As my boyfriend, The Aquarius, and I were walking through the quiet, charming community where his mother lives, we stared up to the vast sky and took in the burgeoning moon.  I wondered aloud what this upcoming Aries full moon would be about.  Thankfully, I’m graced with a man who totally gets it and has not just an interest but also an understanding of the way the cosmos operate.  So we talked it out and hypothesized, all while taking into deep consideration that a full moon brings the need for release while the Aries nature is all go-go-go and interested in new beginnings.  We came to some conclusions, but I still didn’t feel like I completely comprehended its message.  I blame the wine.

Later, I continued pondering this interesting dichotomy and tried to apply it to my own life.  Being an Aries, I am greatly in touch with the fact that we, as a Zodiac race, like to start something new before finishing up the last thing.  In fact, I was in the middle of reading something that I am desperate to get through when I received the inspiration to start writing this piece.  What are you gonna do, huh?  Anyhow, an Aries full moon is a time then when we must resist the urge to begin some new direction, project, or task.  Instead, we need to place our focus onto the thing we have been working so tirelessly at pushing up the hill to completion.  Whether it is the quest for a new home, job, or pair of shoes to go with that new jacket you got at the outlet mall, you can’t give up too easily, especially when you have come so far and invested so much time and energy into it.  So how do we know what part of our story needs a proper conclusion during this full moon?

Let’s venture back six months, when spring burst onto the scene and we had the Aries new moon.  It was then that we were feeling the heat of inspiration’s fire to create a more vivid version of our lives.  Perhaps you were eager to jump into a new career or felt anxious to move to a new neighborhood or city.  Maybe you were done with a relationship and ready to start living the single life again, or even the complete opposite.  Whatever the case, take a mental trip back to when you were half a year younger and think on where you were trying to get to back then.  There, you will find the first clue into where you need to ‘release’ during this full moon period.  Let’s hope these “horoscopes” can help shed some light too.

ARIES

Don’t go looking around for new, shiny things to distract you.

This full moon is knocking on your door with some brass knuckles.  It wants you to come out with your hands up.  You have a few questions to answer.  Why are you sitting on those joyful, inspiring creative projects you started months ago?  How have you allowed your stifled creativity to keep you from fully expressing yourself to the people you love most?  Are you ready to dig much deeper into a period of major transformation?  Can you really part with that fear you’ve been carrying around for far too long now?  Shall I continue?  Okay then, I will.  How about this?  Why are you aching so desperately for some inspiration when life has already given you exciting, intriguing ideas that you’ve only taken to the halfway point?  Don’t go looking around for new, shiny things to distract you.  There is already an abundance of truths at your doorstep waiting for you to pick up and spin into golden self-realization.  So stop wasting your damn time whining about how you’re waiting for something great.  It’s already here.  You’re just being lazy.  And you know that’s true.

TAURUS

All this trying is getting in the way of all the doing.

If I could write this entire piece in gibberish to get my point across of what you need right now, I would.  What do I mean by that?  Well, you have been trying very hard to get in touch with the deepest part of your being so you can live from a more soulful place.  Unfortunately, you’re approaching it all from your head.  It’s time to stop thinking so much about the spiritual revolution that you’re bringing into your life so you can actually bring it in.  Yes, you’re doing all the things one should to get in touch with his or her higher consciousness, but I’m sorry to say it’s not penetrating as deeply as it could be.  That’s because you’re not truly allowing yourself to embody its essence.  All this trying is getting in the way of all the doing.  It’s time to really get out of your head.  Stop feeding it ideas and concepts and mantras and truths and start LIVING them.  Start with your relationships.  Are you approaching them all from this place of higher being?  Analyze everyone you allow into your circle and relate to them from this new spiritual state you want to live from.  Scary to do when you’re at work or with people you’ve known forever, huh?  Well, it doesn’t have to be.  Trust your spiritual evolution and believe that those who love you will get you, no matter what.  And if they don’t, then continue on the path.  Without stopping for constant analysis please.

