1:26  am  AHST  10/17/2024
    4:26  am    PDT  10/17/2024
    7:26  pm    EDT  10/17/2024
   12:26  pm    BST  10/17/2024

This Full Moon is one of the most powerful ones this year, being a SuperMoon that is even closer to the Earth than usual. In fact this particular SuperMoon is the closest the Moon will get to the Earth this year. This increases the physical effects upon the Earth, tides, earthquakes, etc., but also the metaphysical ones as well.

This Moon is often called the Hunter’s Moon, the Falling Leaves Moon (Anishinaabe) or the Migrating Moon (from the Cree) which signals when the birds migrate to the South.

This is in many ways astrologically a significant Full Moon for our human population, one which could bring a turning point in humanity’s love affair with power. The Sun and Moon in opposition (the definition of a Full Moon) are also in a Grand Cross of planets, (all four planets in challenging 90˚ angles to each other) with Mars opposed Pluto squaring (at right angles to) the Full Moon. And the Moon is conjoined with Chiron, the wounded healer, signaling challenges for The People, which the Moon represents in a mundane chart. What we usually relegate to the unconscious is now much more at the surface of life energetically. While looking at this Grand Cross, I might be tempted to call this a Trouble Moon. Mars opposed Pluto indicates abuse of power, an energy that stimulates a harsh, warlike mentality.

Moon in Aries with Chiron conjoined is a troubled or wounded energy, one in which taking action is given to impulsivity and carelessness, and with its squares to Mars/Pluto, the possibility of violence.

Over the next few weeks, it’s important to restrain one’s impulses to want to attack, whether it’s someone who we think deserves it, or an idea someone is spouting, as well as watching that we don’t turn this attacking energy on ourselves. We may become impulsive, or more subject to accidents, acting rashly when we should be extra careful. Eris is also tightly conjoined with the Moon here, so the archetypal feminine energy is armed and ready, desiring to expose and take exception to anything patriarchal.

With Chiron and the Moon in Aries, we are looking at the wounded masculine energy in each one of us. No one brought up on this planet can escape the socially imbedded violence in some areas of our thinking and beliefs. The media also perpetuates and reinforces ideas such as seeking revenge, killing off the criminal, getting even. We are witnessing worldwide the tragedies inflicted daily upon innocent people by those who are benefitting from the appalling profusion of weaponry that many countries have available to them. Mars, the ruler of Aries is actually now in the sign of Cancer, which indicates being motivated to act primarily through one’s emotions. If those are inflammatory emotions (as with Mars’ opposition to Pluto) then we may find ourselves becoming somehow hurtful to others.

But Mars is also part of a Grand Trine in the chart (three planets in a harmonious 120˚ relationship to each other.) Mars then is the important connecting planet that joins the Grand Cross energy with the Grand Trine. With Mars in trine to Venus, and both trining Neptune, all in water (feeling) signs, this creates a doorway where forgiveness and compassion can operate. So in the midst of our aggressive impulses, there is a deeper need, that of wanting to be met, to be heard, to be loved, and in Cancer, to nurture others. It could be thought of as fierce love, refusing to give in to hatred and prejudice.

All this involves, of course, choice. Astrology tells us in advance the rivers and currents of energies that will be abounding in our world, and we have the option of choosing which ones we will be affected by. As my astrology teacher used to say, “the planets impel, they do not compel.”¹ Knowing that there is an abundance of aggressive feelings, as well as possibilities of loving kindness, we can harness and blend these energies to do some amazing work, or make some remarkable relational connections during this time period.

With Mercury also in a trine to Saturn, our communications take on a structured and purposeful quality. If we keep in mind our sense of purpose, we can focus our intentions along the lines of peacemaking. Saturn in Pisces gives us a purpose of structuring our relations with others along the lines of what is best for all parties concerned, the greater good.

Other than the Full Moon, the tightest aspect in this chart is a sextile (harmonious 60˚ angle) from Venus to Pluto. They’re exact by 03 minutes of a degree. When these are in harmonious combination this is the sign of what we’d call “higher love”, the kind of love that transcends conflict and opens our hearts to the vulnerable, fragile nature of our lives, and the importance of how interconnected we are, not only to each other, but to All Our Relations, and to the greater mysterious forces of guidance and destiny that pervade our lives. 

¹ https://manymoonsastrology.com