Full Moon in Sagittarius
on an astrology that isn't self-involved
Before we get into the delineation-of-it-all, I have just one Full Moon announcement:
This weekend marks the SEVEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY of the first moon missives newsletter (June 4, 2016 baby!), and in honor of this glorious event, I’m offering a sale on paid subscriptions. The biggest one ever!
Get a monthly subscription for $5/month or an annual for $55/year (!) (usually $7 and $77 so do the math). This project is ever-evolving, and a paid subscription supports the writing as well as the production of the good fortune! pod. The monthly sub is less than an oat milk latte and the energetic appreciation alone is an upgraded treat.
If you’re not fully convinced: Paid subscribers will be getting a guide to this summer’s Venus Retrograde in Leo next week!
Offer is available until 11:59 PM ET on June 7.
Though the cosmic clock does not give a f about the Gregorian calendar and so-called “months,” we’re beginning yet another one with a Full Moon. On June 3, the Full Moon goes exact at 13º Sagittarius. The middle decan of Sagittarius is the tremor between adventure and limitation. Its power is in its resistance. Austin Coppock calls this part of the zodiac The Bridle (as in, what one uses when riding a horse), and the associated tarot card is the 9 of Wands, which the Golden Dawn called Strength.
The 9 of Wands depicts a man who is weary from the last battle, but still ready to keep up the fight. Hiding behind one singular wand in a grove of many, he peeks out toward the future. Exhausted but not defeated. T. Susan Chang writes about this card in 36 Secrets,
“On the physical side, there is ‘the strength of the archer’ —the strength it takes to string a bow, or to pull back a taut bowstring which in turn dictates how far the arrow shall fly; in the Odyssey, the hapless suitors vainly try to string the king’s grey bow, demonstrating that none can match Odysseus’ strength. The bow, the archer, and the string all share this tensile strength, which physicists contrast with compressive or shear strength. Tensile strength depends not on hardness or toughness, but elasticity,” (Chang 182)
Those born with planets or points in this part of Sagittarius are highly adaptable. As Chang points out, their super power is elasticity. Ruled by the Moon, this decan asks us to accept change as stability. It brings a softer, more lunar power. But it’s also a warrior with teeth.
Meg White was born with the Sun in this part of Sagittarius and is a perfect example of this decan. As outlined in her anti-profile published in Elle this week, Meg has mostly disappeared from public life. She rose to meteoric indie rock fame in the late 90’s and early 00’s as the drummer of The White Stripes, before abruptly retiring in the midst of a world tour in 2007. Meg is known for being painfully shy and also for being a genius of the steady beat. She quite literally “speaks softly and carries a big stick.” The White Stripes only exists because of her, but it also wasn’t her idea (it was her ex-husband Jack White’s, who took her last name btw.) Sagittarius II tells the story of how “going along for the ride” can actually change the entire narrative. How going along for the ride can leave you the winner of it all.
Like Meg White, this Full Moon has a soft bark but a lasting bite. Full Moons bring culminations and there’s something resilient about this one. Successful against all odds. Battle-scarred but still ready to have a cringe-worthy good time. It’s an exhausted victory but a victory nonetheless. The Moon is squaring off with both Saturn (restrictions) and Neptune (deep imagination), which is like a party with unlimited booze that also has a strict out time. It’s creativity that thrives within set limits.
This Full Moon also does not see her ruler Jupiter, who is six signs away in Taurus, a blind spot in the chart. Jupiter is currently conjunct the North Node—an aspect of unbridled faith, boundless optimism and biting off way, way more than one can chew. It’s the sprawling countryside! It’s a 600 page novel! It’s the closing night of a Vegas residency with four encores! It’s a lot. But also what’s a lot about it isn’t clear.
***
It’s awkward to admit this, but —sometimes, I don’t think astrology “works.” I circle transits in red for challenging, or green for positive on the cal in anticipation, but! Often when that charged date arrives, well, “nothing” happens. My life chugs along as per usual. No promised “a-ha!” moment or status quo shift or sense of relief to be found or felt or heard. It’s in those moments when I’m trying to make a savior out of the planets that I leave most disappointed. (“Now if you’re looking for a savior/ Well, that’s not me.” spoke the prophet Lorde on Solar Power) And when this happens, the joke’s on me.
