Photo credit: joeX93 for istock

I’ve heard it said that Libra is just Aries who has been to charm school, or Aries with better manners and fashion sense, or Aries with a velvet glove. The point is, there isn’t a huge amount of different between the two once you get below the surface- but then, that is the case for all Astro opposites…and at a Full Moon that is what we are dealing with, Astro opposites.

I’m not doing a Full Moon post this month- April Elliott Kents’ post for Big Sky Astrology is, quite frankly, just too good. Check it out here.

I will, however, give you the technical details so that you can find out where it is happening in your chart- given how now you will have been able to cast your own chart (she says cheekily) after following the instructions here.

So, the point you are looking for is 17 Libra 23’.

April has even done a video showing you how to find these points in your chart. The link is here.

Here in Sydney the Full Moon is exact at 5.19am Saturday 7 April. For Perth and South East Asia, you will be seeing it at 3.19am Saturday. If you’re in LA it will be just after midday on Good Friday, and 3 hours later on the other side of the country.

Now, to Easter. Whilst I’m not a major chocolate eater, I have been known to nibble the edges of the ears on a dark lindt bunny come Easter Sunday. I am also partial to hot cross buns, toasted with lashings of gorgeously, run down your face, fattening butter. Yum.

I particularly like the idea that the cross on the hot cross buns, in the pagan tradition, represents the four quarters of the Moon. Nice.

When I was a kid, we always did the no meat thing on Good Friday. We also used to go to the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Good Friday. Us kids were convinced that Mum & Dad chose that day purely so they wouldn’t have to buy us battered savs or hot dogs or meat pies (although it could be argued that the actual meat component on any of these treats is negligible). Anyways, it kept the cost down.

Good Friday was the busiest day of the Show and there would be queues for everything- especially in the Showbag Pavillion. My Dad has the same level of patience as I do for queues, so the no meat thing must have been the only reason that we went on that day.

I once had the temerity to ask Mum what would happen if we did eat meat on Good Friday. I had asked at Sunday School and in scripture lessons and no one could give me a definitive answer- it was all couched in mysticism and stuff that would be passed on judgment when, in the way too distant future, that day came. I’m a Pisces so stuff that might or might not happen generally gets a great big “whatever” from me.

My Mum gave me the same answer that she gave for the “well, what would happen if we did eat chocolate before breakfast on Easter Sunday/Christmas/whenever we had available chocolate for breakfast?”

“You’ll get worms, Joanne.”

And there you have it.

If I had a better Mercury I might have asked what happens when you get worms, or are they the same worms she does the dogs against, but I don’t, so I didn’t.

Easter is one of those times where pagan and Christian festivals have merged. It always feels weird to me that we celebrate a story of sacrifice and redemption (which is more a Virgo/ Pisces theme) at the first Sunday after the Full Moon following the Spring Equinox- which is, of course, an Aries/Libra time. And, before you write to me, that is not a comment on the religion.

As with many of the pagan festivals, this one is about celebrating new life and fertility- hence the eggs and the rabbits. Is there any better symbol for prolific breeding and fertility that a rabbit?

According to a Facebook post I read on Spellbox’ page the other day, the festival is named after Ostara, the Saxon Goddess of Spring, the dawn and fertility. These are all images of newness- new day, new life, new season, new beginnings- and beauty. The Aries/Libra axis.

Apparently (again from Spellbox), Ostara’s familiar, the Moon Hare, was spellbound by the lunar glow…hence the Easter Bunny.

I love that.

lake wakatipu. pic by me.

Every Xmas my travelling partner Ms Sparkles sends out a year in review thingie- just something to encourage you to look back on the year that was & remember the bits that need to be remembered… for whatever reason. One of the categories is Top 3 Wow Days. Today would have been one of them.

So many oh my god this is awesome moments topped off with an oh my god this is the most awesome of all awesome helicopter rides across Queenstown. Oh. My. God. One of the bestest things I have ever done thanks to the Helicopter Line. When we landed on the top of Queenstown Hill in -1 degrees (celcius, so seriously cold…and that is without wind chill…) I seriously felt like I was on top of the whole wide world.

The day was finished off with 6 perfect Bluff oysters that tasted of the sea, NZ lamb cutlets and a rather more-ish Gibbston Valley Pinot Noir. Too good.

There has been a dump of snow on the Remarkables during the day, so there is a definite icy chill in the air. Tomorrow we head across to Milford Sound and will spend the night out on a boat in the fiords. With the breeze coming straight off the glaciers, I dare say there will be a definite chill in the air tomorrow night! Unfortunately no wi-fi in the middle of the Sounds, so that means no post.

pic by me.

So, what is happening in the sky? Full Moon tomorrow. Lunchtime-ish Sydney, mid afternoon here in NZ. I loved what Eric Francis at Planet Waves wrote in relation to this- despite all of our Aries self awareness “a concept of a relationship seems to be holding us to who we were yesterday. Not just a relationship per se, but rather a concept of who we are supposed to be for the purpose of our relationships, such as an identity designed to meet expectations of acceptability.” (If you want to read the rest of his Full Moon post, you will need to subscribe to Planet Waves…). This is one of the most perfect interpretations of Sun vs Moon, Mars vs Saturn Rx I have read.

Have a think about where this is happening in your chart. Aries is me and Libra is we. Where is the me and the we facing off in your story?

Over the next couple of days the Sun will move into Taurus and the rush of blood to the head from Aries will settle into a more concrete and practical one step at a time journey to achieve your goals. More on Taurus when next I find wi-fi. For now bed and warm socks are calling…