by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Aries indicates we will enter revolutionary and exciting new life conditions, where we will be able to envision entirely new dimensions of being using our imagination. It’s a time that will bring us all to major turning points in our lives due to a very powerful septile-driven configuration that isn’t the Grand Irrationality, but will be just as important in determining our futures.
This New Moon in Aries gives us all one last look back before we spring into forward motion over the next 4 weeks. Revolution and innovation will pervade this period, along with highly specialized conditions and unique gifts that will endure for a long time. This period will be a natural expression of new circumstances that will fill the void left by the Sagittarius Solar Eclipse of November 2011.
This follows the recent period of stable and harmonious understanding where we saw newer and better life standards that allowed us to see the indestructible elements in our lives. Based in what decans the planets are in, it'll be a time of very action oriented productivity with a social emphasis.
The Light of this New Moon shines on a greater ideal of action and new beginnings that will help all of us individualize according to our vision and creativity. With Mercury retrograde at 1 Aries, we can take a new look at what has emerged since June 2010 and find power in seeing how it’s related to a larger life and purpose.
Keep moving into an ever-clearer understanding of how to make things work on practical levels by keeping it organized and balanced. Do your “window shopping” to find what you need to do your thing in public ways while allowing a new spontaneity to come forth by letting go of the need to have ego in control.
Intuition is sky high at this time, with major rewards for those who understand the unique needs of the collective and find protective forms that help them avoid unnecessarily aggressive or assertive people and situations. The trick will be to know how and when to act powerfully and directly when it might be easier to worry, nitpick, or hang back unnecessarily.
The New Moon occurs at 3 Aries on March 22, 2012, 7:37 am PDT, 10:37 am EDT, 2:37 pm Greenwich (23 March in eastern Australia and NZ). When a Lunation is on one of the angles of a chart, it is said to be particularly powerful. This month the Lunation is culminating in Rio, setting on a line from Tallinn through Cairo to Johannesburg and over to Abbottabad, on the nadir from Tokyo to Australia, and rising in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.
The Lunation finds 18 Aries rising in Santa Monica, 15 Aries in Vancouver, 23 Gemini in Montreal, 14 Gemini in Washington DC, 18 Gemini in Rio, 13 Leo in Lisbon, 25 Leo in London, 29 Leo in Amsterdam, 5 Virgo in Berlin, 14 Virgo in Tallinn, 10 Virgo in Sofia, 14 Virgo in Cairo, and 30 Leo rising in Johannesburg.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find Ascendants at 20 Libra in Abbottabad, 24 Libra in New Delhi, 28 Libra in Trivandrum, 19 Scorpio in Bangkok, 28 Scorpio in Hong Kong, 14 Sagittarius in Tokyo, 22 Sagittarius in Perth, 22 Capricorn in Melbourne (March 23), 23 Capricorn in Brisbane, 17 Aquarius in Wellington, and 27 Aquarius rising on Maui (22 March.)
This is the nineteenth 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 and creatively expressed in Leo, refined and ordered 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 3 Aries jumpstarts Aries energy wherever it falls in our chart. As I mentioned earlier, this period involves identifying with a larger life, and becoming a potential source of inspiration once we see what ideal we are here to demonstrate to others. This time can help us see how to be an “avatar of greater collective reality,” and find new ways to participate in the emergent larger global patterns of newness and change currently taking shape all over the world.
This Lunation puts the focus on cranking up a new yearly cycle directly connected to the new reality that began for all of us in June 2010, and accelerated in growth between early March and early May 2011. This renews the first year cycle connected to the initiatives and new beginnings opened by the inner planet conjunctions with Jupiter in Aries last Spring. These began to be substantiated and solidified during the time Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars transited Taurus in May 2011, and began to be established as a potential future when Jupiter entered Taurus in June.
Since August 2011, we've been tending our "garden of life and personality" (or not!) What we have cared for since then is moving swiftly forward now that Jupiter in Taurus is direct in motion.
Here's more backstory on Jupiter this past year. Jupiter entered Aries for the first time in June 2010, then retrograded back into Pisces in September 2010. It then re-entered Aries in January 2011, ending an old vision and quest forever while setting the tone for the new initiatives since then.
