It’s a kind of warm-up, an orientation that precedes the day of the full moon in Capricorn. While full moons often usher in a reflective time, our Capricorn full moon is just as much about moving ahead as it is looking back. Partially this due to the moon’s diligence, her commitment to constant critical review, assessment, and amendment. Of course, nothing is easy, especially not under the stars of Capricorn, and the fact that Mercury in Cancer opposes the moon and makes a square to Chiron in Aries on the same day is no laughing matter. In fact, it may be a crying one. It’s good to remember that crying is a kind of cleansing, too, that it can clear vision and spirit alike and point you towards clarity.
The challenging aspects that Mercury makes are tempered by the trine between Venus in Gemini and Saturn in Aquarius as well as the sextile between Mercury in Cancer and Uranus in Taurus. There’s a resounding message that you don’t have to know everything that’s going on now. You are capable of facing whatever comes next and the only way to prepare for the future is by learning to sharpen your intuition now so that you can trust your judgment later.
Aries Sun & Aries Rising
You know that adage “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen”? It’s a good thing that that adage rarely if ever applies to you — seeing as how you’re usually the one who brings the heat to begin with. This week finds you finally cooking with fire as Jupiter gets comfortable in his forward motion, and you get your bearings in the kitchen. You may find your projects a bit more manageable, the steps a bit more accessible, and all the necessary ingredients more readily available. Don’t let the expectations of others (or the shadow of past failures) dampen your flame. The more you give yourself over to this energy, the more you plug into your own discipline and resourcefulness, the more sure you’ll feel about what you’re capable of cooking up.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Taurus Sun & Taurus Rising
Mars under your stars may have you feeling a little impatient, ready to move into the next phase, whatever that phase may be. Technically, you’re equipped to do so but cosmically you’re better off channelling that energy into self work rather than anything involving collaboration on large projects. With Saturn still retrograde, the build is bound to be slow going and in need of reconfiguration, especially if the builders at hand harbour differing beliefs about success and what it looks like. The full moon in Capricorn on the 13th invites you to return to your own belief systems and consider how they might have changed over the last few years. Comparing yourself to others will only complicate matters. Focus on all the selves you’ve had to be and to leave behind. Do you still harbour the beliefs of an old self within you? Do these beliefs fit the life you’re cultivating now?
ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Gemini Sun & Gemini Rising
It’s likely that you may face a challenge or two this week, Gemini, with your ruling planet making a square to Chiron and opposing the full moon on the 13th. While it’s true that these aspects can create energetic tension and underline a certain disconnect between your heart and your head, they’re not the only influence that counts. As you parse through conflicting emotional realities, it’s important to remember that Venus is in your court and while she remains your guest, there’s room for a bit of ingenuity. Venus makes a trine to Saturn in Aquarius hours before the full moon, reminding you that it’s never too late to strengthen your spiritual practice — especially if that practice allows you to present your most adaptable self to the world. When Venus makes a square to Neptune the following day, you’ll have a better sense of the big picture and what you need to make that picture worth your while.
ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Cancer Sun & Cancer Rising
It’s still Cancer season, sweet one, which means there’s still plenty of time for a crying session or two. This week, it’s important to keep your emotional state in perspective, like the fact that you’re just as likely to cry over something compelling as you are something that feels cruel. The sextile that the Sun makes to Uranus on the 10th only serves to illustrate that point, a helpful influence that may have you connecting with the chaotic state of the world and perhaps seeing your own role in the state of things. These feelings may be echoed on the 12th when the Sun in Cancer makes a similar aspect to the true node in Taurus. Don’t get so distracted trying to decode the feelings of others that you forget all about your own. After all, feelings can be a catalysing force in the right body; they can show us what we have the power to change within us and around us.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Leo Sun & Leo Rising
The Sun’s tenure in Cancer is moody, full of feelings that spring up from a bottomless well, a bucket full to the brim and threatening to spill. This state can have a profound influence on how you move through the world, how you relate to others, and, ultimately, how alone you may feel. It’s important to remember that while some of us may have the pleasure of a trusted confidant or two, feelings are an inherently solitary experience — even if they are spoken aloud, even if they are shared. It’s the privacy of feelings, the primal nature of them, the way they resound in the secret caverns of our body where our oldest memories live, that gives them power. This well, this brimming bucket within you, may feel like it has power over you. But what if you’re the one who lets it spill? What if you’re the one who drinks it all? What have you to fear then?ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Virgo Sun & Virgo Rising
