8/8 Lion's Gate & Full Moon in Aquarius
Dear Friends
We have a full moon in Aquarius on Saturday 9th August (8.56am), right on the back of ‘Lion’s Gate’ on Friday 8th August. The Lion’s Gate date recognises the profound significance of the heliacal rising of Sirius (Greek: Sothis, Egyptian: Sopdet) at the latitude of the Great Pyramid of Giza, when the brightest star in the heavens becomes visible again for the first time after 70 days of absence (the date of this event varies considerably depending on the latitude of the observer). This was such a significant moment in the ancient Egyptian calendar, as it coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile, the return of Isis, bringing fertility and abundance to the land of Egypt. This moment marked the ideal date for the start of the Egyptian new year.
This month’s full moon lands at 17˚ Aquarius (moon) / 17˚ Leo (Sun), and while it doesn’t make any other major aspect to the other planets, there are lots of other dynamics in the full moon chart, with five planets: Mercury (retrograde), Mars, Uranus, Saturn & Neptune lining up to make important aspects. The Mercury-Pluto opposition intensifies communication, and can make us more guarded or suspicious in the way we read situations. Meanwhile, the numerous trine and sextile aspects in the configuration (those involving Pluto particularly) offer opportunities to go deeper, to integrate and better understand unconscious behaviour patterns; the involvement of Uranus in the other trine and sextile aspects can offer breakthrough insights and radical actions in the service of raising consciousnes and repairing ruptures.
Below, I have written a more in-depth study of polarity dynamics between Leo and Aquarius, which are so vitally important to grasp at this time of great change and uncertainty.
The Aquarian High Ground of Understanding
With the Sun and moon opposed across the Leo-Aquarius axis, the inner tension we feel is between the centralised, executive, solar, Leonine authority of the heart and the more peripheral, Aquarian authority gained through abstract thinking and access to a wider field of knowledge. Aquarius is more attuned to the broader needs of society, and seeks to integrate a multitude of perspectives and find a democratic way of proceeding. While Leo is the champion of personal heroism and asserts its conviction that actions should arise spontaneously from a place of individual sovereignty, Aquarius is more broadly aware of how actions have consequences; how the longer term future will be shaped by the actions of the present, and how different groups will be affected in different ways. However, Aquarius is easily coerced by dispassionate, idealistic notions of society which lack heart and create distance from human feeling. Being so mentally sophisticated, Aquarius will tend to assume the high ground of thinking, appearing to include, but presuming to know better than the other eleven perspectives! Ask yourself: in what ways might I be elevating my own need to be right and look good in society’s eyes above my own authentic, heart-felt convictions?
Initiatory Rites, Human Rights & The Censorship of Opinions
Leo promotes the authority of the charismatic leader; its’ unintegrated ‘shadow form’ generates rule through dominance, tending to creating an ‘us and them’ paradigm, which leads to an authoritarian governance focussed around a central figure, whether that be a monarch or a monarchic-style political or religious leader. Leo also preserves the integrity of the initiatory rite, the rite of passage; within the development cycle of the Zodiac, Leo can be seen in the rite of puberty, the awakening of our sexual being, and the transition into adulthood. Its highest values are courage and creativity, and it grants authority to that which can be only be known through direct experience.
Aquarius, by contrast, promotes systems of governance which have no central leader. Aquarius, in the democratic pursuit of innate human rights, seeks to level the playing field, recognising the common ground of all human experience, offering opportunity and access to all, regardless of what ‘level’ a person has reached in their initiatory journey through life. Aquarius is an ‘advanced’ zodiac sign, but the benefits of that advancement can only be realised once all the prior stages of development have been encountered, their rites fulfilled and their lessons integrated. Under those conditions, Aquarian communities become naturally self-governing, it becomes apparent to each individual that every action directly affects the whole, and that we are nothing without each other. This instils an innate sense of community that preserves individual creativity, while enshrining a sense of consideration for others that requires no external enforcement; an ideal Aquarian community that we would probably all love to live in.
However, in times of excess materialism and spiritual poverty, where initiatory rites are ignored, where intuition and common sense are over-ridden, and there is little context for the developmental journey, Aquarian governance requires extraordinary levels of control. These far outweigh anything that a central governmental authority could ever enforce on its own without the endorsement and co-operation of its people. It requires the members of its society to police each other according to ever-more abstract ideas of what constitutes right behaviour, and requires the technological means by which the people are able to censor each others' opinions, on behalf of an Aquarian ideal of fairness and equality, superficially expressed as a linguistic construct to which all are expected to adhere. Cue the cancel culture!
Ask yourself: In what ways am I censoring myself for fear of being out of step with the apparent views of my community?
How Do We Change the World?
Within this Aquarian revolution to change the world, we should remember the salient Leonine truth, that real change can only ever be wrought through the transformation of each individual, one soul at a time. We must somehow hold the tension between the Leonine power of the heart and the Aquarian power of the mind; between the centralised order of being which radiates the light of consciousness, and is rooted in the fiery crucible of the heart, and the de-centralised community of minds that might collaborate to create a different future. We can imagine the radiant light of the Sun and the refracted light of the rainbow. Aquarius reveals the electromagnetic spectrum of energy in its different colours and frequencies, as a metaphor the multitude of perspectives and voices that make up a community. It is the template of creation in all its geometric splendour, harmony and proportion, that can give us a spiritual vision to aspire toward; an evolution of consciousness. And on the other hand, and perhaps even as a consequence, it can elevate human ingenuity and inspire technological know-how to such an extent that it might be employed to intervene in, replicate and even 'improve upon' the natural design.
Ask yourself: what do you aspire toward in your own life, what are your aspirations for society, and what would constitute an evolution of consciousness?
We can recognise Aquarius within the spiritual vision of unity, harmony and inter-dependence, but we can also recognise it within the dominant cultural hegemony of scientific materialism (scientism), and in the project of a technologically-driven society, an uber-humanist facsimile of the more-than-human, animistic world, which is radically emptied of all forms of divine participation. And while these dual aspects of Aquarius are naturally opposed perspectives, within these liminal times of change, they are also interwoven with, and often mistaken for, one another. So over this pivotal Aquarian full moon, let us remain ever mindful of the difference.
My Aquarius moon mantra runs: “I attune with, and bring forth the higher frequencies of the cosmos for the benefit of all humanity.”
Full moon blessings to all.
John
Website: www.kairosastrology.co.uk
