Just as ripples spread out
when a single pebble
is dropped into water,
the actions of individuals
can have far-reaching effects.
Dalai Lama
The Full Moon on September 30, 2023, at 6 Aries is energizing! A fire is ignited within us, compelling us to initiate a change and break free from what restrains our life force. This is a highly creative, generative and potentially rebellious Full Moon that calls us to come into honest collaboration with others.
We are called to balance the impulse to move towards what we desire with an awareness of the larger context of our actions and the ripple effect that will result (The Sun and Mars, ruler of the Aries Moon, in Libra). The days following the Full Moon support us in staying connected to our feeling nature and in taking practical steps that help to ground and actualize the impulse of what we want to create (Earth and Water Grand Trines). We are discovering a new way to assert ourselves while also considering others; being aware of the ripple effect of our words ond actions will help shape and support good judgement and beneficial action (Mars fueling the T square with Pluto and the Nodal Axis).
Our fighting spirit is stimulated. Optimally, this is channeled into the good fight (a fight for the wellbeing of our family or our personal health, or a fight to further the mission of our work in the world or a fight for the health of the planet, or…). Being fired up can easily digress into anger, frustration or acts of rebellion if is bottled up or blocked because of some outer circumstance. We can sidestep the destructive potentials if we cultivate a broader perspective and apply the wisdom we have earned through experience. To do this, we must first understand and be clear about what we desire. Then, after, we need to engage others and consider how others see us and their response to what we have to say. In this, we will move away from a subjective viewpoint and develop an objectivity that will inform the best way to proceed. We may feel strongly about what we want and what will work for us, but we must also recognize how what we are ready to initiate will impact those around us, and then adjust be ready to adjust our plans for the best possible outcome.
The Aries/Libra Polarity and Full Moon Challenge
Planets In Aries: The Moon, Chiron conjunct Eris and North Node
Full Moon Ruler: Mars in Libra amplifies the Pluto T Square with the Nodal Axis
Also In Libra: Athena conjunct the Sun
Earth Grand Trine: Mercury, Pluto, and Uranus
Water Grand Trine: Saturn, Vesta, and Ceres
Venus conjunct Juno square Uranus sextile Mars and trine North Node/Eris/Chiron
Full Moons are the peak moment of each lunar cycle, when something in our life reaches a culmination point. There is a feeling of increased momentum, activity and pressure in the days leading up to the Full Moon. At the Full Moon, something comes to a head through a crisis, breakthrough, and resolution can be reached. Emotions and tides run high. During the two weeks following the Full Moon, we are completing a movement, a cycle and distilling the wisdom from the recent lunar month, so we are ready for the invitation of the next New Moon.
For this Full Moon, the house where 6 Aries lives in our natal chart illuminates the area of life where we are ready to initiate change or begin something new. An Aries Full Moon amplifies our desire nature, compelling us to trust and act on what we desire. The Sun, always directly opposite the Full Moon provides the necessary tension to resolve a natural polarity. With the Sun in Libra, we are reminded that it isn’t just ‘all about me’ but that we are to work in collaboration to achieve harmony with others to actualize what we want.
Even one small drop
can make a ripple
in the water and
one small decision
can affect your life
in the simplest way.
Bryan Matteo
Wise Assertiveness Recognizes Relationship and Impact
The Libra/Aries Polarity
In addition to the Sun (Libra) and Moon (Aries), several other planets have set up camp in either Libra or Aries, further amplifying the tension and compelling need to resolve the Libra/Aries polarity. This is the polarity of War versus Peace, Self-Assertion versus Compromise, of Rugged Individualism versus Caring for our Neighbor. With multiple planets engaged in one or the other side of the polarity, we may feel a pronounced tension around how to adhere to authentic expression and self-determination in the face of an equally strong pull to be diplomatic, consider others’ needs, engage in collaboration and compromise, and seek balance and harmony for all. We are invited to move beyond the idea that something has to be either/or and see how the values of both Aries and Libra can be incorporated so that we can be simultaneously self-assertive and responsive to others.
The urge of both Libra and Aris is not straightforward. There is a complexity with the Full Moon invitation due to how the planets occupying these signs are stirring up dysfunction and wounding along with a more enlightened way of expressing both Aries and Libra. We are being challenged to grow and mature in the way we honor our inner fire and in how we partner with the world in order to create a satisfying outcome.
