Aquarius Full Moon 2026
Before we dig into this Aquarius full Moon, here’s a save the date for the next event at Harvest Preserve:
Wednesday, September 9, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Understanding Your Natal Moon through Astrology and Tarot
This class will be taught by Yours Truly and Dawn Frary of Folkloracle - it’s a twofer, y’all! We taught this same class at Press Coffee during eclipse season back in March, and it was a real good time. Many class participants could see their experience of their mothers in their natal Moon, and many could see their own mothering style in their natal Moon - fascinating stuff! One artist was able to deepen their understanding of the scenes that they are drawn to create through the exploration of their natal Moon. So fun and interesting - if you’re curious to learn about your natal Moon through Astrology and Tarot, I encourage you to save the date!
Why no Leo New Moon intentions event this month you may be wondering? Especially if you have Leo very prominent in your chart, you may be taking this a little too personally, but rest assured! Leo New Moon intentions will get their day, but not this year. That’s because we’re heading into eclipse season, and the Leo New Moon this year is a total solar eclipse. If you’ve been following the blog since last eclipse season (February and March of this year), you will remember the sage advice that we received from the venerable Demetra George with regard to working with eclipses. Eclipses present an optimal time to still the mind and slip into the state between one consciousness and another in a way that works best for you. Anything that assists you in stilling your mind from being over active or over processing will suffice - meditation, music, bike ride, prayer, yoga, nature, whatever works for you. Also, based on my years of working with the energy of the new Moon, I can look back in my journals and see that anytime I set intentions during an eclipse, it just didn’t work out as I had hoped or planned. So there you go, theoretical AND experiential knowledge suggests that setting intentions during an eclipse is not the best use of our time.
The Aquarius full Moon is exact at 06°30’ on Wednesday, July 29, at 9:35 am CST. This full Moon marks the festival of Guru Purnima, so if you have any teachers to honor and be grateful for, this is a great time to do just that!
The Moon is opposing the Sun at 06°30’ Leo. The Sun is tightly conjunct Jupiter at 06°25’ Leo, and the Moon is conjunct Pluto at 04°13’ Aquarius, and if you’ve been following the blog, you know what that means. The Sun has joined forces with Jupiter in Jupiter’s opposition to Pluto, and Jupiter’s subsequent highlighting or catalyzing of the outer planet talent triangle. Additionally, the Moon has teamed up with Pluto, creating sextiles and trines from the Sun, Jupiter, and Moon to the other two outer planets. That’s a whole lot of cosmic energy right there, folks.
Let’s break it down, first with the Moon conjunct Pluto. Pluto was Hades in Greek myth, the god of the underworld - the place where everybody went after death, no refunds! Pluto energy is therefore the energy of death and transformation, as well as the idea of digging down deep beneath the surface to unearth the truth. Pluto is also associated with power, as the god of the underworld did not stand for losing even one soul - he insisted that every mortal join him in his underworld realm after death. We know that the full Moon can bring big emotions to the surface, so we can expect that with Pluto there right alongside the full Moon, these big emotions are being encouraged to come to the surface on multiple levels. Aquarius is an Air sign, so these emotions might not show up in the way society has conditioned us to recognize emotions.
Last night we were watching Astrid on PBS Passport - highly, highly recommend if you like murder mysteries and sexy French cops. Astrid is a police archivist who is on the autism spectrum, and she assists Commandant Raphaelle Coste in solving murders. In last night’s episode, Astrid becomes concerned that perhaps she doesn’t experience emotions the way that most humans do after thoroughly enjoying a conversation with an AI bot. Without completely spoiling the story line, later in the episode Astrid starts inexplicably crying while conversing with a gentleman friend and excuses herself abruptly. Later, she tells Raph that she didn’t understand what was happening to her at the time - her stomach hurt, and she was sick, overjoyed, overcome with beauty, and terrified when her gentleman friend wrote out the Fibonacci sequence for her, and expounded on his passion for the golden ratio. This is perhaps an example of how an Air Moon might experience and express emotion - not necessarily in the way that we are conditioned by society to recognize emotions and emoting. If it weren’t for the tears silently slipping down Astrid’s face, the audience may never have known that she was experiencing strong emotions in the scene.
