This is one of the most potent Full Moons of 2021! Since the Martian New Moon on October 6, the Red Planet has stayed very close to the Sun, and continues its energizing effect on this Libra Full Moon. Asteroid Medusa joins Mars with her fierce and fearsome gaze. Meanwhile the Moon at Full in Aries is conjunct ‘trouble-maker’ Eris, plugging right into one of two key patterns this year: Pluto in Capricorn square Eris in Aries and Haumea in Libra. Under this Full Moon, Eris stirs it all up and Haumea again ignites volcanic earthquake activity in her Hawai’ian home.

Full Moon @ 27 Aries/Libra 26
October 20, 2021, 10:57am EDT, 7:57am PDT, 3:57pm BST,
October 21, 1:57am AEDT

The Red Planet stays close to the Sun through October— a time for action. The Sun signs into Scorpio on October 23; Mars, slower than the Sun, follows a week later, October 30. We will feel a dramatic change of dynamic as Mars moves into its power sign with an intensified, erotic charge. Eros is the god of desire, arising from Chaos with Earth Mother Gaia. What is your deepest desire? Prepare to plunge into your deep feeling place and let that energy move you. It’s not a rational process, but deeply felt to be true and centered. Meanwhile this Full Moon stirs up shadows that can stymy that revitalizing process, so that we can now confront those shadows and free ourselves to embody more light.

Jupiter and Mercury turned forward on October 18, joining Pluto and Saturn for a multiple ‘green light, ready-set-go!’ time.
After deeply weighing options and considerations, Mercury has turned direct, still @10-11 Libra, checking things out, getting information and having conversations— yet the text slowly shifts from polarization toward cooperation and forward movement. There may be differences of opinion on what ‘forward’ means; however, some kind of quantum shift is in the air. Mercury remains in a close opposition to Chiron @9-10 Aries for several days, with a continued call to the Spiritual Warrior inside you to Stand Strong, centered in integrity, true to yourself. I repeat again, as we continue to experience the Mercury opposition with Chiron from September 8:

Especially keep your mind alert to new ideas and information that changes the playing field, evoking surprising synchronicities that affirm you are on track (Mercury opposite Chiron). Paradigm shift ahoy!

Chiron in Aries as Fearless Warrior, along with fierce Eris, encourage us to speak in integrity rather than losing our balance by being overly agreeable. We are still in a challenge moment to claim our own truth rather than capitulate to the truth of others. And from that self-honoring stance to maintain a level of harmony both within ourselves and with those others. Some sparks may fly, especially when Mars enters Scorpio. There is no avoiding stirred up dynamics on such a Full Moon conjunct Eris!

Here is the core skeleton of the Full Moon in the highly activated Eris-Pluto-Haumea pattern, with meaningful additional factors currently at play [see how close the numbers are]:
In Aries:              Eris@24Aries,  Full Moon@27Aries
In Libra:              Asteroid Medusa@23Libra, Mars@23Libra, Sun@27Libra,  Haumea@28Libra
In Capricorn:       Pluto@24Capricorn,  Chariklo@29Capricorn

In addition to the monthly Moon cycle, there is a larger rhythm to the New and Full Moon cycle every 6 months. This is especially obvious with eclipse cycles that happen twice a year, opposite each other. This is true of all New and Full Moons. For instance, half a year ago, Eris was conjunct the April 11-12 New Moon in Aries; that New Moon was conjunct Eris; as is this Full Moon. That April Moon is well worth a look-back as relevant again to this Full Moon. I wrote then:

Prominent, noisiest and closest to this New Moon is dwarf planet Eris @ 24 Aries… She is not my favorite, this goddess of Discord, very contentious. She has been hanging around the end of Aries for a while, slow in her 557-year orbit… What an archetypal job she has to spread contention and arguments, stirring things up, acting out and standing up to make a Statement. This is such a month, it would seem. Eris has been wrangling in an ongoing square with Pluto for the last year, especially— another factor reflecting the tough year we had and the contentious issues involved in the current collective transformation and renewal. This Eris/Pluto square grinds on for the rest of Pluto’s time in Capricorn into 2023-24…
I’m a little pissed at [Eris]. Even if I don’t like to admit it, there are probably a few other things I’m pissed at also. How about you? These are the things that we are called to process and resolve internally. It is for the greater good of all that we each do our internal work, wake up, stand up straight and tall in our integrity and find our way forward into the New Era that is opening up. Sometimes we can’t help but to ruffle other people’s feathers, and get ruffled in our turn.”

