Full Moon in Aries: Make Love Not War

You may have heard something about this Aries Full Moon we’re having (September 29, 2012; 11:18 pm EDT; New York, NY) and how it’s a “monster moon,” which is not a very helpful description. So why all the fuss? Why does this full moon pack a bigger punch than usual? Let’s take a look.

In the chart above you’ll see that the Aries/Libra opposition of the Moon and Sun is smack dab on the Uranus/Pluto square. In fact, it forms a cardinal t-square with Pluto in Capricorn at the apex. As we learned in July, whenever a planet transits the Uranus/Pluto square, it activates the energy — it heats it up and brings it to the forefront.

In astrology, the Sun and Moon represent energy at its most personal. Uranus and Pluto, on the other hand, represent the transpersonal. So there’s something about our ego/identity and our emotions/needs interfacing with the mountain moving energy of Uranus/Pluto. The full moon is also energy at its most visible and dynamic. Think of the light of full moon on a clear night. It illuminates. So what is getting illuminated in your personal life? What needs to change? What is it about relationships and how you interact with people that demands total transformation?

Pluto at the apex of the t-square represents the outlet for this energy. That is to say that the path of transformation sometimes takes us through the gates of hell, through the shadows, and the dark. All we can do is surrender so that what needs to die is cast aside in order to make way for the new and reemerge in the light.

There’s so much symbolism in this chart. It’s literally occurring on the last day of the month (if you’re in Europe and beyond) of a 9 month. For those who know their numerology, 9s are about completion. 9s are the end of a cycle. So something is not only revealed with this moon, but something is ending. Look at Saturn at 29 degrees of Libra, the last degree of the zodiac sign. I mean, hello! Is it starting to feel like September is a line in the sand, especially in regards to interpersonal relationships? With Saturn in the last degree, there’s a heavy review of two years worth of relationship lessons and losses.

There’s also a Men versus Women, Masculine versus Feminine note in this chart that repeats the theme already played by Aries and Libra. In fact, Mars and Venus are the dispositors of the Moon and Sun and they are square. Tension! (Or sexy tension depending on how you look at it.) Also note that Mars is strongly placed in the sign it rules and conjunct the North Node. There’s a huge evolutionary push in this chart between the Uranus/Pluto square and Mars on the North Node. It’s like we’re getting launched headfirst into the Scorpio archetype through the realm of one-on-one relationships. Again, all you can do is surrender.

Venus in Leo feels like a sacrificial lamb in this chart as she squares the nodes. And as Venus has played a strong role in the astrology of this year, we should pay attention to her, especially sine she’s in dramatic Leo. When a planet squares the nodes, there’s unfinished business. We really need to work on how we express our feminine identity. (That means you too, guys.) And then there’s Mr. Jupiter over in Gemini getting ready to turn retrograde and standing awfully close to Venus’s transit degree from June. So there’s a continued dialogue going on between this chart and the Transit of Venus. Curious.

But what I really think is going on here is that there’s something about the divine feminine needing balance,  resolution, or transformation with the divine masculine. That’s what 2012 is about — rebalancing energies that have been out of whack for eons and transforming the old structures that no longer serve us. It’s like the war between the sexes is coming to a conclusion as both sides agree to stand down. Make love not war.

Lastly, this is another chance to co-create with the Uranus/Pluto square. What do you want to use this energy for? Because it’s only a monster moon if you make it out to be. Instead meet it for what it is: a powerful energy that can be a force of good when you set that intention.