The Sun continues its journey through Aries, sweeping us fully into the victory of Spring. Now the celestial energy of this season will come to a head as the Moon goes full in the sign of Libra, opposite the Sun in Aries. The Moon will become full of the Sun’s light this Monday, March 25th at 3:01 pm eastern time.
When the Moon is full, her entire surface reflects the light of the Sun and she becomes fully illuminated with the light of the Sun. In turn, the Earth receives the maximal amount of moonlight for the month as she reflects her greatest amount of light towards the earth. As a result, a flood of energy arrives in the heavens, and the themes, lessons, and emotional timbre of the zodiacal season reach a climax.
The full Moon also initiates the waning half of the lunar cycle, and so the full moon also brings an opportunity for catharsis and release - like celestial spring cleaning during which we can let go of old patterns and habits and prepare for the next lunar cycle. As the moon wanes and separates from her opposition to the Sun, so too should we wane and separate from the things in our lives that do not serve us.
Every Full Moon is special, as the unique configurations, aspects, and sign placements of the planets bestow a particular energetic timbre on the quality of the lunation. The sign placements of the Sun and Moon will indicate the primary nature of energetic shifts that will occur; the sign placement of the Sun determines our primary focus for the season, and the sign placement of the lunation determines the topics that must be released, adjusted, and worked through.
This Full Moon occurs amidst the altruistic, adaptive, deliberative winds of Libra. Libra is a cardinal air sign, traditionally associated with the realm of the discursive mind, reasoning, and language.
Libra is ruled by Venus, the goddess of love, beauty, and the arts. Libra is Venus’ yang, externalized, masculine expression; here Venus’ compassionate, aesthetic emphasis is geared towards cultivating proper relationship between people, and maintaining balance, harmony, and fairness within social dynamics and interactions. Libra expresses Venus’ energies of love and beauty through poise, politeness, and diplomacy; ensuring that our own desires and agendas are indexed to the needs of those around us, Libra calls us to diminish the self in service of a greater good that can only be achieved by social considerations.
In the wheel of the year, Libra predominates over the autumn equinox and the beginning of the dark months, when the cold of winter is an impending reality and hard decisions must be deliberated over; here we see the more clinical, detached version of Venus - a focus on what is right and good in a very abstract, absolute sense, which also hearkens back to the cold ratiocination of air signs in general.
When the Moon goes full in Libra, she opposes the Sun in Aries. In contrast to the social, adaptive qualities of Libra, Aries is highly self-interested. Aries predominates over the spring equinox, in which the bright futures of spring and summer call for immediate action. As the exaltation of the Sun, it provides the passion, zeal, and energy required for us to see what we desire and to claim it for our own.
Aries is ruled by Mars, the God of action, self-interest, and war. Aries focuses on the self and its interests, in opposition to the collective, social needs of Libra that by nature limit the interests of the self. At the spring equinox and the time of planting and preparing summer’s harvest, the prescribed medicine of this time is Aries-esque immediate action in the pursuit of victory, in contrast to Libran deliberation and indecision that comes from the heaviness and high stakes of the fall equinox and the impending wintry cold it portends.
Thus, while the current solar zodiacal season calls us to conquer, achieve, and be victorious just as the Sun conquers that darkness at the spring equinox, this lunation pulls us into an interpersonal, self-critical focus that stops our individualist drive in its tracks. Personal will contrasts with interpersonal needs, self-interest with collective interest, fast action with calculated deliberation, and simplistic action with poised caution.
Around the time of the full moon, people find that the agendas and goals they were pursuing for themselves in their life become intercepted by unforeseen collective concerns. Zealous action becomes frozen in place by deliberative fears. The heights of Aries’ passion are overshadowed by ominous feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty; that you may have missed something, or not considered your circumstances clearly enough. People become overwhelmed by competing thoughts and ideas. Sudden obligations arise out of nowhere to short-circuit our personal agendas.
There are no major aspects formed to this lunation, but this Full Moon is also a lunar eclipse, occurring directly on the ecliptic in direct conjunction with the North node. Traditionally, all eclipses were considered very challenging, difficult alignments. In the context of a lunar eclipse, the contrasting, conflicting struggles that arise to pull us off course get more severe. An eerie quality starts to loom. The drama and intensity of a full moon at night becomes more severe. Animals behave more erratically than usual, and stressful places of work like hospitals become more aggravating.
For all eclipses, it is best to avoid any major engagements on that day. Some traditions and cultures even avoid going out in the sunlight those days. I’ve heard plenty of stories of horrible challenges arising around eclipses for people that could have been avoided simply by laying low. Keep your head down. Make life easier for yourself.
For this lunar eclipse in Libra, don’t allow competing interests to derail you from your path. Don’t second-guess yourself. Keep true to the direction of your spirit. As other obligations and commitments arise for you to address, resolve to address and tend to them without reacting. Let go of the self-doubt and uncertainty that can arise so sharply during this time. If you make a mistake, learn from it and let it go; don’t let it make you gunshy.
Though frustrating, the contrast formed by the disparate obligations and distractions arise will ultimately put your interests and into sharper focus. By being pulled away and buffetted by the changing winds of Libra, you will achieve greater clarity about the topics you should focus on; on a deeper level, the purpose and goals of your spirit will start to become clearer if you let this lunation do its work.
Red ruby elixirs help us get clear on what we want. Stinging Nettles incite action and purges stagnation that keeps us frozen in place.
Listen to your heart and stay true to your inner voice as the fluxional, cardinal winds of the air-sign eclipse buffet our sense of rightness. As you stay true to your inner calling and sense of responsibility, the stressors of the eclipse will serve as a crucible to reveal what is really important to you, and you will emerge stronger and more integrated as a result.