The Blue Moon in Sagittarius and a New Astrocartography App
Musings on whimsy and focus and something brand new
Blue mooon, you saw me standing alone…..
This full moon in Sagittarius is a blue moon, which simply means that it’s the second full moon in a calendar month. On May 1 we experienced an incredibly intense and potent full moon in Scorpio, and now, on May 31, we will gaze up at a very different flavor of bright glowing orb: the Centaur-Archer’s blue moon. By now we’re all familar with supermoons, but this moon is known as a micro-moon- it’s the smallest a full moon will look from earth all year, as it’s at its apogee, the furthest point from earth in it’s orbit.
Tonight I sat in my hot tub under the vast New Mexico sky and looked up at the moon as it waxes it’s way to fullness. It was caught in a web of gossamer haze, sitting between two clearly-defined cumulus clouds. It truly looked like a pearl sitting in the mouth of a dragon. It was so beautiful.
Lately, strangely, the whole world has been beautiful to me. I’ve been going through a lot of endings and changes in my personal life, and yet the moments that I’ve been taking in have been extra delicious. The mullein growing in my backyard has been making me gasp with delight, as has the shiny tiny black beetle crawling across the concrete, the fat brown bird on the windowsill, and the way my little dog wiggles when he runs. Lately the twinkle in the eyes of people I’m having conversations with has deeply affected me, making me lose track of what I was saying because the sparkle they’re carrying is just too perfect.
Gemini season is ALIVE.
Gemini season began with the sun in the Gate of the Now, the human design gate where Uranus currently is and will be staying for the entirety of the next year. This is also the gate where my natal Chiron lives, and this year as the sun and Uranus came together there, something major shifted inside me. Like a lightning bolt zapping me into the present moment.
What this Cazimi did was break any spell of thinking that paying attention to the Now is a wound that needs to be healed. That my present moment awareness was superficial, something to move past. I notice that when I’m hanging out with children, their present moment obsession is a true gift. It’s the best gift. But as an adult, actually living in the now tends to become something that references aspirational coffee table books. It is vaguely spiritual, but ultimately something that I just dont have time for.
It seems strange to write that out:
“I don’t have time to be in the present moment.”
Why? Because there are too many pasts to reconsider and to analyze and to heal from, and way too many futures to plan for and worry about.
I remember reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle when it came out in high school, which I suppose my gateway drug into the breathwork and somatic practices that I do now. In my breathwork training we read The Presence Process by Michael Brown, another book working in the same territory, but from a very different angle. Tolle points you toward the witnessing awareness behind thought, and Brown gives you a ten-week structured practice built around conscious connected breathing, asking you to move through the stored emotional charge in your body rather than simply observe your way past it. In retrospect, the two books work well together…. but neither brought me into the present moment as much as Uranus and the Sun hitting my Chiron in the Gate of the Now :)
Transits are funny like that.
Do you remember a certain transit that made you feel, deep down in your bones, “Ok, astrology HAS to be real…”
I have several big transit aha moments from past years that got me to this point of being an astrologer and writing about astrology, but those are stories for a different day.
Right now, the one that’s shining brightest for me is Uranus in Gemini. It’s stirring me up in the wildest way, as only the planet of lightning and electricity and sudden change can do. Uranus is on my Chiron, and it’s also across the sky from my natal Uranus AND Jupiter, which means… dun dun dun… my Uranus opposition is coming. And it’s gonna be a big one, touched by upon the great expander.
The Uranus opposition is THE big midlife transit that, for many who live through it, fully rewires life as they have known it up to that point. I’ve got front row seats, and I’m feeling the heat from the fiery ring, even before the tiger officially jumps through it.
The Full Moon in Sagittarius opposite the Sun in Gemini
This ties into the full moon in Sagittarius because my natal Uranus and Jupiter are in Sag, along with my Neptune and South Node. This outer planet stellium in the gate of the Centaur Archer are all being activated by the moon this week. It’s lighting up my emotional and creative self with the bigness that only full moons can bring. And it’s reminding me of the polarity between Sagittarius and Gemini, which is all the more electrifying due to Uranus. Gemini is the Now, Gemini is the elegantly flittering butterfly and the bee that’s burrowing in the pollen of the current moment.