With Jupiter conjunct the Sun and both of them opposing the Moon and Pluto, we have yet another way that those big emotions may be encouraged to become even bigger - as Jupiter, the planet of expansion, is joining in on the conversation. Or perhaps we will be encouraged to dig even deeper to experience those emotions, perhaps through a confrontation with someone, ideally a conversation with a trusted friend, like the one between Astrid and Raph. The energy of an opposition is that of tension, a give and take, a push and pull. With Jupiter and Pluto there with the Sun and Moon, it can go either way, really. The conversation could become a power struggle that goes absolutely nowhere, or it could be a very fruitful (if challenging) dialog that gets down to the bottom of things, unearthing and illuminating what wants to be dredged up into the light and named.
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.
- James Baldwin
This opposition of the Sun/Jupiter and Moon/Pluto is square to Chiron in Taurus at 00°51’, so perhaps any big emotions that may catalyze the unearthing of truths could assist in addressing a wound or fundamental ouchy that we seem to return to time and again. And perhaps with the assistance of the transformational outer planets, we can get to a place where that wound is manageable, where we can work with that wound, rather than be repeatedly victimized by it.
Venus in Virgo at 21°33’ is tightly square to Mars in Gemini at 21°26’ at this full Moon, and I say why waste a good Venus/Mars aspect? The square might be a little crunchy, but challenge yourself to courageously take action toward any Venusian impulses - connection, creativity, beautification, or pleasure-seeking. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more!
Saturn, the ruler of this full Moon in Aquarius, is at 14°44’ Aries, squaring Mercury at 17°53’ Cancer. Mercury is going direct, but is still in their retrograde shadow, so how can you challenge yourself to allow Saturn to help you to boundary or organize your thoughts or communication at this full Moon? If you were able to work with your style of self-talk during the Mercury retrograde period, in what way can you reframe any negative self-talk or obsessive thoughts into expressing in a way that is sustainable and helpful, and perhaps promotes clarity?
Since at the full Moon we typically think of it as an excellent time to release what no longer serves us, what is being illuminated for you at this full Moon that wants to be released?
When releasing during the full Moon, I like to make it a thing. It doesn’t have to be exactly at the time of the full Moon, it can be any time in the day or night leading up to it, which is typically what I prefer, but do what you are able. If you miss the night before, do it the night of or even the day or night after, as long as the Moon still appears full in the sky, I think the symbology is there for you to work with.
Take some time and create a sacred space for yourself and whoever else would like to make it a thing with you. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. Simply sitting quietly and focusing on your breath with lightly closed eyes and spine as erect as possible, or focusing on the sounds in your environment and intentionally taking this moment to connect with yourself and with the nurturing energy of the Moon, which I like to think of as our Cosmic Mother. If you have a meditative practice, feel free to incorporate that into your full Moon practice, but let the Moon guide you, don’t get too far into your solar self of Doing, but allow yourself to simply exist in your lunar self of Being. If you like to really get into your ritual practice, please do make it as elaborate as you wish.
At the end of my full Moon practice, I like to make a list of what I’m releasing. I simply write “I release:” at the top of a piece of paper, and then I write down everything that came up during my quiet time with myself. And then I burn that mofo! Safely and mindfully into my little metal cauldron - let’s not set our selves or homes or fields alight please. It really is very freeing to watch the smoke from the burning list curl up into the ethers. Some folks like to incorporate the water element by tossing the cooled ashes into a body of water afterwards, but I’m happy to scatter them to the winds, figuring they’ll make it to water someday. COOLED ashes, mind you, ok? Like totally, 100% completely cold ashes, the next day at the earliest, but preferably even later than that. And there, just like that you have made some space for your higher Self to lead you on to your highest and best expression of yourself. I’m a big proponent of gratitude, so I like to give thanks at the end of my practice, so give thanks to whatever Deity you feel is guiding you. If you are PTSD from CCD or whatever other childhood teachings were foisted upon you, and don’t like the thought of Deities, simply give thanks to yourself for making this time to connect with yourself and give thanks to the Universe for coexisting with you.
