The Cosmic Story: Aquarius/Leo Full Moon 2022
Make Heart Choices For the Future
The Goddess and the Zodiac
After moving into my new home between the River and the Ocean – a great Cancer experience – the fierce heat and overwhelming humidity of Leo in late July and early August immediately makes me think of the goddess Sekhmet. While her heat is often the dry heat of a desert, her Lioness aspect certainly resonates with the sign of Leo, the Lion/ess and the fierce Sun of August.
With the Aquarius/Leo Full Moon coming up on August 11th, I’ve been thinking about the goddesses who might represent these energies. With Sekhmet empowering Leo, I think we can look to the Egyptian sky-goddess Nut to stand in for Aquarius, whose ruler Uranus/Ouranos is a sky god.
Sekhmet is one of the oldest goddess in the Egyptian pantheon and was revered as The Great Mother, Sekhmet-Bast, the Protectress of the divine order, and therefore of the other gods. She fiercely protects those she loves and her destructive aspect is dedicated to morally righteous ends, much like the Greek Eris. She embodies both creation and necessary destruction. She is also the goddess of Kundalini energy, both its sexual aspect as well as its spiritual aspects. As an all-encompassing Goddess, her attributes involve most aspects of collective life.
As an initiated priestess of Sekhmet, I experienced the power of Sekhmet’s desert energy in both its healing and destructive aspects. She is not an easy goddess to work with, because she demands truth and accountability. We have to respect her fierceness as well as her healing. More than anything else, I experience her as the Divine Mother who wants to show me my strength.
Sekhmet was the Lady of 4000 names, although 3000 were known only to initiates and the priesthood. All of those names have been lost, except for a hundred that survived in ancient manuscripts.
These are a few of her Names:
Sekhmet, Great One of Magic
Mother of the Gods
One who was before the Gods were
Lady of the Place of the Beginning of Time
Flaming One
Protectress of the Gods
Lady of the House of Books
Awakener
Lady of Enchantments
Opener of Ways
Lady of Transformations
Great One of Healing
Beloved Sekhmet1
Sekhmet could well be one of the goddesses from the Age of Leo (10,800 – 8,400 BC) who was remembered and embraced by the ancient Egyptians, along with her Sphinx (perhaps it once had a lioness’ head – thank you Divine Harmony for that information). The Sphinx is certainly older that we once believed – it seems to have survived one of the many great floods which occurred between 20,000 - 7,000 years ago.
The Egyptian goddess who represents Aquarius is the sky goddess Nut. The Celestial Mother, “the beautiful turquoise day-lit sky and the mysterious lapis lazuli of night. The stars were all the souls that dwelt within her, those waiting to be born and also the souls of the dead taken back into her body. The night sky was all the possibilities of earthly manifestation, all that was seen and all that remains to be seen.”2 Nut’s sky body gives birth to the Sun/Ra in the East and consumes him in the West, where he journey’s through the dark night sky of the body of the goddess to be reborn again each day.
Like the sign of Aquarius, Nut symbolizes all the cosmic possibilities of life, the potentials that the creative imagination can work with and ultimately manifest in union with her divine partner Geb, the Earth. Aquarius symbolizes that larger vision, a vision that can see both past, present and future.
These two goddesses face each other at the Aquarius/Leo Full Moon. Both are eternal, although one symbolizes the vast eternity of space while the other symbolizes the fiery passion of life which incarnates the cosmos. This is the creative call of the universe to all of us. What is our unique self-expression? What creative act are we born to accomplish? How can we add our creative vision to the collective Mind?
If you would like to work with the Goddess and the Zodiac, let me know. I’m planning a series for the New and Full Moons starting with Libra’s New Moon on September 25th.
Aquarius-Leo Full Moon
The Aquarius Full Moon occurs on Thursday August 11, 2022 at 6:36pm PDT/ 9:36pm EDT and on Friday August 12 at 2:36am GMT.
The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 20* Leo is: Zuni Indians perform a ritual to the Sun. Ritual brings us into alignment with the natural world and its sacred energies. This image reminds us to give thanks to the life-giving and death-dealing power of the Sun, the source of light and life.3
The Gene Key for 20* Leo is the 4th – A Universal Panacea. It speaks to the Shadow of distorted logic, which can lead to intolerance. The gift of this degree is understanding, a process that includes all of our being, not just our left-brain logic. When we experience true understanding, we can play with the patterns of existence and create new ideas or systems. The blessing of this degree is forgiveness, which moves us beyond understanding to see the Truth.4
The
Sabian symbol for the Moon at 20* Aquarius is: A
large, white dove bearing a message. This is Aphrodite/Venus' dove of love and peace. This image is also a ‘mission accomplished’ symbol. We’ve been through a real
initiation these past few years, and now we can reap the rewards of
our spiritual awakenings.3
The Gene Key for 20* Aquarius is the 49th – Changing the World from the Inside. Its Shadow is reaction, when our emotions control our behaviors. The gift is revolution, when we suddenly become aware of these stagnant emotional energies and step away from them. We change our behaviors and experience the blessing of this Key – Rebirth!4
This Aquarius Supermoon (the Moon is close to the Earth) connects us to the sacred powers of the Earth and Sky and reminds us that our Leo ‘royal’ nature is here to contribute to the well-being of the community of Mother Earth’s children. Just as the King and Queen mediated between Heaven and Earth, so are each of us called to do that. In Leo, we can own our royal nature and be a bridge to larger consciousness.
