This Sagittarius Full Moon opposite the Sun in Gemini serves up temptations, limitations and ways to navigate your yes or no. With a square to Neptune, it’s easy to slip into a feeling of powerlessness or confusion. Especially when it comes to what you want and how to get it. Eris is still in tense aspect with Pluto. This makes it easy to have our eyes locked on the rear view mirror. It’s natural to want to avoid making mistakes that hurt in the past. Be careful of that view, though.
Added to that is a shadow side in this Moon cycle that invites us to confront the human need to control or exhaust our desires. All of this combines to make a volatile brew. Headlines across the United States speak of record violence. Except we are meant to turn our efforts inward, not unleash them unrestricted on the World. There is courage to go beyond our boundaries with where Mars sits right now. With self righteousness in check, we take long strides in new directions that unlock a much bigger world. A world that has much to offer you. It is bigger than the world you inhabited in that backward look.
Now the following quote brings me to the trouble with hindsight. It rests in what we look at and how we interpret what we see. I invite you to see where you fall on the spectrum of either controlling your desires (or those around you) or giving yourself over them with little restraint. Use your rear view mirror to understand what in your past pain came from too much or too little self restraint. Too much gazing backwards takes us in unproductive pathways, so give it boundaries and guidance.
Victor Frankl “Between stimulus and response lies a space. In that space lie our freedom and power to choose a response. In our response lies our growth and our happiness”.
People want to level the playing field where they felt powerless. Or they feel guilty for the excesses that cost them relationships, jobs or stability. Trying to adjust your life now for past wrongs or rights locks us into a cycle that is rarely productive. Much better time is spent exploring where you can apply what you learned to present circumstance. Where might you wisely loosen some restraints to experience more life. Also, time is well spent managing some destructive impulses so they don’t wipe out the good things you’ve built over time in your life.
When there is a healthy integration inside of you from all you’ve lived and learned, then you bring better energy to all you create. This is a Moon cycle is a point of ‘high noon’ here in the Northern Hemisphere. Things that have been in the shadow have no place to hide. Harness the outrage you may feel at the news and use all that energy to do your own upgrade. Where is your own version of what you see playing out in the world. You have absolute command over your internal world, more than you use. This Moon cycle says use it more, use it better, please. The consequences keep getting steeper all the time. The Cards and the Stars will help.
Thank you,
Lisa Greenfield
6/14 Sagittarius full moon queen of swords
This Moon cycle is a crazy mix that may be hard to keep up with the next couple of weeks. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself feeling confident and impatient one moment only to land on halted and confused the next. The cards point to the end of the tribal feminine. But it doesn’t have to be a violent one. In fact I heartily wish the opposite. What’s possible is an integration of the energy through safe and loving acceptance of why it existed.
This tribal energy insists you belong at the price of your authenticity. Except, the quality of any group that locks out innovation and individuality has already written its epitaph. We grow because of some healthy disruption of norms. This is why we have our unique desires. What we’re working on while we’ve been in this global change transit is how to balance individual freedom with group well being. Which is why when we look backwards, we benefit most when we look through that filter.
This Airy Queen of Swords is also the hallmark of a sharp tongue. Watch for shame and blame as weapons of choice to separate you from what you love. Misplaced protection impulses draw blood with cutting words. By all means hold healthy boundaries. The combination of cards and astrology offers an invitation to map out your individuality and still be mindful of how you interact with those around you. By all means be authentic and it’s always a plus to be kind. This Queen’s symbol holds both wisdom and compassion in order to fly free. Best to avoid weaponizing your insight no matter where you plan on using it. Remember objects in the rear view mirror aren’t present HERE AND NOW. Don’t overestimate threats you’ve left behind…
First be kind to yourself. Then be kind to others. This is tricky business for most and we aren’t on solid ground yet. So as this lunation cycle unfolds, don’t overestimate the threats (rear view mirror fog), don’t judge things too quickly. Use information to internally adjust before you react. Then when you do act it is from a brave place that brings more of you into view benefitting from your past, not a prisoner of it. There is less over reacting even when you don’t have all the details yet. When you practice doing this, it allows so much more flexibility without sacrificing firmness. This allows you actions that are sustainable over time.
6/15 the chariot
Take a journey through wounded territory today only to arrive at adulthood by evening. When Mars meets up with Chiron it can be easy to jump to conclusions. You most likely see things through a lens that doesn’t truly fit the situation. ‘Pause’, says the Chariot and victory will be yours. One interpretation for the Chariot with yesterday’s Queen of Swords is successfully uniting the two sides of you.
