Configurations are the focus with this Full Moon, and for once I won’t bury the lead: the Lunar culmination brings a shocking punch via a Fist of God, and an Earth Grand Trine with Pluto and Sedna; all this makes the wide opposition to Neptune, and the square to the Black Moon Lilith point, seem like a cake walk. (Have you ever actually participated in a cake walk? I thought it was a phrase meaning, no more difficult than eating a piece of cake–while walking?–but then was at a fair years ago, where there was an actual cake walk–and I won a cake! And then shared it with all my friends, right there at the fair, eating with our hands–only when you’re a teenager, right?)

The Full Moon perfects at 11:18 PM PST on the 17th at 27 Virgo 40–though perhaps surprisingly, not yet Void as it pulls away from Earth/ opposition to the Sun, as at culmination it will already be forming a Grand Trine with Pluto and Sedna, which are 30 and 38 minutes ahead, respectively. This suggests a balanced state of energies–but have we considered that this doesn’t necessarily mean peaceful? Balance can mean forces that are equally matched, like the pressure each leg of a tripod applies to the others–and that’s the case here. We see the Moon-Earth in Virgo (emotions, particularly critical ones, around practicality, accountability, and results), Pluto in Capricorn (expressions of power, destruction, transformation, or change around established systems, organizations, rules, authorities, and structures, figurative or literal), and Sedna in Taurus (instinctive knowledge of material matters, what we ‘know but don’t know’, ‘blind spot’ material, especially around what is or isn’t a necessity) exerting equal ‘push’–and this may either confer a sense of stagnation, that things will never change, or find us having to choose–which things will I support, which things allow, which things try to stop? The presence of Sedna suggests, no matter the effort we expend, our judgment may be off, skewed by a POV that omits certain facts (‘blind spot’ material). That means we may be making decisions that affect our world in big ways, in physical and organizational ways, and that we may be recognizing or refusing to recognize particular authorities (including ourselves, in our own lives), based on an incomplete or distorted picture.

Then we have the Fist of God (or Thor’s Hammer), with the Full Moon apex sesquiquadrate each side of a square between Venus in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus. The punch comes from conflict between forward-thinking elements in relationships or finances, and inclinations toward keeping things the same by undermining updates, so to speak, through inciting chaos, rebellion (individually or in a group), or by refusing to present a reliable ‘face’, especially in matters of security or material need (that is, by being unreliable ourselves). This conflict creates emotional turmoil, via the actual impact on the material world (Virgo), especially in the distribution of rewards or goods (the ‘Harvest’ and accountability functions of Virgo).

Is the more forward-looking attitude ‘right’, or is it smarter to undermine what’s being labeled ‘progress’? I suppose that depends on your viewpoint; my thought is that if you balk at reforming, improving, modernizing, bringing the individual into line with group efforts, or at applying Higher Mind awareness to interactions or assets, then you need to be very clear why. Disruption and rebellion can serve a Higher Good–but too often we use these when we simply don’t want things to change, or won’t accept reality. So, an honest assessment of our own motives is in order, along with a careful examination of real-world circumstances. If there’s one thing that’s clear in the light of this Moon, it’s that real-world matters (the prominence of Earth signs) will be on the table at this time, in need of sorting and subject to our judgment of which matters are worth supporting/ pursuing.

The Virgo Full Moon’s opposition to Neptune and square to Black Moon Lilith forms a T-square that suggests the way to see clear of our illusions, to meet the creative impetus inherent in reality/ the Truth, is to be willing to face head-on those things that we or others/ the system have been ignoring, denying, or that have enraged us but which we’ve not acted upon. In its own way, this says the solution to the emotional tensions culminating at this Moon depend for resolution solely on our own ability to see reality, and our part in it, fully and completely, for what they really are.

The Sabian needs no explanation, I think: ‘A Baldheaded Man Who Has Seized Power’. The sense of this image that can apply to every one of our lives is this: the simple reason someone seizes power is because they don’t want anyone else to have any. It’s in the word ‘seize’, which tells us quite clearly it’s been grabbed, not handed over willingly. Look for the entity doing that, be totally honest with yourself about your own concerns and motives, and you’ll know exactly how to handle the days ahead.

We always look at the Sun for a Full Moon as well; its Sabian is, ‘A Fertile Garden Under The Full Moon Reveals A Variety Of Full-Grown Vegetables’. This tells us that something we ‘planted’ long ago, has, probably without our attention, reached maturity. Time for the harvest!