In May 2011 we saw a multi-level long term vision we could act on, and then mobilized and acquired some of what we need to further those initiatives over this past year. Last June we sorted out what we needed to leave behind while asserting our rights in order to grow through new experiences, new situations, and new understanding. These different perspectives have assisted the past to give way to the present which is rapidly blossoming into radical new futures.
This New Moon has an actional, material plane focus. As it falls in Aries, Mars and Pluto are the worldly and spiritual ruler of this New Moon. That would imply this 4 week period will be practical, functional, organized, detail-oriented, grounded, and productive, with big lessons of learning how to use the down times more productively along with learning how to overcome fear in all its forms. Find a plan, rework a plan, redo a plan, take care of details, follow through in large and small ways, and by May your plan will be in play in remarkable efficient and effective ways.
Neptune and Chiron at the Cusp of the Age:
Other than the brief look we had in mid-2011, this is only the second New Moon with Neptune in Pisces for the next 150 years. We had Neptune in Pisces for the 3 New Moons for May, June, and July 2011 which gave us a front end look at how Neptune will function through 2025.
Between August, when Neptune retrograded back into late Aquarius, and the recent January New Moon, we were given one last look back at a greater ideal, and the changes of the last half of 2011 helped many to break out of our "chrysalis" and transform how we live and all our relationships. That is now established in the collective consciousness, as well as a growing sense of the larger light field in which all sentient Beings live and love.
If you want to know what's coming for many years to come, take a look back at the intuitions and sense of belonging to a vaster interrelated whole you were shown in May, June, and July 2011. It may help to give a sense of our collective lesson in dissolving our separateness as we finish this transition through "the Winter of the 21st Century" on our way to Spring, beginning in 2025!
During those months that both Neptune and Chiron were in early Pisces, we were offered chances to learn about bargaining and trade-offs, with the ultimate payoff a deeper and larger feeling of being connected to others. During the last half of 2011, Neptune retrograded back to 29 Aquarius, the degree where humanity was forced to emerge from its "chrysalis" as a new world is being born.
Chiron retrograded back to 1 Pisces. So those two dancing together have kept us attuned to elements of this transitional span of experience for all of 2011 as we prepared to cut loose into the Neptune in Pisces era for many years to come.
Over the past year both both Neptune and Chiron have shown us our unique part to play within a larger light/life field. These planets, at the beginning of Pisces and end of Aquarius, have occupied degrees representing "the Cusp of the Age," the span where the Age of Pisces and the Age of Aquarius meet. From one point of view, where we've been collectively since February 2011 has shown us what the period of (approximately) 1990-2140 is all about in the broader context of human evolution. I suspect that future generations will look back at 2011 and 2012 as being crucial in showing long range patterns of larger evolutionary necessities.
Neptune and Chiron dancing between signs on "the Cusp of the Age" has had the effect of making it seem like we're all occupying a very weird dreamscape which we'll be navigating for years to come. The trick for us is to apply our new strengths and understanding freed from the ghosts of the past, 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.
During the year they have danced together in this critical degree span, they have provided us a bridge to understanding the global lessons we all must embrace, and helped us graduate into a new view of how we are an essential part of a greater whole. I'll give you links to articles explaining more about "the cusp of the Age" at the end of this article.
In this New Moon Neptune is at 2 Pisces while Chiron is at 7 Pisces. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, with a focus on healing into our Higher Selves through standing for what we believe in. Play to your “instinct of self-preservation as a basis for greater realization,” and you will lift yourself to “surer foundatons.”
More About Saturn's Universally Important Influence
Though not as prominent as when it was the nozzle for all the other planetary energies (returning for the last time December 2012 through February 2013, but in Scorpio), we'll continue to put a spotlight on Saturn in Libra, the cosmic timekeeper, since it does symbolize the ongoing lessons and limitations within the larger field of existence. Saturn will remain in Libra through early October 2012.
Saturn continues to be a very powerful influence since it is 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.
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 August 2010 when our Libra archetypes got into gear at the Mars conjunct Saturn at 1 Libra. These early Libra lessons continued to be prominent through Summer 2011, when we began a time of finishing paying dues and move into repairing or restoring something.