Before you do or say anything, bring together your heart and your head, your actions and intentions. The Capricorn Moon squares Mars and Chiron which can mean a punishing perfection picture you can’t reach, yet. The key word there is yet. By all means, raise your standards in healthy ways. Ask for more of yourself and you are likely to get it. But how you ask matters. Be kind…begin and end with being kind. Then you really do have something to celebrate.
6/16 ten of wands
There’s a road of self discovery to walk today. Ten’s take us up to the next level. This ten highlights Spiritual development, which comes in handy when our fears meet up with Eris, the Goddess of Discord. The best expression of the aspect is to use chaos or uncertainty to create something new. The shadow side is justifying bad behavior because you were once wounded. If you aren’t sure about what you feel, remember the pause button. Give things time to reveal more information for you. In the mean time, let the meanings you start assigning to things reveal to you where you can integrate a stronger, wiser you into the picture.
6/17 two of wands
The Moon squares off with Uranus today which can bring change, even if you didn’t ask for it. The two of wands is shared ideas that spark off each other. The challenge is you need to make room for the new and release some of the old to do it. It can feel dislocating to have new input crash into our worlds. You can waste energy wishing it wasn’t there, imagining how to avoid such things ever happening again.
But then you still haven’t done anything with what is in front of you except battle it. What if you used Aikido principles and worked with the energy of what heads your way to redirect or shape it? Try that today. Have some fun with it and remember firm, flexible boundaries are all you have to do to stay in a creative center. Find your authentic yes and no. It’s that simple. Revisit your edges as needed and know you are in command of your responses, so you can relax a little and enjoy what the unknown can offer as you wish.
6/18 King of pentacles
There is some heavy lifting today and this brawny King shows up to do it. What is your side of the relationship equation, do your values meet up and what can you do when it feels unequal? Told you there is work to be done, right. The pentacles are the slowest of the four elements, so this is nothing that is accomplished in one fell swoop. Rather it is about building good groundwork between you and others. What is the structure for communicating what you feel and need. It may require a repair or upgrade about now.
Venus squares Saturn so desires delayed may not be desires denied. It simply means you have to put in the effort to reap the reward. Then comes the sifting process. What efforts feel like the right contribution and how fairly are they distributed? Again, these are questions that may have different answers at different times. So put a good structure in place to revisit them now and again. It helps keep the foundation strong. Which of course strengthens the connections you have. The Moon moves into Pisces by evening to help us swim with the current better. Just watch out for self pity. Repurpose it to check in on what you need and how to ask for it in a way that gets heard.
6/19 ten of swords
The aspects today are largely supportive except a tense Sun/Pluto meet up. With this hard reality check ten, you may be looking at an ego death of some sort. Keep in mind, the ego is a false strength that shores us up while we amass real strength and trust in ourselves. So there is nothing that you give up today that you don’t get back in better form. It can also highlight the end of an era. Once you make big changes, there can be no going back to the way it was before.
Only fear would convince you that you’ve lost out on the bargain. It always has us contracting. It looks back and forgets that you are not the same person you were back then. Keep a feeling of gratitude and wonder at what you created. Know that if you created it once, you can do it again even more so. After all, you’ve had practice in doing so. By all means, if something ends, even if it is a mindset, give it a ritual. This is why we have funerals. They help us process our loss. So whatever helps you say goodbye and frees you up to move forward, do that. It is creativity and that is always powerful.
6/20 ace of pentacles
Aces always herald a new start. After the ending of yesterday, what better symbol to give you faith that step by step you can create something new that suits who you are now. There is a lot of help from the heavens today to give you faith in what you wish for and desire. One choice at a time you open up to a world of possibilities to find the ones that fit you best. There is a buoyancy floating around and you can hitch a ride.
We get a reality check this evening as the Moon squares the Sun. Fear always guards expansion. The greater the fear, the more power you have to expand. So use the fear chatter to help navigate where you need to take solid actions that feel aligned with you. What you fear most can be a big red neon sign as to your super power. Now you don’t want to cause a fear hangover, so when you locate your power source, move slowly. This Ace reminds us that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. (PS, no elephants were harmed in writing this column)
6/21 the tower (Solstice)
It’s funny that the solstice is marked with a card that indicates the status quo gets blown up for good. Since the Ten of Swords already made an appearance, I would safely say there is no going back from here. Even when Dorothy went back to Kansas from Oz, she was profoundly changed. It’s safe to say, you are as well. In fact today is a good day to spend a little time reflecting on how much you’ve changed even in the last six months. Or perhaps you recognize changes that took years to build up but revealed themselves recently.