The planets in Aries prod us to discover a new way to be empowered in how we engage our fire, enthusiasm, and desire. We are to recognize how we have changed over the years around speaking up and standing true to ourselves in the face of conflict. Recognizing how we have grown will let us finally let go of ways we have fallen into aggressive behaviors rather than assertive ones. We can also let go of patterns where we avoid confrontation and smooth things over to avoid an honest conversation.
Simultaneously, the Libra planets invite us into a more satisfying kind of collaboration. Compromise doesn’t need to be something where one or both sides give away something of value, but instead both give something up so something greater can be gained through the partnership. If we no longer look for approval or validation from others, nor do we operate from a desire to please the other at all costs, then a whole new arena opens up around the values of compromise and collaboration.
So, let’s unpack the energies of the Full Moon that are amplified by the planets in Libra and Aries that compel us to seek resolution and personal growth around self-assertion and collaboration.
Your tone sets the tone.
Sarah Urist Green
Right Use of Will
In The Aries Camp: The Moon, Chiron, Eris, The North Node
Moon in Aries. We are feeling something strongly. It is accompanied by enthusiasm and desire. It may also be accompanied by frustration or anger. Either way, desire is aroused.
We are moved to trust our impulses, not second guess ourselves, to follow what lights us up and to take action for something that is as self-affirming as it is bold. But there is more going on here than just the Aries Moon that tempers the impulse to take decisive swift action to honor what we desire. The process between impulse and action is being slowed down. Other planets are compelling us to harness the raw creative desire of Aries, to not let it run wild, and to move the desire forward with a maturity in our thoughts and actions. Aries is youthful headstrong exuberance, and yet we are to bring the wisdom of our years into play as we explore and consider the best course of action to take.
Chiron in Aries (2018 – 2026) reflects a process where we are healing issues that have zapped our self-confidence and ability to trust ourselves, our desires and impulses. As the North Node moves closer to Chiron, our natural ability to believe in ourselves is being healed and restored so that we do not need validation and approval from others to feel good about ourselves.
Within this movement, the fear of humiliation, of being silenced or coerced by others subsides. We feel an inner strength to be with the fire, to be in the heat of a conflict, tension or pressure and not lose or abandon ourselves. Chiron is also moving closer and closer to Eris and will be traveling in the same sky with her for the next years. The two moving together can stir up old hurts and a primal anger, which may introduce us to new and deeper levels of healing around our worthiness to have what we desire and our willingness to engage the difficulties of life with strength and resilience.
With Eris in Aries (1925-2044), our sense of injustice, of being sidelined or not respected is activated. There may be an urge to throw a tantrum, revolt, disrupt the status quo, as a way to resolve dynamics of feeling unwanted, excluded, or unloved. The motivating desire is vengeance but is born of a deep longing to restore balance and fairness, where the wild feminine within each of us is welcomed and included. Since Eris’ journey in Aries began before we were born, we may not notice how her movements color our lives and culture. Yet, when she interacts with other planets, like Chiron and the North Node during this Full Moon, her presence becomes more pronounced.
Eris conjunct Chiron and the North Node accentuates our awareness of, and gives us access to, the energy of discord and internalized anger buried in our subconscious memory. This affords us the opportunity to not repress or minimize these emotions but see them as energy that can be acknowledged and integrated into generative action rather than leak through in an unconscious and reactionary manner.
North Node in Aries
Aries is self-focused; listening to and one-pointedly following its own inclinations separate from any outer influence. It is the voice within us that says, ‘I desire something. It is for me. I will seek it with unbridled gusto.’ Libra energy responds saying, “It's not just about you. You need to see the bigger picture, how you interact and are connected to everything around you and be responsible for the effects of your actions.”
The North Node speaks to our future and to the fulfillment of our potential. In Aries, we become aware of how we have subdued our inner fire, quieted what we initially felt called to assert in the face of …whatever. Somewhere we have overly compromised, and instead of validating ourself, we have sought validation from others to affirm our worth. There is a confidence of self that needs to be restored, where we feel a stronger sense of self and readiness to assert what we desire within the process of reaching agreement and understanding with others. In seeking the path of least resistance within some field of relationship, our vitality and inner fire has been diminished in the name of keeping the peace. We are ready to enter a larger arena where we act from a well-considered intention and be willing to make waves in the process of finding something that is mutually beneficial to all involved.