GEMINI

It’s time to let go of this need to be somebody.

So you have been putting in all the mental work – trying to figure out what the best version of you is and how that fits into the world you live in now.  And you’re actually gearing up for some big changes in the next few weeks when it comes to your daily routine.  Yes, that new job or home may be showing up sooner than you think.  But, how to best bring into full fruition.  Well, it’s time to let go of this need to be somebody.  Do you know what I’m saying?  We get so caught up in this drive to fulfill our potential that we actually forget whose subscription we’re paying for.  Did you tell yourself that you needed to be a doctor?  No.  Then why the hell are you in med school?  Or getting married.  Or working at your parents’ business.  This can even show up in some fucked up reverse way based out of lies you told yourself, such as trying to demolish a good relationship because you’re not the type to be in one.  That’s the worst.  Either way, it’s time to let go of old ideas of what your reputation is, because it has probably gotten you stuck in a role that you never wanted to play in the first place.  You don’t owe it to the world to be anything but productive.  So how you choose to do that, make it your choice and yours alone.  Just make sure none of those fucked up, reversed ways of thinking color it in any negative way.

CANCER

You just need the confidence to step up and take ownership of your life’s dreams.

It’s time for you to enter into a creative mode, and your career is a good place to start.  Are you in a field that allows you to be as creatively expressive as you need to be?  If so, are you working on something that brings you ultimate joy?  If not, what could you be doing to bring on ultimate joy?  In fact, I want you to make Ultimate Joy your drag name for these next couple weeks as you let go of any parts of your life that aren’t allowing you just that.  Now, I am not saying that you need to walk into work tomorrow wearing a gold sequined frock to scream out, “I quit.”  (Though there will be bonus points to anyone who does while Cher’s YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE LAST OF ME plays softly in the background.)  What I AM saying is that you need to make sure you’re standing up for yourself and getting what you need to feel the most creative you.  Because, you are more creative than even the artists of you lot give yourselves credit for.  You just need the confidence to step up and take ownership of your life’s dreams.  So make it a goal to dump any unnecessary aspects of your career self to the wayside.  All you Cancers are ready to make your daily lives more exciting.  But you’re gong have to be the ones to book your own gigs – no one else will do it for you.

LEO

All of your worrying is causing you to make some bad decisions or is keeping the good ones from flourishing.

Sometimes you Leo’s think you know everything.  You think you’ve got it all figured it all out.  “This is my plan.  I just need to wake up at this time/stay with him for this long/be at this job for two more months/blah blah, in order for it all to work out.”  The list of ‘truths’ you know about your life goes on and on.  Well, this full moon wants you to forget everything you know about yourself.  Let go of your preconceptions about who you should be, whom you should be with, and what you like to eat for dinner.  You’ve been hard at work trying to bring new things/experiences/projects into your life, but even some of those stem from an outdated idea of who you think you are.  It’s time to shed some unnecessary layers of self-knowledge.  Need some help deciphering what to let go of specifically?  How about the self-doubt?  The indecisiveness?  The worry about whether you’ll ever be able to provide a stable foundation for yourself, right down to the type of home you want for you and your family?  See, all of your worrying is causing you to make some bad decisions or is keeping the good ones from flourishing.  So, my advice is to write yourself an essay about you.  The topic is simple: “Who am I?”  Write that at the top of the page and just keep writing, with the words, “I am…” starting every sentence.  And then be surprised by what you believe and what you didn’t realize about yourself.  I bet those last few sentences will be really great starting points for this next chapter of your exciting life.

VIRGO

It’s time to just take some deep breaths and throw fear to the wind.