Saturn got to 18 Libra in January 2011 before it went retrograde. It retraced its path between 18 and 11 Libra from January through June, when it went direct, and re-traced its path between 11 and 18 Libra for the third time through September. So Saturn more or less finished the lessons based in the duties, responsibilities, and sense of limits set into motion in January by October. These were 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.
Due to 28 Libra becoming a hot zone when Venus went stationary direct on that degree in November 2010, many have been through various points of feeling isolated, alone, or cut off from friendly energies since then. That began to give way in December 2011 to seeing the life that surrounds us, and finding ways to recognize our connectedness with the friendly energies around us. Here our ability to open ourselves to a greater Spiritual Destiny has offered sustainment and revelations, so see how things have been or are getting better, if gradually. If offered help, it's a good thing not to refuse!
January began a 9 month process of figuring out “where we belong," and we can now know a sense of inner assurance we haven't known up to now. I spoke extensively about Saturn's influence during this past Winter season in Happy Winter Solstice 2011 so check it out, since those planetary influences are still in full force through the next 4 weeks. We'll prove how adept we have been at learning these Saturn lessons in March and April, getting ready to cut loose into a full embrace of our willingness to embrace conscious community by September-October 2012.
In this Lunation it has returned to 28 Libra, where we will again experience lessons connected to those of two paragraphs up. We must continue to see the life that’s all around us, and overcome any sense of isolation by finding connectedness with friends, allies, and activities that link us to a greater destiny.
With Saturn retrograde since early February, we are reviewing how to repair or reconstruct things from the past to come to a philosophical completion between now and October 2012. This will involve not simply reconstructing something, but also seeing things from a holistic perspective that enables us to be more well-rounded in our understanding before we enter a deepened, more intense period beginning in October 2012 when Saturn enters Scorpio, introducing a new set of lessons.
During this period of coming to a holistic philosophical view, many will be able to read meanings in symbols and things, and will move beyond knowledge into true balanced understanding. We can recognize a cosmic order in things, and use that to reorder our world. Here we perfect our integrity, and in doing so find a gift for furthering what we want in the way of a more ideal reality.
As Saturn rules Pluto in this chart, it shows that when we are confronted with the need to deal with something or someone in an organized, efficient manner, reference Saturn in Libra and the lessons of balance, justice, proportion, and moderation in judgment 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.
So as you open to the third New Moon of 2012, take stock of what you've been learning and put it together in a larger holistic understanding. In 2011 we learned about karmic consequences from a wider angle of view, while playing by the rules of whatever system we've been dealing with, or acting within, showing as much balance, grace, and equipoise as we could, 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.
As noted in previous articles, Saturn continues to usher in allies, friends, fellow truth-seekers, more balanced views, and corrective actions as techniques for community building or group awareness. The transfigurations in our actions and relationships we've gone through since January 2011 have led us to do forms of "repair work," where we confronted the consequences of past actions, whether our own or another's. The repair work could as easily be in the realm of our inner self as in outer affairs.
That gave us opportunities to retire from old dramas to free energy to reconstruct elements of our life that bring us joy. Summer 2011 set the foundations of how to express ourselves with understanding, patience, and kindness, and now is the time to complete our understanding of our connectedness with our inner Self and the supportive life energies around us to find a greater assurance and the other qualities I spoke of a few paragraphs back.
Though not specifically related to this New Moon, here's some backstory to what we've all been learning via Saturn these past 29 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 2011, those energies began to surface in new and individualized ways.
Taken together, we're all living a new archetype, and at the same time have been letting go of parts of our past that have no more place in our lives, freeing ourselves from old pressures and burdens we no longer need to bear, and slowly but surely stabilizing our understanding of our inner balance, or balanced perspectives.
A Little More About the Recent Past As Prologue
While not exactly related to this New Moon, it's still within the long wave influence of the Gemini Solar Eclipse in June 2011 which triggered the Grand Irrationality. Between that intense activation showing as hectic intense bursts that often made no sense during the past 9 months and the current “off and on” patterns of other planets in irrational relationships, choose wisely, since the past months and current weeks challenge us to find ways to liberate ourselves from unhelpful views and attitudes while staying on track with the new elements that have presented themselves over the past 12 months.
