The Wonder of Electric Fire
By Molly Hall | About.com
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
“There is an electric fire in human nature tending to purify – so that among these human creatures there is continually some birth of new heroism. The pity is that we must wonder at it, as we should at finding a pearl in rubbish.” John Keats (1795-1821)
This year’s Aries Full Moon is on Wednesday, October 8th and it’s at 15 degrees Aries-Libra. It’s a momentous one, as it’s also a Total Lunar Eclipse. The Lunar eclipse happens when the Earth is between the Sun and Moon, throwing a shadow on the lunar surface.
Eclipses are crowning moments, especially when there are strong engagements to your own birth chart. Sometimes pivotal events happen that have a lasting effect (six months or more). Other times, the change is more internal, with shattering realizations or news that “changes everything.”
Eclipse Forecast Reading
When Eclipses Aspect a (Natal) Planet
Forecast for Eclipse by House (in the Birth Chart)
2014 Astro Note: Quite a striking line-up, with Uranus the planet of sudden, out-of-the-blue events sidled up to the Full Moon, making it one for great excitement. If you’re in a stifling situation, this is one of those moments of busting out.
There’s a cardinal T-Square involving the Sun-Moon, Uranus and Venus making for extremely charged social or love encounters. The pressure is great, to transform relationships, even if it means temporarily overturning the apple cart.
Aries is fuel for self-confidence and will to act. But it’s wise to heed the need to stay grounded coming in at an angle from the Capricorn corner. This is the way to avoid accidents, since staying grounded keeps you aware of natural laws, like the law of gravity. Or it gives you situational awareness, to steer clear of shifty people or crowds.
A trip-wired Uranus with so much impulsive energy is the atmosphere for outbursts of genius. But it’s also the raw material for all manner of outbursts, where change is sought by any means necessary. Uranus is sometimes in the mix, when things go off the rails, with spills and thrills. So watch your step, and look before you leap!
And yet, all this happens against the bright lights of a fire grand trine (Mars-Jupiter-Uranus). Fire is movement, for breaking out of stagnation. A regal Jupiter (in Leo) keeps the lantern on generosity, big-heartedness, and what naturally invigorates.
Even if startling things happen, there could be fresh inspiration that’s a flashing beacon for the future.
Other names for the October Full Moon: The Moon closest to the Autumn equinox is known as the Harvest Moon. The earthbound use this late season illumination to squeeze a little more harvest time out of the day. Some (like us) are getting the winter garden in. Native Americans called this Hunter’s Moon, when foliage thins out and makes game more visible. It’s also known as the Moon of Falling Leaves.
When the Moon is full in Aries, the Sun is in the opposite sign of Libra. The quest that’s illuminated is striking that just-right balance between the vital Me and the We.
Aries is a cardinal sign, making it about instigating, activating and launching the new. And it’s a fire sign, with a fervor for being animated, high-spirited, enthusiastic and an instigator.
Full Moon in Aries: emerging out of the heavy cloak of social conditioning; coming alive through your passions; trusting your instincts; the passion of compassion; vigorous warrior energies; the animation that comes from meeting a challenge head-on; fresh starts; courageous actions; risking confrontation to be authentic; forceful self-expression; the purifying fire of unsentimental truth; taking a stand; being at the edge of new experience; personal charisma.
This Full Moon illuminates: the vital power of the individual — think David and Goliath; your courage to act on the strength of your convictions; your willingness to go it alone, if necessary, to take a stand; the catharsis of being true to yourself; the rewards of going beyond your comfort zone; the thrill of acting on impulse; the exciting heat of friction between strong personalities; your impetuous side.
It’s a Good Time to: celebrate individual freedom and your right to live free; nurture hope in new beginnings; be inspired by the urgency of the times; take action, even if you’re full of fear; act on strong intuitive hunches; face a threat directly; allow buried passions to emerge and find expression; honor the messages that guide your unique destiny; act on true desires, not what you think you “should” do; take a bold step toward what you really, really want; do what makes you feel alive!
If all the trappings of life are gone, and security is a faded memory, we live more in the moment. We rely on our wits, instincts, belief in who we are. This Full Moon riles up your confidence that you can meet the moment, as an amazing adventure to discover the dimensions of who you really are.