WHAT LIES BENEATH

Just when spring’s energies have us off and running, now comes a deep and powerful cresting of emotions, courtesy of the April 2018 Full Moon in Scorpio, April 29/30.

“All Full Moons in Scorpio awake a desire for transformation, but with this Full Moon the need is intense and we can now make the difference.”

Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology

Let’s examine what astrologers across the Internet are seeing in this lunation.

April Scorpio Full Moon

A Full Moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun and reflecting its light. Yet this lunation may draw attention more to metaphoric darkness, because: Scorpio.

As befits its nature as a fixed water sign, Scorpio’s emotional drive is deep and intense, even obsessive.

My forecast peers into the phenomenon:

“The Scorpio immerses us in deep, dark waters we don’t like to talk about openly. Silence doesn’t mean we don’t feel strongly about them, though – and that is inescapably clear now.  The current waves are off the charts. As they crest and crash, they’ll reveal, purge, clarify, simplify and possibly purify.”

“The atmosphere may feel like Halloween,” warns Marina Marcario, Darkstar Astrology:

“The veils between the worlds are thinnest around a Full Moon, so be very careful what you invite in. Instead, the Full Moon is best used to purge things out and banish entities/bad habits back to the underworld from whence they came. Make sure you close the door firmly afterward!”

Though a Full Moon is a time of culmination and harvest, this lunation has a decided streak of moving forward.

“The previous New Moon was the impulse that pushed us, and now the Full Moon in Scorpio is our emotional response to a need that is deeply ingrained in the fabric of our soul. The need for a meaningful connection that transforms. It is us desiring rebirth. Now we tip the scales. With this Full Moon in Scorpio the shift is made, and everything is set in motion.”

Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology

Dark Side of the Moon

Adding to Scorpio’s innate intensity is a close conjunction in Capricorn between Mars, Scorpio lunation lord and ruler of our drive and ambition, and Pluto, lord of the underworld, death and rebirth.

My forecast examines their combined influence.

“In simplest form, they are the gods of war and death, and they are commanding us through the rising emotional waters.

They are emboldening practical, concrete responses – devising game plans and acting on them (as well as on ones we’ve been formulating), proceeding in cold, calculating, deliberate, measured steps, with an eye to long-term goals and ramifications.

Shoot-from-the-hip approaches are out of style (though you may, of course, witness a few.) Approaching life as a marathon is the way to go. 

Keep that in mind as you process what the tide washes up for you. Temper any urge to rush; instead, sit with your emotions and consider your responses. As per usual lately, whatever this Moon’s strike forces instigate has been a long-time coming and will be with us for a long time as well.”

Harness this teamwork, urges Elsa Elsa.

“Think in terms of a controlled strike.

We’ll see this play in the collective, but you can use this energy in personal life as well. This is an ideal time to push towards a goal…. Less is more under a sky like this.  If there is something you want, plan to get it near the end of the month.

Not by some kind of fluke, though. The emphasis is on plan. Enhancing the superpowers of Mars conjunct Pluto is their sextile to expansive Jupiter in Scorpio.”

 My forecast advises:

“What you come up with may surprise you. Jupiter in Scorpio is mushrooming the Mars/Pluto action, steeling wills and expanding goals, drive, determination and fierceness. Dive into uncomfortable, unpleasant, even scary energies and dispatch them. Fight monsters; dump baggage. Add more zeroes to the end of your target. Dream big, and then bigger, then bigger still.

“Some of this will be nasty – metaphoric dirty diapers, if you will. Expect more on scandals involving sex, power, prominent men, hush money and corruption. Harness the Moon’s potentials for your own purposes, though (and you have a few), and the personal benefits could be profoundly valuable.”

Making It Real

The Moon is making a cooperative sextile and the Sun a harmonious trine to order-loving Saturn, cosmic teacher and taskmaster.

Marina Marcario, Darkstar Astrology, sees the aspect as a happy influence in this lineup:

“Those touched by this Full Moon… will not need to work half as hard as they think they do …. This aspect exudes trustworthiness and capability. … However this aspect can be quite status hungry, which may come from deep insecurity. At this time if we are feeling fragile we could continually ask ourselves if we are truly talented or beautiful enough. The over-riding theme with this Full Moon will be the need to achieve in order to build personal security.”

