Astro-logical Forecast for Saturday & Sunday 8/9-10/2014: Full Moon in Aquarius

You may find more than the usual share of chores on your plate this Saturday, once the Moon is fully engaged in Aquarius as of 9:52AM ET. A heavy challenge between taskmaster Saturn and the Leo Sun at 11:11AM ET suggests a need to take care of business, even on a summer weekend. You may feel this weight more personally if you have a planet or point around 15-19 degrees of Leo, Taurus, Scorpio or Aquarius…or if you were born around the 9th of August, November, February or May.

With the Moon waxing to its fullness on Sunday at 2:09PM ET, emotions may also be building to a release. Saturday around 6:24PM ET suggests grand feelings and indulgence, following by a clash of stubborn will around 10:51PM ET or some other expression of a fighting spirit. Pay attention on the roads.

On Sunday, the serious focus of today’s Sun-Saturn challenge is echoed by tension between Saturn and the Moon, exact at 12:32PM ET. After the Full Moon is exact, the only other aspect of the day is a face-off between the Moon and mental Mercury at 6:12PM ET, leaving us with plenty to think and talk about for the next 14 hours when the Moon is void of course. That’s your chill time — until 8:55 AM ET on Monday, when the Moon will be fully engaged in the next sign, Pisces — and ready to start the work week.

This Full Moon is a Super Moon — and here is an article written by a meteorologist that explains what the astrological term “Super Moon” suggests from his point of view. It seems to have been posted today, during a potential “wet blanket” reflection of the weekend’s heavy Saturn patterns…and isn’t it interesting that the third line of the article begins, “I really don’t want to be the wet blanket at your moon party…”

The Leo Sun suggests creative self-expression; love and other matters of the heart. The Aquarius Moon suggests a need for a more cerebral approach — one that is less personal, more humanitarian. How to integrate these seemingly opposing forces is the potential illumination of this Full Moon. But with stern Saturn sitting right between the Sun and Moon in a T-Square formation, what is revealed will likely require dogged determination, ambition, focus and authority.

Also of note in this Full Moon chart: Mars, planet of action, will be at 8 degrees of Scorpio, opposing the solar eclipse we had at 8 Taurus on April 29th. You may remember that when Mars hit 25 Libra last month (the degree of the April 15th lunar eclipse), MH17 was shot down by Ukrainian rebels. When past eclipses are triggered by current transiting planets, we often see events reflecting an outburst of energy, for better or for worse.  If you have a planet or angle around 8 degrees of Taurus or Scorpio, you, too, may experience a burst of energy in your own personal world.

The Sabian Symbol for the Sun at 19 Leo is “a houseboat party”; the Symbol for the Moon at 19 Aquarius is “a forest fire quenched” (per Sabian Symbol guru Blain Bovee) or, as astrologer Dane Rudyhar describes it, “a forest fire is being subdued by the use of water, chemicals and sheer muscular energy” (I include this to show the enormous effort required to quench your average wildfire). What are we to make of these symbols?

Bovee observes that a houseboat is a place for social gatherings. It does not have a keel and is thus challenging to navigate in turbulent waters. “Forest,” he notes, is “derived from the word ‘foreign’ — meaning outside one’s own country; a forest fire is a wild, uncontrollable conflagration…imagine a flaming left-wing liberal finding himself at a conservative right-wing party on a houseboat. It’s a difficult situation calling for diplomacy and delicate matters so as not to rock the boat.” Yep, he really wrote that, and this book was published in 2004.

I find the Symbols of this Full Moon especially intriguing because the Sabian Symbol for Barack Obama’s Ascendant — suggesting the way he needs to be seen — is 19 Aquarius. This is an especially significant Full Moon for him, reinforcing other patterns of significance discussed in the last forecast. For the rest of us, Bovee advises us to apply the Symbols of this Full Moon “with a mind to the challenge of controlling the burning passions of belief in light social circumstances divided along party lines; stewarding combustible situations; keeping an even keel in potentially interesting times.” For more of Bovee’s insights on this and other Symbols, consider getting his wonderful book. Meanwhile, let’s watch and see how the symbols of this Full Moon are reflected in the headlines and in your own personal world.

And now, the news.

Reflecting the heaviness suggested by Saturn’s prominence in current planetary patterns, I could not find a single light story on the NYT homepage. President Obama has authorized airstrikes and humanitarian supply drops in Iraq, and is telling us to prepare for a long-term engagement. Grrrrrrreat. Fighting continues in Gaza and in the Ukraine. Lack of water is a prime focus in stories about California’s Catalina Island and Iraq. Even the usual cheerfully irreverent Gail Collins was focused on a subject topic that is really no laughing matter in her Saturday column. Coincidence or conspiracy?

Determined not to end this forecast on a such a sober note, here are a few stories not seen on the NYT homepage which you may find uplifting. First, how interesting on last week’s harmonious connection between Venus (love) and Saturn (endurance) to see this story of a couple who had been together 62 years pass away within four hours of one another. Their story was told in papers around the world; this loving photographic tribute was put together by their granddaughter. Second, plenty of photos from the website Barnorama  show how animals can bring out the best in us.  Finally, the interim president of a university in Kentucky came up with a novel way to increase the hourly wage of the school’s lowest-paid workers to $10.25/hour. He took a 25% cut in salary. And he still makes over $250k per year.  How magnanimous (Leo) and humanitarian (Aquarius). Food for thought on this Leo-Aquarius Full Moon. I bet he’s nice to dogs and cats, too.