On Sunday, July 21st at 4:16 am MST we welcome a Capricorn Full Moon. This may be the second Capricorn Full Moon on the summer, but they (and us) couldn’t be any different. The first Capricorn Full Moon greeted us drenched in berry-colored juice under the Summer Solstice. A new season on the horizon, filled with promise and hope, we celebrated our wins so far this year as we began our month-long journey of balancing Cancer and Capricorn. We found ourselves doing a mid-year check-in and moving forward appropriately. Perhaps we spent the month looking back to look forward. We were somewhere between The Fool and The Magician.
This second Full Moon finds us as worn and weary travelers, but still thirsty with willpower and eager to complete our journey. As we tumble towards the edge of The World, there are some things we can’t ignore if we wish to continue into the next chapter. And by things I mean skeletons we’ve been stepping over for years, monsters under our beds that we’ve told ourselves are just our “imagination”, and fear that we like to pretend has no hold but underneath it all it dictates our every move. Here, at the end of our Cancer-Capricorn journey, shit has gotten REAL.
Full Moons are moments of illumination. Of perspective. And THIS Full Moon is illuminating some underworld realness, my friends. Happening at 29° Capricorn, also known as the “aneretic degree” which is uncomfortable AF. This isn’t our first rodeo with 29° Capricorn, young bucks. Earlier this year as we waited for Pluto, the god of the underworld and ruler of death and transformation, to enter Aquarius, we were held in a 29° limbo. (Dates: December 19th 2023 - January 20th 2024. I wrote more about this in this week’s edition of “This Week in the Stars” if you are interested). This degree is a point of crisis and urgency, the planet trying to wrap everything up it wants to do in a sign before moving on to the next. And honestly, that can translate to feeling like living in a pressure cooker. I know I sound dramatic, but I guess I feel personally victimized by 29° of Capricorn. (If you think back, maybe you do too).
So this Full Moon is illuminating the Capricornian things we need to get right with (or let go of) before we move forward. I'm talking power, productivity, achievement…. hell, might as well cue Lana's 'Money Power Glory' and hit repeat. But beneath all of this lurks FEAR - fear of not being powerful enough, productive enough, or successful enough. This lunation could be highlighting the fear of being powerless at the hands of another or being a failure in the eyes of someone we consider powerful. These dynamics are getting turned up extra loud thanks to Pluto - the master of your personal subterranean - who is holding hands with the Full Moon as it shines its bright light into the plutonic caves of your deep psyche. The shadows cast by this illumination are long and decrypted, dancing around you and daring you not to pass them by, out of sheer fear. But, we aren’t ignoring what makes us uncomfortable anymore *she says as she claps between each word*. It’s time to face the music, claim your power, and dance with those shadows, baby.
This Full Moon is asking us to:
Stare down our deepest fears
Examine shadows we have been avoiding
Wade through the darkness to embrace our power
Process hurts or pains from our past (or that we inherited from our family)
Before I jump into our ritual, here are some journal prompts to work with under this bright sky:
What projects or ambitions have you been holding back on due to fear of failure or success?
When you truly allow yourself to daydream about “what you want to do” what is it?
When you think about succeeding, how does it make you feel?
When you think about failing, how does it make you feel?
What was the culture in your family around success and failure? Do you agree with these ideas, whether yes or no, are you still holding onto them?
What does power mean to you?
Draw what your fear monster looks like. Give it a name.
A Simple Full Moon Ritual for Releasing Fear
Supplies Needed
Journal and pen
Something you can burn paper in - ideally you have access to a fire pit/place to do this, but you could also use a cast iron pan in your sink, a fire-safe bowl in your bathtub or a mini cauldron.
If no access to building a fire, you will want a candle (any candle will do!)
Rosemary (if you have access, not necessary)
Before you begin writing, call in protection and support from your ancestors and guides. You are going to write EVERYTHING you are afraid of, and I mean everything. Get into the details, the nitty gritty - ie if you are afraid of failing and that means you will have to move back in with your family, put that on your list. There is no detail too small for this exercise. Once complete, tear the pages out of your journal. If you have access to a fire pit/place, go ahead and build your fire. If not, set yourself up where you are going to burn your paper and and place the candle near your set up. Please be safe when using fire and set up you dish or pan in a sink or bath tub with a bowl of water! Feel free to adorn the space with any flowers, herbs, crystals, talismans etc you see fit for supporting your release.
If you are working with an open fire, you are going to toss rosemary in as an offering as you invoke your ancestors who the intent of support your release and your healing. If no open fire, you can burn the rosemary and allow the smoke to waft over you as you invoke your ancestors. Now, you are going to read your fears aloud, but wording it such that “I now release my fear of _____. I no longer consent to this fear in my life or psyche in any timeline or dimension.” Once you get through your list you will burn this paper and state “So mote it be. And so it is.” Thank your ancestors for their support and protection and release them.
A few days from this ritual, take your ashes to a nearby river (that doesn’t drain to a watershed) and release them.
As you face down the creepy, crawlies and dance with you skeletons and shadows, remember that you aren’t just facing fears, you are reclaiming your power. And you my friend, are a powerful, badass, wonderful, brillant human who deserves to take up space in this world with your ideas, creations and existence. Cheering you on from here as you step into the next chapter.