Full Moon in Aries 9.26.26

This year has been very active, astrologically speaking, and this Full Moon does not dial down the energy. Mostly because it is in Aries, a sign not known for patience and calm. But also, it is interacting with a lot of planets so there are a lot of moving parts influencing how it lands. 

Aries Full Moons are always in autumn after the equinox when the Sun has moved into Libra. In Virgo season we are focused on our responsibilities, getting the to-do list completed and making routines run smoothly. In Virgo season, a lot of energy goes into taking care of the daily requirements of life - walking the dog, making dinner, doing the laundry, getting gas in the car, watering the plants... all those chores that keep things flowing, not just for ourselves but for those who depend on us as well. The natural segue is relationship-focused Libra.  How will I share my life with my important others? Right at that point, the Aries Full Moon shows up to illuminate you - what you need, how you want to show up in all the seasons of your life. Aries Full Moons reorient you back to yourself at a time when the Sun's light is shining on the important others in your life. This one is no exception. 

On Saturday afternoon, the Moon at 3 degrees of Aries will be opposite the Sun at 3 degrees of Libra. The Aries Libra axis, as noted, focuses on "me"  and "us" and how to maintain the balance between being in close relationships while honoring your authentic self. That is no small task and it requires both flexibility and deep self awareness. Neither are Aries qualities. It also requires courage, which Aries has in abundance, so there is that. Libra guides us to make room for important others while Aries reminds us it is ok to take up space - we also have a place in the relationship - it can't be just about us. It must have enough room for each individual to be an individual in the container of the relationship.  

The Moon here is tightly conjunct Neptune in Aries at 3 degrees. When Neptune does Aries, our spiritual warrior can come online, ready to fight for its beliefs. It can also bring some confusion to self-perception. Neptune is comfortable in the realm of illusion, of seeing what is wanted rather than what is. Aries idealism can exacerbate this. Put the Moon's sensitivity in the mix we can get confusion about what you really want and how to express yourself or a muddled fantasy scenario of the hero's journey.

Saturn is still in Aries but at 11 degrees is a bit out of orb to be considered conjunct Neptune and the Moon. Still, Saturn's presence in Aries brings hard, cold facts to the mix. Neptune can create a brilliant dream, all gossamer and glimmer. It's Saturn who keeps pressing on you to clarify how exactly this will be brought into the world. Saturn wants sustainable structure, but for the next 2 years, it is living with Neptune in Aries. It will move out in 2028. Until then, it will be challening each of us to take dream for ourselves (Neptune in Aries) seriously and, at minimum, begin to flesh out how to bring this dream into your life. By the time it moves into Taurus, the goal is for you to have developed a solid first draft to build on. 

The challenge is that Neptune dissolves things. It will be in Aries until 2038, so it has a lot of time to slowly melt and wear away some of your harder edges, especially regarding your ideas about who you are. Aries is the sign of the individual - the first spark brought into human form.  Neptune in Aries offers the opportunity to release all the imposed ideas about what you should be like and remind you that you are part of something much much larger. Neptune in Aries reorients us to remember our souls as a piece of our human experience, not as something separate, distant and somewhere "out there". 

  This Full Moon can bring us inspired and innovative ways to address our relationships and our needs within them, as both Pluto in Aquarius (either our disempowerment reflected in the need for control or our capacity to share ourselves from a place of empowerment) and Uranus in Gemini (communicating and connecting in new ways) are making supportive aspects to the Moon/Neptune and the Sun at 3 degrees of Libra. This is the time to articulate your vision for yourself and integrate it into your important relationships. See the interrelated pattern here? Bringing dreams into the material realm...

Mars at 29 degrees of Cancer is ruling this Full Moon, since it rules Aries. While it is not making an aspect to the Sun, Moon/Neptune, it does influence this lunation's energy. Mars is our yang/action principle, how we act physically, how we express our passion and our anger, what we are willing to fight for. It has been in Cancer since mid-August. Mars in Cancer is concerned with protecting home, family, and those things that we need to feel safe. At the final degree of Cancer, Mars is wrapping up anything it started since it entered Cancer. Consider what has been coming up for you around these themes since mid-August. What have you been drawn to protect or take action towards caring for in your home or within your family? It's time to finish anything remaining so when Mars moves into Leo the day after the Full Moon your energy will be fully available. 

