devotion to contradiction
a post-full moon check-in & look ahead
Just a small note before I begin. I am preparing things behind the scenes right now, so my output here may slow down for the next couple of weeks, though I’m not saying that I won’t continue the present clip of posting, just giving you warning in case things are a little quieter here.
Be forewarned. I am about to say a lot of contradictory things about how pushing forward is good, but also about the importance of cooling down and resting. These are tough things to navigate and I’m not here to provide easy answers.
The skies are often full of contradictions and rather than seeing that as something to eliminate, let us recognize that these contradictions mirror the tensions we face here on earth.
Kira Ryberg writes,
Astrology loves to contradict itself. This is a feature, not a bug.
Life is full of contradictions, and astrology speaks to that in a profound way. Things are rarely ever all good or all bad, but a mixture of the two.
If astrology didn’t speak to the contradictory influences that we feel inside of us, it wouldn’t be accurate.
Venus is now in the second decan of Gemini. Nicola Allan calls this “Embrace Contradiction.” Kira Ryberg calls it “The Art of Contradiction.”
If Venus speaks to devotion, this moment calls us to become servants of contradiction.
This is the both/and decan.
We love to see it.
Keep this in mind as you read the following.
If you would like to support my work financially, consider becoming a paid subscriber.
For now, all my posts are free to everyone, but I will be dropping exclusive content for paid subscribers later in the spring.
In addition to becoming a paid subscriber, you can support my work with a one-time tip at any amount of your choice at the button below.
You can also leave me a tip on Venmo @nattystrology.
In the wake of the Full Moon in Scorpio, I was reminded of something Tasha Beg said a little while back: with so many planets in Aries, we’re compelled by such a sense of urgency that potential for burnout is high.
Right now, Mercury just moved into Taurus and this is an invitation to slow down, tune into your body and your surroundings. Simply be present.
Taurus is the sign of the Moon’s exaltation and is about comfort and nourishment. What is your body saying? Where do you need to soften? What do you need to nourish? What discomfort can you sit with?
If there was something that that Scorpio Full Moon illuminated for me, it’s that this Aries urge to forge self through fire isn’t always sustainable. Yes, we can do hard things. Yes, that Aries boldness is good for propelling us forward. But sometimes we need to slow down and compost.
And with Mercury square Pluto right now (going exact on Tuesday, May 5 at 6:08 pm EDT), we might have greater insight into what we need to slough away, as Pluto is about the breakdown and decomposition necessary to build things up. And with Pluto getting ready to station retrograde on Wednesday (May 6) at 11:34 am, she’s a bit loud.
Friday’s Full Moon, for me, was one of those Full Moons that felt like a massive crash: girl, you can’t always be pushing, pushing, pushing. Your messy ass is enough. You don’t have to prove yourself all the time.
With Mars square Jupiter right now, there is a sense that our drive and ambition is too big for our present reality and Saturn fallen in Aries — the sign of impatient new beginnings — is a reminder that the containers for all we want to be have yet to emerge.
The Mars-Jupiter square goes exact tomorrow (Monday, May 4) at 10:08 pm EDT. With Mars in its fiery domicile, we’ve seen this manifest as drivenness. There is a compulsive quality to squares, and this aspect might find us plowing through life.
I loved a delineation of the Mars-Jupiter square provided by Courtney Chandrea, one of my favorite astrological writers on Substack.
Mars in Aries asks, what is it you truly desire? What falls away from all the rest? And with Mars entering into a square with Jupiter in Cancer, there’s a big question around container: what do we do when our desires are too big for the life we’re trying to fit them in? If it were Saturn in Cancer here, I think we’d see clear signs of limitation; I’d counsel learning to accept our constraints. But because this is Jupiter here, is there perhaps an invitation towards expansion? This Jupiter is sitting in a pretty trine with the [Scorpio Full] Moon, and I can almost hear it saying, “Go on, chase what you need to chase. It will be uncomfortable — evolution always is — but push the constraints a little bit. How much bigger can I grow to hold you?”
Expansion hurts. And reading Courtney here makes me think about how this moment really does compel us to expand our limitations. Yet there’s a nuance here: “Even when discomfort is a necessary driver of life, we have our choice of discomforts to choose from.”
We can’t be everything we want to be and with the Moon now in its waning period, perhaps this is a time to contemplate the discomforts we really, really want to choose for the sake of expansion.
