What the Full Moon in Libra Means for You
This article originally appeared on Yoga Journal
Every Sun season has its opposing full Moon. For Aries, the sign of the self, that full Moon is in Libra. In the midst of Aries season and in between two new Moons in Aries, the full Moon in Libra on April 5, 2023, brings some air to our fire.
The fire sign of Aries asks us to be bold and decisive, and to take action quickly based on instinct alone. Ruled by Venus, the planet of love and beauty, Libra reminds us to connect with what we love in life. Libra also helps us connect with our hearts and communicate with others from this place. In its highest energy, Libra gives us patience, compassion, and the willingness to understand other people's perspectives.
On this full Moon in Libra, it's important to have some boundaries around your heart, mind, and energy. These boundaries aren't meant to be harsh to others. They are meant to protect your peace.
What the Full Moon in Libra Means for You
Libra helps us understand the impact of our relationships on the soul's mission. First, though, it helps us understand how to create peace within ourselves. When we allow others to affect our energy, emotions, and thoughts, we lose control over our peace. We stop defining the vibration we live in and instead absorb from others the vibrations around us.
A lack of boundaries can look like many things. It may be saying yes when we really mean no. It may look like people-pleasing or being afraid of upsetting someone. It may also look like oversharing emotional issues with people who aren't supportive or feeling like you are a dumping ground for other people's emotions.
A lack of boundaries can make you feel a little annoyed almost all of the time, and you may get angry easily. Anger is often a sign that your boundaries are being invaded. You may be angry at another for crossing them or angry at yourself for not upholding them.
Another clue that more boundaries are needed is if you easily take on other people's energy. For instance, you may be in a pleasant mood. Then, after an encounter with someone in a lower vibration who is complaining a lot, you find yourself in a lower frequency, too. Boundaries help us hold the vibration we want to experience instead of taking on someone else's.
As you move through this full Moon in April, become aware if you need more boundaries between yourself and others. Creating strong boundaries is part of being in healthy relationships. When we maintain our boundaries, we can align with the soul's mission more easily. We can also prioritize our needs while still showing up for other people. We don't feel drained or annoyed by others. Instead, we give what we can when we can. When both people in a relationship do this, they can have clear, conscious communication around expectations and compromises.
When we don't have healthy boundaries, the world pulls at our energy from different directions. Our emotions feel unstable, our thoughts are scattered, and we find it hard to focus. When we have firm boundaries in place, we can focus clearly on what's important and limit our distractions in life. This focus helps us clarify and stay aligned with the soul's mission.
Boundaries, though, require balance. We need just enough to protect our energy but not so many we keep away people who add to our lives. We want people in our world. We want to share our existence with others. It feels good to connect with other people. Some of the most joyous moments we have are spent with others. We also naturally crave people to share our stories, sorrows, and success.
We also crave love and people to love. Love is the highest vibration of all. It helps us touch our souls. Yes, we can love ourselves, but love for others also helps expand our hearts and raise our vibration. We want people in our lives, and we even need them. But we also need boundaries so relationships don't become limiting or draining. We need balance, and creating that balance is what this full Moon is all about.
Living with others is not always easy, but when we do it through the lens of love, it becomes less challenging. Staying within the higher vibration of love is not always possible; we are affected by many things within and around us, including the people we interact with each day. We naturally absorb other people's energy, especially when we have an intimate relationship with them. We take on other people's energy, emotions, and even thoughts. We become like the people we are around because energy is contagious.
This full Moon in April is an opportunity to assess all of your relationships and boundaries within them. As you move through this full Moon, feel centered in yourself. Know that you are whole without anyone. Then begin to look at the connections in your life. Which ones nourish you? Which ones drain you? Where do you need more balance? Where do you need more boundaries? Relationships also change over time. What was once working well for both of you may need some repair.
Look at how your relationships are supporting your life's mission. Notice places where you may compromise what you need for the sake of other people's happiness. Also, look to see how you are supporting another's life mission. Ideally, in relationships, two people are able to co-exist and share a life together while staying aligned with their individual life paths. This co-existence can be challenging, as both parties have needs and priorities.
Decide what you absolutely cannot negotiate on, or you will feel you are betraying yourself. Then decide where you can compromise and loosen some boundaries. Then look to the relationships that can support these decisions and the ones that cannot. If any relationship feels contrastive or unsupportive this full Moon, now is the time to readjust it or release it.
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Full Moon in Libra with the Sun in Aries
Every Sun season has its opposing full Moon. For Aries, the sign of the self, that full Moon is in Libra.Aries season inspires us to align with our purpose and make following it our highest priority. Aries reminds us that we have the power to overcome any obstacle or challenge along our way. We are our greatest asset and never need to rely on anyone or anything else because we are all we’ll ever need.
