Libra Full Moon: Dispatches from a Small House

It was a big adjustment for both of us when my husband retired almost two years ago. I went from having the entire house as my office each weekday, with plenty of quiet time, privacy, and elbow room in the kitchen at lunchtime, to…well, none of that.

Perhaps some of you can relate in these days of quarantine, with so many of us working from home for the first time, possibly sharing close quarters with a partner, kids and/or roommates 24 hours a day.

Believe me, I’m acutely aware of how fortunate I am to not only have a home but also companionship during the pandemic lock-down. I know plenty of folks who live alone and have told me they’re pretty lonely. But being with anyone so much – even someone you like a lot – presents its own challenges. As I write this, my husband and I are sitting at opposite ends of a 1700 square foot house. Yet I can hear him finishing his lunch with an enthusiastic scraping of his soup bowl, and the noise makes me want to remove every metal spoon from the house and replace them with rubber ones.

Humans need a balance of alone and together time. With too much togetherness, you can get in the habit of wearing earbuds around the house at all times and staggering your meal schedules, until the pursuit of solitude makes you lose touch with how nice it can be to spend time together. And that’s on a good day. From time to time, especially with the state of the world being highly stressful, emotions boil over. A house can feel smaller still when anxiety and fear move in.

Welcome to the Libra Full Moon (Tues. April 7, 2020, 7:34 pm PDT), in a combustible square aspect to Jupiter and Pluto. The Full Moon illuminates matters important to its sign, and when it’s in Libra, our partnerships get their annual performance review. Question number one is always the same: Does this relationship bring more good things to my life than bad? Does it give more to each of us than it takes away?

Complicating matters are a contentious aspect between Mars (ruler of the Sun in Aries, and in independent Aquarius) and Uranus on the day of the Full Moon (Tues. April 7, 2020, 11:50 am PDT), and Mercury entering “me first” Aries later in the week (Fri. April 10, 2020, 9:48 pm PDT). Neither of these paints a picture of equanimity and consideration. They do, however, reassure us that even on the days when we feel overwhelmed by change, there is in each of us a kernel of feisty, innovative rebellion. The question is whether we and our nearest and dearest can applaud these qualities as a bright light in a dark time, or whether we find them irksome and contrarian.

With Jupiter and Pluto conjoined and in conflict with the Full Moon, there’s so much to disagree about. Should we let ourselves feel optimistic about the world (Jupiter), or is it time to face the incontrovertible evidence that the end is nigh (Pluto)? Will we lose all of our income and savings or seize an opportunity to invest? Will we or our loved ones become ill? Jupiter with Pluto symbolizes extremes, Mars in Aquarius square Uranus thinks it has all the answers… and neither of these are particularly helpful as we heed the Libra Full Moon’s call for more balance and harmony.

The solution lies across the wheel – in Cancer, the sign of protection and caring. Here, the Moon’s North Node is concluding an 18-month crash course designed to make us better at nourishing our loved ones without smothering them (a typical Cancerian over-correction). These days of quarantine are like a final exam, demonstrating in no uncertain terms that our ability to take care of one another is the antidote to extremity, polarization, and fear. Can we rise to the occasion?

The Sabian symbol for this Full Moon degree (19 Libra) is, A gang of robbers in hiding. But don’t read that too literally; few of us, hopefully, are robbers! But we are huddled together, “hiding out” with our close partners, waiting for a sticky situation to resolve so that we’re able to go free.

Luckily, across the zodiac, at 19 Aries, is the Sun’s symbol at the Full Moon: A magic carpet. When we feel a little too stuck together in our close quarters, when the kitchen gets too crowded at lunchtime, when too many Zoom meetings happen at once, that’s the time to put your imagination to work, jump on a magic carpet, and go see the world. And when you get back, you’ll truly appreciate the porch light that’s been left burning for you, the pot of soup on the stove, and the warm arms waiting to welcome you home.