This Libra Full Moon, the first full Moon of the Spring, has always been considered sacred. It marks sacred holidays, and along with Spring Equinox and next month's Aries New Moon,it marks the real beginning of 2013. This full Moon week has plenty of disruptive energy -- or if used properly, lots of energy for rebirth. Just as Spring is symbolized by the Dawn, so too, this full Moon marks a new beginning to the year.

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Onward we go round the spiral,

Touching darkness, touching light.

Twice each turn we stop in balance,

Make choices on this night.

Make choices on this night.

  

   This Wednesday's Libra Moon is the first full Moon of the astrological year, which begins with Aries.   It is a special Moon for many religions, especially Judaism and Christianity, because it marks both Passover and Christ's Resurrection on Easter.   Each Spring we welcome back the fertility, warmth and abundant Life of the Earth, celebrating and honoring the cosmic law and gift of Mother Earth--life will return!   The Mother's Ouroboros swallows his own tail as a pledge to this eternal return.     Life arises out of death, just as death is part of life.  

  Many cultures honored the importance of this first Full Moon of Spring, celebrating it as New Year.     During this time, Judaism celebrates the ideals of freedom and the possibility of a new life.   The Christian Resurrection celebrates the eternal life of our Spirit as well as the renewal of all life. (Jesus comes back in the body as well as in spirit). Knowing we are eternal Spirit also sets us free!     Our cultural bias about death is pretty fear-based.   We often confuse the suffering and pain surrounding death with punishment rather than seeing it as a natural process of life.   We are all nailed to the cross of Matter.   Our own fears often make the pain of loss, betrayal and death worse than it need be.   In truth, death, like birth, is a passage from one life to another.   It's the labor that's hard.

   Freedom is the natural state of humanity, as it is of all life.   Nature is not about ownership. The cosmic laws we all inhabit (you can also call them archetypes) show us that we are free to experience what life has to offer us, free to create our lives, free to make choices.  

But it seems our souls must experience limitations here on Earth as part of life's lessons (imagine how limited our Spirit's self-awareness is in our human form).     The societies we create order and limit our experiences in different ways.   Our patriarchal society for the past 4,000 years has slowly taken away our freedom (substituting security and comfort), raped women's bodies and powers, and pillaged the Earth for its treasures.   Rules bind our outer lives, just as "sins' bind our inner life.   Our soul's experiences living through many lifetimes of patriarchy have created chains that keep us from our freedom.  

But this first full Moon of Spring celebrates the breaking the chains of death as well as of our limitations.   The Christ Story says that God sent part of himself--his Son--into human form.   No matter how religions have twisted it, the divine story says that humans are also Divine.     When we remember we are and act on it, we find the freedom to make responsible choices to be good stewards of life here on Earth.   Perhaps our ultimate purpose is to bring the Kingdom of Heaven here to Earth.   If so, it's time to start.

   The way to attain freedom is to become conscious of who you are--the good, the bad and the ugly--of what you love, what you desire, what you value, what you want to create and how you plan to serve.   Once you know your "story', the choices you make will lead you to your destiny.  

Libra Full Moon: Right Action is based on Wisdom

   If you've been reading any other astrologers, you already know how intense this week is going to be.   Instead of telling you what to watch out for and how to avoid hidden traps, I'm going to tell you a different story--a story of what the highest potentials of this week's energies can bring you.   I've already stated it above.   This is really a time of resurrection!   Isn't it time to live your truth?

   The Libra Full Moon occurs on March 27, 2013 at 2:28 am PDT/ 5:28 am EDT/ 9:28 am GMT.  

The Sun is in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac and of Spring Equinox.   Like the season of Spring, the Sun in Aries heralds the arrival of the Dawn, the beginning of a new cycle of life.   Bold, courageous, inquisitive, Aries' energy wants to ignite our creativity.   It's primal fire after all!   The Full Moon is in the opposite sign of Libra, the sign of the harvest at Autumn Equinox.   This Libra Moon takes in Aries' youthful fire and desire for life and reflects back the awareness that the fire must be shared with others, that it be used responsibly.   The cosmic dance of Self and Other gets played out in this first, sacred Full Moon of the year.  

The Sabian symbol for the Sun at 7* Aries is: A man succeeds in expressing himself simultaneously in two realms.   This symbol implies that the cosmic duality we live in can be bridged and worked with.   Within each woman lies an inner man, just as within each man lies an inner woman. Our work is to help them partner their perceptions so we can access our Wisdom. While we have been trained to depend primarily on our left-brain, rational mind, we have the ability to also work with our right-brain, imaginative mind.   Their union creates the mystic brain of Wisdom.   When we unite the dualities of life, we connect to Lady Wisdom.

The Sabian symbol for the Moon at 7* Libra is: A woman feeding chickens and protecting them from the hawks.   It is in the nature of feminine consciousness to protect life and fertility.   Chickens were one of the first birds domesticated by humans, and their egg-laying makes them a perfect symbol of the fertility and nourishment of Life.   Hawks are fierce, beautiful and deadly in reality, especially for smaller fowl.   While symbolically they are often seen as divine messengers, I think these hawks symbolize the rapture's hunting ability.   Death constantly stalks life, but our feeling connection with all of life compels us to do our best to protect the continuation of life.   That's our collective work now--to make sure our children, to at least the 7^th generation, will have a viable world to live in.

Other Astrological Influences

   This week sees powerful energies mixing and merging, challenging us to find new standpoints, both within and without.   As I mentioned earlier, we can be upset and stressed by these energies or we can ride them into a new life.  

