On January 13^th, we have a “spicy” Full Moon in Cancer. If you look at the chart, you’ll see Mars, the god of war, alongside the full moon. The Moon thrives in Cancer; it rules this sign and embodies nurturing. Cancer, as a zodiac sign, prioritizes home, family, and community, and individuals with many Cancer placements tend to be very devoted to their family—that's the essence of it. Introducing Mars to the equation infuses a kind of Mama Bear energy, fiercely protective of loved ones. It can also trigger some conflicts within family dynamics.

An added flavor to this full moon suggests there may be an excess of mothering, nurturing, or simply too much of a good thing in certain ways. I mention this for a couple of reasons. First, the full moon takes place in the final “decan” of Cancer, and the tarot card linked with this decan is the Four of Cups.

The tarot 4s represent static energy, suggesting a lack of dynamism in the energy of their corresponding suit. In the 4 of Cups, a person sits beside a tree with three cups in front of him. Someone offers him a fourth cup, and he seems to think, "Whoa, I’ve got enough!" Sometimes, when we have planets in Cancer III, we experience too much of a good thing and feel overwhelmed by life’s abundance.

The chart’s connection between Venus and Jupiter also has a flavor of “too much.” Venus is in the second decan of Pisces (Pisces II), which corresponds to the Nine of Cups in the tarot deck. Here, we see a chubby, satisfied figure, also carrying a sense of abundance of pleasure.

Venus is also in a “square,” a tense aspect to Jupiter, the god of exuberance, expansion, and optimism. Usually, any connection between the two benefic planets is a good thing. Still, it can also indicate an (over)abundance (Jupiter) of pleasure (Venus), especially when the planets square each other.

Another fascinating aspect of the chart is that the moon’s nodes shift signs on the same day as the Full Moon. This is illustrated in the chart, where arrows indicate the transition of the nodes from Libra and Aries to Pisces and Virgo.

Some folks may have a significant event happen when the nodes shift signs. When I do client readings, I look back at charts for important events in their lives. Often, these events correspond to dates when the moon's nodes are at 29°. Since the nodes move backward relative to other planets, when they are at 29°, it indicates they have just entered a sign, bringing forth a new energy.

The moon’s nodes in a transit chart stay in a sign for about a year and a half, meaning we will experience eclipses in the Pisces and Virgo houses of our chart during that time. Eclipses and the shifting of nodes can introduce karmic corrections into our lives. They appear in those areas of our charts, prompting us to question whether we align with that energy. Is there something you're holding onto that may have outlived its usefulness in the Virgo house of your chart? Are you ready to allow a new experience into your life in the Pisces house of your chart?

That’s where an eclipse might come into play, urging you to release certain aspects of your life, potentially marking endings or heralding new beginnings—new things coming into your life.  

The New Moon occurs in the first decan (10 degrees) of Capricorn, also known as "Capricorn I.” The tarot card linked to this part of Capricorn is the 2 of Pentacles, referred to as "the Lord of Change.”

The card exhibits a playful, up-and-down quality. A man, possibly a juggler, hops from one foot to the other as he plays with two pentacles. Movement permeates the card; the infinity symbol surrounding the pentacles represents the continuous motion and change in life, embodying the endless ebb and flow of existence. In the background, ships navigate large and small waves, adapting to the shifting waters to stay afloat and reach their destination.

This month’s Full Moon may call us to make a decision in a moment of uncertainty. We may have to sit with the implications of being human—to experience the frustration of being confused and unsure of the best path but forced to make a choice nonetheless.

Neptune is squaring the Full Moon, suggesting we may be at a confusing crossroads. Neptune, or Poseidon in the Greek Pantheon, is the god of the seas, a planet that suggests oceanic feelings of merging with the universe. Neptune’s energy tends to melt and confuse things when he aspects other planets, bringing a fog of uncertainty.

