Full Moon in Libra
do you like what you see in the mirror?
The full moon in Libra marks a turning point in the year. Venus retrograde ends about 40 minutes after the full moon culminates. There’s life before 9 pm ET on April 12, 2025 and the life that comes after. I guess you could say that about every moment of every day and that’s a whole different conversation about our personal cosmologies—but THIS, this moment is something.
From late November 2024 to now, we’ve had: a Mercury retrograde then a Mars retrograde then a Venus retrograde and then another Mercury retrograde. One after another, but also all at once. Now all the planets are direct (or almost, depending on when I click send and when you’re reading this), and though we’re still making our way through the retrograde shadows, we’re no longer going back. We’re moving forward. Picking up the final clues along this now well-trodden path.
This full moon is also a moment because it is the first Libra new or full moon not eclipsed since April 2023. The lessons from the Libra eclipses on October 14, 2023, March 25, 2024 and October 2, 2024 are laid bare. The eclipses along the Aries-Libra axis these last two years challenged ideas around self vs other, relationship vs autonomy, balance vs independence. It’s been a story of asserting boundaries to embrace power.
Many say Libra is the chic sign, the trendy sign, the tastemaker sign. But Libras also hang out by the gutter. Libras are mirrors, and they reflect back the profane and ugly as much as they do the clean-lined and sleek. What many can’t take about Libra is their ability to stay present with decay, to understand all points of view, even the ones that are “wrong.” Libras know beauty because they get intimate with horror, not because they avoid looking at it.
Over the last two years, the eclipses in Libra have been a process of cleaning the mirror. What’s reflected back has become more and more clear, for better or for worse.
As a Libra rising myself, I’ve been deep in personal recalibration through these eclipses. I’ve been thinking a lot—often existentially—about who I am, and how I show up as a mirror for others. My job in 1-on-1 astrology consultations is to sit with another person, and not just hold space for them, but witness them. I sit with people who share secrets with me that they haven’t shared with their best friend. I don’t take this work lightly. It’s a sacred space. But also, I’m not a guru. I’m a practiced translator, a good listener, but archetypally, I’m much more Lover than Sage. I get frustrated by the pressure I feel to be wise, like I have to erase my true nature—romantic, irreverent, an airhead at times—to be a keeper of Knowledge™️. I mistakenly think being at a remove makes me a better witness. At times, I catch myself playing the role I think the other person wants me to play. I get resentful about this, but really I’m the one playing myself.
What I’m realizing is that I must be the architect of my own image. The bravest thing I can do right now—in a world where authoritarian forces are more and more rapidly turning certain identities into political poker chips—is to stop apologizing and just be my fucking self, especially when I have the deep privilege to do so. Listen, I’m spiraling like everyone else, and today’s thought was, “what if I got rid of every single piece of clothing in my closet and started from scratch?” I’ve done it before!!! Yes, perhaps I should wait until Venus picks up speed to do a complete style overhaul. But the impulse is there. This is the action of this full moon in Libra. Reflecting while pivoting. Staying kind while walking away.
It’s a story about how to stay with yourself in relationship. Become yourself in conversation.
It’s learning to honor the other without being consumed by them.
It’s walking away from a warped reflection.
It’s not looking in any mirror, but the right one.
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For some further reflection (see what I did there?), I have some dates for you to look back on:
This Full Moon in Libra is part of a lunar phase family that began with the Solar Eclipse in Libra on October 14, 2023. The next moon in this cycle was the First Quarter Moon in Libra on July 13, 2024. New moons are when one thing ends and another begins, and first quarter moons are when we reach the first challenge or crisis. Full moons are a climax and a turning point. The next in the family will be a last quarter moon (final challenge and pivot) on January 10, 2026.
It may also be useful to look back to what was happening on January 14, 2023 (a last quarter moon pivot), April 16, 2022 (a full moon culmination), and July 16, 2021 (a first quarter crisis).
If you want to dive into what these dates have meant for you, review your Aries-Libra eclipse story, or your Venus retrograde, or just talk about what’s ahead, you can book a reading here. I have two appointments available next week!
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I will leave you with this coda: “It’s a Mirror” an almost too-on-the-nose song by known Libra Perfume Genius.
Really great, Jaime.