The First of August's Full Moons - "The Sturgeon Moon"

This year August has two full moons.  The first full moon of the month, coincidentally on the first day of the month, is called the Sturgeon Moon.  Have you every seen a Sturgeon?  It looks like a leftover prop from a pre-historic sci-fi movie.  Sturgeon don't have scales.  They have a series of armor-like plates called scutes.  They live at the mouths of large rivers, in the muddy bottoms and are more plentiful during the month of August.  Makes you want to stay out of the water, doesn't it?

Sturgeon grow to unbelievable lengths.  The largest one ever caught came from the mouth of the Volga river in 1736.  The fish was twenty-eight feet in length and reportedly tipped the scales at 4,570 pounds.  Imagine the mountain of potatoes they peeled to make the french fries.  The buckets of tartar sauce alone stagger the mind.

Our full moon of August 1st is at ten degrees of Aquarius and in opposition to the Leo Sun.  This configuration effects Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius people most directly and people with an Aquarius Sun, Moon or mid-Aquarius rising, most of all.   Still, everyone will feel and benefit from this full moon surge.  Aquarius urges us to break from the status quo and remember playful, spontaneous Leo?  (See blog; "Ramping Up for Retrograde")  Leo laid the ground work this month for new thought patterns and modes of self-expression - artistic and otherwise.  You are an individual.  Celebrate the things that make you unique, even eccentric and let them work for you.

That fire you feel growing in your belly comes from your enthusiasm to get started with new projects.  Where you feared striking out with a new idea before, Leo's influence helps you hone latent leadership skills while transit Jupiter sparks optimism.  Think of the tarot card, Six of Wands.  As always, you must get out in front of this type of energy structure and give it the proper channels to fill.  Aquarius energy can demand you make an immediate change to free up that creative drive, but without a plan, you can be emotionally swept away.  The end results could be tantrums or open warfare.  Respond to your feelings, don't react.

Your current state of enthusiasm for new situations is born from a sense of inner peace, coupled with self-determination - both gifts of the Aquarius and Leo influence.  However, we must remember that we are still in the throws of a retrograde period.  Research, revamp, renew and redesign your projects and intentions so that you are absolutely ready when Mercury turns direct on August 8th.  Contemplate the many aspects of tarot's Eight of Pentacles.

August begins with swift energy currents.  Stay in the moment and stay in control.  You will reap the benefits of your practical approach.  We're gearing up for the Blue Moon at the end of the month and Blue Moons always give us wonderful messages about random chance.  Keep an eye open for being in the right place at the right time.

LADY ORACLE
PS:  August 1^st is also Lammas, or the 'Feast of First Fruits.'  Traditionally, bread baked from the first harvested grains of the season were taken to the church for blessing.  A loaf was given to the landlord as a preview of his portion and another might well have been used by the family for magic making.  Lammas fires are great places to reminisce and reflect on the things you’ve accomplish during the year and the things you meant to do, but never managed to bring to fruition.  Revisit. Review. Recommit for next year.  Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate August’s Aquarian full moon.


L.O.

There's Something Fishy With the "Age of Aquarius"

The "Age of Aquarius,"  isn't simply a catchy little ditty by James Rado and Gerome Ragni.  The term refers to Earth's passage through the constellation of Aquarius, a journey that will take our planet approximately 2166 years to complete.  And how far are we along our journey?  Actually, we haven't started it yet.  We're still meandering along in Pisces.  But what about all those, "mystic crystal revelations - not to mention the "mind's true liberation?"  They are all alive and well, just not necessarily traits belonging to the Aquarian Age.  Before you grab your love beads and go hide under your bed until this whole thing blows over, let me explain how we move through the Zodiac.

On Earth, we are spinning around as we simultaneously orbit the sun.  Earth's axis wobbles a bit while it rotates.  The wobble is caused by our shape.  We bulge at the equator (It must be all the Milky Way stuff) and the gravitational forces from the Moon and the Sun provides the torque that pulls at our bulgy middle and causes our axis to wobble during rotation.  I experience a similar phenomenon when wearing stilettos in a bakery department.  The gravitational pull of chocolate cheesecake fastens onto my waistline and my high-heels wobble me right over to it.  Sort of my own personal tractor beam.

In terms of the Earth, however, our little axis wobble causes us to

The tarot association for Aquarius
#17, the Star - serenity, hope and inspiration
from Barbara Moore and Aly Fell's
"Steampunk Tarot"©

slip in our position in space by one degree every 72 years, or 360 degrees ( a complete circle) approximately every 26,000 years.  Little things add up.  The stars in the Zodiac gradually shift their position in relationship to us and we complete our journey through each constellation approximately every 2166 years.  If rough calculations, we entered Pisces when Christ was alive.

Pisces is ruled by Neptune and Pisces folk are generous, compassionate and highly adaptable.  They are not always the most pragmatic of individuals, but are deeply spiritual with a innate sense of responsibility toward the greater good.  Pisces on the positive side, are the essence of kindness and patience.  On the other hand,  they can invest heavily in the illusions of life and can be overly sensitive.  If we're talking in terms of a planetary age, it's hard to argue with the merits of Pisces.

What about Aquarius?  When do we hit the golden gates of human enlightenment?  There are guesses ranging from 300 to 800 years.  And if you think about it, the timing doesn't really matter.  Our task on Earth, the mission we all signed up for, is to learn to live life as a series of continuous moments and to be  fully present and accountable in each one of them.  We've heard the phrase a million times - live in the now.  And living in the now doesn't mean you simply hang out waiting for stars to align and herald the pinnacle of human existence.

The last time we traveled through Aquarius we were Neanderthals, or close to it; I'm not an anthropology major.  What I do know it this:  As a species we continue to evolve and each one of our souls is unique in all the universe.  Collectively and individually, we bring our own special magic to the mix called humanity every single day of our lives.  The sum of humanity's parts are much greater than the sum of our whole.   Enlightenment and evolution happen around us all the time.  Our task becomes one of stopping long enough in our personal journeys to recognize human progress in terms other than the new-fangled bells, whistles and gizmos we've invented for ourselves.  If there's one singular important feature of the coming age, perhaps it's the opportunity to gain perspective.

So put on your love beads (108 beads in a strand) burn incense and celebrate your humanity in each moment.  Make your contact with each person you encounter as you go through life count towards the greater good more often than not.  And as for the chocolate cheesecake in the bakery, a piece once in awhile isn't that bad.  I mean, let's not go crazy over this whole enlightenment thing, okay?

LADY ORACLE