The Moon will reach its full phase on the evening of June 3 (8:42 p.m. on the West Coast) at 13° 18’ Sagittarius with the Sun at 13° 18’ of Gemini. One of the nicknames for this lunation is the Strawberry Moon. Summer is on its way.
The June 3/4 Full Moon highlights the polarity between the Sun in the mutable air sign of Gemini and the Moon in the mutable fire of Sagittarius. Both Gemini and Sagittarius reflect the changeable nature of the mind, but in different ways. Gemini is a fact-finder and a storyteller, with the “devil in the details.” Sagittarius paints a big picture with a broad brush. Gemini can be a voracious and bottomless pit of data points. Sagittarius forges a great quest for truth, justice, and the ultimate meaning of life. Too much information can produce a system overload. Too much of a grandiose quest can lead, paradoxically, to provincial viewpoints and even dogmatism.
At the heart of a Geminian mind, though, is a youthful freshness. I am reminded of a quip from the late Zen master Suzuki Roshi who said: “In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few.”
The conundrum posed by the Sun in Gemini with the Full Moon in Sagittarius is like this: how to balance detail with breadth, the local with the international, logic with intuition and faith? If you really want to know about the place where you live, you might fly overhead and get an eagle eye’s view. And then you might also walk the neighborhood on foot to hear all the sounds and smell all the smells. It’s this dual way of looking at things that can lead to a better understanding. Gemini and Sagittarius are both about knowing.
Meanwhile, Saturn, the planet of maturity, challenges and making effort, is traveling through the part of the sky that holds Pisces for about the next two years. At the June 3/4 lunation, Saturn will be making a square aspect to the Sun and Moon. Saturn in Pisces brings structure to Pisces’ inclination toward boundarilessness. While in Pisces, Saturn’s call is to manifest something solid to express one’s compassionate feelings.
The Moon, as it passes through each zodiacal sign every month, tells us where our heart lies now, and all the ways we seek for security, our metaphorical Mother. The sign of Sagittarius is freedom-loving and optimistic. When the Moon passes through Sagittarius for a couple of days each month, it’s time to reflect on what the poet Mary Oliver was pointing to when she asked: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Sagittarius is “ruled” by the planet Jupiter, the great giant of swirling gases that, in our psyches, represents expansive beneficence. Imagine an open door, an invitation for you to step into your next adventure. We’re invited to do that all the time and especially when the Moon is in Sagittarius.
Jupiter makes a 12-year orbit around the Sun. Each year, Jupiter’s in a different sign, taking on a different style. From May 2023 until May of 2024, Jupiter is traveling through the fixed earth sign, Taurus. Jupiter brings opportunity. Taurus has to do with possessions and resources, both material and intangible. On an obvious level, then, Jupiter’s sojourn through Taurus suggests a year of acquisitiveness. We might want to eat a lot and make a lot of money!
More subtly, though, Jupiter in Taurus has something to tell us about cultivating the inner resources that will lead to something great in the future. Taurus is the green growth of springtime, but it’s no flash in the pan. Taurus is solid as the earth, plodding and steady. If you plant a tree in the perfect, sunny spot of your back yard, it won’t yield fruit for years. But when it does, it will be bountiful. That’s Jupiter in Taurus.
At this Sagittarius Full Moon, you might call to mind your heart’s most exquisite desires, and the boldest vision that could make those dreams come true.
Blessings for the Sagittarius 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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