by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in the Libra New Moon chart which will show us new forms of ideal self-expression, new ways our individuality has been or is being transfigured, and ways of rededicating ourselves to deeper knowledge as well as a more natural life. It will also help us develop what we need to deal with on-going and future fracturing. Keep it simple while seeing the beauty of how simple things can be!
This Lunation, along with the inner planets, begins to put the spotlight back on the "anchoring" span occupied by slow moving planets due to Mercury and Venus in Scorpio. The span occupied by the outer planets runs from Saturn in Scorpio to Pluto in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces to Uranus in Aries. Jupiter was the first to put the focus outside of the Scorpio to Aries span when it moved into Gemini and put some distance between it and Uranus.
However, now that the inner planets have conjuncted Saturn, they’re on track to make conjunctions with Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus over the next 6 months. In other words, we’ve begun a whole new series of year cycles in terms of what the outer planets are teaching us, and how we’re affected in larger, “invisible” spiritual ways.
In this New Moon, the span occupied by the inner planets out to Jupiter involves mid-Cancer through late Scorpio, filling in Leo and Libra “counterweight” energies to the outer planets. Wherever we have Cancer, Leo, Libra, and Scorpio is going to be highly active, due to the presence of 7 planets in that 128 degree span between Jupiter at 19 Cancer and Venus at 27 Scorpio. 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.
We’ve now left the “Bucket Pattern” we lived with for many months, and for the time being, we’re in what is terms a “Splay” Jones pattern. In other words, the planets are all over the map! We have one or more planets in 7 of the signs, all built around the now separating Grand Water trine of Jupiter in Cancer, Saturn in Scorpio, and Neptune in Pisces.
So What is a “Splay Pattern” and how does it work?
This type of spread, with all the planets in odd angles to each other with differing distributions among the signs, creates a “Splay” Jones Pattern. As Marc Jones put it, “the arrangement is neither even nor symmetrical,” revealing “strong and sharp aggregations of the planets at irregular points.”
Dr. Jones states “This suggests highly individual or purposeful emphases in the life, where the temperament juts out into experiences according to its own very special tastes.” This pattern “makes its own anchorage in existence,” and has a quality of “rugged resistance to pigeonholing, either in the near conventional compartments of nature, or in the idea-pockets of associates.”
He goes on to state this pattern gives a “persistent emphasis on individuality,” and the “spokelike emphases of the planetary groupings” are random, but have a “tripod” footing and approach to life circumstances. He says this pattern “reveals a very intensive personality who cannot be limited to any single steady point of application.” This temperament is “particular and impersonal in its interests,” rather than “universal-impersonal” or “particular-personal.”
This implies that affairs will be diversely spread out, some will not mesh well with others, and there will be a “hub and spoke" quality to what happens these next 4 weeks. This spread shows a wide diversity of things going on that promotes individuality.
Up to now, the water trines have ensured a flowing, moving, stabilizing quality. Though they are temporarily past, we are still in a heavy water period, showing if we have learned how to navigate the feeling-flow over past months, we’ll get unique circumstances and gifts perfect for what we need to see a vision or truth clearly, as well as how to get new energy and vitality through going deeper.
Of the traditional 10 planets, there are 5 planets in Water signs, 2 in Fire, 1 in Earth, and 2 in Air. This indicates a heavy emphasis on feelings, experiencing, caring, vulnerability, and self-gathering while flowing through a larger feeling field.
There isn’t much efficiency, practicality, and organizing things so they are in our “enlightened self-interest,” so tap your inner practicality when dealing with people and situations that have none. As the Lunation is in Air, it is associative, relational, and idealistic in reaching out to newer, better relationships.
Mars in Leo, though sesquisquare Uranus and Pluto, still offers us a good dose of inspiration, warmth, and creativity, even if it may be precipitated by irritating conditions or external situations “out of our control” that stimulate (or aggravate) us to concentrate in order to release powerful emotional or social expressions. This is one of the final tests of learning how to let go of fear while living a new individuality in your world.
Air and Earth are cool, Fire and Water are hot. With the distribution, expect this to continue this period of heightened feelings and emotional challenges. With fairly little Earth, cultivate efficiency and economy of energy, stay balanced, and find different perspectives about what has been and could be.
The very powerful Grand Water Trines of June and July helped us all to experience a vaster time frame and a sense of finality as we turned various corners in our lives, with feelings of being connected on deep and vast levels. We’ve now flowed downstream, navigating the plunges of the subsequent powerful Cardinal T-squares forcing us to find balance, perspective, a sense of proportion, and new ideals to pursue.
