Full Moon in Capricorn
Full Moon in Capricorn 21.07.24 - 11.17
“The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature.” Joseph Campbell, A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living
Our inner and outer worlds are governed by the interplay of rhythms: the mitochondria in our cells have rhythm, as does the cosmos. Circadian rhythms are our own individual cellular clock. They govern, over a cycle that is close to 24 hours, the biological processes of almost all known plants and animals. Circadian rhythms are synchronised by sunlight but also modulated by moonlight. If we tune into the rhythms and cycles, we can bring ourselves into powerful balance; align ourselves with the universe.
Some rhythms are rarer – more magical, more potent – than others. Every year we experience two full moons during the same zodiac season. “As each sign takes up exactly 30 degrees of the zodiac, the average duration of the solar stay in each sign is one twelfth of a sidereal year or 30.43 standard days. Due to Earth's slight orbital eccentricity, the duration of each sign varies appreciably, between about 29.4 days for Capricorn and about 31.4 days for Cancer. In addition, because the Earth's axis is at an angle, some signs take longer to rise than others, and the farther away from the equator the observer is situated, the greater the difference. Thus, signs are spoken of as “long or short ascension.” This year we have two full moons in Capricorn during Cancer season.
Our first full moon in Capricorn was on 21st June, at 1° of Capricorn. This full moon is at 29°. In astrology, the anaretic degree, is also known as the ‘degree of fate’ or the 'karmic degree’. The word ‘anaretic’ is derived from the Greek ‘anareta’, meaning ‘destroyer’ or ‘bringer of necessity’ or ‘that which destroys form’. It is associated with transformation, transitions and endings. It holds the energy of the end of a cycle and, therefore, has sense of urgency about it; a sense of urgency to complete unfinished business or to let go of what no longer serves us. It prepares us for the next stage in our development and evolution.
As we discussed in the first of these Capricorn full moons in June, this Cancer-Capricorn axis is bound up with inner parenting (Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, representing the father and Cancer, ruled by the moon, the mother). How we feel safe and secure in the world and where we derive those feelings from. This full moon is illuminating the how and the where we get our security and safety from. Is it from the outside world, from validation? Or are we able to feel safe from within?
While approval and recognition from outside ourselves – from others – may temporarily boost our self-esteem, it is an impermanent, transient sense of safety. When we are dependent only and solely on the opinions of others, we make ourselves vulnerable to the flux of external validation. This full moon is an invitation to let go and release the need for this validation – this parental approval – and to find that deep sense of home within ourselves. Home is love. Healthy parenting is love. Healthy inner-parenting is love. Deep, radical self-love is the medicine of this moon.
Paulo Reglus Neves Freire, author and educator, said: “The opposite of love is not, as we many times or almost always think, hatred, but the fear to love, and fear to love is the fear of being free.”
The moon is conjunct with Pluto at 0° of Aquarius. Pluto is the planet of death and rebirth. Like the anaretic degree, it is considered to be karmic. Pluto is a ‘generational’ planet. It is a long form planet; it spends anywhere from 11.5 to 30.5 years in a single sign and is also in retrograde for half of the year. It takes around 248 years for Pluto to move through the whole of the zodiac. This means that an entire generation will have the same Pluto sign. For example, Gen X and early Millennials (1972 - 1984) have Pluto in Libra. Pluto here has Venusian qualities, making them naturally social; they make and enjoy making connections with others easily. “They are also compassionate and caring. This generation may have learned a lot about tact and diplomacy.”
Pluto entered Aquarius in January of this year, having moved from Capricorn. Pluto began its journey in Capricorn in 2008, so we are looking at the closing out of a 16-year cycle here. What this conjunction is encouraging us to do is release any of the weight and heaviness of this long 16-year cycle. Think back to 2008. What did that mark the beginning of for you? A particular chapter? Relationship? This conjunction is supporting us to release regret of lives lived and not lived in order to open up to a new chapter. This may simultaneously feel like a moment of crisis and change (as we say goodbye), and huge potential and opportunity as we open up to what is next. The fact that Pluto is at 0° of Aquarius heightens this new chapter energy. Just as 29° represent culmination, 0° represents initiation.
A helpful way to approach this cycle is thinking about it as a rebirthing cycle. There is the necessity of letting go of the things we may feel attached to in service of moving forward. The birthing process includes agony and ecstasy. In letting go, we may experience pain. Let it come up. Sit with it. Acknowledge it and let it move through you. Love yourself through all of it. Parent yourself wisely and gently. Let what wants to move through move through. And get excited for what is to happen over the next cycles – of the moon, of Pluto and beyond.
Image credit: NASA on Unsplash