by Robert Wilkinson
A Solar Eclipse is a New Moon. It shows the seed of what is to follow, not just for weeks, but for years.
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Gemini will expand and help us to new discoveries related to the recent Aries wave of major conjunctions that began to stabilize during the past month. These discoveries will show us the way to be liberated from some element of the past we do not need to carry with us into our new lives.
This Eclipse is conjunct the South Node at 24 Gemini, showing the line of least resistance is focused on our ability to demonstrate free will and self initiative in achieving movement despite limiting conditions. By following the line of least resistance, showing what we've already learned and must simply demonstrate, we can let go of old ways of seeing and communicating and "develop character and a transcendent approach to the environment."
Here we demonstrate our particular way to show the world what we've been learning through the North Node in Sagittarius. The line of greatest development involves the rewards that come from integrating into a social environment in peaceful and happy ways, and "the blessings bestowed upon all those who are true to themselves." We are told the line of greatest development is on of "unexpected assistance," "happiness," and "good fortune."
So the Light of the New Moon is shining on "self-recreation," "relaxation," "appreciation," and "adventure in experience." Here our dynamic self-expression yields forms of fun, where we find a "soul-satisfying experiment in the infinitely varying channels of possible self-discovery."
Grow toward experiences that reward our "worthiness of self as the foundation for self-fulfillment," be creatively alert to possible good fortune, and radiate good will and "proficiency of self-interest." These will demonstrate through the illuminated South Node qualities.
This is the ninth in a sequence of New Moons that fall in the same sign as the following Full Moon. It is the next in the 12 phases of how things come to be each year. The cycle could be described as follows: Life energy is initiated in Aries, substantiated in Taurus, explored in Gemini, grounded in Cancer, renewed in Leo, refined in Virgo, balanced in Libra, purified in Scorpio, expanded in Sagittarius, organized in Capricorn, solidified into a vision in Aquarius, and ended/perpetuated in Pisces.
This New Moon at 12 Gemini puts the focus on new discoveries connected to the initiatives and new beginnings opened by the recent entry of Jupiter and all the other inner planets into Aries and then substantiated and solidified during the time Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars have transited Taurus.
This Lunation jumpstarts Gemini energy wherever it falls in our chart. This period involves letting go of the "ghosts of the past," liberating our understanding and mind of past conceptions that have no place in our new life directives. Jupiter entered Aries in January, ending an old vision and quest forever while setting the tone for the new initiatives since then.
The past month we've mobilized and acquired some of what we need to further those initiatives over the next year, and now must sort out what we need to leave behind while asserting our rights in order to grow through new experiences, new situations, and new understanding. These different perspectives can assist the past to give way to the present which is rapidly blossoming into radical new futures.
We've now been given time to drop all that is irrelevant or superfluous, and found short cuts to quicken our evolution. Keep displaying courage and using the effective "camouflage" you discovered in the recent past. The past gave way to the present-future in Summer 2010, when new archetypal roles emerged that challenged us to structure a balanced self-initiative and be more authentic in living an ideal.
This New Moon has an individual, mental, and spiritual focus. As it falls in Gemini, Mercury is the worldly and spiritual ruler of this New Moon. Mercury is in Taurus, making that solidifying energy prominent. Forming aspects to the New Moon and Mercury show the backdrop to what's coming over these next 4 weeks.
Because of where the planets are, Venus in Taurus is still the "final dispositor" for all the other planetary energies, making it a very powerful influence in this Eclipse. Due to its Sabian Symbol, we should all be anchored in a quest for what is meaningful to us personally in our society or culture. It also shows we can anchor a "spiritual discrimination" that helps us "get to the heart of any matter," using memory and keenness of perception.
Due to the way the planets are spread out this Lunation, the North Node and Pluto lead the pattern, which closes with the Lunation and South Node. All these energies focus through Saturn, making that planet particularly powerful. Saturn in this Eclipse chart indicates we need to find a greater kindness in how and what we communicate, as well as a willingness to assist or cooperate, or be assisted.
This is the second of 4 New Moons with Neptune in Pisces. These will give us a front end look at how Neptune will function through 2025, so welcome to intuitions of the whole as we finish this transition through "the Winter of the 21st Century" on our way to Spring, beginning in 2025!
