Archive for the ‘Full Moon’ Category

Full Moon in Sagittarius – May 31, 2026, 08:45 UT

Saturday, May 30th, 2026

The Full Moon is in the enthusiastic and optimistic sign of Sagittarius. The Moon and the Sun in Gemini form a Grand cross with the centaur-like Damocles in Pisces and the trans-Neptunian Aya in Virgo.

55565 Aya is a large cubewano named from Akkadian mythology after the goddess of dawn. Aya is associated with morning light and the rising sun. Aya was the second-brightest Kuiper belt object known at the time of its discovery in 2002. It was named in 2025. Its orbital period is 324 years.

5335 Damocles was discovered in 1991 on an orbit that was completely different from all others known. Its aggressive orbit reaches from inside Mars to outside Uranus. It is now the namesake of a group of objects, the damocloids. Damocles, like other damocloids, are believed to be inactive nuclei of long-period and Halley-type comets that have lost their volatile material and are dormant. The diameter of Damocles is only about 10 km. The small size is probably the reason why Damocles has not been observed since 1992, and it is currently ”lost”.

The orbit of Damocles is stable for tens of thousands of years, but there is a good chance that it will become an earth crosser asteroid. According to the official naming citation, “Legend has it that Damocles, a courtier of the tyrant Dionysius the Elder of Syracuse, was invited to a feast, where he was seated below a sword suspended by a thread. Intended to demonstrate the impermanence of power, the ‘sword of Damocles’ has become a symbol of impending disaster. This minor planet, in an unusual orbit of very high eccentricity and inclination and crossing the orbits of Mars to Uranus, could itself be seen as such a sword during periods of its orbital evolution when it becomes an earth crosser.”

The Sword of Damocles” is the metaphor for the imminent and ever-present peril faced by those in positions of power. It is often used also in a broader sense, and simply means an unexpected peril.

Damocles will reach its next perihelion on Aug. 23, 2031, in Leo. The orbital period around the Sun is nearly 41 years. However, astrologically it spends most of it, around 30 years, in Aquarius, and then hurries through the rest of the eleven signs of the zodiac in about ten years. Damocles has recently started a new round. In April 2021 it visited Pisces for the first time, made a visit back and forth between Aquarius and Pisces five times, and in December 2025 ingressed Pisces for good on the current round.

It is darkest before dawn. From a scientific standpoint this is not true. It is a proverb which reminds us that when things in life feel at their worst, a new beginning is just around the corner. Have faith, there is hope even in the worst of circumstances.

Full Moon in Sagittarius

Full Moon in Scorpio – May 1, 2026, 17:23 UT

Friday, May 1st, 2026

Uranus entered Gemini on April 26, 2026. The Full Moon occurs in Scorpio, and in Taurus the Sun is conjunct asteroid 30 Urania, named after the great-granddaughter of Uranus.

Asteroid Urania is a large ellipse shaped main-belt asteroid with a length of 111 km and a width of 89 km. Its orbital period is 3.64 years. In mythology Urania is the heavenly muse of astronomy and astrology. She is often associated with universal love.

According to Demetra George, astrologically Urania represents the principle of inspired knowledge. ”In chart analysis, a prominent Urania indicates an affinity for astrology, astronomy, music (more theory and composition than performance), pure sciences, mathematics, measurement, or numerology.” (Asteroid Goddesses, 2003)

Asteroid Urania was discovered by English astronomer John Russell Hind in 1854 in London. He was a prolific asteroid discoverer of his time. John Russell Hind was born in 1823 in Nottingham, England. In his birth chart, asteroid Urania is at 19+ degrees of Cancer sextile his Sun at 20+ degrees of Taurus. His Sun is in tight conjunction with Arrokoth, a cubewano, which in 2018 was targeted for the space probe New Horizons’ next destination after it would have completed flyby of Pluto. The name Arrokoth means “sky”. Alan Stern, New Horizons principal investigator said in the naming ceremony, that “the name ‘Arrokoth’ reflects the inspiration of looking to the skies, and wondering about the stars and worlds beyond our own.”

