Tomorrow’s full moon—occurring Friday, November 19th at 3:39 am EST—is jam-packed with so much drama that condensing it for Instagram would have only served to give me a headache. So, this month you get a full blog article that spills all the metaphorical lunar tea.
Blood moons represent the blood harvest, or winter hunting season needed for survival.
This Blood Moon finds the Sun and the Moon at the 27th degrees again, this time on the Taurus-Scorpio Axis. With the Sun in Scorpio and the Moon in Taurus, the full moon gives energy towards understanding our emotions, motivations, secrets, and what we value, and our energy.
Moon experiencing a lunar eclipse is often called a Blood Moon because the alignment of the Earth between the Sun and the Moon casts a reddish-ochre shadow on the Moon’s face.
The second reason we call this the Blood Moon is that this full moon’s light often guided hunters as they sought their quarries to help feed their families through the cold, fallow winter months. After a successful hunt, historically and traditionally, meat is drained of blood and cleaned so it can be preserved and stored for the future.
Similarly, this Blood Moon brings energy that will help us clean out and drain away what we don’t need. It will bring about questions such as: What isn’t needed that can be cleaned up and thrown away? What can we drain away from ourselves to start the preparation for the future? And, what is draining our energies way more than necessary?
Evaluating and exposing the things that no longer serve us or are downright burdensome is very Scorprionic. Scorpio Sun reveals secrets, the hidden, and forgotten. Scorpio can also be about sharing and borrowing resources and energy, so you may notice an emphasis on how much you and those around you are sharing and borrowing from each other. Taurus Moon is exalted, giving energy to our values, valuables, and energetic exchanges (i.e., our time and effort for some sort of gain). This moon highlights the emotional connection and potential triggers between what we value, what drains us and breaches our values. Finding a temperate balance between resources and energies that belong solely to us and resources and energies we can share will help keep our emotions and responses from being overreactions.
Lunar eclipses appear as a blood-red or ochre shadow.
Speaking of emotions, the Sun and Moon are both squaring Jupiter, which is a hard energy aspect. Jupiter’s energy expands and broadens, and with hard aspects like squares, that energy is more exaggerated. Aquarius Jupiter squaring the Blood Moon exaggerates emotions and can trigger exaggerated reactions. Similarly, Jupiter squaring the Scorpio Sun can exaggerate the shock of discovering secrets and trigger overreactions as a result.
On top of all of this, eclipses are harbingers of change. Lunar eclipses always happen on full moons just like solar ones occur on new moons. They are powerful wildcards that can act as portals for us to access information and downloads. An eclipse can also symbolize where we are headed, collectively as well as individually, and can release stuck, blocked, or secret energy. Often, it can take up to six months after an eclipse to fully understand its effects, so expect this energy to have long-term effects.
Additionally, we haven’t seen a celestial event like this since February 18, 1440, and won’t see another until February 8, 2669. Not only will the eclipse cover 97.4% of the moon when it’s almost full, it will also last 3 hours and 28 minutes—the longest lunar eclipse we’ve seen in 580 years. At 4:02 am EST, the eclipse peaks, leaving a sliver of the moon untouched. A treat if the weather permits will happen around midnight when the moon will appear to be half bloody.
The nodal axis position dictates where and when the eclipses happen, and the nodes change signs in a precession every 18 months. In this case, the North Node is at 1 degree Gemini and the South is at the same degree in Sagittarius. This coming January, the nodes will change to North Node in Taurus and South in Scorpio. This eclipse is out of sign, with the Sun and Moon on the Taurus-Scorpio axis and the Nodes in the Gemini-Sagittarius axis, and a preview of the nodal changes coming in January 2022.
Albert Einstein once said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when creating them.” This accurately describes the nodal lesson in general, but especially happening with this full moon. The North Node represents the new thinking and opportunities and the South the unresolved and unfinished business or problems.
For example: The Scorpio Sun conjunct the South Node in Sagittarius can potentially highlight unresolved situations around the belief, laws, or dogma about debt, shared resources, secrets, etc. The Taurus Moon conjunct the North Node in Gemini might be an opportunity for new or more conversations on facts and practical application around Taurus-ruled subjects including food, earnings, what we value, how we exchange our time and energy for resources (such as money). This can lead to new beliefs, laws, dogma around resources, energy, and so on.
So, as we move into and past this full moon, pay attention to what’s clarifying the current Gemini-Sagittarius situations while being mindful of what is pulled up for the future Taurus-Scorpio events. Think of it as prepping for your next class while learning what you need from the current one.
Stars, too, can influence and lend their energy to the power of full moons.
Though fixed stars aren’t often mentioned in relation to full moons, there are several significant to this Blood Moon, in particular the fixed star Algol. Fixed stars are riptides into the archetypal patterns they represent. Algol has a pernicious reputation and is sometimes referred to as the Demon Star. It also shares the same root meaning as ghoul, the undead creature that feasts on corpses. More important, though, is its placement within the Perseus constellation as the severed head of Medusa.
Algol sits at 26 degrees Taurus and conjuncts the Moon. As if all the other aspects and elements of the Blood Moon weren’t enough, Algol emphasizes the potential for emotional responses and overreactions. Be aware that this can manifest as “losing your head” or senses, or a loss of rationality. This Algol/Medusa energy can also be protective or even overprotective, since Medusa is often depicted as a guardian against evil and emphasizes the importance of mental health. Your gut reaction may seem exaggerated or disruptive, but it’s happening for a reason. Our instincts are primordial guides, and ignoring them, at least in my experience, rarely leads to beneficial results.
On the other side of the Taurus Moon is the Pleiades cluster which starts at 28 degrees Taurus and ends around 0 degrees Gemini. The Pleiades cluster in Western tradition represents the Seven Weeping Sisters. In Ancient Egyptian mythology, the Pleiades were the seven Hathors who provided nourishment to terrestrial beings. Here’s another Moon conjunction that emphasizes emotions, potentially exaggerated, but as we know, tears are cleansing and help to release emotional overflow.
The Blood Moon encourages us to connect to our depths, our fears, our shadows, and evaluates what is important, what holds value, and what no longer aligns that should be released. The lingering energy from this moon will see us continuously releasing energetic blocks, shining light on what we can or should share, and identifying what is solely ours, and owning those things. With several elements prepping an emotional minefield, including Jupiter square as well as Algol and the Pleiades conjuncts, the full moon’s usually elevated emotional response will be even more volatile. Practicing mindful breathing and employing methods to deescalate tense emotions and situations will be helpful.
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