The Full Moon in Libra arrives at 2:00 am EDT, Tuesday, April 11, which means the Moon will appear most full on Monday night.
Full Moons illuminate. Libra, the Cardinal Air sign, shines light on our relationships, values, and creativity. Libra is known for balance, harmony, and diplomacy.
Since Venus, who rules this Full Moon, is retrograde in Pisces, we might expect gentleness. We might look for a beautifully harmonious glow that lights up how we can appreciate ourselves and our relationships more fully.
We might, but only if we ignore the aspects surrounding this Full Moon. Which is why looking at only one thing, like a person’s Sun sign, or the sign in which a Full Moon appears, is not enough. As Libra will tell us, a complete and balanced view only emerges when we consider all aspects of a situation, or a chart.
Let’s do that.
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Full Moons occur when the Sun and Moon are exactly opposite, which means they are always in opposing signs. With the Moon in Libra, the Sun will be in fiery Aries. This balance compares self and other, body and mind, passion and calm reflection.
For this particular Full Moon, the Sun is closely conjunct Uranus and the asteroid Eris. This powerful pairing combines revolutionary forces for change with an edgy desire to push things to the limit and create chaos. Uranus and Eris have been traveling together for a while now. We see their signature in the form of dizzying changes, unexpected reversals, and flashes of brilliant, unique expression.
The Sun’s alignment with these two brings their outer-planet energy to bear on the individual. We feel the pressure to change, and change now.
These three, Sun, Uranus, and Eris, oppose the Moon. This multiplies the challenge facing diplomatic Libra exponentially. The Moon needs to balance not just the Sun, but also strong forces creating revolutionary chaos.
But the Moon is not alone. She is aligned with Jupiter, still retrograde in Libra. Jupiter in Libra and retrograde is not at his strongest, but still brings a level of optimism into the mix that could be welcome. As always with Jupiter, there is a risk that his optimism will spill over into inflation and hubris, but still, it’s nice to think the Moon has an ally.
Except maybe Jupiter will be more interested in facing off against Uranus and Eris than supporting the Moon in keeping things calm. Jupiter and Uranus have moved through their oppositions already. The last exact one occurred on March 2. Yet one effect of the Full Moon, with the extra orb they bring to aspect patterns, is to reactivate this opposition. This could serve to put the last tensions of the opposition to rest. But it is just as likely to reignite conflict, as if Jupiter, and Uranus and Eris, come through the door one last time to say, “And one more thing!”
This opposition is actually a T-square because Pluto in Capricorn is squaring both the Moon–Jupiter pair and the Sun–Uranus–Eris group. Pluto and Uranus are both change agents, but their styles are very different. Where Uranus wants instant, radical change, Pluto plays the long game. Where Uranus blows things up, Pluto grinds them down. Layered on top of the push-pull of the Full Moon is the slow, inexorable, soul-deep transformation of Pluto.
It’s interesting to note that there are other let’s-slow-down messages. I already mentioned the Venus retrograde. She met the Sun on March 25, disappearing into that brilliance to reemerge as the Morning Star. Now she approaches the end of her retrograde time and has moved from Aries back into Pisces. Venus is happier in Pisces, a sign that is much slower and more in keeping with Venusian grace.
Venus is also applying to a conjunction with Chiron the wounded healer, who she will meet as she slows, stops, and turns direct. Chiron urges us to examine our wounded places so we can understand, integrate, and heal them. The fact that Venus will slowly and deliberately meet Chiron as she stops to turn around places great emphasis on healing relationship patterns, values that are no longer in alignment, and our beliefs about creativity.
On Sunday, April 9, Mercury turns retrograde at 4 Taurus. When he stations direct again on May 3, he will be right between Uranus and Eris. Once again we see a pattern in which we are invited to stop, slow down, and reflect that is also triggering planets that want us to move and change as quickly as possible.
What’s happening here?
This Full Moon is illuminating something fundamental and complicated. A light will shine on how I am doing “me alone” and how I am doing “me with others.” But this will not be a simple snapshot. Instead, it’s more like a classical oil painting in which every figure, whether foreground or background, has symbolic significance. We can only understand such paintings when we learn the meanings of each piece and can hold them together as a whole, integrated message.
At this Full Moon, we get a brilliant flash of light on our current situations in relating, values, and creativity. At the same time, we’re asked to look deeply and carefully, to consider the roots of whatever issues come to light, to reflect with care on how and where things may need to change for us, to accept that truly radical change can take a long time.
If we look only at the polarity of the Full Moon, the face-off between Moon–Jupiter and Sun–Uranus–Eris, we can feel how our hearts are on fire as we embrace both Aries and Libra, self and other.
As our gaze widens to include Pluto’s challenge to the Full Moon, as well as Mercury and Venus retrograde, we are presented with one more polarity: That things that seem to be happening right now, that call for our immediate attention and seem to demand quick fixes, are actually part of much deeper, longer patterns. Shifting those deep patterns will require careful thought and a long-term commitment.
This is an excellent Moon for checking your birth chart. You will want to see where the Full Moon falls, that Aries–Libra axis we all have in our charts. You can also find where Pluto is transiting through your chart, important at the Full Moon and in general, as slow-moving Pluto will be bringing transformation wherever he travels. It’s worth checking where Venus and Mercury are transiting during their retrogrades.
When you find where the Full Moon sits across your birth chart, this is where our hearts are on fire. This is where the light shines brightest on how we are balancing the needs of Aries for personal agency and fulfilling our own desires, and the needs of Libra for care for others, empathy, and harmony.
The areas where Venus and Mercury are moving retrograde are places where we are called to reflect, revisit, reexamine, reinvent. Finding where Pluto is transiting through our chart points to where deep transformations are unfolding. At this Full Moon, we might be able to see and understand this process more clearly.