It can be hard to feel secure about what you bring to the table, especially if communications around that table feel murky. While it may seem easier to avoid conflict and try to anticipate the needs of others, it hardly ever works out that way. After all, no matter how much we try to keep to ourselves, people’s unspoken expectations and unchecked assumptions certainly have a way of making themselves known and affecting the outcome of any collective effort. Better, then, to power down your psychic powers. Better to be honest about what works for you and what doesn’t. Better to prepare for the days ahead by simply showing up to the best of your ability and letting that experience inform your understanding of your role and your value.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Libra Sun & Libra Rising
It’s the last week of Venus’s tenure in Gemini so why not make the most of it? Venus in Gemini wants to connect. She believes in the power of ideas and the magic of shared experiences. This would be a great week for a little adventure, for going somewhere you’ve been meaning to go — even if it’s a small eatery that just opened or a band you’ve been meaning to check out. Venus in Gemini values all kinds of shared experiences so your adventure is hardly restricted to the material world. Take a psychedelic trip through a new landscape or exchange beloved books with a friend. What’s important is leaving yourself open and allowing connection to occur. What’s potent here is the place where two ways of thinking meet and a third way is born.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Scorpio Sun & Scorpio Rising
It’s nice to have your ruling planet, Mars, in a sign you understand, even if it’s a sign supposedly opposite your own. While Taurus and Scorpio may shine across from one other, these two signs are in constant conversation. Their relationship is deeply restorative, each holding up the mirror for the other, each protecting the heart of the matter. Mars moving through Taurus may have you making relationship-building moves in your own life, ready and willing to deepen connections by actually showing up and doing the work. Which is not to say that you’ve been idle in the arena. Rather, you’ve been reflective, internal, patient. You’ve been evaluating your approach. This week’s full moon in Capricorn lets you know that you’re ready. Another way of connecting is not only possible, it’s waiting on you. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Sagittarius Sun & Sagittarius Rising
Having goals can be a great motivating force, a reason to aim your arrow. It’s important, however, to make a distinction between having your goals and letting them have you. A goal is a kind of dream, an ambition you nurture and amend as needed. A goal offers you the pleasure of small successes and the right to change your mind or take a rest when necessary. Sagittarius, if you find yourself exhausted, if you find that your mind’s wheel is stuck in a thick mud of indecision, if celebrating the small successes feels unearned, then consider the possibility that you’re no longer serving your goal at all. You’re serving your fear — of getting what you wished for and not wanting it, or of never having stood a chance. Shooting for the stars shouldn’t mean existing on shaky ground. A good aim requires a steady, sure, hand.ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Capricorn Sun & Capricorn Rising
Capricorn knows that a full moon is a powerful thing worthy of respect, no matter how often it reoccurs. And one way to respect an event is to prepare for it. But how do you prepare for a full moon in your sign? What if it illuminates something about you, something that upends your sense of self in the world? What if that full moon opposes the Sun and Mercury in Cancer, making the truth of the matter hard to comprehend and even harder to respond to with assurance? Perhaps the key lies in the trine that the moon makes to both Uranus and the North Node in Taurus and the sextile that Mercury and the Sun make to those same planets. Respecting the moon means trusting that what’s unclear now will become clear with time. Showing up and letting yourself be seen (especially by yourself) is the hardest and most important part.
ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Aquarius Sun & Aquarius Rising
In a world where so much information leads to suffering, where the heart has a reason to break every day, it can be tempting to escape into the unknown — even if the unknown is a place of worry and anxiety — a place where shadows fall on the future you want and make you doubt your own desires. In that place, self laceration can feel useful, a message you inscribe into both the present and the past, a way to control the narrative by being the first one to lash out. Maybe it is, maybe it’s familiar ground you know how to turn over for signs of life. But it’s worth noting that it’s not the only useful tool, and escape is not the only place you’ve got to go. Saturn under your sign reminds you that building a life is a kind of resilience, a kind of resistance. Especially when that life values creativity above capital and pleasure above all else.
ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
Pisces Sun & Pisces Rising
Sometimes you just gotta congregate with your coven under the full moon, man. Sometimes you just gotta cast a spell together and bind the powers that be from doing harm to others and doing harm to themselves in the process. Sometimes, you gotta invite loved ones over for a lovely potluck dinner that turns into direct action planning under the cover of darkness. Sometimes you gotta sow seeds of discord, upend lines of communication, cast a strategically long shadow when the wrong person holds the flashlight. Sometimes, Pisces, you get to be the peaceful dreamer, to transcend beyond humanity’s daily drudgery. And sometimes you are called back to the realm of the living, to fight alongside the people you love, to make love an action and a fighting word. ILLUSTRATION BY BARBARIANFLOWER
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