We Are the Makers of Meaning

Full moon at 20° of Sagittarius

ABOLISH ICE, LIFT UP THE GUARDIANS OF PEACE AND LOVE

First—sending protection, blessings, love, and power to everyone protesting right now and this coming weekend. And especially sending care and solidarity to the people of Los Angeles. You started the year battling a raging fire, and you are now a front line for Trump’s escalation of state violence. We care about you so much. Let’s all be a refuge for each other, for as long as we can, in any way we can.

AND NOW ABOUT THIS FULL MOON…

On Wednesday, June 11th, in the dark first hour — 12:43am PT — the moon peaks in fullness at 20° of Sagittarius, the holy archer. Sagittarius is mutable, transformational fire. In the northern hemisphere, it guides the Sun towards its nadir—the Winter Solstice—the darkest, longest night. And in doing so, it helps to ready and plant the seed of the light’s regrowth. When its full moon arrives, we are always in the final month of spring, nearing the Summer Solstice—the peak of the light. And so the Sagittarius moon in its entire cycle is very much about enlightenment: what conditions create it, what going through hardship and struggle and darkness has to do with it, and how to participate in spreading it once it arrives. Archetypally, Sagittarius is the master spiritual teacher, the priestess, the philosopher poet, the star-drunk centaur. It’s the bearded wise man or wizened witchy woman in every story that gives the young adventurer some crucial piece of advice, or hands them a strange amulet or mysterious potion that they will need when the difficulty and danger peaks. It’s also, paradoxically, the part of us on that hard, dangerous path of becoming that wise person; the part of of us brave enough or foolish enough to enter into the dark cave, in the middle of the dark forest, in pursuit of something we believe in. How else will we learn how to hold onto the light, than by going to the places where the light is weak or gone, and then remembering it, and conjuring its spirit? Sagittarius teaches us, slowly but surely, how to remember our power. How to get back up when we are knocked down. How to stand in the strength of our highest ideals and all we have learned. How to make meaning from our suffering, not because everything has intrinsic meaning, but because we are, essentially, meaning makers. We have power over our own souls in that way, or, that power is our soul. Through Sagittarius, we learn to heal our own spirits; cultivate sturdier, more mature philosophies; and become the real deal Holyfield’s we are here to become, capable of feeding the fire of Faith itself so that we will be able to access it even when—or especially when—all seems lost.

Full moons in general are times when our emotional and psychological perspective widens and peaks. We can never see and feel everything, our perspective is always partial; even on a full moon, half of the moon is still hidden from view. But on full moons we see more than at any other time in the lunar cycle. As the Sun casts its light on an exactly opposing Moon, it connects the solar and lunar aspects of our consciousness. It also connects the conscious psyche with its shadow side in the unconscious or subconscious, and the energies of the opposing signs that the Sun and Moon are in. This “connecting” of oppositional parts can feel tense and intense, but we are getting challenged to unify and integrate these opposites, to further our individuation, and to experience greater wholeness.

On this full moon in Sagittarius, the special invitation is to notice and tolerate any the tension between the needs of our Gemini and Sagittarius sides. You can imagine Gemini is the part of you that needs to stay in beginner’s mind and in communication. It also needs to feel full of wonder and fluidly in process, forever enjoying the shapeshifting of the mind, forever learning and gathering new information and new ideas. It doesn’t love the pressure of having to commit, or make final decisions, or even draw conclusions. The Sun is in Gemini right now, and so those tendencies have been fertile and in their time of renewal. Sagittarius is the part that needs us to take up a more serious spiritual quest; to grow up and grow wise; to do our own spiritual heavy-lifting and expand the boundaries of our consciousness; to synthesize experiences and make our own meaning, drawing big worthy conclusions about the Universe and Life and what’s True. We need both of these archetypal impulses to thrive; together they contain two of the keys to our continual renewal. Many people see the Gemini/Sagittarius access as the place where we balance the left and right sides of the brain, intellect with intuition.

On the full moon and in the days that follow, we get some easier access to the spiritual heavyweight, big-picture-seeing, Sagittarius part of us. We get to pause at the top of the mountain of spring, in the peaking of the literal light, and see where we have been and what we have learned. We then get to consider what that means about where we need to go. What epiphanies have you had in the last six months that you feel ready to act on more seriously? What quest can you now see you are on, and what are the immediate obstacles to furthering that quest? The Sagittarius full moon helps to prepare us every year for the season of summer, whose psychological, alchemical task is integration—the work of wholeness and bearing fruit. This one is coming just as many of us have been feeling totally overwhelmed by the collective situation, and all the loss and grief and insanity going on in the last few turns of the spiral. It could not be a better time for some perspective, some reinforcements, and some refreshment of our spiritual state. And while all full moons in fire signs have a more celebratory vibe, this one really really does.

