October 1st Full Harvest Moon: 5:04pm EST-15 degrees Pisces, Uttara Bhadrapada
The October 1st, 2020 Full Harvest Moon takes place at 5:04pm EST at 14:59 Pisces, Uttara Bhadrapada nakshatra, “the latter happy feet”. It spans from 3.2 to 16.4 of Pisces, and the symbols are twins, the back legs of a funeral cot, and a snake in deep water. The deity that rules this lunar mansion is Ahir Budhyana, the Serpent or Dragon of the Deep. This is the “Warrior Star”, and the star that rules here is Algenib, which is on the tip of the wing of Pegasus, and gives great oratorical skills, intelligence, and a mature responsible nature. Jupiter is the ruling planet of Pisces, and Saturn is the ruling planet of Uttara Bhadrapada. In Persian astrology it is ruled by Mercury and Mars. The sign of Pisces is the last sign and represents the final liberation of the soul and rules the natural 12th house, which is the surrender of death to the divine cosmos. Pisces is a mutable water sign represented by two fishes swimming in opposite directions, and in Western astrology is ruled by Neptune. It is emotional and sentimental, intuitive, spiritual and religious, compassionate but can be self-pitying, lacks confidence, prone to addictions, lacks boundaries, musical and artistic, and a martyr.
Mythology and Uttara Bhadrapada in a Birth Chart
Ahir Budhyana was a serpent of deep waters representing seclusion, kundalini, and psychic energy. Lord Agni is seen here as the fiery nature and cleansing power of fire. As this is the Warrior Star we see that they have a revolutionary spirit much like their twin, Purva Bhadrapada, but they are more mature in their approach and can control their anger and aggression due to Saturn’s influence here. Shani does tend to make these natives lazy, but they have good intentions and love to protect and sacrifice themselves for their loved ones. They are great speakers and storytellers, and love to contemplate life in seclusion and they have great psychic insights. They have a magical quality about them, and they have the ability to tap into the akashic records and make great channelers. They usually have a happy home life, are blessed with good children, and often receive an inheritance later in life.
The astrological influences of the constellation Pegasus
Legend: Pegasus was born from the blood of Medusa (see Algol) after Perseus had cut off her head, and was afterwards tamed and ridden by Bellerophon. Being weary of earthly affairs Bellerophon attempted to fly to heaven but fell off, and Pegasus continued his course, entered heaven and took his place among the stars (Robson).
Influences: According to Ptolemy the bright stars are like Mars and Mercury. The constellation gives ambition, vanity, intuition, enthusiasm, caprice and bad judgment. (Robson)
The constellation portends events concerning ships and the ocean and also changes in the weather. In medieval times it was said to indicate vain individuals with a great deal of ambition, but with very poor judgment (Noonan).
The Pegasus Syndrome, as exemplified in the legends of Perseus and Bellerophon, is concerned with the innate ability possessed by some people to negotiate difficulties by rising above them, on the one hand, and the danger of overreaching themselves, on the other. Pegasus, by birth, is the child of Medusa and Neptune, symbols of ‘wisdom’ and ’emotion,’ respectively, which shows the dichotomy of his nature. As in the story, Bellerophon attempted to fly to Olympus (overreach his potential). He believed that Pegasus was subject to his will. However, it was Pegasus who made it to Olympus, while Bellerophon was tossed back to earth, lame and reproached by others. It is unwise to take any situation for granted as the ‘lesser’ person (or, in this case, beast) may be the very one to teach us the much needed lesson in humility. Pegasus is also indicative of a specific mission in life which the inquirer will always find the time and energy to pursue, although the path may be sewn with difficulties (the Chimaera) and limitations (Bellerophon’s doubt or arrogance). So, the Pegasus Syndrome is the seeming ability to “fly over any situation,” though the reverse may be a lesson in humility, being “taken down a peg,” as it were. [Rich’s Pegopedia http://thanasis.com/pegasus.htm].
The astrological influences of the constellation Pegasus given by Manilius:
“Pegasus the winged Horse will appear and gallop aloft in the heavens. It will bring forth people endowed with swiftness of movement and limbs alert to perform every task. One man will cause his horse to wheel round in caracoles, and proudly mounted on its back he will wage war from on high; horseman and soldier in one. Another will possess the ability to rob the racecourse of its true length such is his speed that he will seem to dissemble the movement of his feet and make the ground vanish before him. Who more swiftly could fly back from the ends of the earth as messenger or with light foot to the earth’s ends make his way? He will also heal a horse’s wounds with the sap of common plants, and will know the herbs which bring aid to an animal’s limbs and those which grow for the use of man.” [Manilius, Astronomica, 1st century AD, book 5, p.350-353.]
The astrological influences of the star Algenib
Of the nature of Mars and Mercury. It gives notoriety, dishonor, violence, misfortune, and denotes the naked and poor professional beggar (Robson).
Penetrating mind and a strong will, as well as determination. An impressive way of speaking and a gift for oratory. In conjunction with the Sun, it will make for a fighting spirit and a love of learning. Connected with Mercury, Venus and Jupiter, one can count popularity and interest in art and literature and distinction, if not further configurations also point to similar gifts. With Saturn, in general, it is thought of as an impeding factor, but has a name for good memory according to Morin. If angular with Mercury and Uranus, Algenib will make for an inventive spirit. Algenib is given as alpha Pegasus which is an error because the name and degrees are right for this star Algenib, gamma (Ebertin).
