by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this month's Pisces New Moon chart which will continue to stabilize our practical affairs as we move beyond old temporary conditions and move into greater stability.
This Lunation, like the last one, falls within the "anchoring" occupied span of degrees running between Pluto in Capricorn and Jupiter in Taurus. While Saturn in Libra and Mars in Virgo are outside the occupied area, taken as a whole it shows that about 2/3 of the zodiac is in play with an unoccupied span running between Jupiter at 6 Taurus and Mars at 18 Virgo.
The 228 degree span that starts with Mars moving to Saturn in Libra and then through planets in Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus shows a "whole span" indicating where the outer emphasis is in our lives, and what we're experiencing in our worldly realm. We're all initiating action through a Virgo lens and closing through Taurus energy wherever this occupied span falls in the houses of our birth charts. This pattern will hold through Spring 2012.
That makes this chart a "Locomotive" Jones Pattern, with Neptune at “the cusp of the Age” leading the Lunation. The house transiting Neptune occupies in our birth charts is extra important as an energy leading the focus of this New Moon. Mysticism, compassion, vast feelings, and poignant ideals will dominate this New Moon.
Overall, this chart shows a heavy concentration of planets in Pisces, showing that sign to be the focus during a period when things may seem out of balance, along with a lot of power available in that area of experience. The general theme is that due to the powerful Earth trine cut into a double sextile by this Lunation, we will stabilize our lives through cooperative efforts and seeing what must be left behind that is not a part of our “indestructible patterns.”
We’ve been educated in a new view of higher standards and efficient action over the past 4 weeks, and now have a new sense of our connection to allies, ideas, and a better set of life standards. We’ve been finding balanced perspectives that helped us come to philosophical completions, and with this Lunation we continue to organize our efforts in ways that help us secure our future and ensure the outcomes we desire.
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 several important forming aspects, along with all the other planets as well.
The most powerful forming aspects the Lunation makes are a strong sextile to Jupiter, a sextile to Pluto, and a conjunction to Chiron. The sextiles cut the trine in half creating a very powerful productivity within a larger stabilizing understanding, and the conjunction to Chiron shows an emphasis on healing into our higher Self by mastering discouragement. This Lunation will prove most harmonizing to those with planets between 3-9 Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. This includes birthdays at the end of April, June, August, October, December, and February.
All the other aspects to or from this New Moon are separating. These include a trine to Saturn and conjunction with Neptune. Venus is forming a semisquare to the Sun, but this aspect is separating from the Moon. It’s a far away from the Sun as Venus can get, showing it’s about to enter a period where it will slow down, preparing to go retrograde in mid-May.
Other important forming aspects made by the other planets include Mercury opposition Mars, Venus quincunx Mars and widely opposed to Saturn, Mars semisquare Saturn, Jupiter trine Pluto, Saturn triseptile Uranus and quintile Pluto, and the ever-closer ominous Uranus square Pluto. Taken together, the inner planet aspects show a very volatile time of sharp words and pointed interactions, where we must be practical in our assessments while being alert to passive aggressive (or active aggressive!) people and behaviors. Keep things simple and clear, try to focus on what your inner guidance is telling you, and see it all as a dress rehearsal for something that must be addressed efficiently down the road.
Venus quincunx Mars shows forced hard adjustments, where we must concentrate on projecting warmth while we understand the on-going transfigurations based in the ending of a life chapter. We also can grow through managing energies through direct action while unmasking hidden aggressive or critical influences. Any internal crises are only showing us how to rework something, or deal with something that was a hassle and went away, and is now back.
The aspects involving Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto are long term influences. Of special note is that Saturn triseptile Uranus continues to anchor a long term irrational "destiny producing" activation involving how we can take responsibility for our individualization into a new life.
This triseptile is showing us choices where we will determine our destiny for a long time to come. That makes the Saturn triseptile Uranus in this chart - (more here) - especially powerful, as are the other aspects to both of these from the other planets.
