Welcome to the Sagittarius Full Moon, also a lunar eclipse. This is the time in the lunar calendar when the spotlight is on themes of faith and meaning, truth and belief. It’s a full moon to focus on philosophy and education, as well as the lens in which we see the world and others. The full moon is exact on June 5, 2020 at 3:13 pm EDT, 15 degrees Sagittarius and Gemini. That’s 12:13 pm Los Angeles, 8:15 pm London, 5:13 pm Sydney, and 7:13 pm Auckland.
Full moon sign a light on something. There’s a sense of urgency and demand. We need to take action or make a decision. A lunar eclipse amps this up to a much higher degree.
If life feels loud right now on a personal and collective level, then it’s no coincidence that we’re in eclipse season. The plot tends to thicken and events feel overly important, weighted, or even fated.
This lunar eclipse in Sagittarius marks the first in a series of eclipses that will play out until December 2021 and so it’s possible that events seeded right now do not come to a resolution for another year and half. It’s as if we’re at the beginning of a story; we don’t quite know where things are going.
But we can get a sense of the road ahead in three ways. One, we examine the archetype of Sagittarius in all its many shades and variations. Two, we look to see where the planets are pointing at the time of the eclipse. And, three, we look back to 2011-2013 and 2001-2003, the last times that the eclipses were in Sagittarius.
Ruled by the planet Jupiter, Sagittarius gives us the motivation and the faith to explore our world. This could be literal travel — travel abroad, travel beyond what’s familiar. Sagittarius is also the curiosity to ponder life and to look at things from an existential lens. Is there a god? Am I just a series of atoms moving haphazardly in space? Or does it all connect and mean something?
Lately my spirit guides have been getting cosmic with me, showing me that everything that was ever created in the universe was created 13.8 billion years ago at the moment of the Big Bang. That our tissue, bones, and sinew had their origins billions of years ago.
Sagittarius can, of course, lift our vision up to the heavens, but this eclipse reminds us of the pain and suffering that exists here on planet Earth. With Jupiter, the ruler of the eclipse, in Capricorn, a lot of this eclipse journey focuses on real life and on manifestation. Capricorn is the rules and structures of our world. It’s government, authority, and power. But with Pluto in the same place in the sky as Jupiter, something has to powerfully and irrevocably change — both within and outside of us.
The eclipse also makes an exact square to Mars in Pisces. Neptune in Pisces is not too far away, revealing that this process is deeply emotional. It’s anguish. It’s grief. Neptune can pour out of us like a flood. And as I initially sat down to write this, a leak sprung from the apartment above me, water pouring like small streams through the cabinets of the kitchen and into the bathroom.
When we’re about to make a big leap in life, things shake. They break. They also flood.
But in order to move forward, we have to face with what was there all along. With Mercury in Cancer squaring Chiron in Aries, we have to reconcile with our past as well as our abuses and traumas. We also have to reconcile our faith. Do we have it? Or have we placed it in the wrong things? Is it possible to still have faith in these times?
Despite all this, there’s hope. Over the coming days, as Mars and Neptune join on June 13, we have the opportunity to heal or at least release something. Neptune speaks to compassion, forgiveness, and redemption and peace. But it is not an easy road to get there.
Let it flood.
PS — Tomorrow is the last day to register for Braiding the Spiral, six Sunday’s of eclipse season alchemy hosted by myself and astrologers Christina Caudill and Virginia Rosenberg. The virtual eclipse circle starts June 7 and wraps July 12. Hope to see you there! More info at braidingthespiral.com.