Didactic Distraction; Sagacious Sincerity - Sagittarius Full Moon 2023

The Sun continues its journey through Sagittarius, descending headlong towards the winter solstice and the beginning of the new solar year. Now the celestial energy of this season will come to a head as the Moon goes full in the sign of Gemini, opposite the Sun in Sagittarius. The Moon will become full of the Sun’s light this Monday, November 27th at 4:14 am Eastern time.

When the Moon is full, her entire surface reflects the light of the Sun and she becomes fully illuminated with the light of the Sun. In turn, the Earth receives the maximal amount of moonlight for the month as she reflects her greatest amount of light towards the earth. As a result, a flood of energy arrives in the heavens, and the themes, lessons, and emotional timbre of the zodiacal season reach a climax.

The full Moon also initiates the waning half of the lunar cycle, and so the Full moon also brings an opportunity for catharsis and release - a kind of energetic spring cleaning during which we can prepare for the next lunar cycle. As the moon wanes and separates from the opposition to the Sun, so too should we wane and separate from the things in our lives that do not serve us.

Every Full Moon is special. Astrologically speaking, you can determine the nature of energetic shifts that will occur by examining the sign placement of the moon alongside the opposite sign occupied by the Sun. The concurrent aspects to a full moon from other planets also contribute to each lunation’s unique flavor.

This Full Moon occurs amidst the precocious, crafty, fluxional winds of Gemini. Gemini is a mutable air sign, traditionally associated with the realm of the discursive mind, reasoning, and language.

Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the god of reasoning, language, and travel. Gemini is Mercury’s yang, externalized, masculine expression - Gemini employs tools, technology, language, and all other products of the linear mind. Gemini verbalizes, communicates, and solves problems. In Gemini, we see Mercury as the clever, fast-talking, tool-using trickster god: as the gifted, clever child prodigy who stole Apollo’s lyre and killer of the hundred-eyed Argos; as the many-masked magician who creates worlds through the use of the word.

Gemini was historically associated with tricksters - creative yet morally neutral figures who straddle the boundary between good and evil, wilderness and civilization, body and mind. Loki, Coyote, Hermes, Thoth, and Mercury all use their noetic brilliance both to be creative and sometimes play tricks.

Gemini often gets a bad rap for its amoral proclivities. Indeed, Gemini can reveal two faces - one which is helpful and constructive, and another which can be more deceptive and troublesome. At its core, Gemini is playful; like children, sometimes they’re playing innocent games, and sometimes they’re up to no good.

When the Moon goes full in Gemini, she opposes the Sun in Sagittarius. In contrast to the playful qualities of Gemini, Sagittarius is serious and deeply earnest. Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign, and its fiery passion, intensity, and sincerity are a stark contrast with Gemini’s air discursivity and sardonic, puckish propensities.

In contrast to Mercury, Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, the lord of wisdom, prosperity, and religion. Being ruled by Jupiter, Sagittarius is very keen on finding the truth, the absolute, and living life in keeping with good values and ethics. Gemini, on the other hand, sees truth as another tool, a function of language and the way that you can play with language. Sagittarius is a judge, Gemini a lawyer; Sagittarius is a believer, Gemini a skeptic.

Thus, while the current solar zodiacal season calls us to genuine faith and hope of rebirth as the Sun approaches the winter solstice, the Moon pulls us in a direction closer to apathy, towards a more laissez-faire, frivolous attitude more in keeping with the springtime sign that the Moon occupies. Authenticity contrasts with utility, sincerity with irony, the impassioned feelings of the spirit with the impassive perception of the mind.

As a result, people often find that the desires of their spirit become intercepted by askew by mental curiosities. People become overwhelmed by competing thoughts and ideas. Being impelled for the remainder of the month through the passionate fires of Sagittarius, the arrival of this Geminid can derail our pursuit of what really matters to us.

Interlocutors and competing pundits will arrive You may find yourself overwhelmed with competing ideas, opinions, and perspectives. The mind becomes fired up to consume great amounts of information, techniques, and practices. But in digesting so much mental material, you end up frozen in place. Wait a little while with the information, tools, and ideas that come to you before you decide where you want to land going forward.

This full Moon, don’t allow competing thoughts or perspectives to derail you from your path. Keep true to the direction of your spirit. The function of the mind is to reason and make distinctions, and it has extraordinary use as a tool for problem-solving and communication, but its symbolic, utilitarian realm often obscures the light of spiritual desire, especially in our highly abstract culture.

This Full Moon activates a T-square alongside Saturn in Pisces and Mars in Sagittarius. Disagreements with others will be more common. Stressors to the mind and body arise more frequently. You may find competing viewpoints and opinions related to topics you enjoy to overwhelm you. As you are trying to navigate which direction you should take moving forward, be sure to prioritize your heart over your mind.

Lepidolite is a good stone to calm the mind and soothe anxiety. Selenite brings inner clarity and sober wisdom. Black tourmaline helps to block negative intrusions and affectations from others so you can remain true to your own center.

In sum, listen to your heart and stay true to your inner voice as the volume gets turned up on the collective discursive mind. As you stay true to your inner truth, the outer truth contained by the competing thoughts and ideas brought about by the full moon will naturally reveal themselves.