Expanded Awareness

Full Moon
Moon 4 Aquarius 45
Friday July 27 at 1:20pm pdt
Total Lunar Eclipse
(not visible in the Pacific Northwest)
 

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Full Moons naturally highlight duality or opposites as the Sun and the Moon are opposite of each other. This full moon, the moon will be in Aquarius – innovator and community creator.  Aquarius’s focus is on creating communities that support all its members.  Opposing the Moon is the Sun in fiery Leo – passionate and regal.  Leo’s focus is about being the most radiant person they can be.  Both of these signs want to manifest the best of life. Aquarius is focused on the community and Leo is focused on themselves. Here lies a beautiful but tricky dance.  The strongest most vibrant communities are communities where members are allowed to express their most authentic and unique self in a way that synergistically supports the community.  This is the highest expression of the Leo/Aquarius axis.  However, when individuals force their individual needs on others or a community is too ridged and restrictive in regard to what their members can do, neither the community nor the individual thrive. 

This Full Moon will be at 4 degrees Aquarius.  In the Tarot, 4 is the Emperor.  According to Angeles Arriens the Emperor is part of the Emperor Constellation. The symbol of the Emperor Constellation, is of course a crown.  She explains that the crown is a universal symbol of expanded awareness. Think of all those icons of saints with halos about their heads.  The 7th Chakra, called the ‘Thousand Petaled Lotus’ is often depicted on the crown of the head of a figure in meditation.  In order to truly manifest the highest expression of ‘Emperor’ or ‘Ruler’ with ‘expanded awareness’, one needs to be firmly grounded, able to understand the unique and varied needs of one’s dominion and to be able to address those needs, or govern, in a way that supports the whole while also allowing space for individuals to flourish as well.  Isn’t this just another way of viewing the Aquarius/Leo axis described above? 

Regarding our yoga practice, we need to see the bigger picture so we can address our needs in a more wholistic, synergistic way. It is important to be aware of our body’s needs especially with regard to its strengths and its weaknesses.  It is also important to understand our level of energy. Do we need to build energy or move excess energy? Often, we come to class more concerned with our mind and emotions, perhaps wanting to push towards a particular goal without consultation with our body or energy level.  If we were able to put on our own emperor’s crown of expanded awareness, we would take into consideration the body’s needs and energy level. This could help us choose a more appropriate class for ourselves, perhaps a restorative or therapeutic class instead of a vigorous class or vice versa.

This full moon does have several challenging relationships with other planets, especially Jupiter (expansion) and Uranus (innovation/change).  These challenging aspects help to highlight what needs our attention.  Sadly, we often don’t notice something needs attention until it is screaming at us, like an aching back or sore shoulder.  What would happen if we were listening, expanding our awareness to include all of our pieces: body, mind and energy before getting to the point of injury?  How might that change our yoga practice? How might that change our lives? 

Let’s pause and investigate our dominion.  Let’s listen to our members: body, mind and energy.  What do they need? How can we allow space for each of them to fully express themselves in a way that synergistically supports our most vibrant self?

Dive Deep to Ascend,
Andrea