by Robert Wilkinson
This Full Moon at 18 Aries-Libra will open us to newer, more potent ways of acting while placing the focus on residual echoes and consequences of our actions and non-actions of 2011. We will see the light of how to be more moderate in our responses to avoid extremes. This will express as seeing our responsibility to ourselves and society in terms of facing the results of previous attitudes and actions. This Full Moon is initiating, and the first of the “Three High Moons” of Spring.
Today's article will cover rising signs around the globe, an overview of the Lunation, and the Sabian Symbols. Part 2 will cover the aspects, configurations and patterns, and which signs are most likely to be affected by where this falls in their charts.
A brief overview: the period ruled by this Full Moon will illuminate our ability to move between activity and inactivity, outer directed actions and inner directed actions, and open new ways of doing our Being. This will show us how to take the initiative in how we act or don’t act. It will take shape showing us further consequences of our decisions and willingness in 2011 to drop lesser obligations and duties to embrace greater ones.
This is a time of remembering how to achieve some form of “transcendent security,” where we can get above the oscillations of worldly existence through finding balance and perspective. We’ll be ab;le to formalize certain discoveries made before now, and again purify our mind and methods to re-establish our Higher Self as the director of the movie of our lives. Many will find ways to express the clarity of the past several weeks through forms of humor.
Now let’s take a look at the rising signs for this Full Moon around the world. This renewing and opening potent Full Moon helping us become more balanced in our dynamic activity occurs on April 6, 2012 at 12:19 pm PDT, 3:19 pm EDT and 8:19 pm Greenwich (April 7 in Pakistan and points east.) The Lunation finds 21 Cancer rising in Santa Monica, 27 Cancer rising in Vancouver, 2 Virgo in Montreal, 27 Leo in Washington DC, 20 Virgo in Rio, 22 Libra in Lisbon, 25 Libra in London, 28 Libra in Amsterdam, 4 Scorpio in Berlin, 8 Scorpio in Tallinn, 16 Scorpio in Sofia, 27 Scorpio in Cairo, and 17 Sagittarius in Johannesburg.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find the Ascendants to be 2 Capricorn in Abbottabad (April 7), 9 Capricorn in New Delhi, 18 Capricorn in Trivandrum, 9 Aquarius in Bangkok, 21 Aquarius in Hong Kong, 23 Pisces in Tokyo, 6 Pisces in Perth, 1 Aries in Melbourne, 8 Aries in Brisbane, 24 Aries in Wellington, and 10 Gemini rising on Maui (April 6).
Because the New Moon preceding the Full Moon always represents the seed forms that are brought to surface at and after the Full Moon, please check out New Moon in Aries Pt. 1 – What’s Happening in March-April 2012, You can find out even more about the themes of this period by going to New Moon in Aries Pt 2 – Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What it all means.
Those around the world who will definitely feel effects of this Full Moon are the places where it falls near the angles of the chart. Places where the Lunation is near the angles and activating energies powerfully are (Sun first, Moon second) East Australia and New Zealand (Asc/Dsc), Vancouver and the US west coast (MC/IC), London, Amsterdam, and Berlin (Dsc/Asc), and Pakistan and India (IC/MC).
As we are still under the influence of all four of the 2011 Solar Eclipses, as well as the July 2010 Solar Eclipse in Cancer, you may want to review the numerous articles in the archives concerning those long term influences. I’ve put a link to all the 2011 Solar Eclipse articles at the bottom of this one. As several planets in this chart harmonize, reconcile, or stabilize previously activated Eclipse points, many long term issues and endings can be understood from retrospective approaches.
Full Moons heighten feelings, due to the opposition of the Moon and the Sun. This particular Lunation has no other forming oppositions, decreasing the polarization and realization potential.
This is the nineteenth Full Moon Sun that falls in the same sign as the previous New Moon, continuing to offer us a consistent (and "natural") way of experiencing the New Moon-Full Moon sequence. We had Full Moon Suns in different signs than the previous New Moon from July 2009 through September 2010. We'll have the current sequences of the New Moon Sun being in the same sign as the next Full Moon Sun through May 2012, after which it will again reverse function and the Full Moon Sun will be the same as the following New Moon Sun.
As I've explained in previous Full Moon articles,
... the Full Moon being in a subsequent sign than the previous New Moon indicates that what is released as realizations in the Full Moon period actually "prepare the ground" for the coming New Moon seed. Strange reversal of function, since you would think the New Moon provides the seed for the next Full Moon. But this set of Lunations works the opposite way....Another way to look at this is the Sun sign of the Full Moon is the same as and precedes the Sun sign of the next New Moon, reversing the usual way Lunations work. So the fulfillment of the Full Moon sets up the next "seed" to be revealed at the next New Moon....