This creates hot zones of activity a couple of degrees to either side of (approximately) 2-4 Aries, 23-25 Taurus, 15-17 Cancer, 6-8 Virgo, 28-30 Libra, 19-21 Sagittarius, and 10-12 Aquarius. If you have a planet or point near these zones, you've been under long term pressure off and on for months and shaping how your Uranian function will revolutionize your Saturn structures, and how your Saturn function will organize your emergent individuality (indicated wherever Uranus is transiting in your chart.) In any case, given this is a transit to transit aspect, much is being set into motion in the bigger picture right now that will influence events down the road.
Though Neptune has now left Aquarius, it is still in a very close trine to Saturn. This strong trine that’s been happening for quite a few weeks have offered us all many understandings that harmonized a greater vision and ideal, and shown us a more perfect life standard to aspire to. This recent past opened a new adventure, “with release from burdens and new songs to be sung, new ways of seeing what's important and why, and new dance steps to be taken."
The separating aspects show reality already experienced, or things already set into motion. Aspects of note are the Lunation trine Saturn and conjunct Neptune, Mercury septile Jupiter, sesquisquare Saturn, conjunct Neptune and sextile Pluto, Venus conjunct Uranus, semisquare Neptune and square Pluto, Jupiter opposed Saturn, and Saturn trine Neptune.
These symbolize recent events, so to the degree you understand the aspects, symbols, and their meaning, you may glimpse some factors behind what's happened in the recent past. From one angle, we've found a new understanding and a new creative challenge, been offered opportunities to transcend getting discouraged by narrow realities and duties that are obsolete, moved out of obscurity about our ideals, and made recent major decisions about where we want to see our future open for us. We’ve certainly been able to get clear to the core about some things, and leave bizarre relationships behind that prevented us from getting the results we wanted out of life.
A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following 4 weeks will demonstrate. This New Moon falls at 3 Pisces, "A petrified forest.” While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth. According to Rudhyar this degree is one of "Mastery of form over substance,” “Archetypal immortality,” “Conscious handling of existence,”, and “Participation in race impulses.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves "the power to preserve records of their achievements which is inherent in fully matured cultures.” Here we find “preserved cultural records,” or perhaps find ways of preserving our cultural values in some “recorded” form. We can now see what greater cultural values we’re a part of, and what has endured across time that is part of our core standards.
He states this symbol "brings the promise of social immortality – i.e. the preservation of the enduring (because archetypally meaningful) factors in whatever (we attempt) within our culture. A symbol of Immortality.” We are told it falls in the span of "Innocence,” and it's the third degree of the actional level of the scene of Federation in the Act of Capitalization. So for the next 4 weeks this Lunation will teach us how to synthesize our awareness of the indestructible factors of our heritage by seeing what has been preserved, or what needs preserving.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, this degree is "the absolute certainty which any individual may develop in… (their) conscious knowledge, and of the power in human character which becomes the hallmark of (our) intellectual orientation.” This degree warns us against relying on “stabilities to which no immediate or personal contribution is made,” which will become obstacles to our progress.
He states this is about "dramatization of an eternal stout-heartedness, and of its very practical dividends in spiritual continuance. “ He offers us the keyword of SURVIVAL. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this is a degree of "effective continuity and breadth of resource in all human effort."
So we enter a time of seeing indestructible and meaningful patterns in our life within a social context, and thus are required by the energy of Pisces to leave behind old roles, old limitations, old duties, and old loyalties and step outside of old ways of life. Here we can see a larger continuity in our life and purpose, and heal into our higher Self as we become more sensitive to the enduring ideals of humanity.
Of the planets that rule signs, there are 4 planets in Water signs, 2 in Fire, 3 in Earth, and 1 in Air. This preponderance of Water and Earth indicates a lot of solid and stabilizing practical activity with a lot of feelings in the atmosphere. The lack of Air indicates a shortage of mind-power, so we’ll need to bring the ideas and interactions to our lives the best we’re able. It’s not an associative time, but it is a time of intense practical activity with a lot of timeless, vague, and sometimes overwhelmingly vast feelings as we stand at the end of the year cycle.