Late Saturday or early Sunday, depending on where you live, we will have a New Moon in the sign of Sagittarius. New Moons are beginnings, moments where a seed is planted for the cycle of growth over the next 28 days of our lives. Any seed we plant now also has the potential to reverberate over the next 27 months as the larger rhythms of the moon cycle play out in the Sagittarius part of our charts.

The New Moon falls in the first decan of Sagittarius, the sign of “the Quest!” Sagittarius is a fire sign ruled by Jupiter, the god of optimism, hope, and big ideas.

The Full Moon in Taurus on November 15 may present us with a dilemma, a question to be answered, a decision to be made. There could be a sudden shift of events that forces us to make a choice between two karmic paths.

It asks us to reflect on our values and ideas, making choices that resonate with the deepest part of who we are. If we can engage with these questions out of a place of integrity and make choices that fit our sense of what is right for us, regardless of whether it fits with conventional wisdom, we may find we feel more stable, confident, and grounded in a sense of our own self-worth.

When Pluto, the god of the underworld, opposes Mars, we can experience profound dark energy around our will. Rather than hold this explosive energy, we may find ourselves acting it out unconsciously, fearing destruction (Pluto) of our own will (Mars); we may engage in power struggles with others.

When Mars goes retrograde (December 6-February 23), he will be opposite the Sun in the sky. He will rise in the night sky when the Sun sets, ready for battle. At this point, he will be as close to the Earth as he ever gets so that we will experience his complex energy more than usual. Given the current political situation in the United States, I don’t think any of us would be surprised if political tensions come to a head in the period after the election.

In our personal lives, the tensions will likely play out in our chart's Cancer/Leo houses. Breaking down the chart's energy a bit more, we see that Mars is at the head (“apex”) of a “T-square” to Moon/Chiron in Aries and the Sun in Libra. With a T-square, the energy of the opposition between the Sun and Moon is naturally channeled to Mars. In layman’s terms, we may experience a struggle between our wounds around self-assertion (Moon/Chiron in Aries) and our desire to be in harmony with others (Sun in Libra). Rather than resolve the tension of this conflict by being present to our wounds and our desire for harmony, we may be drawn to act out aggressively (Mars) around the people we are closest to (Cancer—family/home).

On October 2, we have a Solar Eclipse in Libra, an air sign ruled by Venus. Libra is about relationships between ourselves and others, diplomacy, balanced perspective, fairness, and justice. When we have a Solar Eclipse, the Sun appears to disappear from the sky, often bringing a sense of foreboding and interrupting ordinary events. Eclipse energy is strongest in the 2 weeks after the eclipse, but can be felt up to 6 months after the eclipse.

Symbolically, the Sun is associated with our vision of who we are; it can represent consciousness, spirit, father figures, and leaders. Solar eclipses can shift our ego structure—our sense of identity and who we are, opening new avenues for personal growth.

This is a South Node Eclipse, meaning it may ask us to let go of some outdated way of understanding ourselves, perhaps some way in which we identify with a particular idea or group. We all have many ways of identifying ourselves, from our roles in our families to our professions, religious affiliation or non-affiliation, political leanings, organizations we belong to, and so on.

Solar and Lunar eclipses happen at New and Full Moons, respectively, when the Earth lines up with the Sun and Moon in a way that they darken or seem to disappear from the sky.

The esoteric meaning of eclipses is mysterious and karmic; it suggests ideas, people, or things suddenly appearing or disappearing from or into our lives out of the deep, unknown realms of existence.

Eclipses can bring (1) sudden changes where we let go of people, things, or identities that no longer fit with who we are or (2) sudden boons in our lives—the appearance of new opportunities or relationships that satisfy our hidden longings.

On Labor Day, we have a New Moon in the sign of Virgo. Everything about this New Moon captures the bittersweet emotions we experience at this time of year when we feel the urge to hold on to the relaxed summer vibes while simultaneously feeling an itch to get serious—to “get back to work."

