Wendy Cicchetti

This Full Moon period has a slightly restrained quality, with the masculine facets of the Sun and Saturn in Capricorn,opposing the Cancer Moon’s feminine, intuitive energy. The Moon is strong in its own sign of Cancer, but the Sun and Saturn seem to bear down on it, rather like severe parents or bosses, warning, “Take one step out of line” and the Moon will be in trouble! Yet this may be no disadvantage around the festive season’s often turbulent energy. Families brought together at Christmas can end up quarrelling, and this is reflected by the Full Moon making an out-of-signsquare to combative Mars.

Mars in Pisces can express as super-emotional, especially if people are more sensitive or alcohol is flowing. Nonetheless, Mars is conjunct Chiron, the sky’s Wounded Healer, so feelings need to be felt and tears may need to flow in order to heal something. With Mars sextile Pluto, we may be surprised at how deep our emotions run at times, but humans were intended to have feelings and to care. We need compassion for ourselves and for others in this process, with an attitude of “better let it out than hold it in,” while not taking too much too personally.

Pluto in earthy Capricorn reminds us that dammed-up emotions can solidify and cause problems to grow in the body. Mars–Chiron in Pisces may help to release the emotional charge around a matter that has begun to manifest as a health problem, with healing soon to follow. For some, this could literally indicate opting for surgery or other remedial treatment.

There could also be a wonderful surprise that nobody saw coming, marked by Uranus in trine to the Sun and sextile to the Moon. This may not seem obvious in the astrological picture at first, because the connection is out of sign, with the Full Moon at 0° Cancer–Capricorn and Uranus aspecting the Sun–Moon opposition from 28° Aries. The link is clearly there, though, with an orb of only 2° making it quite potent. Whatever the surprise turns out to be, it promises to light up this period of the year which, for many, can be a time of external and internal darkness. With Uranus retrograding back through Aries, the surprise element has a distinctly personal and individual feel, whilst also extending further, due to the natural reach of outer planets. Tradition and modernity may even harmonize in the mix of Sun–Saturn in early Capricorn and Uranus in late Aries. Families and communities could gain a greater sense of peace by “paying it forward.”

Undoubtedly, this is a “watery” lunation, with the Moon in Cancer and Mars in Pisces, but the respective focuses of these water signs do differ from one another. Cancer is cardinal water, which relates to the need to lead the way and take action; Pisces is mutable water, relating to blending and melding. Pisces can be the slippery fish that avoids getting pinned down and caught; drawing on its survival instinct, it will wriggle free or dart away in another direction. Cancer is more likely to man the fort, take a position, and fight for a particular outcome.

In this Full Moon setup, the Capricorn emphasis of Sun–Saturn suggests that backup may be needed for anything to be accomplished. With square aspects, the planets emphasize that we have choices: We may turn this way or that way, take help or not take help. We just need to be mindful of the possible consequences of going forward, in either direction.

Also notable is Mercury’s move from behind Jupiter to ahead of it in the zodiac. Compared to the December 6–7 lunation picture, this looks like progress, of a sort. Yet care is needed with thoughts and words, internal and shared, now that Mercury is in Sagittarius — effectively “alien” territory, in the sign opposite its natural/archetypal Gemini placement. Mercury, far away from its own turf, may not know the ropes and is unfamiliar with the rules, which could prove troublesome when speaking or acting out of line. We should not forget, however, that Mercury is still very close to Jupiter in its own sign of Sagittarius, hinting that as long as we do not bend the truth too far, or say anything too caustic or sarcastic, we can still achieve positive results.

Written by Diana McMahon Collis for the Mountain Astrologer Magazine