Full Moon Astro-Tarot: Passion and Dedication
The full moon on Thursday 15th August falls across the Aquarius Leo axis, calling us to consider our individual passions and our place in the collective. Venus also plays a role as she's closely conjunct the Sun in Leo at the time of the full moon. The Sun and Venus together in Leo bring a bright, shining energy to this full moon, with passion, excitement and drama. Its a good moon for creative self-expression and brings a burst of strong willpower and energy to all of our projects. This is Queen Of wands energy, confident and self-assured, ready to inspire others with her warmth and generosity. Meanwhile, the Moon in Aquarius reminds that Aquarius is the sign of the water bearer, carrying the waters of the unconscious into the conscious mind. Aquarius is the humanitarian, the idealist, the visionary, more concerned with service to the collective than the individual focus of Leo. This is a sociable full moon, with Venus in Leo seeking celebration and a party atmosphere and the Moon in Aquarius asking us to engage with our community.
Going deeper, this full moon asks us to look at our motivation for all this energy and connection. Are we throwing a party so that we can celebrate with friends or so that they can admire and thank us? Are we engaging with our community out of altruism or are we hoping for something in return? On the surface, this is a confident placement but the drama, passion and idealism can be a mask for insecurity (Aquarius) or arrogance (Leo). So there is a need for integrity here, for turning the objective rationality of Aquarius on ourselves and being honest about what we want and why. If our motivations are pure, this dynamic allows us to express our most creative potential, our most authentic self. We can share our talents with the community and contribute to the creation of change.
Leo is the sign of the queen, the king, the head of state. The leader or person in charge is generally the one who gets all the attention, who holds all the power, who often carries the envy and aspirations of many. It's easy to get caught up in this, to see the power as the most important thing, to believe in the self others see and lose sight of the self we really are inside. In reality, of course, being a leader is a path of service, of acting for the good of others (Aquarius) rather than for our own ends (Leo) - although we see precious little awareness of this amongst our leaders here in the west. This moon is about sovereignty, about the responsibilities we carry to others and to ourselves. It asks - are you queen of your own life? How are you helping others to rule their lives?
Ideally, we can find the place where what we want to do intersects with what we have to offer the world. And this is our life purpose, the work we have to do in the world, in this lifetime. I'm sure I talk about this all the time. We live in a world, in the west at least, where the Leo approach is seen as preferable and our individual growth and journey is the top priority. Even for those of us on a spiritual path, it's easy to get caught up in the capitalist principle that the individual is king, to walk a path of purely personal growth and development. To move out of capitalism, we need to get back to a more Aquarian approach, a willingness to put personal desires aside in favour of what the community needs. Not the "them and us" tribalism which is so prevalent here in the UK at least, but a genuine awareness of, and commitment to, a social contract based on give and take and mutual benefit, from community magic to paying taxes. But this full moon is conjunct my natal Jupiter in Aquarius, so that's my own idealism shining through.
Here's what the tarot has to say about this full moon:
Moon in Aquarius - How can we build positive and authentic communities? - Nine of Arrows
The title of this card, Dedication, reminds us that this path demands commitment. In the most well-known version of this card, the Smith-Waite deck, its all about worry, over-thinking, insomnia. This is the Victorian patriarchal magician (I've not talked about the VPMs much lately have I?!) version of strong mental energy, turned inward and even wasted on imagined worries. We need to shift this, choose to reject the social conditioning of the rationality obsessed patriarchy and redirect our mental energy outside of ourselves and our sometimes petty concerns.
Sun conjunct Venus in Leo - how can each of us create our own best life? - Five of Wands
This card speaks to me of the need to take responsibility for our own lives, to be sovereign to ourselves. The fives can be chaotic, a reminder that fire can destroy. We need the focus and discipline of the fixed signs (which include both Aquarius and Leo) to stop us from scattering our energy. The Wands in this image form a boundary, containing our creative energy so that we can focus it on what really matters to us. They also show the creative cycle, with the fire of the Wand at the base moving up on the left through the snake of regeneration, until we see the wheat growing at the top. After the harvest, the flames move downwards as we send our energy out into the world. Even our personal creative journey needs a focus beyond ourselves.
Leo is the sign of the queen, the king, the head of state. The leader or person in charge is generally the one who gets all the attention, who holds all the power, who often carries the envy and aspirations of many. It's easy to get caught up in this, to see the power as the most important thing, to believe in the self others see and lose sight of the self we really are inside. In reality, of course, being a leader is a path of service, of acting for the good of others (Aquarius) rather than for our own ends (Leo) - although we see precious little awareness of this amongst our leaders here in the west. This moon is about sovereignty, about the responsibilities we carry to others and to ourselves. It asks - are you queen of your own life? How are you helping others to rule their lives?
Ideally, we can find the place where what we want to do intersects with what we have to offer the world. And this is our life purpose, the work we have to do in the world, in this lifetime. I'm sure I talk about this all the time. We live in a world, in the west at least, where the Leo approach is seen as preferable and our individual growth and journey is the top priority. Even for those of us on a spiritual path, it's easy to get caught up in the capitalist principle that the individual is king, to walk a path of purely personal growth and development. To move out of capitalism, we need to get back to a more Aquarian approach, a willingness to put personal desires aside in favour of what the community needs. Not the "them and us" tribalism which is so prevalent here in the UK at least, but a genuine awareness of, and commitment to, a social contract based on give and take and mutual benefit, from community magic to paying taxes. But this full moon is conjunct my natal Jupiter in Aquarius, so that's my own idealism shining through.
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| In the school holidays, tarot happens alongside children playing with air dry clay... |
Moon in Aquarius - How can we build positive and authentic communities? - Nine of Arrows
The title of this card, Dedication, reminds us that this path demands commitment. In the most well-known version of this card, the Smith-Waite deck, its all about worry, over-thinking, insomnia. This is the Victorian patriarchal magician (I've not talked about the VPMs much lately have I?!) version of strong mental energy, turned inward and even wasted on imagined worries. We need to shift this, choose to reject the social conditioning of the rationality obsessed patriarchy and redirect our mental energy outside of ourselves and our sometimes petty concerns.
Sun conjunct Venus in Leo - how can each of us create our own best life? - Five of Wands
This card speaks to me of the need to take responsibility for our own lives, to be sovereign to ourselves. The fives can be chaotic, a reminder that fire can destroy. We need the focus and discipline of the fixed signs (which include both Aquarius and Leo) to stop us from scattering our energy. The Wands in this image form a boundary, containing our creative energy so that we can focus it on what really matters to us. They also show the creative cycle, with the fire of the Wand at the base moving up on the left through the snake of regeneration, until we see the wheat growing at the top. After the harvest, the flames move downwards as we send our energy out into the world. Even our personal creative journey needs a focus beyond ourselves.