by Robert Wilkinson
This Total Eclipse Full Moon at 26 Libra-Aries is activating, balancing, moves on its own initiative, and will show us openings that resemble closings from last October. This one tests our ability to stay balanced, keep things in perspective, and blunt unnecessary force that throws us off our equilibrium.
Today’s Full Moon post covers various rising signs around the globe and an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In parts 3 and 4 we’ll cover Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
This self-sufficient, self-reliant, initiating, compassionate, unifying, intuitive, and educative Full Moon that blesses us with a flow that is protective and strengthening falls at the 26th degree of Libra and Aries. This Lunation, promising interesting interactive karmic returns as things fracture around us occurred April 15, 0:42 am PDT, 3:42 am EDT, 8:42 am Greenwich (BST).
So What's Happening Where?
Now we take a look at the rising signs around the world. The Lunation finds 4 Capricorn rising in Santa Monica, 18 Sagittarius in Vancouver, 10 Aquarius in Toronto, 16 Aquarius in Montreal, and 16 Aquarius in Washington DC, showing (from west to east) mid-Sagittarius through mid-Aquarius as the rising signs across North America.
Continuing east, we find 6 Aries rising in Rio, 29 Taurus in Lisbon, 23 Gemini in London, 6 Cancer in Berlin, 6 Cancer in Sofia, 8 Gemini in Johannesburg, and 28 Cancer in Moscow. That means the span of Ascendants across the Atlantic to Central Europe and Africa is between late Taurus and late Cancer.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find the Ascendants to be 12 Leo in Abbottabad, 14 Leo in New Delhi, 7 Leo in Trivandrum, 3 Virgo in Jakarta, 15 Virgo in Hong Kong, 8 Libra in Tokyo, 8 Virgo in Perth, 23 Libra in Melbourne, 1 Scorpio in Brisbane, 6 Sagittarius in Wellington, and 6 Sagittarius rising on Maui (Apr 14).
So you can construct a rough chart for where you are in the world, I’ll give you the rounded up degree for each planet. Use the Ascendants given above to get a rough sense of what’s on the eastern horizon where you are, and using an Equal House system, you can see what’s going on in your part of the world for the next 2 weeks.
In this Full Moon with the Sun at 26 Aries and the Moon at 26 Libra, Mercury is 14 Aries, Venus is 11 Pisces (the same degree as the recent Pisces New Moon!), Mars is 17 Libra retrograde, Jupiter is 13 Cancer, Saturn is 22 Scorpio, Uranus is 14 Aries, Neptune is 7 Pisces, Pluto is 14 Capricorn retrograde, TransPluto is 30 Leo retrograde, Chiron is 16 Pisces, and the NN is 29 Libra.
Because the New Moon preceding the Full Moon always represents the seed forms that are brought to surface at and after the Full Moon, please check out the recent New Moon articles The New Moon in Aries Pt. 1 – What’s Happening in April 2014 and The March New Moon in Aries Pt. 2 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means.
Those around the world who will definitely feel effects of this Full Moon are the places where it falls near the angles of the chart. Places on our list where the Lunation is near the angles and activating energies powerfully are (Sun/Moon): Berlin, Sofia, Moscow, Abbottabad, New Delhi, and Trivandrum, (MC/IC), Tokyo, Melbourne, and Brisbane (Dsc/Asc), Santa Monica (IC/MC), and Rio (Asc/Dsc).
An Overview
An overview of this period ruled by this Full Moon Total Eclipse shows it will illuminate our pure potential that needs to be focused in some balanced or rhythmic release pattern. This Eclipse will show us how to take the compassion we’ve developed in the recent past as a result of Divine Grace in our Lives, and focus it in some form where we obey the Divine promptings and find delight in doing so.
This will put the focus on individual, mental, and spiritual energy in some form that will be focused in new initiatives and perspectives, allowing us to grow in seeing a bigger picture and who we’re supposed to be dancing with in the future. This one moves us forward so that we can see the dance of our relationships from a more eternal angle of perception.
