Full Moon in Aries, October 1, 2020 3:05 pm MST Conjunct Chiron ~ Harvest Moon

Equinox and Libra Season—The Great Balancer

September 22* was the autumnal equinox, when the day and night are of equal length. If we think of the year like a moon cycle, we can imagine winter solstice like a new moon and summer solstice as the fullness of the cycle. Each equinox, then, can be conceived of as a quarter-moon, marking us, in autumn, three-quarters through the year.

On the larger scale, then, the equinox moves us into the second half of our waning period, a time for continued release and letting go, a time of introspection and evaluation to prepare us for the intentions we will set in winter, the seeds we will plant at the Winter Solstice, to lead us into the more outward, growing, extroverted months of the later winter, spring, and early summer.

Virgo season, August to September, asked us to sort the wheat from the chaff, to release what was ready, what was hindering us and holding us back, to let crumble, fall, and burn away the brittle shells of our former selves.

Libra season continues the harvest and pushes us into the time of balancing, the time of the equinox. Libra is the scale—of decisions, of choice, of justice. Libra asks us to weigh what we are willing to give, and to give up for justice. What are we as individuals (moon in Aries) willing to offer and compromise in our relationships and, as a society, for collective equity (sun in Libra)?

This balance chaffs against the individual fires of the moon in Aries—sign of individualism, passion, the movement of spring, the strength and courage of the seed to break open in the dark of soil and move toward the sunlight. With Mars retrograde here in Aries too, well, we’ve got some tension simmering.

The Harvest Moon in Aries

The full moon closest to the equinox is dubbed the Harvest Moon, so called because the change of the moon rise slows, giving farmers some extra minutes of light as it rises closer to the time of sunset.

The Harvest Moon amplifies the already-present energies of organization and sorting (of Virgo) and of weighing and evaluating what to keep and what to throw out (of Libra).

This year, the Harvest Moon in Aries is highly affected by the Mars-Saturn square (more below) bringing anger, tension and a push-pull, start-stop feeling to the surface.

It is also sitting next to Chiron, the “wounded healer” archetype, a centaur from Greek mythology who was hit by one of the god Mars’ arrows and never healed. A reminder to work through and with our personal and collective wounds, and to push into whatever levels of healing we are ready to reach for.

Working Through Rage & Fear—Or, how this energy is playing out for me, personally

Full moons tend to bring emotions to their fever pitch.

As I write, I am vacillating between frustration and anxiety, rage and fear. I am feeling this conflict on both the collective and personal level—abusive people in our government and in my life trying to dictate and control through manipulation and fear tactics, threats and conspiracy. I am so angry, and so tired, of all the gaslighting—from the white house to my own home, from the president, to the attorney general of Kentucky, to my coparent.

I write this on September 29, as a square (marking tension) perfects between retrograde Mars in Aries—action, aggression, passion, fire—and Saturn in Capricorn (just turned direct, and at its strongest)—structure, boundaries, stops and starts, conservatism, heavy earth mood.

The heat smolders.

Yesterday, my car started smoking and overheating. Cuz sometimes astrology likes to be way too literal. (And I wrote this before the debates, so after, just forget it.)

I have also noticed a surge of passion and drive to accomplish tasks and larger goals ramming its head against walls and obstacles that seem to crop up out of nowhere, and communication confusions abound (Mercury retrograde shadow is at play here too).

If you’re feeling this too, I have a recommendation:

As hard as it may be to do, it’s a time to take your foot off the gas pedal. (Maybe a foot off the gas pedal and the other off the brake, as this energy has had me feeling.) Take a break, take a breath. Pause and notice.

Give attention to your feelings of anger, of rage, of passion, and also of fear, of resistance, of restriction.

I have Mars and Saturn conjunct in my natal chart and working with anger has been (and will continue to be) a lifelong journey for me. I have always had a repress-until-I-explode relationship to my own anger—and it has taken many years (my lifetime, really) to begin to work with and shift this.

