Full Moon in Aquarius
August 5, 2009
5:55 pm PDT

The Full Moon rises at sunset and sets at sunrise so she is visible all night long. The Moon opens up, blossoms and flowers now as we too can express our own unique beauty, illuminating our true purpose in the process.

The Aquarian Full Moon will strongly effect those of you with sun, moon or rising sign in Aquarius so if you're already a little 'out there' then prepare to crank things up a notch! If not, you can still have fun experimenting and tuning into radical ideas, futuristic planning (like way, way into the future - space age style!), getting together with friends to celebrate (internet chat rooms could be zany today), or just plain getting creative and letting loose the unique you that never gets out to play. It's also a good time to brainpick & brainstorm and let impulsivity just plain party crash your day! (Is that even a word?)

I'm getting excited just writing about it, but then again I do have an Aquarian Moon (in the Aquarian 11th house to boot, so no wonder!)

Aquarian Keywords: independent, inventive, unpredictable, tolerant, artistic, eccentric, logical, intellectual, radical, shy, altruistic.

This month's featured Aquarian artists are weaver and jeweler, Leslie Maltby in New England and fabric artist Stephanie Maher in Michigan.

As an Aquarian, one trait I embody is wide-eyed curiosity of both the animate and inanimate combined with passion and strong opinions. My love affair with fiber began when I was very young in the form of knitting lessons from my aunt and grandmother. I proudly gave scarves, complete with uneven edges, to family members for Christmas. This hobby gave way to poetry, drawing, and writing, all of which I still like to incorporate into my mixed media jewelry.

In true Aquarian fashion, I was struck, as if by lightening, by the urge to knit again in 2001. Going beyond the basic knit and purl, I read magazines and taught myself stitches and shaping. One of my first projects however, was not going to be merely a scarf. In bigger than life fashion, I was going to knit a sweater! Ok, it was harder than I thought, but as is typical of an Aquarian, I was undaunted (aka, stubborn) and simply changed projects to simpler things, gradually working up to sweaters.

I had wanted to weave for a long time but the whole idea of a loom and how big it was, along with the dilemma of where I would put it and the fact that I didn’t know how to weave delayed doing anything about it. First I decided I had to learn to spin. At first glance, spinning has nothing to do with weaving, but it is fiber-related. I picked up a drop spindle and some fiber and attempted, per the directions included, to spin. I repeatedly dropped the spindle. The spindle and fiber sat on a bookshelf for the following five months.

Then I thought, how can I not know how to do this? That’s unacceptable. I love fiber. I spent one weekend at it and was spinning yarn by Sunday.

"I Don't Get It" Necklace

My passion with the universe of fibers exploded after I learned to spin. I am fascinated by all fibers, plant and animal and all the varieties within each species. Almost everywhere I go, I wonder if that milkweed, that paper, those threads from my frayed jeans can be used in spinning, weaving, and knitting. And although I have yet to try many of these, I know the answer is yes. I am passionate about the world of fiber. You’ll recognize this when I can’t stop talking about it and I don’t notice that your eyes have glazed over.

Where I live I cannot have large fiber animals or grow crops of flax or cotton, but I wanted to go yet another step backwards in the process of creating with fibers. I wanted to “grow” my own fiber so I got an adorable Angora rabbit, whose wool I spin into yarn. That’s the Aquarian independence.

I took basic weaving lessons and have fulfilled yet another dream of mine. The world of weaving is endless, with its weave structures and use of color and fiber.

I became fascinated, too, with mixed media when I made all of the paper materials for my wedding last year (see photo top of this post). My mixed media jewelry is evolving and I am letting that take me where it will go. This is the free-spiritedness found in Aquarians.

My challenge this year is to establish a more structured approach to my business. I am easily distracted by my numerous projects (history, genealogy, dyeing, gardening and canning, to name a few!) and my desire to try new ones (“I can do that!” my mind tells me). As outer worldly as Aquarians seem to be, there are still only 24 hours in our day and we still have to eat, sleep, and do laundry like everyone else.

Stephanie Maher

TheMaterialGirl.etsy.com

I am a forty-one year old single mom of three and as an Aquarian, I live in creative clutter and chaos; I have heaps of fabric everywhere and without help, I rarely have anything organized.

I can't stand to be told what to do so following a pattern is out of the question. I make all my own patterns for projects and I never like to make the same thing twice - it's monotonous for me. Being a giver, I rarely do anything for myself, but am always willing to share my creative talents with friends and family.

I love buying new machines and I own three of them. My favorite is an embroidery machine because it does a million different things and I'll never get bored with that. I'm currently learning applique.

I often wake up in the middle of the night and google something I want to learn to make and then modify it to my own liking. I have only had three sewing lessons and consider myself to be self-taught. I get bored and restless with things quickly and am easily distracted and bounce from idea to idea until I perfect one, so that is why I have so many things unfinished - kind of parallels my life!

For those of you interested in exploring how this Full Moon might effect you and for a look at the entire month ahead I offer a Full Moon reading on my website.

Would love to hear your Aquarian comments if you got 'em!

To connect with more Full Moon Artists please click here.