We’ve all had chances to become more emotionally intelligent in 2013, and have set long range future patterns to be fulfilled over time. Stay practical as you navigate new “feeling-knowing,” be humble and adaptable, and do what you must in conformity to the new life order already presenting itself. Simplicity is the keyword to what’s up these next few weeks. Just stay balanced in the face of those who are out of balance, and keep a sense of perspective when confronted by people who don’t have a healthy sense of proportion.
Saturn's Influence
Saturn continues to wax in importance in all celestial events of these times. This is the thirteenth New Moon of the Saturn in Scorpio era, and for several months it was one of the legs of the “Splay” Jones pattern during the Grand Water Trines, stabilizing the Jupiter in Cancer and Neptune in Pisces energies while in productive mutual reception sextile to Pluto.
We are now rapidly closing lessons related to what we’ve been learning since Saturn went retrograde at 12 Scorpio in February. Next month’s Solar Eclipse New Moon at 12 Scorpio will shut down whatever is left of structures related to those lessons that we cannot take with us into the next phase of life. That Scorpio Solar Eclipse will continue to clean out our emotional body for months to come.
As noted, we’re now done with the Saturn triseptile Uranus. This has had major implications for the degree spans involved, and put the conventional and unconventional elements of reality at a huge fork in the road at three critical points over the past 12 months. The first triseptile of Saturn in Scorpio to Uranus in Aries was in October 2012. The second triseptile was in May 2013. The last in the sequence happened in early September.
During these times, and the times close to these when the Moon triggered more septiles, biseptiles, and triseptiles, we went through major “forks in the road of destiny” involving our emergent individuality indicated by Uranus in Aries, and how it can and cannot acquire structure due to Saturn being in Scorpio. So look back, see what choices you made that could help you cooperate with your individuality AND the flow as it existed at that time, and appreciate your new life order since that phase is now over.
It primarily affect the following degree spans: 12-18 Virgo, 4-10 Scorpio, 25 Sagittarius-1 Capricorn, 17-23 Aquarius, 9-15 Aries, 30 Taurus-5 Gemini, and 21-27 Cancer. If you have a planet or an angle you can bet significant developments over the past weeks have shown you how your responsibilities have met your individuality.
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been shown how our tradition can transmute and accept our individuality, and how our limitations can be renovated to express our unique qualities. Some had to confront fear of loss with a willingness to be a pioneer in some realm where they could express their genius or unique qualities.
Spirit has walked with us during the times this configuration was in play, as well as any other major septile series aspects between the planets, such as are triggered dozens of times a year when The Grand Irrationality is in play. The choices we make as a result of these non-rational aspects show us our “direction of destiny,” and determines if the Spirit will grow stronger and closer with you, or if you will move in directions away from Spirit. Given that most of this community is intentionally trying to live in harmony with Life, Nature, and each other, chances are that whatever you – yes, YOU the reader – are confronting will show you a deeper, richer, more powerful Spiritual life. Which is a good thing.
Saturn taught us a lot of practical lessons between November 2009 and October 2012 when it was in Libra. This New Moon in Libra again puts the light on those Saturn lessons, and perhaps can help us see how we can find new ways of applying those truths of our direct experience when Mars next enters Libra in December 2013, beginning a series of T-squares and Grand Cardinal Crosses that will fracture a lot in everyone’s life.
This will definitely bring forth light connected to Saturn lessons of Oct-Nov 2010, as well as May-June-July 2010, when Saturn went stationary direct at 11 Libra. Much that comes down the next 4 weeks will show us about the kindness we learned, and how we adapted our understanding and communication styles the last half of 2010.
Once Mars enters Libra in December we will have to show skill in our actions related to the lessons we learned from Saturn in Libra between October 2009 and October 2012. What light we see related to those lessons during the next few weeks will be of utmost value and importance beginning next May and June. That is when Mars goes stationary direct at 10 Libra, providing a sense of relief to all of us after the numerous fracturings to come, culminating in the Great Fracturing at the Grand Cardinal Cross in mid-April 2014.
Generally, when Saturn was in Virgo we learned lessons of Divine Discernment, practical functioning, and attention to detail as we were educated through learning to see life as a series of experiments. In Libra, we all went through a transfiguration in our ideals and relationships, and many started living elements of their Divine Archetype. That required some ability to do forms of repair and reconstruction work in the last half of 2011 and most of 2012 to pay some karmic dues and come to a philosophical completion.
