October’s Full Moon in Aries is called the Hunter’s Moon, as it’s around this time that the hunting season begins in many countries. I recall, in the days when I spent a lot of my time in France, that the huntsmen and their dogs would turn up in October to hunt the wild boar that foraged in the maize fields and woods behind our house. I never once saw a wild boar – but (apologies to any vegetarians reading this) they tasted great.
So, if October is the culmination of the huntsman’s year, it’s appropriate that we take a look at what the Full Moon in Aries is going to signal to those of us whose hunting pursuits don’t involve anything more than looking for love, a bargain at the store or that lost set of car keys. The Full Moon affects all of us – but, this month, its effects will be felt most by those with important planets in the cardinal signs – Aries, Libra, Capricorn and Cancer.
Full Moon in Aries: What does it mean?
First of all, a Full Moon usually brings things to a head. It’s often a highly charged time emotionally and with this Full Moon being in combative Aries, it has the potential for a few things getting out of control. Aries is the sign not known for patience – or for restraint. If we look at the meanings associated with Aries, we can begin to appreciate that there may be more than strong feelings associated with this Full Moon.
Being direct and pushing right ahead tend to be the traits we associate with Aries, so this Full Moon is a sign that tempers may be short and issues may provoke a hair-trigger response. Sometimes you need a big argument to clear the air – and at the time of the Full Moon in Aries, that’s more likely to happen than not. However, Aries is not all about the big fight and if you’ve been trying to make progress with a few things – but seem to have come up against some blockages – the Full Moon in Aries may mark the moment when you can start to move forwards and take action.
Of course, those two outcomes may be related because Aries indicates a time when people (and events) charge ahead regardless of the consequences. Events may happen fast under this Full Moon – and that may happen in our personal lives – and in the wider world too. The image that comes to mind is of people at loggerheads, largely because the person in charge, really isn’t listening to any alternative view and may not even care about any downside that is caused to other people – either personally or in a wider sense. Let’s see if the Full Moon chart sheds some light on this.
Full Moon in Aries: The Chart
What is immediately obvious is that this is a tense chart – because the Full Moon in Aries is not only in a ‘t-square’ aspect pattern, it’s in that aspect pattern with Mars and Pluto, the two most dangerous players in the zodiac. This aspect pattern contains the Full Moon’s only planetary connections in the chart – though it will be worth looking at the trine aspect from the Sun and Mars to Jupiter in Aquarius for any indicators that may ease – or aggravate – the main messages it contains.
Full Moon in Aries: The Aspects
As I’ve done with other lunations, I’m going to look at the t-square configuration as a whole because I feel it makes sense to look at the overall impact of this aspect pattern rather than approach it as if it’s a series of smaller aspects. As the old saying ‘sort of’ goes, this is one of those times when the ‘sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’…
Full Moon in Aries: The T-Square Configuration
There’s only one way of putting it. It’s an angry and potentially violent Full Moon. The presence of Mars and Pluto in a t-square configuration, together with the luminaries, is never going to be anything else. There is a huge amount of pent-up energy in this Full Moon demanding release, and it’s the kind of energy that’s capable of exploding because it’s been trapped underground for so long. Think ‘volcanic’ and you will know exactly what I mean.
In your personal life, I think the things to look out for are those issues that may have been bothering you for some time, but you haven’t got around to doing anything about them. Naturally, that will be deeply personal to every one of you – and that’s what Pluto here suggests. With Pluto the message is that it’s the things we’ve been holding in – often privately or secretly – that may be the issue at the time of the Full Moon in Aries.
The issues are, of course, different for everyone as we all have our own deeply personal worries (some of which may be unfounded) yet if we bring them to the surface and acknowledge them they often prove to be less troublesome than we feared. This is a planetary configuration that is asking us to do exactly that – get things into the open air and take action to deal with whatever you need to be dealing with. No excuses this time.
From this – as with every t-square, even one as demanding as this one – you can see that there is the potential for big change in a positive sense. It takes courage to deal with the things you’re most frightened of facing up to. This Full Moon in Aries has courage in abundance – but only if you tap into it. The key really is ‘taking action’ and being courageous and direct. Most important? You need to be uncompromisingly honest with yourself – and that could really be the most important message here.
However, for some of you, the Full Moon in Aries will function at an outer level. Lunations, with the Sun and Moon opposed (especially in Aries-Libra) often affect our relationships and there may be some high-explosive moments with a few ‘home truths’ being told. If you’ve been avoiding a few things about your relationship because you didn’t want to face the truth – this will be the time to clear the air.
Again , there may be a positive side to this for some of you. Being honest with each other is what you need to do if you’re going to move your relationship onto another level – and I mean that in a good way. Mars and Pluto are passionate and passion (of all kinds) may be a feature of this Full Moon in Aries. If that’s how it works out for you – enjoy it while it lasts and use the time to forge an even deeper connection with your partner.
Sun-Mars Conjunction, Trine Jupiter
So far, so intense – but there is one aspect to the t-square configuration that could either ease or magnify the Full Moon’s message. The Sun-Mars conjunction part of the t-square trines Jupiter in Aquarius. After a long period retrograde, Jupiter is now in forward motion and this means that Jupiter’s effects on us are going to be more outwardly expressed.
When the Sun and Mars are together, it’s always an energetic and highly combustible combination. With the trine aspect from Jupiter, you can magnify that several times over. I want to remind you that while Jupiter is always thought of as signifying ‘luck’, luck can come in many guises – and not all of them seem like good luck at the time. Jupiter’s connection to the Full Moon in Aries suggests that something will be a really big issue – you can be sure of that.
What Jupiter suggests is that there’s a risk of arrogance and complacency entering the frame. They are not the qualities needed to calm a tense situation – in fact they could make things worse and it’s not difficult to see how the less positive side of Jupiter (arrogance, greed, complacency, hubris and laziness) could be the very things that bring already difficult situations to breaking point.
On the other hand, a positive expression of Jupiter’s qualities (positivity, seeking a way forward, a sense of adventure, being magnanimous) could fuel the Sun-Mars drive to move things on to a better place. Again, the action demanded by this Full Moon is more than simply making a token adjustment. So, if you know, deep down, that things can’t go on as they are, the trine to Jupiter may enhance your courage and give you the kind of perspective you need to make a difference.
One thing is for certain – this Full Moon in Aries is one that you can’t ignore. It’s not for the faint hearted – you’ll need to jump right in and do whatever it is you need to do. Perhaps the best take-away from the Full Moon in Aries is this – ‘fortune favours the brave’. Remember that when you’re in the light of the Hunter’s Moon.
© Sara Shipman 2021
Picture credit: Image by vishnu vijayan from Pixabay
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