This is not to say that all is well—conditions of hardship and strife remain, and if anything, the situation is heating up and escalating. But the Sagittarius moon is bringing an undeniable enthusiasm to the fight. That’s in part because Sagittarius’ ruler is Jupiter—the expansive planet of faith and optimism and generosity and resources-raining-down-on-us-from-the-sky. And Jupiter just made a big and long-awaited move from the sign of its detriment, Gemini, into Cancer, the place of its exaltation. For Jupiter, the mother ocean waters of Cancer are the perfect place to clear and cleanse itself, to get back to spreading its hopeful rumors, and growing its pearls of wisdom. After a challenging year for Jupiter, of trying to keep the ember of hope alive while everything seemed to want to extinguish it, maybe we can just let it and us enjoy this breakthrough for a moment. Jupiter in Cancer wants to get naked at the protest. It wants to find a cool fountain to dance in. It wants to stretch its lovingkindness all the way out and exercise this freedom. It’s also exaggerating and uplifting Cancer’s protective instincts—it’s not here for this uncalled-for state aggression, for any violating of the sanctity of our bodies and homes and communities. We get this support for the whole next year, hallelujah!

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so we are getting the signal boost of some mutual reception. Mercury has also entered Cancer. It arrived last week, so it’s there too, opening the lines of communication and magic for Jupiter to grant our right requests. Mars is at 26° Leo, in a joyful fire-sign trine, lending the Moon some of its creative energy. And the last condition worth noting is the very close square the Moon is making with the lunar nodes—at 23° of Virgo and Pisces respectively. That’s infusing this full moon with real power and fate-like consequences.

Consider these ideal conditions for truth-seeing and truth-telling, opening up the creative voice and the voice of our passionate ideals, transforming the culture, and generally breaking free from obstacles that have been holding you/us back. If you’re feeling this full moon at all personally, wonderful. It’s a little like the prequel to the big finish and release-into-expansion of Summer Solstice. Throw a small party in your heart for it at the very least. And if you want to go further, safely tend to some fire ritualing. Burn some representations of your stuck mental defenses or stubborn inner blocks. Just be mindful that you are not trying to cut off or release something essential, if shadowy; some part of you that’s really asking for safety and acceptance, understanding and respect—love. Individuation is not about perfection. Wholeness is not about perfection. You don’t need to become a “better” version of you. You don’t need to get out of your own way. You are the way. All of you is the way. The path of Wisdom is always about admitting ever-more of ourselves, and ever-more of others, and ever-more of the many truths that can be true at the same time. We don’t unite opposites by erasing their differences; we do it by holding a third perspective that contains both. Sing a song to this full moon, and activate your connection with the part of you that knows exactly what to do.

Summer Moon School

Have you ever wanted to study astrology with me? Like, more than you do by reading these posts about the current phases and energies of the Moon? This summer, I am rolling out a series of Moon School posts for all paid subscribers that will get into the building blocks of birth charts and planetary transits and how to read and understand it all through the lens of individuation—Jung’s word for the spiraling growth and development process we all go through on our way to becoming whole and realizing our personal and collective destiny. I know many of you already have a strong and holy grasp on this system of symbols—some of you are powerful witches and astrologers in your own right, and could teach me many things. My highest hopes are just to enrich this community and our future conversations here about the transits with more shared foundations and meanings, and extend a hand to anyone who hasn’t yet taken a deep dive into chart-reading. We are living in a time of big, generation-defining transformation, looking for guidance from Wisdom herself. Our birth charts are like access points to a set of original instructions inside of us for our growth, and what those instructions might be up to now. They also just give us a practical, systemic way of working with archetypal energies and teachers. I love it, and since you’re here I’m guessing you do too! In addition to receiving some extra posts in your inbox, which you can easily ignore, read, and engage with at your own pace, I will be hosting three monthly live Zoom gatherings where you can bring your charts, questions, and personal insights. Those will take place on Thursday evenings at 6pm PST in the weeks following full moons—so Thursday, July 17th, Thursday, August 14th, and Thursday, September 18th (that last one will be following a lunar eclipse in Pisces, and right before the Autumnal equinox, so it might end up as more like a big process group for our feelings? We will see!) I'll send a proper email out about all this soon—I just wanted to get it off my chest now, on this full moon, and commit to seeing this journey more fully through with you all. More soon!

Ritual & Writing Prompts

And now the extra content and love for the paid subscribers—below the paywall you will find first, a collection of links to the archive of writings on Sagittarius lunations in In the River of What’s Happening Now; second, some journaling and ritual prompts for working with the obstacle-removing energies of this full moon; and third, a creative writing prompt brought to you by this astrology.