As Saturn rules Pluto in this chart in worldly affairs, it shows that when we are confronted with the need to deal with something or someone in an organized, efficient manner, reference Saturn in Scorpio and the lessons of focusing intensity. Feel what needs to be eliminated to achieve emotional stability or movement, and being efficient and truthful in getting to the core of any matter.
Naturally, the usual Saturn keywords will be crucial to effective behavior - patience, discipline, organization, patience, structure, maturity, patience, understanding, wisdom, patience, authority, responsibility, and of course, patience.
So as you open to the tenth New Moon of 2013, take stock of what larger holistic understanding you’ve achieved in 2012. See how you’ve moved from a theoretical ideal to a deeper connection with your regenerative life magnetism, or a deeper communion with some inner or outer element of your Being.
We all learned a lot about how we use Libra energy to fulfill 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. As with all Saturn lessons, when we ran into roadblocks or delays it was teaching us about patience, as well as what limitations and burdens we could and could not live with.
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. As noted yesterday, this New Moon makes some challenging aspects, with other planetary aspects showing the same along with high specialization.
The prominent aspects in this New Moon are the semisquare to Venus and square to Jupiter by the Sun and Moon. We also have Mercury tredecile Jupiter, conjunct Saturn, and sextile Pluto, Venus square Neptune (out of sign) and novile Pluto, Mars quintile Saturn and opposed Neptune (oos) while in a “Kite” double sesquisquare with Uranus square Pluto , and a very powerful Saturn quincunx Uranus.
The semisquare/square by the Lunation to Venus and Jupiter is merely the next stage of the fragmenting energy I spoke about in the recent article Astrology in October 2013 – A Cardinal T-Square with Other Frictional Gear Grinding. This is now the aftermath of that, as well as some “cleanup work” shown by the lower (waxing) square to Jupiter. Refuse everything that is lesser or distractive, and be powerful in how you express what you need to express, whether in relationships, letting go, accepting, gathering, renewing, or adventuring.
Mercury tredecile Jupiter and conjunct Saturn indicates that tremendous growth is found in studying the energies of the subconscious mind and how it works in various degenerative or regenerative ways. Go deeper, focus, eliminate everything that would distract you from getting out beyond the known and familiar while simultaneously reversing magnetism wherever and however that’s appropriate.
Serendipity will be in evidence for those with a planet or angle in the following zones: 5-9 Taurus-Scorpio, 11-15 Gemini-Sagittarius, 17-21 Cancer-Capricorn, 23-27 Leo-Aquarius, and 29 Virgo-Pisces to 3 Libra-Aries. Expect unique or specialized situations perfect for where you’re at or what you’re dealing with.
Mercury conjunct Saturn shows a fusion of the energies of “the Guide of Souls” with the planet indicating our higher purpose or Dharma. Even though Saturn is past the conjunction with the North Node, Mercury collects the light and brings it all into specific focus and operation. So expect a fusion of lessons through Scorpio means to affect the houses and planets where you have Gemini, Virgo, Capricorn, and Aquarius.
As it also collects the light of the separating Saturn sextile Pluto and gives it new energy, we can certainly get to the bottom of things, or the innermost truth of things. These aspects offer penetrating insights, so if applicable, be a good detective and be unafraid to ask the hard questions.
Venus and Mars are in very wide forming square and opposition to Neptune while not yet in the sign where they will make these aspects. This shows a period of time must pass before the releases will occur. When they do over the next several weeks, expect a diversification with a lot of information coming in. Don’t get rattled or discouraged, but use the multi-level energies to open new discoveries.
Mars double sesquisquare Uranus square Pluto is a power “octile” driven configuration that will most impact those with planets in the zones outlined in the linked article above about the Cardinal T-square. As the Lunation is separating from Mars, this also indicates recent events precipitated some crises that will now be resolved through our ability to concentrate on the inner while keeping the initiative in our own hands. Still, because of Mars forming to Uranus and Pluto, it’s going to be an aggravating, agitating gear grind that will propel us forward. Simplicity will help to keep things on track.
Last but definitely not least, Saturn is exactly quincunx Uranus. This will bring major sacrifices and adjustments in terms of what we can and cannot bring with us into our new individuality. Some who are “beyond their depth” will be pulled back to safety, while others will be prompted by humanitarian urges to serve someone or something symbolizing the new life order.