Sagittarius, this moon reminds us, is the archer pointing his arrow toward one of the horizons, making decisions that will take time to execute. He points, he draws back, he shoots, and then his powerful horse legs take him running, with a fixed rhythm, with focus and determination. He’s on an adventure, but he doesn’t have time to stop and smell the flowers. His season is late fall, and unlike Gemini’s late spring buzzing about, the chill of winter winds are making him recognize the weight of his decisions, the focus and strength needed to do what needs to be done before the snows come.
Full moons, in this way, truly remind us that the season we’re in is fleeting, and sweet, and that it’s important to be where we’re at and embrace the eccentricities of the season as much as we can.
Bumblebee vs. Man-Horse
This full moon is the showdown of bumblebee vs. man-horse, and our task is to both honor their differences and revere their similarities. I always think of full moons as times when we get a little, round, moon-sized porthole into the opposite season from the one we’re in.
We’re here in late spring in the northern hemisphere, experiencing all the late spring kinds of things. More communication with friends, more professional invites, more ice cream, more outside time. Tending to all the little sprouting broccolis and tomatoes I started from seed in March. Putting sweaters under the bed in favor of more shorts and tank tops. Bringing my easel and paints in from the garage so I can make some art while I’m parenting on summer break (writing = screen time, so that has to be done post bedtime). More noticing the beauty of the moment, as these physical acts of connecting with my clothes and paints and plants welcomes my daughter and partner into my world far more than making a spreadsheet on the computer does.
Buzzy, buzzy bees. Gemini season. And then, for one day only, the moon becomes full in the opposite sign, using it’s magical gravitational force to pull us momentarily into the vibes of the opposite season. Sagittarius is late fall. Plants are dead, and the harvest has been eaten or canned up. Sweaters are definitely back in the closet and shorts are a distant memory. Fires are being lit. The pollinating explosion of late spring is out of sight, out of mind, as the archer’s arrow points toward the horizon of the holiday season, of the New Year, of the time when the days start getting longer again. Sagittarius is the last sign that heads into the dark, and he needs both his focus and his flame to make it through. The moon reminds us that it’s not always a time for buzzing. In 6 months, we’ll be in a season of running, putting our blinders on and using our strong horse legs to move.
The Gate of Focus vs. The Gate of Enthusiasm
Fittingly, the human design gate where this new moon falls is Gate 9: The Gate of Focus. It’s across the sky from the sun in Gate 16: The Gate of Enthusiasm, aka The Gate of Skills. Within these two contrasting energies, you can see what I mean about the polarity between Gemini and Sag. I almost don’t need to write any more about it!
Enthusiasm, being lit up about gaining new skills by working on things with your hands and experimenting with the joy of presence as we work. And the full moon of Focus, aiming and shooting an arrow toward what is best for you long-term. As well-rounded humans,, we certainly need both.
This full moon will remind us of the great adventure that is life. Our current season, Gemini, is for adventuring through local space like a bee bouncing from flower to flower. Overbooking our calendars, making mistakes, leaning hard into the WHIMSY trend that seems to have taken over the internet.
It’s not random, it’s the season. The season across the sky, Sagittarius, is for adventuring through distant space, and through metaphysical space too- making plans, drawing maps, and then moving as fast as wildfire to get to the horizon (or the galactic center) that we pointed our arrows toward. The full moon reminds us of the larger frameworks, the philosophies, the atlases we use to understand the fullness of the terrain. Gemini brings us back home to the conversation with friends as to why the maps are important in the first place.
“Whimsy & Connection in the Present Moment “vs “Focused Creativity & Strength”
My Uranus opposition AND North Node/South Node axis happening on this polarity of Gemini and Sagittarius is hitting me hard. And it has it’s moments of “WTF is going on”, but overall, so far I’m loving it.