So now the New Moon-Full Moon cycle continues to be in its "normal" sequence, in the sense that we have the illuminated form shown to us at the New Moon which is fulfilled by the light of the same sign at the subsequent Full Moon. The New Moons will all fall in the first half of their signs and the Full Moons will all fall in the last half of their signs through May 2012. Seeds shown in the first half, fulfillment in the second half makes some kind of sense.
This Full Moon falls at 18 Aries-Libra. It is said that the second third (decan) of any sign deals with the emotional, social, and cultural levels of life, and this Lunation falling in the second decan of those signs, invokes a sub-influence of Leo and Aquarius.
Since the Moon always focuses the light of the Sun in specific forms, the degree symbols for both are important. The Sun degree is the illumination or enlightenment of the Lunation, whereas the Moon shows us the potential forms that enlightenment will take.
The Solar degree symbol for the 18th degree of Aries is “An empty hammock.” Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Rest after some notable achievement,” Capacity for consciousness after the act, for reaping fruits of activity,” and “Detachment.”
In the Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of “A constructive alternation of activity and rest.” He says this “refers to the ability to balance outer vitalistic activity and withdrawal from such activity and relaxation,” where we can move between activity and rest, where “potency may be preserved and extremes avoided” and we can recuperate.
He further states the symbol is the middle way between being absorbed in social life and withdrawal into the inner life, where we learn to live “rhythmically.” According to Rudhyar, this degree falls in the Span of Examination, Act of Differentiation, and Scene of Potency on the Actional-Physical level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of "self-adequacy at its maximum potential for inner reorientation and outer readjustment” where we can break free of old conditioning and compulsions to act a certain way. He states this symbol is one of “the poise or balance of personal reality between the extremes of pure impulse and act,” which limit us and deny our ability to steer our being and doing in a conscious way.
He offers the keyword RUMINATION. When operating positively, the degree is "a thoroughgoing integrity established by the inner reconciliation of outer inharmonies.”
The Lunar degree symbol for the 18th degree of Libra "Two men placed under arrest.” This is the same degree where Saturn went stationary retrograde in early 2011, establishing the Saturn theme for the first 9 months of last year.
We all went through heavy lessons connected to the consequences of past actions and inactions, as well as had to measure the choices we made during the first 9 months of 2011 with an eye to potential future consequences down the road. In other words, some of what we’ve experienced since October 2011 and what we will continue to experience as a focus of this Full Moon is directly related to the restrictions, limitations and fears we chose to cast off in 2011, as well as the higher duties and responsibilities we chose to take on since last October.
Some themes related to this degree are "return to values," an "obligation to face objective facts," and the "expectable results" of breakdowns in the "constructive relationship" between individuals and society. This degree demands a certain type of consistency, so that our potential can be “brought to some point of immediate and effective function.”
This degree challenges our talents with an eye to how they will help society as they are expressed. Rudhyar says this degree falls in the Span of Revelation, Act of Group Integration, and Scene of Reconstruction on the Actional-Physical level.
You can find out more about the very powerful Saturn influence on this degree and the lessons involved by going to Saturn Stationary Retrograde at 18 Libra Affecting Everyone as well as how this affected each individual sign at Saturn Retrograde at 18 Libra Affecting Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
These may help you understand some of what we all went through in 2011, and why you had to learn certain lessons. Whatever Saturn qualities you cast off or accepted last year are the front and center focus for the next two weeks in the life area where this Full Moon falls in your chart.
From these symbols it seems we can see the light of knowing how to balance the inner and outer affairs of our lives, as well as getting some rest and regeneration as we reap the fruits of prior actions. These can express through ideal forms that help us see the cause and effect process from our “after the fact” reflections on our past actions as well as the past actions of others.
We can find illumination through seeing how to take the initiative in some way to break free of an old social or cultural conditioning that hinders our potential to act in conscious ways to embrace a greater fulfillment. These life initiatives will help us to use our integrity to reconcile the disharmonies in our lives, focused through our ability to play a role of value in “some point of immediate and effective function.”
For now, enjoy finding your special talents, and with clarity and humor embrace a more balanced or ideal way of living. This Full Moon will bring heightened awareness of perspectives and help us to reconstruct something, whether in the realm of relationships, activity, or seeing how the life narrative is an unbroken work of art, both in construction and deconstruction.
Be skillful in navigating the imbalances, finding a transcendent peace in seeing the past 15 months from a more balanced, fair, or just perspective. It continues to be a time to coordinate endings and purify your methods of expressing yourself. This period will help certain ideas and ideals to be made concrete through being stirred to new forms of personal love, whether of yourself, another, a thing to be done, or a process to be appreciated.
