Written by Aleen

Aquarius Full Moon

Full moons are about release. Aquarius is about collective empowerment through our individuality. This full moon is about the integration of our own unique genius. 

Within Human Design (or Gene Keys), this full moon occurs whilst the sun is in Gate 33, the Gate of Privacy. A gate which is about the transformation of our pain from the past into surrender, forgiveness, empathy and action.

To talk through this full moon in Aquarius I will use tarot. Within tarot Aquarius is symbolised by The Star (XVII, number 17). I then look at the roman numerals of the card and find their major arcana counterparts. We then have the Wheel of Fortune (X), The Hierophant (V) and The High Priestess (II) who help us understand the energy deeper.

To begin, we start with The Star, which has a large bright yellow star on the card. This star has 8 points and when we count the number 17 (1+7) we end up with the number 8 too. I immediately see the connection to the star of Inanna (or Ishtar) and the sentence, “As Above, So Below” which describes integration and the transformative internal birth, death and rebirth cycles.

Inanna is a Goddess from Sumerian origin (later known as Ishtar) who is connected to the 8 pointed star. Like Persephone, Inanna went on a descent into the Underworld. Within the myth, Inanna had to go through 7 sacred doors and remove an article of clothing at each, leaving her naked by the time she arrived at the Underworld. 

I have written how currently Venus Retrograde is about our descent into our own underworld, our subconscious, we can also call it shadow work. Yet when we look at the tarot card The Star, we know it is one of hope. It reveals that this full moon calls us towards our ascent, the integration of all parts of ourselves to come up renewed.

How do we make the ascent? How do we integrate the pain from the past?

We begin with the X (from XVII), taking us to the card Wheel of Fortune. The focus on this card is the wheel, a circle. Another clue to the birth, death, rebirth cycle, as we never know where circles begin or end. A symbol that life continues to go on and we can’t always control what happens, or has happened to us (Gate 33). Yet, if our lives are like a circle, we can’t outrun it, there always comes a point we have to make peace with it. 

We then move to The Hierophant (V). Traditionally, the Hierophant is a pope, a person of authority with much of his power coming from the traditions of the past. Although it reminds us, just because a person is in a position of authority, does not mean they have authority. This card is a representation of society, programming, ideas of who you “should be” and what is expected of you, stemming from the experiences from the past.

The Hierophant cuts off the number 8 by sitting in the middle. Metaphorically he blocks us from our own intuition and ability to integrate, it blocks our connection to ourselves. It asks us, who or what are you giving your power away to? 

This goes back to the process Inanna went through as she descended into the Underworld and had to remove layers of clothing, a symbol of removing egoic values. We now reach the last part of the journey, The High Priestess (II). We make the ascent by seeing our attachments and removing our “need” for them, to then access our core desires. 

The High Priestess is the spiritual duality, standing between two pillars, the access point of integration of our light and dark, our intuition and mind. She reminds us that to reach hope we must shed our attachment to the past. We need to look at the past as a space of knowledge and wisdom and use it as guidance, not restriction. 

We then come back to The Star. We can see a figure that has two jugs, pouring one into the water and the other on the land. The figure also has one foot in the water and one on the land. This full moon is here to create a renewed sense of hope. It allows us to make peace with our past and accept it. See ourselves as part of something larger and know our stories and lessons allow us to be an individual, be ourselves, which then allows us to see our own light, leading us to our empowerment then the collectives.

Love, Aleen

2 August 2023