A Libra Full Moon

The Moon, photographed by Simon Wedege Petersen in Denmark (April 2009)

When I was writing the post for the Sun’s Aries ingress, I obviously didn’t have a fix on the fact that the Full Moon I was mentioning would be happening in just a week.

And that’s all it is…the Sun entered Aries on March 20th, and the March Full Moon – which is in Libra – is happening on March 27th at 9:28 in the morning, UT/+0 time.

So when I was talking about the various matters which we’d be sorting out or deal with feeling that they’re crouched out there in the worldly woods lurking until we wandered by, it might have sounded like we would be enduring some long, hairy time.

And that would be wrong. So…besides the fact that I was evidently so engrossed in writing about the Sun that the Moon slipped away from me (which happens, let’s face it), for those who have been dealing with oddities and pressures, the good news is that the Full Moon is here. So there’s a good chance that issues – or maybe the information you need to know – will now pop out of plump air like toast out of a toaster.

That doesn’t mean you’ll like it. But it does mean you won’t have to deal with more suspense!

(Hey, we take the good news where we find it, y’know?)

So this Full Moon is happening at 6 Libra, a degree which by virtue of its being early in the sign (in the first ten degrees, to be exact) describes a situation or moment which is personal. Considering this is the Moon we’re talking about, there is some sort of emotionality attached. But that could be motivation. Or it could be surprise. It could even be utter boredom.

That last (the boredom thing) doesn’t seem likely, but it is possible. And why do I say that it wouldn’t seem likely?

That would be because of a dynamic rather glowingly pictured in the following diagram:

Yessiree….this Full Moon is not just the normal good vs. bad, on or off, do/don’t Full Moon sort of thing, this Full Moon is a t-square.

(A brief pause while we all contemplate what this may mean.)

T-squares always represents a challenge. That challenge is ‘imaged’ by whatever is at the “t.” In this case, that would be Pluto at 11 Capricorn, with a sprinkling of Industria right behind (at 10 Capricorn). And since Pluto is about the change, our ability or willingness to change or instigate a change…

…and since Industria is ‘industriousness’ or “the effort required…

…and since the the ‘t’ of a t-square is always an ego issue with us, yessiree – we can bet that there is going to be at least some debate about something in this moment.

Or maybe this is the moment when someone gets over needing to debate? Yes, that could be too.

Lore tells us that the nature of 6 Libra (the Moon’s degree) is about ‘conforming to the group.’ Or, since Libra is an airy, theoretical sign, let’s say the idea held by the group. This degree also seems to be about our ability or willingness to transform – and that such transformations are made slowly, which may be a good thing (and what we want) or which may be a really tedious and frustrating thing (which just may go along with that boredom idea).

Since the Moon (and Sun, obviously) are both in first decan degrees and Pluto and Industria are in second decanate degrees (between 10 and 19 of a given sign) we know that there is a lot of energy of the emotional kind manifesting in whatever the matter of this moment is. Considering this is energy is being manifested through structural Capricorn, this suggests anything from conviction and determination to stubbornness or resistance.

(Yes, resistance and stubbornness can be very Plutonic.)

The “object” in a t-square is to reach the ‘other end’ of the “T,” which in this case is the Venus, Sun, Photographica, Uranus grouping in early Aries. In your everyday Full Moon situation, the opposition of Sun and Moon is a balancing act which asks us to combine the two attributes in a synergy which (as Aristotle put it so well so long ago) has the whole being more than the sum of the parts.

Sounds lofty, doesn’t it? Well, think of it it this way… you can dump a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and they’re just ingredients. But then you can mix them together and stick them in the oven and out comes a cake. If you’re a fan of cake (does anyone not like cake?) that cake is a whole which is more than the simple sum of the parts – all that stuff dumped in the bowl.

So that’s the standard Full Moon. But here we are being graced (if that’s the word for it) with Pluto and Industria sitting at the midpoint between Sun and Moon, creating a celestial thumbtack.

Yes, most of us don’t love t-squares. HOWEVER…! They are one of the most potent astrological figures around. Many of the charts of the greatest and most memorable people in history (my brain always goes to Gandhi, which just shows you who I am!) …their natal charts have t-squares. In such a life, the person has to “get over themselves” as we say. And once they do, because they have learned how to get past their own ego to their potential…they achieve great things.

And yes, that does suggest that great things can be achieved about now. Or you can just sit on a tack.

