by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this month's Aquarius New Moon chart which will throw us hearing a call to a life renewal and stir up broader horizons. Open up!! We’ll continue to structure new magnetism and new long term patterns of growth through unique gifts turning defeats into victory. Keep shedding old “skins of personality” to come out tougher, clearer, and more focused.
This Lunation, along with the inner planets, continues sign concentrations within the usual "anchoring" span occupied by slow moving planets. This slow, steady pulse runs from Saturn in Scorpio through Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces to Uranus in Aries. In this New Moon, there is a huge cluster of planets in Aquarius and Pisces, showing that area of our charts will be fairly intense and active for the next few weeks.
In a curious occurrence, the “Bucket” Jones Pattern effectively has two “nozzles” at present. Jupiter in Gemini has been a primary nozzle for quite some time, since it’s been outside the occupied span. However, due to where Saturn is right now, it also serves as an “alternative focus” for the rest of the energies.
They are each fairly far away (a sextile, or 60 degrees) from their nearest neighbors, indicating they operate as “independent agents,” so to speak. Saturn at the beginning of the span, as well as Jupiter at the end of the span, each and both serve to focus energy.
Saturn is the nozzle for, and focuses Capricorn through Gemini; Jupiter is the nozzle for, and focuses Scorpio through Aries. Students of the craft should take note, since each are equally in play, but involving very different energies focused through very different signs. They both involve us learning to being open to whatever they're about.
So What is a “Bucket Pattern” and how does it work?
This type of spread, with all the planets in about half the signs with one outside that span wide enough to be a handle, creates a “Bucket” Jones Pattern. The energies of the occupied half are focused through the “handle,” or “nozzle,” in this case Jupiter and Saturn are termed “focal determinator,” and represents the way to greater effectiveness, the cause to be embraced, the lack to be filled, or the way to use the total energies of this time in a focused manner.
Based on where Jupiter is relative to the other planets shows the pattern to be more impulsive, and “inclined to respond to an immediate rather than future promise.” Those who are focusing Saturn will be more cautious, and focused on end results.
Dr. Jones states “the bucket type indicates a particular and rather uncompromising direction in the life effort.” This pattern gives “interest in a cause,” with executive tendencies that will adapt allegiances to maximize results of the effort. He says “the bucket type at its best reveals the real instructor and inspirer of others, and at its worst the agitator and malcontent.” This is the larger planetary pattern within which we’re all trying to do what we do.
We are also told this pattern is more about finding an effective release for energy within social settings, but also about the self imposing its pattern on society rather than adapting to what is there. It’s about focused intention. So all of us can expect some sort of focused attention on the houses where we have early Gemini and early Scorpio.
Of the traditional 10 planets, there are 4 in Water, 4 in Air, 1 planets in Earth, and 1 in Fire. That shows a heavy emphasis on feelings, relationships, interactions and communications, with very little on getting things done, being efficient and practical, and organizing things so they are in our “enlightened self-interest.” The deficiency of Earth and Fire shows very little inspiration and warmth, so it’s really a very changeable time where feelings will run high at the end of the year cycle.
That means we’ll have to continue to be inspired via our own uniqueness and the ongoing revolution in self-awareness that we’re all going through during this time of Uranus in Aries, and find practicality in seeing to the core of things and “refining wilderness” in our inner and outer affairs. As Venus leads this Lunation, it makes the area in our charts where we have mid-Aquarius of extra importance, and indicates a time to go within, find inspiration in a new discovery of a greater contribution, and find those who share that feeling-vision.
Air and Earth are cool, Fire and Water are hot. With so many planets in , so with more planets in Water and Air, it will be a time when both emotions and ideas run high. It could bring great interactions, ideas, and plans where everyone feels connected on deep and vast levels. This is a time to recognize what you feel, and move that idea into experience with others.
So wherever we have Scorpio, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries is going to be highly active, due to the presence of 8 planets in that 144 degree span. The 27 ½ degree span between Venus at 11 Aquarius and Mercury at 8 Pisces with Chiron at 9 Pisces is particularly active. If you have a planet anywhere in that area of the zodiac, you’re going to go through major changes in the part of your psyche represented by the planet and the part of your external affairs symbolized by the house it’s in.
