Capricorn Full Moon, 2024
(Originally published 6/21/2024)
Hi friends,
I apologize for the break in letters. It’s been a weird time here. I’m excited to get back to this ritual. I’m already running late in writing it so it won’t be long, but here it is.
You may have already noticed that this is a full moon letter instead of a new moon letter. Typically, when you work with the moon, it’s best to use a new moon to call in new beginnings, and a full moon to receive those things that you have asked for. Or, to paraphrase my friend Anthony, “You pray to the new moon when you’re unhappy, and the full moon when you’re happy.”
It could just be me, I think it’s about time we received some things we’ve been asking for. I am ready to simply be grateful and feel abundance.
After the moon goes totally full today, write your letter—But instead of asking, I want you to say “thank you”. Write as if you have already received the full sum of your wish, even if you are talking about something that hasn’t totally come to fruition yet.
When deciding what your wish is about, think about the sign of Capricorn and what it represents. As a Cardinal sign, it signals a beginning. As an earth sign, it deals with our physical reality. Ruled by Saturn, it can be slow moving, and the themes can run a bit morbid — we’re talking about the difficult, dirty, possibly depressing details of being alive. It also deals with traditions. (Maybe that’s why I keep starting these letters when the moon is in Capricorn?)
For example, my moon letter will be about my living situation. I want to move and make a new beginning with a different home.
If that theme isn’t bringing up anything for you, look at what house Capricorn holds in your chart and see if there is anything in that part of your life that you’d like to make a wish about. (Ask me if you don’t know about your houses!)
The most important part is to feel. Let yourself truly feel how blessed you are, and how blessed you will be when everything you ask for has arrived in earnest. Write your letter, and read it out loud. Visualize your wish.
I hope you have everything you ask for.
The last time I wrote a letter, I asked you all if there were any topics in particular you wanted to hear about. (Thank you to everyone who responded!) The topic y’all asked for most was to learn how to read your own chart, and I love that. The whole point, to me, of sharing astrological knowledge is to empower, and when someone is able to read their own chart I believe that they gain a huge amount of insight.
However, wow, what a question! I hate to say it, but I tried writing this letter a few times and felt so stumped as to how to put that huge topic into words. There are so many branches of astrology and so many ways to view what the chart means. I have studied mostly psychological astrology and Hellenistic astrology. They have very different ideas of what a chart is and would answer this question in radically different ways.
Psychological astrology essentially says that all the parts of the chart describe a person’s personality, all the planets have basically the same weight, and the idea of timing and telling the future is a little suspect. The name is not incidental—this type of astrology did truly start in the psychologist’s office. I start my chart readings in this mode, because it offers a lot of opportunity for self understanding and healing.
Hellenistic astrology, which has been brought back into the public discourse over the last thirty years thanks to a translation program called Project Hindsight, says that the chart shows the circumstances of one’s birth and the events that will unfold in their lifetime. This type of astrology was deeply intertwined with the philosophy of the stoics—the point is to gain insight into the future and then guard your heart against the tumultuous events so that you can stay, I guess, stoic.
I’m under the understanding that many people who are my age and are studying astrology are doing the work of combining these two types of astrology, simply because this is the particular time we are living in. I do not personally see them as opposed, but just different lenses. If I believe that the experiences I have in my life have affected who I am as a person, it’s easy to see how the Hellenistic circumstances of birth will overlap a lot with the psychological parts work.
One thing both schools agree on is the importance of the “big three”. I am certain y’all know what I mean by that. Your Sun, Moon, and rising signs. These three placements are all important to who you are, the way you show up in the world, and the way people perceive you. Instead of going on and on with some cafeastrology type descriptions, I will leave you with an analogy, this time paraphrased from my friend Eva, that I think is a great way to understand how these placements are related yet different.
In this analogy, you are a pastry. You’ve been baked by the enigmatic baker, the universe. Your moon sign indicates what it took to make you—the ingredients, the methods of care taken to the dough. The moon shows our physical bodies, our feelings, and the things we need to feel nurtured. Your rising sign is how you appear to the customers on the other side of the pastry case—are you frosted? Sprinkled? Maybe you got a little squished? The rising sign is the first impression we give to others. And lastly, the Sun sign is the occasion for which we were baked. Are you a birthday cupcake? A thanksgiving pie? A sunday-afternoon donut? Our Sun signs show us a lot about Who we are, what we’re meant to be as a whole person.
And, of course, it’s a lot more complicated than that. Those placements are altered in their meaning and significance by aspects, houses, and even the time of day you were born (a nighttime chart makes the moon much more important). I could say so much more. But it’s time for this Gemini sun to end this “short letter”.
Sending you love,
Alanna