The Moon will occupy Cancer, the sign it rules, when it is precisely full at 5:21 am EST tomorrow. Since every calendar year concludes with the Sun in Capricorn, it feels right that the final Full Moon of any given calendar year would occur in the opposing sign. For 2012, it will work out that way, even though it is not always the case. In fact, both the timing and placement of tomorrow’s Cancer Full Moon will be appropriate not just to the end of a year, but also to the astrology the year has brought.
Like every year, the astrology of 2012 was one thing after another. Unlike many other years, some of those things will not repeat again until the next century. Foremost among those events was Venus’ transit of the Sun.
On June 5 (or June 6, depending on your time zone) Venus passed visibly over the face of the Gemini Sun as seen from Earth. It will not happen again until the 22nd Century. That extraordinary occurrence distinguished you, the year, everybody, and everything concurrent with the event. The astrology of tomorrow’s Cancer Full Moon will recall the circumstances surrounding the Venus transit in several ways.
Tomorrow, the Sun will occupy the same degree of Capricorn the Moon held when Venus eclipsed the Sun’s countenance. That means the Moon will oppose its placement during the rarest of solar transits. In other words, the Cancer Full Moon of 2012 will be reflecting more than just the Sun’s present light. Luna will be reflecting back onto a day when the cosmic clockwork symbolically selected this year and its contemporaries as one among many, and it will not be alone in that aspect to the past.
When the Cancer Moon opposes the Capricorn Sun, Venus will have come precisely halfway around the zodiac from its Gemini solar transit. You read that right, from mid-Sagittarius tomorrow Venus will oppose its June 5 position to the degree. When you consider that Venus is moving through the zodiac faster than the Sun, the timing defies any claim to coincidence. Hence, both symbolically, and probably in some very real way, tomorrow’s Full Moon will manifest as the first full-frontal perspective of what was wrought scarcely two weeks before the Cancer Solstice.
Now that we are scarcely past the Capricorn solstice, the Sun is very close to a conjunction with Pluto. That puts the time and place of the Cancer Full Moon in alignment with what Eric referred to as “The defining aspect of our era in history.” That defining aspect is Pluto’s years-long, continuous cardinal square from Uranus in Aries.
To put it another way, the Cancer Full Moon of 2012 will be more than just an early Auld Lang Syne. It will function to make THE square a T-square. The functional T-square will, in turn, symbolize a pivot into the next couple years, when the Uranus-Pluto square will repeat to the degree five more times, never out of orb in between.
Thus, tomorrow’s opposition of the luminaries will represent one in a series of turning points for long-term trends and processes. It will be a transition that you may very well experience in practical and concrete (albeit unanticipated) forms. If the position of Mercury tomorrow is any clue, the tangible experiences concurrent with your Full Moon will provide a fringe benefit: a conceptual focus on a bigger picture not yet resolved.
When the Moon wheels around to oppose the Sun for the last time in 2012, Mercury will be within a day of its annual conjunction with the core of our galaxy on the back porch of Sagittarius. All through the astrology of this year, the Galactic Center has been a participant of interest. It was implicated but never as convincingly connected to events as objects in the solar system have repeatedly proven to be. Just as a Cancer Full Moon feels right for the end of the year, some closure on the widely intuited galactic connection would be equally as comforting.
When Mercury, serving as the emblem of your mind and its means of communication, conjoins the Galactic Core on Saturday, then moves on to join the conscious Sun in Capricorn on the last day of 2012, be aware of your own thoughts and step up to a new faith in them. For just as the Sun, Moon, Venus and Mercury will together demonstrate an uncanny proficiency for being in an auspicious place at an appropriate time tomorrow, so, arguably, will you.
