By Gary P. Caton and Eric Francis

Note to Readers: I’ve teamed up this week with Gary to write the Full Moon article. You can reach Gary at his website, Dream Astrologer.

Traditionally, the Full Moon of May is sometimes called the Hare’s Moon. This is because May and Beltane mark the season of rebirth of life upon the Earth. With the hare’s reputation for being prolific, no creature seems more suited as this month’s symbol. Some other names for this Full Moon include the Milk Moon, Flower Moon, Corn Moon or Corn Planting Moon. There are many traditions, and they each give things their own name.

A full year of repeated efforts were required to finally capture the rising Full Moon behind the Parthenon (447-438 BC) in central Athens, Greece. Anthony Ayiomamitis/Perseus.gr.

The names for this Moon all evoke rich, juicy, sensual energy that is very grounded and personal. It would be nice to tell you that May’s Full Moon, which takes place today in late Scorpio, offers some respite from the drama fever that has been 2011 thus far and that we can all finally just chill a bit, and simply enjoy the sultry pleasures of mid-spring. The truth is that it looks like it might take some effort and awareness to make that your reality, but you can do it. These are the times we’re in: fortune favors the conscious.

The Full Moon is conjunct a bright star shining just below it. This is Antares, the heart of the Scorpion. Considered a ‘royal star’, that is, a star of great dignity, Antares is very powerful and associated with success, but often the kind that comes through intensity and some form of life-death struggle. Antares’ energy can be polarizing, and the danger here is in seeking drama just for the sake of drama, such as for the sheer thrill of it.

You’ll have to avoid these temptations in order to access the more earthy energy of this Full Moon. It is also advisable to err well on the side of caution when addressing any potentially intense people or dangerous situations. By definition, the Sun and Moon are in opposition at Full Moon, with the Earth between. This is what allows the lunar surface to be fully illumined. Psychologically, it’s something like staring into a celestial mirror, whereby big chunks of our psyche can also be lit up. This provides opportunities for moments of clarity and holistic self-understanding to those who are aware that life is really just a waking dream, and we are constantly gazing into ourselves, even as our eyes are open.

Deepening the subject-object tension this month is the fact that the Moon is in Scorpio, a sign where she’s not always so comfortable; the Scorpio Moon can be a bit tense in her skin, and requires special care. As Eric mentioned last week, the Moon is exalted in Taurus; so it’s in detriment in Scorpio. Mars, currently in Taurus, is also in a sign where he’s out of his element.

Chart for the Scorpio Full Moon. Note the Sun right above the eastern horizon (to the left, in an astrology chart) and the Moon right below the western horizon. A cluster of planets visible in the pre-dawn sky is right above the Sun. Chiron and Neptune are high in the chart, loosely square the axis of the Sun and the Moon. They are both in Pisces, which is indicative of the massive flooding throughout parts of the Mississippi River valley.

In this Full Moon chart, these bodies are like travelers who are far from their homes and without access to their natural resources. They must be very sensitive, aware and creative in getting their needs met or else risk behaving in a way that will get them into trouble. So on a personal level, it looks like the best way to engage with this Full Moon energy is a kind of slow burn, which allows energy to be released but doesn’t invite or go looking for conflict. Due to the Moon’s placement in Scorpio, your intuition may be off; make sure you back it up with facts. Due to Mars’ presence in Taurus, you may be exaggerating the degree of external conflict, because you feel something burning inside.

On a collective level, the Full Moon’s opposition is making a square to Chiron (which has been ingressing Pisces for a year) and Neptune (which has just entered Pisces). It’s a fairly wide square, but because it’s Neptune (which has the widest orb of any planet), it still counts. This is what astrologers call a t-square: an opposition (the Full Moon) with the third planet square the axis. That planet (or in this case a conjunction of two planets) becomes a focal point for the opposition. This has the effect of taking all the juicy tension of opposites brewing inside us and projecting it out onto Neptune in Pisces. Both Neptune and Pisces are big, transpersonal, watery archetypes and we are now seeing the biggest flood of the Mississippi River since the Great Flood of 1927.

The Red Cross has announced that its disaster fund is depleted and despite a short-term boost, long-term FEMA funding shortfalls loom on the horizon. With the economy still struggling, these disasters pose major long-term financial challenges for our country. All this comes at a time when our politicians are in the midst of one of the biggest budget fights in a long time. Republican lawmakers are refusing to raise the debt ceiling, and our country currently runs on debt.

In astrology, economic resources are mainly symbolized by the earth signs and the four fixed signs, which mark the midpoints of the seasons. The fixed signs are about material manifestation and making solid and concrete what was begun in the cardinal signs. So we can see here that Taurus is the most material sign of all, being both earthy and fixed. Currently we have four out of five personal planets in Taurus: the Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars. With Taurus being largely about values, this is a call to get our priorities in order.

Cows on a farm near the Grandmother Land in High Falls, NY. Photo by Eric Francis.

The other development in the fixed signs is the conjunction of Vesta and Pallas Athene right at the cross-quarter point of 15 Aquarius. This conjunction has been forming since early April. The cross-quarter points, which are in the fixed signs located halfway between the solstices and equinoxes, are sensitive points in the year, and this Full Moon is still close to them.

While this is happening, there is lots of financial news brewing just off-camera: questions about printing money (QE2), the debt ceiling, cutting the federal budget, pension fund issues, and a gaping hole in the books of the Federal Reserve Bank. I would also note that the head of the International Monetary Fund is currently sitting in jail in New York City, accused of raping a hotel maid over the weekend, offering a rare glimpse into the private life of one of the men who runs (or is it sells?) the world.

Now, these factors — things that happen in the news — are usually considered abstract, even if they are supposedly really important. Except that when there is troubling economic news, people tend to worry. And worrying is not going to get us anywhere. The real question is, what is the source of abundance, and how can we stay closer to it? The fact that these pseudo-communities (such as the ‘federal government’) are doing so poorly points to a need for real communities.

This Full Moon is telling us to make love, not drama. Beltane (still in season, with this Full Moon) is about making love for abundance. It’s about joining yin and yang to complete the cycle of nature.

There’s one other clue in this chart, spoken in the language of the asteroids. It involves that conjunction in Aquarius mentioned earlier — Vesta conjunct Pallas. These three elements have one thing in common: a bit of detachment. Pallas can separate herself from her emotions and keep everything on the level of the mind; Vesta can separate herself from emotional attachments; Aquarius can be cool and clear in its thinking. Put the three together and we get a message: save your passion for sharing love and pleasure, and if you have a problem you need to address, use your mind.

If you are dealing with an issue you don’t fully grasp, then consult an expert or two that you trust, and make sure you actually understand their advice. And as the Full Moon separates and the Moon ingresses Sagittarius, you may notice that what seemed like an insurmountable deadlock today can melt away into something easier to handle, if you’re willing to let the conflict go.

I would remind you that the source of abundance is creativity, not the economy. The source of love is the human heart, not any material thing. If you remember that, it will actually make a difference. And in truth, the Full Moon is about nature, not astrology. This particular one is reminding us that, here in the Northern Hemisphere anyway, it’s springtime — a time to surge back to life.