I got some good feedback from that post, including this from Lisa in California, who gives us an interesting perspective on Eris, referring to the famous ‘party spoiler’ myth when Eris tossed in the golden apple “for the fairest,” that led to the Trojan War:
“I too, am Eris, because I hate bullshit and privilege, and I am very quick to respond when my fire is ignited. Is it any wonder all the brouhaha was over a PARTY? Where people get to be at their most smug, complacent, and self-satisfied? Also, I am struck, over and over, by how we keep going for the wrong end of the stick. Everyone focuses on Eris’s provocation with the golden apple/ball; no one discusses the pettiness, vanity, and competitiveness that she chose to reveal, all concentrated at the party, that was SO EASILY ignited. No one discusses how everyone else behaved FAR WORSE than Eris, and took things to a stupidly violent end. No one discusses accountability for all the behaviour that OTHERS took after Eris’s action. No, it is too easy to blame her for everyone else’s weaknesses… I am behind her 100%, because I know being an outsider is no fun, and it needs to be pointed out…She is smart enough to figure out how to do it without sacrificing all of us, too. Look at the pandemic. Maybe this is her handiwork… maybe the pandemic is her ‘golden apple/ball’…”

Ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus sums up the contribution made by Eris:
“The unlike is joined together,
and from the differences results the most beautiful harmony,
and all things take place by strife.”

As for Haumea’s role conjunct the Sun/Mars for this Full Moon, if Eris is the “noisiest and closest” to the Moon, Haumea is the closest and most influential with the Sun. Haumea can be ‘noisy’ in her earthy volcanic demonstrations. Our solar Life Force is being infused with Haumea’s generative, creative energy stirred up from a very deep place in our collective ‘womb’ of consciousness. Mars is an inseminating factor; in Libra we are making choices, whether we are conscious of them or not.

How does Haumea determine, discern, decide which impulses, seeds or cosmic semen to gestate and cultivate? Perhaps she is impulsed by the sheer joy and ecstasy of generating life from inside herself. Now near the end of Libra, Haumea is in a lengthy, dynamic square to Pluto in its final ‘clean up’ in Capricorn. We are experiencing global volatility—both literal volcanic eruptions as well as upheavals in collective consciousness. How are we collectively birthing our way out of this current chaos? What will these birth pangs lead to? How is Haumea weighing and balancing the Scales of Libra in these tumultuous days? What choices are we making? This Full Moon is a prime time to engage intentional consciousness.

Thankfully, Chariklo has returned to Capricorn briefly to bring her gentle caring and capable healing energy that soothes us (and Pluto?) as she holds space for whatever needs to happen.

We have been in a time of deep reflection and self-questioning, a profound, even sacred time. Now under this Full Moon, we are caught between fearsome questions from both Eris and Medusa, rocking between fear and love, trying to turn our faces from the past we have known to a very different, unknown future we hardly dare to imagine. Can we dare to take a leap of faith and envision the best possible world, the one we really want to live in?

In his thoughtful 1975 work, A Sense of the Cosmos: The Encounter of Modern Science and Ancient Truth, philosopher Jacob Needleman discusses the feelings of insignificance, terror and despair that we may face in front of the deep, dark endless space of modern cosmology. We are confronted with the immense question of free will, a choice to willingly participate consciously—or not. This is the existential dilemma that can freeze us in front of the primordial Eye of Medusa.