On the other hand, Libra teaches us that while our life’s mission is of great importance, our inner peace is the highest priority. Nothing is as important as maintaining inner harmony. Furthermore, when we are energetically settled, we see clearly. Our path is drawn out in front of us, and we know the next steps to take on it. Libra also knows what to do in the face of adversity. A true warrior is calmest in the midst of battle. Libra helps us cultivate inner peace and use it as our greatest tool during times of challenge.
While Aries season asks us to focus on ourselves and our soul's mission, Libra reminds us that we live in a world with other people. The full Moon in Libra during April is a time to survey our relationships and decide if they are limiting or supporting us. It's a time to feel how we can encourage others to find their life's journey and decide how to walk our individual paths together.
Libra also teaches us that our path is that much sweeter when shared with another. The challenge, though, is staying true to our own journey. When in a partnership of any kind, it becomes easy to drift from our path onto theirs and vice versa. It takes a deep awareness from both people to not only stay true to their individual purposes but to nurture each other’s life mission.
As with everything in life, though, there are trade-offs. To be in a fully committed relationship, compromises are often needed for the partnership to thrive. Our job becomes knowing what is negotiable in our world and what is off the table. We need to pick our battles, knowing when to fight and when to go with the flow. When we do dig in our heels, it needs to be from a place of harmony and gratitude for one another, not from an emotional reaction.
To truly master the art of relationships, we need to understand the low vibrations of both Aries and Libra. When we become aware of these frequencies within ourselves, we can shift and release them. Once free of these shadows, we can fully integrate Libra's and Aries’s highest vibrations to form relationships that support each other in a beautiful co-creation of each other’s life purpose. We learn to develop healthy relationships in which each person maintains their sense of identity.
Furthermore, we can respect each other’s boundaries and admire them for their gifts, raising their vibration each day from a place of completeness within ourselves. To achieve a high-vibrational relationship, we start by searching for and shifting the lower vibrations, which undermine our energetic unions.
Libra has two main shadow sides: indecision and passive aggressiveness. Libra views the world as parts of the same whole, all equal. This view, although beautiful, can lead to indecision because all choices are equal. Indecision can lead to anxiety because we inherently know that time is limited, and when we fail to make choices, we delay our life and its journey. This anxiety eats away at our inner peace, disturbs our well-being, and muddles any relationship until we choose to begin and move forward again.
At its lowest point, indecision can cause us to follow someone else’s choice only to find out later we are unhappy and need to realign ourselves with our path. Some relationships can survive this readjustment, while others break under the pressure and the redirection of energy.
Libra’s other low side of passive aggressiveness causes us to become manipulative as we try to control a situation without clearly stating our needs. When we align with this side of Libra, we may become stubborn, procrastinate, or even avoid people. We play games and cause drama where it is unneeded simply because we are afraid to express our true feelings.
In some cases, the relationship does not hold space for us to share our emotions. These types of relationships need to be adjusted so that we feel safe expressing ourselves, or they need to be released. In other cases, we may have never learned how to clearly state our needs and felt that our only option was manipulation to acquire the energy we needed to feel supported in the world.
We need to honestly look at how we gain support or energy from others through passive tendencies. To shift these behaviors, we need to become comfortable asking for what we need. Communication is key in any relationship. The more we can speak our truth firmly, but without aggression, the better off our partnership will be.
It may not happen overnight, but each of us can learn how to express our needs in a non-passive approach and receive the energy we deserve from another. Likewise, we can learn how to give energy to the relationship so the other person feels their needs are met and their dreams are nurtured.
It’s important, though, to understand that our main source of energy comes from ourselves and the connection we have with the Universe. The energy we gain from another is never meant to sustain us or deplete them or vice versa. In a truly high-vibrational relationship, each person is abundant with energy and gives freely while also receiving frequencies from another. It is a beautiful cycle of reciprocity in which both people are connected to themselves, their purpose, and each other.
On this full Moon, we also need to look at Aries’s low sides of selfishness and aggressiveness. Aries’s lower vibrations cause us to act without thinking, relying on pure instinct alone, even if it means not including others in our decisions.
The lowest side of Aries is pure selfishness. When we align with this side, we forget we live in a world full of other people. We put our needs first at the expense of others, and we forget the importance of empathy. We see the world only through our eyes and resist understanding it through someone else’s perspective. We bulldoze our partners, not hearing what they have to say, and leave them feeling unheard and not respected. We become like a bull in a china shop, causing emotional havoc everywhere we roam.
Aries’s other low vibration is aggressiveness with controlling behavior. When we align with this side, we become demanding, bossy, and overly assertive. We intimidate others by yelling or asserting our power in a dominating way. This low side of Aries comes from our own internal conflict. When we align with these vibrations, we are at war with ourselves. We project this aggression onto others and start unnecessary battles. We seek to win to make ourselves feel better, but what we really need is to resolve our internal issues, triggers, and pain before engaging with another. We need to ask ourselves what the anger is a reaction to. What is the underlying emotion? And what needs to be healed?