As noted, Autumn 2011 was a time to cultivate the "plants in our garden of personality and life" that will be what we draw on in 2012. At this point in the process many have experienced three "cosmic visitations" that have changed their lives in big ways. Jupiter strengthened that theme in the past Aquarius New Moon, accelerating this major transformation time that will have wide-ranging effects throughout the first half of 2012!
Last August put us all through "a liberating ordeal," leading us to be freed from old social rigidities and finding joy in fellowship with new associates with whom we can work and play. We've now been practicing skills we learned in August, being efficient so that much could move forward in mid-November. This wave will last through mid-April 2012.
Over the past 9 months Jupiter has shown us a greater life dedication, how to find hope and/or happiness in the face of coldness or barrenness, and how to cultivate purity of heart and faith in a transformed future. We were also shown how to use knowledge and skill to anticipate the future, allow a new quality of being to supersede an old lesser order, and through releasing elements of the past, find our "pot of gold at the end of the rainbow" where we have accepted the Divine workings that show us who we are and who we aren't.
Jupiter went direct in motion last December, launching our 2012 Jupiterian adventure. Through early June, open to larger ideas, larger opportunities, larger understanding, larger ways to look at resources and values, and larger futures.
We originally entered this phase of concretizing a better life between early June and late August 2011. We got a different perspective from August through December, and a couple of weeks ago completed the third pass across the first 11 degrees of Taurus.
This helped us demonstrate mastery of what Jupiter's been teaching us in terms of opportunities to enter into a creative partnership with Nature Herself, and could see where we can naturally "pour ourselves out" into some way to manifest our Soul.
So contemplate the wreckage of past months as necessary to make space for the future growth of the new initiatives and expansions originally set into motion between March and May 2011. Things should have become more solid and stable in late February and early March. This will lead all of us to numerous new discoveries beginning June 2012.
Overall, due to the mix of Virgo, Libra, Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus energies, this will be a very naturally grounded, practical, and highly energetic New Moon period. The sheer quantity of planets in Aries (Moon, Sun, Mercury, Uranus) may make for some very rapidly developing events, where action is accented and imagination will lead to a greater, wider vision of who we have become, who we are, and what unique individuality we want to live in the future.
We have some extraordinary aspects forming in this Lunation, which I'll speak about in the next part of this series. You can also read the articles on the Vernal (Spring) Equinox and the Inferior Conjunction of Mercury with the Sun to find out more. To recap, the major influences are the Sun and Moon triseptile Mars and conjunct Uranus, Venus tredecile Mars and semisquare Uranus, Mars septile Saturn, Jupiter quintile Neptune, Saturnn quintile Pluto, and the increasingly ominous Uranus square Pluto.
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 4 weeks to come.
Here are two articles related to "the cusp of the Age."
Neptune Then, Neptune Now - The Cusp of the Age of Aquarius
Neptune Retrograde Into Aquarius - A New Look At the New Age This one has links to articles related to this theme, so enjoy following the breadcrumbs through the woods of time!
Here are the Saturn articles I promised you earlier:
Saturn Stationary Retrograde at 18 Libra Affecting All Through September 2011 Pt. 1
© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson
"help them avoid unnecessarily aggressive or assertive people and situations. The trick will be to know how and when to act powerfully and directly when it might be easier to worry, nitpick, or hang back" This is of course hard for sensitive crab. Peoples behaviour depresses me so I have to withdraw, recover to be my normal happy self again..The crabwalk.
Posted by: ull | March 22, 2012 at 01:41 AM
'....finding ways to recognize our connectedness with the friendly energies around us. Here our ability to open ourselves to a greater Spiritual Destiny has offered sustainment and revelations, so see how things have been or are getting better, if gradually.'
So true! It's been a lovely if at times confusing journey for those with lots of questions to ask.
Thanks so much Robert for sharing your (as usual)thought-provoking insights.
Zephyr
Posted by: Zephyr | March 22, 2012 at 05:06 AM