This Full Moon is conjunct Saturn retrograde in Aquarius, hitting us with the reality of climate change, rising authoritarianism, as well as broken systems of government, work, finances and corporate power. We finally see the underlying patriarchal need for domination and control of our world. What will be our response as free citizens? Because we are all free to make choices that can change our world. Please vote – communities are shaped by the people who participate.
Saturn is the Lord of Time, and so he symbolizes our present reality. While his energy is limiting and can often be frustrating, in reality, we all need limits. Just as young children need limits in which to grow into themselves, we adults need to recognize our limits and deepen into them. This Full Moon aligns with Saturn, so our emotional, reflective, Moon-nature has to look reality in the face. The shadow qualities of Saturn are repression and criticism – we see this shadow playing out in our political system here in the United States. The positive side of Saturn is taking responsibility for our thoughts, words and deeds. We each generate an energy field, and it is up to us to maintain ours at its most harmonious level.
This Full Moon is being challenged by the lunar nodes in Taurus and Scorpio, with Uranus and Mars conjunct the North Node in Taurus. It re-constellates the 2021 Saturn-Uranus square, which is still affecting us through this year. This waning square between the two ‘rulers’ of Aquarius calls us to see what is still valuable in our society at the same time as it releases what is no longer viable for our collective growth. This square energizes the struggle between the old vs the new we see taking place in the US and around the world. Will we be pulled back into old patriarchal beliefs of power-over, male domination and white supremacy or will we start to become a world of equality, truth and freedom?
We are at a cross-roads. With 5 planets and the lunar nodes involved in a grand fixed cross, we are challenged to heal old ancestral wounds and to clean up our mess. The choice is ours.
With Uranus, the planet of wide vision, individual awakening and true humanitarianism aligned with the Taurus North Node, freedom and new vision will win out in the end – as the future always does. But what future will we align ourselves with? Will we meet the challenges that face us? Taurus is all about embodiment. Will we create a society where women’s bodies are no longer controlled by male/religious domination so women have self-ownership over our bodies. Where government serves the will of the people, instead of the people serving the will of the wealthy. Where all people are equal and expected to actively participate in creating our society. Where courtesy and kindness are expected behaviors, and creativity and vision are embraced. Where we finally put a stop to needless wars and continuing antagonism between different cultures. Where money and greed are a thing of the past.
The Sabian symbol for the degree of the Uranus/Mars/NN conjunction at 19* Taurus is: A new continent rising out of the ocean. Since my Venus is on this degree, I’ve been watching for this new potential to arise not only in my own life, but in our collective lives. My new home is my personal new continent, which I will be exploring. I believe that the new US law regarding climate change (Taurus is the most earthy of Earth signs) will rise this continent up for the collective.
The Gene Key for this degree is number 2 – Returning to the One. In the I Ching, this the called The Receptive – the Divine Feminine. It is another call to return to the Divine Feminine, the foundation of life and consciousness. The Shadow of this Key is called dislocation, the feeling of being lost or cut off from life. Without a firm rooting in the Feminine, we are cut off from both Mother Nature and our own natures. The gift of this Key is orientation, which speaks of feeling connected with our own truth. The blessing of this Key is unity, which is basically enlightenment or awakening. It is being in touch with your soul as well as the World Soul – the Goddess.
We need to reclaim our place in Mother Earth's biosphere. We need to assume our responsibility as Stewards of the Earth.
With Venus just arrived into Leo trining Jupiter retrograde in Aries, we have plenty of fire and passion to create a better reality, a better world for ourselves, our community and our children’s future. Don’t be afraid to roar if the situation calls for it. But use discernment please!
Pluto retrograde in Capricorn forms a positive trine to Mars in Taurus and a helpful sextile to Neptune retrograde in Pisces, awakening the positive, protective Masculine as the Green Man, consort of the Goddess.
Mercury in Virgo forms a wide square with Pallas Athena, helping us formulate strategies for moving forward with our new vision.
This week we celebrated the cross-quarter day of Lammas (15* Leo on 8/8), the first harvest, and the Lion’s Gate of 8/8 (Divine Harmony did an interesting talk on this Lion’s Gate – it’s related to the heliacal rising of the star Sirius over Giza in Egypt which used to announce the flooding of the Nile River before they damned it.) These days are ways we align with not only our earthly home but also our cosmic home. A fitting celebration for Leo!
May you be blessed with a fruitful harvest, and be grateful for it.
Cathy
Let’s Remake the World
Let's
remake the world with words.
Not frivolously, nor
To hide
from what we fear,
But with a purpose.
Let's,
As
Wordsworth said, remove
"The dust of custom" so
things
Shine again, each object arrayed
In its robe of
original light.
And
then we'll see the world
As if for the first time.
As once
we gazed at the beloved
Who was gazing at us.
~ Gregory Orr ~
(Concerning The Book That Is the Body Of The Beloved)
1. The Goddess Sekhmet: The Way of the 5 Bodies by Robert Masters
2. Imagining the World into Existence by Normandi Ellis
3. An Astrological Mandala by Dane Rudhyar
4 The Gene Keys by Richard Rudd