What’s laughable is that in retrospect, despite thinking “nothing” happened, something always does. As much as astrology is an amazing tool for self-reflection and an elegant language for gaining perspective on life experiences, it’s easy to forget that it isn’t about the individual. The natal chart is a portrait of the sky at the moment one is born, but it represents the entire system that one is born into. It’s not just individual identity or psychology (which is seen most in the first house and ascendant ruler), it’s all of the dramaturgy. My natal chart is not about me alone because I don’t exist in a vacuum. I’m not an entire world. I can see my parents’ in my birth chart, as well as my lovers, friends, enemies and (especially) my middle school orchestra teacher. I’m an individual that’s a very tiny part of an incomprehensibly large machine, and my birth chart (like yours!) reflects that.
There are many examples of times when I twisted myself into a knot thinking a transit would go a certain way, meanwhile the actual event was so much simpler:
One time, Mars hit my midheaven (delineation: separation or excessive heat in public) and I expected to get some attention online or fired from a freelance gig. What I actually experienced though was a frustrated night of imposter syndrome after a frenemy of mine posted about a major accomplishment on Instagram. Mars rules my 7th house of “known enemies” and with that transit, my “known enemy” made a “public debut.”
Another time, a Solar Eclipse on the South Node fell at the exact degree of my IC (delineation: major loss or contraction involving home and family), and I worried that my apartment might catch on fire. What actually happened is that around that time, my parents’ neighbors got approval to add a giant extension to their house. Years later, that renovation—which now blocks some of the view into the woods from my parents’ central bay window—is complete. The IC represents ancestral land, where we grew up (my family has lived in various forms on this four acre plot of land since the 1950’s) and the south node narrows what it touches.
The astrology in both of these examples is quite literal. What happened also wasn’t about me, but about the world around me. Astrology works when I stop being so self-involved about it.
I bring all of this up because I had another one of those #literalastrology moments for this Full Moon in Sagittarius. Sagittarius is my 3rd house, the part of the chart which represents one’s immediate environment: close friends, neighborhood, the group chat, or the town square if you will. The third house is long walks and quick trips. Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter—the planet of abundance and relief—which is currently traveling my 8th house of debts and other people’s money. This week, Jupiter was forming a conjunction with the North Node making all Jupiter things extra hungry and inflated. So do you know what I spent the week doing? Taking excessively long walks (Jupiter/North Node) in the park (3rd house) while listening to podcasts about wealth building (8th house). On Thursday’s walk, as the Jupiter-North Node conjunction went exact, I stumbled upon a group of ~150 people doing yoga on the Long Meadow in Prospect Park. Jupiter represents spiritual teachers (Gurus, if you will) and with Jupiter currently in stable earth sign Taurus, it makes sense that under this aspect, I found a huge group of people doing yoga…in nature. Astrology works when I’m not so self-involved about it.
What’s happening this week, under this Full Moon might not be obvious to you. As I mentioned before, the Moon can’t see her ruler. Results vary and make sense much later. This Full Moon is also bringing up a lot of reaction and resistance. It relates back to lunations that occured on: June 2, 2015 and June 3, 2019. Something seeded back in June 2019 is culminating now and we might find we’re energetically in a similar place that we were in June 2015.
Austin Coppock writes about Sagittarius II in 36 Faces, ““Those who walk this decan encounter circumstances adversarial to their intentions.” It’s a part of the zodiac where one, for better or worse, must become a warrior and submit to both victory and failure. It’s easy to get worked up here. He continues:
“Yet it is important for those who reside within this decan to recognize that not all that is contrary to their will should be met with fierce resistance. The face represents a formula for strength in the face of opposition, yet many circumstances do not demand, nor reward such a response. Those possessed of this dean’s formula must also learn when to yield in order to gain mastery.”
What gets us through this moment is trusting our intuition about what’s worth pushing and when it’s ok to pause. The journey will continue but you have to yield so you can get safely back on the highway. Astrology isn’t about the individual, it’s about being a human in the world. If you don’t know where to start, just look at what’s already in front of you.
I’ll leave you with “Moment 4 Life,” by Nicki Minaj who was born with the Sun in Sagittarius II.
I fly with the stars, in the skies
I am no longer trying to survive
I believe that life is a prize
But to live, doesn't mean you're alive
Don't worry 'bout me, and who I fire
I get what I desire, it's my empire
And yes, I call the shots, I am the umpire
I sprinkle holy water, upon a vampire
In this very moment, I'm king
In this very moment, I slayed Goliath with a sling
This very moment I bring
Put it on everything, that I will retire with the ring
Damn you did it again! I have Saturn + Venus in Sag II and you just described my entire weekend lol thank you!
Another great piece.May I say, "an important piece"? Yup, that, said it. :)