And these planets are in the sign of Libra in my natal chart—famous for its people-pleasing contortions and utter resistance to rocking the boat. (Reminder, the sun is currently in Libra, opposing the moon in Aries.)

I learned a lot about passive-aggression and about suppressing and thwarting my anger—but precious little about healthy ways to confront mistreatment and abuse or to air justified grievances.

And what I have learned, the hard way, over time, is that the only way to gain real sovereignty over my own emotions, especially anger, is to pay attention to it, honor it, name it. It was really through parenting, through teaching my son to name his anger, that I started to learn to do it myself.

I am very imperfect at it still. But what I have gotten good at, is knowing that it’s important (even if it remains difficult) to do. Naming the anger, feeling it, noticing its sensations and the thoughts that accompany them, and allowing it to pass through is now a regular and crucial practice for me. Especially in times like these.

How to use the anger and tension of these times to feed your creative and destructive process

Anger is a crucial part of not only life, but also the creative process, which always inherently invokes and involves both creation and destruction. Libra season, fall, the Harvest Moon, all serve to remind us of the cyclical process of birth, death and rebirth—of creation, destruction and recreation.

The ritual that I feel called to share for this full moon then, is about honoring this anger. So often we are punished for our anger—especially womxn/femmes and even more so femmes of color.

The ritual and writing prompts that follow are to help us reconnect with our anger and rage and (re)discover its power. Helping us learn to wield that power—rather than either thwarting it or letting it dominate us (or, as I did so often, both).

Full Moon in Aries & Mars Retrograde—Creative Ritual + Writing Prompts

Creative Ritual—Honoring the Anger

- Set a timer for 3 minutes.

- Write a list of everything makes/is making you angry.

- When the timer goes off, choose one thing on the list that feels particularly charged or triggering. It doesn’t have to be the biggest thing, but something that speaks to you in this moment—sometimes the answer may surprise you, let it.

- Set the timer again for 3 minutes and call this anger-inducing thing into your awareness.

- Say aloud: I feel angry. Repeat as many times as you feel the need. Get louder, or quieter, as needed. Scream, bellow, shout, whisper, sing, growl. Try different levels and tones and notice what feels good. What brings release.

- When the timer goes off, set it once more for 3 minutes.

- Call again the anger to your awareness.

- As you think about it, allow your attention to shift into your body. Notice the breath. Notice where there is tension, tightness, discomfort in your body and bring your attention there.

- Name the sensation and location—tightness across my forehead, heat behind my right shoulder, rumbling in my belly.

- Don’t try to change the sensation but simply notice it, allow it.

- Notice if it changes—lessens, moves, intensifies, releases. Whatever it is, whatever it does, is okay, is allowed. Just notice, watch, observe.

- After sitting 3 minutes with your anger, take your list and burn it in a fire-safe container.

- As it burns, think of the energy of destruction that both precedes and follows creation.

Journal Writing Prompt—The Fires of Destruction and Creation

- Consider: What projects, goals and intentions can the ashes of this destruction feed? What action does this anger inspire you to take? What phoenix may arise from this anger, fully allowed and witnessed?

- Freewrite for 3 minutes on the above questions.

Creative Writing Prompt—Look Back in Anger

1. Make a list of things that make/have made your character angry. List at least 20 things (100 is even better).

2. Choose one thing that you can imagine tied to a specific event for your character (from their past, present, or future).

3. Write a scene in which your character becomes angry, triggered by this thing on the list (if it comes out that way—if something else pops up that seems to trigger or relate to the anger, follow that). Have them respond to this anger, first in public or in front of other people, and then after, show how they relate to and express their anger when alone.

Remember to consider what is happening in your character’s body—what are the physiological symptoms that accompany the emotion of anger (in general, but also for your character specifically). This is one of the best techniques to show emotion to your reader rather than tell it—this allows the reader to experience emotion with your character.

*In the original post I said the equinox was September 24. My bad; I was tired (my Aries pushing against Saturn even when I knew I should stop and rest instead). We live and learn, and make mistakes and learn again.

Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash