“Be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. The evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”
Lord Byron
This Full Moon & Lunar Eclipse falls in the 6th degree of Libra, reflecting the energy of the Sun’s exalted light in this first Full Moon of the new astrological year. Demands for inclusion take up more and more of the political agenda, expressed through possessive cultural manifestations operating on the exclusion principle. All that does not belong to the tribal sphere (one blood, one land, one folk) is the potential enemy. This natural and necessary phase is the foundation required to enable humanity to step away from the prenatal state of non-individualisation that holds it within the vast womb of nature. Only against the backdrop of recognising ourselves as individuals can we gain the strength to recognise and honour the ‘other’.
For the last six months, the idea of justice, or lack of it, has been infiltrating our psyches through a lunar cycle that started with the New Moon in the last decan of Libra on October 14th. Occurring seven days after the current escalation in hostilities between Palestine and Israel, that lunation strongly aspected the chart of Israeli leader, Netanyahu, as does the upcoming Lunar eclipse in Libra and the subsequent Solar Eclipse in Aries.
On March 25th this year, we will reach the culmination of a process that has seen justice demanded by all sides, yet none offered. As we, the world, have watched the unfolding horror, we have witnessed the imbalances and consequently felt a strong desire for justice, which has trickled out into all our relationships. Discovering the importance of our personal truth has probably come to the fore, along with the desire to stand independent of those who may have wielded power over us in the past.
By recognising any imbalances of power, we come to understand that fairness and equality must lie at the root of all our relationships, whether professional, familial, platonic, or sexual, if they are to stand the test of time. It is time to open our eyes to what is happening around us, to see where we may have been ‘asleep’ or ‘not paying attention.’
Safe in our secluded worlds, feeling that we needed rest and respite, it may have been too easy to follow unthinkingly into a state of torpor rather than achieve the desired equilibrium. We are now challenged to wake from those dreams and to face the ‘sleeping issues’ lying in plain sight. The center of balance is not permanent but is instead found in the roving eye of the storm. Being afraid to ‘cross swords’ with others or to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ may have made us unwilling to wake up to what has been happening around us; we have perhaps tried to escape the storm rather than becoming still within its center.
The call this Full Moon is the challenge to recognise where inequality and injustice have been allowed to creep in, where imbalance has gained the upper hand, and to re-balance and restore what has been lost over the last six months. It may not be a comfortable process, recognising what we may have handed over to achieve harmony. We may prefer to stay ‘asleep’ rather than look at ‘uncomfortable truths’ that have crept in whilst we were looking the other way. Maat, the Egyptian goddess of justice, is often shown with scales in hand, for the weighing of the relationship between one thing and another forms the foundation of all life and determines the very fabric of our society.
Venus, the ruler of this eclipse, is exalted in Pisces, fortunately placed with the fixed star Archenar and separating from a sextile to Jupiter. With all the visible planets void-of-course, there is a sense of waiting, the calm before the storm of the coming Solar Eclipse on April 8th and the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction on April 21st. Generally, Venus should bestow a beneficial influence, although as the eclipse falls in an air sign, we might also see high winds and a rise in infectious diseases.
As Venus draws closer to Neptune, the potential for creative visualization becomes magnified, so this period would be helpful for those wishing to tap into this creative astral energy.
Imagining dreams and ideals with clarity can help us formulate precisely what we want to achieve and develop practical and concrete ways to articulate them. Envisioning our dreams provides motivation and keeps us focused on our objectives because when we can vividly imagine the outcome we desire, it becomes easier to stay committed and to overcome obstacles that crop up along the way. We might ask ourselves how our daily activities contribute to realizing our dreams or if they are distractions that need to be eliminated.
Picturing our dreams in detail allows us to experience the emotions associated with achieving them, creating a positive feedback loop and reinforcing a belief in our ability to accomplish our goals. It encourages us to persist in our efforts so that when faced with challenges or setbacks, we can use our vivid mental imagery to explore different approaches and find innovative solutions.
This clarity can also attract opportunities and resources that align with our goals. When we focus on what we want to achieve, we are more likely to notice and seize the helpful opportunities which help us progress towards our ideals. By clearly visualizing our aspirations, we can harness the power of our imagination to manifest our dreams into reality, so let this Full Moon reflect this opportunity to bring what is troublesome into the light.
By consciously recognising where matters might have gone astray, we can see that the core principles of ethical interaction with ourselves lie at the foundation of our happiness and that radiating our own sense of harmony can indeed improve social and global balance, ultimately giving us the key to the happiness of every human on earth. For this Full Moon in Libra, let us all pray together, for harmony, balance and redress.
The tarot images for this month’s lunation are drawn from the Mythic Tarot. The Full Moon, falling in first decan of Libra highlights the issue of choice, and also alludes to the constant war of attrition that has prevailed on our senses in what seems like ever increasing levels. The Sun falling in the first decan of Aries, hints at the necessity of facing into something dark that is waiting to be revealed, and it may be that a crisis point is reached over the next few weeks…
the time between eclipses, (there is a solar eclipse on April 8th), is a strange time where the unthinkable can happen, suddenly and without warning.
With their planetary rulers being the Moon and Mars respectively, this pair really do channel the planetary energy of this Full Moon, bringing themes of pause, reconsideration, and gathering resources to the fore, so that a fresh approach can be taken on a difficult theme; a new line of attack, drawn from a more intuitive source and less from the potentially unreliable information that is assailing you from all sides. Venus, the ruler of this particular eclipse is in her exaltation in Pisces and separates from Jupiter whilst applying to Uranus, bringing a hint of the coming impact of the Jupiter Uranus conjunction in Taurus, later in April. Events now will foreshadow the issues to come. The decan images hint at a confrontation between the powerful and the apparently weak…the sacrifices that they have made, and the necessity to champion the causes of those less able to represent themselves.
Sources of inspiration for this month’s piece:
SABIAN SYMBOL: The 6th degree of Libra
PHASE 186 (LIBRA 6°): A MAN WATCHES HIS IDEALS TAKING A CONCRETE FORM BEFORE HIS INNER VISION.
The need to visualize clearly one’s dreams or ideals in order to make them truly effectual.
Decan images from The Picatrix
The Sun in the First Face of Aries
The form of a black man, restless and great in body having red eyes and holding a cutting axe in his hand, girded about with white garment; and there is great worth in this face. And this is a face of strength, high rank, and wealth without difference.
The Moon in the First Face of Libra
A man holding a lance in his right hand but in the left a bird hanging by its feet. And this is a face of justice, truth, good judgments, the completeness of justice of the people and weak persons, of doing good for the indigent.
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Joanna-Kate Grant 