To Jamie Partridge, Astrology King, this sextile overrides the bevvy of challenging aspects, which he sees as minor in comparison.

“It is an excellent omen because Saturn rules preparedness, steadiness, determination and final success.

“You’ll feel protective of your family and partner. You will show how much you care for them in practical ways, not through public displays of emotion. Your task is to give nourishment and comfort through food, shelter and a shoulder to cry on. This is a good Full Moon for sharing deeper more serious emotions with a loved one. Commitment, loyalty and the family home may be topics of interest during the coming two weeks.

“You can carry out your duties and responsibilities with care and patience. Shared responsibilities should also be attended to. Respect for tradition and ancestors may lead to visits to the nursing home or cemetery. Organizing photos in an album would be emotionally satisfying. You will have the patience and understanding to convert online photos to the real deal and vice versa.”

Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology, expands on the sextile’s benefits:

“Saturn, the great teacher, gives us an opportunity to not only discipline the intense emotions of this Full Moon but also eases the manifestation of our will and the achievement of personal goals.

“What Saturn does is that it makes a reality out of the tension represented by this full moon and with its retrograde movement, a Karmic feeling to what is being unfolding for us, is emphasized once more.”

To me:

“This Full Moon offers emotional containment and stability and points to solid ground.”

Dream On

The Moon also enjoys a peaceful, easy trine (and the Sun a sassy sextile) to boundary-less Neptune, ruler of illusion, illumination and divine love. The Moon is also (very) widely conjunct expansive, beneficent Jupiter.

These connections make us optimistic and inspired. Says Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology:

“We intuitively trust that after some initial unrest something good will turn out.”

Rock-a-bye

A chain of happy-go-lucky sextiles, from the Moon to Saturn to Neptune to the Sun forms half a grand sextile, an aspect pattern some astrologers call a Cradle.

Astrotheme describes the Cradle aspect:

“The figure means a stability of a wide and dynamic kind. The sextiles indicate focused communication, whilst the oppositions give a broader vision of things and integrate complementary and antagonistic values, until the native matures. As for the trines, they provide the usual stability.”

The aspect pattern suggests that – despite the intensity – aid will be provided to those who ask for it. Especially to those who’re willing to work hard and keep the faith.

Other Considerations

The sky is vast, and so are the number of ways astrologers have found meaning in the heavens above.

Let’s look at how some of these add meaning, nuance and depth to the Scorpio Full Moon.

Asteroids & Minor Planets

Adding to this Moon’s discomfort is a square to the asteroid Ceres, goddess of grain and associated with mothering, nurturing and nutrition.

“Moon square Ceres can very easily destroy life instead of saving it. It can love so hard and hug so tightly that it ends up squeezing the life out of their loved ones. At the most negative, Moon square Ceres can be the narcissistic mother who engulfs her child to the extent that the child doesn’t even realize she is being abused. This aspect coupled with the devouring nature of Scorpio decan 1, makes the topic of child-abuse more likely to be raised in the media.”

Marina Marcario, Darkstar Astrology

“This means that working mothers and single parents face particular tests and challenges.  Sharing and delegating responsibility is essential to final success where Ceres is concerned.”

Jamie Partridge, Astrology King

Lunar Nodes and Apsides

The Moon has other triggers for action, in addition to the Mars/Pluto conjunction. She is making a square to her Nodes, as well as to the degree of the Jan. 31 Leo Full Moon lunar eclipse.

To Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology, these squares demand a shift:

“Emotional issues manifested right after the January eclipse, things that have been brewing under the surface all this time, have now reached a critical point. We can no longer balance between material stability (Taurus) and emotional security (Scorpio). Now is the time that the balance shifts towards one or the other, marking the beginning of a new period in our life.”

My forecast focuses on the immediate time-stopping, immersive impact:

“The cresting emotions, the clearings and the strike force responses all have a fated quality. The New Moon is forming a grand cross with the Nodes – the North Node of destiny, or where we’re heading, and the South Node of the past and what we’re moving away from. This configuration pulls us in multiple directions at once, which has the effect of suspending us in the moment and makes the Moon’s emotions inescapable.”

