Illustration by Edmund Dulac

October 20, 2021 // 27 Aries

There’s an Edith Wharton quote that I love, and have been thinking about in regards to this Full Moon: “There are two ways of spreading light: to be a candle or the mirror that reflects it.” Throughout the Sun’s stay in Libra, as we’ve navigated that liminal span of space-time, and ridden out all the retrogrades, we have each of us been reflecting in one way or another. Now we reach a culmination of this theme, putting a finer point on those lessons we’ve been learning in the cardinal axis of our charts and lives; and we reach a turning point, before Scorpio season tips the scales into darkness; Mars, restrained and reticent for all this time, comes back in the game; and the eclipse portal reopens for the final act of the year. 

For now, that Martial drive, that Arian single-mindedness—the heat and the horns that rule this lunation—still point us in the direction of the Venusian Other, like it or not. As my wise Aries rising/Libra south node friend said to me today, our relationships—the people in our lives—are the greatest indicator of who we are ourselves. This Full Moon is about the fulfillment of promises, about being brave for each other, about testing our boundaries and learning our limits, and about how building and reaching consensus often means pushing back on points of disagreement, or standing strong in our truth. It is about following Hecate’s lamp, and finding peace in the valley of the shadow of death (and indeed, as I write this, the Moon is conjunct the asteroid goddess). Whether you blaze, glow, or quietly flicker; whether at this time you are the candle or the mirror, our luminaries both stand sentinel in the sky to remind you that you are a beacon of light for someone else.