Tonight’s Balsamic Moon arrives linked to Venus in the middle of Aries. These two also strongly trine Mars in Leo, who rules the Moon and Venus while they’re in his sign.
The Moon and Venus, ready to go for what they want, connecting to Mars in the sign of kings, but in the lunar phase of letting go.
What’s this about?
Desire is complicated. In our modern era, desire is often presented as a trap. “Higher” values, from the thinking brain or the spiritually purified heart, will stop us from wanting things.
Yet the word “desire” means “from the stars.” Interesting. But of course, in an astrological context, that might be fate–the things we are fated to want that lead to our doom.
Maybe the Balsamic Moon wants us to give up desire itself?
That doesn’t make sense with this chart.
Not only are the Moon, Venus, and Mars connected in Fire, but the Sun trines Pluto in Air. The new Gemini Sun connects to Pluto retrograde in Aquarius: We’re asking questions, lots of questions, that go right down into the deepest layers of the psyche.
Jupiter in Gemini holds his square to the Nodes, at the North Bending, enlivening and enlarging the Sun’s explosion of interest. This Jupiter wants everything.
Jupiter sextiles the Chiron–Eris conjunction, expanding our understanding of how personal wounds connect to, derive from, and will only ultimately be healed when we mend the wounds of the world.
One more layer of intensity: Mercury conjunct Uranus with the star Algol between them. Here we see, starkly, the consequences of misdirected and appropriated desire, and what happens when desire becomes a weapon of power.
This is a lot for a phase of the Moon usually described as “quiet,” a time of retreat and reflection.
The Moon and Venus have a tough time in the middle of Aries. They’re both essentially affiliative. Neither wants to act on desires unless they’re life-affirming and creative.
Consumer culture tells us we want what we want, and it can’t be helped. We deserve it! Spend the money! Buy the thing!
Control culture says we need to make desire go away, through discipline, stoic determination, spiritual elevation, or just saying no.
This Balsamic Moon invites an examination of desire, a deep (Plutonian), far-ranging (Jupiterian), personal (Moon, Venus, Mars in Fire) exploration.
So, I was reading this poem. Mary Oliver’s Wild Geese.
The poem opens with the line, “You do not have to be good.”
Startling. It’s a very Aries statement. This “being good” is what others tell us to do, what society expects. She’s saying we don’t have to–we can do what we want.
The poem ends with the call of the wild geese, “harsh and exciting”, reminding us of who we are. Also very Aries.
But how do we know what we want? That comes in a longer line, “You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.”
Mary Oliver address deep themes in her work, including traumatic ones, yet her language is often soothing, gentle. Not because she sees life as gentle (it’s pretty clear she’s doesn’t) but because we, and the world, need gentleness. Kindness.
In the spirit of this Aries Balsamic Moon, though, I’ll offer a stripped-down version:
Let the animal of your body love what it loves.
The heart of the Balsamic Moon’s complicated, intense chart is this: Let go of anything not authentic to your core self.
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