Ceres is also aspecting the Nodes, which plays a role in timing.

Marina Marcario of Darkstar Astrology points out:

“This Moon could re-ignite the effects of the Blue Blood Lunar Eclipse [Leo Full Moon] that occurred back in January. Ceres (now direct) revisits the North Node and the eclipse point once again.”

Jamie Partridge, Astrology King, explains more:

“The April 29 Full Moon represents a major turning point in the current eclipse cycle. The Moon rules women and traditional motherhood, while Ceres rules independent women and modern motherhood.

“The Jan. 31 lunar eclipse and the April 29 Full Moon focus attention on single mothers and working mothers. Sole parent fathers are included with Ceres because they play the role of nurturer. Social discussions and political debate will include parenting styles, custody rights, maternity leave, childcare and equal pay. While this Full Moon offers stability and security for families and relationships, it also represents more struggles for some women and single parents.

“Ceres square the Full Moon and quincunx Saturn means working women, single parents and the environment will come under a lot of pressure during the next two weeks. If you resonate more with Ceres than the Moon, balancing your responsibilities is your key to success. Try to share responsibility and where you can, delegate some of your less critical duties to others.”

To make matters even more complicated, the lunation lord Mars is also conjunct the Moon’s apogee point, which many astrologers call Black Moon Lilith, the chthonic woman scorned who reclaims her own power. Lilith is also precisely opposite last summer’s Total Solar Eclipse in Leo, repeating the theme women’s empowerment after trying circumstances.

The Moon is also caught in a tangled web of aspects, called a Trapeze by some astrologers, between the North Mode, Saturn and Mercury. The squares between the Moon and North Node, and Saturn and Mercury, are bounded by a trine between Mercury and the North Node, and a sextile between the Moon and Saturn.

Says Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology:

“This trapeze pattern, in its remarkable combination of multiple aspects, suggests a sequence of cyclical learning processes that result in personal development.”

According to Astrotheme.com:

“The Trapeze has no precise rules because it has not yet been classified, nor systematically researched. Trines and sextiles bring about easiness and connections to the planets involved, and thus, some level of harmony in the areas indicated by the corresponding houses, and according to the planet’s nature. As for the squares linked to both groups, they express difficulties in conciliating the areas in question.

“However, like all figures with hard aspects, the trapeze prompts to create and to build in order to progress, at the cost of a little bit of will and energy. Thus, this figure seems dynamic and positive, and more manageable than other [tense patterns], all the more so because tension and easiness are more balanced.”

Minor Aspects

Scorpio can be more complex than the surface hints, so it’s appropriate that this Full Moon is part of even more configurations as complicated as lacework.

The Moon is part of two yods, or “Fingers of God,” which occur when two planets are sextile and each make an inconjunct (also called an quincunx) to the same third planet.  My forecast looks at them:

“We’re being shown the way we want to go, and that feels fated, too. It’s coming from two yods, or Fingers of God. One is from Mercury and Venus to the Moon; thoughts and desires are pointing to intense emotional impulses. The other is from the Moon and Saturn to Venus: The configurations lace together emotional needs and desires and say:  This way to the future.”

One piece of the first yod captures the attention of Marina Marcario, Darkstar Astrology:

“Moon quincunx Venus looks like witchcraft and is a little eerie. The unusual combination seems to create harmony where it just shouldn’t. The quincunx causes creative dissonance, it’s especially effective with Venus’s slant towards harmony and the Moons amazing, intuitive imagination. This aspect can veer towards the kinky in relationships due to the mother figure being the chief disciplinary parent in childhood. Women, therefore, can be held in awe; worshipped and hated at the same time.”

The second yod, from Venus and Mercury to the Moon, is also caught in the “Boomerang” pattern, with the Sun caught at the midpoint of Mercury and Venus. Says astrotheme.com:

“In this pattern, the apex planet [in this case the Sun] opposing the target [the Moon] constitutes, even more than the target itself, a challenge … Compared to the Yod, the Boomerang requires a more acute awareness of the difficulty to overcome the existing forces and tensions, through a kind of mirror effect between the target planet and the focus planet. [One] must not keep on taking advantage of an increase of power only; [one] must also understand and assimilate the opposition of the pattern, otherwise [one] will experience solely the tension contained in the Boomerang.”

