A Full Moon of Reconciling the Polarities

The Taurus Full Moon at 19 plus degrees of the sign takes place on the morning of
Tuesday, November 12th, quite early morning on the west coast and later in the day
on the east coast and in Europe. As the Sun and Moon align on the Scorpio-
Taurus axis, amidst the sharp polarization of these fractious times we are reaching
out for balance, and for more conscious relationship with one another. Mercury,
moving backwards in Scorpio, is one day past its exact conjunction with the Sun, which
can manifest as a peak moment in the retrograde period, while Venus approaches
expansive and joyful Jupiter, their midpoint at 19 plus degrees of Sagittarius being
semi-sextile to the Sun at that degree of Scorpio.

Meanwhile, the Sun and Moon make a sextile and a trine to Pluto at the 21-degree
mark of Capricorn, while Pluto and Saturn remain in close parallel alignment,
and Saturn trines Neptune quite closely, within a few minutes of a degree. All this
outer planet involvement indicates further transformational activity both at individual
levels and in the current cultural zeitgeist, as seems to be our collective fate these
final months of 2019 as we head into the potential maelstrom of 2020. We are this
month at one significant stepping stone within this arc of development, leading to the
longitudinal alignment of Saturn and Pluto next year. This lunar phase generally
indicates a continuation and a summing up of the initial impulse expressed in the
timing of the New Moon that began the cycle, in this case the Scorpio New Moon of
October 27th in opposition to Uranus, and as Mercury was just starting to turn to
retrograde motion. This was itself an entirely transformational configuration, and as
we reach for some form of fulfillment of the themes that were then expressed we will
want to be considering a big picture look at where our inner knowing is leading us in
this 2019 timeframe. In this current configuration, we may take heart from the Venus-
Jupiter alignment in Sagittarius, which, during this Mercury Retrograde period of
intense introspection, brings a hopeful element into the astrological picture, that we
may be able to get it right this time, after all.

The polarities inherent in the previous New Moon were expressed in rather stark
terms as the powerfully placed presence of progressive Uranus versus an equally
highlighted presence of conservative Saturn, and involving Saturn-Pluto in close
parallel. This close declinational connection between Saturn and Pluto remains in the
present configuration, with the addition of a close trine between Saturn and Neptune,
bringing a further pair of opposite archetypal images into play. Saturn represents
hard-and-fast 3D reality while Neptune is redolent of a more all-embracing
conception of universal oneness and transpersonal higher reality. These quite
different points of view nevertheless feed off of one another; like darkness and light,
each allows the other to exist, and would be nothing without the other pole. By taking
a larger perspective into account, in fact, we can begin to see a way to go beyond
the simplistic idea of taking only one side of a black and white set of absolutes and
instead see the world we inhabit as it is: a more interesting combination of shades of
gray. It is possible that the Jupiter emphasis that is also present in these current skies
might allow us to visualize many more potential outcomes than a rather boring total
exclusion of the opposing viewpoint.

Relationship, too, involves this sort of compromise, and we might want to begin asking
ourselves how we are doing in this important area of life. Is there a way that we are
seeing only one half of the picture, forgetting to be inclusive as regards the somewhat
different (or even quite different) viewpoint of the person that we are endeavoring
to partner with? Creative solutions abound once it is that we recognize the need to
stay open to possibility.

The Sabian Symbols for this Full Moon may also provide interesting food for thought.
For the Moon, at the 20th degree of Taurus, we find, “Wind clouds and haste,” which
well characterizes our modern society and its multi-form illusions. Marc Edmund Jones,
who caused these symbols to be created in the 1920s, references, “tranciency …
(and) the instability which results from a disinclination to give very much (of oneself).”
For the Sun, in the same degree of Scorpio, we have, “A woman drawing two dark
curtains aside.” This symbol might refer to the veil between the worlds that can only
by means of discernment be drawn aside, and that can come, as we have been
discussing, in different flavors, equally false. Jones references, “the enduring values
which the average individual visualizes behind the outer façade of everyday
existence, and of their desire to penetrate to more worthy dimensions of experience.”
He goes on to state that, “Implicit in the symbolism is the essential courage of the soul,
and the vital concept of life as unrewarding except as it provides a way to cross
every threshold of common limitation.” By reflecting on these limitations and on our
determination to get the most out of our existence here, may we rise above petty
considerations as much as we are able, and strive to remain in the true heart of the
matter at hand.