19 APRIL 2019 12H12 BST, 29 DEGREES OF ARIES-LIBRA
Just before the April Easter weekend, we can look forward to a SECOND Full Moon in relationship-oriented Libra. Unlike the March Supermoon, this time it will take place at the tail end of the equinoctial signs. What could this mean? It’s time to restore peace and equilibrium to your emotional life.
With Mercury now out of retrograde and traversing through bold and daring Aries, soon to be joined by fun-loving Venus, the emphasis now is on bold action and spontaneous decisions. The only thing to bear in mind is the unpredictable, possibly unsettling influence of Uranus: while it’s good to break out of boring routines and head for pastures new, there’s no need to be over hasty when it comes to emotional spring cleaning.
SIGN
The Easter Full Moon takes place in Aries and Libra for the second time. For those who want a reminder, they can visit last month’s full moon forecast summary of the all qualities and activities associated with the Moon in Libra.
By way of a reminder, full moons are generally when situations or matters concerning our emotions, loved ones or personal routines or habits tend to coalesce, culminate or reach a crescendo. In the case of a Libra Full Moon, the emphasis is likely to be on: love, sexual allure, the visual arts, the beauty & fashion industries, the law, diplomacy, hobbies and pleasurable activities.
Libra Full Moon Themes
Overall, the Full Moon in Libra points to a high point or pivotal moment in relation to the following themes:
- Compromise, reconciliation and peace-making in relationships
- A desire to balance one’s own emotional needs with that of family and/or significant others
- An urge to create beauty, harmony and symmetry whether in living spaces or on the physical body
- A need for fairness, proportion, equality and balance, especially in your home or everyday working environment
- The need to create social harmony and show consideration to others via learning the proper etiquette, having good manners
During this Full Moon, we are being asked to find a healthy emotional balance between deliberation (Libra) and action (Aries), between courage (Aries) and compromise (Libra), and between asserting our own needs (Aries) and considering those of others (Libra).
Mercury in Aries
Unlike the March Supermoon, Mercury will now have left its detrimental position in Pisces and entered go-getting, bold and decisive Aries. So if you feel you missed the boat last time around when Mercury was vacillating in confusing Pisces, then you may want to take advantage.
In general, decision-making is something that Librans battle with – a quality that their Aries counterparts find enormously frustrating. However, it’s worth remembering that Librans might take a lot longer to make up their minds than Aries, this is because Librans like to weigh up the pro’s and cons and consider both sides of an argument before they arrive at a fair and well-considered decision – one of the reasons why they are such good peacemakers, judges and arbitrators. It’s no coincidence that their scales are also associated with the law.
Aries, on the other hand, tends to act first and think later, which can lead to all sorts of gaffes, blunders and howlers. However, they are better at making things happen and not overthinking. It’d also fair to say that you usually know where you stand with them, whereas Libra can hedge their bets or be a little bit more manipulative. So finding a balance between the two is really where you want to be…
With the Aries Sun now very close to Uranus in Taurus, I suspect that we may the balance tip more towards spontaneity and bold, possibly unexpected moves – scroll down to the Aspects section for more info.
SABIAN SYMBOL
The April Full Moon takes place at the end of the two equinoctial zodiac signs at 29 degrees of Libra and Aries. In other words, very close to the cusp between Aries/Taurus and Libra/Scorpio.
The Sabian symbol for the 30th degree of Libra is:
Three mounds of knowledge on a philosopher’s head.
Since this is considered to be the 30th degree (the sign starts at 0, after all), the repetition of the number 3 in the Sabian symbol seems significant. Even the date of this particular Full Moon invites interpretation: 19 April 2019 – it definitely has a certain symmetry to it! Add to that the fact that the Full Moon opposition becomes peregrine at exactly 12:12, and there certainly does seem to be something going on as far as repeating sequences of numbers are concerned!
If we add up the date and then reduce it in the style of classic numerology, we end up with the number 8, while the time adds up to a number 6. So, no obvious ‘twinning’ there. Add up the number of the degree – 2+9 = 11 – a master number, associated with the Sun. Again, no obvious symmetry there.
However, a similar thing has been happening to me for the last 2-3 months – I keep seeing the hours and minutes of the clock being repeated, such as 16:16, or 22:22 or 11:11, but could not always attribute this to classic numerological numbers. After a while, I began to wonder if there was something in the idea of ‘dual vision’ or ‘seeing double’.
Last month, I included some quotes from the Neoplatonic philosopher, Plotinus, which centered around the notion of seeing with the eyes of the soul, rather than the physical eyes, which implies two different kinds of seeing – a metaphor that has been taken up by many scholars and alchemists over the years as a way of making a distinction between two different modes of perception or types of knowledge: one based on the ordinary senses; and another, which is of a higher order.
