ARIES FULL MOON
Tonight the moon is full in Aries. When the moon is full, it symbolizes a ‘harvest’ that occurs in our collective consciousness. During the last new moon in Virgo, we planted ‘seeds’ replete with intentions and dreams. With the arrival of the quarter moon in Capricorn we reached a turning point in the tending process—a crisis in action, so to speak. In order to show up for the harvest, we must explore the themes of this most recent lunation, emphasizing the new moon and first quarter moon, chiefly.
Virgo represents a critical tension in the evolution of consciousness—where the evolved ‘self’ must apply its fiercely gained light (from the antecedent Leo) in service of a larger mission. Virgo represents our work in this world, but it also symbolizes an apex where we shift the focus from our self to our society. Apprehending Virgo energy is challenging and complicated. On one hand, we are maneuvering the limitations of our roles within systems, on the other, we are struggling against our self-imagined limitations. Our belief-prisons, in this capacity, interfere with our potential to be in service of things beyond ourselves. In this last new moon, the Virgo energy positioned us to discern service from servitude—empowerment from power structures—self-centering from heart-centering, and how to set forth new patterns in the wake of these distinctions. If there are certain communities or powers that are demanding something of you, think about your relationship to those demands and whether you resist them, challenge them or work with them. If you are someone who is making demands, investigate if they are coming from a ‘we’ place or a ‘me’ place, and for those for whom ‘we’ is praxis, how are you taking care of yourself in this lunation phase, and beyond? (There are no right answers.)
The quality of the resistance, challenge, cooperation and/or self-care will have depended on our relationship to Capricorn energy, which classifies the texture of our ‘crisis in action’ quarter moon. Capricorn rules our inner-authority, which sets the stage for investigating our relationship to rules, rewards and punishment. Rules are complicated because they originate both from a need to self-govern, which is a beneficial undertaking, and from being programmed with social guidelines that often uphold grids of power. Concerns with success and failure can outstrip the authentic meaning in our projects, which brings us back to the ‘work’ of Virgo. Why do we do the things we do and what do we do them for? Today’s full moon in Aries settles us into fatigue around these questions. Whether you have been reorganizing your priorities, exhausted by the powers-that-be, and/or fighting with yourself in the greater quest to embrace your and your world’s complexity—it’s the kind of moon that makes us crash. So, what’s there to harvest? Possibly rest, possibly chaos.
The full moon in Aries is ruled by Mars, the warring planet. Mars is currently retrograded in native Aries with pressure being added by Saturn, Pluto and Chiron. This inflamed astrological weather flavors the full moon with battlefield intensity. Mars does not capitulate, especially in Aries, but while it is retrograded, it will be defeated by the malefic power-house of Saturn and Pluto. The implications of this tension on a national scale speak for themselves with COVID-19, the rise of alt-right fascism and the crisis of state-sanctioned violence against black communities.
Jupiter recently going direct is an indication that people in power may have an outpouring of confidence that reaches a moment of reckoning. Jupiter and Saturn both rule forms of governance, but the nuance with Jupiter is that it rules celebrity power and cults of personality. It is a very expansive planet that, if unregulated, can have major oversights and find false-confidence in precarious circumstances. When Jupiter was retrograded for the better part of the year it made conjunctions with Saturn and Pluto. These conjunctions, on one hand restricted opportunities for joy and play, on the other hand, may have actually served to delay consequences for people in positions of power like Donald Trump. One of the several manifestations of Jupiter going direct is that Donald Trump could face the fury of Mars squaring Saturn and Pluto, especially on the night of this Mars ruled full moon. It is being reported that he has contracted COVID-19, which is aligned with this inflamed, feverish astrological weather. It should be noted that the moon rules the public, so pressure will continue rising and a fall from grace is inevitable.
As for the rest of us, there are no clear answers about what to do with this energy tonight. But I think that not knowing, not doing, and not being clear can be a curious space to lean into after a lunation cycle that encouraged us to inquire into our roles in society. Perhaps the destination at the end of these inquiries is no destination at all, with the question, itself, being the purpose. This is an uncomfortable reality for Aries (the first sign of the zodiac) embodying the phrase ‘I am.' If who I am is a question then I am not a set of judgments, predictions and ways. Embracing this is arguably the most important lesson for Aries, what with this dissonant full moon wrapping it up in an illustrious bow.
What a complicated moon, folks! We gotta know who we are, what our roles are, what are work means, but we also must embrace total dissolve into the unknown chaos that is life.