by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Cancer indicates a major intensification of energy that will force us to rise to some challenge, mobilizing everything at our disposal and not getting too comfortable. We will all find a new form of acting with purpose wherever we have Cancer in our charts, with major turning points just around the corner courtesy of the Grand Irrationality!
This New Moon in Cancer will mobilize all of us somehow, and right now we’re in the heart of some very unique interactive gifts and blessings, having just come off of a renewal through re-grounding ourselves in our triple “essence of Being.” This will be an incredibly productive period over the next 4 weeks, where we will develop new heart strengths and mutate into something more creative or balanced as a result of reconstructive activities on the emotional, social, or cultural levels of life.
This period begins a period of major productivity, is very favorable for looking forward while sharing information with others so that new ideas, new communications, and new levels of relationship can come forth. That Mercury is retrograde shows a time when we will look back in order to learn new things overlooked the first time we went through the experience, and rehearse, research, or take a new look at some creative possibilities, or enthusiasms, that may have gotten off track recently.
Overall there should be tremendous productivity and harmony between our Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Pisces areas, with great stability and harmony promised to our Capricorn and Aquarius sectors via the Venus trine Saturn at play in this New Moon chart. Really, given the overall harmony between most of the planets, and very little friction, this New Moon will be extraordinarily favorable, even if it is somewhat roundabout and seems at times to be “back to the future.”
The New Moon occurs at 27 Cancer on July 19, 2012, 9:24 pm PDT, 0:24 am EDT and 5:24 am Greenwich July 20. 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 Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Perth, setting in NZ, Maui, and Vancouver, on the nadir in Montreal and Washington DC, and rising in Lisbon through Berlin, and Sofia through Cairo down to Johannesburg.
The Lunation finds 23 Aquarius rising in Santa Monica, 4 Aquarius in Vancouver, 7 Taurus in Montreal, 27 Aries in Washington DC, 16 Taurus in Rio, 13 Cancer in Lisbon, 29 Cancer in London, 4 Leo in Amsterdam, 10 Leo in Berlin, 22 Leo in Tallinn, 12 Leo in Sofia, 13 Leo in Cairo, and 19 Cancer rising in Johannesburg.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find Ascendants at 19 Virgo in Abbottabad, 22 Virgo in New Delhi, 21 Virgo in Trivandrum, 14 Libra in Bangkok, 26 Libra in Hong Kong, 14 Scorpio in Tokyo, 12 Scorpio in Perth, 19 Sagittarius in Melbourne, 21 Sagittarius in Brisbane, 18 Capricorn in Wellington, and 17 Capricorn rising on Maui (18 July.)
This is the second in a sequence of New Moons that fall in the sign preceding the Sun of the following Full Moon. This reverses the sequence of the 20 months preceding the 2012 Gemini New Moon that all had the New Moon in the same sign as the subsequent Full Moon. That pattern is now reversed for many months to come. I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, so I’ll elaborate on this new beginning that reverses “the natural order of things” in the next Full Moon articles coming in about two weeks.
The New Moons and Full Moons are “God’s footprints in time.” Each shows 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 27 Cancer, like previous Lunations in Gemini, puts the focus on learning, communicating, discovering, and perceiving new ideas and ways of relating to others due to Venus and Jupiter both being in Gemini. Much that we focus on during the next 4 weeks will help us consolidate and be roused to action while continuing to expand the truths and new potential futures opened in last month’s Gemini lunations. As Jupiter is getting closer to the degree of the 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse, it continues to be a time of an acceleration of the eclipse effect!
This Lunation jumpstarts Cancer energy wherever it falls in our chart. As I mentioned earlier, this period involves us rising to some occasion while riding an intensification of energy showing us a “descent of cosmic power.” This period involves moving into a new way of integrating our individuality into our environment, now that we’ve left old chains, obligations, and fears behind. Keep spotting what’s core and what’s peripheral, and get back to source as you practice a new creative sophistication.
It’s a time to communicate with others so we can compare notes and finalize some understanding about recent discoveries, and open to new understanding in the midst of the meltdowns of old values, things, and relationships. New worlds continue to be born, filling the voids left by what has ended the past year. This New Moon will help us learn new intention, accepting roles we were “born to play.” So remember that some limitations and restrictions are more boon than bondage, and settle into a groove doing what you do best.
As the only significant aspects made by the Sun and Moon are a wide (but still powerful) septile to Jupiter, it will bring major turning points and forks in the road of destiny wherever we have Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, and Pisces prominent in our charts. Major hot zones of influence are 15-19 Aries, 6-10 Gemini, 27 Cancer- 1 Leo, 19-23 Virgo, 10-14 Scorpio, 2-6 Capricorn, and 24-28 Aquarius. If you have planets in any of these zones, it’s a major shift in direction for you, so choose carefully!
This New Moon has an individual, mental, and spiritual focus. As it falls in Cancer, it is ruled by the Moon. That makes the Moon the ruler of all the other planetary energies in the map, since it’s the final dispositor for all the other planets. The only exception to this broad rulership is Neptune, in its home sign of Pisces.
