30 Sep Sorrow and its Beauty ~ Full Moon in Aries – October 1st, 2020

“Always forgive your enemies. Nothing annoys them so much.”

– Oscar Wilde

On October 1st, the Full Moon in Aries arrives, lighting the sky on fire with flares of passion and temper. The astrological currents of the moment are made most dangerous by the self-righteous streak that loves to stir up drama and discord.

“It is grossly selfish to require of one’s neighbor that he should think in the same way, and hold the same opinions. Why should he? If he can think, he will probably think differently.”

The opposition between the Sun in Libra and the Moon in Aries brings the raw power of self-interest into conflict with social conscience. The Moon in Aries is refreshingly honest, but becomes tempted into conflicts easily. Whilst the Sun in Libra is gentle and fair, but tends to become overwhelmed by strife.

The way through this tension will be like a tight-rope walk, a precarious balancing act that demands an abundance of Libran grace and good humor to survive. 

Conjunct to Chiron, the Moon in Aries will aggravate some of the most wounded places in your psyche. The polarization of thought and feeling has become so extreme that almost nobody will escape the trap of hypocrisy. 

“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.”

The divide between what you say and what you actually do is painful to acknowledge. It taps into a deep wound, a core of shame and delusion. If you take yourself too seriously, the mood will become very dark. But if you can laugh at yourself, then this Full Moon will light you up, reminding you that life’s many twists and turns are a part of the adventure.

Chiron conjunct the Moon in Aries will teach you that any spiritual understanding or philosophy that you uphold has no value unless it is practiced under fire. When you maintain control of your mind under great duress, then you know you are in possession of wisdom. 

And the wisdom within you knows that the more fiercely you defend an ideology, the more you divide yourself from others. Whenever you judge others for being judgmental, you become just as guilty. Instead, live as you wish without expecting others to follow. Learn to be reflexive and responsive rather than merely reactive.

“Unselfishness recognizes an infinite variety of types as a delightful thing, accepts it, acquiesces in it, enjoys it.”

Everyone avoids facing their own inner conflict. But this Chironic Moon in Aries will invite you to reach higher, healing your own heart by having compassion for those that think and feel differently than you. 

If you are unfortunate enough to have been bled of all humor, then this Full Moon will be ego-shattering. Altruism and piety always explode at the sight of their own selfish reflection.

“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking others to live as one wishes to live.”

The underlying aggression of this Full Moon in Aries will be intensified by a square between Mars Rx in Aries and Saturn in Capricorn, recently stationed direct on September 28th. These planets have been in a stalemate for over a month. But Saturn is now overpowering the impulsiveness of Mars with increasingly heavy restrictions and negation. If you hope to have any success, patience and focus are required.

“High hopes were once formed of democracy; but democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people.”

The bloodshot vision of Aries sees Saturn as an immovable obstacle, a cold unfeeling authoritarian. Enraged headbangers will thrash against the walls closing in on them.

But on the opposite side of the zodiac, the Sun in Libra views Saturn’s influence very differently. Saturn is seen as a judge: an authority who presides for the purpose of being influenced by an evolving dialogue and debate. 

The concept of judgement plays an essential role in the symbolic threads of Libra season. In ancient mythology, the Sun’s fall into Libra represented the threshold of the underworld. The scales of justice evoke a scene from the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. It was said that upon death all souls would have their hearts weighed against the lightness of a feather. The judgement of the scales was swift and final. Those with light hearts were invited into eternity. And those with heavy hearts were torn to shreds by the hounds of hell.

Clearly the ancient Egyptians believed that no matter how challenging life may be, there was no excuse to hold onto guilt and resentments. Keeping your heart as light as a feather was the path to freedom. 

It is exactly this lightness of heart that the air sign of Libra teaches. The social conscience of Libra dissolves the weight of selfishness, using grace, wit, and beauty to uplift the energies and encourage harmony. 

In Libra, the Sun’s light yields to the diffusion of starlight and nocturnal mysteries. In exactly the same way, the light of self is invited to yield to the light of other souls. 

The Sun in Libra is an ember that burns for others: seeing its light in everyone’s eyes and bowing gracefully to its own reflection. Thus, the foundation of true manners is the acknowledgment of divinity in every person you meet. To do this invites reciprocity, respect and rapport. While anything less breeds an intolerable heaviness of heart.

In times of strife, it is helpful to remember the ancient Egyptian perspective. Lightness of heart is not just a mood that arises from easy circumstances. It is a matter of life and death at the final threshold: the choice between your soul’s eternity or its extinguishment.

There is no one who exemplifies the divine lightness of Libra better than the great writer, Oscar Wilde whose legacy of writing is as relevant today as it was a century ago. Wilde was an award winning scholar with an encyclopedic memory. But it was humor that became his offering of lightness to balance the darkness and heaviness of Victorian life. As he said: 

Humanity takes itself too seriously. It is the world’s original sin. If the caveman had known how to laugh, history would have been different.

There are many parallels between Victorian England and 21st Century America. If Victorians were repressed about sex, technocratic Americans are repressed about spirit and soul.

Just like the Digital Revolution today, the Industrial Revolution in England summoned a tremendous wave of social and economic change. The spirit of progress was shadowed by a myriad of dehumanizing effects. With such seismic shifts occurring at a nexus of global power, a vast tangle of social inequities, class issues, and wars arose. 

As an Irishman, Oscar Wilde was the descendent of conquered people. As a bisexual, some of his desires made him into a criminal. In 1895, he was imprisoned for indecency, a two-year sentence of hard labor that led to his early death. There is no doubt that Wilde suffered many things and had many good reasons to live with a heavy heart and a serious attitude. 

But as a consummate Libra, he chose to create art that lightened things up with beauty and laughter. His observations of human nature remain totally on pointe, proving that people haven’t changed much since the 19th century, despite all the arrogance about progress.

In prison, Oscar Wilde became increasingly weak and depressed. At first he was not allowed to write anything. But his gentle demeanor eventually earned him the right to compose letters. In his prison letters, Wilde was not in a humorous mood. But his voice embodied a calm eloquence, transforming the pain of his captivity into a lucid form of beauty. He wrote: 

“You came to me to learn the Pleasure of Life and the Pleasure of Art. Perhaps I am chosen to teach you something much more wonderful, the meaning of Sorrow, and its beauty.”

Upon his release from prison, Wilde was bankrupt and ill. After moving to Paris, he became swallowed up in alcohol and morphine. His last publications described the cruelties of prison, inspiring social outrage and sweeping reforms. By the end of his life, his friends described him as saying:

“I have lived. I drank the sweet, I drank the bitter, and I found the bitterness in the sweet and the sweetness in the bitterness.”

He died at forty-six. But after a lifetime of uplifting the heaviness of sorrow through humor and beauty, it can be imagined that his heart was as light as a feather.

So at this Full Moon in Aries, take a tip from Oscar Wilde and remember that taking life too seriously is the world’s original sin. There is fearful extremism and grotesque abuses of power in every era of human history. But you can still choose to use your time on earth to laugh and learn the meaning of sorrow and its beauty.