How long do the effects of a full moon last in astrology?

intuitivetarot

A couple of sources cited 3 days before and 3 days after. But another source said that that what is illuminated is seen when the full moon occurs is not mentally analyzed and registered or resolved until a week after...which means last week's feb 22nd full moon actually culminates today, feb 29th?
 

dadsnook2000

Let me make a simple question un-simple.

Like many things in Astrology, the answer is both simple and not so simple.

Let us start with how we treat a major aspect between two planets. If we are talking two outer planets, we consider two cases. First, a conjunction or opposition is generally given a single degree of 'orb' or pronounced influence. Second, because the planets move so slowly it is possible to discern a 'cyclic' effect where in the influence builds up in quiet but persistent ways. We can use Saturn conjoining natal Mars as an example. Saturn will dampen the natural expression (for an individual) of Mars' energy for the several days it contacts Mars. As a cyclic effect, it may teach one to use more self-discipline in the use of Mars -- it may test this lesson at the quarter cycles and opposition points. Because of Saturn's long orbital process, this may be a lesson that is forgotten about over time.

Let us now look at a fast moving 'planet', the Moon relative to the Sun (with the Earth in a special role). As a full Moon, which you asked about, the Moon may trigger a reaction when it is within a couple of degrees of being full. If we allow only one degree, we are talking a two hour window of time. But, because the Moon is a constant and predominate influence, we are attuned to it and will actually feel it sooner and longer than a two hour period.

Now, we need to consider other Astrological applications. When working with midpoints and progressed or directed charts, we find that accuracy within just a few minutes of a degree will relate to a trigger or eventful date or a period of just a few days.

When working with Return charts, the Moon can be given several degrees of orb because we mostly care about the 'day' within the Return chart's cycle. We also introduce the angles of the Return chart as the effective zones, so we would be looking for the Moon transiting an angle. The Moon or other planet is effective at the angles of a Return chart.

The type of Return chart is also important to consider. A lunar return chart focuses upon 'reactions, emotions, habits, routine, empathy and family issues'. As such a transit to any planet in the Return chart will-or-may trigger something in the subject's chart related to those matters. In a Saturn-Return chart, it becomes another matter. WE HAVE TO ALWAYS CONSIDER what role the two planets involved are doing in the natal chart. If they are active together in the natal chart, they will likely also interact in a transiting chart. If they do not interact in the natal chart, they are likely to ignore each other in a transiting chart.

So, it comes down to 1) what are you looking for, 2) what type of chart are you using, 3) how long is the cycle relative to the transit-within-an-orb-of-contact, 4) what is the role of the involved planets in the natal chart? Astrology is an art of synthesis. We blend subtle things within a whole sense, details within broad themes. Sometimes we have a mosaic of details, sometimes we find on things is enough to consider. It's simple, its complicated.

Perhaps you should cite a specific and detailed example so that the question and answer can be narrowed down.
 

Minderwiz

I don't think there's an answer to your question, in the sense of one which holds true for all people all of the time.

For the moment, I'll ignore very important factors, such as your natal chart or what else is going on at the time of the Full Moon (other transits). That's as simple as we can make it.

Now I'll give you two examples, me and my wife. I perhaps notice a Full Moon when it's perhaps half a day away - say 6 degrees from the Full Moon. I never get a strong effect and many times I don't realise it is a Full Moon but for one strong indicator - my wife.

She is much more sensitive. She will be aware of a Full Moon perhaps two or even three days beforehand. The most visible effect is that she has disturbed sleep patterns and will actually try and sleep (if she can) with the Moon blotted out from view - it shines in through our bedroom window, The effect seems to dissipate within a day of Full - supporting the widely held view that separating aspects are weaker and shorter lived than applying ones. So, two different people, two very different effects and durations. I'm more in keeping with Dave's analysis above. My wife is much more diffuse.

Now if I add in our natal charts, I can perhaps offer a possible explanation of this. Both of us have night charts,that is the Sun is below the horizon and both of us have waning Moons. In my case the Sun is in the third house (within a few minutes of the fourth) and the Moon is on the Descendant. That should suggest a powerful Moon, yet I get no physical manifestations or,( as far as I can tell) psychological manifestations from Full Moons. This might in part be because the Moon is in a perfect opposition to it's ruler Saturn in my first and on my Ascendant. Elsewhere I can point to significant Moon effects, but not necessarily linked to it's Sun cycle.

My wife has a Cancer Ascendant (mine is Leo) but her Moon is in the ninth house by sign and the tenth by quadrant system. It's only seven degrees from the MC and it's in an applying conjunction. The Moon therefore dominates her Ascendant through a paran square (the distance between ASC and MC at a specific location) The Ascendant and first house represents the physical body, as indeed does the Moon. The Moon is her Ascendant ruler. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a link between the Moon's movements and her physical reactions.

In my chart the Moon is on the point of setting, leaving neither the Sun nor the Moon above the horizon. My wife's chart is also nocturnal but in her case the Sect Ruler (the Moon) is about to culminate and it is the Ascendant Ruler. It will be much more prominent for her than it will be for me and much more physically experienced.

One last point. Most Astrologers these days only allow an orb of around 6 - 8 degrees for Moon aspects, which effectively narrows the effect down to about 12 to 15 hours in which the Moon is effective in a transit and as transits are seen as very important, that downgrades the Moon compared to the rest of the planets. Almost no Modern Astrologer talks about Moon transits as being important and you won't find a book about them.

The Hellenistic Astrologers gave the Moon 13 degrees (a day's travel) as a degree based aspect and also used sign based aspects to identify some effect. So you had at least double the area for influence, even if that is at a much lower lever for sign based aspects. As a personal observation, I think the wider aspect is much more in tune with reality and we should pay more attention to transits of the Moon. I've found them excellent timing devices when coupled with other predictive techniques.
 

Barleywine

This is a fascinating topic that has fostered a lot of creative interpretation over the last 50-odd years. For example, Dane Rudhyar - and after him, Marc Robertson - considered the "Full Moon personality" type to operate in a nativity from the exact degree of the Sun/Moon opposition to 45 degress after that point (into the waning hemi-cycle), or for roughly 3-1/2 days. Given that the Moon is second in "planetary" importance only to the Sun, I was never happy with the notion that transiting lunar aspects are so fleeting as to be virtually meaningless. I gravitated away from the "orb of exactness" model to one based on "phases," probably due to the time I spent with Rudhyar's The Lunation Cycle and Robertson's Cosmopsychology. But neither book allows for the idea of both applying and separating influences, so I shifted the phase window to straddle the precise degree of the opposition. This seems to square better with the "eyeball" test: the night (or two) before Full Moon, the lunar disc is still faintly oval; the night (or two) after it is perceptibly receding from perfection on the opposite edge. As a "Full Moon type" myself, I tend to think that the human experience of the Full Moon is largely internal, a perceptual and emotional stimulation, although given the dramatic physical effect the Moon has on the Earth, I can't discount the psychosomatic possibilities. I started out using 6-to-8 degrees of applying and separating orb (around a 15-degree "window") but have become a little more flexible with that over the years, depending on other chart factors as mentioned above. But I'm not looking for "events" from the transiting Moon by itself, more like "tone." There is another school of thought that proposes the progressed Moon as a better tool for the timing of events, coupled with other planetary contacts.