All you will need to do is pay attention and do a little fearless, enthusiastic arithmetic over the next few days. If you can manage that, you will never forget what you have seen, and prepare yourself to see some things you will never forget.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
to partemaudite: yes. As I stood as the “taxi” arrived to take away my beloved’s soul from me and I stood weeping next to his still warm body, he said to me (Smiling, with that tone he would get teasing me and being realistic), “You’re crying for yourself.” “You better believe I am,” I sent back “You are leaving me”. To bear the unbearable seems to be a calling for most, and most do not get an owl’s wing for warning and support. Thank you for your shares, all, and may the New year (which for me really starts in March at he equinox) bring much support as we continue to communicate and learn from one another and reach out. Oh, btw, he did not “leave” in the absolute sense I was to find out, but the remembrance of the warm body that I miss ……I am now grateful for. Heart love to all.
The thing about death in general and owls in particular is that they both overwhelm the usual registers of perception. Obviously for the deceas/ing, but also for those who stand witness. Thus, Patty, the feeling of dread (evil) that you remark. My first teacher (a Cherokee elder) gave me an owl’s wing when I was 15, saying it would help me bear the unbearable. Every death I’ve attended, even the most peaceful, had this moment when the taxi to the underworld arrives and it is always fierce. No way around it.
And thank you for the bit about eared (wise) and ‘earless’ (mortal). I wonder if this isn’t read as horned and hornless? Horned might put Owl in the ranks of Cernunnos/Dagba and while not friendly to humanity (at this point), these Lords are not evil per se.
This Full moon has been very informative, in no small part due to the markers set for by Len’s prescient reading. Yesterday my lover’s dead parents weighed in, guiding me around an unfamiliar city and setting the stage for a revelation of no small importance. Today I have new information and a pretty good idea of what to do with it.
Gotta love the grateful and dead. And Mothering moons.
That’s beautiful Burning River. Thanks for sharing it. It is probably Man’s fear of death – the unknown, that gives rise to myths about the evil connotations of various symbols. The symbolism regarding Lilith for example included blaming her for miscarriages. In societies where you would hear these stories starting in early childhood it would be impossible to think or feel otherwise, unless you were to move to another society where they would have conflicting mythology. I like the idea that the owl’s hoot is a loving call. . . even if it is to one’s own death.
be
I read a book a while ago:I HEARD THE OWL CALL MY NAME.. It is a novel depicting a native American community interacting with a young priest. It also depicts the softness of love when the owl calls one’s name bringing death, but not as only dark, nor evil, but part of life, and when in loving community, also loving call. I do not believe any creature is only and always of ill portent. Not even Man.
Thanks to all for an interesting discussion.
The final Full Moon of 2012 is a precise exclamation point, amplified by its conjunction with the transneptunian (TNP, Uranian or hypothetical) point Kronos:
28 December 2012
10:21:10 UT – Sun (7 cp 5’39”) opposite Moon (7 cn 5’39”)
10:22:55 UT – Moon (7 cn 6’31”) conjunct Kronos (7 cn 6’31” Rx)
10:41:45 UT – Sun (7 cp 6’31”) opposite Kronos (7 cn 6’31” Rx)
14:34:12 UT – Moon (9 cn 12’6″) opposite Pluto (9 cp 12’6″)
The exquisite timing and potent placement of Kronos, described by Eric as “a super-Saturn” and apparently moving backwards in Cancer, highlights the intensive process of emotional and political maturity required to fully engage the emergent energies of our Pluto-Uranus square era. Kronos urges us to recognize how much we’ve ripened since the Venus transit of the Sun, claim our inner authority, embrace the fact that indeed we are the ones we’ve been waiting for and act accordingly.