The general theme is that through our openness and willingness to take a higher road or a higher view, while feeling more deeply and compassionately and “hearing the call to a life renewal,” we will find ourselves operating on multiple levels of life simultaneously. This will allow us to find fulfillment and self-reliance in doing whatever we must to reach a higher level of social functioning. Ultimately, over the next few weeks we can grow safely and happily with others in secure life conditions, so be grateful for the opportunities to expand into interactions that help us leave past disappointments behind.
Continuing the metaphor, Saturn in Scorpio is like bone regeneration, or the elimination of all in our skin and bones that would block our humanitarian instincts, whether toward ourselves or others. We’ve already turned the corner, and many have already done the hard elimination or reconstruction work that position indicates we’re all going though in our own ways and times.
On a final note about Jones Patterns, Saturn will be leading the occupied span for many months to come since it’s a long time until the inner planets are in Leo, Virgo, or Libra. Along with Jupiter, it will be a focus for the energies set off by the other transits through the Spring. However, by May-June, the larger pattern will alternate between Bucket and Locomotive, but once Jupiter and Saturn are in trine, a lot of what we’ve been dealing with that seems unfocused and spread out will stabilize.
Important Aspects
Remember that in reading a Lunation chart (as well as a horary, inceptional, electional, or any event chart) the forming aspects show things to come, while separating aspects show things already past. This New Moon makes only two forming aspects, while the other planets make several important productive and stabilizing forming aspects.
The only forming aspects the Lunation makes are the wide semisquare to Pluto, and the close biseptile to Jupiter. The semisquare shows an “inner crisis of emergence,” in this case meaning we get to move into unknown zones of practical effectiveness while leaving disappointment behind.
The biseptile will put our sense of expansion and future opportunity at a point where some things are going to come forth in public ways, some spectacularly, some showing the end harvest of what we began last May, June, and July. This sets up current and future “forks in the road of destiny” wherever we have late Aquarius and early Gemini, affecting those houses in our charts, as well as wherever we have Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, and Pisces on the house cusp.
Those with planets or sensitive points in their charts in any of the seven zones triggered by this aspect will be most affected. Expect major shifts in direction, understanding, and vision if you have a planet around 20-24 Aquarius, 12-16 Aries, 4-8 Gemini, 25-29 Cancer, 16-20 Virgo, 7-11 Scorpio, 29 Sagittarius-3 Capricorn.
This will begin movement on something we’ve been promised since June or July 2012. Though something dramatic may or may not show itself these next 4 weeks, there will be a new tide in movement that will lead many to combine faith and works to find the sustenance they need.
Besides the major aspects mentioned earlier, other forming aspects include Mercury and Mars both trine Saturn and sextile Pluto, Venus conjunct the Sun and square Saturn, Mars in a strong square to Jupite, Jupiter triseptile Saturn, Saturn biquintile Uranus and sextile Pluto discussed in an early article, and now that Uranus is again direct in motion, we’re back to a forming Uranus square Pluto!
As noted last month and in this series, Jupiter triseptile Saturn is setting up some “fork in the road of destiny” events for many of us!
This also happens to increase Jupiter’s influence in this Lunation, since Saturn is in a very powerful triseptile to Jupiter, adding another layer of irrational, “fork in the road of destiny” energy to the next 4 weeks. Last month Jupiter was the focus of the very powerful Yod, or “Finger of God” I wrote about extensively at the time.That squeezed a lot out of our lives so we could refocus on whatever Jupiter in Gemini indicates in our charts. Those sacrifices that helped us expand in some way have now led us to a major turning point in the Sag, Aquarius, Aquarius, and Pisces areas of our lives via the house affairs where we have Gemini and Scorpio.
The separating aspects show reality already experienced, or things already set into motion. Aspects of note are the Lunation semisquare Uranus, Mercury conjunct Mars, square Jupiter, and conjunct Neptune, Venus trine Jupiter and sextile Uranus, Mars conjunct Neptune, and Jupiter sextile Uranus and square Neptune. Taken together it shows we’ve come out of recent depth realizations while feeling submerged, waiting to act. Overall it’s been a productive period, with productivity despite unexpected revelations.
