On October 5th, 2017 there will be a Full Moon in the sign of Aries. Full Moons occur when the Sun and the Moon oppose each other, offering a moment for lucid reflection upon the relationship between the masculine and feminine aspects of your psyche.
In this reflective space, Full Moons offer you a moment to honor whatever it is that has recently come into fruition or culmination in your life. Some Full Moons have a very luscious quality, where a sense of gratitude and creative power overflows. However, this particular Full Moon in Aries will be more of a baptism by fire, where burning passions and heated conflicts will arise to challenge your sense of internal harmony. This Full Moon in Aries offers a climactic moment to find balance between the individuality that Aries seeks and the social relationships that Libra cultivates. Knowing that the neither the individual nor the collective can be fully sacrificed, accept the challenge to create harmony where there might normally be conflict.
The Arian fire of this Full Moon will inspire you to refine your sense of self by challenging you to maintain inner equilibrium under pressure. After all, it is during times of duress that your peace of mind matters the most.
The Full Moon in Aries will be opposing the conjunction between Sun and Mercury in Libra. With Mercury’s influence, elevating conversation through intellect, etiquette and manners. With all this extra Libran grace, you may feel light on your feet, endowed with extra wit and charm.
However, in the combustible atmosphere of the Arian Full Moon, a light conversation about abstract ideas may quickly turn into a heated debate over something deeply personal. If you can agree to disagree, then you may enjoy this sharpened exchange of ideas.
However, if you are not sure you can debate without overwrought emotional displays, you should retreat. Losing your temper is not in keeping with what this Full Moon is trying to develop in you. The ultimate purpose of the Full Moon in Aries is to find a balance that exalts your needs while upholding necessary consideration of others.
This means that your opinions and the opinions of others must find some form of agreement. Whatever role you are given in striking this kind of accord should be taken with a graceful sense of responsibility.
On the day of the Full Moon, Venus (ruler of the Sun in Libra) and Mars (ruler of the Moon in Aries) will be conjoined in Virgo. This is just the kind of harmonious union of opposites that Libra season exalts. The conjunction of Venus and Mars is a very creative and procreative energy. The spirit of love pacifies the spirit of war in a moment of ecstatic bliss. You can use the power offered by the intimacy of Venus and Mars for anything that requires a delicate blend of hardness and softness.
Upon Libra’s scales, the dignity of the individual must find perfect balance with the value of the whole of humanity. When looking for inspiration as to how such harmony can be created, it is wise to look back upon the Florentine Renaissance. The humanist philosophy of this era was not a conquering ideology that had been imposed upon society through war. Instead, Renaissance humanism was like a flourishing garden of ideas, cultivated through synchrony, compromise, and divine inspiration.
“Artists in each of the arts seek after and care for nothing but love.”
-Marsilio Ficino
It is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true, then what must a painting by the Renaissance master, Botticelli, be worth?
Venus and Mars by Botticelli is a painting that gracefully illuminates the basic philosophy of the Renaissance: that divine perfection could be known through Love and Beauty.
Synchronistically, the composition of the image can also be viewed as a reflection of the current astrological transits, showing Venus sitting across from Mars, representing the opposition between the Sun in Libra (Venus) and the Moon in Aries (Mars). And since this painting shows the gods as lovers, it also evokes the current conjunction that is occurring between Venus and Mars in Virgo.
“…the love of the lover proceeding from heaven through man, reflects back, now in the earthly face of humanity, then in the vaults of heaven: in turn, it gives birth to Echo.”
-Marsilio FicinO
While it is elegant that this painting can be seen as a reflection of the heavens at present, the meaning of the painting is much more timeless, evoking the Renaissance philosophies that Botticelli was an avid student of.
Florence in the 15th Century was a very small world. Like the famous Raphael and Michelangelo, the painting career of Sandro Botticelli was supported by Lorenzo de‘ Medici. And Lorenzo, responsible for Botticelli’s artistic education, was himself a student of the extraordinary philosopher of the age, Marsilio Ficino. It was Ficino who translated all of Plato’s works into Latin, creating a new philosophical harmony between ancient pagan ideas and 15th Century Christianity. This harmony of ideals became known as Humanism.
The philosophical harmony that Ficino found in Humanism rose to become so prominent that kings and world leaders were influenced by it. In Ficino’s Humanism, Love and Beauty had an ecological relationship. Beauty was considered to be a revelation of God and the reason for Love itself. Therefore, just as the beauty of flowers attracts bees, Beauty was seen as a divine emanation and Love was the natural devotion to that divinity.
“This divine quality of beauty stirs desire for itself in all things: and that is love. The world that was originally drawn out of God is thus drawn back to God; there is a continual attraction between them–from God to the world and from the world to God–moving as it were in a circle.
-Marsilio Ficino
Botticelli’s talent as a painter was thus used to illustrate the tenets of Ficino’s Humanism, which revived classical forms to express the philosophical principles of divine Beauty.
To Botticelli, Venus, goddess of Beauty and Love, was a symbol of humanity’s relationship with the divine. Thus, to see Venus in the light of the Renaissance is to acknowledge her Beauty as an emanation of God.
“Love is the desire for beauty.”
There may be no image of Venus more reified than Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” where the artist’s admiration for antiquity is illumined by his philosophy of Love and Beauty. In 1483, as another testament to his ideals, Botticelli painted Venus and Mars.
The painting depicts both deities ensconced in a fertile bed in some sacred garden. Mars is lying prostrate, lost in such a deep sleep that he is insensible to the satyrs who are mocking him and stealing his armor.
Sitting across from him in elegant repose, Venus looks upon Mars, relaxed in the knowledge that the god of war has been subdued by love. The message of this painting is a superb example of the Humanist message of the Renaissance, exalting Beauty and Love (Venus) as that which can overpower all disharmony and strife.
“Why do we think love is a magician? Because the whole power of magic consists in love. The work of magic is the attraction of one thing by another because of a certain affinity of nature.”
-Marsilio Ficino
So at this Full Moon in Aries, imagine the conflict and discord of Mars as being something that can be subdued through gentleness and love. At this time of ripening and culmination in Libra season, find your own way to worship Venus, remembering that she is much more than a symbol of sex and glamour.
The divine message of Venus is to remember that beauty attracts love and the purpose of love is to enjoy beauty. In this harmonious exchange of divine emanation, all your wasted passions and internal strife can be put to rest.
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