P. Sophia,
It’s not just you who finds that the “other ways” to recognizing the truth take more practice (and time) to understand. What can be more shocking than unexpected death where just moments before there was vibrant life? That is the nature of any Uranian method to break through to greater consciousness. Nobody ever accuses Uranus (the symbol) of sensitivity or subtlety. In the case of the timing of the Sandy Hook tragedy, transiting Uranus had stationed direct just one day before and was extremely potent. When transiting Mercury trined Uranus that potency overwhelmed the “normal” thought processes. Uranus events can be expedient or stimulating in and of themselves but it is the symbol(s) they contact in astrology that translate that higher octave (octane?) energy into the conscious field of what we mortals call normal. It was Mercury who was first in line to translate it that day, but it was Chiron in Pisces who was square Mercury and translated the thought into feeling that day. Beyond that, it was Saturn in Scorpio trine Chiron who dealt with it. Saturn would go on to quincunx Jupiter in Gemini who would put the facts together in order to learn the scope of the tragedy. A week later Jupiter would quincunx Pluto bringing recognition of the agonizing truth, and when Saturn completed the yod formation with them a few days later, Jupiter was our source of coping with the understanding of the truth of our loss.
That yod is still in service even in to today’s (Friday’s) full moon which squares Uranus and opposes the Sun conjunct Pluto. We are challenged, we are crushed and we are angry. But through the “open leg” of the t-square in Libra we are able to regain a balance between our thoughts and our emotions. Venus, the ruler of Libra is in the degree opposite where she was when she penetrated the heart of the Sun last June, and like a full moon she reflects upon herself. Len has noted that the Sun (consciousness) is where the Moon (unconscious feeling) was on that day in June, shedding the light of understanding on to what is unfathomable. Slowly we will come to realize that this has been part of “the defining aspect of our era in history”.
As it takes all of the astrological symbols to tell a whole story, it takes all of us together to be whole. Without compassion we won’t survive. As Mars in Aquarius sextiles the midpoint between Pallas-Athene and Uranus (the Aries Point), it forms a yod with Transpluto. Astrologer Robert Wilkinson believes that Transpluto is the symbol for the mate of Pluto, or Persephone, and thinks it symbolizes our century and he calls it the Divine Mother force. Now Mercury has moved forward and prepares to conjunct the Galactic Center, another symbol of divine force. I dare say, we are not alone in this struggle to comprehend greater meaning in our lives. The Universe has provided us with support in many ways, but we must come together to make it happen; this thing we call evolution.
be
Thank you Len for this nice sharing, I wish you happy holidays end of year very soon for the new year 😉
Correction: …having the symbol of the Warrior Queen on the North Node.
Carrie, Maybe –
From Wikipedia
“In ancient Greece, owls were often seen as a symbol of good fortune. The idea of the ‘wise old owl’ may have come into being from the association of the Little Owl with the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athene.” Pallas Athene also has very negative attributes as all of us are well aware. But, how perfect is that, having the Warrior Queen on our North Node?
“T. F. Thiselton-Dyer in his Folk-lore of Shakespeare says that “from the earliest period it has been considered a bird of ill-omen, and Pliny tells us how, on one occasion, even Rome itself underwent a lustration, because one of them strayed into the Capitol. He represents it also as a funereal bird, a monster of the night, the very abomination of human kind. Virgil describes its death-howl from the top of the temple by night, a circumstance introduced as a precursor of Dido’s death. Ovid, too, constantly speaks of this bird’s presence as an evil omen; and indeed the same notions respecting it may be found among the writings of most of the ancient poets.” [41] A list of “omens drear” in John Keats’ Hyperion includes the “gloom-bird’s hated screech.”[42]
In the culture of the Uto-Aztec tribe, the Hopi, taboos surround owls, which are associated with sorcery and other evils. The Aztecs and Maya, along with other Natives of Mesoamerica, considered the owl a symbol of death and destruction. In fact, the Aztec god of death, Mictlantecuhtli, was often depicted with owls. There is an old saying in Mexico that is still in use[32]: Cuando el tecolote canta, el indio muere (“When the owl cries/sings, the Indian dies”). The Popol Vuh, a Mayan religious text, describes owls as messengers of Xibalba (the Mayan “Place of Fright”).[33]
In France, Belgium and the Netherlands, where owls are divided into eared owls (fr. hiboux / d. oehoes) and earless owls (fr. chouettes/ d. bosuilen), the former are seen as symbols of wisdom while the latter are assigned the grimmer meaning.
