Saturday night’s Full Moon in Libra is complex and compelling. It brings our present moment into focus, even as we look at that moment with some trepidation.
We’re out of the spring eclipse season, but just out. The chaos hasn’t settled yet. We’re left with the unsettled feeling it might just continue. We’re in a time of change, so deeply in it that perspective is almost impossible, except over very short distances.
So what does this Full Moon illuminate?
The Moon herself seeks a delicate balance among strong, competing forces. She might be a bit anxious, so it’s lovely to see her supported by one of the most fortunate stars in the sky, Spica, the sheaf of wheat in the arms of the goddess.
Spica rises just behind the Moon. She will be very close to the Full Moon and then culminate about midnight (in my time zone), about four hours after the Full Moon is exact. Spica brings creative and artistic success, and good fortune.
As her sheaf of wheat suggests, though, Spica rewards steady work. This is not gold falling from the heavens, but excellent results from our own creative efforts. Her position rising at the Full Moon allows her to offer more positives.
Across from the Libra Moon we find the Sun in Aries with the asteroids Chiron and Eris.
Aries is self-directed, yet the Aries Sun wants more than just doing whatever we want. This is our personal best and accountability.
The Sun is strong in this third decan of Aries, their sign of exaltation. Here we find artistry, a creative flowering that brings to fruition what was hoped for at Aries’ birth.
Notice how this echoes Spica’s promise of a fortunate harvest.
The Sun is conjunct Chiron, the wounded healer. Chiron’s presence offers the possibility of reclaiming something vital that was lost.
We none of us get through childhood without someone telling us we’re doing it wrong. What messages did you hear, about how you were not fitting in, taking up too much space, moving when you should be still, hungry when you should be full, loud when it was quiet time?
Those parts of our bright, unique Aries selves were sent away. We’re now invited to reclaim them. We’re older. Hopefully wiser. At the least, more experienced. What wouldn’t we give for the energy of a child? That unabashed, confident bounce? Let’s reconnect to that.
On the other side of the Sun, also conjunct, is the asteroid Eris, new to science and astrology, and carrying the weight of the world. Eris, a chaos goddess, points to global crises, both environmental and social.
So again, this Aries Sun is not about being selfish. Instead, we’re ready to pour our heart’s energy into creative projects that benefit the many, as well as expressing our heart’s core.
We do our best work when we honor and celebrate our unique gifts.
Mars squares the Sun and Moon from an interesting place. We’re still reviewing our experiences during the long Mars retrograde in Cancer and Leo. Mars won’t leave his final review period until May 2.
Mars at the end of Cancer wants to protect what is essential. In a world where some have far more than they need, and some have far less, how do we choose who gets what? Who deserves what? Who needs what?
This Mars rules the Aries Sun, and is ruled by the Moon, who rules Cancer. At the end of the cardinal Water sign, we’re concerned about the balance between too much and not enough.
Mars in Cancer can be petulant and resentful, but at his best, is a protector who shelters those in need. The word “shelter” may come from old Middle English words for a wall of shields. Picture a group of soldiers in tight formation protected by their shields. This is an image Mars in Cancer can get behind.
The Libra Moon also sits at the apex of a yod, an intriguing aspect pattern that looks like a tall triangle. It’s formed by two quincunxes, 150º angles, with a sextile across its base.
The Moon is quincunx Uranus in Taurus on one side, and the Venus–Saturn conjunction in Pisces on the other side.
Uranus at the end of Taurus brings challenge. Here we see the breakdowns in the world that sustains us. The chaos of disrupted climate patterns. The loss of integrity of vital ecosystems. These patterns already bring disasters and cry out for solutions.
A quincunx links planets with nothing in common–they are neither in the same element, nor the same mode. A cardinal Air Moon is linked to a fixed Earth Uranus, and to Venus and Saturn in mutable Water. How can anyone talk to anyone else?
Yods do have a solution, but before we turn to that, let’s note a different and intriguing link that goes through Venus.
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Venus is powerful at this Full Moon, because she is stationing direct. Her symbol appears retrograde in the Full Moon chart, but the precise moment of her station is less than an hour after the Full Moon is exact.
So, she is standing still. She has journeyed as deeply as she will go this time. She is poised for her return to the upper world, carrying what she has learned with her.
And Venus rules the other two points in this yod. The Moon is in Venus’ daytime sign of Libra, while Uranus is in her nighttime home, Taurus. She is the connector, the link that adds her boon to this conundrum.
Venus brings gifts of creativity and connection to add to those of Spica and the Moon herself.
Saturn sits with Venus at this Full Moon and is so much more than the nay-sayer. He does not “just say no.”
Saturn in Pisces says: The cosmos is not your personal projection screen.
From its heights to its depths, its infinitesimal to infinity, its hidden to obvious, there are rules and structures. They exist even if you don’t see them, or prefer to pretend they’re not there.
Also, karma’s a bitch.
The solution to a yod is whatever is opposite its apex. Since this yod has a Full Moon at its apex, the Sun is opposite.
We’ve already talked about this Full Moon Sun in Aries conjunct both Chiron and Eris.
We come around again to personal agency, responsibility, courage, and energy. This Full Moon calls us to find balance through healing what has been lost.
At this time in history, we need all of our gifts on hand.
One way to imagine this Pisces–Aries boundary we’re traversing this year is to picture it as a forge in which the fallen stars of past dreams gathered in at the end of Pisces are made new as the shields and the plowshares we need as we are reborn into Aries.
We may need a few swords too, but I prefer to think in terms of tools for crafting and building the new world, the new dream. The one we’re moving toward but can’t quite see yet.
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