Full Moon Eclipse in Capricorn, July 2020
If you have been feeling the intensity of the past month with eclipse season, you’re not alone. On their own, eclipses have their own intense energy, but we have also been experiencing Mercury and Neptune going retrograde, Mars entering Aries, Saturn moving back into Capricorn, Jupiter and Pluto meeting up and Venus still in her post-retrograde shadow.
Best to go back to bed and hide under the covers until it’s all over.
Eclipses speed up events. They bring sudden changes and signify pivotal turning points in our lives. Typically New Moon/Solar eclipses bring new beginnings and Full Moon/Lunar eclipses bring endings. It’s a course-correction which at the time may feel hard and painful, but ultimately leads us to what we really needed all along.
This eclipse in Capricorn is the grand finale in the series of Cancer–Capricorn which we have been experiencing for two years. If you have planets or angles in these signs, you would have felt these eclipses intensely.
My Sun is in Capricorn, ruling my fourth house of home and foundations. I have my North Node (life purpose) and Midheaven (what I’m known for) in Cancer. For me, this eclipse cycle has been around the balance of home and career, my inner and outer worlds. It has been around creating the home and foundation I desire alongside establishing a new career and stepping into my Sun’s power. Head here to discover the part of your chart where this eclipse falls for you. (Take special note if there are any planets at 11 degrees Capricorn, Cancer, or even in the other Cardinal signs, Libra and Aries. These will be be activated by the eclipse.)
Nobody said it would be easy, especially Capricorn. The goat wants to climb to the top of the mountain, finding its own path and navigating obstacles: a big rock in your way? Then find a way over, under, around or through. Capricorn is the sign which teaches us about mastery and achievement, knowing that it is through the journey itself where we learn the most about ourselves.
When all is said and done, reaching the goal isn’t the point, it’s how you get there. An Olympian may win a gold medal in the 100m sprint, the race itself lasting only ten seconds or less. It is the hours and years of training, dedication and sacrifice behind that race where the real work was done. The blood, sweat and tears—all the tears. But also, without all of that work, the goal/gold would not and could not have been reached. No pain, no gain.
This eclipse is the last big event before we reach the gold. Once the energy starts to subside we will be able to see everything come together in the perfect way.
This week, Capricorn’s ruler Saturn has slipped back into its home sign after a few months of dipping its toes into Aquarius. The stern authoritative energy of Saturn in its dignity has definitely been felt. Saturn doesn’t encourage play, not when there is work to do. There has been a lack of play, fun and pleasure this year while we all adjust to living through a pandemic and working on restructuring life. I live in Melbourne and this week a number of postcodes have gone back into Stage 3 lockdown (mine included). Police presence at checkpoints in the area along with reports that drones will monitor number plates are all an expression of Saturn: you must obey the rules set by a higher authority. Warrior Mars entering his home sign of Aries for a six month stay adds extra assertion to this ruling.
Mercury in retrograde in Cancer is also adding an extra flavour to this eclipse. This retrograde is getting us to tap into our feeling minds aka hearts as opposed to our thinking rational minds.
This is our opportunity to tap into our core desired feelings, instead of worrying about the to-do list and how you are going to make something happen. Goals need to have a feeling behind them, a why. Once you know what the why is, the how will come later.
Capricorn is a harsh sign (and I say this as a proud Capricorn Sun myself). In the Northern Hemisphere, Capricorn season falls in the depth of winter, which in many countries means the ground is covered in snow. In the Southern Hemisphere, Capricorn season is in the middle of Summer—here in Australia, that means heat and dry earth. Both are challenging.
Capricorn needs its opposite, Cancer to balance it out and add warmth and emotion: warm water melts ice and snow, cool water replenishes the cracked earth and makes it fertile again. We will have a Take Two on a Cancer New Moon in a couple of weeks, where we can set our intentions with warmth and emotion and create a new start. Until then, this is a time to surrender and let go.
The thing about Capricorn is that it likes control, but eclipses are about surrendering to what is. While you can’t control all the events around you, you can control your inner world. Finding focus and stability with your physical, mental and spiritual health is key to being able to ride these waves of change.
Soon, you will be standing on the podium with a gold medal around your neck and everything will all make sense.
The exact time of the Full Moon is:
AEST: Sunday 5 July @ 2.44pm
United Kingdom: Sunday 5 July @ 5.44am
US Eastern: Sunday 5 July @ 12.44am
US Pacific: Saturday 4 July @ 9.44pm
Find your timezone here.
A ritual for the Full Moon in Capricorn
I have curated a playlist on Spotify to take you through the Capricorn themes of focus, tenacity, mastery and achievement. To get the greatest benefit out of it, I recommend that you dance to this. When we dance we move energy through our bodies and can shift things that we didn’t even know we needed to shift. In some cases, we may not even be aware of what we released but just feel generally ‘lighter’ afterwards.
Dancing under the energy of the Full Moon is extra-powerful as this is a natural time for us to release old patterns, beliefs, ideas, emotions that we no longer need. It helps create space within us to invite in something new.
How to do this ritual
Set-up: Find a space in your home where you won’t be disturbed for at least an hour. Make sure you have enough space to dance without bumping into furniture. Have a water bottle on hand so you can stay hydrated. Also have your journal or some paper to record any thoughts that may come up during the ritual.
Head to the Settings in Spotify and make sure you have turned off Autoplay so that once the playlist ends you are able to sit in silence. (If you are using the mobile app you will find Autoplay under Settings - Playback.) Also make sure that you have turned off any other shuffle or repeat settings—you want to listen to the playlist in the order that it has been curated.
Set up any speakers or headphones so that you have the best sound possible. (I like to listen through headphones so I can really block out other sounds and feel into the music.)
Create a mood: Light a candle or some incense, dim the lights. Also because this is a Full Moon in Capricorn, you may want to set up an altar with images or things which for you represent goals or achievements.
Read the blog post about the themes of this Full Moon, then perhaps sit in contemplation or journal out some of the things that you personally wish to release and transform.
When you are ready, start the playlist. Move your body in a way that feels intuitive in each moment. No-one is watching so you can really let go of your inhibitions. When moving, I like to close my eyes or have a soft gaze so I stay more in my body. Just make sure you stay aware of where you are in the room so you don’t bang into any furniture and hurt yourself.
The playlist is designed to take you on a journey through the Capricorn themes of focus, tenacity, mastery and achievement. If thoughts, feelings or emotions come up for you keep moving them through your body. You might find that certain areas of your body, like your shoulders or hips, feel stiff at first and want to be moved in a certain way. This is your body releasing things that have become stuck.
The final track is a sound healing. Sit or lie down and allow the music to wash over you as your nervous system settles.
Once the music ends, you may find you want to lie in silence for awhile or journal about your experience. Just do whatever comes to you intuitively.
Drink plenty of water after the ritual. Having a shower afterwards or a soak in the bath with some epsom/himalyan sea salts can be really nice as well to help symbolically ‘wash away’ anything that you were releasing. Eating magnesium-rich foods (bananas, almonds, dark chocolate) can also help replenish your system.
You might feel like you have an ‘energetic hangover’ the next day or have emotions come up. Be gentle with yourself, rest when you can, drink lots of water.
I have been working with this style of ritual on the Full Moon for awhile now and have found it to be a great way to release and let go. I hope you find it as beneficial as I do.
With love
Tanya
xxx