This Lunation shows a mixed bag of aspects. Front and center, the Grand Cardinal Cross indicates a great fracturing has been going on and continues into the near future (since this Eclipse will show effects for 3+ months), along with the Grand Irrationality triggered by the Sun. However, we also have a very beneficial Venus trine Jupiter and sextile Pluto, along with a strong Sun quintile Jupiter and three biquintiles involving Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Uranus, showing high specialization and interesting karmic returns for skills cultivated in the past.
Because the Cardinal T-square formed by Jupiter opposition Pluto with both square Uranus will be active for the next 8 weeks, we continue to learn how to keep our equilibrium, equipoise, and sense of perspective. These very frictional energies in the collective atmosphere that are associated with the wide-spread tension and revolutionary conditions are now building toward the Great Fracturing of late April 2014. I will of course write more about that over the next few weeks.
This continues a very intense period where Saturn is anchoring a third point in the Grand Irrationality, indicating destiny has been and continues to be on the move for the entire world related to Scorpio themes. A quick look at our world makes it easy to see these themes. I’ll give you the zones of the Grand Irrationality in the next section.
The Grand Irrationality, along with the other non-rational configurations that happen off and on, indicate that while we live in a time of very heavy decisions determining the future destiny of humanity, we also are at a turning point about how our light and life are or are not conforming to the challenges to individualize that Uranus has awakened since June 2012.
The focus of the light shows a way for us to use an alternation of “soft power” and “hard power,” so that we can repair or reconstruct something that needs to be recreated. This helps us refine our expression, and as we do so, we’ll be “entering the sanctuary” where our mind will be introduced to our Soul.
Is the Grand Irrationality A Factor in this Full Moon?
As I just noted, The Grand Irrationality is definitely triggered in this Lunation by the Sun triseptile Satur, septile Neptune, and biseptile Pluto. I wrote extensively about this long term configuration in Astrology in November-December 2013 - The Grand Irrationality Affecting Everyone and Astrology in late November and Early December 2013 – In the Heart of the Grand Irrationality. When you’re done here, please check out those articles to find the current seven “hot zone” spans, and I’ll update the information sometime soon.
As I’ve noted previously, Neptune is very close to an exact septile with Pluto in this chart, and will be a factor in all celestial events at this time of the year. However, they have now begin to pull apart from the exact aspect, and in a few weeks will again be too wide an orb to be in septile, which is the main aspect anchoring the Grand Irrationality. Right now Neptune is 53 degrees and 13 minutes away from Pluto, but by the end of May they’ll be 54d 30m apart, which is a little too wide for the septile.
As I explained in a recent article, that just means that in the Autumn and Winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) they are now operating as a simultaneous “pulse,” since they’re both aspected near the same time. But in the Spring and Summer we’ll experience it as a rolling influence, with first Pluto aspected, and then Neptune at some time after that, depending on which planet is doing the aspect to these planets.
Important Factors
As I said, this Lunation brings us a mixed bag of aspects. On the harmonious side, we have only Jupiter widely trine Saturn, which is harmonizing and giving us a last stabilizing understanding of the emotional intelligence we’ve built since Summer 2013. The good thing is that Venus is trine Jupiter and the ruler of the Moon and Mars in this Eclipse, making it extremely powerful in its sign of exaltation. That should soften some of the friction of the Great Fracturing.
This continues the pattern of the oppositions, squares, semi-squares, and sesquisquares of the past Full Moons, and is the last one with the Grand Cross forming, though Mars will continue to square Pluto and oppose Uranus through June. These oppositions and squares are putting major pressure on those who have planets or angles between 10-15 Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, and 25-30 Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. If you have something in those zones, then you can bet you’ll see some breakthrough action over the next two weeks (and 3 months!).
As usual with Mars in Libra, don’t let things spin out of proportion. The Cardinal T-square requires that we be very balanced in extreme situations or when with extreme people. This is a time to find a higher way beyond the oscillations of the mind and feelings. Blunt unnecessary aggressive tendencies, be moderate and measured in your responses, and when appropriate, be a peacemaker, since this will lead us to a vision that will be perfected between now and mid-July.
