by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Virgo introduces us to a time when magic and humor are in the air, with blessings from the spiritual world when human efforts seem to fail. This one releases a lot of energy as corners are turned at the culmination of the old Mars-Saturn cycle triggering the Grand Irrationality in huge ways!
This New Moon in Virgo is practical, distributive, protective, restructuring, and nurturing. This one will bring forth unique inner powers and skills, so trust your inner guidance as you open to rebeginnings on the social and emotional level. This one helps us both begin and ground a new transformed way of life, and with Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn involved in the Grand Irrationality, we have turning points happening in the lives of nations and individuals!
This Lunation is quintile Mars and Saturn conjunct on a degree of Transfiguration. This is extraordinary, and will bring specialized gifts for the next 4 weeks AND the next two years for those who have strived with diligence in areas ruled by Mars and Saturn. These powerful transfiguration energies are squared by Venus in Leo, which shows how they will be released into the world through forms of social and emotional rebirth.
This practical, protective, innovative and uniquely gifting New Moon occurs at 3 Virgo on August 25, 2014, at 7:13 am PDT, 10:13 am EDT, and 3:13 pm BST. The Lunation finds 12 Virgo rising in Santa Monica, 12 Virgo in Vancouver, 14 Libra in Toronto, 18 Libra in Montreal, and 17 Libra in Washington DC. That means the span of Ascendants across North America is between mid-Virgo and mid-Libra.
Continuing eastward, we find rising signs of 6 Sagittarius in Rio, 11 Sagittarius in Lisbon, 9 Sagittarius in London, 19 Sagittarius in Berlin, 7 Capricorn in Sofia, 12 Aquarius in Johannesburg, and 5 Capricorn rising in Moscow. That means the span of Ascendants across Europe and Africa is between early Sagittarius and mid-Aquarius.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find Ascendants at 16 Pisces in Abbottabad, 22 Pisces in New Delhi 23 Pisces in Trivandrum, 25 Aries in Jakarta, 10 Taurus in Hong Kong, 16 Gemini in Tokyo, 29 Aries in Perth, 2 Gemini in Melbourne (Aug 26), 21 Taurus in Brisbane, 13 Gemini in Wellington, and 6 Leo rising on Maui (Aug 25).
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 4 weeks.
In this New Moon at 3 Virgo, Mercury is 18 Virgo, Venus is 17 Leo, Mars is 18 Scorpio, Jupiter is 9 Leo, Saturn is 18 Scorpio, Uranus is 17 Aries (SRX degree), Neptune is 7 Pisces retrograde, Pluto is 12 Capricorn retrograde, TransPluto is 1 Virgo, Chiron is 17 Pisces retrograde, and the NN is 21 Libra.
When a Lunation is on one of the angles of a chart, it is said to be particularly powerful. Among the cities covered in this column, this month the Lunation is culminating (near the MC) in Rio, Lisbon, London, and Berlin, setting in Johannesburg, Pakistan, and India. The New Moon is on the nadir (IC) in Tokyo, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Wellington, and rising (near the Ascendant) in Maui, Santa Monica and Vancouver.
This is the fourteenth in a sequence of New Moons that fall in the same sign as the following Full Moon. This is assumed to be the “normal order of Lunation Suns,” whereas the other Lunation order is the opposite, where the New Moon Sun falls in the sign preceding the Sun of the following Full Moon.
In other words, this New Moon in Leo will also have a Full Moon Sun in Virgo two weeks from now. This is the reverse of what we experienced between July 2011-June 2013, when we had a sequence of Lunations where the Full Moon Sun was in the sign after the New Moon Sun.
We shifted back to “normal” with the New and Full Moons of last August. Since I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, I’ll elaborate more on this shift into the “normal order of things,” and when the pattern will next be reversed, 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.
An Overview of the New Moon
As I said, this will be a practical, efficient, frictional, gifting and destiny-shaping New Moon, and we will all be tested to keep it simple, pleasant, detached, friendly, and have a sense of humor. The Mars conjunct Saturn begins a new major 2 year cycle wherever mid-Scorpio falls in our chart, and shows us the jobs we’ve done well since the last one at 25 Libra two years ago.
