We have a Full Moon on 22nd December 2018 at 17.48 pm GMT in Cancer-Capricorn at 0 degrees, right on the solsitice axis. This and many other signatures make this an unusual and extra potent Moon.
Contributing factors to this potency are the Moon in it’s own sign of Cancer, the Sun-Moon opposition forming an aspect with centaur Pholus (conjunct Sun), and a further trigger of the Aries Point – 0 degrees Aries – where the personal becomes political. We should see some significant events in the political arena over the next few weeks (no surprises there). But we are also not immune from these changes on a personal level.
Over the Christmas period, the Cancer Moon energy supports us to reconnect with our sense of home or our physical family, to bond with one another. Most importantly, it’s a time to reconnect within, with ourselves and our own soul’s truths. The deepest message of Cancer is a reconnection with our soul’s belonging. If we do not feel like we belong anywhere physically, then begin by reconnecting to the safety of the depth within.
When a Full Moon falls on the 0th degree, we also have an opportunity to make changes at this very fundamental level within, at the core, level – 0 denotes the beginning and the end where all potential is found. It’s like we have been given access to the master cell within the pineal gland at this Full Moon, or those first embryonic cells that forms who we are in our mother’s womb. The patterns formed in the house area that Cancer falls in your chart is where you might need to do the work of reconnecting.
The fabian symbol for this degree (actually we use the 1st degree here) is: “On A Ship The Sailors Lower An Old Flag And Raise A New One.” Dane Rudhyar wrote that this means “a radical change of allegiance exteriorised in a symbolical act: a point of no return.” This suggests that we are in a time of letting go of the old to embrace the new. It can mark a real turning point where life appears to be at the brink of a change.
This is a time where we need to start trusting more in what is arising, what needs to transform, and begin to entertain how you can begin to bring in the new. It begins with letting go of the old – always easier said than done. Perhaps your heart is changing it’s allegiance – to someone else – or you need to let go of a job. It might be a behaviour, a pattern or addiction. A belief in yourself, life, or relationships which is holding you back.
Whatever it is, it’s a turning point, a release, and a time when you can permanently shift something from a very core, foundational place in your consciousness. Ritualise it, use the Divine. Work with the Violet Flame. Witness the deeper feelings and awareness.
Additionally, the Sun makes an exact conjunction to centaur Pholus at this Full Moon. Pholus is the butterfly affect – a small impulse or cause, yet a big reaction or affect, the genie is let out of the bottle. It’s a time when chaos can enter into our lives but in a form that allows for transformation. It shows us a moment of truth and is a defining moment somehow. If your personal planets are lined up, then Pholus can trigger a chain of events or a domino effect at a very deep level. It’s possible that Pholus might even release a beneficial and creative force bringing a positive transformation, rather than something adverse.
The 0 degree of Cancer activates the catalytic effect of Aries Point, and this combined with the ability for Pholus and the 0 degree to symbolise processes beginning and ending means there’s some clear themes emerging. Even if certain events are beyond your control, chances are you know what choices or decisions you now need to make in the forthcoming year. It can be a dawning clarity that cannot now be ignored.
Things to watch out for over Christmas are Mars forming a conjunction with Chiron on 29th December. It’s right at the end of the Pisces, just before the Aries point. This just adds another signature for endings or dawning realisations. The Moon opposes this conjunction on the evening of 28th, so it’s likely to personalise and trigger it before it’s an exact conjunction on 29th. It’s likely to have either a very healing, or adversely a very harmful impact or a bit of both. The secret is to feel the feelings – especially any difficult feelings – and not just the frustrated or angry emotions. There’s a always a deeper layer beneath anger.
The dynamic conjoining of Mars and Chiron implies a breaking free of identities, conditions and conditioning, and roles that we feel confined in. It suggests a surge of independence, or a need to break free. It’s an interesting end to a year and gives us a strong sense of what we can expect from Chiron in Aries in 2019.
Keep your awareness of your deeper feelings and truth, and use the broad view of Jupiter in Sagittarius to keep your horizons open and perspective wide rather than fall into the trap of feeling confined. The impact could involve wounded identity issues, powerlessness or deep-seated anger that arises for expression. Avoid going into denial, projection or blame. See where you need to pick up your responsibility.
