The Aries Full Moon is tomorrow morning! It’s exact at 7:26 am EDT, and we’re in its vibe now. But before I describe this very interesting chart, I want to ask: Is anything coming up for you that feels related to what came to your attention in early April? I’m thinking specifically the first week of that month, between Mercury’s station retrograde on April Fool’s Day and the solar eclipse on April 8.
Is any particular sequence of events culminating now that has its distinct origin in that week?
Or are there any emotions or situations building right now that echo whatever you were experiencing and processing at that time?
If you answer “yes,” what would you say you have learned since then?
Have you embraced some part of yourself more fully in that time?
Have you become more aware of some facet of your identity that you’d previously tried to ignore?
Or have you adjusted how strongly your ego identifies with something or someone?
I ask because the Aries Moon tomorrow morning will be quite closely conjunct the dwarf planet Eris. During the first week of April, Mercury was quite closely conjunct Eris in Aries. The Full Moon appears to be revisiting this material on either an emotional or interpersonal level.
Eris often describes some part of ourselves that we have cast aside, whether consciously or unconsciously (often in response to how others treat us). In Aries, where it has been since the 1920s, Eris can often describe a kind of “identity chaos.”
My former astrology mentor often noted that Eris entering Aries coincided with radios becoming a household item, and how that changed not only modern life, but modern psyches. It was the advent of electronic communication.
As such, he has suggested that it signifies the earliest stages of the disembodied consciousness we’re all living to the nth degree now in this digital age: our over-extended, immediate awareness beyond the local; the projection and splintering of our sense of self into online spaces — and the toll this is taking on us spiritually, emotionally, energetically, and mentally. (By extension, these tolls also manifest physically, though it is easy to overlook the connection.)
The more our sense of self has been drawn out of ourselves and instead located in social media and all manner of digital/virtual communication — and the devices that facilitate it — is it any wonder that rates of anxiety, depression, and other types of mental/emotional/social dis-regulation have skyrocketed? We were on this path long before the pandemic pushed it into overdrive.
Which brings me to how all of this has affected our relationships: how we connect, create together, disagree, and disentangle. Yes, it takes two to tango. But if you’ve ever tried any kind of partner dancing, you know that in order to respond well to the other person’s movements, it’s essential to be present in yourself first.
That kind of presence in oneself seems to be suffering these days. Possibly this Full Moon is bringing attention to hard-to-pin-down emotions that have their roots in this dynamic. When we don’t have clear understanding of emotions, it’s a lot easier to disown them and place their cause in someone else.
Which brings me to the Libra Sun. The Moon is opposing the Sun, which is in the sign of relationships and seeking balance. The Sun has a “buddy” in Libra, too, this week: the asteroid Juno.
Juno often describes unmet relationship needs, how we feel about them, and how we express all of that (directly, passive aggressively, or not at all). The Sun potentially amplifies Juno’s themes. In Libra this could describe your active efforts to bring relationship needs into a new equilibrium — especially in response to the activity or reactions of another person. (It could also describe avoiding this process.)
The Sun, Moon, Juno, and Eris are all in exactly the same degrees of Aries and Libra. They are precisely aligned, making them the strongest focus of the Full Moon energy. Yet there is more going on.
Square the Sun and Moon are Mars in Cancer and Pluto in Capricorn. (Mars and Pluto are opposite each other.)
This makes the Full Moon part of a grand square (or grand cross) in the four cardinal signs. Grand squares describe challenge, yet often with a kind of stability.
Think of it like holding a very long pole perpendicular to the tightrope you’re walking: you have to keep taking action (stepping along the tightrope) to maintain balance in face of the “obstacle” you’re facing (the pull of gravity to either side). Holding the pole is challenging, but it simultaneously enables forward movement.
Standing still is not an option in that scenario. The inherent tension prompts determination and creativity.
Mars and Pluto are action planets. Mars urges us to assert ourselves; Pluto compels us to unearth and evolve ourselves. So even as they help to stabilize the emotional peak or polarization of this Full Moon like the long pole of the tightrope walker, there’s still an imperative to do something with that energy: to move with it, or to get to the bottom of it. Having this grand square in cardinal signs (the signs that start the four seasons) underscores the need for action.
In yet another layer of this chart, Mars and Pluto are involved in another pair of aspect patterns. Mars is part of a grand water trine, connecting with Venus in Scorpio (passion) and Neptune in Pisces (spirituality). Pluto is part of a grand earth trine, with Uranus in Taurus (the unexpected) and asteroid Vesta in Virgo (devotion).
What comes to mind when you connect volition with passion and spirituality? How about evolution with devotion and the unexpected?
Grand trines are basically triangles made by connecting three planets in each sign of the same element. They describe ease and flow. In water signs, this would be emotional fluidity. In earth signs, the ease relates to tangible, material gains.
Taken together, I see these two grand trines as softening the typically polarized energy of the Full Moon, with Mars and Pluto serving as the release valves connecting them. They are not the most “comfortable” release valves, but potentially quite effective. Overall, there’s a surprising amount of big-picture flow and creative action described by this Full Moon chart.
Finally, Jupiter in Gemini is also connected with the Sun and Moon. It offers the intellectual ability to see both sides of any confrontation, encounter, or culmination you’re experiencing this week. Moreover, Jupiter describes the ability to make the most of it all: the lessons you’ve learned these past six months about who you are, as well as all that you’re noticing now about how you’re relating to others.
With love,
Amanda
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