We will experience a Mars response or lesson based on what we learned from Saturn, some discipline or duty or responsibility, in December 2010 through March 2011, or September 2011. Something related to then could become an irritant, or require action, or recalibration. Again, be moderate and compassionate in all responses, be balanced when it’s time to repair or reconstruct something, and follow through on using what Saturn taught you in 2011 to concentrate on what matters now. This one quickens us, but in a strangely frictional way.
We all began to learn how to overcome fear in the Spring of 2012, and then entered an unknown space time sector where we began to learn to view much of what goes on at core through a sense of life being a “science experiment,” with our task to understand the laws that underlie what’s going on. We’re now able to use that knowledge to get a new perspective on what has affected us in the past, and can let go of nonessentials as we claim the enduring patterns and symbols of “the movie of our life.”
I’ll write more about these things in parts 3 and 4. The next two weeks will bring lessons in “happy obedience” as we maintain balance and perspective in the midst of many things breaking down and breaking apart. This begins a new era in our lives. Opportunity will be all around, as will the need to not get aggravated or irritated by the way things are or are not developing as fast as we’d like.
Jupiter is now moving forward, making a “last pass” over the span it’s occupied since last August. As noted, this gives us a new chance to apply the emotional intelligence we built last June, July, and August. The coming weeks will help us get new understanding about what we consider to be true about those new cares, new feelings, and a new sense of stability we’ve embraced since then. Now that it’s forming its final trine to Saturn, we’re stabilizing whatever “feeling-knowing” we’ve been cultivating since last Summer.
Jupiter has been in Cancer for all Lunations since last July. That shows we’re in a one year period where family and personal feelings will continue to run strong, so be clear about what you’re feeling that feeds you, or nurtures your growth in some personal way. We’ve all gone deeper into how we experience everything, and the past 4 months we’ve been given a new look at how we measure success, and figuring out how to “put on the show” and receive what we need from our audience.
Is the Sun Following the Moon, or the Moon Following the Sun?
This is the ninth Full Moon where the Sun falls in the same sign to the Sun at the previous New Moon. We’re now back to the “normal” pattern we last experienced between September 2010 and June 2012. We’re now done with the “reversed pattern” we dealt with between June 2012 and August 2013, where the Full Moon Sun was in a different sign than the previous New Moon.
As I've explained in previous Full Moon articles,
... the Full Moon being in a subsequent sign than the previous New Moon indicates that what is released as realizations in the Full Moon period actually "prepares the ground" for the coming New Moon seed. Strange reversal of function, since you would think the New Moon provides the seed for the next Full Moon. But this set of Lunations works the opposite way....Another way to look at this is the Sun sign of the Full Moon is the same as and precedes the Sun sign of the next New Moon, reversing the usual way Lunations work. So the fulfillment of the Full Moon sets up the next "seed" to be revealed at the next New Moon....
So Sept 2010 through May 2012 we had the New Moon Sun in the same sign as the subsequent Full Moon Sun every month. This shifted in June 2012, when we had a New Moon at 1 Gemini in late May, a Full Moon at 15 Gemini-Sag in early June, and another New Moon at 29 Gemini in late June. That began the sequence of the New Moon Sun at the end of one sign, with the following Full Moon Sun in the next sign.
So June 2012 began the reversed experience from the “normal” New Moon-Full Moon cycle. We had an illuminated form shown to us at the Full Moon, followed by the Sun being in the same sign as the previous Full Moon. This is fulfillment followed by similar Solar seeds of potential while reversing the natural process.
That ended in August 2013, and we’re again in a sequence where the Full Moon Sun is the same sign as the previous New Moon Sun. To illustrate, the January 11, 2013 New Moon Sun was at 22 Capricorn, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 8 Aquarius. The February 10, 2013 New Moon Sun was at 22 Aquarius, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 8 Pisces.
Continuing through the Spring, the March 11, 2013 New Moon Sun was at 22 Pisces, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 7 Aries. The April 10 New Moon Sun was at 21 Aries, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 6 Taurus. The May 9 New Moon Solar Eclipse was at 20 Taurus, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 5 Gemini. The June 8 New Moon was at 19 Gemini, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 3 Cancer.