“There is nothing to guarantee
that we will be able to remain long enough or deeply enough in front of the unknown.
Do I fear the darkness more than I love the awakening?”

This is a question humanity as a whole confronts in face of such a paradigm shift as we are now experiencing. We each have our personal moments when confront fears that arise—of the unknown, the void, the fathomless gaze of Medusa, and inevitably, at some point, death. We are in a kind of dark night of the collective soul, or a near-death experience. Pluto, god of Death and Rebirth, reminds us there is something on the other side of that veiled door. Hold on to your spiritual anchor, whatever that means to you, and follow your most intelligent heart.

Keeping in mind that the U.S. is experiencing a rare Pluto return, I was interested to find another book by Needleman entitled, The American Soul: Rediscovering the Wisdom of the Ancestors, published in 2002. The book blurb mentioned a foundational concept of ‘inner democracy,’ which, to me, suggests, personal sovereignty. I’m going to take a further look.

Venus channels Grand Trine in Air, “No-Thing” matters
The air signs— of mental objectivity, communication and thinking—are fully occupied. Sun, Mars, Mercury (with Haumea and Medusa) in Libra; Saturn and Jupiter in Aquarius; Black Moon Lilith in Gemini. There is a very strong grand trine made by Black Moon, Mercury and Saturn. Not a time to take things for granted! Much information coming forward, requiring alternative thinking, rewiring, and questioning. As new neural pathways being forged in the brain by the influx of light frequencies, old ‘recordings’ are being scrubbed. Aren’t you making up new words, forgetting things you have known all your life, and finding yourself bereft of what to say or think?

Venus @14 Sagittarius is in prime position to channel all this air into right brain intuitive perception. The Goddess of Love and Beauty is conjunct the Great Attractor, an energetic, powerful ‘no thing’ that pulls galaxies toward it. A gravitational anomaly in intergalactic space, this is the apparent central gravitational point of the Laniakea Supercluster, our local family of galaxies. A mysterious power is pulling us. Venus feels that pull through the highly resonant electromagnetism of our heart intelligence.

Venus is opposite Black Moon Lilith (both mean and true) @10+ Gemini. The Black Moon is another ‘no thing’, as the second mathematical focal point that determines the elliptical orbit of the Moon around Earth. Black Moon in Gemini has an unusual logic that is impersonal and acute. It is as if she speaks a different language even when using common words. Yet another influence, like Mercury opposite Chiron, that can shift our perspective and ‘blow our minds’ out of commonly preferred rationality.

From my book, Living Lilith: Four Dimensions of the Cosmic Feminine:
“Negative and positive poles together give the battery its charge,
so a synthesis at a higher, intuitive level is required to resolve the paradox of duality.
Gemini’s inconsistencies and ambivalence will cease
when the mind is calmed by the intelligence of the heart.”

It takes a lot of heart discernment to wade through the morass of disinformation swirling around lately. Venus in the Truth-seeker sign is an excellent ally, especially conjunct the Great Attractor. Venus is tuning in to these very subtle ‘vortices’ that have powerful influence. Venus in Sag loves these mysteries—such an adventure! Let this information reverberate in your intuitive imagination, stimulating the best you can envision. Then it will be as if you are pulling that best toward you. Make this intentional. You don’t have to go looking for it; your heart call will be answered in some way you could hardly guess. Early on, I mentioned that we are not in a rational process. No, indeed, this supra-rational! Are we talking quantum? That’s clearly the field of consciousness we are moving into. Popular neuroscientist Joe Dispenza said in an interview:

“The quantum model of reality is about causing an effect…
You become a creator of your world and you start saying,
‘My thinking and my feeling is changing an outcome in my life.’
Now, that’s a whole different game and we start believing more that we’re creators of reality.”

An adventure indeed on this powerful Tipping of the Scales Full Moon!

[Heads Up— The next New Moon on November 4 is exactly opposite Uranus, the Radical Awakener, never a dull moment!]

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