Full Moon in Taurus
3:19 am, HST, 5:19 am PST, 8:19 am EST, 1:19 pm GMT
This Full Moon in Taurus is a SuperMoon, and is going to be the closest and therefore the largest Full Moon of the year. We can expect larger tides and a stronger impact upon our bodies as well. Its brightness is also characteristic of the astrologically powerful energetic fields that it holds. Because of the misalignment of our calendar system with the actual equinox and solstices, this Full Moon also takes place just a day before the actual cross-quarter day, a powerful energetic midpoint between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, intensifying its importance.
Much has changed since the New Moon in Libra, two weeks ago, and yet there are still similarities. For example, the Grand Cross and Grand Trine that were in the New Moon chart are also present in this Full Moon chart, but with some changes. There is high energy with these two major and often rare configurations. What this translates to is that the planets are really pushing us hard to activate our resources to deal with a pretty strong shadow energy within each of us (as well as in the mass consciousness, since each of us is a representation of the whole). Whatever needs to be addressed, even though it’s painful, has to be looked at, especially on the global scene. It’s also telling us that we CAN change things, even though the stakes are really high.
Neptune retrograded back into Pisces last week, joining Saturn retro in that sign. Soon Uranus will also retrograde back into Taurus on Nov. 8th. Having these three major planets go back into the sign they were in previously is a kind of recapitulation and re-experiencing of their influences that date back to at least the last decade, but from the vantage point of our awareness now. When the outer planets change signs, it’s a big deal, since because of their slow movement, they spend so much time in one sign. Since they are at the end of one sign and the beginning of the next, their yearly retrogrades are taking place in a bridging motion which is the signature of 2025.
Much of the going back and forth in sign emphasis speaks to a folding in of the old and the new. Especially this is true in terms of the international politics, the cycles of which the outer planets represent. The zeitgeist has changed dramatically, and this revisitation can have the effect of realizing what is clearly outdated, as we view our past mistakes. Consciousness is constantly being updated and shifting though it may look now, at this turning point, as if we are regressing. However, we are not the same as we were last year. We are waking up to the horrors of how much we have been asleep to the erosion of democracy and at the same time gathering our strength to move forward toward some of the largest transformative years humanity has ever experienced.
Mercury Retrograde
Mercury will be going retrograde Nov. 9th, until November 30th. As it stations and goes back over Mars in Sagittarius, it’s an opportunity for us to look at how we communicate our needs, and perhaps improve our awareness of how we affect others. It’s a time to pay attention to our own self-talk, using to our advantage the more introverted time of this retrograde. What needs fixing, re-ordering, cleaning out—whether in our physical world or our internal one?
Jupiter Retrograde
Jupiter will also be going retrograde two days after Mercury on the 11th. In Cancer, which is the sign of its “exaltation,” Jupiter’s expansive energy brings us into the taproot of all Creation, our archetypal Feminine. When retrograde, it’s time to look at how well we are able to receive the experiences of our lives, to take in what our reality is showing to us, and to take inventory of how much time we spend leading with our heart energy, rather than our head’s. The heart’s energy field is so powerful, it’s measurable three feet outward from the body, and is hundreds of times larger than the brain’s.[1]
This chart’s tone[2] is actually Pisces, given that there are more planets in water signs, and an abundance of mutable signs. So we’ve shifted from the Air predominant influence at the New Moon (thoughts, media, opinions), to Water, which has to do with being influenced by our feelings and emotional content. Mutable signs hold changeable energies, these are the signs that are “bridging” signs, offering creative solutions where fixed and cardinal signs might not be thinking out of the box. Pisces energy asks us to pay attention to what is in our hearts and our bodily feelings, rather than the perhaps outworn rigidity of what we “think” is right or wrong, or what we’ve been taught by society. And since it’s the last sign in the zodiac, we’re looking squarely at a time when our former society is at an end, and learning new ways of how to change and move on from here.
