08 Oct Veni, Vidi, Vici ~ Full Moon in Aries – October 16th, 2016

On October 16, 2016 there will be a Full Moon in the cardinal fire sign of Aries. The feelings associated with this Full Moon will encompass a wide range of volatile passions.

Oh, brawling love. Oh, loving hate.  

Full Moons are the moments when the Sun and the Moon oppose one another in the heavens, creating a tremulous moment of tension between the two luminaries known for bringing a magnificent sense of climax. The typical interpretation of Full Moons is one that describes culmination and catharsis.

But this Arian Full Moon will be marked by thrashing powers of transformative energy, complete with erratic and volatile jerks of enthusiasm and heated tempers. The planet Uranus, Promethean fire of liberation, will be conjunct this Moon in Aries, creating a martial force of reactionary rebellion so electric that the Sun in Libra’s cry for equanimity will be all too easy to ignore. 

With this much Sturm und Drang, there will be a lot of potential to fall into a euphoric mania, where creativity and volatility reign.

Freedom, innovation and liberation are the ideals of Uranus, which are all highly Romantic. To anyone who acknowledges humanity’s divine spark of genius, Uranian influence can seem messianic. (hence the association with the myth of Prometheus)

The vicious territoriality born in the heart of an Aries Moon in conjunction with the volatility of Uranus’ may spur you into feeling like a revolutionary, willing to remove any obstacle in your path by any means necessary. It must be remembered that when fueled with martial intent, Uranus stokes the fires of revolutions: wars which rise upon the wings of freedom and descend under the heavy burden of murder and mayhem.

Life becomes delightfully simple when beholden to this mindset. Your cause becomes your God and your God justifies all your actions.

Don’t assume that this kind of thinking must be expressed through politics, though during election season in the United States, this is an obvious possibility. However, these heated tensions may be revealed in the subtler power struggles of the home, between friends, or within one’s own mind.

To make the drums of war even more threatening, Mars, the planetary ruler of Aries, will be conjunct Pluto in Capricorn. These two planets amplify one another’s powers of manipulation, ambition, and lust increasing the potential for rash and selfish behavior. Mars loves war and Pluto lives on death. Both are out for bloodshed.

Under the influence of this Full Moon, if you channel all this martial energy to go to war with something, (an ideology, a former friend, a political party) be forewarned that Uranus’ influence may usurp your better judgment and lead you into believing that you are fighting for a brighter future, for the children, or for your community.

Progressive platitudes will be most emblematic of your piety and denial.

The Aries Moon/Uranus conjunction incites action that is mostly inspired by purely selfish reasons, disguised as great far-reaching ideals. If you can be honest about the reality of your motivations, you will minimize cognitive dissonance and thus your campaigns will be far more successful.

However, if you prize peaceful diplomacy over zealotry, then your great battle will be to maintain the willpower, strength and flexibility of spirit to maintain a cool head during trying times. For those willing to maintain grace and equilibrium in the face of so much fire, this night will be a challenge worth preparing for.

To demonstrate the astrological energies of this Full Moon night, I’d like you to examine the life and death of Julius Caesar.Julius Caesar remains one of the most famous men in history, deified after his death and immortalized in dramas and art. In life, he was a war general and politician during the late Roman republic, famous for the phrase: Veni, Vidi, Vici. (I Came, I Saw, I Conquered)

As a perfect emblem of Mars, Caesar’s military genius expanded the Roman empire substantially, extending it all the way into Great Britain. Accustomed to absolute power in command of a formidable army, Caesar began to fight with the Senate in Rome, refusing their orders to return home and step down from his position.

Fate was on Caesar’s side in the civil war that followed his rebellion and after his victory, he returned to Rome declaring himself consul and dictator. Once there, he used his political power and his gift for populist politics to carry out social reforms, winning favor, reducing debts, and expanding the senate.

The Full Moon in Aries will emphasize your natural penchant for egotism, and will thus incite your natural criticism of the egotism of others. This clash of the egos is the crux of the all temptations to attack others. Don’t fool yourself into believing otherwise. 

Caesar was a master at creating a public image through ego-maniacal performance that incited the populace to adore him and his enemies to seethe with hatred. Numerous honors were given to him, including the titles of liberator (Uranus in Aries) and imperator (Mars conjunct Pluto in Capricorn).