It is better to light a candle
than curse the darkness.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Showing Up, Not Hiding in Relationship
In The Libra Camp: The Sun, Mars, Athena and South Node
The South Node (in tandem with the North Node) alerts us to ways we have operated in the past that no longer serve us. In Libra, the South Node has us examining and closing out a pattern around how we tend to create harmony in a relationship that does not include or extend to our own inner harmony. In some way we have considered others over ourselves or have created peace by shoving something vital under the rug. This kind of peace is superficial and not lasting, as something beneath the surface still nags at us. We are to slow down and not engage in automatic ways of operating in relationship that have time and again led to us getting the short end of the stick. Again, as we move with the invitation of the North Node, we can shift old patterns of how we consider the bigger picture and the desires of others so that we do not abandon but assert ourselves in a non-aggressive way when responding to opposition, pressure or conflict.
Athena teams up with the Sun, bringing her feminine wisdom, strategizing skills and commitment to protect the Sacred. She supports and strengthens and the Sun’s value for harmony through diplomacy, collaboration compromise and peaceful solutions. We, like Athena are ready to defend and protect Libran values of justice and fairness. We look to move beyond the subjective stance of what we want for ourselves towards an objective viewpoint where all sides are considered. In this, we can act on our desires with wisdom, diplomacy and the courage to speak up for what is sacred or important to us.
The Full Moon Ruler: Mars in Libra
Mars is ramped up and challenged by dynamics with other planets. Mars mirrors a challenge we each have to engage our fire and assert our desire in a generative way. We are to discover a 'right use of will' so that the freedom, the opportunity that we seek will in turn seek us.
Mars is in the opposing camp to the Aries Moon. Mars is in its detriment in Libra, which curbs Mars' natural inclination to trust his gut and move with bold, assertive action. Thus, Mars is slowed down, his innate way of operating deflated, as he is compelled to consider his actions, contemplate a plan, have conversations with others, take in another’s viewpoint and engage in dialogues of cooperation for the mutual satisfaction of all. Likewise, we need to slow ourselves down, not just act on impulse, but be willing to sit down at the table, engage in dialogue and seek agreement for what we want to do. We need to be aware of the ripple effect, listen to other’s perspectives and opinions, take time to weigh the pros and cons. Curbing our impulses in favor of wise deliberation will lend itself to a satisfying result.
Mars in T square with Eris/Pluto and Nodal Axis. Mars has involved itself into battle between Pluto and the Nodes of Fate. The friction is creating transformative change in how we live. Issues of power and powerlessness seek resolution. On the world stage, individual rights and freedoms are challenging governmental and corporate powers. We may feel especially charged up around some issue where we have felt dominated or oppressed by some outer force. We have the potential to discover a new way of operating to resolve the issue without turning to a submissive stance or engaging in an act of rebellion that only serves to amplify the tensions. We are to affirm the desire for justice and fairness and then look for new ways to assert the fire of our creative spirit in an effective fight with effective action.
Mars quincunx Uranus. We are chafing at the bit, so to speak. We feel a pressing need for greater freedom of movement. We are weary of restriction and feeling restless. We can discover how to harness and ride this rebellious energy rather than let it ride us, so we can move in a generative and not self-destructive way.
Mars oppose Chiron. Yes, I am still talking about Mars. As the Ruler of the Full Moon, it colors and shapes the Full Moon dynamic in a powerful way. Mars is experiencing great friction and challenge at this Full Moon, pressing us to shift ways of operating that may feel instinctive but in fact have been shaped by trauma, culture and self-defeating beliefs. In Mar's opposition to Chiron, healings and lessons pertaining to self-confidence are reinforced. We are less likely to abandon ourselves in the face of differing opinions. We are feeling a renewed strength to assert what we want and engage what others want. The heat of considering conflicting ideas and desires that others present can be generative, enlivening and lead to powerful solutions and more deeply satisfying relationships.
Final thoughts on Dynamics between the Libra and Aries Camps
While writing this, I found I could not right about the Aries impulse without including values of Libra and vice versa. I realize that I repeated myself again and again. This is because the planets in the sky are saying something over and over in different ways. The impulse for healthy and satisfying relationships (Libra) requires that we assert who we are and what we want (Aries). Similarly, the impulse for self-fulfillment (Aries) brings us into collaboration (Libra). Even a hermit in the woods will create relationship with trees, weather, animals and nature to know themselves and achieve their desires. We are individuals (Aries) and come to know ourselves and find successful movement in life through relationship with another (Libra). Libra and Aries are a fundamental polarity that we are moved to find some new resolution with at the Full Moon.
