The New & Full Moon Forecast: Full Moon (8/1/12)

Astrologers Isha Lerner and Tara (McKinney) Faulkner join forces to offer their complementary interpretations of the New and Full Moon phases each month – Isha from the Western perspective, Tara from the Vedic. Isha’s approach draws upon thirty years in her practice of Western astrology. Tara’s approach employs the ancient Vedic system of 27 “Lunar Mansions” (each 13 1/3 degrees wide) which are oriented primarily around the stars (sidereal), the constellations and our Galactic Center. Please join us every couple of weeks for the latest guidance from the Great Lunar Goddesses of both Western and Eastern traditions.  

Embracing the Wisdom of the Body

By Tara Faulkner

We have a very voluptuous, full-bodied and earthy Full Moon this month at 16+ degrees Capricorn (sidereal) right on the Ascendant, or birth moment, of the Full Moon chart for August 1, 2012, forming a beautiful Grand Trine in the element of Earth with Jupiter in Taurus and Mars in Virgo. The essential energy of this Full Moon is a thorough grounding in and respect for the body, a “waking down” into full embodiment, in order to counteract the tendency toward escapist forms of transcendence.

The Sabian Symbol for this Full Moon placement has to do with escape from bondage to social inhibitions through reliance upon the wisdom of the body. Similarly, the Sabian Symbol for Jupiter (at 16+ degrees of Taurus) is all about cultivating the virtue of spiritual warriorship in order to undo the ignorance and suffering created by the modern, Western mind, which sees itself in opposition to the body and embodied experience, in general. Finally, the Sabian Symbol for Mars (at 22+ degrees Virgo) speaks of the need to work skillfully with one’s animal, or instinctive, nature in order to fulfill one’s destiny.

In Vedic astrology, the Lunar Mansion for this Full Moon placement is know as Shravana, “The Star of Learning,” associated with the Goddess Sarasvati, the Goddess of Learning. This Lunar Mansion combines the energies of Saturn and the Moon, indicating the need for discipline in relation to the journey of one’s soul toward its fullest expression. Its symbol is the ear, reflecting the ability to hear the subtle, etheric realms. It is also connected with the Bodhi tree, the Buddhist version of the Tree of Life, where the Buddha attained enlightenment through listening to the voice of the divine within while simultaneously touching the Earth in order to ground himself in the reality of time and space. In this way, he came to embody the Middle Path between the extremes of body-denying asceticism, on the one hand, and spirit-denying hedonism, on the other.

During this Full Moon phase, let us each remember to ground ourselves in the reality of our embodied experience, to extend our roots as deeply as possible into the center of the Earth, even while reaching toward the stars and beyond.