May 2024 Full Moon in Sagittarius

We’ve entered the May Full Moon week: 3 days before the Full Moon starting on Monday, May 20th, the day of the Full Moon itself on Thursday the 23rd and then the 3 days afterwards ending on Sunday the 26th.

During this week, the themes and archetypal energies of this Full Moon in the sign of Sagittarius will be most heightened and accessible, as will our opportunity to take advantage of these lunar energies and harness them into our lives in a positive, supportive and beneficial way. Opportunity is the key word here, as the benefits and support from the Moon won’t simply happen by default. Instead, like any relationship, there is a flow of both giving and receiving. And as the Moon increases in her fullness and power, she will request your willing participation, presence and collaboration in nurturing the seeds of intentions you planted two weeks earlier during the New Moon week (May 4th-10th). Which given the themes of that New Moon in Taurus + Solar Eclipse conjunction may manifest in the following ways:

• Reorienting your life into greater alignment with a higher purpose or calling

• Reigniting passions and dreams that you put on the shelf

• Exploring greater self-love, self-worth and self-care

• Striving to listen more to your heart and intuition

• Priotitizing the pleasures of life and savoring the blessings of physical existence and being embodied in a human form

Now, every Full Moon offers this general opportunity: Passing through a portal from your past into your future and becoming a new version of yourself in the process. So what specifically makes this May Full Moon in Sagittarius special? And what unique themes can you be on the lookout for as we embark upon the transformative journey of this Full Moon Week?

For this we will briefly explore the archetype of Sagittarius and the essence of what this zodiac sign symbolizes and embodies.

The Archer

The zodiac sign of Sagittarius is represented by either an archer on horseback or a Centaur wielding a bow and arrow. All zodiac signs correspond to one of the 4 elements, and Sagittarius corresponds with Fire and its associated traits of passion, creativity, expansion, adventure, energy and courage.

On the positive side, Sagittarius energy lends itself to fruitful knowledge and truth seeking, exploring your interests and curiosities with zeal, cultivating freedom and surpassing restrictions and expanding into the previously unexplored frontiers of your life. Think about the symbolism of the archer firing arrows with precision and clarity towards a target in the distance as well as the horse who thrives in open pastures with unlimited room to run, to graze and to explore. This zodiac sign is oriented towards the future, moving forward towards bright new horizons and is generally sunny and idealistic in disposition.

On the negative side, the idealism and optimism of Sagittarius can morph into illusion and delusion, which can manifest in being unable or unwilling to see things as they actually are. And whenever we are out of touch with what is, we tend to fixate on what could be or should be.

Whether this shows up as wearing “rose colored glasses,” magnifying the pros and ignoring the cons that may be right in front of us or blowing our regrets and perceived failures out of proportion by fixating on our dissatisfactions and how “we’re not where we’re supposed to be in life,” the shadow side of Sagittarius can lead to the archer missing the mark, the horse feeling fenced in and our ability discern truth for ourselves feeling stunted or compromised.

Is any of this resonating with your current experience?

If so, remember that your experience of these energies doesn’t have to necessarily be good or bad nor right or wrong, which may already be a stretch in and of itself. Instead, you can choose to perceive your experience during the Full Moon more objectively as an opportunity to practice suspending judgment and being curious as to why whatever might be happening may be happening for you instead of to you. Not to create lunacy and throw a wrench into the works, but rather to facilitate creating a new order and promoting deeper, more authentic understanding of where you can go and also where you’re holding yourself back.

Fundamentally, it’s about learning to work with the Moon, building your relationship and rapport with the lunar cycles, and to use your unique experience of the lunar energies as information to orient yourself more honestly to where you are in your life. To see your own reflection more clearly and accurately. Where you’ve grown more conscious and surpassed previous tendencies, thought patterns and beliefs. And where you may still have room to grow in breaking away from living on autopilot and gaining more control of your thoughts, words and actions. It’s all about growth and riding the waves of the ebbs and flows of life, so there will always be an element of challenging and questioning your comfort zone and where you may be boxing yourself into stagnation. On that, you can be certain.

For some, the Sagittarian “bright” side of leaving behind the old to embrace the new, illuminating hidden truths and exploring uncharted territory will trigger discomfort and anxiety. For others the “shadow” side of feeling pent up, directionless and limited will be what pushes one to the edge. And for others, it will be a mix of the two pushing buttons and opening the curtains to let more light and heat from this fire sign into your life.

Bottom line, we’re all going to be experiencing the Full Moon’s influence in our own way. So long as we’re on the planet, it’s unavoidable. So why not make the most of it?

And while we’re free to defy it and cling to the status quo through distracting, numbing, blaming or waiting it out, I personally don’t recommend it. I’ve been there, done that, and speaking for myself, I now know better and I strive to surrender more quickly and with less of a fight (though I’m far from perfect). The opportunity the Full Moon is offering us to learn important and timely life lessons is accessed only through choosing to peer deeply into the reflection she offers us and gratefully allowing the Moon’s energy to work in and through the vessel of our lives. Not to treat her like a bully, but more as a confidante and guardian who wants the best for you.

So with each day of this May Full Moon Week, seize the opportunity to observe and witness what’s coming up and the common threads that tie it all together. How these energies and archetypes are manifesting on both the micro in your individual life as well as on the macro in the collective. And grow not only in your awareness of the lunar energies, but also in your freedom to act upon them consciously, attuning to the much bigger picture of the cycles of life here on Earth. How we all play our part. And setting the tone now for the growth, transformation and harvests of the fast approaching Summer season.