Growth comes by opening to new vistas of conscious, concrete development, and discovering new ways of operating in new realms. Growth also comes from using imagination in precise ways to engineer new life manifestations. Be a good “imagineer,” and you can see the incarnation of something that you can take with you into the future.
As already noted, the Grand Irrationality is not triggered in this Lunation. Moreover, as with recent months, Neptune is still not really in tight orb with Pluto. In this New Moon, they are 53 degrees 57 minutes apart. So as with the past several months, we’re experiencing the Grand Irrationality as an off-again, on-again pattern that works sequentially rather than simultaneously. So enjoy that this marks the beginning of the end of this long wave obsessive, compulsive, non-rational, “fork in the road of destiny” configuration that the entire planet’s been dealing with for 20 years.
I gave you the 7 current “hot zones” where the Grand Irrationality is most active in the recent article Astrology in September 2013 - Mars Triggering the Grand Irrationality Beginning the Square to Saturn. There are other articles in the archives that explain what this irrational, obsessive-compulsive, hard-edged, and weird energy field is all about, so if you’re inclined, explore to your heart’s content. This can help you understand what’s up and how to navigate the next time this configuration is front and center beginning October 14.
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 12 Libra. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for 12 Libra is “Miners emerging from a mine.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of “Depth of participation in the world’s work” and “Whole-souled giving of self to service; or inability to bring self to effort.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves “The need to carry on at ever deeper levels the quest for knowledge which keep burning the fires of the collective mind of a society.” He states that “the search for knowledge demands the dedication of many minds digging ever deeper into the realities of our earthly existence,” which he offers is a hard pursuit with great difficulties and “the possibility of being spiritually asphyxiated by the constant intellectual effort and tension.”
He continues “when a person is confronted by this symbol it could be interpreted as showing the need for such an intellectual dedication but also as pointing to the advisability of emerging from it and leading a more natural life.” Here we extract and “bring up” what is needed for light and warmth to us and others. He says it falls in the span of Expectation, and it’s the second degree of the individual, mental, and spiritual level of the scene of Transfiguration in the Act of Group Integration.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the degree is one of “the irresistible curiosity and indomitable self-confidence which represent the real strength of personality, and which in everyday affairs are sometimes the sole manifestation of an individual’s broader potentials.” He says this can involve “unattractive phases of experience,” but also “a persistent doggedness of effort which has its ultimate fruits in a better world and in happier relationships.”
He offers us the keyword of ESCAPE. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “inexhaustible resources of self with a consequent uncompromising strength of character.”
So we enter a time of figuring what service to do, and how to rouse ourselves to do it in the right spirit. Go deep to find what you’re dedicated to, while being “whole-souled in your self-giving.” Follow your curiosity, strength of character, and self-confidence, and be persistent as you “escape” from the underworld and come up into the Light for a breath of fresh air.
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 our own, another's, or Nature Herself.
We’re still reviewing Pluto’s path showing us core lessons that we first experienced between January and early July 2012. We were exposed to these themes again from late November 2012 through mid-January 2013, after which we entered an unknown zone of Plutonic experience. Since March 2013 we’ve been learning how to see life as a science experiment as we find hints of a new dedication within the collective field. From mid-July through late November we’re finishing our lessons around attuning to the realm of Devas and angels, as well as overcoming fear and receiving rewards for cultivating harmlessness.
In 2013 and 2014 we are in a time of opening to new ways of viewing how to claim our divine power and express it creatively and without fear as we explore the natural laws underlying manifestations, and see Nature Herself as a laboratory where we learn about how our system is constructed. We can “pierce through appearances” to see the magic at the core of things, and through a “keen vision” can find or demonstrate a “universal living touch.” This month we move through our final lessons in overcoming fear and learning the art of harmlessness in our interactions, even with wild things.
Through Jupiter, we can now see how we’re challenged to blend a new energy with one that’s already established, see what is being “sanctified,” and blend the fruition of the past with “new blood.” The more we understand the nature of the world of the unconscious, the clearer we can be about how and what to assimilate, and how and what to eliminate. Because Mars leads the Lunation, it’s an activating influence that is creative, spontaneous, and powerful. Just remember that when there’s gear grinding taking place, go inward, concentrate, and don’t worry so much about outer things.
This Lunation is the thirteenth New Moon with Saturn in Scorpio. In 2012 we cultivated a new strength, came 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.
This Full Moon is intensely dynamic, and puts decisions and actions front and center! As a process of moving through events, make a decision based on fundamental facts and then act! Then move into the knowledge, information, interaction, or vision that enables you to feel what you’re doing. Once you see, hear, think, or understand, then get clear about how and what you’re feeling.