(Ah, it’s such a generous universe…!)

But at the risk of sounding like an infomercial, this Full Moon is even more than all that. Perhaps you noticed Saturn, Chiron and Mercury noted in that lovely diagram above? All three points are in water signs (Scorpio and Pisces) and they’re in trine to each other. They’re also in a sextile/semi-sextile to Pluto / Industria.

Mercury + Chiron in Pisces is ‘vulnerable thoughts’ or maybe a vulnerability due to something you think or something you’ve said…or even (since Photographica is sitting there beside the Sun and Venus) a vulnerability you may feel with regards to how you are seen or what you think of yourself because you’ve spoken somehow out of turn.

The fact that Saturn is in a semi-sextile to Pluto / Industria says there’s a problem with moving ahead in some sector of your life. About now everybody is going to feel like somebody else doesn’t approve of something about them…and let’s face it, since we’re all human, that’s not all that hard to imagine. I mean, when was the last time when every member of the human race was happy with every other member of the human race?

I’m thinking that’s a metaphysical question and the answer would be as follows: once Adam was created, but before Eve was created.

 Elohim Creating Adam (1765) by William Blake

(Housed in the Tate Gallery, London)

Let’s face it…people always have gripes, and our first line of gripes are with each other!

This Mercury-Chiron + Pluto / Industria + Saturn rather smacks of what we need to do to move forward in spite of difficulties. And the reason why we want to move ahead is the “solution point” to the t-square: the Venus and Sun at 6 Aries, Photographica at 7 Aries and Uranus at 8 Aries. We’re looking (or at least thinking) ahead and we want things to be better (Venus/Sun). We want to transform Photographica / Uranus from possible dark clouds which could wash us out to a ‘vision’ which could change our life for the better by opening the way for new and interesting things.

But no, we’re not crazy about what it would take to deal with something we’re thinking about now…and that may be ‘active thinking’ or that sort of thinking which lingers in the back of your mind like an itchy label on the inside of your shirt collar.

Full Moons can be a big deal. But often times they’re just a ‘passing phase’ in a greater (solar) life process which at this point is leading us towards major shifts we already know we’re going to make…or which we know need making…or which we don’t suspect are out there but which are indeed out there and likely to fall in our lap – or on our head.

Seriously…Pluto is now sitting at the degree it will be in when it goes retrograde next month (on April 12th). So there is a lot of metaphysical portent in the air. If you’re sensitive to such things, you’ll feel it as a stirring of the senses, a quickening of a subtle pulse which seems like life gathering its forces prior to unleashing an elemental shift in time’s game.

Pluto will go retrograde on April 12th (UT/+0). Not two weeks later we will have the first of two lunar eclipses. This first lunar eclipse will be at 5 Scorpio – which is conjunct the Saturn of this Full Moon figure, trine Mercury and inconjunct Venus / Sun in Aries. For those who are already tackling their growth curves, whatever else this lunar eclipse is (which we will discuss at that time, of course) it is an adjustment to what you think to be true right now. So whether you’re a changer or a tack sitter, a transformer or a resister, you may know Jack, but you don’t know the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you solar system.

Not yet, anyway. You will soon though.

After that first lunar eclipse we’ll get a Solar Eclipse at 19 Taurus on May 10 (UT/+0). Solar eclipses seem to be very picky about who they affect how strongly, but no matter who we are and whether our charts get a direct solar eclipse ‘thwack,’ this is either a challenge to our values or our willingness to make something we can value out of our life.

Then comes the exclamation point: a second lunar eclipse, this one positioned at 4 Sagittarius on May 25th. Since this lunar eclipse trines the Sun/Venus (Photographica and Uranus) of this Full Moon, if you’re on the right track now (or get on the right track) you’ll get a confirmation at that point.

Of course, like the other eclipses this will have a whole other meaning unto itself. But in terms of where we stand now…? There is a nice dotted line for anyone willing to, or already tackling the task.

We are already within the 6-8 week ‘lead in’ to the 19 Taurus Solar Eclipse. So whatever goes on now, think it through. Think thoroughly. There are evidently serious matters afoot now in many a life, and I’m not just whistling Dixie.

My best astrological counsel on a general basis is to tackle that difficult thing which needs doing because it’s the right thing to do. It may not be fun. It may not be easy. But if it’s right, it’s right – and we’re not talking about what will please someone, we’re talking about what you know is right in this life, in this world, when you stand naked before the universe.
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