Full Moon in Virgo / Total Lunar Eclipse – March 3, 2026, 11:38 UT

Tuesday, March 3rd, 2026

Mercury turned retrograde on Feb. 26, 2026. Mars squared Uranus on Feb. 27, 2026, and the next day the United States and Israel began a series of strikes against Iran. Violence and accidents are commonly associated with the Mars-Uranus square. Now only a few days after the challenging square, the Full Moon at 12+ degrees of Virgo is accompanied by a total lunar eclipse. There are usually two lunar eclipses a year. This is the last total lunar eclipse until New Year’s Eve 2028. The Sun in Pisces is in exact conjunction with asteroid Pallas. The Moon in Virgo is tightly sextile to centaur 39P/Oterma in Cancer.

Full Moon in Virgo / Total Lunar Eclipse

There is no clear orbital distinction between centaurs and comets. Centaur 39P/Oterma was discovered in 1943 by the Finnish astronomer Liisi Oterma. At the time it was an active comet, but a close approach to Jupiter in 1963 put it on its current inactive centaur orbit between Jupiter and Saturn. 39P/Oterma’s orbital period around the Sun is nearly 20 years. For the time being I am not able to get centaur 39P/Oterma appear in the chart wheel, but its location is currently at 12+ degrees of Cancer conjunct Jupiter.

There is another comet in Cancer more closely conjunct Jupiter, namely the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. It was discovered on July 1, 2025. It may be the oldest comet yet seen. It came from the direction of the Milky Way’s Galactic Center. Comet 3I/ATLAS cannot be traced back to its original parent star because it has been traveling around the Milky Way for billions of years. It passed closest to our Sun on Oct. 29, 2025. It will pass Jupiter on March 16, 2026, before heading further to the outer regions of our solar system and then escaping back into interstellar space. The opportunity to catch the message that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS came with will soon be lost.

The Sabian symbol for the Full Moon is Virgo 13, A strong hand supplanting political hysteria. “This is a symbol of the real weight of human personality as emphasized here by the direct intervention of outstanding individuals in the affairs of their fellows. They must provide an over-all ordering for each moment of history if it is to count for much in the lives of the others around them, since there is always a counsel of confusion to take over when events are allowed to drift or when the immediate leadership proves deficient. The greatest opportunity for self-discovery lies in the transient crises of everyday living. The keyword is POWER. When positive, the degree is consistent effectiveness in dramatizing personal potentials, and when negative, loss of all opportunity by timid action.” (Marc Edmund Jones)

Instead of order, the political leaders are providing us chaos and destruction. The symbol of the strong hand hardly refers to them. Asteroid Pallas is named after the Greek warrior goddess of wisdom, foresight, and well-planned warfare. Demetra George points out that in the sign of Pisces Pallas embraces the wisdom of compassion, and can be a devotee of nonviolent resistance, for example.

Full Moon in Leo – Feb. 1, 2026, 22:09 UT

Monday, February 2nd, 2026

The Full Moon in Leo occurs in the same degree with plutino Achlys, one of the large trans-Neptunian bodies named last summer.

Full Moon in Leo

208996 Achlys was discovered on Jan. 13, 2003, by Chad Trujillo and Michael Brown. Its shape is elongated and it has one known moon. Achlys is a third-largest known plutino after Pluto and Orcus. It has a mean diameter of about 770 kilometers and it is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis. The orbital period is 247.8 years.

Achlys was named on June 30, 2025, after the goddess of sorrow and grief. In Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles Achlys is one of the figures described as being depicted on Heracles’ shield, where she is understood as being the personification of sorrow or grief. Homer used the word achlys to describe a mist that is “shed” upon a mortal’s eyes, often while dying.

