Photo by Eric.

Tuesday at 10:19 am ET (14:19:28 UTC), the Sun and the Moon oppose one another from Gemini to Sagittarius. This is one of those events where I have the feeling that writing about it can’t possibly do it justice. You just have to stare at the chart in amazement (so we’ve provided the one I’ve used to write the weekly horoscope, and this column).

Gemini and Sagittarius are signs on the mutable cross. So, too, are Virgo and Pisces. There is so much to cover on that cross, I’m going to focus my thoughts there, though I will end with a comment on the forthcoming Mars retrograde (and I’ll be highlighting both in tonight’s Planet Waves FM, my next project on the docket after I push “send” on this essay).

The endless knot, a symbol of enlightenment and unity, from a relief found in Thimphu, Bhutan. Photo by Christopher J. Fynn.

So, karma. That thing, which (praise Ganesha, Kali and Lakshmi) has made its way into the Western lexicon. My first introduction to that word was when the janitors let me into the tunnel between the old Norton Union and the new Norton Union (then renamed Squire Hall) at SUNY Buffalo.

I was the founder of a brand-new campus magazine called Generation, and I had heard rumors of the graffiti in this tunnel (which had a door near my office, locked in my era). So I got the guy with the keys to let me in — and I was amazed. It was a time capsule of the 1960s, stretching 100 feet below the main quad, absolutely packed with the commentary of students of yore. I could feel the days when the tunnel was a teeming thoroughfare between the old and new student unions, though now dimly lit, silent and abandoned.

One the wall scrawled boldly in red spray paint was the statement, “No One Can Escape What They Create. — The Law of Karma.”

I pondered that for years, and have since come up with a more compassionate way to state it, which is that one must ultimately address what one creates. Yet this is still a notion of karma rooted in the past; in truth it’s a principle that applies every second of every day of our lives.

Let’s rewrite that graffiti: “You experience the effects of what you create, as does everyone else. Therefore, proceed lovingly, and create consciously.”

That would be the best suggestion I can offer this week, as this is no ordinary Full Moon. The mutable cross in the degree range of the lunation is just loaded. Starting at 7 degrees and going out to about 11 degrees, we have the following points in tight aspect to the Moon-Sun opposition, in degree order: Bacchus, Karma, Orcus, Sun, Moon, Nessus, Apollo, Sisyphus.

Translated into keywords: alcohol and enabling behavior; the results of your actions; cold disrespect for life; the vital force within; the personality shell; more cause and effect (especially regarding sex, as well as the drama triangle); making the same mistakes over and over; and unrewarded or seemingly useless effort.

That accounts for every point in range of the Full Moon, choosing from a set of about 100 objects with every class represented (my usual palette).

Carpet page from the 8th-century Lindisfarne Gospels, showing an intricate Celtic knot design.

The upshot here would seem to be: don’t make your life harder by making ridiculous decisions that you know will hurt you. Notice the mistakes you make repeatedly. Pay attention to who you might be enabling and, therefore, whose karma you might be taking on.

Being hapless or unwitting just does not cut it these days. Living in a bubble is popular, though the oxygen runs out fast.

Speaking of bubbles, if we go a little further out, to about 17 degrees mutable, we find Neptune, which is squared by the Full Moon axis. The Moon and Sun are said to have a 10-degree orb, but as a minor planet astrologer, I prefer to work with a much tighter degree range for all aspects — except when Neptune is involved. Neptune has the widest orb of all the planets. When Neptune is around, especially in a square aspect, keep a little pouch of salt on your belt, and scatter some on the floor if it seems slick.

Neptune, on one level, is a deep well of creativity and imagination. On another, it’s like a coating of grease on which most people will slip in a matter of moments. Between the presence of Bacchus (associated with the influences of alcohol, and therefore codependency), and Neptune, you might want to make sure you stay far away from booze, and people who abuse it, over the next few days.

Neptune demands attentiveness and devotion to truth. Being able to say, make, or think anything (as we can, here on Earth) calls for an ethical orientation: a code that you live by. This code needs rules for amending the rules; don’t just bend them willy-nilly. Neptune is currently trine retrograde Jupiter in Scorpio.

One of my teachers, minor planet virtuoso Martha Lang-Wescott, has a particularly cynical interpretation of the trine aspect that I rarely ever apply — only when it seems appropriately cautionary: “If you lie, I will swear to it.”

People are fond of saying we live in the post-truth world, and many act like it. Many often think that if other people think like we think, we must be right. That is not true. Regardless of the latest trend in rhetoric, the laws of the universe all still apply.

Slow down this week. Pay attention, and imagine the possibility that you cannot escape what you create. Perhaps you can, though you would do better to create something you actually want.

This week’s Full Moon chart, with notes and minor planets.