“Early Morning Moon Over A Rooftop,” chalk pastel by Maria Theresa Maggi

Close to noon at Pacific Daylight time on March 28 the moon is full in the sign of Libra. A full moon in Libra instills in us the emotional instinct and habit to seek balance, especially in our relationships.  Libra is the second air sign and it moves our conscious awareness to relationship, and seeks to calibrate our own awareness with that of other people—or sometimes more often, to argue with those other people about how they should calibrate their own awareness with ours.  Libra is ruled by Venus, the planet that describes our style of intimacy, how we get close to people and how we experience and allow beauty in all its forms into our lives. It is ultimately a harmonious relationship with beauty and balance and others and society as a whole that Libra seeks. Yet we often find Libra debating passionately or even taking a contrary stance in order to achieve that harmonious balance.

At this Libra full moon the sun opposite in Aries is very close to Chiron, the archetype of the wounded healer, and Venus, Libra’s ruling planet. In fact they are so close that they all appear at the same degree.  Behind them sit Neptune and Mercury in watery Pisces, also traveling together.  This configuration suggests to me that the usual assertive warrior energy is informed by an acute awareness of the suffering of so many being targeted hatefully and unfairly in our country right now and the urge to act against it arising from a sense of where we ourselves have been wounded.  The beginning point of taking action is thus rooted in a deep, almost overwhelming sense of our own hurt over what is happening and how in the world to stand up against it.  The Libra moon opposite this deep awareness of woundedness and urge to act to heal it brings us to an emotional call to balance, a reminder that if we stand together rather than collapsing into our own hurts or retreat in sorrow over the wounds of others, we have a great strength.

This may be a time when new and more effective coalitions are formed to fight against the many evolving threats from right wing extremism we currently face. It will be an opportunity for awareness that the time for infighting or succumbing to a hierarchy of difference imposed by White Supremacy must be overcome by joining together. There may also be beautiful artistically moving ways the dignity of all groups being attacked is brought forward for larger numbers of people to embrace. Films, art, writing and other collaborative creative projects may be highlighted and receive acclaim. These give us the opportunity to find our courage and stand up for what is right.  Libra energy never hides in the shadows—it’s always ready to engage in order to find the balance we need to enjoy true partnership, beauty and intimacy. This full moon we have the opportunity to cast aside the dehumanization of “othering” and feel the beauty of standing together.

Since Venus and Libra seek a balanced sense of intimacy in individual partnership and the moon emphasizes the feminine, these placements also suggest more impassioned dialogue/argument/deliberation on the intersection of racism and sexual violence. It won’t be as easy to make an excuse that objectifies women while excusing the pathology of white male supremacy.  In our own personal relationships we have the opportunity to rebalance our behavior toward one another so our own individual relationships can be healthier as well.

 Here are some suggestions for each of the sun signs about how to heal through emotional balance at this full moon:

ARIES: Venus in your sign helps soften feelings of victimization you may have been struggling with and helps rebalance your energy outward to what you can do to take compassionate action. Words may not be as important as the actual gestures, and the sense of shared feeling with a community who needs you to step up.

TAURUS: “Business as unusual” continues with Uranus in your sign. The full moon requires a conscious adjustment to rebalance relationships to calibrate with this new “abnormal.” Health concerns involving circulation, the nervous system or kidneys. Use due diligence in adjusting goals and plans for the future.  You can do it.

GEMINI: You may be on the front lines of advocating for a new structure, perhaps with technology, that helps children you love and care for. Or there may be a partner or an elder helping to facilitate a creative project you’ve long wanted to manifest. Or maybe there’s a job using words you can do at a distance or a new course of study.

CANCER: Your relationship with your parents and to your deep self are getting an invitation to rebalance. This full moon may also bring to culmination action in your career that pioneers a compassionate policy for those who have been marginalized. Whatever you can do to rebalance any of these relationships brings you happiness.

LEO: Emotional balance in your immediate environment comes as a release point if you consciously adjust to technological demands and disruptions in your career and a wisdom that allows you to surrender to forces beyond your control. The ability to hang on, stay engaged, and yet detach when needed makes you a powerful partner.

VIRGO: Your most valuable resource is your skill at connecting people to work together. You can access this if you make the conscious decision to use technology as a tool for teaching the  big picture and to partner to make visible those who have been made invisible through persecution or oppression. Your gift keeps on giving.