Mars and Mercury are still conjoined as they were at the New Moon. However they’ve moved on from Scorpio and are now in Sagittarius. Mars and Mercury together have the quality of mental aggression, and can tend to get into heated arguments. Especially in the sign of Sagittarius, which tends to be blunt or overstep the bounds of civil discourse, a kind of mental competition and impulsivity is often what we experience with this union of these two gods. Politics can get especially heated and vehement. Remember that Mercury is in its detriment in Sagittarius, opposite the sign it rules of Gemini. Mercury in Sagittarius tends to gloss over the details, the facts, shooting its arrows too high into the air, tending toward inflation. However this can also be a time of much needed insights for us all if we take care to ground ourselves in reality.
We need to pay attention to how prominent Mars is in this chart, as it is nearly exactly in opposition to Uranus, the planet of change, unpredictability and instability. When these are opposed, quarrels and explosive outbursts are often characteristic. It’s possible that sudden events can happen that are destabilizing. However, the Mercury/Mars conjunction is also part of the hopeful Grand Trine in this chart, in an out-of-sign trine to the Saturn/Neptune conjunction and also to Jupiter in Cancer. It all depends upon which way we, each of us, are working the energies involved. It’s a bit of a tightrope dance of the psyche. Staying centered through good, slow, deep breathing, balance and meditation is essential.
To me, the ongoing Grand Trine we’ve been in for this past month is a ray of hope amidst the total decline of civilization we’re experiencing (the Grand Cross). It says that the tipping point we are in now can tip, (it is possible), away from the fantasy of total control (fascism) and toward the magnificent, creative diversity of the human race. Away from fear and toward love, Venus energy.
Chiron the wounded healer and Eris the goddess of Discord, are still tightly conjoined[3] in this chart. However, instead of opposing the New Moon as they did two weeks ago, they now oppose Venus. This is a powerful 180˚ pull away from the energy of what Venus in Libra represents: the aesthetics of beauty, art, and especially the social relations of peacemaking—the glue that holds society together. This “pull” has us facing the “messy” parts of our psyche that have to do with our past attempts at loving, ones that have been wounded in some way. All of us have experienced wounding to our desire for unconditional love, and this Full Moon shines a bright light into our hearts to open them to heal whatever we’re still carrying from the past. The tension is pretty much in our face right now, yet every aspect of an opposition has within it the seeds of growth and opportunity, to bring polarization into a dialog of awareness, which opens the doors to healing.
Venus is also squaring Pluto in this chart, and she will soon enter Scorpio on November 6th (Cross-quarter day). The next day she will exactly square Pluto (from a 90˚ angle), a challenging but powerful outpouring of intensity. Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio, which indicates passions that run in high gear, yet the square angle to Venus indicates a need for restraint amidst all this powerful emotional outflow, to re-channel or transform the intensity by taking back our projections (hopes, fears) onto others that may have interfered with our clarity and openness of the heart. Jupiter in Cancer is the saving grace in this chart, adding to a strength of feeling that can be grounded in the Taurus Moon’s stability, as well as the passionate expression of intensity that the Scorpio Sun brings to the mix.
With all this retrograde motion, November is a month to hone in on what we cherish, to look within to find what our deeper needs are, paying attention to the impulses that arise which are the guides to our souls’ needs. Retrogrades bring us inward, to a time to discover and revitalize our sensitivity, in the quiet spaces in between all of our activity and the clamor of the world’s dramas, to spend time alone or with trusted others, and even to discover what is sacred in the routine of our daily human lives.
[1] For a fascinating article on the intelligence of the heart, written by Daniel Stickler, MD, check out this Substack article.
[2] A chart tone is the total of elements (air, fire…etc.) added to the total of modes (cardinal, fixed or mutable). This may be different than the Sun sign in a birth chart. For example, I am a Gemini, but my chart tone is Cancer.
[3] Chiron and Eris last conjoined in the period of 1971-72, and before that in 1918.





Thank you for your overview....giving me much to reflect on...