Sunday, July 21 at 3:17 a.m. Arizona Time, a Full Moon rises in Capricorn, the sign of grit and grind.
Moons move through eight phases each month, cycling through energy, culminating in the full moon, the time to purge, howl, claw at the sky and trust in the lunar light to guide us.
This week, the full moon
falls on the Cancer/Capricorn axis, known as the axis of family. This is the axis of ambition and intimacy.
In terms of archetypes, Cancer is the great, cosmic, moon-synced mother, drunk on nectar, high on intuition, and hypersensitive to beauty and brutality.
Capricorn, on the other hand, is the no-sugar daddy of the zodiac known for its tough love, black coffee, and punishing standards.
Cancer rules the fourth house of home and lineage; Capricorn rules the tenth house of
vocation and legacy. Both signs are concerned with security and investment, but their approaches differ wildly.
As Cancer sun, Cap moon artist Edgar Degas moodily proclaims, "Only when the painter no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things."
One of the primary lessons of this moon is that surrender (Cancer) can and should lead to strategy (Capricorn).
Due to the fact that this week's full moon is conjunct Pluto, the planet of power, death, depth,
transformation, and renewal, this message is particularly powerful. If you want to get to the proverbial good good, look to your chart's Capricorn ruled area to see what and where you need to let go of.
Buck Moons: What are they?
It is during the Buck Moon that male deer grow their antlers.
In "The Old Farmer's Almanac," July's full moon is known as the Buck Moon, in tribute to the male deer whose antlers are in full-blown growth mode.
The antlers of a buck grow and shed each year, becoming more elaborate as time goes on. When fully developed, the antlers become hard as bone.