Due to Neptune and Chiron both in early Pisces, we are being offered chances to learn about bargaining and trade-offs, with the ultimate payoff a deeper and larger feeling of being connected to others as we enter into greater dedications in collective setups. Though Chiron is now past "The Cusp of the Age," Neptune is still there, and will be for many months to come.
Over the past year both of these planets have shown us our unique part to play within a larger light/life field. These planets, being on "the cusp of the Age," have shown us global lessons we all must embrace, and help us to graduate into a new view of how we are an essential part of a greater whole.
This is the next Lunation featuring Saturn in Libra, a phenomenon that will last through late 2012. What we learned from Saturn in Virgo in 2007-2009 got refined by Saturn in Libra between November 2009 and April 2010, which was a front end look at what we've been dealing with since last August. These early Libra lessons will be prominent through Summer 2011.
Saturn continues to be a very powerful influence since it is the nozzle of the Bucket Jones pattern and in its sign of "exaltation." That means Saturn's discipline and personal power focus is able to become very effective as it shows balance, rhythm, moderation, and reasonableness in how we demonstrate it.
Saturn as nozzle for all the other planets makes it the primary focus of the Lunation, and again brings us new lessons related to the duties, responsibilities, and sense of limits set into motion in January related to understanding consequences from past actions and inactions, as well as the need to be aware of future consequences for our actions or the actions of another. Links to this at the bottom of this article.
Also important is that we first got these lessons related to 11 Libra back in October 2010, so we are getting a final concentration of experience related to those Saturn issues. As Saturn is now on the degree where it will go stationary direct on June 12-13, we're now done with our review set into motion January 2011, and will now have to demonstrate how we've been instructed related to past, present, or future consequences of past and present actions and inactions.
As noted, due to the "Bucket" pattern, Saturn is currently the nozzle focusing the energy of all the other planets clustered between Capricorn and Gemini. So all the collective energy represented by the cluster of planets between Pluto in early Capricorn and the New Moon in mid-Gemini will be focused through the only planet outside the Bundle (except for Pluto lurking off to the side in Capricorn), the awesome Saturn. Saturn shows the cause, the effort, the problem, the solution, the release, the focus, the point of just about everything confronting us now and in the near future.
If you need a way to deal with something or someone, reference Saturn in Libra and the lessons of balance, justice, fairness, and proportion you've been learning. Naturally, the usual Saturn keywords will be crucial to effective behavior - patience, discipline, organization, patience, maturity, wisdom, patience, authority, responsibility, and of course, patience.
Even if things go in hectic intense bursts due to the Solar Eclipse triggering the Grand Irrationality, keep finding ways to liberate yourself from unhelpful views and attitudes while staying on track with the new elements that have presented themselves over the past 3 months. Find the right angle on karmic consequences, and keep learning the rules of whatever system you're dealing with, or acting within, showing as much balance, grace, and equipoise as you can, given Saturn's penchant for heaviness.
We are all learning a lot about Dharma during Saturn's stay in Libra, as well as what we should not be trying to prop up through a misplaced sense of responsibility or obligation. If we run into roadblocks or delays, it should tell us a lot about patience, as well as what limitations and burdens we can live with and what we cannot.
Besides being important as the nozzle focusing the energy of the Bucket, in general Saturn continues to usher in allies, friends, fellow truth-seekers, more balanced views, and corrective actions as techniques for community building or group awareness. Since January 2010, "greatness calling itself to itself" has been in the air, and we completed major lessons around that theme between January and September 2010.
All the transfigurations in our actions and relationships we've done since January 2010 have led us to do some "repair work," where we confronted the consequences of past actions, whether our own or another's. We've had opportunities to retire from old dramas to free energy to reconstruct elements of our life that bring us joy. Now is the time to rededicate ourselves in some quest for knowledge, and bring to the surface what offers warmth and light.
Though not specifically related to this New Moon, as with recent New Moon articles, here's some backstory to what we've all been learning via Saturn these past 20 months.
Starting October 2009 Saturn began to show us new archetypes, perspectives, or roles, as well as larger cycles, larger possibilities, and the dawning of a new day in our lives. Between January and early April 2010, due to Saturn retrograde, we re-traced the ground of the "first run" of manifesting a new ideal, a new archetype, and a new sense of self within interpersonal and collective circumstances.
