!! OMG Stars: Full Moon in Aries, October 2020 !!

OMG Stars is an astrology column written by queer astrologer Amelia Ehrhardt (@soft_aspects). Every two weeks, on the new and full moons, Amelia interprets the upcoming astrology with a focus on how to navigate current events (astrological and global). Book an appointment with Amelia here.

Full Moon in Aries, Thursday October 1st

Mars Retrograde in Aries, through November 14th / Mercury Stations Retrograde in Scorpio, October 13th / Saturn Square Mars, through October 7th / Neptune Sextile Jupiter, through October 27th

Looking at the chart for the full moon, I’m immediately struck by how un-aspected it is: the planets are not particularly speaking to each other, not in relationships where they’re able to see eye to eye, or even see each other at all: they’re just barely even speaking. It isn’t just that there’s conflict, it’s that no one is even willing to come to the room. It’s pretty hard to work through disagreement when people aren’t even willing to talk to each other.

Few things could characterize this full moon in Aries more. Lately when describing the archetypes of Aries to my clients, I’ve been describing this moment in Legally Blonde:

Elle Woods, determined and driven, marching through a crowd shouting the word, “ME!!!!”.  This, perhaps even more than the bend and snap, should be one of our major takeaways from this canonical piece of cinema.

But Reese Witherspoonisms aside, that Big Me Energy can really drown out the words of…well, everybody else. All the planets taking their own “ME” moment so elegantly describes the feeling of this moment. So many of my clients and friends are coming to me to talk about really difficult interpersonal dynamics, bad fights, disagreements, or really confusing behavior from friends and lovers. I’m hearing (and also, I will be honest, saying), a lot of things along the lines of “everybody is so angry right now.”

And, hello, Mars retrograde, it’s definitely true. But looking at the chart for this full moon and reflecting on all the planets in their own little bubbles, I thought…ok, it’s not as though we ourselves are exempt from “everybody”. I know I’ve been working through a lot of anger lately too. And while part of me feels inclined to say, it’s Libra season, we need to find connection, etc…this full moon is not particularly conducive to connection. Particularly with the Mercury retrograde coming up, I am much more seeing a message about autonomy.

So with this big firey moon, with astrology of misunderstanding all over, I ask you to lean into the good kind of selfishness. Not the parts that prevent future connection, but the parts that make connection possible. Which is not to say that you should cut yourself off and hermit (not unless you want to) – just consider that if it feels like everyone around is being an asshole right now, um, then you might also be, too.

This full moon in Aries is a huge lunation, with Mars and Chiron both alongside in the same sign, and the big Cardinal energy of 2020 still being activated. The new moon in Aries this year took place on March 24th, 2020. New moons are times for setting intentions, and full moons are times for letting go. Think about how you learned to protect yourself around the end of March.How you started getting yourself through this time.

Now that we are six months (but really, at least a decade) older, and wiser into the Pandemic, think of which of those strategies you can release. Suggestions for which area of your life to look into for this release will be written into your rising sign horoscope, but really, whatever it is that you pulled aboard at the end of March that you now feel needs to be discarded, do that first.

As the witches say, full moon blessings, homosexuals.

Find your horoscopes after the jump!

Horoscopes are written using whole house calculations and are meant as inspiration and affirmation of what you already know. They are written for both sun and rising signs, but specific information is calculated for the rising signs. You can also read the horoscope for your moon sign for extra emotional information. You can access your birth chart at www.astro.com or many other apps and websites using your birth date, time, and location. If you’re interested in getting a reading, you can book one with Amelia here.

Aries and Aries Rising
Hooooboy. How are you folks doing? This time around I hope people with any kind of major Aries placement are reading the Aries horoscope – so either Sun, Moon, Rising, Mercury, Venus, or Mars. This full moon with your ruling planet Mars still Retrograde in your sign is a LOT. There’s some opportunity here to work with righteous rage and also some opportunity to identify the rage you need to let go of. I have been doing a lot of work with anger lately and it has made me think a lot of Aries. I’ve been working on allowing anger as an energy to pass through my body, and be something that indicates movement and shift. The Aries quality of exploding anger is a lesson I am trying to learn.

Aries is so good at just saying the thing, and having the act of saying the thing be the necessary expulsion. That is so good for you, Aries! But it has consequences on the folks around you. This Full Moon I ask you to consider the consequences of your anger.  Throughout this painful and difficult year, are there any relationships that have suffered as a result of your self-protection? I’m not saying you need to go back to them because absolutely, bygones = bygones, but I’m suggesting you use this moment of energy in your sign to grow. You always lead the rest of us in matters of the self, I ask you to lead us graciously. Aries rising readers have this lunation in your first house of identity.

