The light of the full moon, the blaze of its spirit which is ours yet not ours, which connects all people young and old, living and dead, both gone and not gone, takes on a new significance in the southern hemisphere. Not only is the full moon in the opposite sign to the sun, but in southern hemisphere astrology it is in the same sign as the sun in the northern hemisphere.

This month there are two full moons: the first was in sidereal Sagittarius; the second, on the 31st, will be in Capricorn. These are both northern hemisphere winter signs, and there is no need to remind you that it is winter here in southern Australia. And yet these constellations are very high in the sky, exalted if you will, so that the moon’s light is the brightest of the year. It illuminates every nook and cranny.

This new moon on Thursday, 4° above the sun, is in Gemini, associated here with the winter characteristics determination and withdrawal. That it occurs in the house of the mind resonates with those seasonal characteristics, as well as with the northern sidereal character of Gemini, and the northern tropical character of Cancer. We will see its first crescent in the wastes of Cancer on Friday, weather permitting.

How does the moon make a fresh start with determination and withdrawal? The sun is a poor parent in this sign. The moon finds little or no mirror in it. It can’t wait to get out, transforming negativity and shame along the path of least resistance, service to the world, or ‘fix it’ mode. It will immediately find itself in a clearing with a golden orb spider and a giant snake, but life wasn’t meant to be easy.

It all comes good in the end, or does it? There’s a tendency to vanity I worry about, and the signs it must cross threaten confusion, impatience, insecurity, mind-games and laziness. All this negativity, to compound a poor kid’s defences against a withdrawn parent!

Where does shame come in, and why do I call this moon The Addict? In a way, I’m a little ashamed to bring it up, but I believe shame to be a fundamental element of socialisation, and everywhere I look I identify defences against it: the need to not seem needy, and its oppressive projection; and the creepy steps taken to not be seen as creepy, are just two examples. Whether or not this sun shames the moon to leave her alone, or this moon is ashamed of his parent, there can be no doubt that venturing into society without a guide will occasion plenty of shame.

Wikipedia has an excellent entry on shame. Of particular interest is the connection it suggests between shame and narcissism:

“It has been suggested that narcissism in adults is related to defenses against shame and that narcissistic personality disorder is connected to shame as well. Psychiatrist Glen Gabbard suggested that NPD could be broken down into two subtypes, a grandiose, arrogant, thick-skinned “oblivious” subtype and an easily hurt, oversensitive, ashamed “hypervigilant” subtype. The oblivious subtype presents for admiration, envy, and appreciation a grandiose self that is the antithesis of a weak internalized self which hides in shame, while the hypervigilant subtype neutralizes devaluation by seeing others as unjust abusers.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shame

The moon in Thursday’s horoscope is already nearly 3° past new, but the time is ripe for self-awareness, sunset, sun and moon are in the house of constraint, the zodiac is aligned emphatically east with the personal, the ascendant is in the house of mystery, and the vertex is entering the eighth house. Mars and Mercury are in the tightest conjunction, but where they can’t be seen.

I feel a lot of compassion for this moon. Perfectionists, ideologues, alcoholics, addicts of all types, ashamed or defending against shame, this moon shines on us!