   At this Full Moon, Venus, Uranus and Mars join the Aries Sun in opposing the Libra Moon.   The Moon reflects back to each of them their essence, what their needs and desires are.    The Sun, Mars and Venus have just emerged out of the Piscean collective unconscious ready for renewal and action.   Our sense of identity (the Sun), our desires (Mars) and our heart wisdom (Venus) have been dissolved and renewed.    At this moment of rebirth, they can become one. Our Ostara meditation encouraged us to wake up and "become what we love'.    That's a perfect way to express the combined Venus, Sun, Uranus and Mars energy in Aries.   Aries shapes our identity through how we use its primal fire, so shape yourself for your most soulful future.    When these four archetypal energies combine, they can awaken us to our freedom to do just that--become what we love.  

   But first comes the sacrifice I mentioned earlier!   We have to sacrifice our old paradigm.   That's where Pluto in Capricorn comes in.   Pluto's wrecking ball continues to tear down decaying collective institutions, exposing an unviable, world-threatening paradigm.   Uranus in Aries awakens us to a new paradigm and a new identity.   In about 2 months, Pluto and Uranus will once again square up with each other.   Evolution and revolution are in the air.   The work continues.

  But when the faster, inner planets aspect these mighty outer planetary forces, they pick up the new energies and infuse it into our everyday lives.   Mars very tightly squares Pluto just before this full Moon and after its conjunction with Uranus on March 22^nd.   That conjunction hopefully gave us a wake-up call about who we want to be.     Mars and our old desires are the sacrifice we make for this new life.   We can no longer engage in desires that patriarchy has offered us--false desires that become addictions because they don't feed our real desires.   The Sun and Venus also square Pluto a few days later, affecting our identity and our ability to connect to life.   All these energies are being renewed for a purpose, to help us step into our soul's story of who we are and what we're here to do.

When we sacrifice our old Mars/desire nature, we let go of what we think we need and discover the burning flame of our soul's desire.   We need to dig deep down into the depths of our souls (Pluto) to find out what our real desires (Mars) are.   We use the astrological symbol of Mars to represent men.   Perhaps this combination of energies will renew the Sacred Masculine within and without; renew as well men's determination to listen to love (Venus) and base their new identity (Sun) on what and who they love.  

The lineup of the important aspects this week will effect anyone with planets from 6* to 12*, especially those in the cardinal signs.

-    March 20:   Sun moves into Aries on Spring Equinox at 1* Aries

-    March 22: Mars joins Uranus at 9* Aries (see Astrology Blog)

-    March 26: Mars in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn at 12* cardinal signs

-    March 27:   Libra Full Moon at 7* Aries/Libra

-    March 28:   Sun, Venus & Uranus conjoin at 9* Aries

-    March 31:   Sun & Venus in Aries square Pluto in Capricorn at 12* cardinal signs

Jupiter in Gemini squares Mercury/Chiron in Pisces a few hours before this full Moon, challenging us to see the big picture and align our thinking with the spiritual realities of our cosmos, rather than the economic laws of man.   It should be easy since Mercury and Jupiter are in each other's home signs (Jupiter is also the ruler of Pisces along with Neptune).

   As I mentioned in my Spring Equinox blog, there are two Yods in this Full Moon chart.   A Yod is an astrological aspect that creates an isoceles triangle formed by two planets sextile (sixty degrees from) each other and both quincunx (one-hundred-fifty degrees from) a third, fulcrum planet. The three points stabilize an erratic connection and focus it through one point.   Called a Sword in the Stone or a Finger of God, Yods denote "a fated change or a destined new outlook on life'. (B. Tierney: Dynamics of Aspect Analysis)    The three planets of a yod symbolize energies that want to create shifts in our consciousness.   But it takes patience to do it.   Like Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone, it also takes the destined person to use it.   Each of us can use these energies, and if we do, each of us will use these energies differently, to match our personality and our soul's purpose.  

   One Yod has Saturn and Pluto at the base with Jupiter at the point.   If we can fearlessly shed the skin of patriarchy and imagine a better way to live, we can begin our process of personal and cultural transformation that is already underway around the world.   The other Yod has Jupiter and Uranus/Mars at the base with Saturn in Scorpio on the point.   We can use our passion and our new sense of self to release old emotional wounds that are keeping us from our new life.

   Meet this week's energies with an open and loving heart, a quick mind and a joyful spirit and you'll do just fine!

   Blessed Be.

   Cathy

Authors Website: http://www.cathypagano.com

Authors Bio:

Cathy Pagano is a spiritual advisor and Jungian psychotherapist, storyteller, author and teacher.

She is the author of a book on the return of the Goddess, "Wisdom's Daughters: How Women Can Change the World".

Cathy trained at the C. G. Jung Institut-Zurich in dream interpretation, has an M.A. in Counseling Psychology in Feminine Spirituality, and is a certified Life Coach.

As an astrologer and storyteller, she weaves the Cosmic Stories written in the stars. From The Bard's Grove, she writes about emerging archetypal themes in movies and books.

Cathy works with the tools of the imagination - dreams, alchemy, myths, astrology, symbolic language, storytelling, ritual - to awaken the Soul's wisdom.



I believe that Americans are called to a higher consciousness at this point in our history. We are called on to live up to our ideals and create the country our forefathers imagined. Inner consciousness needs to be acted upon for social justice.



Cathy believes that our writers and artists must take up our responsibility to create art that inspires, teaches and heals our humanity.



Cathy writes about political, psychological/spiritual, and cultural issues.