Three Canadian provinces have owls as provincial symbols: the Great Horned Owl in Alberta, the Great Grey Owl in Manitoba, and the Snowy Owl in Quebec.”
From my own experience, I once dreamed of a young man who was a family friend, age 17 and native Kiowa. He came to me and cried, “I’m scared! The owl is trying to take me!” Three days later we learned that he had died that night, of a suicide.
Re: Owl = death and wisdom
Wisdom brings the death of ignorance. For some this is a blessing but for others it is not seen as such because with wisdom comes responsibility to ourselves and others. Some therefore see the death of ignorance as a negative thing (“ignorance is bliss” as it were). Not everyone wants the work-effort-change that wisdom brings.
This would account for both death and wisdom being attributed to owl.
Be and Burning River: I agree, pain and death can bring healing if seen, held in this perspective. Yet, this is only ‘one’ of the ways to get us to recognition of truth. Somehow being open to the other way takes more practice and this understanding is something I am becoming aware of in these days.
Great work Len. And thanks to everyone in the comments for adding perspectives to the stew. I went out walking last night as the Full Moon lit the snow covered landscape, feeling more than knowing that we are at another potent juncture.
Well….north node serving as a guiding principle in any chart – it appears we have succeeded beyond measure.
Thank you, once again 😉
Just a thought about Owl: death makes wise
biren: Thank you for your question. It would be different for each person, but another way to say it is don’t be afraid to put two-and-two together. Now that we have six months of perspective between us and the Venus transit of the Sun, you should begin to see some of the benefits of either your intent or your receptivity (or both).
P. Sophia: Thank you. Another way of answering biren’s question through your own example.
be: Thank you for your “nuance” cite. the elaboration on the most recent Mercury station in Sagittarius, and (once again) your exemplary knowledge of the USA Sibley chart. Yes, i would say we are closer to understanding, but when saying halfway, we should also ask “halfway to what?” Because cycles do repeat and sometimes more than one repeat is required to get the full experience. Jupiter conjunct the US Uranus is certainly looking meaningful, however.
Patty: Thank you for the cross-cultural perspective on owls, it is a very powerful and widespread point of view. Of course, there is also the practical perspective that farmers and ecologists have of owls as prolific predators of rodents.
Hey Patty,
Thanks for sharing the native american culture symbolism of the owl. I’m of a mind that the owl Elsie Wheeler visualized in 1925 in San Diego could care less if we though he was wise or evil so long as he got his dinner that night! Still, it points out how duality affects our symbols too, after all, we know that Mercury can be naughty or nice, depending on his mood. Like you and me, perception can color anyone’s interpretation of what kind of a day it is or whether the soup is too salty or just right. The negative symbolism could just as easily describe the US solar return north node as “death” or the Mercury on Election Day as “death”, or Mercury in the grade school tragedy as “death”. But study of most ancient belief systems teaches us that death is followed by re-birth and with Pluto and Ceres being a big part of the panoply of symbols in these charts, that perception is inescapable.
Dane Rudhyar in speaking about the owl symbol says “He represents that consciousness which is active where the processes of life normally escape the attention of the personal ego and its intellect.” Perhaps when one raises his or her consciousness up from the mundane level he or she gains wisdom.
be
Actually, owls are a symbol of death. In native american culture, seeing an owl in a dream would be an omen of impending death. Other writings caution the use of owls in children’s rooms. The original sabian symbol is “An owl is gravely perched high and deep in the shade of an old landmark of a tree, solitary on a point of land.”
There are many references through history regarding owls being viewed as being evil, especially regarding impending death. Wikipedia has quite a good list of historical viewpoints, but we seem to have adopted the Greek view that owls are symbolic of wisdom, which I find curious. Most other cultures view(ed) them as symbols of death.
oops . . meant to say the Sun is conjunct where the Moon was at Venus’ crossing. . . /be
Incredible find Len; Venus will be opposite the place where she occulted the Sun, as the Sun will be exactly where the Moon was at that same time. It’s almost more wisdom than I can process and it leaves me breathless. What you call “a series of turning points for long-term trends and processes”, Gary Caton refers to as an Epoch of Revolution as we “become aware of the astrological nuances within the Uranus-Pluto squares of the next few years.” This I got from his latest article at mountainastrologer.com. I never thought a “nuance” could pack such a punch!