The Sabian Symbols for the New Moon
A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following 4 weeks will demonstrate. This Lunation falls at 22 Aquarius. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol is "A rug placed on a floor for children to play.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of “Life’s warmth and richness given to those who eagerly learn to live,” “Luxurious self-knowing, or self-appreciation,” and “Comfort.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves "the warmth of understanding which comes to those who, early in life, are open to new possibilities.” He states this degree shows us how we’re “left without assistance when eagerly seeking to grow emotionally and spiritually” so we can “realize the intent and value of what sustains (our) self-development and cushions the shocks which life provides (our) growth in understanding.”
He continues that this symbol “contrasts the kindness inherent in … life situations with the tragic feeling of disillusionment” preceding this symbol. He states “through a warm appreciation of basic opportunities and even small comforts, we can safely and happily grow into personal maturity.”
He says it falls in the span of Perspective, and it's the second degree of the emotional-cultural level of the scene of Management in the Act of Capitalization. So for this month we’re being taught how to appreciate our comforts as we grow into a more secure growth pattern, and many may find much to appreciate about their path, their skills, and their self-knowing,.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the degree is one of “the unlimited service of life at large to the special requirements of an individual’s comfort or everyday convenience.” This is about our ability to find what we need for self-development, where we are “ever discovering (ourselves) in situations where (we) may concentrate (our) efforts to the best possible advantage on the perfection and employment of (our) personal skills.”
He offers us the keyword of REFINEMENT. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is "unusual capacity for the exploitation of immediate resources and the deepening of every potential of selfhood.”
So we enter a time of feeling appreciation and gratitude for how we’ve been protected and sometimes even made comfortable during our times of growth out of disappointment and discouragement. Our openness will show us how to grow appropriately into a greater individual expression.
Here we see how we’ve been given the exact circumstances we needed to grow out of unhelpful feelings and interpersonal disappointments. We may now find ourselves in situations where we can concentrate on refining and using our personal skills to develop what we need and deepen our potential.
Other Influences
Pluto, the Cosmic Purifier, will be in Capricorn for many years. It continues to teach us deep lessons about practical, organized economy of energy and efficiency in sprouting seed forms of the new "laws of our lives" we can relax into. 2012 was mainly about being organized in finding and demonstrating ways to get beyond fear and radiate harmlessness and mature fellowship with Nature, whether your own, another's, or Nature Herself.
The next 4 weeks continues to be a time to open to new ways of viewing how to claim our divine power and express it creatively and without fear as we refine the coarse into the elegant, the wilderness into gardens. Here our Divine Power works to bring out the latent richness in ourselves, others, and circumstances, where we may “capitalize on opportunity” productively to create thought forms that will take form beginning mid-March.
As noted in previous articles in this series, due to the effect of the very strong Gemini eclipse of June 2011 being activated by Jupiter in the recent past through the Spring of 2013, we are still being liberated from the ghosts of the past and letting go of burdens we no longer need to bear.
Having found what we've been looking for and opened to new ways of doing our Being, we can be more natural in our search for deeper insights into meaning and processes as we reach out to new and more complex vistas of potential interactions. The Gemini Solar Eclipse of 2012 was also important in continuing the process of letting go of the ghosts of the past, along with opening us to newer, deeper insights even as it shut down even more of the Gemini areas of our lives. I’ve added links to those articles at the bottom of this one so you can check out how it continues the pattern of the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse, and adds a new dimension of understanding what’s ending and why in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Jupiter in Gemini continues to invite us to open to new ideas, new perspectives, and new ways of seeing what’s fair and what isn’t. We have been learning how to take the patience we cultivated while Jupiter was in Taurus between June 2011 and June 2012, and since then have had opportunities to open to alternative ways of understanding new discoveries and new interactions that will rapidly open between January and June 2013.