We revisited and finished up our Saturn in Virgo lessons between April and July 2010, at which time Saturn re-entered Libra and began to firm up our new archetypal expressions. This was activated in a powerful way in late July when Mars entered Libra and conjuncted Saturn at the critical first degree. Since then we've experienced a new set of life expressions. Once Mars conjuncted Uranus at 1 Aries in early April, those energies began to surface in new and individualized ways.
The past October 2010 New Moon in Libra continues to be important since that Lunation lit up the Libra area near where Saturn has occupied during the past several and future New Moons. That means the Libra seeds that came forth in October and early November 2010 will continue to acquire more solid form and structure through August 2011.
Taken together, these important factors in this Eclipse New Moon point to possibilities of understanding what parts of the past have no more place in our lives, and stabilize our understanding of our inner balance, or balance our perspectives.
This Lunation can help us get new information in order to assert our right to our own view. Just make sure it's balanced and not heavy handed, and if you're confronting an imbalanced or heavy handed person, be diplomatic while putting space between the two of you. I recently had to do this myself with someone who was being very unfair and dictatorial.
Overall, due to the mix of Taurus and Gemini energies, this will be a natural expansive and grounding New Moon period, where we can find new ways to understand consequences, endings, rights, and duties. Many new ways to understand what's past and what's present will be born, along with an ability to demonstrate freedom and movement despite the limiting conditions of the outer world.
Here we discover elements of our individuality, and while there may be inner or outer arguments related to points of view, give them enough time and you'll dispel intellectual shadows created by one-sided views. Do your "compare and contrast" functions, and be analytical as you recap your experiences and find new judgments helping you let go of the past.
Despite all the seeking and discoveries, it's still time to enter the "eternal battle" of the self vs the Self, and allow yourself to become a new version of your "practical warrior." Though we're all in a very weird dreamscape and will be for years to come, we can now apply new strengths and understanding, and by riding the waves of intense (but curiously steady) pulses of spiritual energies shaping our minds, we can find techniques where our efforts will lead us to forms of good fortune.
In the next part of the series we'll discuss the various aspects at play in the chart, as well as some important degree symbols and other interesting elements affecting all of us for 44 months to come.
Here are the Saturn articles I promised you earlier:
Saturn Stationary Retrograde at 18 Libra Affecting All Through September 2011 Pt. 1
© Copyright 2011 Robert Wilkinson
Very interesting. Articulates a lot of good but strange happenings in my life over the past 5 days. Hmmm...reminds me that nothing is by chance; everything has an evolutionary purpose in one's life. Thanks for clarifying the energies so well, Robert.
Judy, South Africa
Posted by: Judy Croome | May 30, 2011 at 10:54 PM
Very interesting article,beside being informative,would like to read more,thanks Robert
Posted by: Samith Roy | May 31, 2011 at 03:17 AM
Thanks for clearly separating out the new moon point from the eclipse point. I always get that confused, lunar-tic that I am.
Posted by: caliban | May 31, 2011 at 05:51 AM
Greetings Robert,
Symbols and perception spun with understanding when I read "North Node and Pluto leads..." the biquintile, giver of gifts. This eclipse conjunct my natal and progressed moon.. natal grand square out of sign. Wow! Mary
Posted by: Mary Streets | May 31, 2011 at 09:02 PM
Excellent info Rovbert :-)
Love what you wrote :)
thank you
Posted by: Michele Meiche :-) | June 02, 2011 at 04:36 PM
Hi all - I trust your quest for knowledge about this Solar Eclipse has been quenched, at least for awhile! When an Eclipse takes away, the void of our Being attracts something more perfectly in line with our evolved awareness. And sometimes letting go of old patterns is a true blessing.....
Posted by: Robert | June 04, 2011 at 02:23 PM
In awe of that answer! Raelly cool!
Posted by: Roxanna | June 08, 2011 at 08:21 AM
astrology challenged....wants to know if a Pisces man can ever overcome a Taurus woman's personality? (Pisces is the brother) and (Taurus is the sister) Can a Pisces man be stronger than a Taurus woman...ever?? From what I witnessed my analogy is that Pisces is more like a fish swimming along and the Taurus is like a shark! Maybe it's just her...she's a bad person overall. Thanks Robert !
Posted by: SS | October 07, 2011 at 03:43 PM