The full moon is Friday night/early Saturday morning and it's a powerful one (well perhaps every full moon is!). The sun is in Leo and the moon in Aquarius - highlighting the dynamic of the individual vs the collective. It's a time also of really feeling into the saturn-uranus square which is spotlighting for the entire year. It's activated this full moon with a particular focus on freedom vs restriction and old vs new. There can be a tendency to want to dissociate from difficult emotions or become overwhelmed by them. Really holding yourself, being able to fully feel the emotions without needing to check out or become overwhelmed is the challenge. Embodied practices can really support this.
I love Elias Lonsdale's star sparks, and this one for the full moon I think really reflects the reading, where I used the Modern Witch tarot for a change. However, this tarot deck does really embody the Great Goddess in all her forms so it also feels like a Goddess reading!
A woman strolling in a garden. She is unaware she is being watched by elves
Her nature is leisurely, contemplative, laid back. She of course imagines and conceives that these qualities are simply her own by temperament, by disposition. Hardly is it likely that the deeper truth of her nature will reveal itself to her in the normal course of events. Yet what is truly at work in her is an affinity with the subtle elemental realms and with those who sense those spirit enclaves in the earth.For she is actually at one with the earth and with the light which is there at certain places for those who can perceive inwardly. And this earth light so closely accompanies all of her journey that she really never distances from her underlying sense of the whole of life and what it asks through her each day, every night. This makes it hard to take on mechanical routine and set behaviors. The soul is hungry to bring the world to life, rather than to fit life to mental schemes. And this impulse is overwhelmingly powerful. It comes from a bottomless well of remembrance and dedication. Yet she is called upon to put all of this onto the inside and to bear herself steadily through the outer world on the outer world’s terms. For what she has to bring will have it’s magical relevance when nobody is looking for anything special to be happening. She is on one of those assignments where you must not forget, yet you must go amongst those who do, lose yourself amongst them, and carry the slender thread of your real allegiance inside where it counts. The art of such a way of life is poignant. Everything depends upon discovering how to get deeper inside and tap the riches for the sake of the whole.
Elias Lonsdale, Star Sparks
The overall reading is a positive one, it's about abundance, connection to nature, to shining the light on all that is, seeing the rewards of hard work. But at the same time it says the flip side is this feeling of being defeated or feeling like the work is done. Or perhaps a tendency to take on too much. This is very much about being able to see both light and shadow and hold both of them, work with both. Which is not possible if we become overwhelmed or check out. There is a need for honesty with ourselves - to see and to celebrate all we've achieved, look at our next steps, allow flow and abundance, without hubris, ego or illusion - to realise that we might too end up feeling stuck, alone, feel we're done or take on too much.
Rarely for this blog, I pulled a final card to accompany the Ten of Wands, the final card. I felt that the message of the Ten of Wands in this position wasn't clear to me, and a second card for clarity was needed. This is the Sun. So these two cards need to read and understood together.
The questions are:
What is the quality of this time? The Empress, 3
What am I releasing at this time? Eight of Swords
What lessons are arising so that I can work through them? Two of Wands
What opportunities are likely to next arise? Ten of Wands (and the Sun, 19 = 10)
You are the Queen of your realm. You are strong, powerful, abundant, fertile with ideas, plans, projects. All you touch springs to life. You are nurtured by the earth and the earth nurtures you. You are in flow, connected to your divine feminine powers. Look around you at all you've created, all you've achieved, all you are. You are in your power. Realise this, recognise this, honour and respect your power, your strength, your agency. Be careful to hold this and not give it away to others. Celebrate your abundance, your life, your vitality, your fertility (in all senses). Take time to recognise how far you've come, and all that is in your life currently. Be grateful for all that is around you. Recognise your deep relationship to Mother Earth and nurture this. Quite literally, this is a representation of where we are in the northern hemisphere - the earth is full, abundant and everything is gently ripening, sweetening and coming into fullness in the heat of the sun. The Empress represents this. How are you embodying this summer time?
We are releasing stuckness, despair and giving away our power. We may feel that we have no options, we're trapped, we can't see, our swords are stuck in the ground and we're standing in a puddle with wet feet. But if we look a little closer, the blindfold enables us to turn inwards to our inner resources, and to our other senses, so we can sense that the rope isn't very tightly tied, and with a little effort and skill we can free ourselves and reclaim our swords. This is about inner work, inner resources, seeing what we have within us to unstick ourselves, free ourselves, and dry our feet. It is possible, all is not as it seems, but when we look to the outside world all is dark and unclear. We need to release this focus on the outside world, and turn inwards to see our way forward.
We are surveying our path, where we're going next. We're celebrating all we've achieved so far, but we've a way to go. So don't get too comfy, don't become blinded by how far you've come and think that this is where you're staying. You've made some good starts, achieved some good things and these are worth celebrating. But as you do, start to see where you might go next. See what the next step is, where the path is going. This is a time of learning greater visions, gaining greater clarity even in this place of recognising how far you've already come. Learn to hold both within you. These polarities exist in all things, our dance is not to find the greige but to weave through the polarities. It's interesting to see that the two and eight are diagonally across from each other. In Karam Kriya (sacred numerology) two and eight accompany each other in sequencing. Both are about polarities, dualities, and finding the flow, the path, the movement through them. They are the dance of movement, flow, water, and life force. It is pure shakti (energy/power) - the inbreath and outbreath. We can release and learn and move forward by tapping into this deeply feminine (again) energy of shakti - flow, movement, energy, power, connection inwards.
The opportunities which arise are so abundant! The sun shines upon us - and we are like the earth - everything is greening, flowering, expanding, growing, ripening! So much so, we may feel we've got too much on our plate. We may feel bogged down by all these opportunities. They are only opportunities if they support and align with your path, your vision (from the two of wands). Otherwise they are simply burdens. We will be learning to discern - what is for us, and what is a distraction, so that we can create with childlike glee and abandon, we can release burdens which don't serve us. The sun is shining on us, and under the sun all with grow - but what perhaps is a weed? Even if it's pretty? What needs to be let go of to allow the things which are important to us, which serve us, which are our path, our purpose, our vision for our futures? If we allow too many weeds to grow, we lose the path, we become overwhelmed and despair. We find ourselves back at the Eight of Swords. So the opportunity here is discernment, learning our inner resources, and what our path is so we can be free to follow our path and not become overwhelmed, lost and confused by the over abundance of everything. What is interesting is that both these cards are the number ten - this is the totality of everything, the radiant body - this is our inner light, our inner shine which we project out and sits on top of our aura. When we are in our power (Empress) we radiate our light brightly, shine like the Leo sun. There is the opportunity to do this, to be the sun, if we have good boundaries, good discernment, and clarity on what is important for us.
This week's classes are all about releasing what no longer serves, raising our spirits and energies so that we can be present with all that arises and not becoming overwhelmed or giving away our power. Today's class, as the Leo sun is in full presence in the UK, we will be doing something that is cooling, and releasing and not too physically challenging.
Love, patience, compassion to us all as we navigate these tricky and changing times xx