Nonnus, a notable Greek epic poet, regarded Achlys as a kind of witch. His Dionysiaca describes the life of Dionysus. Zeus had instructed twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river to guard and protect the infant Dionysus from Hera’s wrath. According to Nonnus, Hera “procured from Thessalian Achlys treacherous flowers of the field”, which she used to sprinkle a sleeping charm over their heads, then “she distilled poisoned drugs over their hair and smeared a magical ointment over their faces”, changing them into ox-horned Lamian centaurs.

Full Moon in Gemini – Dec. 4, 2025, 23:14 UT

Thursday, December 4th, 2025

The Full Moon in Gemini is exactly square to the lunar nodes. Mercury, the ruler of Gemini, turned direct on Nov. 29, 2025. The Sun in Sagittarius is in conjunction with minor planet Hidalgo.

Full Moon in Gemini

From geocentric viewpoint the lunar nodes are the two points where the monthly path of the Moon and the yearly path of the Sun intersect. The ascending node can be associated with the future and the descending node with the past. The nodal axis is a symbolic path which involves, quoting Melanie Reinhart, ”not only our incarnate life, but also other levels of existence, some known to us and others not.” She calls the degrees squaring the nodes ”balance points”. Now the luminaries occupy those degrees.

944 Hidalgo, possibly once a comet, was discovered in 1920. The Minor Planet Center classifies it both as a Main-belt asteroid and an unusual object. It has traditionally been considered an asteroid, because centaurs were not recognized as a distinct class until the discovery of Chiron in 1977. Actually Hidalgo is the first member of centaurs ever to be discovered. Its eccentric orbit takes it to the inner edge of the asteroid belt, crosses the orbit of Jupiter, and grazes the orbit of Saturn. Its diameter is approximately 52 km and the shape likely elongated.

Centaur Hidalgo was named after Mexican revolutionary Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who is recognized as the father of Mexican independence. Hidalgo can show affinity for Spanish-speaking countries and cultures. Acting on one’s beliefs, showing courage to challenge authorities, and protecting the weak can be manifestations of Hidalgo.

Full Moon in Taurus – Nov. 5, 2025, 13:19 UT

Wednesday, November 5th, 2025

Supermoon in Taurus glows big and bright. One of the many Kuiper belt objects named in late summer, centaur Petraios, is in conjunction with the Scorpio Sun.

Full Moon in Taurus

(696315) Petraios is a centaur discovered in 2016 and named in August 2025. Its orbital period is about 91.5 years and diameter around 77 kilometers. According to the official naming citation, “The centaur Petraios took part in the battle at the wedding of Pirithous, a symbolic clash between primal chaos and social order. His name means ‘rocky’, evoking strength and stability. As Ovid tells, Petraios fell while grappling with the rooted Earth. Like this minor planet, he marks the edge between structure and upheaval.” How aptly descriptive of this time!

In Greek mythology Petraios was the grandson of Chiron and Chariklo. The battle between the centaurs and the Lapiths is called Centauromachy. The centaurs were guests at King Pirithous’s wedding, but they got drunk and tried to abduct the women, including the bride. The Lapiths won the battle. It was Pirithous himself who killed Petraios (Petraeus). Ovid describes: ”I saw Petraeus trying to uproot an acorn-laden oak and as his arms embraced it and he forced it to and fro, rocking its tottering trunk, Pirithous, hurling a lance that pierced Petraeus’ ribs, pinned fast his writhing chest to the tough wood.”

Centaur Petraios is depicted in a vase from ca. 565 BCE fighting with a Lapith.

Actually there were two separate centaurs named Petraios or Petraeus in Greek mythology. The other one was the “laughing tippling” leader of the satyrs. He was one of the Lamian Pheres, twelve rustic spirits of the Lamos river. They were instructed by Zeus to guard the infant Dionysus and protect him from Hera’s wrath, but she transformed them into ox-horned centaurs. Later they joined the army of Dionysus and accompanied him on his wanderings to India.

Dionysus is the god of wine-making, intoxicated ecstasy, and fertility, also known as Bacchus. His wine, music, and ecstatic dance were considered to free his followers from self-conscious fear and care, and subvert the oppressive restrictions of those in power. We could say that this other Petraios represents the battle between chaos and order seen from another perspective.