Pluto in Capricorn 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. Be organized in finding and demonstrating your role and take some time to enjoy it! Also, through the harmonious trine from Jupiter that is forming , we can safely purify what needs purifying and be leaner and more solidly able to rely on our material and non-material resources.
In the past months we've learned how to make many types of adjustments in perspective and how we relate to create a better world for ourselves in connection with others. Now that we're riding the waves of the new archetypal roles we began to live in 2009-2010, we can use gentle and balanced forms of will power, training, maturity, and sense of our new roles to play to move into new vistas, new worlds, new lives, and new ways of doing our Being.
The next 4 weeks continues to be a time of philosophical completion, where we can continue to do repair or reconstruction work in some life area related to the house where Saturn is transiting. We now have a new set of standards and have been shown newer, more "perfect" ways to secure a better life. It could be said the next four weeks are a time to take a look at what endures as you say goodbye to an old way of life forever, and let go of any lurking ambivalence as you stand at yet another "portal of initiation.”
As I've discussed, due to the effect of the very strong Gemini Solar Eclipse of June 2011 and the equally strong recent Solar Eclipse in Sagittarius, 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. Links at the bottom of this article.
Jupiter in Taurus counsels that we need patience and the ability to keep finding gentle, simple, and stable ways to move into your new life while 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 join with others in some practical tasking that will help all to achieve a form of evolutionary continuity. While there may be situations where you must make a leap of faith to overcome some duality, by linking your skills with others you can cross a gap and prepare to find a new way of life which will render the old patterns obsolete. That’s why many things have recently ended. The void is exactly what will attract the new conditions.
Keep attuning to your invisible helpers, and regard this as a “marketplace” where we get to practice fairness, grace, clarity, simplicity, and social building. Wherever we have Pisces will be a very crowded house, and so that will be the area of primary focus these next 4 weeks. Here we see what’s passing, what endures, and what we must rehearse to prepare for a new initiative coming not that far down the road. Trust the “wisdom of your body,” and though much will seem to be “dominated by fate,” it’s showing you how to open to new vistas of conscious, concrete development.
This time can help us feel larger collective issues and a more ideal way to live. Recent past “forks in the road of destiny” can now be seen as helping us move forward through deciding, then acting, then learning and re-visioning as we are moved into a newer way to feel and experience our duties and responsibilities. Many newer, more pleasant things are heralded by this Lunation, so face forward while saying goodbye and honoring the indestructible parts of your existence.
So make up your mind, and then act on the basis of fundamental facts. After that, go get new information, new perspectives, and new interpretations that help you get a clear vision of what you want to see made manifest in the future, and then ground that vision or information in your feeling experience. We’re in a time between past and future, echoes of memories and enjoyment of new pleasures.
The past several weeks have been one of surrendering to a greater purpose. Over the next four weeks that purpose will become clearer and clearer, since ultimately it’s what endures from our cultural or racial makeup. Focus on your purpose, and let go of ambivalence so you can flow through deliberate actions into the new vision and experience.
Mars is now retrograding back toward a grand Earth trine with Venus, Jupiter, and Pluto in early March. Saturn is also now retrograde, and beginning to retrace the final 8 degrees of Libra, so the next few months we'll be taking a new look at lessons we've been moving into since October. Mars will move back to early Virgo over the next 8 weeks, so expect slowdowns and returns or renewals wherever you have Virgo, Aries, and Scorpio.
Curb agitation and needless impatience and criticism, be practical in your assessments without getting too obscure, and think before you speak. This is a time of high anxiety for some, and intensely productive work for others. Try to begin to explore your new sense of purpose by opening your mind to new ideas, new likes, and new appreciation of non-rational experience. Let go of controlling or excessively narrow relationships that leave you feeling tied down to rigid likes and dislikes, and learn to follow your restlessness and/or curiosity to find inner guidance.
This is the end of the end, with hints of what is to come in March. We’ve now been through three "cosmic visitations" and two revelations of a new way of being that renders our old patterns obsolete. Welcome to the third period of moving into a new way, a new life, and a new consecration. Without doubt, there are more rewards and harvests to come through mid-March!
