Full Moon in Libra

Venus in Aries has had it up to here.

This is on the 31st March, 1:40 pm UTC.

This full moon is the culmination of a particularly sensitive and painful Pisces lunar cycle, and it looks like a doozy – very emotionally raw and harsh. If you can get through it without killing anyone, you'll be doing well.

The moon will be in Libra, where she craves interpersonal harmony and niceness, but things are not set up so she can get it. She'll be part of a cardinal t-square: a tense, uncomfortable aspect pattern that necessitates movement and change.

The opposite pole of this t-square will be in fiery, warlike Aries, where the sun and Mercury will be conjunct. This represents a fierce, aggressive drive for self-expression – but with Mercury retrograde till mid-April, communication is likely to be frustrated or blocked.

The other part of the triangle is Mars conjunct Saturn in Capricorn (exact on the 2nd April). This is a tough aspect. Mars is about forward drive, and Saturn is about blocks and delays – so it's like momentum hitting a wall. Fortunately, both planets are well placed in Capricorn, so you could read this positively, as representing a rock-solid work ethic: an enduring (Saturn) drive (Mars) to achieve (Capricorn).

But however positive a spin you try to put on it, it's part of a cardinal t-square involving the moon (emotions), and it's unlikely to feel good. Jagged, frustrated and angry, more like. And as Libra is all about relationships, whatever happens this full moon is likely to play out as interpersonal conflict.

Libra is ruled by love and money planet Venus, and Venus has been stressed over the past month. She entered fiery, impulsive Aries on the 6th March, only to run into a frustrating square with Saturn (exact 13th March). This was about blockage of desire, and stagnation in love and money matters – very testing and dour. But worse was to come: Venus moved from that loveless square into a square with Pluto in Capricorn (exact 23rd March) – and this is some truly nasty stuff, full of the potential for manipulation, betrayal and power games.

And then just ahead of the full moon, we saw Venus conjunct Uranus (exact 29th March), which is about bright new doors opening – but also other doors shutting abruptly. The Venus symbolism over the past month couldn't be clearer – first a lack of fulfillment (Venus square Saturn), then an eruption of ugliness (Venus square Pluto), then she's out the door (Venus conjunct Uranus). And then the culmination: this Venus-ruled full moon which is all about love and war – very angry and raw.

So to say the past month has been rough on relationships is probably an understatement. But after this full moon, we are hopefully past the worst of the rapids. Venus has already moved into Taurus, where she calms down and stops associating love with fighting. And we'll have a new moon in Aries on the 16th April, which marks the start of the astrological year - it looks like a radical re-boot, the start of a whole new chapter. Change is coming!

So whatever rottenness is happening in your life, rest assured things are going to get better – and probably weirder too, which is not a bad thing. And if something you value or want is being taken away from you at this time, wait a bit. A little further down the road, you might just realize it was something holding you back.

New Moon in Pisces

This is on the 17th March, about 1 pm UTC.

It's on St Patrick's Day, a holiday associated with public drunkenness. And it's in Pisces, a sign associated with all forms of addiction. And the sun and moon will be conjunct Chiron, an asteroid which has to do with wounding – the kind you learn deep lessons from.

So I think it's a bit more dangerous than usual to go out partying this St Patrick's Day (and in the month to follow). The hangover is sure to be painful! Caution is advised with boundary dissolving substances – we'll be more addiction-prone this month, and more likely to encounter deep pain and karmic lessons via our escapist attempts to blur out reality. Interpersonal relations are likely to be harmfully affected too.

We've had a stellium in Pisces for the past few weeks, but this new moon marks the beginning of the end of that heavy Pisces influence. Instead we're going to have a stellium in Aries from the 6th of March, as Venus joins Mercury in Aries. Then we'll have the spring equinox as the sun enters Aries on the 20th March. It should feel like a release of stuck energy – an antidote to the inertia and depression of the Pisces stellium.

But Aries can be warlike and impulsive, and the planets in Aries will make harsh squares to Saturn and later Pluto in Capricorn, blocking the possibilities for forward movement. This is a recipe for frustration and rage. When you combine that influence with the sensitivity, delusion and ego-woundedness of this new moon, you can end up with a mess.

I think the danger of taking out your internal angst on others will be very strong this month. This Pisces lunar cycles culminates with a full moon in Libra on the 31st March which looks tough on relationships.

And the fact that the new moon conjuncts Chiron in Pisces magnifies the potential for pain and loss this month. Pisces has a reputation for dreamy spirituality, but it also has a very dark shadow: addiction, delusion, isolation, victim shit, self-pity, emotional chaos, illness, loss. Chiron's involvement with the new moon means we are likely to see a lot of this dark Pisces, and it's bound to be a bit miserable and deflating. Bubbles will burst.

But Chiron is also about learning from our wounds, so it's entirely possible to learn something deep and spiritual from your angst and disappointment. The key is going deep, into your dark psychological stuff and your subconscious. You have to examine your uncomfortable feelings, get to the root of them, find out what's triggering your angry or depressed responses. It's not fun, but that kind of deep psychological work will be very beneficial at this time.

