The full Moon at 3 degrees Aries (Exact on Sept 26th at 3:45 p.m. EDT) follows the Autumn Equinox on the 23rd. Its Native American name is Harvest Moon, and because the Moon rises this time of year near sunset, it was used as an early evening light to pick the autumn crops of corn, pumpkins, squash, wild rice and beans. Sometimes it appears golden or fiery in the sky.
As the first sign, Aries is the exuberant beginning, and a chance to take bold steps on goals set during the new Moon in Virgo. Saturn in Virgo puts the focus on healthy habits, and there may be the stirrings of changes to your daily routine. This full Moon gives you the courage to go for it, and the hope to believe in a fresh start.
With Aries fire sweeping through, there's some forgetting of recent trials. Like the Fool in the Tarot, Aries sets forth without the baggage of the past, just a small bundle filled with essentials. Saturn in Virgo is helping us get organized, weeding through things and tossing out what's stale. This full Moon in Aries inspires that breathless feeling of traveling light, when you know you're setting off on an adventure.
With Jupiter in Sagittarius and Venus in Leo, there's plenty of warmth to go around, making it a good time for parties. The Sun and Mercury in Libra lend balance to the give and take of your encounters. Mars in the last degrees of Gemini brings out the absurd factor, and gets people giggling over little things in life.
This full Moon can renew your faith, and infuse you with vitality. The dark season ahead (for those in the Northern Hemisphere) can be a productive time when you dig deep for the strength to make foundational changes. Under the cover of darkness, you can do an internal house cleaning, and make important steps toward your goals. By spring, when the Sun is in Aries, there's an unveiling of all that's been quietly created.
Following the seasons is an important way of growing closer to nature's cycles. As cardinal fire, Aries is like the life-giving rays of the Sun, that which nourishes all life. As Starhawk writes in The Earth Path, "That sunlight is the great grace, the one free gift that allows not just sustainability, but abundance, growth, increase, more-than-enoughness. It falls on the Earth without our having to do anything about it, and billions of green plants are hard at work converting that energy into various other usuable forms."
The fiery energy of the Aries Full Moon is a gift to us, as well, one that we can invite in through our intentions, meditations and prayers. It represents vitality and the initiatory spirit, and propels you to take action, which is an auspicious full Moon thing to do. The warmth of fire is healing, and it's a great time to sit 'round a fire with friends. But being the solo pioneer, the Aries full Moon can ignite the edgy, restless you that wants to do more, be more. With Saturn keeping us grounded, changing entrenched habits that keep you from being your best, is a good place to start.