Full Moon in Aries – Oct. 7, 2025, 03:48 UT

Monday, October 6th, 2025

The Full Moon in Aries is in conjunction with the trans-Neptunian Leleākūhonua, ”The Goblin”.

The nature of astrology is cyclic. There are rapid cycles, such as the monthly rotation of the Moon, and the annual rotation of the Earth around the Sun. Then there are some extremely long ones.

There was a time when Saturn represented the edge of our solar system. It was the farthest planet visible to the naked eye. The invention of the telescope pushed the limit further out. Pluto held its position as the boundary of the known world for a long time. Today thousands of new planets beyond Neptune have been detected.

Leleākūhonua was discovered ten years ago in October 2015. It is an extreme trans-Neptunian object (ETNO) and a sednoid. Based on its discovery date near Halloween and the letters in its provisional designation 2015 TG387, the object was first nicknamed “The Goblin” by its discoverers. It was first observed at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. Students in the Hawaiian-language program A Hua He Inoa got to suggest the formal name and so the object was named Leleākūhonua, “it flies until land appears”. The object reminded the students of the kolea, or a Pacific golden plover, a migratory bird which migrates from Alaska to Hawaii.

Leleākūhonua orbits the Sun once roughly every 55,000 years. It is now close to us and coming to perihelion in 2078. For over 99 percent of its orbit it is so faint that it could not have been detected. The diameter is around 220 km.

The Moon is the main cause of the tidal phenomenon on Earth. The Earth’s axial tilt and its orbit around the Sun causes the change of seasons. Leleākūhonua’s orbit is so long that it is difficult for our minds to even comprehend it, let alone understand its astrological significance. All the same, the body exists and its orbit is as true and dependable as the return of migratory birds.

Full Moon in Aries

Full Moon in Pisces / Total Lunar Eclipse – Sept. 7, 2025, 18:09 UT

Sunday, September 7th, 2025

The Full Moon is eclipsing in the sensitive sign of Pisces. Very fittingly, one of the newly named trans-Neptunians, Chiminigagua, is present. The Muisca indigenous people were praising their chief god Chiminigagua by adoring the Moon and the Sun.

The New Moon occurs when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction. The Full Moon is the opposition of the Sun and the Moon. Eclipses can only take place at the New Moon or at the Full Moon and when the Sun and Moon are at or near the lunar nodes. The nodes are the points where the yearly path of the Sun and the monthly path of the Moon intersect as seen from Earth.

The word “eclipse” comes from the Greek word meaning “disappearance”. A lunar eclipse occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon, and the shadow of the Earth obscures the Moon. Today the Moon darkens but we are not without light. This lunar eclipse in Pisces occurs at the North node of the Moon. The Sun in the opposing sign Virgo, is in conjunction with the South node of the Moon and Chiminigagua.

Full Moon and lunar eclipse in Pisces

Chiminigagua is a scattered-disc object discovered in 2013 by Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo at Cerro Tololo Observatory in Chile. Chiminigagua is a binary. The primary has a diameter of about 740 km and the yet unnamed satellite about 190 km. The orbital period is about 450 years. The orbit is highly tilted and elliptical, typical for the SDO’s.

Chiminigagua was named on Aug. 11, 2025, after the creator god of the Muisca people that inhabit the Andes mountains in the central part of Colombia. When the world was created there was only darkness and the only light was given by Chiminigagua. She first opened her gigantic belly from where light was shining. Then she created two black birds and launched them into space. The birds spread light from their beaks which produced light in the cosmos. Chiminigagua ruled over all the other gods. She was never praised directly, yet through the lesser gods of the Sun, Moon and fertility.

The Sabian symbol for the eclipse is Pisces 16 The flow of inspiration. Like countless generations before us, we can look to the sky tonight and seek inspiration from its lights and their interaction.