You are going to get uncomfortable. You are going to push your limits. But it’s impossible to pursue every possibility under the sun. Moreover, we aren’t going to manifest every possibility right now. Push your limits and begin discerning what’s most essential so you can prune away what isn’t.
I’m also reminded of a wonderful delineation that Ames Elliot Doyle (also a fabulous writer) provided for this square: “whatever we’re fighting for, it’s because we can see beyond the limitations of right now.”
There’s bigger and better waiting for us on the other side of this friction and the desire to stand our ground is strong. Instinct is turned up to 11 and the time for mental rumination is over: anything curdling in our gut must be expelled.
There’s so much that we want to get out of our systems, and this feels tense.
Reading Ames and Courtney, I am struck by the wisdom of pushing beyond limitations. The discomfort is a good thing, so it’s not simply about counseling rest. Working with limits is tricky because we both want to push beyond them but also not break in the process.
When Ames spoke about this period where “mental rumination is over,” they were writing from a standpoint of Mercury being in Aries, but also from a recognition that all these planets in Aries have been telling us, don’t think about it, do it now!
With Mercury now being in the first decan of Taurus, there’s a greater sense of foresight and calculation. Mercury is squaring a Pluto that is in the first decan of Aquarius, which is a decan about taking a more innovative, vanguard approach outside of conventional, established modes of being.
As Ames writes in this week’s forecast,
In recent weeks we’ve discussed how the first decan of Taurus signifies forethought and careful planting of seeds. As this face is co-ruled by Mercury, the trickster god is very much at home here. Squaring Pluto in the first decan of Aquarius, a position that advocates for taking the road less traveled by, we can expect to have insightful, probing conversations that inspire new solutions to old problems. Lean into research mode, get curious, ask questions — you may be surprised to find that the less obvious answer is the correct one.
The Moon is in Sagittarius today (Sunday, May 3) and Sag Moons, regardless of phase, are great for renewing our sense of mission. With this being the first Sag Moon opposite Uranus since our electric diva entered Gemini a week ago, we can feel the pangs for freedom, but let us remember that freedom isn’t simply being untethered but having the scaffolding to properly exercise agency and maneuver through life.
Right now, the larger systems of society simply do not provide such a scaffolding, but instead put pressure on us as individuals to perform in this late capitalist hellscape. Give yourself grace because these systems will not.
With the Moon’s harmonious aspect to planets in Aries, we can draw from inspiration rather than expectation. But also understand that we will have to get our hands dirty and sometimes inspiration and expectation align. They don’t have to contradict each other, though sometimes they do.
With the Moon applying to an opposition today to a Venus devoted to contradiction, let us hold these tensions between pushing and resting. Discomfort and ease. Scaffolding and wild freedom.
The Sun is currently in the second decan of Taurus. For me this decan is about rhythm. There is a time for rest, a time for work. This decan invites us into modes of alteration, but also to recognize the steadiness and reliability of these rhythms. Tune into the rhythms. When you honor them, you find success.
Note that we have a void Moon that begins tomorrow (Monday, May 4) at 5:33 pm EDT, lasting 21.5 hours, so we will be living through this void until the Moon enters Capricorn at 3:06 pm on Tuesday.
A void moon means that the Moon won’t be forming any exact aspects for the remainder of its time in a given sign. Time feels meandering and efforts don’t tend to stick. Relax and lean into things that feel routine or low stakes.
Assuming that one factors in the modern planets when tracking void Moons, one reason we’ve had so many void Moons this year is that the three modern planets and Saturn left the late degrees of nocturnal signs and now are in the early degrees of diurnal signs.
I am inspired by a wonderful exchange I had with Tasha yesterday. (Do read Tasha’s Substack, The Pop Astrologist Presents, offering weekly forecasts and thoughtful takes on pop culture and society through an astrological lens).
These outer planet shifts represent massive change. All this Aries stuff has been pushing us forward strongly to build something new. But we also need to make space to digest change. These void Moons help us absorb the shocks of these outer planet shifts.
Let us use these void Moons to digest. The Moon going through a period where she doesn’t aspect planets gives us freedom to be untethered from any agenda, to “steer off the typical course,” as Tasha put it. Mars-Jupiter wants us to plow forward, but the void Moon beginning just as this square is about to go exact has other plans.
Be on the lookout for a more formal system for booking readings with me, but if you would like to inquire about a reading with me in the meantime, reach out to me at nattystrology@gmail.com. I provide a variety of astrology and tarot readings at a sliding scale. I would love to work with you!
And that’s the Astro tea! ☕️☀️