Look back to the end of March, when we had our new moon in Aries, for clues on how you have shaped your identity in response to the circumstances of this year. If there are elements of that persona you aren’t comfortable with, use this lunation in your signet allow yourself to release them. You don’t have to make it the whole way, but beginning that process is work enough.

Taurus and Taurus Rising
There’s not a lot of astrology this year that’s familiar to Taureans, and I’ve written on this before, but I have to say it again that it must mean there’s a sense of extremely unwelcome discomfort for your lot. There’s very little going on in fixed signs, and all the earth that’s been going on has been extremely disruptive. Alas Taurus I must forewarn you that 2021 will be a change in this but not for the better as Saturn and Jupiter move into Aquarius to square Uranus currently in your sign – but that can happen later. Today I am here to speak to you about this full moon in Aries. The sign directly preceding yours, I always think about how Aries is a little baby ram and Taurus is a big grown bull. Related farm animals with horns, but one energetic and jumpy, the other impossibly still.

As this full moon takes place in a sign about immediate expression, independence, and one’s own damn needs, I invite Taureans to think about how things might be easier if you expressed with a bit of energy. Many Taurus folks have planets in Aries also, so if you are one of them, lean into that Aries side. Taurus rising readers have this moon in your 12th house of dreams, solitude, unconsciousness…reckoning. This lunation cals back to the Aries new moon that took place on March 24th, right when quite a lot happened.

Think back to the dreams you were having at the end of March and compare them to the dreams you are having now. What did they tell you then and how has that changed? Look to this side of yourself for clues for how you can let go of any patterns that may have started during the early lockdown and which are no longer serving you.

Gemini and Gemini Rising
As your ruling planet prepares to station retrograde (in Scorpio – a very different side of the Zodiac than Gemini), I invite Gemini readers to prepare with your secret superpower: listening. Gemini is all about being open to information and curious, so how do we do this without listening? Your lot often end up with lots of secrets and information, so it wouldn’t surprise me if during this upcoming retrograde you came to have particularly juicy info. Scorpio is all about secrets and during Mercury retrogrades, things get dug up out of the past. Think of how you can use this power for good, Gemini.

Gemini rising people have this full moon in your 11th house of community. Gemini folks are often quite sociable so this lunation is hitting you in a spot where it might hurt a bit. Use it to your advantage! Think back to around March 24th. How did you social circle change at the end of March? It’s pretty literal for us to ask questions like these right now, as probably the way you see your groups and communities changed significantly during that time. Ask what aspects of those changes have been good for you and what aspects you are ready to let go of.

On the other hand, perhaps there are relationships that drifted away around the new moon for protective reasons: maybe you can revisit those now to see what you can learn from each other.

Cancer and Cancer Rising
Poor Cancer babies. If your Cancer placement is late in the sign, you’ve been getting hit by the late Capricorn and Mars shitshow lately; if you’re early in the sign, this full moon is close to your placements. Wherever you are in the degrees, the circumstances of this year have likely hit you personally which is never something particularly good for a Cancer. I would highly recommend you turn your natal capacity for caretaking around on yourself. I often say to my clients that Cancer is both the baby and the parent, both the tiny infant needing connection and the warm caring human providing it. Cancer is about that dynamic.

See if you can find a way to nurture yourself and see how it can change your self-talk. Cancer rising readers have this lunation hovering in your 10th house of career. Having Aries in the 10th house is such a hidden force for you Cancer-rising readers: coming across as sensitive and empathetic but then BAM when it coms to your work. Lean the fuck in! Use this lunation to bring to a close anything that started in your work around the new moon at the end of March.

Is there stuff that went down then related to work that you no longer want? Put it into the ether and let it disappear. Use this lunation to manifest what you want your work to look like moving forwards now that you know a bit more about the new world we live in. Find whatever your power side is and take this moon to own it. You’ve got this.

Leo and Leo Rising
With this full moon Venus spends her last day in your sign before her movement into Virgo, and all week I’ve been encouraging people to use it for some ~creative self expression~. As she moves out fo your firey domain and into Virgo territory, Leo people are going to feel the uncomfortable (for you) absence of planets in your sign. That said, with Mars and now this full moon both in your sibling fire sign of Aries, the energy and enthusiasm of your lot is still palpable. Use it along with your natal capacity for creativity to express something you need to say. Something emotional, something anger related, something urgent: find a way you can be unprecious and immediate to get those feelings out. Leo rising readers have this moon in your 9th house of expansion – also a fire domain, as the 9th house is ruled by Sagittarius.

