Crabs and Goats and Clouds
Tarot and the Full Blue Moon in Capricorn
The Blue Buck Full Moon on Sunday night 21 July is in 29 degrees of Capricorn and 29 degrees of Cancer. It feels like the end of an era, but we don’t yet have a name for this era which is passing. We are too close to it. But we do know we are seeing an ending to old norms and certainties. From the mountain tops of Capricorn the ibex to the rock pools of the Crab, we feel the earth shifting beneath our feet. Aquarius beckons, but the Aquarian Star of Hope is somehow remote in comparison. Aquarius the Water Bearer is the clouds above our heads. Weather markers and weather makers. And it is Cloud Computing, and Pluto is retrograde in Aquarius until September 2 when it will move retrograde in Capricorn.
Pluto is hidden power, hidden wealth. It is mining. Mineral and crypto. Pluto in Aquarius is the rise of Technocracy and it is flexing its muscle. It is the beautiful Star of Hope. It stands for collective. It is Humanity and it means well. But as we are reminded, it is prone to human error, the road to hell may be paved with good intentions (St Augustine) and when it decides it knows best, we are in trouble. I saw a story yesterday about a coffee shop that will not allow you entry until you smile into its sensor. It might seem harmless, nothing to make a fuss about, but the implications are frightening.
I used to teach evening classes in adult college. I recall telling one class of business studies students that this huge new thing was coming, called the Information Superhighway. It was 1990 and the Information Superhighway was the Internet.
I was recently switched away from a GP online system to create an NHS App account, -no option in the matter- but I still could not log-in to access my medical records today or reorder medicine for a heart problem. No matter. I will get on the phone if need be. While that option is still there, I can. But such is the global reach now of this Information Superhighway when it goes wrong, in this case, in the shape of cyber security company Crowdstrike, whose share price has tumbled today in consequence of the worlds biggest tech outage so far. But it isn’t the first and there will be more.
On Monday we enter the zodiac sun sign territory of Leo, as codified by Ptolemy in the second century based on an arithmetic model of the zodiac. This Full Moon is something of a last shout along the Cancer-Capricorn axis of culminations, endings, closing chapters, private life v public life, home v nation, family v public life.
A blue moon is the second full moon in the same zodiac sign in a calendar month, and happens only once every 2 -3 years. Reading this moon purely in terms of tarot card date correlations we have the Cancer decan 3 card, the Four Cups, signifying a restless, unquiet time of pause. Unease. Dissatisfaction. So what can we do to make this better?
And we have the Capricorn decan 3 card, the Four of Pentacles. Stewardship. Savings. "I keep what is mine. It is hard earned, hard won. Not to be frittered away, wasted, scattered to the winds.”
This is not meanness (though it can become that way, hence this card is sometimes nicknamed..not entirely with justice, The Miser card.) But we cannot give what we haven't got. This card can therefore also mean the relinquishing of a great responsibility. As we segue into the first decan Leo, one considers the corresponding tarot card, the Five of Wands. Competition, conflict, hats thrown into the ring, amid heated speculation as to the forthcoming Democrat nominations. News seems imminent, and 29 degrees suggests a changing of the old guard, a complication being the old guard is running both sides.
I drew The Hanged Man lately, a card of sacrifice and withdrawal, and while this could have been detecting the shocking attack on Donald Trump which had not happened yet, and the tragic death of a blameless bystander, a devoted family man, this Neptunian card felt to me more like Joe Biden, preparing to change his position. It has also appeared many times in respect of Zelenskyy readings done for Ukraine since 2022, and this is set to continue a key issue for the US, regardless of its policies going forward in the next Presidency.
Close to home, this is a time for keeping one's feet firmly on the ground, keeping one’s powder dry, sufficient unto the day. Steady of nerve but sure-footed as a ibex. It is not easy. But the high stepping ibex of Capricorn is somewhere in our natal chart, and says we are all exalted in this, our earth.
“I know that life is beautiful, but I also know that we often make a mess of it and turn it into a silly farce or a heart-rending tragedy, or both, so much so that one ends by not knowing whether to cry or to laugh. It is easier to cry, but far better to laugh, so long as one doesn’t laugh aloud.”
― Axel Munthe, The Story of San Michele
Thank you for reading.
Until next time : )
Beautiful words and inspiring message and interpretation. Thank you for sharing.
Hello and thank you. Trying to hang on here in the U.S. Be well!