The day before this Full Moon a rare event happens, called the “transit of Mercury” which simply describes the fact that Mercury will be passing in front of the Sun from the Earth’s point of view. It last happened in 2016, but it won’t happen again after this one until 2032. In addition to the significances of this astrologically, for those interested in numerology, it is happening on 11/11, of which 11 is known as a master number, and is connected to Higher realms of consciousness, with the possibility of opening to greater awareness of our place in the Universe.

Mercury, as you may know, rules our thinking and communication patterns, but it is also assigned to the god Hermes, who moved between the worlds of the mortals and the immortals, conveying messages from the world of the gods or Spirit to humans, which are often subject to misinterpretation. This is why Mercury is seen as the trickster as well.

Whenever Mercury conjoins the Sun, it gets “solarized” and astrologically our thinking gets a blast of light that burns away old thinking patterns, zaps our very constructed egoic reasoning, and leaves us with the work of finding out just what is true, and not true, about our reality. And when it is exactly in front of the Sun, as it is on the 11th, this “transit” it is blasting us with solar power, and connecting us potentially with the greater wisdom of Universal Truth. And since the Sun and Mercury are both in Scorpio, the deepest secrets of our personal and global reality are able to be revealed, brought out into  the light. Since Mercury is retrograde in this transit, look for unconscious material to be leaking through to consciousness during this time, perhaps journaling or writing down dreams that occur these nights around the Full Moon.

Mars has just finished forming a “square” (a challenging 90˚ angle) to both Saturn and Pluto this past week, and so the tension should be easing off on the considerable emotional and relational pressure that we all have been feeling. This Full Moon forms harmonious angles to Saturn and Pluto, which may translate into having some awareness of how the emotional tension we’ve been feeling can inform us, has taught us something. Perhaps our awareness has deepened in some way, even though we’ve gone through some suffering to get it.

However, this week we must align with Saturn and Pluto’s “push” toward self-discipline and restraint, as Venus forms a square to Neptune at this Full Moon, the effect of which can reinforce escapist tendencies, or on the other hand, contribute to artistic and creative inspiration. It’s a good idea to watch any kind of desire toward indulgence at this Full Moon, and especially around the 14th when the Moon will form a T-square, opposing Venus and exactly squaring Neptune.

It’s also important to note that this Full Moon nearly exactly conjoins the asteroid Vesta, which represents how we keep our “hearth fires” burning, how we come back to our inner center. What activities bring you back to the center of your self, to feeling your groundedness? This is a time to pay attention to your health, the deeper desires of your body, and to strengthen your meditation practice. This may also be a time to find out what you do in your life that aligns you with your soul’s purpose, or allows you at least to feel that you are making a meaningful difference in your world. Vesta asks us to renew and re-acquaint ourselves with our inner focus.

This is also a time of visioning for us, as this Full Moon forms harmonious aspects to Neptune in Pisces, the planet of the unconscious, especially focussed toward our dreaming self. As the days become shorter in the Northern Hemisphere, we have potentially more of a shift toward the dreaming aspects of our existence. Perhaps we can experiment with allowing our dreaming self to help solve our conundrums, letting go of “trying” so hard to make things better, and instead approaching difficulties by asking for vision from our dream life, so that we may proceed consciously with a sense of clarity of purpose and strength. For in reality, we live within and through our imaginations, and dream ourselves into existence every day of our lives.