This “reversed Sun sign” phenomenon has now ended. In August we had a New Moon Sun at 15 Leo on August 6-7, and then the Full Moon Sun at 29 Leo. In September we had a New Moon Sun at 14 Virgo, and then we had a Full Moon Sun at 27 Virgo. In October we had a New Moon Sun at 12 Libra, and then a Full Moon Sun at 26 Libra.
In November, we had a New Moon Solar Eclipse Sun at 12 Scorpio, and then a Full Moon Sun at 26 Scorpio. In December, we had a New Moon at 11 Sagittarius, and then a Full Moon at 26 Sagittarius. In January 2014, we had a New Moon at 11 Capricorn, and a Full Moon Sun at 26 Capricorn.
The New Moon of late January had the Sun at 11 Aquarius, while the Full Moon Sun was at 27 Aquarius. The most New Moon in late February/early March had the Sun at 11 Pisces, and Full Moon Sun is at 27 Pisces. This continues the pattern. So we continue the “natural” order of Lunation Suns, offering us seeds shown in the first half, fulfillment in the second half.
In parts three and four, we will explore the Sabian Symbols, aspects, and other important chart factors.
Previous articles in this series:
Astrology in April 2014 - On The Threshold of a Total Lunar Eclipse at 26 Libra-Aries
© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert,
So far, this window referred to as the Great Fracturing has been really nice to me. The new moon in my 5th has brought me a lot of fun opportunities to socialize with friends and even a couple of pleasant dates. The eclipse (full moon in my 12th house) has revealed a lot happening behind the scenes that doesn't directly affect or impact me, but which is beneficial to know about, since it confirms for me that what I'm "missing" isn't something I actually want to be experiencing! I'm getting a chance to be a bystander while someone else is fully involved in a drama that doesn't belong to me in the first place (and I'm grateful to have gotten a "pass" from the universe since it means a more peaceful, harmonious experience both FOR me and BETWEEN me and the person involved in the drama). It's not very comfortable to watch people going through transformations that are uncomfortable for them (due to empathy), but it's better than being swept up and away by what isn't properly mine. I am freed to focus on my own stuff that needs attention. Not much drama in that, it's mostly material/financial stuff. But am happy for the detachment from strong emotions indeed, and the continuing opportunity to cultivate kind, supportive relationships in all parts of my life.
Posted by: Lee | April 16, 2014 at 10:03 AM
Interesting information even though at times I get lost in some of the more technical aspects of the plantes and Moon movements.
Slowly, what we need to be aware of is appearing in the horizon.
Best
Posted by: Nic | April 16, 2014 at 11:04 AM
Fracturing began for me from the new moon and is building, senses functioning well, some things I hoped would return healed sadly not, working through the grief, other better surprises from left field that I didnt think was possible and feeling the joy, reality biting at times, yet nourishing at times, the balance so far is good.
My asc which this is on, is sextile natal Mars in Leo, yet also square my Saturn in cap,very grateful for saturn's lessons in patience, respect & ethics , yep, I did say grateful to saturn lol!
Posted by: debbie | April 16, 2014 at 02:38 PM
"If you have something in those zones, then you can bet you’ll see some breakthrough action over the next two weeks (and 3 months!)."
Dear Robert,
'So happy you used the word 'breakthrough' instead of 'challenge'. I am looking forward to a primal transformation/breakthrough that I have been working on for a long time.
Enjoy the renewing energy of this Eastertide.
Posted by: Stephanie | April 17, 2014 at 10:38 AM
Hi Robert,
Im feeling extreme inner pressure....asc/des-12.06 Libra/Aries MC/IC 14 cancer/Capricorn....and pof 12.46 Aries on the descendant.
The soft power is coming across pretty easily...but there is this major war/conflict going on inside! My old identity is fighting for its life, I feel restless... its difficult to sit with this and not try to "escape".
Im looking forward to this shifting soon....I feel like a plane rolling down the runway. ...and having to lift off and hope I soar as the runway just ended at a cliff :-)
Posted by: wild horse running | April 17, 2014 at 01:16 PM
I feel so lost in this lunation still...
No synthesis have formed in my brain or on my feelings.
Still 21. April waits to be coming. Restless me just cannot wait.
Posted by: Helina | April 17, 2014 at 01:24 PM