Full Moon in Aquarius: Keeping Your Head Above Water

"Keeping Your Head Above Water" by John Dinser

July 31st brings a full moon in Aquarius, the second full moon of this month; otherwise known as a Blue Moon. Symbolically, blue moons are considered to be auspicious since they rarely occur and therefore signify occasions that have a once in a lifetime kind of vibe. Truth be told, I've been aware for weeks that this full moon was coming but I didn't really get the chance to think about what this moon would mean until after a rather impromptu text exchange with a dear friend of mine. She wrote: "I feel challenged to think outside the box." And that's an Aquarian theme, right? Aquarius pushes us to think outside of the box. Aquarius pushes us to do things differently than we have ever done before. Through Aquarius we experience breakthrough, freedom. So why has breaking through been so hard?

To say that this last month has been emotional is an understatement. With 50-11 planets in Water signs, the past 30 days (and if you want to get technical: the last two years) have been downright distressing. From Saturn in Scorpio churning up our fears to Neptune in Pisces wearing down our walls to transit planets in Cancer poking hard at our soft spots, we have been living in a world under water. Having been given the cosmic push to plunge deep into this space, to experience the full spectrum of our emotions, for some of us this period has been cathartic--cleansing. For the rest of us, this period has been full of painful reminders; water does after all hold our memories, as does the moon. In too much water, we can feel stuck, drowned, and well in over our heads. Though this full moon in Aquarius provides a buoy. This moon in Aquarius offers up fresh air; a shot at freedom from the stagnant and murky entanglements that hold us back.

In astrology, Water signs usually get the credit for being the most intuitive, though Aquarius, an Air sign, is intuitive too. Co-ruled by the planets Saturn and Uranus (the mythological keepers of time), and represented by the symbols of electricity and water--Aquarius is a conduit. Picking up on trends and currents, Aquarius experiences this intuition by way of aha-moments, rationale, and flashes of insight. As full moons represent culminations and endings of a cycle, this moon represents a much needed goodbye. This is a moon of the future.

Looking back again at what my friend wrote to me, I am reminded that this moon is co-ruled by Uranus in Aries and Saturn in Scorpio. Whatever flashes of insight we receive, whatever decisions we make at this time has less to do with thinking outside of the box and more to do with finding the courage (Aries/Scorpio) to actually move beyond it. We already know what needs to be done, what changes need to be made for true progress. We just need to do it. This is our chance.