Be open to new ideas and perspectives, new ways to learn and see the higher truths all around you. Jupiter accelerating allows us to see various ways to discover and adapt to our expanding vision so we can become more versatile in becoming part of the "corrective force of Nature Herself."
In practicing our unique individuality we can become the answer to some collective need, whether large or small. This is the time to do, learn, or communicate something that arises through a recognition of some need of the inner Self. Expect some interesting things to assert themselves!
In this Lunation Jupiter is now direct in motion, showing us the tide has turned and it’s time to set sail! We can now take what we reviewed of the truths and visions of 2012 and see new ways of communicating with others and new ways of interpreting what we’ve been discovering since June 2012. As it is on its stationary direct degree, it’s the first point where this energy is set into motion, a moment from which many things will rapidly develop.
So this begins the remainder of our Jupiter in Gemini adventure that lasts through June. The stationary direct degree shows us the platform underneath all that we reach out toward during the next year. The degree is “An old fashioned well,” and we are told it’s a degree of “personal self-renewal and simple organic integrity.”
It’s where we take in and give out the substance of who we are, and are compensated for our efforts. It promises self-reliance and “uncompromising faithfulness,” inner assurance, poise, and holds the promise that if we can sense what is hidden that will nourish us, and then do the simple effort to bring it up to the surface of our lives, then we will find “a fundamental trust in and cooperation with life.”As noted in a previous article, this Lunation is the fifth New Moon with Saturn in Scorpio. We have now cultivated a new strength over the past few months, come to a philosophical completion, and finished repairing or reconstructing something so that some final dues are now paid and old karmas left behind. We are growing into a new intensity, focus, emotional depth, and greater maturity relative to shared values, shared resources, deeper ability to commune with others as well as Nature and Spirit, and getting a more structured connection and a more powerful Spiritual linkage with others and ourselves.
We’re shifting the pattern of Feeling-Thinking-Deciding with this New Moon. The past two have shown that specific pattern of leading with feelings, then finding ideas and information, and then making decisions. This New Moon shows that over the next 4 weeks we lead with feelings, but then must make decisions and act. Then we need to go find ideas, information, and new visions that can help us update our perceptual files.
So we’ll be “feeling our way” into new experiences, getting hunches about decisions and the need for action, after which we need to get newer, more up to date information that leads us to a new view and allows us to drop old perceptual boxes and frames. After getting the new information and vision, then it will naturally lead to a new set of feelings, experiences, and hunches about what to do next to fulfill that new vision.
So feel what must be felt, experience what must be experienced (even if it seems that the past is still more powerful than we’d like!) and just do it! Look at the simple necessity and then act on that. Then go get the information you need to get clear about what must be done and how, and find a new way of understanding or viewing where you want that act to take you. After seeing or understanding it differently, then go back to your feelings, and let them move you into the next decision and/or action. Then get more information, communicate what must be communicated until you get a clear vision, and that will in turn lead to new feelings and experiences.
Due to the powerful septiles at work involving Moon, Sun, Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus, it’s safe to say this Lunation will set destiny into motion wherever we have Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces in our charts. That’s 2/3 of our existence that will hit a fork in the road in some way.
Allow your inner worth to be certified by outer interactive events, and trust that as you tune into Nature, She will show you what to do to receive your nourishment. Be consciously grateful for the opportunities you’ve had in the past, and continue to have as you move through the Now, to grow safely and happily into a newer, more playful way of managing your life and moving into your higher ideals.
We’ve now moved into unknown Pluto zones, can experience the “indestructible” parts of our Higher Self, and know what it’s like to express our unique qualities in multiple realms simultaneously. Play to your expansive ideas, finish the next phase of overcoming fear, and move out of difficult relationships and into highly productive and stabilizing ways of coordinating your life.
Over the past two months, we’ve been given techniques to shortcut our process of evolution in some way. First through Mars, and then through Venus, the last two New Moons showed us ways to get a vision, find a plan, and execute it in the right time, and quicken our evolution in significant ways. Now we get to take it up and out in some way through finding a new inspiration in silent moments so we can hear a call to renewal. Eliminate all that doesn’t serve your highest social and cultural expression, and be versatile as you learn to navigate the flow of the many tides at work in this time of Pisces.
