There is the annual Full Moon in Aries on the 16th at 18:55 GMT. This is the first of the three Full Moons which religions of the world celebrate. The Aries Full Moon coincides with the Christian festival of Easter, the May Full Moon for the Buddhist Wesak, and the June Full Moon celebrated in Sri Lanka for the introduction of Buddhism there and the run up to the Summer Solstice in Northern Europe.
All Full Moons express opposites as the Moon is exactly opposite the Sun. So, energy is pulled into two different directions, which is why people often feel frazzled and disturbed by the energy at the Full Moon. How does this work out in a natal horoscope? This week, we look at another American poet, Maya Angelou, who had Sun in Aries opposite Moon in Libra spanning the 8th house (Sun) and 2nd house (Moon).
Aries, Libra is the opposition of the nascent self (Aries) with the drive to relate and connect (Libra). The Sun pulls away to experience selfhood, the Moon pulls back to be in relationship. Natives born with this configuration bounce between the need to find out who they are (Aries) and embody that unique, forward looking, high energy and convention busting drive, while they long for union, peace and harmony, concord, and sweetness. A hard task. The houses the Sun Moon opposition is found in will give clues as to how they express this dichotomy.
Maya has the Sun in the 8th, right on the cusp, some people would say really in the 9th house, conjunct that splendid, exuberant, hopeful, spiritual seeking Jupiter. The eighth house is the house of death, sexuality, and power. I feel that Maya was born into the eighth (just) but her Sun’s journey of self-realisation took her from that dark place, to writing, spirituality and hope. Raped by a neighbour when she was a child, Maya was struck dumb when the man was murdered by her relatives. A child’s logic reasoned that her words had killed him. For several years she remained silent afraid of the power of her speech. As her life unfolded, her words became truly powerful. Maya had worldwide fame, and changed the lives of people through her memoir, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She was a friend of Martin Luther King, who was murdered on her birthday, so many of her colleagues and friends were killed in the Race Wars in the USA. Death was a companion for many years (8th house) and she fell into a deep depression. But Aries Sun, especially one conjunct Jupiter has such a tremendous life force it is hard to keep them down. Maya used her words to fight White Supremacy and empower and celebrate Black people, especially Black women. Publishing of course is a 9th house activity. She came to write by luck (Jupiter). At a dinner party, a senior editor dared her to write a book (what Aries can resist a challenge!) she did, and the rest is history.
What of her Moon resting in the 2nd house in creative, friendly Libra? As we saw with Emily Dickinson, Libra Moon has a strongly developed aesthetic sense, and this, I believe is her poetry. She was a great performer, I do believe poetry is best as a performance art, her Leo Ascendant gives warmth, fun, great showmanship, and generosity of spirit. A Moon in Libra in the 2nd would love the beauty and all the finery that money could buy. Although not a classical beauty, Maya had immense charisma, which as the poem below shows, counts more than conventional ideas of beauty.
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model size.
But when I start to tell them, They think I’m telling lies.
I say, it’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman, Phenomenally.
I think phenomenal would be an adequate way to express her life. Aries is the ultimate glass half full person, who by sheer willpower and a childlike enthusiasm bounces past most obstacles. For Aries there are no rules, only guidelines, which they ignore. They can be charming and bombastic, but with a Libra Moon and a Leo Ascendant, charm outweighs irritation, and Maya would have been an unstoppable force, despite her early trauma.
I write about Maya Angelou in my new book, out in September 2022 info here
And this week’s Full Moon? The Aries Full Moon coincides with Christian Easter and Pagan Eostre, which is the celebration of new growth, or re-birth. Eostre was the Germanic goddess of the Spring, her name is the root of the word oestrus- the fertile time for animals and oestrogen, the female hormone. The symbol of the egg comes from the goddess collecting Spring time eggs in a willow basket, representing birth and new life. Her sacred animal was the rabbit, a super fertile animal.
Christians co-opted Pagan festivals to take over the spiritual lives of converts and the conquered, generally missing the point of what these were celebrating. Easter is a moveable feast, depending on the old lunar calendar. It is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon following the Spring Equinox. The Aries Full Moon is called the Pink Moon and coincides with the Spring blossom and flowers. Easter these days is less crucifixion and more chocolate, and Libra, ruled as it is by Venus, loves her sweets!
Elisabeth Brooke 