GARLAND Full Moon

August 9th 2025 3:54am Eastern

Full Moon in Aquarius at 16* 59'

25th Shape: GARLAND

8° 34' 17'' Aquarius – 21° 25' 43'' Aquarius

Garland is one of the most noteworthy of the 28 Shapes, having a distinct dynamic of binding and separating. The word used in the Greek Magical Papyri is στέλμα, or ‘stélma’, which has been translated to, other than garland, also as wreath or crown, but the more baseline translation of “encircling” I find the most apt to collect the various attributes of the 25th Shape across the traditions. Garland in the PGM probably does refer to funerary boughs which might be draped about burial architecture and certainly are carved into stone tombs found in Greece during the period. In the Orphic context this may be the portion of the initiation sequence where the participant faces ritual death after a shocking experience and may have been isolated or made wait in meditative darkness, representing the bardo in transmigratory processes; the temporary no-zone between incarnations.

There may be overlap with the previous Chinese lunar station which is called Willow, of course being a common funerary tree, planted near tombs in China to soothe and bless the dead, it’s boughs used to maintain the purity of the sacred space. It is a mansion of inner alchemy, immortality, and turning away from the world. The 245h Xiu speaks of bridges, weaving, and bridling horses, which all fit with the binding character of the Shape, but texts also literally mentions guiding the dead through the bardo in the afterlife. The 13 days in which the Sun travels through this section of the zodiac would span late January to almost mid February; the coldest and usually most immobilized period of year.

As this is a Full Moon, the Sun is sending its objective light from this time of mid-Summer and greatest heat to the subjective light of the Moon in the place of mid-Winter and greatest cold. In this stretch of time we might be sheltering from overwhelming temperatures, searing sun and excess activity in a way not so dissimilar from how we would venture out more minimally in blizzard like conditions, just with the qualities flipped. Opposite Garland is Shegoat, a Shape that can have to do with caves, mining, hiding and resource delivery; the containment character of Garland can be like a safe to secure your jewels, or combined with Shegoat as an axis, the act of hiding out in some stronghold being fed that which nourishes you away from intrusion. (See the myth of Amalthea where infant Zeus is hidden from child-devouring Kronos and nursed by a she-goat in secret in a cave surrounded by diversion making Korybantes clanging their shields)

The Picatrix calls the 25th mansion the ‘Lucky Star Of Hidden Things’, which furthers this essence of keeping the good stuff out of any central, visible location. The image is of a man planting and the talisman is to guard crops and trees, which could imply agricultural fencing, referencing the encircling dynamic. The repetition of tree-ness is interesting for a place of bardo, as the Indian Nakshatra evokes Shiva standing on one foot doing penance, a very tree like posture. As Aquarius is a fixed sign it seeks some form of stability, and even when it is that of the pioneer's outpost, there might be some reduced mobility and staying-put which accomplishes security and formidability. It is not a Shape of high circulation and activity but instead of being locked-in. In fact, the spirit of the Grimoirium Verum that resides here is Surgat, who opens what is shut, opens locks, reveals treasure, and is said to be dangerous, so when he asks for a hair give him a fox’s instead of your own. The syncretized Exu in Quimbanda is Exu das Sete Portas, or ‘7 doors’. The danger may be that you could inadvertently lock yourself in, or perhaps out, of whatever container in question.

The Nakshatra is also seen as the front two legs of a funerary cot, can relate to menial work, terminal illness, austerity, the preservation of gold, single centeredness, and darker forms of tantra, all of which echo elements already discussed. The Picatrix makes explicit elections for spousal separation, binding body parts, (in general and in a sexual context, perhaps as chastity belt, or even in the intention of preventing the conceiving of an enemy’s heir). It goes on to mention firming captives’ incarceration and securing buildings, which are typical of the text but still worth adding to the collected concepts here.

Mercury concludes his rethinking and re-organization retrograde two days after the Full Moon, so this climax of transitional bondage and hiding away or guarding may be related to how we are re-considering and correcting our ideas about visibility and centrality to begin with, especially in terms of who we really are and how we govern ourselves. As Mercury’s direct station will be within orb to trine Saturn-Neptune in Aries, also drawing back their advance, the stratagem with which we strike out on our own and what we are capable of autonomously flooding our perceptions in this stage of our lives' comes into question in a serious way. Mars newly in Libra can be thought of a little like pistol-as-peacemaker. It’s a tense situation when guns are drawn as a device to bring things back to balance, and the trine to Uranus in Gemini extends the unorthodoxy of ideas and exchanges. This is frenetic territory, things are certainly changing and shifting and don’t show any intention of settling down for anything more than a relatively brief pause this late fall through winter, after-which the paradigm shifting recommences for some time.

In this sense Garland Full Moon may be, holographically, the bardo before our next incarnations, or an act of separating something we don’t want to end up in the general mix, or being put on hold for one reason or another as we urgently seek a reordering of the equalization. It may be helpful to think like a tree, bring in the organic and ancient mindset of that which will persist beyond any ordeal. This seems to be a component of great change; to transition into that which is entirely unfamiliar there may have to be a disquieting pause, like the geologically scaled breaths taken to regroup from one epoch to the next.