Before Mars leaves Cancer however, he forms a T-square with Chiron, newly retrograded back to 29 degrees of Aries, and Mercury at 24 degrees of Libra. Chiron has been in Aries since 2018, and moved into Taurus for a brief stint over the summer. It retrograded back into Aries last week. Chiron will remain in the late degrees of Aries until April 14, 2027, challenging us to complete anything we have been dealing with since 2018. Chiron in Aries deals with our wounds around self identity - the feeling that we are not good enough, not smart enough, not worthy enough as we are. Chiron in Aries seeks external validation for an internal belief that we are somehow lacking. Mars squaring this from Cancer is asking if you still want to protect this version of your story, or if you are ready to change it to something more supportive of your desired life. 

In this T-square, Mercury in Libra focuses our thoughts on the important others in our lives, how we express our needs and ideas to them, and how we navigate the mental realms of our relationships. Do you allow your whole self to be seen? Do you resist showing up authentically to your dear ones? Do you shrink your needs or parts of yourself to be more palatable? Seriously, are you still doing that? After all this time? This is another opportunity to truly see and acknowledge the patterns that feed our perceived "lack" and reorganize how we think about our important relationships. In a few weeks, Mercury will be retrograde in Scorpio, so the information we discern now about how our ideas and the way we express them in relationships undermines or fosters our close connections will be coming up for review then. Notice any themes coming up. 

With Mars, planet of action and ruler of this Full Moon (since it rules Aries) in the final degree of Cancer, squaring both Chiron and Mercury, the challenge is deciding what is worth taking action towards. Mars in Cancer is protective. Under this Full Moon, it is time to consider what you are protecting and if it deserves your energy. Mars in Cancer takes action to feel safe and secure. It will fight for its home and those it loves. Where are you expending your efforts and are they actually contributing to a foundation that supports the life you want to live? Who or what are you protecting? Is it necessary? 

Developing Capricorn expression can give these energies an outlet. Capricorn asks what is aligned to your purpose? What does your best self want to bring into the world? How are you embodying this self? How does the foundation you created with Mars in Cancer support this? Capricorn is strategic and patient. It orients us towards the long term outcome, the one that is achieved through consistent slow progress. Again, it speaks to creating a plan to make the dream a reality. 

At the Virgo New Moon on September 10, we had a Grand Trine in Air signs, with Mercury newly in Libra at 0 degrees trining Pluto in Aquarius and Uranus in Gemini. Mercury at that time was also opposing Neptune in Aries, forming what is known as a Kite aspect. Because Grand Trines are stable and flowing, there is often not a lot of motivation to take action. Grand Air Trines tend to support lovely conceptualization and thinking about things, but not doing much beyond that. We get stuck in our heads. The opposition to Neptune in Aries adds some tension to the mix because now there is a need to balance two complementary energies. Now, Mercury has moved further into Libra and is forming the T-square, but the Sun has taken its place in the early degrees of Libra, so the Grand Air Trine remains in play. So again, the energies here are supporting each other to formulate ideas about how to navigate relationships (Libra), groups (Aquarius) and how we socialize and convey information in general (Gemini). And, at this Full Moon, both the Moon and Neptune are opposite the Sun, forming the Kite configuration. So once again, there is tension introduced requiring taking some action to achieve balance of the two complementary energies of Aries and Libra. Essentially, the question this Full Moon poses is "How can I show up in my significant relationships so I am able to maintain my truest expression within the relationship while also supporting each other's growth?" In practicing this, all relationships are enhanced, including close friendships, broader social groups you are part of, casual acquaintences, and the human to human interactions that pepper daily life, like moving over to let another car merge or holding the door for someone. This last group may be the most important of all, because they are in the realm of impersonal human interactions. Because they don't exist in the container of a close relationship, their effects disperse farther with the potential to have exponential influence. In essence, the Kite results in the Grand Trine shifting from thinking about and valuing the concept of treating others with fairness and kindness to embodiment of the idea as demonstrated by daily actions that are kind and fair towards others. This allows us to know ourselves as fair and kind - an expression of our best self (assuming these are values your best self holds dear). 

Heads up that Venus will be going retrograde in Scorpio on October 3. There will be a separate post on that soon but just know that Venus retrograde will continue the theme of close relationships and how we interact with important others. September brought opportunities to notice your patterns of relating. This Full Moon is emphasizing them as well. When Venus goes retrograde, she will spend 40 days encouraging you to review and revise how you approach sharing yourself with your dear ones. And she will be supported by Mercury going retrograde in Scorpio on October 24, so it's a good time to plan to get your vehicles serviced and your tech taken care of.  

Thanks for spending time with me under the Full Moon in Aries. Keep shining. 

"The most painful thing is losing yourself in the process of loving someone too much and forgetting you are special too."  ~ Ernest Hemingway