You are moving through life right now at a mad pace and it’s bringing up some of the best and worst in you.  The best is allowing you to be more balanced in your days than you feel you have been in a while.  The worst has you crying late at night for what feels like no reason.  But hey, at least it’s not happening in the checkout line at the grocery store anymore.  Balance!  See, all this comes from your deep need to let go of fear.  You are a worrier.  It’s your nature.  And usually it stems from your need to control or at least know where everything fits and how.  But right now, you just can’t know all of that.  So as much as you’re feeling a bit more even-keeled these days, you’re also grappling with a sense of dread about what’s to come in certain areas of your life.  So, it’s time to just take some deep breaths and throw fear to the wind.  The best way to do that would be to go out and be amongst friends who inspire you, specifically with how they get through tough times.  You are in a place where you can be transformed through ideas, so even picking up a good book about how to release fear could be a blessing.  Make this task a class for yourself, as you Virgo’s love a good lesson.  Then, you will see that you can trivialize your fear more, which will allow you to make decisions based out of pure clarity.

LIBRA

You need champions and allies.

The sun is shining on you and you are full of inspiration from people in your closest sphere as well as from your own newer sense of self-worth.  You’re also very excited to get out in the world more and get in touch with others.  However, some of your closest relationships may have dwindled a bit, or at least aren’t meeting all the expectations of your more evolved self.  Well, without ego getting in the way, it’s time to examine them with a fine toothcomb.  See, you need champions and allies, Libra.  You’re a social being.  And without solid people to call your tribe, you may as well just be chatting online with strangers for validation.  And that is so 2004.  So, take stock of those people you consider your besties and if they’re not pulling their weight, cut them.  Or at least let go of how you think they should be and accept them for the loving flakes or beautiful disasters that they are.  In the coming months, you are going to need people to help you as you come out from Saturn’s shadow and into the light.  But you want people you trust.  So start the de-friending now.  Then, room will open for some new ones.

SCORPIO

Say goodbye to this recent feeling of stasis.

So, you’ve been sorta coasting on this routine that has you gotten you to a relatively good place in life.  But let’s face it.  It’s not good enough.  You’re worth more and deserve better from life than just status quo.  And you actually have opportunities in the form of potential relationships, career opportunities, and creative projects just dangling outside your window, waiting to be plucked.  You might ask yourself, “Why strive for more when what I’ve got is just fine.”  Well Scorpio, you like change.  You thrive on change.  So say goodbye to this recent feeling of stasis.  It has no place in this next phase of your life.  You are getting your groove back, just in time for your birthday.  So, kick that party off.  In fact, start this week by completely shaking up your daily routine.  If you wake up at six every morning to go to the gym, switch it up.  Go at night.  If you just can’t do that, well first off, you can.  But secondly, take the week off from working out.  Or go hiking every morning instead of to the gym.  Or take a class.  (I’m using fitness as an example, not as a passive-aggressive way to say you need to lose weight.)  Just try living a week that isn’t your norm.  You need to go to one extreme in order to figure out for yourself again where exactly your middle ground is, and you have totally forgotten where that is.  Hell, you have forgotten who you are a little bit too.  But consider this the start on your path to recovery.  You’re welcome.

SAGITTARIUS

You need some creative, but deep release.

I need you to go back, way back, back in time.  Back to a time when you would curl up with your favorite teen romance or CD (or album) and just drift off into your thoughts.  Perhaps you would pull out your journal and write some really cheesy poetry or a letter to the girl or guy you were currently pining after in Science class (of course you wouldn’t actually give the letter.)  Do you remember these times?  I know you do because, you’re a Sag.  Now, what did those times really offer you?  Well, it was a chance to just be at one with your imagination.  You didn’t have to worry about bills and meetings and appointments and soccer games and how tired you are from everything that is life.  You could just sink away and dig into the deepest part of yourself.  In essence, you were honoring yourself by giving pleasure to the emotions you needed to express.  Okay, so it may sound silly, but this is your assignment for the full moon week.  Light some candles.  Put on that old record you love.  Dust that journal off from the cupboard and write.  Now, not that screenplay you’ve been thinking about or that list of things you need to get done around the house.  This is purely about indulging that teenage you.  Write a really bad poem.  Pen a letter to your loved one.  Just get really bitter about life and expel it all onto paper like a puking session.  You need some creative, but deep release.  So get down in touch with that self that rarely gets a chance to be heard.  Guarantee it will be cathartic, fun, and could even become more a part of your daily routine.  And that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

CAPRICORN

Would you be able to bring a more relaxed, at peace self with you everywhere you go?