Besides the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse that triggered the Grand Irrationality for years after, we’ve also had a couple of other Solar Eclipses since then that continue to affect all of us. Here are the articles explaining the "Ring of Fire" 2012 Solar Eclipse in Gemini still playing out on the world stage and in our lives in major ways!
Astrology in May 2012 - On The Threshold of an Annular Solar Eclipse at 1 Gemini
The Solar Eclipse at 1 Gemini May 20-21, 2012 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
The Solar Eclipse at 1 Gemini May 20-21, 2012 Pt. 2 - How Will It Manifest?
The Solar Eclipse at 1 Gemini May 20-21, 2012 Pt. 3 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means
Since November and December 2012 brought inner planet transits very close to the degree of the November 2011 Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius (which is still in full force), and the Gemini Eclipses have opposed that Sagittarian Solar Eclipse, here are some links for you to compare and contrast how they are similar and different:
The Solar Eclipse at 3 Sagittarius November 24-25, 2011 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
The Solar Eclipse at 3 Sagittarius November 24-25, 2011 Pt. 2 - How Will It Manifest?
© Copyright 2013 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks, Robert. Went through an abrupt and kind of mean-spirited break-up but have found a lot of comfort in my friendships - with people I didn't really realize cared for me as much as they do - so it's been a much appreciated reminder of the wealth of having different kinds of intimate connections. Or as you wrote, "a time of feeling appreciation and gratitude for how we’ve been protected and sometimes even made comfortable during our times of growth out of disappointment and discouragement."
Posted by: lee | February 10, 2013 at 11:22 AM
oh right, so that push pull of the 2 nozzles is also in play, so that adds more info to my question on previous page too, now if I had just been patient till I read this lol!
Posted by: debbie | February 10, 2013 at 03:48 PM
Thanks for the insights. Indeed we are living thorough interesting times and opportunitites are there for us to grow.
Posted by: Nic | February 11, 2013 at 03:38 AM
Hi Robert and all,
Comment on unexpected news of Pope Benedict's resignation? With all your articles as background, I have faith we will have a good soul elected to that role and soon, but am nonetheless thrown for a loop by the surprise of it. Blessings and gratitudes, K.
Posted by: ka | February 11, 2013 at 11:31 AM
"So feel what must be felt, experience what must be experienced (even if it seems that the past is still more powerful than we’d like!) and just do it! Look at the simple necessity and then act on that. Then go get the information you need to get clear about what must be done and how, and find a new way of understanding or viewing where you want that act to take you. After seeing or understanding it differently, then go back to your feelings, and let them move you into the next decision and/or action. Then get more information, communicate what must be communicated until you get a clear vision, and that will in turn lead to new feelings and experiences."
Really connected with this, and applied today. Really helpful for my Mercury Rx conjunct
Sun in Leo, and more of a follow through, on all parts Holistically.
I had to get a professional photo face front, and submit it for a job. Was a learning and growing experience, and feeling vulnerable exposed, yet authentic, and not so a out of body experience. Captured. Wow. Thanks for the enlightening article.
Posted by: Nancy Robinson | February 11, 2013 at 11:32 AM
On a tangential note, as this new moon ushers in a new Chinese New Year, Happy Year of the Water Snake everyone!
Posted by: Matt | February 11, 2013 at 04:53 PM
Hi all - Thanks for checking in on this article. It slipped downstream quickly, and I've been dealing with typepad's new spam catcher which seems intent on grabbing many legit comments, as well as my answers.
Benedict's resignation may have been unexpected, but not surprising, given how much he's aged even in the past few months. Mars square Jupiter was the exact aspect, but obviously there's more to it than just that. Probably something got set into motion when Jupiter was in early Pisces that has led to this event.
And yes, Matt, Happy Year of the Water Snake! I'd compose something but have too many other articles to write, including the coming Mercury retrograde series followed immediately by the Full Moon articles. When too much is demanded, some things will ultimately fall through the cracks.....
Posted by: Robert | February 15, 2013 at 07:47 AM