LIBRA: You are game to act on behalf of a female partner or to restore balance to a marriage or a creative project. You feel strongly that actions speak louder than words. For those actions to be effective, you must negotiate disruptions to your sense of security and unraveling of routines. It’s worth it to empower a loved one.

SCORPIO: You may not be able to put your finger on where it comes from, but you may sense a strong belief you can find emotional balance in a stormy relationship.  This belief didn’t really come out of nowhere—it is the gift of consciously choosing to express compassion or to provide a safe refuge for a friend or partner in need.

SAGITTARIUS: A partner is eager to talk something out or get moving in a way that might seem pushy. But you can find a sense of emotional perspective that honors your differences yet allows you to stand firm on shifting ground if you give yourself a safe quiet retreat to gather your thoughts and find your most compassionate self.

CAPRICORN: A female partner or figure in authority could help you achieve a new starting point.  This happy new beginning depends on whether or not you have faith in a combination of trusting a process in your immediate environment that’s hard to define, and expressing yourself in new ways or letting yourself be surprised.

AQUARIUS: A female lawyer or teacher or writer could have a gift for you that helps balance out a history you’re interested in healing.  If your values come from both a place of compassion for those who may challenge your sense of security and a willingness to imagine your home in a new way might make way for a breakthrough.

PISCES: A sibling or neighbor might appear on the scene all of a sudden and you’ll have to choose whether to let go of the past in order to interact. If you can draw on your own intuitive wisdom, a fateful encounter with female relative or figure could help you rebalance a legacy that heals, and a new beginning to mend old hurts.

The full moon in Libra is exactly connected to points and planets in the signs of Aries, Taurus, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.  From its place in the “middle” of the zodiac it seems to be calling the energies at the beginning and the end of it into balance by requiring conscious adjustments with beginnings and ends. How we start, get angry, or be sexual, our sense of security (or ruts), or how we interact with groups and friends to define our common future goals as human beings and what we believe in in the end and how we live out those beliefs compassionately are all up for adjustment. This full moon brings an emotional promise that if we work with these consciously in “deliberate” Libra fashion, we set the stage for new structures in society and the world at large that can truly make us happy. 

The shape of this full moon chart reminds me of the symbol for Libra, the scales, particularly the aspects of the moon to Uranus (disruption/surprise/revolution) and Pallas Athene (female wisdom). In another older book its symbol is thought of as a yoke, another balancing tool. I think this is especially apt at this particular full moon. While the usual Libran dynamic is to “oppose” two people or things in order to weight them in the balance—and often one of those is a  “him” or “her” self in relation to an opposite, the aspects in this full moon chart highlight that balance lies beyond the trap of an either/or mentality.  The act of “being the balance” involves carrying two seemingly opposite weights that require we consciously adjust in order to do so.  If we are willing to do this emotional work, the result becomes a liberating release, like being touched by the finger of god, rather than a weight. It allows us to trust the emotional instinct that a zero/sum game is rigged from the beginning.

Art and beauty, Libra’s home turf, are often the domains where opposites seemingly are able to harmonize into a pleasing whole.  They remind us to get beyond that all or nothing trap, which is never beautiful in and of itself.  I saw one beautiful example of what’s possible when we allow such magic when I came across Amanda Gorman’s post on World Poetry Day. She posted a sweet photo of a little white boy who dressed up as her for his school’s virtual “Dress Up As Your Idol” day. His face is aglow as he smiles in his golden outfit, sporting a big earing and a headscarf, and holding what looks like an Oscar.  In his joyful choice and in her promoting of it, they quite literally and movingly take us beyond an old oppressive stereotype of what a little white boy can aspire to, who he can love or even how he should dress in order to feel triumphant and beautiful.  It reminds me that all the planets in play with this Libra full moon are at the eighth degree of their signs, just as the full moon is, and the number 8 reminds me of the lemniscate, or infinity symbol. When we are willing to set ourselves free from gender and race traps, the sky is literally the limit to how we can express our full humanity. Our potential becomes limitless.

So this full moon, no matter whether your gendered or ungendered in the complex range of what’s possible, look for the feminine in your life to guide you out of the emotional trap that life must be only one way or the other.  This Libra moon asks us to trust the intuitive wisdom that leads us through the obstacle course of upheaval.  Following such a delicate emotional instinct through more clumsy emotional territory can bring us a release into a complex beauty that brings a profound balance to how we shine our lights, shed some light, and keep it light.