That's because Jupiter in Scorpio is beneficially aspecting the new moon, after having stationed retrograde on the 8th March. This is a clear directive to cast your lasers inward, toward what's subconsciously driving you. It's about coming to terms with your Shadow, bringing the ugly stuff into conscious awareness, and healing. With this Jupiter retrograde in the sign of depth psychology (and a Mercury retrograde in Aries beginning on the 20th March) projecting your battles onto the outside world and fighting them there is not a good idea, though it will be easy enough to do that. It's better to use this energy to dig out what's going on inside you.

I think one very good way of doing that at this time is via art. We have Venus and Mercury conjunct in Aries, and this is very forcefully communicative. We also have Mars at the very last degree of Sagittarius, and this is more of the same: a shoot-from-the-hip kind of influence. It can be mouthy, opinionated, prone to blurting insensitive things and calling it honesty. But if you can channel this urgency of expression into creativity, you're less likely to get embroiled in external conflict.

The alternative is to use this to spout off your opinions and probably wound someone, and people will be doing plenty of that! We have this combination of sensitive, wounded Pisces and callous, impulsive Sagittarius and Aries, so the likelihood of getting wounded or hurting people you care about (especially if you're under the influence) is strong. So keeping your forceful opinions to yourself for a while might be smart. And it's worth asking yourself whether you're deluded or projecting before you tell someone off, because the likelihood here is that you are.

Mars shifts signs a few hours after the full moon, into Capricorn, a sign where he functions well and get shit done. But he's headed into a conjunction with Saturn in Capricorn, exact around the time of the full moon. This does not look so great to me. Mars-Saturn contacts are known for blockage, frustration and cruelty – people lash out because of pent-up aggression. So it ties into the theme of interpersonal violence this month, and it's something to keep an eye on. It has the potential to really damage or destroy relationships.

It all comes to a head in two weeks time, under the full moon in Libra on the 31st March. Libra is about relationships and keeping the peace, but this full moon is part of a very tense cardinal t-square, so keeping the peace is going to be tough, and relationships can end abruptly at this time. Caution is advised.

Caution with communication especially: we'll have a Mercury retrograde through Aries starting on the 23rd March and running till the 15th April, and it's bound up with the full moon. This means impulsive, emotionally driven miscommunication is likely, or angry misunderstandings. Needless to say, this can lead to conflict. You can blurt the wrong thing, or things you've said before can boomerang back on you, or communication can be blocked altogether.

So all in all, it looks like a tough month, and my advice is to look inward toward the sources of your angst instead of fighting your battles in the outer world. Or channel it into art, if that's your thing.

Also, try to keep a detached perspective if someone says or does something hurtful to you, and be mindful of how easy it will be this month to hurt others.

Full Moon in Virgo

This is tonight, the 2nd March, about 12:50 am UTC

Virgo is the sign of fact-checking, order and discrimination, and we are really going to need that focused attention to reality here, because we have a big stellium in sensitive, dreamy Pisces: the sun, Neptune, Mercury, Venus and Chiron – and this is very foggy, and potentially delusive and self-defeating. It's going to be hard to know what's true and what's false at this time – reality is blanked out. (This is literally true where I live. We are having a freak snowstorm, with white-out conditions predicted for tonight.)

With all these planets in Pisces, it'll be a task to see clearly and not be carried away by emotion. Thankfully, we have the moon in Virgo, which is organized, grounded, nitpicky and analytical. This can help us sort out fact from fiction.

We also have Jupiter in Scorpio beneficially aspecting this Pisces stellium, and this is really helpful. Jupiter in Scorpio is an intuitive bullshit detector, so you can rely on your intuition and “gut feeling” as a guide at this time.

Often when you have this many planets in Pisces, it feels like a mess: swampy and muddled. But the outlook at this full moon is much better than that. This is partly because of the involvement of Jupiter, the great benefic, and partly because of helpful aspects from Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn. Saturn is serious, Pluto is deep, and Capricorn is all about structure and stability – so having these planets supporting the Pisces stellium is a stabilising influence.

All in all, I think this full moon should feel lovely, in a huge, swirling, ethereal way. Like a big romantic snowstorm. It's a nice influence for artists especially - very inspired. And having faith in the larger design will be beneficial: magic is real, and things can come together in ways you can't predict or control. You can trust that going with the flow will take you somewhere interesting.

That said, it's very important to hold onto your grip on reality and pay attention to the details. Don't go overboard with enthusiasm. Pisces always carries the potential for disappointment, delusion and loss, so it's imperative to stay clear-headed and realistic as much as you can. And it's probably a good idea to avoid alcohol and drugs as well, because it's easy to get swept away by addictive impulses at this time. Do your healthy Virgo stuff instead: clean the house, organise your stuff, drink some carrot juice.

We'll have a new moon in Pisces on the 17th March, and it ushers in a sensitive, touchy month, where it looks like it will be easy to wound or be wounded, so caution is advised. I'll write more about that closer to the date.