Because as my yoga teacher Jaki Nett likes to say that everything comes back to yoga, we’ll tie this practice into yoga philosophy, wherein which one of the eight limbs of yoga are the Niyamas. The Niyamas are virtues or individual disciplines which calm the disturbed mind. One of these five Niyamas is known as Isvara Pranidhana, or “surrender to the Divine of all our actions”. In surrendering, we allow for the Divine to work its own magic, co-creating with us. If you’d like to work with the Zodiacal houses, and aren’t sure which house this Full Moon falls in your chart, feel free to reach out to me for that information.
Surrendering or releasing by house placement topics; if the full Moon falls in your:
1st house general meaning: Identity, Appearance, First impressions, Style, Self-image
1st house more nuanced meaning: How we approach life, The lens through which we perceive existence, Developing the self which we allow others to see, Forming, presenting, and maintaining identity
2nd house general meaning: Money, possessions, income, tools of the trade, personal values
2nd house more nuanced meaning: Developing healthy self-esteem and personal worth through cultivation of our value system, The value placed on the personal role of finances and what we receive, seek, or earn in life
3rd house general meaning: Neighbors, siblings, early education, communication, ideas, writing
3rd house more nuanced meaning: Development of practical skills, Inner cleverness at examining and using the various angles that life presents, What we learn from our daily encounters with life, Capacities for adapting
4th house general meaning: Home, family, roots
4th house more nuanced meaning: The way we create an individual personality outside of direct family influence, Developing self-sufficiency, Defining our own lives, A basic and fundamental side of our nature
5th house general meaning: Creativity, children, self-expression, pleasure, play, romance, sports, gambling
5th house more nuanced meaning: Giving and receiving love, Learning to find enjoyment or satisfaction from the routine tasks of life, Integrating creativity and self-expression
6th house general meaning: Physical health, wellness, daily work, routines, pets, employment
6th house more nuanced meaning: Improvement of self through applied discipline, How we handle both our internally generated rejection and the possible rejection from others, The efficient functioning of our body, Feedback from the body
7th house general meaning: One to one relationships, The Other
7th house more nuanced meaning: Cooperation, Compromise, and Competition, Working through disagreement and finding mutual satisfaction, Learning to live peacefully with the opinions of others without compromising your own interest or feelings, Learning interpersonal skills.
8th house general meaning: Death, taxes, inheritance, debt, shared money, psyche
8th house more nuanced meaning: Exchange of financial, emotional, and sexual energies, Intimacy, Entanglements, Understanding deep motivations within our psyche, Removal of any kind, including the mysterious removal of the self from the body at death
9th house general meaning: Travel, Formal studies, Philosophy, Religion, Meaning, Belief systems
9th house more nuanced meaning: Expanding your mind - through education, travel, new directions, Compare what the universe offers to what you presently know, Defining your personal ethics, philosophy, truths, basic understanding of how life works, Seeking inner unfolding
10th house general meaning: Career, Reputation, Vocation, Profession, Contribution to society
10th house more nuanced meaning: Setting high standards of conduct and meeting these standards, Gaining, using and wielding authority and how we use authority that others may grant us, How we handle the rewards or recognition received from our prior activities, The reputation we build through our actions, intentions, and directives, Acting in socially and morally correct ways
11th house general meaning: Friend groups, Organizations, Community, Hopes, Aspirations, Luck
11th house more nuanced meaning: Urges to improve the lot of self or others, Motivations for seeking change, Expectations about creating our niche in the world, Our perception of and attitude about humanity, Our needs for others in roles outside of a one-to-one companionship, Impersonal friendliness, Shaping or effecting change within the social or political system - because the old way no longer works well and a new way of seeing current reality is needed
12th house general meaning: Institutions, Solitude, Mental health, Ancestral forces, Unconscious
12th house more nuanced meaning: The hidden, the subjective, the inner, the changing part of inner definitions, Inner world exploration, Themes of escape, The mental mindset we create can limit us to narrow definitions of life - breaking through these narrow definitions, Facing and breaking through the barriers we create for ourselves