As the Sun moves into Cancer, it’s a good move to take an internal survey on what requires a kiss to heal. There have been bumps and bruises that are part of life. Still, it’s good to make a habit of being gentle with yourself before you move bravely forward on your ever expanding life. Even welcome change is a shock to the system. So give yourself some comfort, savor how far you’ve come and balance the shock at knowing you can’t crawl back into the egg. The New World is upon you.
6/22 the queen of pentacles
Just as the King showed up a couple days ago to help with the heavy lifting, the Queen shows up now to remind you that you can attract all you need. The aspects help stimulate fresh ideas, new insights and fun connections that lead in unfamiliar directions. Explore slowly, remember pentacles are the slowest moving suit. So try on these new ideas, new conversations. See how well they fit. Break them in like shoes. The reminder with all of this is to pay attention to what feels good and what doesn’t. When it doesn’t fit, noodle around with any adjustments possible before you jettison the path or project. Mostly, enjoy abundant creativity, why don’t you?
6/23 two of swords
Well after the expansive flow of yesterday, of course the mind steps lightly on the brakes. Things do need tweaking here and there. The Sun is in a slightly tense dance with Uranus, the Great Awakener. So even the challenges offer you a chance to discover something new you can do and didn’t realize until now. Manage the inner critic. Always good to notice where your brain is trying to squeeze you down into smaller space. Those are exactly the places that are under expansion or even demolition. Patience with your fear is kind. Manage it and then it can’t control you. Good thing to have practice on, right?
6/24 nine of pentacles
The question today is how to be authentically you and integrate it wisely into the world around you. There will be obstacles. You may find yourself wanting to lash out at what stands in your way. My colleague Kim Gould says it this way. “ If our Mars capacity for acting on our curiosity and desire is wounded, we may find it difficult to know what we want.” So when you feel blocked you implode or explode. Tend to your interpretations of what is happening. Your power starts there. When you see it with fresh eyes and act on it from less woundedness and more curiosity, things can bloom. This Nine of Pentacles often shows a garden in full bloom. Tend your thoughts and actions, stay present and watch can grow in time.
6/25 high priestess
The celestial parade today offers insight, wisdom and a chance to integrate what’s happened the last couple weeks ahead of the New Moon. This High Priestess accesses deep knowing that can anchor a sense of direction when we tune in to subtle body cues. Our bodies tend to tense up when we want or need to apply the brakes. The body relaxes when we are ready for next steps.
Be careful second guessing yourself when your actions don’t immediately get the results you want. You didn’t get it wrong to take the step. You just don’t have all the information on what’s unfolding. Don’t panic if unpleasant truth’s pop up. Be patient. Do nothing immediate, feel your way forward and see where it takes you. Trust your body cues and learn how to deepen the dialogue with it so you fine tune your inner knowing. That way you absorb new information in a way that leaves you empowered to do the most with it.
6/26 The devil
One of the meanings for this card is overwork and exhaustion. As we wrap up a pretty intense Lunar cycle and enjoy a light schedule of planetary parade today, rest. Please rest. Do something that feels soothing. Muscle memory activities are good if you can’t sit still. Something like gardening or a sport you know well. This way your body can burn energy while your mind goes on auto pilot. Task your mind if you must, ask it to see what stories still underestimate you and overestimate threats. Once you’ve done that, relax as best you can. You’ve done more than you may realize and you deserve a break today.
6/27 the world
We started with the Queen of Swords and end with the world. How much opens up for us when we manage the raging feminine that wants to punish for past wrongs. Even if you don’t have a strong theme of that running in your life, you live in a world where it’s active. Everywhere you look you see tribes carving out territory with regimented beliefs. Your security depends on group think. Except that isn’t true…especially not now.
The aspects today help us create a world where it is safe space to heal our wounds and act on it in a way that anchors that reality. Because it comes from inside of you. You truly can leave the past struggles there and carry forward the wisdom and strength. When you accept all the moods and sharp bits of you, honor the pain without letting it take the wheel, you are the adult in the room. The adult is one who relies on love not power. Love is like water on a rock. It will eventually wear the biggest boulder down into sand.
Check in on the healthy balance of power in your internal world. Are you lovingly applying boundaries? Remember you want firm yet flexible edges. That means a day by day check in on what you are a yes for and what you are a no or not yet for. One decision at a time you expand safely into a world you influence much more than you ever have. And you get to enjoy even the challenges as being a place to get creative and shape them. The world behind you didn’t include all this personal power. Your work is to embrace what you have now and play with it. Enjoy…