Speaking of Mercury as “the emblem of your mind”, the little trickster blew my mind with this remarkable series of aspects. As he stationed retrograde on Election Day in the U.S., it was in the same degree where the North Node was located in the U.S. Sibly Solar Return chart, 4+ Sagittarius. To me the North Node in any chart is like a North Star in that, like Polaris, it serves as a guiding principle. When the horrific massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School took place on December 14th, Mercury ( now direct) was again at 4+ Sagittarius. Mercury managed to connect the U.S. birthday, the U.S. election, and the most grievous crime in recent U.S. history together in such a way as to rival the weaving of Arachne or even Pallas-Athene! The Sabian Symbol for that Sagittarian degree is of an old owl sitting on a tree limb. Owls have a reputation for wisdom and upon examination of these 3 event charts the wisdom comes not gradually, but in fits and starts. That would be Uranus trine Mercury, first in the Election chart and again in the Sandy Hook chart.
The Sandy Hook chart (published here at PlanetWaves) reveals a sextile between Venus and the Ascendant in Capricorn, and together they form a yod with Ceres (grieving mother) in Gemini at the point of release. The Cap Ascendant also conjuncts the Moon (the people) in the U.S. Solar Return chart, and they both conjunct the U.S. natal Sibly Pluto. As part of the key word list for Pluto the ‘reptillian instinct for self-preservation’ is high on the list. With (1) solar return Moon (the people) and (2) the Sandy Hook chart’s Ascendant conjunct (3) the U.S. Pluto it begins to dawn on the astrologer in me that it’s a message about guns and what motivates us to use them.
Dane Rudhyar says the ascendant is “the symbol of sunrise” and all beginnings. He says “Every experience can be a new beginning. Every individual can be reborn at any moment.” Consider that this year’s U.S. solar return chart’s ascendant is the same as the U.S. Sibly birthchart, 12+ Sagittarius. Is this not a sign of rebirth for the whole country?
And now you tell me that Venus has reached the exact “full moon” position of her June crossing over the face of the Sun, while the Sun at this Full Moon tomorrow is opposite where the Moon was at Venus’ crossing over the face of the Sun. The Moon that day in June was occult Pluto too, her third in a series of 19 consecutive monthly passes. Now it’s the Sun that is conjunct Pluto and don’t full moons reveal the half-way point in a process? What have we reached the half-way point of this time? What was unconscious in June is now made conscious in December. Are we closer to understanding now, and will Jupiter conjunct the U.S. Uranus make it so?
The last in the series of Moon occult Pluto events takes place on August 17, 2013. Saturn at 6+ Scorpio will be square the U.S. Sibly natal chart’s north and south nodes and at the north bending. It promises an opportunity for transformation in the structure of what has become obsolete, like gun laws. Something I’m looking forward to.
be
(P.S. D. Rudhyar’s quote from his book “The Astrological Houses)
Len,
This is so interesting. Thank you for mentioning.
Just yesterday I had a very peaceful, free day to myself and as such the precise feeling and personal aspirations that were recalled to me were to the time of the Venus Transit! And what do I find here in your message today…?
In one of Eric’s excellent interviews from the Astrology conference at the transit time he suggested that we take note of the dreams, goals and inspirations that came up for us just before and during this phase. And just yesterday the feelings were recalled. How had I progressed since? I felt inspiration and some direction in my reflection there. Maybe Mercury was already cueing me.
Well, I will definitely now go back and look at my notes from the time, in a hope to better aide in tomorrow’s benefit. “… a conceptual focus on a bigger picture not yet resolved.”
xlp
xlp
dear len,
could you x-pand on this:
do a little fearless, enthusiastic arithmetic
would be great help if u could…
love/b