Decans

Each astrological sign can be divided into three sections, known as decans (10 degree divisions of the Zodiac). This Moon is in Scorpio decan 1, which is ruled by Mars.

Maria Macario, Darkstar Astrology, calls this decan The Agony & the Ecstacy. She elaborates:

“The Moon has the precise degree of its fall in this decan (3º Scorpio) which is supposed to make it extremely unfortunate. This is the devouring Moon, the goddess Kali and vagina dentata (yes, a lady’s part with teeth!) The Moon is desperately famished here and can also be sexually insatiable.

“One can become either totally ruthless and Plutonic with their hunger or feel a great fear of it. At this time, we need to understand nature’s sometimes cruel cycles of death and rebirth. We will be less inclined to act in a ‘kill or be killed’ mode if we have faith in the power of resurrection.

“Nature always seeks to correct itself, even if it has to go through a bloody abortive stage first. This is a Full Moon of extremes, so it seems that success here can only be all-or-nothing…. Those that do not sink at this time develop sharp brains and become wise survivors. The survival of the fittest will play out and it’s true this decan can fail spectacularly at times. But generally, despite being branded ‘unfortunate’ the Moon here can actually work to produce unexpected excellence.”

Sabian Symbols

Over the years, astrologers have devised systems to assign meaning to each degree of the Zodiac. The most popular of the past century has been the Sabian Symbols, advocated by Marc Edmund Jones.

The Sabian Symbol for the 10th degree of Scorpio is: “A Fellowship Supper Reunites Old Comrades.”

In his commentary on the Symbol, astrologer Dane Rudhyar explained,

“This symbol pictures the essential nature of the bond that unites individuals who have participated in some common activity. The social feeling of communion, plus all that it engenders, arises after the act performed together…. A group personality emerges, which displays characteristic features and gives birth to collective emotions and values.”

Lunar Mansion

In Western astrology, we’re used to the 12-sign Solar Zodiac, but there’s also a 28-sign Lunar Zodiac created by the Moon’s monthly orbit of the Earth. To the Medieval Arab astrologers, it was known as the Lunar Mansions.

The Scorpio Full Moon falls in Lunar Mansion 18, which the Arab astrologers called Al Kalb (The Heart). Donna Woodwell of Donna Philosophica nicknamed it “The Caduceus.”

 The mansion’s purpose is to prevent illness. Donna counsels:

“Start a healthy diet or exercise routine. Schedule medical appointments and procedures. But definitely don’t ignore your health needs nor indulge to excess.”

Summing It Up

This Full Moon promises a complex brew: intense, action-oriented, fated, maybe a bit spooky and, potentially, stabilizing.

Don’t fear the darkness. This Moon delivers ultimate benefits.

Marina Marcario, Darkstar Astrology describes them:

“The April 29 Full Moon now brings the stability and security to crystallize recent changes and make them permanent improvements. This is a good Full moon for making new partnerships binding, formal and legal. It is a good full moon for tradition, ritual and ceremony.”

And above (or below) all, honor your emotions. 

Says Andrew Ifandis, Cosmos of Astrology:

“We cannot escape the unavoidable culmination and the making of important decisions.”

As has been said before: “Be not afraid!”

Lunaria Datebook

Last Moon Phase: April New Moon in Aries
Next Moon Phase: May New Moon in Taurus

April Full Moon Times and Dates:

San Francisco: Saturday, Apr. 29, 5:58 p.m. PST
New York: Saturday, Apr. 29, 8:58 p.m. EDT
São Paulo: Saturday, Apr. 29, 9:58 p.m. BRST
London: Saturday, Apr. 30, 1:58 a.m. BST
Istanbul: Saturday, Apr. 30, 3:58 a.m. TRT
Mumbai: Saturday, Apr. 30, 6:28 a.m. IST
Tokyo: Saturday, Apr. 30, 9:58 a.m. JST
Sydney: Saturday, Apr. 30, 10:58 a.m. AEST

Feeling Overwhelmed by the Full Moon?

Click here for our FREE Full Moon Essentials Guide to Work Consciously with the Full Moon Energies!

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