Doing your little bit at the Aries Super Full Moon
Dear Reader,
In the days leading up to yesterday’s Full Moon, I got bitten by the Jane Goodall bug. I re-listened to her 2020 On Being conversation with Krista Tippett and watched the 2017 documentary film Jane along with its 2020 sequel Jane Goodall: The Hope. Jane died on October 1st, at the age of 91.
I had added the film Jane to my watchlist just before hearing about her passing. Naturally, as an astrologer, I turned to her birth chart. With her Sun and Mars both strong in Aries, opposing her prominent Jupiter in Libra (ruler of both her Sagittarius Ascendant and her Pisces Mercury), I wondered what Jane's life might reveal about this Full Moon in Aries square Jupiter.
Jane Goodall was a well-known primatologist who pioneered the study of wild chimpanzees by living among them in the Gombe forest in Tanzania and building personal relationships with them. In the 1960s, she was one of the first scientists to affirm that animals have personalities, minds, and emotions, challenging the scientific consensus that held these traits to be uniquely human.
She worked tirelessly throughout her life to conserve and care for chimpanzees and the human and more-than-human communities in which they are embedded, and to inspire (especially) young people to be the change they want to see, traveling around the world much of the year until her final days.
Guided by the Super Full Moon in Aries
This extra bright Full Moon perfected at 14 degrees of Aries on October 7th at 5:47 am CEST (convert to your local time here). The Moon in Aries — falling exactly between Jane’s Sun and Mars — is naturally opposing the Sun in Libra — close to Jane’s Jupiter. In many ways, Jane embodied the creative tension between courage and grace that’s so characteristic of the Aries-Libra axis.
She went into the forest pretty much by herself (accompanied by her mother only for the first few months, as requested by the authorities) — the first to study chimpanzees in the wild, without even a college degree. There she built trusting relationships with the chimps, learning to know them by name — like David Greybeard, the first to warm up to her — and affirming their individuality.
"Often I have gazed into a chimpanzee’s eyes and wondered what was going on behind them. […] David Greybeard had the most beautiful eyes of them all, large and lustrous, set wide apart. They somehow expressed his whole personality, his serene self-assurance, his inherent dignity — and, from time to time, his utter determination to get his way. For a long time I never liked to look a chimpanzee straight in the eye -- I assumed that, as is the case with most primates, this would be interpreted as a threat or at least as a breach of good manners. Not so. As long as one looks with gentleness, without arrogance, a chimpanzee will understand, and may even return the look. And then — or such is my fantasy — it is as though the eyes are windows into the mind. Only the glass is opaque so that the mystery can never be fully revealed." (Through a Window)
Later, in her work as an activist, she wasn’t afraid to be a contrarian, but she believed that “real change will only come from within” (Reason for Hope), choosing the path of dialogue and appealing to people’s hearts: “If you don’t sit down and talk to people, how can you expect they’re going to change?” (On Being)
Through her work with Roots & Shoots, a global youth program, Jane emphasized the power of the individual and their actions, big and small. She is remembered as someone who had the ability to make anyone — at any age — feel that they matter and that they can change the world.
"I’ve already said how I love trees. I think probably, my very favorite individual tree has to be Beech, in my garden. And when Beech began to grow, over 100 years ago, actually, it was from a pretty tiny seed. And if I had picked it up at that time, it would’ve seemed so small and weak, a little growing shoot and a few little roots. And yet, there is what I call magic. It’s a life force in that little seed, so powerful that to reach the water that the tree will need, those little roots can work through rocks and eventually, push them aside. And that little shoot, to reach the sunlight which the tree will need for photosynthesis, can work its way through cracks in a brick wall, and eventually, knock it down. And so we see the bricks and the walls as all the problems, social and environmental, that we have inflicted on the planet. So it’s a message of hope: hundreds and thousands of young people around the world can break through and can make this a better world." (On Being)
The Full Moon is moving into a square with Jupiter in Cancer (close to Jane’s and her generation’s Pluto), speaking to the hope that arises from our actions and the courage that arises from our care.
"Hope is often misunderstood. People tend to think that it is simply passive wishful thinking: I hope something will happen but I’m not going to do anything about it. This is indeed the opposite of real hope, which requires action and engagement." (The Book of Hope)
Mars, the ruler of Aries and presiding deity of the Full Moon, is strong in Scorpio, its other home sign. Mars in Scorpio (September 22nd – November 4th) is here to help us focus, strategize, and stay the course when things get intense.
Mercury, which moved into Scorpio on Monday, is widely conjoining Mars and moving from a square with Jupiter in Cancer to a square with Pluto (which perfected yesterday). This is an intensified Mercury about to re-emerge into visibility as an evening star. It carries a message about our ethics of care and their power to bring about real change.
Horoscope for the Full Moon in Aries on October 7th, 2025
The Full Moon in Aries & YOU
The Full Moon is the halfway point and peak in the lunar cycle — a moment that invites us to pause and take notice. Look back at the New Moon and Solar Eclipse in Virgo on September 21st. Reflect on what’s been unfolding in your life since then, especially as it relates to the areas of life signified by the Virgo house in your birth chart. Notice what’s being illuminated by the light of the Super Full Moon, especially in connection with your Aries house.
What is calling for your courage?
What fears are you ready to face?
What care can you give yourself as you do this?
What care are others needing from you?
Who is part of your hope for the future?
What small step can you take toward the life you really want to live?
Until next time...
I’ll write again around the time of the New Moon in Libra on October 21st, which marks the beginning of a new lunar month.
In the meantime, I invite you to take the questions woven into this newsletter with you — on your walk, into your journal, your dreamtime, or whatever creative, contemplative practice calls to you. I hope they help you weave yourself deeper into the mystery of this moment.
Wishing you gifts of courage and caring wherever you are!