The 2016 Aquarius Full Moon

2016 Aquarius Full Moon – August 18, 2016

2:26 AM PDT / 5:26 AM EDT / 9:26 AM GMT

25 Leo 51 / 25 Aquarius 51

Astrology Forecast for the 2016 Aquarius Full Moon

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.” —  Khalil Gibran

When you emerge from an intense experience, it’s common to see your life through new eyes. That shake-up in perspective — and the changes it motivates — are the gift of the 2016 Aquarius Full Moon.

Like any Full Moon,the 2016 Aquarius Full Moon brings a culmination of feelings and developments that have been in process. Calling this round extreme is an understatement, thanks to the years (and lifetime(s)) of gunk warrior god Mars dredged up during his recent months in Scorpio.

We’re coming back from the brink, emotionally and, for some of us, physically, after the combination free-fall, deep sea dive and monster rally of June and July. Feelings, truths, and realizations have surfaced that aren’t going back. They are your filter now.

Notice what looks different. Notice especially what feels different. You might be viewing your circumstances as a mess (as in, “who made this –?”). Or wanting to rearrange specific parts, or throw them out the door. Or perceiving certain aspects as restrictions and railing against them, gasping for breathing room, even pushing to break free somehow. Or all of the above.

The urges will be hard to resist. The ruler of Aquarius, Uranus, is cooperating with both the Sun and Moon, stoking impulses for freedom and being your own person. Uranus is the cosmic rebel, agent of radical, unexpected change, and advocate for alternative viewpoints. It’s making the easy flow of a trine to the Sun, representing our intellect and rational side, and the opportunity aspect of a sextile to the Moon, representing our emotions.

A companion influence is also pumping the drive to push against walls — only this one has the built-in likelihood of hitting them. Mars, now fast and free in the fire of Sagittarius, is heading straight for Saturn, lord of order.

The approach could inspire feverishly arguing and pushing against limits, obstacles, and rules. It could also feel like one foot is on the accelerator and the other on the brake — although, since Saturn is the traditional ruler of Aquarius, his preference for order and structure could well prevail. Optimally, the pair will collaborate in controlled, sustained effort, with Saturn tempering the colt-like, my-way-or-the-highway proclivities of Mars in Sagittarius.

The tricky part about all these possible expressions of Mars/Saturn is the utterly unclear road conditions in which they’re occurring. Haze, fog, and tricks of the light are obscuring and distorting the road and everything in it.

Saturn, lord of form, is in a harsh aspect to Neptune, lord of everything that defies form (from illusion, delusion, and deception to transcendence, high-level love and interconnectedness with all life). The upshot, for this Full Moon, is that we may be operating under false or misleading data. Objects in the mirror may not only be closer than they appear, but they also might not be as or what they appear.

This probability extends even to the nature of the 2016 Aquarius Full Moon, which may or may not be an eclipse. (If it were, it would be the first in a cycle that gets fully underway in February 2017, lasting through January 2019.) It is listed as a penumbral lunar eclipse in some, but not all, tables of the month’s planetary positions. NASA representatives have told editors at The Mountain Astrologer the 2016 Aquarius Full Moon does not qualify as an eclipse. (The Mountain Astrologer,  August-September 2016, p. 89.)

With Uranus so much in the mix, the distinction may be moot. Radical change is upon us, whether from a lightning strike or the cosmic reboot of the sky going temporarily dark.

So this lunation may or may not be an eclipse. What people are telling you may or may not be true. Your own vision may or may not be skewed. (Though do note your first impressions, as you emerge from the mix of June/July. First impressions are often right.)

No matter. Even if their triggers may or may not be real, or true, or as we perceive, emotions do not lie.

Friends, organizations and the beat of your unique drum figure prominently in many of the areas of focus, as well as the triggering events. You’re discovering how you really feel about some of them (or how they make you feel), and then acting on that awareness.

In some cases, this means separating from a friend or a group or, more likely, embracing the realization that you have already separated. In other cases, it means a sudden leap into the future — recognizing a shiny brass ring and grabbing it, spying an opening and diving through it, seeing a Bat signal in the sky and showing up with cape billowing. In your heart, at least, if not yet in your actions.

The Mars/Saturn presence in Sagittarius makes the theoretical surprisingly important now. Life philosophies matter in the here and now of the physical world. The personal is political; the political is personal. And how. Beliefs, willingness to learn vs. rigid attachment to dogma, concepts of integrity, attitudes about law, diversity, government, education or the media, community spirit vs. us against a  demonized them  — any of these are operating as personal sorting hats.

The clamor is loud in and outside our heads. We’re thinking, talking and lapping up sound bytes with a vengeance, thanks to Jupiter’s more-more-more coming online in the communication hub of Mercury.  With this confab taking place in Virgo, evaluation and analysis are on overdrive, with an eye toward improvement that can descend into finding fault simply because it can. The verbal chewfest can assist in cleaning up your own thinking, building healthier boundaries and distancing influences that could disrupt or infect. (Time for another social media purge?)

If a situation does not play well with your drumbeat (or, worse, knocks it out of rhythm), breaking away is easy now. (Perhaps effortless, even necessary; situations might simply snap apart). Friends, group,s and dreams that are in alignment will not only feel more right but also trigger — and deliver — epiphanies and developments that inspire, catalyze and propel.

Leaps forward have somber undertones, though. Friendships are serious business these days. (To Aquarius, they’re the stuff of religion). The connections that will stand by us and blossom require respect and commitment, to the union as well as to each person in it. Not to mention breathing room and each person being true to himself.  (Scroll up for the Khalil Gibran quote as a refresher.)

The 2016 Aquarius Full Moon reaches far into the future as well. Call it an eclipse or not, it has a long shelf life, into the fall of 2017. Epiphanies, decisions, jailbreaks, breakthroughs and emotional outpourings now prepare the way for three explosive, upcoming links between the traditional and modern rulers of Aquarius, Saturn, and Uranus. They meet in a trine in December, and again in May and November 2017.

All three stabilize, or at least put form to, the radical individuating end of the change imperative that’s come off the Uranus/Pluto square since 2012. (Think politics have been whackadoodle lately? Just wait.) The first two trines occur near the degree of this Full Moon. The third, in November, happens at the degree.

The 2016 Aquarius Full Moon sets the stage in fixed energy, creating the launching pad for the blast-offs to come. The coming trines, and the final one, in particular, will then ignite in cardinal and mutable energy, propelling us further and further out of the rubble of upheaval and into … a destination that can’t be perceived with mortal eyes at present.

But your heart senses where. It’s calling now, and it won’t be ignored.

Sign up now for Kathy’s online classes through the OM Times Expert Platform:  Intro to Astrology You Can Use (Free!); How to Handle Mercury Retrograde and Astro-Overview of Fall 2016 (Welcome to the New Normal). Listen live or hear the recording afterward.

About the Author

Kathy Biehl has been a professional astrologer and psychic for more than 30 years. Book a private session with Kathy at EmpowermentUnlimited.net, where you can sign up for her newsletter, listen to her weekly podcasts, and purchase her recordings. You can also follow her daily insights and whimsical photos on Facebook at Empowerment Unlimited and find her at the the Professional Aquarian YouTube channel.