It falls in Virgo II, a part of Virgo that involves the rigorous hard work of creating things or processes that are both useful and give pleasure. It plants a seed for us to undertake a new project in whatever house Virgo falls in our chart. (I’ll chat more about this later in the post).

The energy in the days leading up to and after August 19’s Full Moon in Aquarius is frenetic and jarring. Frenetic because there is a lot of tense energy in the “mutable” signs in the chart and jarring because Uranus, the god of lightning strikes and “shit hitting out of the blue,” is in an exact square to the Full Moon.

The day before the Full Moon, Mercury, the messenger of the gods, is exactly conjunct the Sun (“cazimi” the Sun). When Mercury is in the heart of the Sun, we can receive sudden information or insight that brings clarity and awareness.

This morning Vice President Kamala Harris - the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States - named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. She could not have picked a better person for the job. Yes, I live in Minnesota and am a little biased! Still, the astrology for the two as a pair is outstanding. I’ll talk a bit more about that later. First, I’ll talk a bit about Tim Walz’s birth chart and the transit chart for this morning, explaining how you can see the event in the transit chart from today as it hits his birth chart.

On August 4, there is a New Moon in Leo, the sign of royalty, the sign of the Queen. Venus, the goddess of love, relationship, and beauty, is also in Leo that day, suggesting that this particular Leo season focuses on the divine feminine, the “Queen,” in all of us.

On July 21, we have a Full Moon at 29 Capricorn, the very last degree of the sign. Pluto, the god of the underworld (Hades in Greek mythology), is at 0 Aquarius, the next sign, so it is right next to this Full Moon. Pluto relates to our survival mechanisms, to how we use power to suppress and oppress ourselves or others out of a will to survive. When Pluto hits a planet in our chart, it can feel as if we, like Persephone in the Greek myth, have been dragged into the underworld—it can bring forth dark, hidden material for us to process. When we consciously work with Pluto material, we understand more about the “shadow” side of our personalities and are transformed.

July 5’s New Moon in Cancer has a warm, abundant feeling. It suggests those sweet summer evenings when you gather around the table outside and share a meal with friends or family—the evenings where the light seems to last forever, and you talk long after the meal has ended. This energy of this New Moon will be felt over the next two weeks. This sweet, loving energy is a lovely seed for creating a safe space to build connections with the people who are dearest to you.

What makes this New Moon so lovely? It is in its home sign, offering a deeper connection to our capacity to nurture and be nurtured by others. Venus, the goddess of beauty, love, and receptivity, is with the New Moon, adding warmth and connection to our interactions with family and friends.

June 21’s Full Moon in Capricorn follows the Summer Solstice, a turning point in our year, a moment of maximum light in the Northern Hemisphere and maximum darkness in the Southern Hemisphere. Capricorn is a “cardinal” earth sign, encouraging us to take action to build new structures in our lives.

This Full Moon, falling in Capricorn I, the first 10 degrees of the sign, invites us to use our instincts and intuition rather than our intellect in making these new beginnings; this is a time to set aside our thinking brain and take advantage of what we know in our bones. Capricorn I is associated with the Two of Pentacles Tarot Card in Western Astrology.

June 6's New Moon in Gemini plants a seed for us to expand our understanding of what it means to be human, to embrace and accept the shadowy unconscious part of our natures. Gemini is an air sign ruled by Mercury, the god of communication. Symbolically, its constellation is associated with the Twins, in ancient Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux, two brothers, one the son of a god, the other the son of a mortal. A walk through the sign of Gemini finds us confronted with our dual nature as human beings, spirit and embodied soul, the light of consciousness, and the shadows of unconscious knowing that we carry as embodied souls.