What does home mean to you?  I imagine it refers to your home base.  Where you hang your hat, so to speak.  Where family and loved ones come together.  And I bet you reserve your calmest, most “at-home” self for when you’re there.  But what if you were able to shift your mentality to mean that home is anywhere your two feet are, be it work, the gym, the car, or traveling the world.  Would you be able to bring a more relaxed, at peace self with you everywhere you go?  Well, this full moon is the time to try it.  See, you may have cultivated a couple versions of yourself that seem suitable for the various areas of your life, but that’s creating a disconnection, and more stress, for your emotional self when there’s no need.  So, take this time to check yourself a bit.  Yes, you have a lot to accomplish and have greater goals than others.  But that doesn’t mean you have to push yourself to the limit until you’re able to get home to safety and crash.  In fact, allow that safer, calmer side of you to share more screen time with the driven, more ambitious side, and see how that more balanced version of you not only makes for a more comfortable skin to live in, but also allows you to accomplish more.  People will respond better to someone who feels more at home in him or her self, rather than in a rush to get home.

AQAURIUS

You need to allow thought to come to you in its purest form.

I’m going to make this simple: let go of thinking.  A nightmare, I know.  Even for the most Zen of you.  But now is the time to get more in touch with your gut and to let go of reason, logic and opinion.  In fact, if someone asks you this week why you like a movie or a song, your best response would be, “Because I just do.”  Why is this kind of mental simplicity so important to do right now.  Well, you’re entering a phase where your thirst for knowledge is wild with abundance, so you need to forget how you’ve judged, manipulated, or examined your beliefs in the past to make your words or ideas sound more impressive or right.  You need to allow thought to come to you in its purest form.  If ideas come to you for anything, scribble them down without critique.  If you feel the need to write something, whether it be an email or a story, do it and don’t go back for revisions.  Allow your mind to be fluid.  And know that all of this is opening you up to a greater source of inspiration and will ultimately help you push forward to the next level in your desired career.  But again, don’t think about where your ideas could get you or what you need to do to make them happen.  Just get them out and make someone else or paper your witness.  How about an aid?  Meditate for ten minutes every morning this week.  That will get the thoughts flying around until they have no choice but to settle, and that’s just what you need right now.

PISCES

You’re not going to be able to make the headway in your life if you’re not entirely passionate about the direction you’re heading in.

So usually I don’t come from a very material level place.  Most of my writing attacks from a place of spirit and internal growth.  But I want you to tackle this full moon energy from a physical place.  More specifically, from a monetary place.  See, you are trying to make waves in your work world, and you may be starting to feel like you’re not knowledgeable enough to rise to the next level.  So first off, you are, though it wouldn’t hurt to keep trying to meet people who can teach you more about your desired field.  In fact, it could be beneficial to take some classes.  But, let’s be clear first on what exactly you need to be taking classes in.  You’re not going to be able to make the headway in your life if you’re not entirely passionate about the direction you’re heading in.  Imagine if money wasn’t the object.  You’re financially taken care of but are still driven to do more than eat frozen yogurt and watch bad Lifetime movies all day (though damn, that’s a good combo.)  What would you be trying to do?  And does it match up with what you are trying to do now?  Are you pursuing a goal for yourself that is more out of financial stability than true inner joy?  If so, then consider any feeling of being stalled a blessing.  You need to turn that ship around and head towards something that is going to light your inner fire.  If you don’t, you may ultimately get to a place where you have the job that affords you the life you want, but will you truly be happy?  I venture to say not.  And don’t you deserve more than material success?  Money will only get you so far, and I know you Pisces, at the end of the day, care more for spiritual fulfillment than the amount in your bank account.

TRUTH.