Here are the articles on the June 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse and the November Sagittarius Solar Eclipse so you can see some of the continuity between these two celestial events, and take a look to see what's ended since June.
Articles on the Gemini Solar Eclipse:
Astrology in June 2011 - On The Threshold of A Partial Solar Eclipse at 12 Gemini
The Solar Eclipse at 12 Gemini June 1-2, 2011 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
The Solar Eclipse at 12 Gemini June 1-2, 2011 Pt. 2 - How Will It Manifest?
Articles on the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse:
Astrology in November 2011 - On The Threshold of A Partial Solar Eclipse at 3 Sagittarius
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 2012 Robert Wilkinson
I have been looking forward to this all day. Thank you Robert. mary
Posted by: mary streets | February 22, 2012 at 05:59 PM
I too, have waited to see what you would write today. Nice gift. My moon is on 6 degree pisces, and my sun at 7.I am swimming through the energies you have you have been translating for some time. I am ready for the future. I am struggling with the patience! lol. Anyway, thanks...for you. Veronica
Posted by: Veronica Norman | February 22, 2012 at 09:01 PM
Robert, I guess I missed something....for weeks you have been referring to "cosmic visitations" and now you write that we have had them....I don't seem to make the connection. To what exactly do you refer?
Posted by: Jo Garceau | February 22, 2012 at 10:42 PM
Hi Mary - Time crunch or it would have been up day before yesterday.
Hi Veronica - Glad you like it. Happy Solar Return and Birthday in a couple of days! Should be a good year for you given that Jupiter is sextile your Sun.
Hi Jo - "Cosmic Visitations" can take many shapes, some of which we might not recognize at the time. They occurred nonetheless each time Jupiter went across 2 Taurus. Those were Jupiterian forms of that energy, so it may have come as idea, visitor, distant vision, promise, protection, form of grace, someone calling or visiting from afar, a teaching, a motive, or an insight or event in the life areas governed by the houses where you have Sag and Pisces. (I believe I was the "cosmic visitation" for a couple of people who I happened to meet and visit during those times!) The "visitations" will take shape as Venus, then Sun, then Mercury all cross that degree. And of course, the Moon in early Taurus could bring forms of this each time it's there.
Posted by: Robert | February 23, 2012 at 07:59 AM
oh my, the great Dane hits a deep chord or cord. Aiy YA!
Posted by: caliban | February 23, 2012 at 09:38 AM
i had a visitation about 2 weeks ago, a vision, not a fantasy. I had a conversation with a white haired man, while fishing with him.
I asked him what i could do to help mankind and he replied, that there was nothing i could do because we are to face what is already set to happen. That I should continue to be myself.
Posted by: rogue12 | February 23, 2012 at 02:45 PM
Funny, I just came to realise that when "visitation" is mention somehow we believe we are going to be "visited" by some spiritual manifestation,dream, an insight, a teaching, a motive, etc. etc.
Why don't we ever think of ourselves as the "visitors". Why do we not see in ourselves the gifts and blessings that we have, the power to channel that we have and thus become the visitors that provide someone else with that expected "visitation"? We can also provide other with life changing experiences, or a t least with some love, light or service. How about starting to become aware of our activity as "visitors" to others? We are in the begining of a new era, so let's do new things too. Cheers and blessings be.
Posted by: Nicolas | February 24, 2012 at 05:02 AM
well we are, visitors, but i think it was more directed to our individual thing, if you felt like a visitor giving something - that is always possible. everything can manifest in every way. we've become to imagining.
Posted by: rogue12 | February 26, 2012 at 03:37 AM
Why 2 Taurus? And thanks, everyone, for the insights on visitors to us and as us. I imagine either is applicable. Can't wait to see what Venus, Sun, Mercury, and Moon bring into manifestation next time they cross that point. March 7 Venus is there.
Posted by: Jo Garceau | February 28, 2012 at 12:27 AM