Think back to the end of March, around the 24th during the new moon in Aries, and what was going on in your life what had to do with higher learning, languages, philosophy, religion, travel….maybe you had to cancel some travel plans. Maybe you set an intention to learn a language over quarantine. Maybe you started a book that you never finished.

Take this lunation to complete whatever it is you started in this area of your life, or else to let go of the intention. if it didn’t happen, it wasn’t supposed to happen, and you can look to other ways to pull you through as we approach another round of staying inside an awful lot.

Virgo and Virgo Rising
While this lunation doesn’t speak very much to Virgo placement, Venus is about to move into your sign bringing some beautiful and expressive energy into your part of the Zodiac. Personally I love Venus in Virgo. This is 100% the love language of acts of service. Having Venus grace around one of your placements can be a lovely feeling, so if your Sun, Moon, or Rising are in Virgo, over the next few weeks you’ll have a few days of warm energy as the morning star brings her comforting glow to your placements.

Virgo rising readers have this lunation in your 8th house, a deep part of the psyche that has to do with our entanglements to other people. I adore getting to say this to you, Virgo rising, as every lunation I say to the readers who have the moon in this part of your chart: let that shit go!! Especially with a full moon! Just let it go! What new shit went down in your intimacies at the end of March that after six months of reflection, you no longer want? What shit of someone else’s did you pick up that is no longer serving your highest potential? Whatever baggage it may be, this lunation is a powerful one for you to let go.

I suggest a ritual involving a flame – perhaps a candle, or a small bonfire if you are lucky enough to have access to space for this – and staring into the flame think about these energies that you need to let go of. Let them be engulfed in the flames and burn out. They will not help you grow if they are holding you down.

Libra and Libra Rising
Welcome to your season, Libras. Here where I am this is always one of my favorite times of year: the light is so beautiful, just hovering around the horizon for so long, very golden; we’re in perfect harvest season; and especially this year as we head into Lockdown of Solitude 2.0, people are *on* the dating apps. I literally came across a profile of someone seeking a “Second Wave Wife”. What earnest Libra energy. The other day I had the realization that the precursor to cuffing season is Libra season. Libra is all about harmony and connection, how appropriate that this time is our last hurrah for romantic outdoor dates in parks that may or may not lead to the only person you’ll be allowed to hug for the next six months.

With this full moon in your opposite sign of Aries, Libra folks, invite autonomy as an essential element of connection. Recognize your autonomy; recognize your independence; recognize your self-love. Note the ways people show love for you. The Libra-Aries polarity is one of the more fascinating ones in the Zodiac to me, as it speaks to this really fundamental human thing about connection and defensiveness. Libra rising folks have this full moon in your 7th house of partnership, making it extra interesting. Here is a full moon ritual suggestion for Libra rising readers: think about your closest relationships and any major events that took place in them at the end of March, during the Aries new moon this year.

Reflect on any patterns you want to change in your own behavior, and dynamics you want to address with others. Light a candle, taking some intention with striking the match and setting the flame, and reflect on these patterns and dynamics for a few minutes, focusing your energy on your skull and feeling your eyes relax into your skull. Once you have sat with this for what feels like a satisfying amount of time, blow out the flame and imagine that which no longer serves you extinguishing along with the flame.

Scorpio and Scorpio Rising
As Mercury has moved into your sign, I wonder if there has been something about the present communication style that feels interesting, exciting, even perhaps familiar to you Scorpio lot. The upcoming retrograde is going to take place in your sign, so I am expecting that with the combo of Mercury in your sign *and* a retrograde, shit. is. going. to. come. out. I’m thinking of 2017-2018 while Jupiter was in Scorpio, and it was just this wonderful parade of shit hitting the fan with #MeToo and all of these horrific tyrants being taken to task. Of course this year has been, um, a bit different, but maybe this Mercury retrograde will bode well for some interpersonal skeletons being dug out of the closet and addressed. And Scorpio, if there is anyone there with a bag of chips and a lawn chair pulled up for the shit, it’s you (ok, and maybe Gemini).

Those of you with Scorpio rising have this lunation in your 6th house of day to day life. Look back to March 24th when the new moon in Aries happened and began a whole new set of routines in your daily life. This might be the most literal of all the signs of the zodiac this month, as it’s very clear for many of us to see how our daily life changed around the end of March of this year. Scorpio, this is a wonderful time to assess how that routine is working out for you. As the full moon invites a letting go of whatever no longer serves us, look to your everyday life and allow those less helpful aspects to dissolve and transform.

