The first Full Moon of the summer will occur on July 3 at 4:38 a.m. on the West Coast at 11° 19’ Capricorn. It’s two weeks after the June solstice, that time when the Sun pauses, having reached its highest point of declination in the sky in the Northern Hemisphere (and the lowest point in the south). The July Full Moon goes by several names, including the Thunder Moon and the Buck Moon. It’s at this time of year that the antlers of male deer have reached their full maturity.
With each Full Moon, it’s time to contemplate the polar opposite themes of the pair of signs involved. For the July 3 lunation, it’s the Sun in Cancer, Moon in Capricorn. These are both cardinal, action-oriented signs, in the elements of water and earth, respectively. Cancer is the sign of the Great Mother Goddess, the Source of Creation, ruled by the Moon, associated with children of all species and all ages. Capricorn is the “adult in the room,” a maker and enforcer of rules and order. Whereas Cancer is a private style of being, Capricorn is out there in the world, building and achieving something to last.
This Capricorn Full Moon is a time to contemplate how to balance things like home-making and careers, emotional sensitivity and stoicism.
The chart for the July 3 lunation shows the Moon separating from a harmonious trine with beneficent and expansive Jupiter, in earthy Taurus all year. We might find some good fortune in the material world, like a gift or a job opening or ease in accomplishing a project.
The Sun in Cancer at this time is closely conjoined with Mercury, the planetary force of perceptions and communiques. Later in the morning of July 3, the Moon will briefly oppose Mercury. There may be a need to see someone else’s point of view in order to avoid an argument. Mostly, though, this Full Moon time is not that stressful.
The ruling planet of the Capricorn Moon is Saturn, which is traveling through watery Pisces for about the next two years.
Among the planets visible to the human eye, Saturn is the furthest one from the Sun. Astrologers dating back to ancient times correlated Saturn with limits and structures, and also with effort, challenges, maturity, aging, and death. Saturn is a gate-keeper, and the watery sign of Pisces is like an unbounded ocean. Something about Pisces’ indiscriminating compassion can be channeled—if not contained—by Saturn’s sober wisdom. To boot, at this time, Saturn is in one of its periods of retrograde motion, encouraging a review of lessons learned along our path toward maturity and our desires to give and give and give.
These possibilities are in play at the July 3 lunation as Saturn will be in a harmonious trine aspect with the Sun and Mercury in the nurturing and self-nurturing sign of Cancer. In what ways do obstacles from the past inform your path of healing? Saturn in Pisces is a guide for this Full Moon.
At this time, also, Saturn in Pisces is in a facilitating sextile (an approximately 60-degree aspect) with Jupiter in Taurus. A sextile is an opening. It doesn’t mean something will happen, but the potential is there. Whereas Saturn’s meanings include commitment and hard work, Jupiter brings ease, and Jupiter in Taurus can bring comfort. At this same time, the Sun and Mercury in emotionally communicative Cancer are forming a sextile with Jupiter, opening the way for some kind of abundance.
All of this is to say that while Full Moon times are often tense, with the July 3 lunation, there’s a gracious feeling of ease.
Cancer and Capricorn both have to do with parental care-taking. Mothers and fathers—and I mean these terms in a gender-blending way—are protectors of their progeny, be that human children, or great works for the world. Creation is not a single event but more of a continuous motion. By the light of a Full Moon, Creation reaches a point of culmination, a sight to behold, before there next a release, for the waning part of any cycle.
I recall now a prayer that comes from the Feri streams of contemporary witchcraft. It captures the eternal nature of Cancerian/Capricornian cycles of birth and death, and it goes like this:
Holy Mother, in You we live, move, and have our being. From You all things emerge, and unto You all things return.“
Blessings for the Capricorn Full Moon!
~ Sara
Sara R. Diamond, an astrologer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a life-long student and practitioner in several esoteric paths. Her style of astrology combines modern-psychological astrology with insights from traditional astrology. Sara is also an estate planning attorney. In addition, she has published four books on right-wing movements in the United States and earned her Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. You are invited to contact Sara via her website at www.SaraDiamondAstrology.com.
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