Excess of heat resulting in violence and perhaps misfortune or dishonor (Noonan).
With Moon: Dishonor, loss by scandal, exiled or forced to flee, ill health, trouble through writings (Robson).
Sources Cited
1) Ebertin, Elsbeth. Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, 1928, p.12
2) Noonan, George. Fixed Stars and Judicial Astrology,1990, p.22.
3) Robson, Vivian E. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, 1923.
Transit Analysis
The October 2020 Harvest Moon is taking place at 5:04pm EDT at 15 degrees Pisces, Uttara Bhadrapada, in Washington DC’s 2nd house that day indicating money and speech being the areas where this energy will be felt. As Jupiter is the ruler of Pisces, and Saturn is the ruler of this nakshatra, it makes these two transit planets particularly important. Jupiter is making his 5thaspect to Mars retrograde in Aries conjunct Uranus retrograde at this time, and as he is in the 11th house, we see that public education is rolling back a lot of guidelines and procedures that came about because of the pandemic. When Mars went retrograde sports returned to universities, and now we are seeing that some states have ended their mask mandates. At the same time the virus is starting to go back up again in numbers of infections in other areas. As Uttara Bhadrapada indicates seclusion, we see that this issue is central to this full moon, some are still in quarantine and some are coming out of it.
As the karaka of education Jupiter has just gone direct himself, so now things are moving forward with education and schools are adjusting their sails with new information that comes in daily regarding the status of the virus. Jupiter is conjunct Pluto retrograde and he is making his 9th aspect to Venus in their 6th house today, and this shows that restaurants are in focus on this full moon day. Many restrictions and guidelines have been put upon restaurants more so that other areas and they are having closings at record speed right now. Venus in the 6this good for health, so this is a sign that things will continue to improve with the pandemic, and some hope for the restaurant industry.
Saturn just went direct, and he is making his 3rd aspect to the Moon today and as he is in DC’s 12th house at that time it shows enemies from behind that they cannot see. Being in Capricorn gives favor to the established authority in power, whereas in Aquarius, Saturn’s moolitrikona sign, it gives favor to the working class and black or brown people. As Uttara Bhadrapada is about oration and storytelling, we see the pressure the Republicans are under after President Trump’s first debate where he kept interrupting his opponent, Joe Biden. This is not proving well for the Republicans and today we will see the negative effects of this aspect upon DC. Saturn is making his 10th aspect to Mercury in Libra in their 9th house at this time, and this shows a dampening and controlling quality to speech. Saturn and Mercury are friends, but Saturn tends to make Mercury shy or overly cautious with his words. We already know that for the next presidential debate that there will be new guidelines in place to prevent each candidate from interrupting the other, such as turning off their microphones while the other is talking, as indicated by this aspect.
Mars retrograde in Aries in the 3rd house is making his 8th aspect to Ketu in Scorpio in the 10th house for Washington at the time of this full moon. Mars rules both Aries and Scorpio so that makes this aspect very potent, and it translates as forceful and disruptive speech from DC and the current government in power. Having Uranus retrograde conjunct Mars at this time indicates accidents that happen suddenly that have risen from their media and communications. The nodes just shifted signs on September 19th (true node) so having Ketu still hovering around the cusp is making him standout right now, and in Scorpio shows that we are racing for a medical breakthrough, i.e. a vaccination for the coronavirus.
Ketu in the 10thindicates a change in job, and after that first presidential debate we can see that people are fed up with President Trump’s mouth, and that Biden may win because of it. Rahu in the 4th can indicate a change in the home as well, and also deeply passionate feelings. Rahu is in the moksha house of the 4thand giving his 5th aspect to the Sun in the 8th in Virgo, and whenever the Sun is transiting the 8th our health can suffer; Virgo is the sign of health, so this is showing us the importance of health and dealing with this current pandemic. Rahu is giving his 9th aspect to Saturn in the 12th house showing that enemies from foreign lands are hiding themselves at this time, but that there is a reclusive fearful energy depressing the subconscious now. I feel that everyone is so appalled by the first presidential debate and knowing that we have to pick one of the two candidates is just depressing. This would be a great time for America to realize that there are more candidates to consider from other parties, such as the Libertarian and Green parties. Ketu is giving his 5th aspect to the Moon today, so fears and phobias about the outcome of this election are strong. Let us overcome our fear and take control of the situation by voting our conscious, not just the better of two evils.
Neptune retrograde on the ascendant at the time of the full moon shows that lies and deception will be revealed, and in Saturn’s sign of Aquarius it is about the working class, and the party that historically has represented the working class has been the Democrats. Recently, many voters that voted Democrat from the working class have switched sides and voted Republican for Trump. In this election we see that a lot of them have switched back to being Democrat, but many have stayed with Trump. There has been a lot of Neptunian fog and confusion surrounding the voting issue by mail, and there should be a lot of chaos on election day resulting in us not knowing the outcome for some time.