Sagittarius and Sagittarius Rising
I was chatting with someone this week about Astrology (shocking) who when talking about placements said “I love Sagittarians.” Best thing is that this person is themselves a Sag. What inspiring Sag energy! I feel this so hard. With this full moon in your sibling fire sign of Aries, Sag, lean into your optimism, your energy, your enthusiasm and your gusto. Let yourself change your mind. Sign up for an online course that you have no intention of finishing. Go for a walk around google maps in the middle of the Australian outback. However you can invite some big fire energy into your life right now, lean in. Sag risings have this lunation in your 5th house, which is also a fire house ruled by Leo. The 5th house is about fun. It’s about creative self expression, falling in love, dancing…many things that are fun.

Thinking back to the new moon in Aries on March 24th of this year, it’s likely that this part of your life took a change as we moved into ThE NeW nOrMaL. I hope for you, Sag risings, that you can take this lunation to let go of any changes to your life that happened in this realm of your experience that are no longer helping you out. Perhaps you set some intentions for creativity during quarantine that were unrealistic to fulfill; let go of that wish. Or on a difficult interpersonal level, maybe you found yourself falling in love (with a person, an idea, a project) that didn’t work out.

Take the full moon in your 5th house to creatively express what you need to let go of. Write, draw, paint, dance, sew, collage, sing without any preciousness or intention for whatever you make to be seen by anyone other than yourself.

Capricorn and Capricorn Rising
Every lunation I get to Capricorn in my writing and I say some version of – you’ve got this, friends – you’re almost out. Just a couple more months of Capricorn clusterfuck. The next month is one of the toughest to get through but by this point you have learned what this energy is about, and Capricorn is so good at looking at the evidence and creating a structure around that. I would also not be surprised if there were things about all this Capricorn energy that has even been maybe exciting for some of you.

Everyone suddenly paying attention to structures (even if it is to say let’s *burn these fuckers down*) might be redemptive to you who pay attention to such things all the time. Capricorn rising readers have this full moon in your 4th house of home and family. the 4th house is ruled by Cancer, your opposite sign, and the 4th house-10th house, Cancer-Capricorn polarity is one I’ve been thinking about a lot this year.

Doubtless your relationship to home changed significantly at the end of March this year. Maybe your home also became your workspace, maybe you haven’t had anyone in your home in six months. However it was that you felt new shifts happening at home, think about what of those shifts have not served you and of which you can let go with this big full moon.

Aquarius and Aquarius Rising
I’ve said it before, but even though there isn’t any major activity in Aquarius right now, this year has certainly seen a lot of chaotic energy that Aquarians should find familiar or at least predictable. Your lot has an amazing ability to look at a system from a bird’s eye view and see how things affect each other. As we come to the end of the year, and Saturn and Jupiter’s movements into your sign, I invite Aquarians to take a look at the year from a macro perspective and seek the patterns that are of interest to you, interpersonally and globally.

Aquarius rising readers have this lunation in your 3rd house of communication. Look to the end of March of this year when the new moon in Aries brought new patterns to this area of your life. Perhaps you unconsciously developed a style of communication that was useful to you in the beginning of lockdown but maybe no longer helps. Are you withholding emotional information that you need to get off your chest?

Or perhaps you are sharing in ways you’d rather not? Look to the placement of Mars, your third house ruling planet, in your chart, its sign and house for further clues as to how you can bring this cycle to a close.

Pisces and Pisces Rising
As we prepare for a Mercury retrograde in the midst of a Mars retrograde, everyone’s moods are on high. All year I’ve spoken to you, Pisces, about how your lot are probably really feeling the emotional tension that is around right now. Having a keen sense of the ways that everyone else is upset is not always so useful, particularly when it’s a global moment like this. Be sure to work on protecting yourself as Mercury stations retrograde in your fellow water sign of Scorpio and shit starts to come out.

Pisces rising readers have this full moon in your 2nd house of resources. Call to mind the end of March when the new moon in Aries invited new cycles into this part of your life: the 2nd house is your literal resources such as money and stuff, but it’s also your food, your energy, your values. What started in this area of your life during early lockdown that has persisted beyond its use?

Let go of old patterns regarding your resources – patterns of hoarding, or leaky boundaries – in favour of making space for new opportunities to serve your highest potential.