One major factor in this Lunation is that the Moon and Sun make no forming aspects to any planet except the septile to Jupiter I just discussed. That implies that whatever the next 4 weeks are about, it’s already been set into motion before now. It also makes this Lunation “Void of Course” (VOC), which I’ll explain more in depth in part two of this New Moon set.
Neptune and Chiron at the Cusp of the Age:
Other than the brief look we had in mid-2011, this is only the sixth 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 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. During 2011 both Neptune and Chiron revealed our unique part to play within a larger light/life field.
During that time, these planets at the beginning of Pisces and end of Aquarius 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 were collectively between February 2011 and March 2012 revealed 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" had the effect of making it seem like we have all been 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 danced together in this critical degree span, they 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 has retrograded back to 3 degrees, while Chiron is still at 10 Pisces. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, with a focus on healing into our Higher Selves through seeing what we’re dedicated to, what skills we’ve cultivated, what “call” we’ve heard, and how we’ve quickened our striving.
For quite a few weeks we’ve had to deal with symbolic “traffic jams” in the collective consciousness. Now we get a new look via Neptune’s retrograde into the indestructible elements of our personalities, and through “ a conscious handling of existence,” can glimpse elements of our immortal self while “flying by the seat of our pants,” demonstrating a mastery of obscure conditions and growing into a new consecration. This will continue deep realizations about our place within the larger collective consciousness, with echoes of April and May 2012 when Neptune first occupied that degree.
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 has to be applied in forms of practical action when Mars transited Virgo in direct motion between April and early July. Now that Mars has entered Libra, we get to apply in active, balanced forms the lessons and wisdom we learned via Saturn in Libra beginning November 2009.
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 seventh 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.
Saturn in this Lunation chart is at 24 Libra, and is now on its way through the final sector of Libra on its way to Scorpio. It indicates we need to open to new heart strengths, as new potentials will be revealed that show us the way to develop “new modes of response to basic life situations.” We’ve now resumed our time of finishing our understanding, and this period represents a process of rebirth into a new spiritual power. We’ve now “saluted the rising sun” and can see what’s coming, finding security in our Higher Self and Dharma.
A Little More About the Recent Past As Prologue
When Venus first transited the Gemini zone of the Grand Irrationality in the third and fourth week of April, it triggered that long wave influence, as well as set off echoes of the Gemini Solar Eclipse of June 2011 which also fell in the Gemini zone of that powerful configuration. We went through the second phase of that influence with more “irrational” destiny-producing developments (which could be good or bad, depending) when it next occupied 14-18 Gemini, as well as when Mercury and the Sun also transited this zone, between May 31 and June 10.
We’re now seeing further major developments now and into the near future, since Venus is again crossing this zone during the third and fourth weeks of July. All we have experienced through the Sun, Mercury, and Venus filters will spring forth as major teachings, opportunities, or some other Jupiter expression from mid-August through late November this year, as well as in April and early May 2013. Prepare for major developments!
While the Grand Irrationality is not a direct influence during this Lunation, it will be triggered within the time span influenced by this New Moon. As long time readers know, the Grand Irrationality is a long wave non-rational influence that has put everyone on Earth on the unceasing edge of major choice and change, confronting inner compulsions and outer irrational behaviors. It is why things seem to have an unending hard edge, why so many choices are continually thrown in our faces that require immediate attention, and why reason seems to fail at critical moments of decision.
It’s a time when things don’t have to make sense, nor will they for some time to come. The only thing that matters is that we learn how to ride this ever-changing wave of very strange and weird human experience, and not get lost in our own obsessions, compulsions, and the general irrationality of our times. There are numerous articles in the archives about what this is all about, and how to deal with these very strange energies, so please take a look if you are so inclined.
Last year’s Gemini Solar Eclipse that triggered the Grand Irrationality for years to come has liberated all of us from some elements and ghosts of our past, freeing us from old preconceptions and chains of mental slavery. That intense activation of last June has shown as hectic intense bursts that often made no sense during the past year, and the current “off and on” patterns of other planets in irrational relationships is forcing us to choose wisely. We have now been challenged to find ways to liberate ourselves from unhelpful views and attitudes while staying on track with the new elements arising from the numerous conjunctions to Jupiter in Aries that have presented themselves over the past 14 months.
As I made clear for many months, Autumn 2011 was a time to cultivate the "plants in our garden of personality and life" that is what we’ve been drawing on to substantiate a new reality and set of values in 2012. Between June 2011 and February 2012 we experienced three "cosmic visitations" that changed our lives in big ways.
Jupiter expanded that theme in the 2012 Aquarius New Moon, accelerating a major transformation time that has had wide-ranging effects throughout the first half of 2012! As the Taurus New Moon in late April fell exactly on that same degree, in May many experienced spectacular developments related to the past times that Jupiter occupied 2 Taurus!!