Once you know what you’re feeling, it will naturally lead to a new set of decisions and actions, which will lead to new vision, new information, or new understanding. Then instead of just making more decisions and doing another action, go deep within to feel new ways of experiencing that shift in view, understanding, or interacting. Once you feel, you’ll know what to do.
We are now firmly launched into a great Life Mystery that beckons to each and all of us. Search for it. We are in the heart of the passage. Allow the revelation to present itself so your mind may be illuminated by the feeling-wisdom of your Soul.
We are offered new ways to make our spiritual values real in our life and our world. This one shows us ways of self-expression so that we can bring forth what we desire, or what will fill the voids we’ve created over many years of eliminating old ghosts from our past. The more you understand how the subconscious mind works, and the more discipline you bring to the mind, the more you will be illuminated by transcendent wisdom that will allow your maturity and authority to come forth in potent, focused ways. Keep it simple as you eliminate the next layers of what you no longer need.
On a final note for today, this is the New Moon “seed form” that will externalize at the coming Penumbral Lunar Eclipse Full Moon at 26 Aries-Libra October 18, 4:38 pm PDT, 7:36 pm EDT, October 19 12:38 am Greenwich (BST). That Lunar Eclipse will shut down many old Libra and Aries things, which will be followed by the Solar Eclipse on November 3 at 12 Scorpio that I mentioned earlier.
We all had to let go of the ghosts of the past as we went through many months of Grand Irrationality “forks in the road of destiny” due to the June 2011 Gemini Solar Eclipse. However, though we’ve finished the effects of that very powerful Eclipse, 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 Solar Eclipses of late 2011, 2012 and 2013 still playing out on the world stage and in our lives in major ways!
The Annular Solar Eclipse at 20 Taurus May 9-10, 2013 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
The May 2013 Solar Eclipse in Taurus Pt. 3 – How Will This Lunation Affect Us?
The May New Moon Solar Eclipse in Taurus Pt. 4 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means
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The Total Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio Nov 13-14, 2012 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
The Solar Eclipse at 22 Scorpio Nov 13-14, 2012 Pt. 2 - How Will It Manifest?
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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
wow you have been a very busy boy. lots of insights. great article! i have all my planets in Can, Leo, Lib and Sco- except one, Mars in Cap (with Pluto. hello!) i guess i can expect ALOT of changing. thank you and namaste... :)
Posted by: Valerie | October 05, 2013 at 05:23 AM
Thanks again for all the great information! It helps me to direct my prayers. My ascendant is at 11 Aries, conjunct Uranus now. But aren't the Moon and Sun here also in opposition to Uranus? My life certainly has a lot going on. I'd love this to be a daily business Moon cycle, but it doesn't look that way from here.
Posted by: Maria | October 05, 2013 at 11:27 AM
Hi Valerie - Thanks for your kind words, and you're most welcome. With everything transiting your planetary span, this is a renewal and/or a culmination. Saturn is more or less putting a punctuation point on the lessons it taught you over the past 8 years via first Cancer, then Leo, then Libra, and now Scorpio.
Hi Maria - This New Moon is separating from the opposition to Uranus and square to Pluto. That means those aspects show what has already happened. Forming aspects show future events, separating aspects show past events. Obviously many have had radical upheavals in the weeks up to now. At least, that's the case for many of my clients and friends, though it must be said that some of those upheavals in the status quo have offered a great liberation! This Lunation puts the focus on your 7th, helping you see who considers you their equal, or not.
Posted by: Robert | October 05, 2013 at 12:46 PM
Thank you Robert, this is very helpful. I have 8 planets, MC and NN in the span you mention and face a lot of letting go. This will make life simpler and free it up a little or may be more! Not easy, but necessary. Thank you for shining light on the path.
Posted by: Ann | October 05, 2013 at 05:22 PM
Hi Robert, many thanks for all the work you do to share your insights with us. They are a great help to me in understanding what is going on and why. It helps me navigate thru these weird, wonderful, challenging and oh so chock full of soul growth times. Question though - what exactly do you mean by ""some who are beyond their depth will be pulled back to safety"?
Posted by: Diane S | October 05, 2013 at 05:51 PM
Oh, this will be interesting, I've got the lunar eclipse igniting between the midpoint of my Sun/Mercury conjunct in Libra, just inside my natal 11th house...
Posted by: RodJM | October 06, 2013 at 06:31 PM