In ancient Egypt, great religious symbolism was attached to the eyes. Horus, son of Isis and Osiris, was originally conceived of as a sky god whose eyes were said to be the sun and the moon. However, during a battle between the powers of light and darkness, embodied in the story of the war between Horus and Set, the left eye of Horus was torn out. This was later restored by the Egyptian Moon god, Thoth, who was closely associated with magic and writing (ala our Hermes-Mercury). After that, it became synonymous with the lunar cycle because, during the two days before new moon, when the crescent is invisible, the night sky reflects the idea of Horus having a missing eye. In iconographic and magical terms then, the left eye is associated with the Moon, and the right, with the Sun. Interestingly, this particular myth was also depicted in a number of
In healing Horus’ left eye, Thoth was assisted by the thirty male deities associated with each day of month-long lunar cycle. According to one source:
The restored eye became emblematic of the re-establishment of order from chaos, thus closely associating it with the idea of Ma´at.
And of course, Maat with her weighing scales and emphasis on creating cosmic order, has strong connections to the sign of Libra. Interesting, then that this Full Moon takes place in Libra – for the second time in a row – once again reiterating the idea of twinning, repetition or mirror images. In one sense, we could view the March and April Full Moons, which occur at the beginning and end of the zodiac sign of Libra, almost like bookends holding up/reinforcing what lies in the middle. In many ways, this is reiterated by the symbol for Libra, the scale or balance, Libra, which is used to find or create equilibrium between two poles/opposites. Such an idea is then reiterated by the Full Moon itself, which comes about as a result of an opposition between the Sun and Moon from polar positions in the zodiac.
The interplay between the Sun and Moon also forms a key role in alchemy, which is all about the co-mingling of binary oppositions, including light-dark, male-female, active and receptive qualities, to form a THIRD THING. Again, we are back to the idea of the THREE MOUNDS on top of the philosopher’s head. And perhaps it is no coincidence that in Pythagorean sacred geometry, which filtered into several mystery traditions, the triangle is considered to be a very harmonious shape, not just because its sides are all equal, but because it is created from the sum of 1 and 2 – the primordial numbers of creation, which in numerology, represent the Sun (1) and the Moon (2)!
Interestingly, Lynda Hill also associates this particular Sabian symbol with both esoteric knowledge and different forms of vision or sight. She talks about the ability to achieve spiritual understanding from concrete, everyday objects – rather like seeing unbidden omens through signs on a bus, a black cat crossing the road, or in my case, the time on the microwave clock! Cicero called these ‘unbidden omens’ – spontaneous showings or ‘signs’ that can either guide us or confirm something we already suspect.
Perhaps it might be an idea to keep an open mind over the next few days to see if any signs show up for you?
In the meantime, the Sabian Oracle offers us the following keywords for this degree:
Keywords: Looking at the signs. Wisdom that transcends book knowledge. Philosophy. Having a knowledgeable demeanor. Being an impressive figure. Making wise decisions regardless of hard-line opinion. The head, skull or cranium. Knowledge directed to intellectual or spiritual goals. Predicting the future. An appearance that shows obvious intelligence. Wit. Style. Seeing potential in others. Receding hairlines.
The Caution: Analyzing things too much and reliance on intellect. Being a “know-it-all”. Having a bossy attitude. Thinking that doesn’t clarify issues but muddies them. Taking things far too seriously. People with “highbrow” attitudes. Feeling weighed down by intellectual concerns.
KEY ASPECTS
Sun conjunct Uranus
The April Libra Full Moon will see the Aries Sun make an out-of-sign conjunction to Uranus in Taurus, which could make for some unsettling but also potential exciting exchanges and developments, especially in relationships.
The desire for freedom and independence could be strong, which may affect personal goals, individual needs and decision-making criteria. Men, in particular, are likely to want to pull away from romantic partners or co-workers and do their own thing. Your need for excitement could make you want to break with everyday routines.
Moon Opposition Uranus
If the Sun is conjunct Uranus, then the Moon will be opposing it, albeit from an unusual zodiacal position.Expect an increase in levels of nervous tension, restlessness and anxiety as other people become more unpredictable than usual, especially at home.
The Moon rules over our everyday habits, routines and environments, so it’s possible that these may be affected in some way by activities or decisions made, either by you or others, around the Full Moon.
Of course, it is the Easter weekend, which creates a natural break in our working routines, as well as offering us the chance to get away and see somewhere new. So far, so positive! The key is to avoid the selfish, impulsive and reckless sides of both Aries and Uranus and instead, use this energy to inject some fresh air and spring-like vigour into proceedings.
As I pointed out last time around, both the Moon and Uranus will be in Venus-ruled signs, which should help to smooth away the static edges that would normally characterize this transit. The key is to focus on qualities and activities that bring people together, rather than push them apart, such as beauty, nature, joy and pleasure – good food, great company, partaking in relaxing activities, visiting beautiful places.
In other words, be spontaneous, open to new things and flexible but avoid being impulsive, jumping to conclusions or thoughtless acting out. Both the Sun and Moon are due to change signs on the 20th, along with Venus, ruler of both Uranus in Taurus and the Libra Moon, so allow things to shift on their own, rather than take premature action.
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or claustrophobic, then quietly ask for some space and or set aside some alone time in order to think things through, as opposed to blurting out something you may later come to regret.