Good actions
give strength to ourselves
and inspire
good actions in others.
Samuel Smiles
In the center of the playing field are the two teams, Libra and Aries. Seemingly opposed to each other, they must work together for a successful outcome. On the side of the field, there are other planetary players supporting this resolution of seeming opposites that are included below:
A Wind is at our Back
Propelling us towards Practical, Meaningful Action
Earth Grand Trine with Mercury, Pluto and Uranus.
Earth signs are focused on what is useful and leads to practical results. With the Earth Grand Trine, we can readily think outside the box, have flashes of insight, and open to new ideas around to how to best utilize our resources and finances (Mercury trine Uranus). We can have perceive a new approach to our health, routines, and the way we conduct our daily life that will produce greater balance and wellbeing (Mercury in Virgo). We can have clarity on what will produce meaningful results (Pluto trine Uranus). Our mind can penetrate what has been obscure to see deeper truths and options (Mercury trine Pluto).
We may need to grapple with where we have deluded ourselves or where we have been hooked by the false narratives promoted in media and culture (Mercury oppose Neptune). But, in the end, we are supported in seeing the bigger picture and making movements that promise a more solid direction that can be trusted and sustained. The energy of the Grand Trine gains momentum in the days following the Full Moon, helping us to integrate what surfaces at the Full Moon and move forward in a good way.
Water Grand Trine with Saturn, Vesta, and Ceres.
A Water Grand Trine amplifies our feelings and intuition. We are more sensitive and ready to honor what we are feeling. Saturn in Pisces (2023-2026) is revealing what pursuits are no longer viable and having us gain greater clarity around what really matters, especially in relation to spirituality, universal laws, and what will endure. With Saturn trine Vesta (the Eternal Flame) and Ceres (the Nurturer), we look to nurture what is most sacred to us. We may feel a surge of grief around dreams that have run their course or what we have lost. The process of letting go and releasing what we once held dear will free us up to nurture what is ready to grow within ourselves and our life. This process will continue through next year, but significant movement can happen in this area at and in the wake of the Full Moon.
There may be something we need to handle alone before bringing it to others (Saturn quincunx the Sun). We may need to hold something private, to feed the fire within, that is not ready to be revealed (Ceres and Vesta trine Saturn). We may need to honor the process that leads to finding clarity about what we are feeling and what we truly desire. It is up to discern when we are ready to open to others for their feedback and input.
Ready to Honor What Brings us Joy
Venus, Newly Empowered
Venus’ extended journey in Leo (June 5 - October 8) is coming to an end. Over these last months, and through her Retrograde period, we have been contemplating how we can have our love, our joy more expressed and honored in our life and relationships.
With Venus at the tail end of her shadow zone (that follows the retrograde period) we are integrating what we have discovered around how to allow for more joy, more love in our lives. Venus is newly empowered, and with this, we have a deepening wisdom around what nurtures and sustains our inner light and how we want to radiate it. As Venus moves forward, dynamics and agreements in our relationships may change. There may be one or more relationships that fall away as we realize that they are no longer a match for who we are becoming. New people may come into our life that energize, inspire, and enliven us.
Venus conjunct Juno and square Uranus. Our values are changing and with it there is an increasing desire for our relationships to reflect and be an expression of these values. We want greater freedom and may be preparing to introduce a radical change. It is beneficial to consider how we can shift from investing so much in accumulating and finding security in material stuff and look to giving more focus to community-building and collaboratory endeavors.
In conclusion,
The Aries Full Moon reminds us that the fire within us is sacred, and we are to honor it. We are challenged to say goodbye to patterns and behaviors that diminish or quiet this fire. We are at the start of a new creative cycle where are looking to adopt a new formula, a new recipe for how to re-vitalize our life. This is not done in isolation but in dialogue and collaboration with others. We are to move from objectivity and wisdom, not impulsiveness or anger, as we find solutions and create plans that consider the ripple effect of our actions. We are ready to move with a new sense of wholeness, knowing we are deserving and worthy of love and joy in our life.