Often with Chiron it can go either way, the Moon’s opposition to this conjunction suggests it’s likely going to feel more challenging than constructive to begin with (although it would depend on whether this aspect is making a positive or challenging aspect to the rest of your chart). Prepare a little for this aspect, be sure you find constructive ways to work with your physical and emotional energy early this Christmas. Get out, take a walk, do some qi gong, dance, stretch and move your body so by 2nd you are prepared to feel what’s right for you.
Shortly after this conjunction Mars enters Aries, suggesting a new beginning is on the horizon, a transformation or goal becomes worthy or worthwhile. In his own sign, Mars the initiator can reconnect us with our passion, drive and Divine will. Moving forward, being decisive can come easily now, but our emotions are also very much on the surface with Mars in Aries. It’s best to channel this energy through a focused goal, rather than simply taking impulsive risks.
The Sun’s movement into Capricorn further supports us to be more goal-orientated. Yet it’s conjunction with Saturn on 2nd January might raise some difficult feelings which could manifest in a variety of ways. It’s a heavier, denser, energy. When we feel this, the first thing we do is resist feeling, or totally give in without awareness. We struggle to work with these sorts of heavier emotions since we don’t have many patterns to do so.
It might feel like there’s a burden, and it might also reinforce this sense of a decision that needs to be made. It might even feel like an ending. In times such as these, just remember that when you say no to one thing you say yes to another. Saying no to certain circumstances in your life will support the process of transformation and becoming.
Sure it’s heavy, but it’s a time when you are put in touch with your deepest soul truth, no matter how uncomfortable that might be. Whatever you are feeling right now, minus the layers of thinking and analysis on top, just might be the subtle whisper from your soul reminding you of your truth.
Saturn’s job is to keep you grounded and in touch with what’s real and important to your life. It might feel impossible to push through, so quite simply don’t, stay with what is.
The process of working out what’s real and what’s illusionary is very strong in our lives right now. Perhaps it’s the overarching theme of all time. With the spectrum of truth and illusion more extreme and at the same time more intertwined, it’s difficult to work out the right path and the correct decision. When we don’t know an answer, we need to go back to our bodies and our feelings – our soul’s truth. We cannot work it out from a mind space.
The process of becoming and transformation is intimately connected to who we are in our deepest soul nature. When we are aligned in the moment with our soul’s truth, transformation naturally emerges from this place. Having a co-creative relationship between the feminine (our beingness) and the masculine (our becoming) helps us to fully and authentically emerge, with less inner and outer conflict.
All things are born of woman, so goes the native American myths, from the creative, feminine void emerges the lightening bolt of transformation. This remembrance is deep inside us – encoded in our DNA and we are here to live this. The ruthless, masculine compassion, spoken about in Tibetan Mandela, cuts through illusion and awakens us into a state of presence – recognising that while we have personal history we are always here in this present lifetime first and foremost.
Most of the time, we are not in touch with our deepest soul’s truth, and we are not cutting through the illusions. We become muddled and drawn into our current, ancestral and past life stories, living out our history in the moment with no recognition that it is our history that we living rather than our deepest soul truth.
And so we emerge in ways that are not constructive for us, that do not slice through the illusionary world and keep us locked in our delusion about what is true or false for us. We go into our becoming without connecting to our being first. So we are not connected to the whole, just a part. Becoming that isn’t emerging from the being is just a forced push, a birthing which is not intimately connected to the creative feminine or allowing for the dance of the feminine and masculine energies.
To be in touch with our soul’s truth we need to deeply listen and deeply receive. We move away from our beingness, our soul’s truth, when we become stuck in our becoming – doing endlessly without connection. With the Sun’s conjunction to Saturn it’s an uncomfortable opportunity to get back in touch with our soul’s truth, and let the next step arise from that place. Sun conjunct Saturn in Capricorn emphasises the cooler feminine, and a connection with the depths – it’s the seahorse. We naturally rebuke this state of consciousness, as our society conditions us to do so, but it’s a great opportunity to go more inside and down.
It takes a moment, just one, to recognise your soul’s truth, perhaps our soul’s fragmentation is all we can feel initially, but with practise we sense our oneness or wholeness inside, despite the illusionary wounds. We are enough the way we are and if we can accept and stand for that, we have nothing to fear and nothing to heal. It doesn’t come easily and yet it can also come easily.
The next eclipse in January should accelerate the process of emerging change – just take some time to get clearer on what it is that needs to shift, sometimes knowing what direction is the right direction is the hardest bit. If you don’t know, stay in the not knowing and keep asking for the guidance and understanding to see more of what you can’t see now. The veil will slowly begin to lift.
Much love for the New Year – Maia
