As the official sign of ME, Aries season insists that each (wo)man is an island, and that’s not altogether wrong. Yet, in many spiritual communities at least, ego has become a dirty word. The fact is, we need our ego. Without an ego, we wouldn’t have a Sun to orbit, all definition-less and wandering. Implicit on this ego’s journey, we need to identify what it is we want, when we feel trespassed, and what activities and interests and passions make us feel totally alive. Then we need to communicate and live this. Because without a healthy sense of person-hood, what service would we be to others? And would we ever really be happy or fulfilled? We simply can’t be our self without a self that knows a bit about him or her self, too.

Libra’s planet, Venus is in Aries, is retrograde and she’s all up in our face. Aries is the sign of self-hood, so the heart lessons happening now involve the core self. Libra makes peace with others, keeping things smooth and sublime. Not so fast, says Venus in Aries, First, how well do you know your heart? ‘Cause in case you haven’t noticed, the planet of peace love and happiness is under duress – not all is perpetually good and groovy in Libra land.

Self-knowing is not something that comes easily or lightly. I say this reverentially and with much respect: it’s a hero’s quest. It takes courage with a capital “C” to endeavor in really knowing one’s self, the darkness, the light, the shades of grey and every color in between. Self-knowing involves looking at shadows and smelly stuff, up close. It requires us to uncloak the blame we put on others, and really looking at their stuff as a reflection of our own. Detective work, therapy, and painful relationship lessons further this. Ultimately, the end result of this kind of work – the kind of inner work of which the cardinal signs Aries, Libra, Capricorn and Cancer thrive – delivers you with a sort of writ of passage: you form your own cardinal rules, significant ‘right to thrive’ rules which, from the self’s perspective must be obeyed. These cardinal rules may look like this:

I have healthy boundaries.
I need to be respected.
When I say ‘No’ I will have my No’s honored.
I can express when I’m feeling neglected, ignored, insulted, unloved etc.
I will do all this for my self, because I need my SELF honored.
I AM Divinity with a capital D. Yes, I AM holy.
And if I’m not made holy by you… there are choices to be made. Unfortunately, not all of them are pretty (oops, Venus Rx slipped that one in there).

Whatever your cardinal rules are, they may come to you quite easily or difficult, depending. But oh how we wrestle with defining and then living by our cardinal rules. Which brings us back to knowing thy self.

During Aries season, we can pull on courage, honesty and desire for excellence in our quest for true self-hood. We will also see folks running around with a major case of mistaken identity – that is, substituting identi-ME for identity: it’s one nation of Me, baby! We’ve all known people who refuse to see any other way than their own and if we’re honest with our self, we’ve each stood accused here, too. The Libra Full Moon brings awareness of others into the mix: and in the process of negotiating relationship the insistence on ME can be a recipe for disaster -or- a necessary bargaining chip. Libra always cuts two ways, perpetually seeking two points of view. The chemical rush to keep fighting the good fight on behalf of ME can be tempting, even causing us to choose our POV over another person, or damage the core trust of relationship. But at other times there’s a clear benefit to standing up for oneself – and we may need to do just that. Conversely,it’s by entering the tempered, objective and realism of Libra that we can mistakenly bargain our Self away, too…because we sympathize.

Venus’ extra long continued passage through Aries (and her 3x square to Pluto) has been sharpening the blade, so we can get clear on our bottom line in relationship. If love had a temperature right now it would be officially feverish – emotions have run that hot and high and personal. We are getting to know our heart, and, as the English say, it’s a bloody mess. With Venus in the sign of the warrior, there are certain trespasses we simply can’t abide and that point has been driven relentlessly home by Pluto. Bottom line: we may be all reflective and retrograde and copasetic but we may not put the Self on the back burner any longer.

It’s a different kind of Libra Full Moon, far from the light and cheery this sign enjoys. With Venus in Aries retrograde, nothing can be smoothed over, or be that impersonal. Not really. The rose-colored glasses are officially being taken off. Against the back-drop of so much other change, we’re learning: that not every relationship is for us; not everyone will respect ME in the way I need to be respected; you may not be for me, and if you’re not for me you just may be against me (I swear I just heard a Libra gasp). Yes, these are horrible thoughts for a Libra to think or say, but they need to be thought and spoken nonetheless. It is helpful to remember that good, old-fashioned manners always serve relationship. Respect. Diplomacy. Tact. Objectivity. Listening. Refraining from Judgment. Understanding that the person in front of you has a vastly different POV, history, background and reality from yours is ultimately, in good taste (we’ll be learning lots more about social tact and good graces when Saturn enters Libra this September).

But right now, Aries season is about discovering your truth. The written in stone writ of your cardinal rules. As Venus turns direct (April 17 PDT) but hangs out in 29′ Pisces for a whole 7 days around then (April 13-20), it would be a terrible mistake to return to the boundary-less ‘we’re all one’ type of love over healthy self-love. Your lessons were hard learned. The cardinal rules, rule. Because when it comes down to it, if they’ve been violated, it won’t make a writ of difference to anyone but You.