Truth, May Full Moon

Truth
May Full Moon
8 degrees Sagittarius
Tuesday, May 29 at 7:19am pdt

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The May Full Moon will be in Sagittarius.  Sagittarius is the truth seeker of the zodiac.  Sagittarians love to explore and experience the world so that they can have their own intimate understanding of the ‘why’ of things.  They have a deep love of travel, both of the mind and body.  However, their deepest intention is to not only seek out new knowledge, but rather to have meaningful experiences of the knowledge they uncover. After all, what good is knowledge if you do not have a practical experience of it?

There are two Sanskrit words used in yoga that refer to knowledge.  To be fair, there are probably many others, but I only know two that I can share with you. Jana is book knowledge.  Vijana is experiential knowledge, knowledge that is deeply imbedded through personal experience. For example, one may have knowledge about how to meditate from reading a book on meditation or attending a lecture. However, one can’t be considered and expert in meditation without having practiced it and experienced it firsthand.  Vijana describes the deeper knowledge that is acquired when one combines book knowledge with experiential knowledge resulting in a deeper, more complete personal experience and understanding of the subject matter. Another example is grief. you can read about the experience of grief but never truly understand it until experiencing it firsthand. Furthermore, one experience of grief can be totally different from another, even within the same person. Sagittarians are all about Vijana, they enjoy learning, but they really savor experiencing. 

This Full Moon is inviting us to experience our own truth, to truly understand what it is, where it lives and what our experience of it is.  Full Moons are the most charged, emotional time of the month. The Sun and the Moon are in opposition, highlighting either a collaboration of opposites or a repelling of opposites.  When I look at this particular Full Moon chart I see more collaboration than opposition.    
To start with, there is a weak Grand Trine between Venus, Neptune and Jupiter bringing together the aspects of love, spirituality and expansion.  In addition, Uranus (change), Mercury (communication) and Chiron (wounded healer) are also in a harmonious relationship.  The combination of these two groups supports the idea that love does indeed conquer all. However, true love does not discriminate. True love embraces all aspects, not just the parts of ourselves and others that we adore but also the parts that we may not like very much. This type of love can only bloom if it is nonjudgmental and compassionate.  The loving embrace of Venus, Jupiter and Neptune is the epitome of compassion. This Full Moon is asking us to cultivate our compassion, and experience that kind of unconditional, true love, despite the fact that it may also be a part of something that you despise.
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For example, let’s say you have an injury or perhaps arthritis in a joint, something that causes you both pain and reduced mobility (that’s the thing you hate).  The truth here is that the injured or painful area is still part of your body, right?  It is still part of the whole of you that you love. What would happen if you sent love and had compassion to that part of yourself instead of anger and frustration? It is not unlike a parent who loves a child despite the fact they may have done something utterly despicable. Experience what it feels like to nurture compassion for the difficult parts of yourself as well as those of others. Actually, try to do it.  Don’t be content to just acquire a small nugget of jana, but rather challenge yourself with the deeper enrichment of the full vijana experience.