Does anyone else feel like life has suddenly sped up since the Sun entered Libra for the equinox on Saturday?
I realize that the visible lengthening of afternoon shadows and shortening of days has a little something to do with this, but I also saw something in the charts for the equinox and for this Friday’s Full Moon that resonates with this sensation.
That “something” is a centaur planet named Pholus, currently in early Capricorn. Pholus is associated with the phrase “small cause, big effect.” It can describe a runaway chain reaction, the sensation of a genie being let out of a bottle, or just simply ripple effects beyond what one would normally expect from a minor event. (Pholus also can indicate out-of-control alcohol use and its consequences, as well opportunities to heal family histories of such.)
When the Sun entered Libra on Saturday, the Moon was conjunct Pholus. In other words, the energies of Pholus and the Moon were teaming up.
The Moon describes our inner emotional world and subconscious. It also can seem to carry the feeling-story of whatever we’re experiencing through a cycle over the course of a month. The Moon is one of the easiest “characters” in astrology to relate to, partly because we can see its cycle of waxing and waning so clearly in the sky and in the ocean’s tides.
One way to think of Moon + Pholus in the equinox chart is of the cork getting popped on an inner story that normally is very well contained (Capricorn relating to the container), though is perhaps under some pressure — like opening a bottle of champagne. Or it could be like a higher-than-usual wave on a rising tide, even though the seas are only halfway between peak low and high: the surf reaches further up the sand than expected, getting your towel wet.
This past weekend, just as the Sun reached a seasonal turning point, the Moon got a little boost from Pholus as it began its second week of waxing.
To me, that looks like something getting doused with accelerant. But what is it accelerating toward?
Consider the Aries Full Moon, which is exact on Sept. 29 at 5:57 am EDT.
Thursday night into Friday, the Moon in early Aries will be aligning opposite the early Libra Sun (literally the Moon on one side of the Earth and the Sun on the other). As they do so, they’ll both be making a tense relationship to Pholus in Capricorn — the kind that can be resolved by taking action.
I think this Full Moon is likely to manifest as another stage or tipping point of whatever emerged into your awareness this past weekend — or of something your subconscious is working on. On the one hand, I see a caution flag: if anything comes to a head with the Full Moon on Thursday or early Friday morning, it could have bigger consequences than usual.
On the other hand, if your experience of the equinox included some kind of creative or artistic “new start,” or a fresh awareness of how you can achieve better balance in your life, Pholus-as-accelerant could prove quite useful.
Either way, perhaps the most important thing to note is that we’re approaching a pair of eclipses next month. The first, a solar eclipse, arrives on Oct. 14. The second, a lunar eclipse, occurs on Oct. 28.
I’ll be getting into the specifics of the eclipses a little closer to their arrival. What I want to offer now is that the eclipses will in part be a continuation of whatever story is unfolding now. These next few weeks are a direct on-ramp to your eclipse experience.
More importantly, eclipses represent an opportunity to change your trajectory if you feel like you’re on the wrong track — or to leapfrog further ahead if you’re in a productive chapter of your story. Either way, the process requires letting what is not supporting your current growth process to fall away, and moving toward what does support who you are becoming.
In the meantime: Aries Moons are high-energy, active Moons! Especially when at full phase. The end of this week could signify an exciting peak in a creative project that you are actively working to complete. However, it could also be easy to leap before you look, or to jump down someone’s throat if an interpersonal situation gets tense.
Asteroid Pallas, which relates to strategy and diplomacy, will be conjunct the Sun in Libra. It seems to be asking, “How can you solve a problem, confrontation, or stalemate in a way that is **fair** yet not get caught in endless teeter-tottering between options?”
The answer might be to weigh all sides, and then wait a little to take decisive action. Hasty moves may have bigger consequences than anticipated. Besides, waiting just a few hours until later on Friday is likely all that is necessary. You’ll still catch the Aries Moon “action impulse” without getting swept up by the Full Moon’s peak emotional intensity.
And if you’re NOT in a contentious situation later this week, consider boldly moving a project or situation forward. Just maybe take the emotional temperature of bystanders first, since contact between Venus and Uranus is asking, “What needs to be shaken up in your relationships to get them out of a rut?”
If you’re the recipient of such disruption this week, can you find a way to courageously explore the opportunities it presents? Can you be kind to yourself if you don’t react the way you’d like to? If you’re the one needing to bust out of a routine with someone, can you do it with compassion and include them in your process?
At the end of the day, we’re all going through this stuff together. But we all have different needs, sensitivities, emotional resources, levels of resiliency, and so on. If life feels like a runaway train right now, it’s okay to ask for some help in hanging on, engaging the brakes, or pulling the switch to travel a different track. We can’t control the journey, but we can find ways to bring more awareness and intention to it — and to each other.
Love,
Amanda
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