon on September 17^th, at 25°+Virgo. Mars in Aries will still be a factor, but since it will be moving retrograde, still square Saturn-Pluto, perhaps there will be some Congressional scrutiny of the militant groups we’ve been seeing on the streets. We’ll save that chart for future consideration, but suffice to say here that it feels a bit less volatile than the ones we’ve examined here.  

Meanwhile, all the best to families trying to get their kids back to school – Happy Labor Day, y’all!

Be safe!