on the full moon in aries and being present

This moment is very much about our ability to be present with ourselves.

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If you, like me, are wanting to do an end of year sprint to a finished draft of your novel/memoir/poetry chapbook, then I have the group for you: Showing Up to the Work, which will meet three days a week (M, W, F), two hours a day (1-3p Eastern) for the entirety of November. Ideal for folks who feel behind on their writing, as well as for anyone looking for accountability (and astrologically-informed writing guidance!) doing NaNoWriMo.

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The Full Moon arrives at 24* of Aries on Thursday, October 17th at 7:26am Eastern.

Don’t be deceived by the Aries of it all, by the fire and passion you may typically associate with such initiatory, fiery moons. Not all lunations express themselves in the same way. In Aries, the moon is ruled by Mars. And Mars is currently in Cancer, which is ruled by the moon. Here, there is mutual reciprocity. A planetary house swap, a la The Holiday.

This Full Moon, how we feel directly informs how (and whether) we take action. If fire is symbolic of our creativity, and creative endeavors, then water is the representative of our emotions — and how we store emotions in the body.

This week, in order to get to our creative fire, we must first wade in the water: of our bodies, of our emotions, of our subconscious.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t especially like feeling my feelings. (Do you also have a Saturn-ruled moon? Hi, hello.) That’s what writing (memoir) is for. I like confining my most difficult emotions to the page, or to a therapy session. Movement, too, is helpful.

But this last month in Iowa, none of those typical processings have been available to me. My therapist is on maternity leave. Teaching four hours a day leaves little energy for my own writing. And I’m still recovering from a major surgery this summer; movement these last few months has been difficult.

At this point, I can feel how stuck the emotions are. I can feel how much they need to move through my body. And I know, from experience, that moving the emotions through (and *shudder* feeling them) is essential in order to actually make headway on a new book project. (I was TikTok influenced into ordering a vibration plate, which I hope helps.)

Without that processing — whether through movement or a long shower or a good cry — this full moon will be very frustrating. (Overheating on an Aries moon? Who would have thought?) But that’s what moons like this are for: the reminder that our feelings and our work, our frustration and our motivation, are all part and parcel of the same picture.

In addition to being ruled by Mars (in Cancer), this moon will be coming off a square to said planet. It will be applying to another square with Pluto, in its last stretch of Capricorn. And so we might also consider the power dynamics involved in how and when we are able to feel our feelings. Was feeling your feelings punished when you were young? Encouraged? Co-opted by an un-boundaried parent? These can be uncomfortable things to dwell on, but they are important to process, especially when we are doing deep creative work.

This moment is very much about our ability to be present with ourselves. To self-soothe. To trust our feelings. To trust the wisdom of our bodies. And, eventually, in its own time, to create.

This moon (like the eclipse-y Aries New Moon that preceded it on April 8th) is also sitting closely with Chiron. And so I am hopeful, because Chiron is about so much more than our old wounds: Chiron was a community leader, a mythological figure who, abandoned as an infant, proceeded to adopt and mentor the Lost Boys of Greek mythology. Where there is Chiron, I see chosen family. Community. Reclamation. And, in that, healing.

The work lives its own life beyond you, outside of you. Your job is to be present with the story you are currently stewarding: in your heart, in your body, in your mind. And, in being present, to bear witness.

The work goes on.

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