As the Full Moon approaches (it’s exact at 9:53 am EDT tomorrow, May 23) do you find yourself racing toward a single goal, or too split in your priorities to make a move? Or are you dancing your way through the week? If you’re dancing, how would you describe the dance?

Moon shining through tree branches over a small house in the dark
Last quarter Moon shining over the Sweet Suite** at Avalon Acres, one week before the Sagittarius Full Moon. Photo by Amanda Painter

* Like a formal ballet, all your weight focused on the tips of your toes in perfect balance, in unison with those around you?

* Or more like a contra dance, as you joyfully whirl and pivot from partner to partner up and down the line? 

* Maybe your week is feeling more like contact improv: you’re leaning into the unknown, constantly shifting your weight and direction in response to your dance partner, co-creating new and delightful “next moves” even when you fall or get momentarily “stuck”?

* Or maybe you’re dancing with the deep focus of tango: listening only to the music and how it guides you and your dance partner across the floor, heartbeat to heartbeat?

I ask because this Full Moon features the Moon in early Sagittarius opposite the Sun in early Gemini. And the Sun will be precisely conjunct the asteroid Terpsichore, named for the Greek muse of dance and lyric poetry.

Full Moons are an opposition. Oppositions often describe interpersonal conflict, requiring us to first negotiate with one side and then negotiate with the other side, until some kind of agreement, compromise, or balance can be reached. Yet sometimes oppositions are gentler, and the confrontation is more like a meeting where each side can see the other more clearly.

And sometimes that meeting is more like a dance. Given that Gemini and Sagittarius both tend to be very social, communicative signs with a lot of outwardly expressive energy, the dance metaphor feels most fitting.

But if it’s your mind that is dancing (among too many options, or to a beat that keeps changing), the Sagittarius Moon could help you to see where you most need to focus right now. Or it might describe the need to balance the intellectual with something closer to faith. Maybe it’s an emotional need to broaden the view beyond a simple and false “either/or” dichotomy.

The Sun and Moon will also be making harmonious contact with Pluto in Aquarius. This describes support in going a little deeper with whatever comes up for you during this Full Moon.

What’s actually happening under the surface of a situation? What is truly motivating you? What do you most need to accomplish?

Are any deep-rooted emotions about a relationship coming to the surface? If so, could expressing them help strengthen the connection between the two of you?

This same day Venus merges with Jupiter in Taurus, and the two make a harmonious aspect to Neptune in Pisces. All three planets will be in the last degree of their respective signs for this contact, and Venus will leave Taurus and enter Gemini at 4:30 pm EDT on Thursday.

This duo in Taurus suggests good vibes for all kinds of relationships — intimate, platonic, professional, or broadly social. It looks like another buffer (along with Terpsichore and the general natures of Gemini and Sagittarius) against the “crunchier” types of Full Moon stress that can sometimes pop up, allowing some laid-back optimism to filter through.

Neptune infuses the Venus-Jupiter conjunction with extra dreaminess and idealism. Do you use it to make some art, or to enjoy a performance of music, poetry, dance, or theater with a friend? (“Angels in America” at Portland Stage Company would be a perfect choice!) Or do you use the good vibes and creative mojo to embody some of your deepest values and ideals in a social context?

If by chance you’re feeling this Moon rather intensely, like a lot of ideas and mental energy with no clear, prioritized outlet, that may mean it’s time to get out of your head and into your body. With some planets still in Taurus, physical activity (especially directly involving nature) is a pretty sure bet to help you get grounded and centered. From that place a clearer direction may emerge.

Get off your devices and go outside. See who meets you in real time and in real space. Truly listen to what they have to say. Notice how you feel in response. Body language counts, and is a great barometer for whether your words genuinely match your thoughts and emotions. Offer a little more vulnerability in your reply than you might normally, see how it is received, and then try it again.

In other words, dance.

With love,

Amanda

**The Sweet Suite at Avalon Acres is a mini-dwelling intended for solo retreat (writing, meditative, or otherwise). My dear friends Mary Katherine and Michael needed beta testers, and so I gifted myself a 24-hour stay just after my birthday — listening to birds, frogs, and a deer snorting while I photographed the Moon, walking the trail (and napping) during the day. If you could use a comfortable, cozy retreat space on beautiful farmland in the Maine woods, the Sweet Suite is a sweet choice.

Moonlight shining above the Sweet Suite with the lights on, May 16, 2024.
Simplified chart for the Sagittarius Full Moon, including some of the objects in contact with the major players. Clockwise from upper left: the Sun in Gemini; Venus,Jupiter, Uranus, and Mercury in Taurus; Neptune in Pisces; Pluto in Aquarius; Ceres in Capricorn; the Moon in Sagittarius; Pallas in Scorpio; Black Moon Lilith in Virgo; Vesta in Cancer. Not shown: Terpsichore in Gemini, closely conjunct the Sun. For more minor planet action and thoughts about their meaning during this Full Moon, visit my friend Amy’s new minor planet report at Theano Astrology.

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