The dualities of the sign are at their zenith in the second decan (10 degrees) of Gemini, which is ruled by Mars, the god of war, and Venus, the god of love and harmony. The tarot card associated with this decan captures the tense conflict we can experience as planets move through this part of the chart; we see a figure experiencing what St. John of the Cross called the “Dark Night of the Soul,” swirling, warring thoughts have taken them over, they are in anguish. Yet they are covered with a blanket of Venusian roses, suggesting the capacity to repair and reconcile those thoughts, to find balance amid the chaos.

Something about this Full Moon reminds me of one of my favorite movies, The Spitfire Grill. The main character is a young woman dealing with the grief and remorse she feels around the loss of her child. She comes upon a young man who is suffering and takes tender steps to help him recover. At one point in the movie, she sings a traditional African-American spiritual, “There is a Balm in Gilead.” Watching her sing, you get the sense that she sings it not just for the young man, but for herself and the infant she lost. The lyrics speak of the need to turn to something deep within the Soul at moments of crisis and grief and to be healed by the vast love of the universe:

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin-sick soul

Sometimes I feel discouraged

And deep I feel the pain

In prayers the holy spirit

Revives my soul again

The two benefic planets, Jupiter and Venus, are conjunct in the Full Moon chart and contain the balm to help relieve us of some of what may have befallen us in April. Last month’s eclipse contained a heavy dark conjunction between the two malefic planets, Mars and Saturn, in the sign of Pisces, triggering existential wounds. “Existential” is simply a word that speaks to our “Being” in the world, our sense of having a place, belonging, and connection with life.

Pisces, the last of the water signs, is deeply spiritual, carrying the energy of Oneness with the universe and compassion for all living beings stemming from a nondualistic grasp of reality: “I am That;” that is, the universe and I are One. During the period when serious, responsible, realistic Saturn is in Pisces (roughly 2023-2026), we are called to grapple with issues around crises of faith; when Saturn is in Pisces it can be difficult to grasp the unseen truths of the universe and to trust that larger forces are at work in our lives. Last month’s eclipse brought these crises of faith into stark relief; Mars, the god of War, was conjunct Saturn, bringing difficult events that may have further wounded our sense of faith in and connection to Being.

This moon cycle offers a balm for Saturn’s wounds. It happens in the first 10 degrees of Sagittarius, a fire sign ruled by Jupiter. This decan is associated with the beginning of a quest, like the quest for the Holy Grail. There is a swift, optimistic energy to this decan, reflected in the Tarot card associated with this decan, the 8 of Wands. In that card, we see eight wands flying in the air, ready to land on solid ground; our intuition is open and ready to be guided on its quest to understand what life has put before us.

Jupiter, the god of expansion, optimism, and abundance, who rules the Full Moon (and also rules Pisces, where Saturn sits) is in a beautiful position in this Full Moon Chart; he is conjunct Venus, the goddess of beauty, love, and receptivity. This aspect blends the energy of abundance and optimism with love and receptivity, offering a healing balm to Saturn’s spiritual wounds. What is more, Venus is in her home sign, Taurus, in the chart, giving her extra power to help Jupiter expand and soften Saturn in Pisces’ inner skeptic.

Meditating in and around this Full Moon may help us connect more deeply with ourselves, our lives, and our existence. In so connecting, we may experience the breadth and depth of consciousness enter our hearts, relieving some of the pain that may have come with the events of the April eclipse.

At the same time, the chart shows that the story of loss and recovery is not over. Mars, the god of war and the active/yang energy of desire is with Chiron, the wounded healer in the Full Moon Chart. Both planets are in Aries, a sign that calls us to identify and assert our own needs in the world over, to find and assert our center, the things that matter to us as individuals over and against the needs of others. This connection between Mars and Chiron suggests that we will continue to work on wounds around how we come to know and assert our own needs in the world.

The New Moon in Taurus on May 7 is a significant event, offering opportunities for new growth and recovery after the tumultuous and sometimes painful energy experienced with April’s lunations.