I’ve been obsessed with integrating polarities as a practice for a long time, and this feels like the universe is handing me a powerful opportunity to move consciously through this massive midlife terrain. I don’t expect to predict whats going to happen, and I’m not delusional enough to think that I can glide through unscathed just because I’m aware, but I am grateful to know that I can call on the guides of Whimsy & Connection in the Present Moment AND Focused Creativity & Strength- and I don’t have to choose between the two. Learning how to bring them together feels like the assignment right now. With no shame. I know I’ll feel the shadows of these signs - force and superficiality- from time to time, but my plan is to try to embrace them, too.
The Map and the Moment: Announcing ELA Map
Part of what I’ve been up to as I move through this pivotal Uranian transit has been working as a consultant on an an amazing piece of astro-software that my partner Jackson and his team have been building for the past year. It’s perfectly on theme with the Sagittarius full moon, the map and the moment, which is why I’m introducing it to you today.
It’s called ELA Map: Energy Location Atlas.
ELA is a personalized geographic interface, bringing insights from astrocartography, human design, synastry, asteroids and more onto a beautiful map so you can zoom far and wide like the Sagittarius centaur and find places on the globe where you feel most like you.
Locational astrology and the evolving scope of the framework through the lens of human design has been lighting me up for a few years now, and I’m SO excited for this app to get out into the world.
Last year, Jackson and I homeschooled our daughter for kindergarten and took her on a world-school adventure for part of it, traveling around the States and Central America. We were thinking of potentially relocating, so we were paying close attention to the schools, the climate, the elevation, the cost of living, the culture, and other factors about each place. And when we started to bring each place’s astrocartography lines to the equation, it added a beautiful layer of depth to how the place truly felt to each of us as individuals, and how that energy influenced our family unit. It was pretty wild to learn through doing (such a Gemini Gate of Skills thing)- it didn’t feel theoretical, it was living and breathing data that was uncannily spot-on.
It was on that trip that ELA Map was born…. with the deep belief that Place is Personal.
I want to invite you, my lovely readers, to the early access. The first version is launching in a couple weeks, so if you’d like to be an early-adopter or beta-tester, you can join the waitlist by clicking the button below. And please feel free to share this link with anyone you know who works in the realm of locational astrology or is intrigued by astro-cartography! Thanks in advance!
Signing up is free, and you’ll get a free premium subscription when you join the beta. If you’re not ready to sign up but want to stay in the loop, you can follow ELA’s evolution here on Substack, and on Youtube and Instagram . I’m going to be writing some stories about my personal experiences with various astrocartography lines on the ELA Substack, so stay tuned for that!
My practice here at Hearth & Spiral and Living the Spiral Podcast has been all about finding a home - a hearth - within the changing seasons. Charts to me lately feel less like maps and more like compasses, pointing toward our true direction as we navigate the cycles of time. For that reason, it’s been so cool to be a part of a project that takes that same consideration of direction within physical space, on actual maps of the world. Whether you’re relocating or traveling or just want to know more about the energetics of your hometown, it’s an extremely fun rabbit hole to go down!
As always, thanks so much for reading and listening and being on this journey with me. My books are open for Astro64 Readings (my unique blend of astrology & human design) as well as astrocartography readings, and I’d truly love to explore your charts with you. I also have a couple spots open for 1:1 coaching, where we work with your charts in a slower, more creative and embodied way to help you connect with your hearth and reach your goals. You can check out my recently updated website HERE.
Until next time,
Alison
Gemini reminds us that the map is not the territory- the flowers and the fields are.
But at the same time, this Sagittarius full moon is here to remind us how helpful maps are when we zoom out to see the global picture.
And what a beautiful globe we get to live on, too.
Have a really sweet and powerful full moon, y’all.
ELA sounds great! The button to sign up isn’t working for me, I’ll try to come back later
My Uranus opposition was one of the biggest and most transformational transits of my life. I'm excited to check out ELA 🌏💫