Overall, this Full Moon will show us whether we’re using the right means to achieve our ends, along with teaching us how not to get distracted by passing events and ideas. We can learn how to fit things into a longer range perspective, keeping many things in motion despite the cross currents.
Again, humor will be the solution to any friction created by Venus square Mars, as will whatever we’ve been learning around the themes of the November 2011 Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius. I have posted a link at the bottom of this article to those Eclipse articles, so check them out!
This Full Moon will be a curious mix of energies, and will continue to be very favorable for those with planets in early Earth and Water signs despite occasional cross currents, which also will be productive, just in different ways. We’re still being given opportunities to come to forms of philosophical completion through revisiting some of the nobler aspirations we’ve been chasing since late 2011.
Find a way of harmony beyond the oscillations, open your practical imagination, and go through whatever you need to in order to build your character, since those trials are showing your way to confirm something of real value. Let go, purify, hear the call, and embrace positive Sagittarian traits whenever things get strange. Humor, openness, courage, imagination, seeing a bigger picture or a grander adventure, be the embodiment of freedom of thought and try not to stay stuck in heavy or unnecessarily limited attitudes.
We continue to secure resources we’ll need to further our new initiatives set into motion this time last year. Move forward or pull back depending on your individual circumstances, avoid extreme actions and people, learn greater autonomy in what you do, how you do it, and when you feel you must do it, and take a larger view of a more balanced existence.
See the links between the rapidly-fading past with the new life you’re already living. We’re all being propelled into a new love, a new joy, a new enthusiasm, or a new truth (or all of the above!) This is the time to embrace a new life and a new way of living.
On a final note for today, long time readers on this site know this first Full Moon of Spring marks the first of the "3 High Moons" occurring each year that offer the world a new infusion of Light, Dharma, and Love. According to one respected source, the Full Moon of Aries/Libra brings the renewal of the life force for the year (at least for the Northern Hemisphere.) The Full Moon of Taurus/Scorpio, known as the Wesak Festival, brings a new outpouring of the "Cosmic Buddha Nature" that brings all a renewal of the qualities that Sage brought to humanity to lessen suffering for all sentient Beings.
In the same tradition, the Full Moon of Gemini/Sagittarius is known as the Christ Fest, where the World Teacher of the Age takes the wisdom of the Buddha Nature and infuses it with the Loving magnetism so that all may become more lovingly wise and wisely loving according to the lesson of the year. That Christ Fest Loving Wisdom pulse has been active since mid-June of 2011, and will be replaced by a new pulse in the Gemini/Sagittarius Full Moon to come.
For now, enjoy Spring, and the rush of life that's already appearing all over the Northern Hemisphere. If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, check out to see what types of new Aries energies and activities are showing themselves in your life, pull back from some things while taking a balanced view about others, and by May you'll know a new wisdom that will help you see that old ways, old knowledge, and old truths are not adequate to confirm your new conditions of existence.
In Part 2 we'll cover the aspects, configurations, and which degree spans will be impacted by this Full Moon. See you soon!
For more about what’s in store for 2012 and how the 2011 Solar Eclipses have been and are impacting us all, here’s:
Astrology Now Into 2012 - What To Expect. There are a lot of links to past Eclipses that are still impacting us, so enjoy! (And to encourage you a second time, be sure to check out the 2011 Sagittarius Solar Eclipse articles specifically, since that degree is one of the “antidotes” for any problems arising these next two weeks!)
© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson
Thank You Robert for your ongoing efforts with all these posts. We will have our Full Moon Group tonight and will discuss this article. My Sun is at 18 Libra, so this should be a significant one for me. Thanks again for all your dedication and hard work. Namaste.
Posted by: dcu | April 05, 2012 at 01:38 PM
I think this one too could bode something for me (Chiron at 17 Aries/ASC at 17.2 Aries) Uranus at 15 libra.
Lots of things have come to pass since Nov 2010 (Mother cancer surgery on Venus/Jup switch at 24 Pisces) and her passing was on her birth Saturn - 2nd cycle in June, right after end of retrograde) Eclipse at 17 Gemini (conjunct natal Saturn and 9 Cancer (MC conjunct .1 degree) all has made my life a real jumble...
But a pleasure to read you. ;)
Posted by: Jason P. | April 05, 2012 at 02:43 PM
Yikes. Much is changin in my world. The forest next to me is being razed for construction of 22 houses. I am grief stricken. This little forest of 12 acres has been my nature sanctuary for 18 years. Now the nature spirits have fled and I feel that I am compelled to move...and give up my business of family home childcare of 16 years. Argh! 6th house Pluto is not happy. Libra is in 5th house of children. Duh!
Posted by: Elah | April 05, 2012 at 06:49 PM