Last Full Moon of the Old Year...Ringing in the new

 

The 'old' year is coming to an end, and what a year it's been. Heat - lots of it....the hottest year on record, plus the wildfires, certainly made the news. There were also floods, severe storms and earthquakes. Then there were the disasters which were man made, the war in Ukraine, which marked its first year last February, and the attack on Israel in October, followed by the latter's retaliation. Kings were crowned (Charles III) and Rishi Sunak, whilst other kings found themselves in court (DJT of MAGA fame). Covid went from being a pandemic to being endemic (though this issue isn't settled yet). effectively de-throned, whilst the film 'Barbie' was a hit, as was Taylor Swift in the music scene. 

 Tonight, or tomorrow early hours, is the last full moon of 2023. The Moon in Cancer is opposite the Sun in Capricorn at almost 5 degrees. The Moon will be high in the sky, so should be quite visible; exact time of said Full Moon is 01:33. 

Full Moons are a time for relinquishing and letting go of the old, just like our 'old year'. The intentions you set two weeks ago have flourished and now it is time to wind them down as the cycle perpetuates and asks you to prepare for the new cycle. If we compare this cycle to a woman's mensis, it is at the full moon that there is opportunity for manifestation - the fertile couple of days - and then if that opportunity is not taken, everything is released, dissipating in a new cycle at the new moon. The full moon is thus the culmination; take the opportunity or let it go. 

Interestingly, the ancients considered the Cancer/Capricorn axis The Gateway of the Gods/Men. At the Summer Solstice, when the Sun is at the highest declination (in the Northern Hemisphere), they saw the entry of the Sun into the sign of Cancer as 'The Gateway of Men' through which souls entered the portal to Earth as the Sun was at the highest point to heaven. 

Similarly, at the Winter Solstice (22nd December), the Sun is at the lowest declination, and was called 'The Gateway of the Gods', through which souls of the departed ascended to heaven. If we look at the rulers of those two signs, you might get a glimpse into why the ancients considered it to be so important. 

Analemma plotted as seen at noon GMT from the 
Royal Observatory, Greenwich
 (latitude 51.48° north, longitude 0.0015° west).

First of all, the ancient sky watchers tracked the positions of the Sun, Moon and stars with extreme precision. If you had to track the position of the sun's declination on a daily basis when it is at its highest point in the sky (noon) , from the same location, over the period of a year, you'd see something you would instantly recognise - it looks like the figure eight - 8 - in the sky. Look at the image on the left; this was plotted over Greenwhich, but is true for any location. 

So, in essence, the Sun reaching the highest point in the sky touches heaven, and the lowest point in the sky represents man's ability to reach the heavens. Interesting, don't you think? 

It was at this time of the year that the ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a festival dedicated to Saturn, a  Roman version of the Greek Chronos. If Saturn represents everything that is 'bound' or limited, then it is no wonder that in Roman times slaves were served by their masters and were permitted to behave as free mean for the duration of that festival. Turning their fates upside down was one way of asking the gods to ensure slaves were reborn with higher statuses, apparently, 

So what story is the sky offering us lesser mortals? Upon first looking at the chart, a few things become apparent. First and foremost, Mercury is going through a retrograde period meaning that communication could go a little awry. This traditionally involves all sorts of transport and paperwork. 

Another aspect found in this chart is the Venus trine Neptune, a positive aspect even though it might encourage us lesser mortals to see things through rosy coloured spectacles. Having said that, it's a wonderful aspect to see through artistic projects effortlessly. Venus is in the sign opposite to Taurus (which it rules) and therefore 'a guest in someone else's house', a Scorpio house (sex, secrets and scandals) so we have to resist the temptation of letting our imaginations running away with us. 

To this, add the fact that Mercury is retrograde (remember? we said communication going awry...) so this challenging aspect to Neptune is  bound to bring up the issue of 'What is the truth?'. Next to Mercury is Mars, which adds some spark to Mercury. Remember what we said about sex, secrets and scandals? The Mars/Mercury/Neptune cocktail could enhance that! 

Lastly, Pluto, the god of the underworld, is leaving Capricorn on the 22nd January - but there will be time to delve into the meaning of that. 

The real star of the show is the Moon; it is in its own sign  - Cancer - and is also out-of-bounds, meaning that its declination is very high, more than 23 degrees (28 degrees!), and has something of a 'wild card' flavour, enough to make our experience of letting go of the 'old year' something a little more entertaining than we expected. 

The Moon itself represents that which is unknown; just look at the tarot card The Moon which represents  things which are yet to be revealed. It also represents intuition. Use it to discern your truth.
 

I hope you enjoyed reading this. 

Blessings, 

Cindy