April’s Solar Eclipse at the New Moon and Full Moon in Scorpio carried heavy energies that called some of us to grapple with painful topics, including loss and grief. The Eclipse was exactly conjunct Chiron, an asteroid referred to as “the wounded healer,” whose energy asks us to know our hidden wounds intimately, not for the sake of creating more suffering for ourselves, but so that we embody that knowledge so profoundly that we recognize those who suffer a similar wound and know when and how to offer the balm that might ease their suffering. The Scorpio Full Moon fleshed out the meaning of the eclipse, giving voice to the grief that accompanies the losses we suffer in our lives.

The New Moon in Taurus carries the feeling of calm after the storm, the clear spring day after a rain, when we see new shoots of life springing up, bringing a sudden urge to plant new seeds and nurture new growth. This new moon has abundant and productive energy, offering a fertile ground for personal growth and success. It takes place in the second decan (10 degrees) of Taurus II, a fixed decan within the fixed sign of Taurus that is associated with slow, steady growth through a committed day-in and day-out effort. It has a constant, powerful rhythm and can be seen as the key to success in the material world—Austin Coppock, Class: The Decans in Astrology. The Tarot Card associated with this decan is the 6 of Pentacles, called “Success” in the Thoth deck. Meditating on the card, you can feel the energy expanding outward from the center, the mandala, like a flower bursting forth into the world.

April 23’s Full Moon in Scorpio has a bit of a heavy feel to it. It is in a difficult aspect to the planet Pluto, the god of the underworld, and is ruled by a watery Mars in Pisces conjunct Neptune. It may bring up some big emotions, including feelings of loss or grief. This is not surprising since we are just finishing Eclipse Season, which can bring sudden appearances or disappearances in our lives.

Grief is a feeling most of us want to avoid at all costs. At the same time, anyone who has had a deep cathartic cry after suffering a loss knows the value of grief—understands the treasures to be found in the depths of Scorpio waters—in feeling the depth of one’s connection to someone or something we have lost, we find ourselves mysteriously freed from the greater pain that sometimes comes with holding on to what no longer feeds us. The rains abates, the clouds part, and the rainbow appears.

Scorpio is a receptive, yin, water sign that is ruled by Mars, the god of war. The water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) all call us to wade in our emotions, each at a different depth. Scorpio is the courageous (Mars!) deep-sea diver of the group, exploring the dark depths of the ocean to understand the roots of emotions that overcome the human soul. Scorpio is also a “fixed” sign, meaning it carries a strong, steady, grounded energy that allows it to stick with whatever struggle it may encounter. Symbolically, the energy of Scorpio asks us to grapple with the deep questions of life, to explore endings, deaths, when to hold on, and when the time has come to separate from situations or experiences that once fed us but no longer are in our best interest.

The Moon also relates to our emotional life, expressing that which nurtures us, makes us feel safe and secure, the material embodied part of our existence that carries the history of our emotional experiences over the course of a lifetime. When the Moon is in Scorpio, we often experience a deeper connection to the suffering of the world. It is said the Buddha had the Moon in Scorpio in his birth chart. The First Noble Truth that he articulated was “all life is suffering.”

You can see that anytime the Moon is in Scorpio, we may feel more emotional and also have the stamina and courage to explore difficult topics and feel emotions that may otherwise be experienced as “too much.”

This Full Moon has a couple of aspects that amplify its heavy watery vibe. The planet Pluto, the god of the underworld, is in a square to the Full Moon. Pluto in aspect to the Sun and Moon can bring up issues we have been avoiding, shadow-y material that we may have suppressed or hidden from ourselves. It is also ruled by the planet Mars which is with Neptune in watery Pisces right now. This adds to the flavor that we may be feeling all the feels with this Full Moon. Given Mars’s connection with Neptune in the chart, we may find ourselves confused and unsure about what our next steps are, particularly if we are faced with a big decisions in our personal life. If you find yourself in this spot, you may find that it is easier to make a decision a bit later in the month, when Mars moves into Aries on April 30.