If we look at the spectrum of energy involved in this full Moon, on one end, we have aggression and control. On the other end, we have passivity and indecision. None are beneficial in the realm of relationships. Think over your actions in partnerships. Do you recognize any of these patterns in yourself?
Know that it’s okay if you do. Have compassion for yourself first, and know that this full Moon’s work is to bring these shadows to light. The most challenging step of any change is awareness. Align with the Moon to see yourself fully and know that you are capable of shifting any energy within you. Find the root of these behaviors and shift them into the higher vibrations each sign brings us. As you begin to vibrate higher, you’ll create and attract higher-frequency relationships that elevate your soul’s journey.
Other Astrological Aspects Influencing the Full Moon
We have a few aspects to work with this full Moon in Libra other than the opposition between the Sun and Moon.
The Sun is conjunct, or next to, Chiron and Jupiter, while the Moon opposes these cosmic bodies. Chiron is classified as a comet and a minor planet. It orbits the Sun between Saturn and Uranus.
In astrology, Chiron is known as the wounded warrior. This energy represents the transformation of painful experiences into life wisdom. Chiron teaches us how to confront and accept our past. Through this acceptance, we can turn our past pain into our personal power. If we cannot completely heal our own wounds, we can gain the wisdom to help others with theirs.
Chiron's energy on this full Moon helps us understand how our past affects our present. This especially applies to our relationships. Throughout this full Moon, feel how your past experiences in partnerships may be affecting your present ones. When we go through painful or traumatic experiences, it can be challenging to leave them in the past. We can feel that they are happening in the present moment as the mind cannot separate yesterday from today. We may even find ourselves projecting our past pain onto others or assuming a traumatic experience will occur again.
As you review your relationships, look for patterns that may reveal misplaced energy. Do you, for instance, attract the same type of relationship over and over? Or do you place expectations on current relationships based on past ones? It's important to look at boundaries in the context of your past. Traumatic events, especially in childhood, can impact our ability to form healthy boundaries in present-day relationships. Notice if you people-please or say yes when you mean no because you are afraid of a past pain resurfacing. Perhaps you fear that if you create boundaries, a current partner will treat you like someone in the past who hurt you. Anytime you worry that creating a boundary will cause you to lose love or acceptance, it is an indication that an old pain may be at the root of your fear.
As you work with Chiron this full Moon, remember that you may not be able to change your past, but you can make sure it does not affect the way you show up for yourself or others.
Jupiter's involvement in this full Moon in Libra challenges us to expand past our fears and step into our highest versions of ourselves. Jupiter is the planet of expansion and compels us to dream big and assume the best will happen. Jupiter is quite a different energy compared to Chiron, making this full Moon feel dynamic with energy. Jupiter in Aries encourages us to find our potential and never sell ourselves short. This energy wants us to feel the immensity of the soul and align with it. It wants us to believe in ourselves and our purpose. It also wants us to take huge leaps of faith that will manifest the life we are meant to live.
As this energy opposes the full Moon in Libra, we are compelled to look at how our relationships may be limiting our expansion. Relationships, like all things, can become a comfort zone. You may stay attached to certain people, places, or things because they feel comfortable. This doesn't always mean they are good for your evolution or your soul.
Over this full Moon, notice if you are holding on to any relationship out of comfort or fear of the unknown. This may include relationships with people, projects, locations, or even knowledge. You can tell a relationship that is out of comfort because you stop growing while in it. You feel that you are simply going through the motions day in and day out with no change. This may manifest as relationships that keep you small or distract you from your potential. It may also look like unsupportive relationships that do not hold space for you to change. It may also manifest as relationships that cycle through the same set of dramas over and over with no resolution or learning.
As you look at your relationships this full Moon, keep in mind Jupiter's energy. Are your relationships expansive? Do they make you feel abundant in love, time, and support? Or are they draining or distracting? Relationships that don't match your potential may need to be readjusted or released this full Moon.
If someone doesn't believe in you, they may not be the right fit for your life. Jupiter teaches us to focus on partners who can support our potential and even help us walk the path of finding it. Commit to creating those relationships this full Moon, starting with the relationship with yourself. Remind yourself of how worthy you are of your potential, and believe in the immensity of your soul.
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Learn more about the full Moon, including additional astrological insights and journaling prompts, in the Libra Full Moon Workbook, from which the above is excerpted.
About Our Contributor
Jill Wintersteen is the founder of Spirit Daughter, a lifestyle brand devoted to helping you live your best life through understanding the energy of the Universe. She also writes workbooks on each full Moon as well as other astrological events. Follow her on Instagram @spiritdaughter.
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