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. Since then we’ve been practicing a new freedom, with efficiency sky high due to Mars in Virgo between November 2011 and July 2012.
This Lunation anchors our new lives in new ways, so keep the focus on what you care about, what you need to nurture, what type of home you want or need, and many interactions and communications with family, whether real or metaphoric. We acquired some of the assets we needed while Jupiter was in Taurus from June 2011 through June 2012, and stabilized a growth pattern. Now we’ve begun to receive rewards from the invisible world for our faith, and this one will show our mind rebelling against old attitudes and limiting views and repolarizing our consciousness so we can take things into account that were subconscious before now.
Over the past year, Jupiter has shown us a new life dedication, how to find hope 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. During the last 6 1/2 months, we’ve all had opportunities to 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 in March 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 the last half of 2011 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 since late February, which opened new worlds and new discoveries in June 2012. Now we continue our emotional and social discoveries, and get to claim some things that have been hidden up to now. Just keep sharing perspectives and discoveries with others, making sure to check them to make sure they are as they seem.
Overall, due to the mix of Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Libra, Capricorn, and Pisces energies, this will be a very eclectic, spread out, and diverse New Moon period. The emphasis of planets in Gemini, Cancer, and Libra may make for some rapid, multidimensional discoveries that will lead to sudden and important developments in the next few weeks. Relationships and communications are definitely favored, so get outside your shell and mix with others while honoring your source.
During the time this Lunation is in force, reflection, review, rehearsal, and returns are accented so we can be more at ease in social situations where we can practice our social skills. This time will give us a new look at old knowledge and assumptions, with the need for concentration to see the whole picture and not get distracted by too much information that’s not integrated. Still, this time will bring us stability in our relationships, and help us to a new happiness, maturity, and compassion through seeing our past experiences in terms of the wisdom we were taught.
The line of growth is through imagination that will lead to a greater, wider vision of who we are able to become, and a greater, wider, more open and free future. We can learn and teach basic skills that help us to a new mobility through crises of self-development. Especially with both Venus and Jupiter leading the Sun and Moon, this Lunation promises whole new truths, new understandings, new philosophical approaches, and new futures that are more enjoyable than anything we’ve had to let go of since June 2011.
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!
© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson
This lunation is on the Asc of my current solar return!
Posted by: Matt | July 17, 2012 at 07:08 PM
The new moon is conjunct my ascendant!
Posted by: Rebecca | July 18, 2012 at 07:54 AM
Trines natal saturn and squares natal neptune. Saturn is moving into conjunction with natal neptune. But all I know is that I am really jazzed about cultivating my new healthy relationships. There is even fresh air in some existing relationships that is allowing us to continue on our journeys together.
Posted by: caliban | July 18, 2012 at 10:01 AM
oh my, cancer is my progressed 7th house. Hmmm I say once again to progression.
Posted by: caliban | July 18, 2012 at 10:03 AM
This article is amazing for it's breadth, depth and comprehensive integration of all the dynamics under which we are living.
I've reread this a few times, will study more because of how helpful it is to have so much information and understanding in one piece.
Thank you very much for composing this article, Robert.
Posted by: Sherry | July 18, 2012 at 03:05 PM
I am in the basement, and have returned to the original crime scene, but this time I have a flashlight.
The crime....attempt at control/bullying and then rejection to enforce compliance...by father, and a boss, who expects hoop jumping, refuses to communicate, and punishes with less work when, you refuse to keep quiet. Both are passive-aggressive.
Past actions...inability to control emotions, negative thought patterns, continue to repeat/attract same, in working and love relationships.
It was necessarry to return to the original scene of the crime, to re-create the setting, at a time when one of the original players "fear/need for approval"...had left the building. As such new evidence emerged, and new witness statements, resulting in a different
outcome.
Shortly, this case will be closed, as truths have come to the surface...and perceptions are shifting.
Detective Wild Horse Running...
Posted by: Wild Horse Running | July 18, 2012 at 04:02 PM
wonderful long article Robert! this new moon trines my Scorpio midheaven. just a Mercury rx remark here... i recently met my childhood pen pal. we are Cancers with the same birthday 6/29/54. she gave me a packet of my old letters from 1964- present. talk about looking back! i get to look back and meet the little girl from 1964! i am so excited!
thank you and namaste :)
Posted by: Valerie | July 18, 2012 at 05:16 PM
Cancer-5 here......one word: Explosion. One thought: Paradigm shift. One feeling: This is right.
Posted by: Beth in SoCal | July 18, 2012 at 10:16 PM
This new moon is close to my birthday Cancer 18th of july
Posted by: ull | July 20, 2012 at 10:44 AM
Whr, you are crackin me up. When it gets that silly, it is a good thing. With the setup I had to walk through, I often thought with some embellishment I could write the ultimate blackmail espionage millions of dollars script. Detectives are my favorite genre. Think it's our scorp rising?
Posted by: caliban | July 20, 2012 at 12:34 PM