Frenemies

Aries Full Moon Deep Dive

“You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.” -Proverbs 27:17-21

We need to challenge each other— and our own ideas— if we’re going to stay sharp.

I mean, we’re still benefitting from the output of professional-grade arguments some old Greek guys had 2,000 years ago. You know: little stuff like democracy, science, philosophy, and logic, not to mention the deceptively deep stories about the Greek Gods— like Aries and Eris— and the astrological system as we currently know it.

Some pretty cool stuff came out of that culture’s obsession with epistemology: the theory of knowledge, especially with regard to its methods, validity, and scope.

But this incredible, sharpening process doesn’t work if we’re overly concerned with being polite. In fact, it requires us to be a bit disagreeable. While basic civility is always a good thing, a little aggression mixed with some momentary discomfort is a natural part of the intellectual exploration of ideas and pursuit of intrinsic truth.

Besides, we learn so much about ourselves, each other, and the nature of our reality when we’re out of our comfort zones, when the stakes feel high, and when we’re literally testing our metal. It’s hard work and it’s kind of scary, but it’s also totally exhilarating.

And this is the energy of this Aries Full Moon, lighting up our skies and our minds on September 29th.

For this month’s Aries Full Moon Deep Dive, we are going to explore the attributes of the sign of Aries, named after the Ancient Greek god of aggression and war. Aries is ruled by the head, the seat of our sophisticated intellectual prowess and strategic supercomputer. But Aries is also the represented by the ram in astrology, an animal pathologically compelled to literally bang into other animals with its head.

It’s a bit of a paradox, but that’s Aries energy in a nutshell.

For this Aries Full Moon Deep Dive, we’ll dig into the very Aries art of going “head to head” in a debate, Aries’ unlikely frenemy Eris— the Greek Goddess of strife— and how to use this month’s Aries Full Moon to get a bit sharper in every area of our lives.

Sometimes, we need to embrace the art of confrontation— whether it’s with another person, a group or organization, or our own, internal and outdated myths. We shouldn’t be combative as a default setting, but we should feel comfortable questioning previously-held beliefs, limiting dogmas, and those that word-salad their way into positions of authority— especially when that authority is spiritual in nature.

Skepticism, curiosity, and most importantly discernment are all crucial assets in the shamanic toolkit, urging us to ask the tough questions and challenge conventional orthodoxy to get to esoteric and existential truths. This toolkit also helps us avoid grifters and negative entities and even the mundane problems that come from hitting mental cruise control for a little too long.

This coming month is all about getting sharp again, and in this Full Moon Deep Dive we’re going to explore key tips, tricks, exercises and resources to leverage to harness the fiery, invigorating energy of this Aries Full Moon.