Caesar’s birthday was even transformed into a holiday and his birth month, was renamed Julius (July). It was also said that in all public processions, an ivory statue of Caesar was carried down the street alongside the statues of the Roman gods and that he dressed himself in the royal purple robes of the ancient Roman kings. In other words, he saw himself as a living legend and made no pretense about that fact.

On the Ides of March (during the month of Mars) of 44 BC, Caesar appeared at the Senate where he met enemies disguised as old friends, including Brutus the son of his mistress Servilia. He sat upon his golden throne to proceed with a session of legal discussions and according the Plutarch:

“Tillius seized his toga with both hands and pulled it down from his neck. . .It was Casca who gave him the first blow with his dagger, in the neck, not a mortal wound. . . Caesar turned about, grasped the knife, and held it fast. . .

Caesar, hemmed in on all sides, whichever way he turned confronting blows of weapons aimed at his face and eyes, driven hither and thither like a wild beast, was entangled in the hands of all . . .

Caesar defended himself against the rest and darted this way and that and cried aloud, when he saw that Brutus had drawn his dagger, he pulled his toga down over his head and sank.”

This bone chilling betrayal was immortalized by Shakespeare in the lines:

“Et tu, Brute? — Then fall, Caesar!”

It is said that Caesar was stabbed 23 times, a sign of chaotic brutality.

This Full Moon in Aries conjunct Uranus may direct your sympathies to the band of murdering Senators, who behind closed doors were drunk on dreams of restoring their Republic.

Through their pious ideals, they fooled themselves into thinking that they were idealistic liberators (Uranus) that had every right to remove any obstacle which threatened their vision of Roman traditions. (Aries Moon)

The Senators who murdered Caesar were volatile and delusional, failing to see the egregious error that this action represented. If they had actually wanted to quell Caesar’s influence in Rome and restore the Republic, this was the worst possible move.

In murdering Caesar this way, they paved the way for him to be forever deified by the people that loved him and for Rome to become a cult of Imperialism from that day forward. The fact is that the Roman Republic died with Caesar. 

The assassins all had to flee the city of Rome since the news of Caesar’s death sent mobs of violent protestors into the streets. Roman historian, Suetonius said of the assassins,

“All were condemned to death…and all met it in different ways – some in shipwreck, some in battle, some using the very daggers with which they had treacherously murdered Caesar to take their own lives.”

Caesar’s general, Marc Antony and Caesar’s successor, Octavian, hunted down and murdered every member of the Senate who had participated in the murder and anyone else who disagreed with imperial politics. (Hence Cicero’s eventual murder)

By the will of the people and the defenders of Caesar’s memory, in January of 42 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar was named Divus Julius (Divine Julius) by the Senate, officially deifying him as a god of the Roman people.

“O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason.”

-Marc Antony, Act III, scene ii

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

At this Full Moon, the Sun in Libra may push you far over to one side of a conflict just to see how you will recover your sense of balance. During Libra season, the scales of justice seek to bring the polarities of light and dark into harmony. But in order to have any sense of balance, one must explore the extremities of lightness and darkness.

This is why it is well-advised to be cautious of your own maniacal enthusiasm for a cause or an ideal, no matter how justified you believe you are. The higher you get, the harder you’ll fall.

History reminds us that acting impulsively in a fugue of hatred, no matter how justified you may feel, will bind you to a similar fate as Caesar’s assassins: one where you accomplish nothing related to your ideals and instead tip the scales in favor of the opposition.

When the Sun is in Libra, it is often expected that life should conform to peace and love. But the sign of the scales also introduces extreme passions in order for you to learn to entertain thoughts and feelings without fully embracing them.

Turn the experience of strong emotions into a science of wisdom and compassion. Feelings ebb and flow. Get used to handling them without reacting to them like they are commandments. 

After all, you must know the feeling of maniacal zealotry and desiccated nihilism in order to find the perfect poise in between. You must know the feeling of self-confidence and total humiliation in order to find the middle way. Libra’s ideals of balance and harmony are not born from denial, but from knowledge, integration and compromise.

Let this Full Moon in Aries awaken your primal territorial instincts and your urges for power and glory. But consider using these energies, not to antagonize others, but to exalt yourself. Every person holds within a spark of divinity and that is reason enough to spend some time dignifying your own talents and accomplishments.

Use the energy of this Full Moon to seize fate by the throat, pausing first to consult with the wisdom of the ages. 

“Men at some time are masters of their fates. 

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” 

― Julius Caesar, Act I, scene III

William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar