Aries Full Moon: Keep Fighting

The first message in my Facebook feed this morning was from my nephew, marking himself safe in “The Violent Incident in Las Vegas”. His notification linked to a news story about the latest mass shooting, this one involving a gunman opening fire from his hotel room into an open-air concert next door, killing at least 50 people and injuring hundreds of others.

I closed down Facebook and made breakfast.

To entertain myself while I brewed coffee, I put on the latest episode of one of my favorite podcasts. The hosts were describing the horrors in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico. The hosts sounded like I felt, their voices flat, as if letting themselves fully feel what they were talking about would splinter them into a million pieces.

I turned off the podcast.

Next on the day’s agenda: an essay about the Full Moon in Aries. I mean, what can I say? That it’s the best Full Moon of the year for getting motivated, standing up for yourself, fighting the good fight? All that’s true, of course, but it feels a bit inadequate to focus on personal growth when the whole damn world seems to be falling apart.

I have to confess, though, that I’m doing a lot of that these days—letting the world fall apart while I keep my eyes on my own paper. After seven years of destructive Uranus in Aries (ruled by Mars, the god of war), I’ve become somewhat inured to the world’s vesuvian eruptions of violence, disaster, and cruelty. It’s as though my lifetime supply of outrage has been used up. I have short-circuited from anger. Why not perform little rituals to increase my business, I guess.

For the past year, I’ve avoided the news out of respect for my blood pressure. Of course, it’s easy for me to abdicate my role as an outraged citizen. As a white woman in a middle-class suburb of a gentle, coastal city in Southern California, I don’t experience much danger in my daily life. Uranus in Aries has made mostly congenial aspects to my birthchart; it’s relatively easy for me to remain on the sidelines while the world explodes in violence. I can simply close down Facebook, turn off the podcast, stop watching the blood-soaked Ken Burns documentary about the Vietnam War. I have that luxury. For now.

Or so it seems. The concertgoers in Las Vegas probably thought the same thing.

The Full Moon shines a floodlight on the matters dear to its sign. This Full Moon in Aries and square Pluto shines its light on a world full of fellow humans fighting for their lives —and the danger that we have learned to take such battles in stride. Pluto symbolizes not only the power we wield but also the power that fellow beings and nature hold over us—the sense that we are powerless and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. “Why should I pay attention when there’s nothing I can do about any of it?” our Pluto-subjugated selves might ask. “It doesn’t matter what anyone does, nothing changes.”

It’s an understandable point of view. It’s how I’ve been feeling for a long time. But if Aries wants to teach us anything, it’s that a noble cause is always worth fighting for—not because it changes the outside world, necessarily, but because it makes us better people.

So here’s what I’m taking away from this fraught morning and the shining light of the coming Aries Full Moon: Keep fighting. Some might argue about whether it’s best to fight for your cause on social media, at the ballot box, or in the streets. I wouldn’t argue for one venue over another. Some want to fight peacefully, some violently; I am inherently peaceful, and yet the other day, when a guy gave my car a strong bump while parallel parking in front of my house, I was sorely tempted to relocate some dog poo from my yard to a spot where he might step in it as he came back to his vehicle. So let’s just say I paint in shades of gray.

Mostly, we’ll fight wherever we find ourselves and in accordance with our individual strengths. The one thing we can’t do is let ourselves go flat, lose our Uranian fizz, and decide it’s every man and woman for themselves. That’s the kind of thinking that, the last time Uranus was in Taurus (as it will be again, beginning next May), contributed to the rise of fascism.­

So we have to keep fighting, for ourselves, for others, for the good of all. Fight as you’re able. Stand up for what is humane and for what moves us forward as a species. Small acts of bravery in daily life are as important to those around us as the larger, global ones. Keep your eyes open, and your ears, and your heart. Keep fighting.

But let’s keep the dog poo out of it.

© 2017 April Elliott Kent

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14 comments to " Aries Full Moon: Keep Fighting "

  • Laura

    Fabulous article! It is informative, honest and authentic. Thank you for saying what so many of us our thinking. Your recommendation is just what we need to hear. Fight on!

  • so what is the quadruple Aries to do with all of this?

    I plant bulbs, tend my garden, brush my horses, take walks with my mini’s, just stay on my ranch, enjoy the nature around me, and do kind deeds for those I know who need a bit of help… cook extra soup for a neighbor who is older and on oxygen – sell some of my products at half the cost to those in need to help their horses… have to admit I have become a bit numb….

  • Kellie

    Hi April
    Thanks for such a great article and I was sorry to learn of Tom Petty’s death. Tradegy has also sadly been too commonplace in the news. I am commenting on this article as you mention everyone is fighting for their lives. I had a very powerful and vivid dream where I was kidnapped by a very mean man but also with a friend of mine. The man came across as so mean and horrid I remember every detail of what he wore and how he looked. He created such fear in me. I managed to have a chance to escape in the dream but sadly I needed to leave my friend behind as his legs would not work. Despite screaming for him to run, I realised I had to save myself. It has been many years to have a dream so vivid and frightening but also so empowering. I did make a connection to the Aries full moon but you’re article helped to confirm it. Thanks for letting me share and may we all keep fighting and loving too.

  • All so very true and so very experienced. And I will keep in mind the idea of keeping the dog poo out of it.

  • Brilliant, Kent! So true. And I’m with you on the dog poo.

    This full moon is conjunct my Moon/Saturn in the 6th. Hoping to hear back about a job today.

  • April – this is IT!!! The fire inside of my Aries self. Thank you. Rings so true these words.
    “if Aries wants to teach us anything, it’s that a noble cause is always worth fighting for—not because it changes the outside world, necessarily, but because it makes us better people.”

  • Sharyn Hall

    Thank you once again, for your refreshing & honest take on the world…you make my day!!

  • Andrea Burrows

    Brilliant writing, brilliant astrology. I really relate to this, you’re on it… bravo!

  • Ohh I’m a fighter, but not very inclined to make a difference through government bills. Reshaping the aura of the white house to reflect a real astral city instead of a frumpy pile of bricks. Times are changing and technology is growing and we need to fight for essences instead of semantics.

  • Isabella

    thank you for the encouragement to keep on fighting, april. as for tom petty (besides the music, well-known here in europe too, that blond mane <3…), you couldn't have said it better, "feeling crazy happy with your whole life in front of you". and might I add singing your lungs out 😀 .my adolescence was killed straight away, the day john lennon was shot: I was 15 and had been totally head over heels with all four beatles + their music for a couple of years. they were about 40, "old" to me… there were days when I thought "what if they die?" and then answer to myself "naaahh… no way!".yet one of them did and it took me a whole year to recover, but then I was never the same again really. a friend of mine calls "the death of the hero" (in her case it was david bowie) a mythical rite of passage: someone experiences at 15, other at 40 or 50, yet it's always traumatic, something that changes you forever. thought it might be an interesting point. a big hug <3

  • Caryl

    Your essay is right on the mark, April. I, too, have had thoughts about where I could deposit some dog poo. And, although I respect the Viet Nam vets, I could not get past episode 7 of Ken Burns.

  • Sue

    Yes, get up, stand up now for what is good for the whole! Magnificent article!

  • Caroline Moroz

    Magnificent. Thankyou April xx

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