From the Vault: A Re-Post of 'Anger As a Guiding Force' for the New Moon in Aries Conjunct Chiron and Black Moon Lilith

We wake tomorrow into a New Moon in Aries that marks a powerful impetus to action. 

We're required to follow our instincts very closely during the following lunar cycle (until April 22) and to check in with our emotional impulses and reactions regularly. We're being asked to use our anger (and the anger of others) as a guiding force, harnessing its raw power for productive and constructive ends.

Even in this time of increasing authoritarian control over our daily lives, there are actions we can take, and indeed, every independent action matters, now more than ever.

The New Moon occurs at 4 degrees Aries early tomorrow morning (1:28 a.m. PDT) at apogee, meaning it is the furthest the Moon can get in its orbit around the Earth. The lunar apogee is symbolized astrologically by Black Moon Lilith. In addition to being conjunct Black Moon Lilith, the New Moon occurs in an exact conjunction to wounded healer Chiron. The presence of both Black Moon Lilith and Chiron in Aries indicates emotional volatility and a certain "edge" to things. 

We're drawing on ancient suppression, ancient frustration, and ancient anger as this lunar cycle unfolds. This is bigger than just us (isn't it always?). This involves historical mistreatment by the violent and authoritarian power structures of this planet - the stepping on human rights, on the human spirit, on the right to live life unharassed and unmanipulated - and the anger from this historical mistreatment is being drawn into our courses of action this lunar month.

The emotion is very raw and very potent. If not channeled productively, it could become destructive, dangerous, toxic.

This is very intricate work, addressing historical sore spots in ourselves and others and doing it with the nuance and precision required, turning this anger, this raw and historical rage coming from every face that has ever felt the boot of tyranny and oppression on this planet, into useful fuel, into energy, action, and inspired movement.

Maintaining physical activity and movement is very important this month, even as these things are harshly constricted and controlled.  

Black Moon Lilith is the wild and raw feminine force that has been suppressed, pinned down, ignored, downplayed, used, abused, spit at. We're drawing from some very deep zones in our emotional landscapes this lunar month, and these areas are refusing to be pushed down, shut up, or controlled any longer. We're standing up and making ourselves count, making ourselves known, in areas where we have been stepped on or discounted previously. Our experiences matter. We matter. And the actions we take now matter, too.

We're standing up for ourselves and for our rights as natural and sovereign human beings this lunar month. As we stand up for ourselves, we stand up for all those who never got that chance - or who do not have that chance now. We reach back into our lineages, both physical and spiritual, and we take action in our own lives that was inaccessible to so many generations prior. We do the things they wish they had had the opportunity to do, and we do it with their backing.    

What follows is an article from the WWA vault, reaching way back to March of 2009. This was written for the Venus retrograde in Aries, but the themes of it are carried into this Aries New Moon and the following lunar cycle:

From March 15, 2009: Venus in Aries Retrograde and Anger as a Guiding Force

Anger is helpful. There is nothing unspiritual or shameful about anger. It's there to guide us, as an impetus to action. Anger flares up to tell us something is not quite right and needs to be addressed, to be made right.

There are many situations and circumstances on Planet Earth where anger is necessary, vital. To not feel anger/irritation/annoyance in these situations and circumstances shows that the spirit is broken in some way.

Retrograding Venus in Aries is here now, in part, to strengthen our relationship with our own anger. To help us use it properly, to follow its constructive impulses and to learn to love its wisdom.

Venus in Aries is also making sure we're tapped into the raw power of who we are. That we're not compromising ourselves too much or dulling our flames in any way within our relationships or social settings.

So many times in our relations, we ignore the little warning flares of anger. Libra (ruled by Venus) likes harmony and doesn't want to rock the boat. It will often downplay its own feelings for the supposed greater good of the relationship. The problem is - this is not actually good for the relationship. It creates a level of falsity, and over time those flickers of anger we've ignored and internalized become big resentments.

Those flickers of anger are actually meant to be the impetus to action. They're there to tell us to exert our will and make a move, in whatever direction feels right. When we ignore these signals and subvert our will, even in the tiniest ways, we don't get where we need to be within our relationships and in our lives, in general. We end up in a place that doesn't feel right and isn't what we really, truly want.

Every tiny flicker of anger is purposeful and is trying to tell you something about a move that needs to be made.

We're getting a second chance now with Venus retrograding in Aries to work with these co-mingling forces of love and war and to align with the guiding flickers of annoyance, irritation, and anger within our relations with others. No pretending they're not there!

These themes are especially important for Pluto in Libras (1971 - 1984). Our evolutionary work of "cutting the shit" in relationships and creating true equality hinges a great deal on our mastery of Aries within those relationships. Developing the polarity point to our Pluto placement is crucial to our success.

Because I understand the importance of Aries energy for Pluto in Libras (and being one myself), I feel that there is a misstep within the "spirituality of the day" regarding anger. It is the promotion of the idea that "enlightened" people don't get angry. That we have to purify ourselves of anger and "transcend" anger-inducing circumstances.

Horse hooey.

The anger is there to show us what needs to be changed. Anger is our ally when we align with its raw, constructive directional potential and channel it in productive ways.

I think it's when we deny our anger, ignore it, and cover it over day-by-day - and maybe more importantly, when we are denied our legitimate anger by others - that it becomes dangerous and spills out in less constructive ways.

Instead of listening to people's frustrations, respecting the perspective, and working to understand and address what is causing the anger, there's a New Agey knee-jerk reaction to talk people out of it, to explain it away according to some motto or creed (that often involves a requirement to be "more evolved" or "more enlightened"). It all just needs to be healed with a cup of medicinal tea and a big old group hug!

Uhhh...no. Healing can only happen when the root causes of the pain and anger are addressed. Anger is a symptom. Again with the treatment of symptoms rather than the more difficult work of getting to the nitty gritty root causes.

When people try to talk me out of my darker feelings and show me the "error" of my ways, all I can think is: the only thing that might help is you being less of a dumbass. Instead of dumping superficial and unsolicited "healing advice" on me, try going a little deeper. Take on your fair share of the consciousness and do something constructive to try to improve circumstances, or honestly, just step aside because we're pretty much done.

So many people seem to instantly feel "more evolved" or wise than a person who is expressing anger, and there is a lazy tendency to write people off as "angry" and "negative," as if this is actual meaningful analysis. The fact that the individual is supposedly fundamentally flawed in these ways creates the problems, they say, not the other way around.

Well, isn't that convenient? Again, this lets the collective off the hook for any group, systemic, or institutional responsibility for righting wrongs. It also lacks any sort of understanding that an individual could be taking on difficult life circumstances in order to understand and bring things to light that the collective has been ignoring or denying for too long. This turns the canary in the coal mine into the problem itself.

We don't move on until these things are addressed. Got it?

When we don't take action on anger's instructional impulses, or when we are made unable to take action due to systemic/institutional set-ups, anger becomes toxic to our systems, creating roiling, resentful rage and/or depression. That's when things can get ugly. Think of a kid being bullied in school who has his initial complaints constantly ignored or downplayed - and then one day just erupts into violence.

I would argue it's the constant writing off of other people's frustrations and anger, and the resulting continuation of the root circumstances, that takes things to that next level - rage.

This is why I'm choosing to hammer home this point. The denial and condemnation of anger within the "spirituality of the day," and particularly within New Age ideology, is actually dangerous. Those puppies and unicorns have box cutters, y'all.

But honouring our feelings of anger, listening to them, getting to the root of what is making us angry, and then taking action on it - and making space for this process in relationships and social settings? That's a beautiful thing. And we get a chance to experience that beauty right now.

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