A Full Moon of Consternation, Reflection, and Activism

Thursday morning’s Cancer Full Moon is another one of these very active configurations, indicating the depth of polarity and passion in the current political scene and the degree of structural transformation that looms on the horizon, operating at both collective and individual levels. That is because, as Uranus and Pluto draw still nearer to their iconic square alignment, the separation shrinking to much less than four degrees, Uranus remains in close conjunction to the new planet, Eris, discovered and named only a decade ago, and already proving to be a highly influential factor in the analysis of these astrological patternings. The Eris archetype is powerfully triggered by a Grand Cross in cardinal signs, all at the same degree, of Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Eris. Saturn, too, is found at the 22-degree mark of Sagittarius, in partile or same-degree trine with Eris, while Mars conjoins Chiron at the 21-degree mark of Pisces, in exact semi-sextile to the Uranus/ Eris midpoint. This is indeed a potent stew of precise alignments, indicating that, as these last few years of our transformational decade get underway, leading up to 2020, we are dealing with massive change and also with the accompanying unprecedented opportunity to stand up and be counted to whatever extent we can be clear regarding our most sincere values. This is as we can truly know our own deeper purpose amidst the tricky and deceptive waters of this highly politicized era.

With Mercury now direct, yet still in the recovery mode represented by the post-retrograde shadow period, this is a deeply meditative time, and a time as well of unusual and even quirky events that continue to unfold. Uranus, featured in this Full Moon, in and of itself, represents strange days, the Trickster Archetype, and, in the big-picture viewpoint, awakening to higher reality. And Uranus has been highly activated over the entire last six months or more, since his conjunction cycle with Eris became so very close beginning with exactitude in the late spring and summer. We have seen many examples of surprising turns of events since that time, over a 2016 presidential campaign that has been as unconventional as any in America’s history, standing the accepted rules of engagement on their head.

With the aftermath of this past year comes a time of accommodation, now, to the new realities of world political scene that has begun in the U.S. by discarding the semi-liberal policies of the prior administration. There is both the radical right reactionary movement of the newly elected Republican government and the liberal/populist resistance of the remaining “99 percent” to further domination by the corporate elite that constitute the Republican’s staunchest backers. The future is, in the main, largely unknown, so that the opportunity arises to take and fight for that stand – either with or opposing the new regime – that feels closest to your own most cherished values.

And this reflects the very intense current emphasis, in this mid-January timing, on Eris, the new planet beyond Pluto that represents a spiritual warrior energy in support of profound soul-level intention. Because going against the established grain, this fierceness can be disruptive, but the energy Eris symbolizes is, in its highest sense, profoundly creative, an enabler of a strong and necessary stand against oppression, or a bringer of new ideas. A good example is the life of Albert Einstein, who, in 1905, the one year when transiting Eris most directly conjoined his Sun in Pisces, with several exact hits, assailed the tenets of the then-prevailing Newtonian physics with four major papers that overturned that pre-existing understanding, including the equivalence of mass and energy, and the relativity theory. This came to be known as his annus mirabilis, his “miracle year.”

The Sabian Symbols for this Full Moon, are, as usual, quite enlightening. They are, for the Sun, in the 23rd degree of Capricorn, “Two awards for bravery in war,” which ably reflects the divisive nature of these fractious and polarized times. Marc Edmund Jones references human resourcefulness, and the “genius for dramatizing the fruits of an everyday aliveness and … broadened self-expenditure.” He goes on to state “The continual effort of an idealistic leadership to hold social and political gains demands an exaltation of personal vision and character.” We see that need very clearly in these days of trial. For the Moon, in the same degree of Cancer, we find “The meeting of a literary society,” which Jones references as a symbol of “resourcefulness in developing new areas of experience on the imaginative side [fostering] broader ideals and more rewarding goals in everyday living.” This certainly makes a distinct chime with the Jupiter-Uranus alignment that accompanies this particular Full Moon. Indeed, it will take all our brilliance of mind and strength of will in support of humanistic ideals to make the necessary course corrections that our individual lives, and our society at large, demand of us.