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The WGSBN has been busy. Four more large trans-Neptunian minor planets have been named on Sept. 1, 2025. The WGSBN is a working group of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and responsible for assigning names to minor planets.

Cubewano Uni is named after the Etruscan goddess of love and fertility. Its satellite is named after the Etruscan sky god and Uni’s husband, Tinia. Uni’s orbital period is 282 years and its diameter about 660 km.

Another cubewano is named after Goibniu, the Irish god of metallurgy and hospitality. Its diameter is around 680 km and orbital period about 271 years.

Xewioso, approximately 500–600 km in diameter, is named after a thunder god in the mythologies of the Ewe and Fon people of Western Africa. The orbital period is about 231 years.

Rumina is a scattered-disc object named after a Roman goddess who protected breastfeeding mothers. Her domain extended to protecting animal mothers too, not just human ones. The orbital period is 888 years and the approximate diameter 644 km.

Full Moon in Aquarius – Aug. 09, 2025, 07:55 UT

Thursday, August 7th, 2025

When the Moon in Aquarius opposes the Sun in Leo, there is an awesome kite configuration in the sky. It is mostly formed by the slowly moving outer planets. The Saturn-Neptune conjunction in Aries and Mars in Libra form the spine. Uranus in Taurus and Pluto in Aquarius are the wing tips.

The kite pattern is composed of one opposition as well as trines and sextiles. We have an image of a delicate kite flying in the sky with the wind. Although trines and sextiles are so-called easy aspects, this time the kite reminds me more of a taut bow. The aspects of this kite are tight, and Mars is steering.

The Moon and the Sun are in contact with the kite planets by two pairs of semisquare (45°) and sesquisquare (135°) aspects, which resemble a square. According to Robert Hand, “these two aspects represent times of crisis similar to the square but usually not as intense.”

The world situation is so strange and tense that anything could happen. Whatever it is, it’s someone’s plan. Asteroid Pallas, the symbol of strategic planning, is in conjunction with the Moon.

Full Moon in Aquarius

Full Moon in Capricorn – July 10, 2025, 20:37 UT

Thursday, July 10th, 2025

What a month! After the naming of cubewano Máni two more trans-Neptunians got named in June and a visitor from interstellar space was discovered approaching the Sun. This Full Moon in Capricorn is precisely in conjunction with Máni, the personification of the Moon in Norse mythology. Máni controls the course of the Moon and rules over the New Moon and the Full Moon.

Full Moon in Capricorn

On June 30, Aya and Achlys were named. All three bodies, Máni, Aya and Achlys were found more than 20 years ago, in 2002 and 2003, by Mike Brown and Chad Trujillo. They are large, possibly meeting the definition of a “dwarf planet”.

Aya is a cubewano, although sometimes classified a scattered disc object. It was named after the goddess of dawn and the wife of the sun god from Akkadian mythology. Aya is associated with morning light and the rising sun. In Mesopotamian art many depictions highlighted her beauty and sexual charm. Aya is at least 700 km in diameter and its orbital period is 324 years. Astrologically Aya is at 8+ degrees of Virgo at the moment, in sextile to Jupiter in Cancer and square to Venus in Gemini.

Achlys is a plutino with a possible moon. It is a third-largest known plutino after Pluto and Orcus. It is approximately 940 kilometers across its longest axis, and has an elongated shape. The orbital period is almost 247 years. The moon of Achlys was discovered in 2007. Achlys is the personification of sorrow and grief by ancient Greek poets. In Hesiod’s Shield of Heracles Achlys is one of the figures described as being depicted on Heracles’ shield. Homer uses the word achlys to describe the mist that fogs mortal eyes, often in death. In the astrological chart Achlys is now at 11+ Leo in conjunction with Mercury.

The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered on July 1. It is the third interstellar object discovered, after Oumuamua in 2017 and comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Comet ATLAS will pass between the orbits of Earth and Mars and reaches its closest approach to the Sun at the end of October. In astrology comets in general are seen as message bearers and symbols of change, and one coming outside our own solar system certainly carries weight.