Full Moon. Yeah, it’s pretty. So what?!

Full Moon.  What is it and why is it important?

The Sun is the source for energy in our world, and in our lives. It is a celestial body that affects us daily. The Sun brings warmth. The Sun offers us light to see. The Sun feeds plants which grow for us to eat, and for other animals to eat, and we in turn eat them. The Sun is essential for our life here.

Wait, why am I talking about the Sun? Just laying a bit of foundation. Because the Sun also affects us when we talk about the Moon. The Moon plays an important role in our lives, but we need to remember that the light the Moon gives us, is not self-generated. The Moon can only reflect for us the light generated from the Sun.

The Sun represents masculine, yang, forward energy. The Moon represents feminine, yin, receptive energy. (This should give you some insight into relationships between a man and woman, but more on that another time.)

Overall the Moon represents emotions. In astrology, the Moon takes in many other topics such as: women in your life (especially your mother), karma, the past, and in some ways your soul’s depth. But for now, I’ll focus on emotions.

As the Sun affects life on earth and how things grow, and the changing of the seasons. So too, the Moon affects us, but at a much faster rate. Seasons change gradually and depending on where you live, they might be short or long. But the Moon moves through the zodiac so fast that our emotions can really go up and down without us noticing or understanding why.

Emotions are of the element of water. The Moon regulates the ocean’s tides daily. Our bodies are… I’ve heard anywhere from 70%-90% (take your pick) water. Whichever number suits you, that’s still a lot of water! As the tides roll back and forth throughout the day, so too our emotions could roller-coaster if we are not in control of ourselves. And this can cause great turmoil within and it’s often not understood. It can also cause great turmoil in relationships with loved ones; as well as innocent perfect-strangers we may interact with at a store.

The Moon makes a complete cycle through the zodiac from our perspective here on earth in approximately 28 days. Spending about 2 ½ days in a sign, and about 2 hours moving through a degree.

A Full Moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun, and we on the Earth are the middle. At this time the Moon is reflecting as much of the light from the Sun as possible. It is at it’s brightest.

Because this is a time of emotions being at their peak it could very well make for a delightfully loving, romantic and sentimental time. Think about how iconically romantic and dreamy a Full Moon is! However, if things are not going so well, or your emotions are not in check and usually run away with you or just plain knock you over, this could make for emotional overwhelm and overreactions.

Have you ever heard someone say, “people are being crazy, it must be a full moon”? Understanding that the Moon represents our emotions we can see why this is often said. It’s like a bright light is being shined on our emotions and the deeply hidden and protected parts of our heart’s. And sometimes that’s just too uncomfortable to deal with.

It’s important to pay attention to when a Full Moon is coming so we can be aware of what is going on in our lives and in our hearts. We used to live like this anyway… for millennia before the incandescent light bulb found it’s way into every home. We used to track the Full Moon because this was a time of the month that we could stay out late and generally do things later because of the extra light it provided at night. I love electricity, just making a point. Tracking the Moon now really isn’t too difficult either (see link below, or search to find your own).

We can use this knowledge to set up safe and romantic activities during this time. We can avoid engaging in things that would be emotion overload. We can plan and prepare. And if something does set us off on an emotional roller-coaster, we can remind ourselves that this is a time of possible overreaction and that things will calm down in a few days and everything will be fine.

To relate it in terms of the seasons, a Full Moon is the height of summer when life is abundant and energy is happy. We can relax from our sowing of seeds and watch what we have planted grow plentifully. We can partake of the fruits of our labors. Thus, our emotions can relax and we can enjoy and spend time bonding and loving the people in our life and all the things we have worked to surround ourselves with and which make life comfortable. However, if we have not spent appropriate time tilling the ground and planting our seeds (doing physical work to be prepared for the future, as well as emotional work to understand ourselves and learn to communicate with others) then this time will be a mad rush to try to catch up, but the season is already moving on and our seeds may not take root or sprout and/or our emotions can get a little carried away with worry.

Additionally, as the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, this is a time where we too could be at the peak of reflecting what’s around us, and having reflected back to us what we are projecting out; just like a mirror. Mirror-type situations with other people are there to reflect back to us how we are being in order to teach us: what is missing, what is wrong and how to change. The stronger the reflection and the stronger the emotional reaction, shows us the more we need to be faced with it, and that it’s time to make some changes.

One last point for the ladies:
I started tracking the Moon back in 2010 or 2011 so I could track my “feminine cycle”. I write it down in a little calendar when it comes, and then look a month ahead and put a ?-day for the next. That way I’m ready a day or 2 before just in case. I pay extra close attention to my body at this time, awaiting. I also look at the 2 week/middle mark for when it’s very likely I’ll be ovulating and mark that in my calendar too (could be important, either side of the coin you’re looking at). It’s been good to understand my own cycle and that it’s actually a day or 2 longer than the typical 28 day bcp pack you get (that’s where I got the idea to do this, after being 100% natural for a few years and still wanting to “be careful”). After years of doing this I’ve found how stress and other factors affect my emotions and my body. I’d highly recommend it. It took a little figuring out at first, but after a few months it flows effortlessly. 😉

Here is a website I use daily. I’ve actually made it my homepage when I open my computer’s browser application. It’s very user friendly even for the ley-astrologer.
http://www.planetwatcher.com/
If you know your natal chart you can pay attention for days that might be a little extra emotional for you and you can lay low, give a heads-up to loved ones and prepare accordingly if you have things you are able to plan and/or rearrange. If you don’t know your natal chart, my services are available, just let me know. If you aren’t interested in astrology, you can still track the Moon and just take inventory of what goes on in your life.

May we strive to be prepared in life and have compassion and patience when preparation just isn’t enough.

Bliss and Abundance!!!
Hope Grace Roe 🙂