Many of the gifts and unique conditions promised by this New Moon will show us our inner strengths and power we’ve cultivated by “seeing through life and death processes” these past two years, as well as guardian angels we may or may not have seen protecting and blessing us. Some of the gifts and blessings promised by this New Moon will come forth over the next two years rather than immediately.
You can bet on major developments occurring in August 2015 that directly relate to these New Moon gifts, so mark your book accordingly! At that time Jupiter will transit this Lunation degree at the exact time Mars occupies Jupiter’s degree in this Lunation. Some gifts and specialized conditions take a while to cook, like a good lasagna!
With the Lunation opposed Neptune and trine Pluto, there will be a need for clarity in what role we play in our world, with a sense of what needs protecting and what needs nurturing in the face of obscure, unclear, or dishonest conditions. Name that which is hidden, be clear about who you are and who you aren’t, and don’t yield up your will to others who may not be as they seem.
The Lunation quintile Mars and Saturn sets up 5 zones where highly specialized circumstances, gifts, and unique qualities can come forth for those with planets or angles in these degree areas. These zones of high specialization are 2-7 Virgo, 14-19 Scorpio, 26 Capricorn-1 Aquarius, 8-13 Aries, and 20-25 Gemini.
This begins a long run of Lunations with Jupiter trine Uranus, favoring inspiration, expansion, new heart expressions, and overall breaks a lot loose from the inertia of the past, whether binding stagnation or calculated inaction. Whatever the exactly separating Venus trine Uranus in this Lunation represents will be seen as a great truth and/or blessing when Jupiter transits 17 Leo in early October, as well as February and late May/early June 2015.
Even though Virgo is not known for humor, with Jupiter leading the occupied span of signs this should be a Lunation where the potential for recognizing the humor in situations should be very high. Jupiter will show us how to release a lot of energy through a disciplined emotional expression, and for artists reading this, go for it!!
This Lunation continues to move a lot forward, since it’s the second New Moon with Mars in Scorpio after 7 months of it being in Libra. As Mars is the dispositor of Saturn and Uranus, and occupies its home sign, we’ve entered a huge shift in the nature of these two power planets. This month’s Mars/Saturn tredecile to Neptune should bring interesting serendipity into the lives of those affected. Degree spans include the ones being triggered by the Lunation quintile Mars and Saturn, modified as follows: 4-8 Virgo/Pisces, 10-14 Libra/Aries, 16-20 Scorpio/Taurus, 22-26 Sagittarius/Gemini, and 28 Capricorn/Cancer to 2 Aquarius/Leo.
Venus square Mars and Saturn can create cross currents, but also release the potential of Mars/Saturn. These squares mainly challenge us to keep things on track despite temporary interruptions, make sure we’re using the right means to our ends, and find the right way to coordinate our affairs. Try not to neglect important things when other equally important things require your attention, fit everything into a long range perspective, and keep everything on track despite distractions.
This New Moon will jumpstart Virgo energy wherever it falls in our chart. A sense of higher service and connection with our allies in the invisible world will bring clarity as we cut to the chase in several important life areas. Again, follow your inner guidance, but make sure you’re clear about what role you DON’T want to play! Like last month’s New Moon, this one continues an actional, physical-material “real world” focus.
Because it happens in Virgo, Mercury is the ruler of the Lunation. Because Mercury is in its “home” in Virgo, and Mars is the other planet in its “home” sign, they are the ”final dispositors” for all the other planets except Neptune, which is also in its home sign of Pisces. A final dispositor is a very powerful self-referencing energy. So these three planets dominate the background for all the planetary energies.
Because of the Leo square to the very favorably aspected Mars and Saturn, we should experience a mix of friction and harmony, challenge and clarity. And of course the tredeciles between Scorpio and Pisces should yield some very favorable unique conditions and gifts for those affected. I gave you the affected degree zones earlier.
The Virgo seed indicated by this New Moon helps us see our inner powers as well as guardian angels and other invisible helpers. We can continue to let our heart express our sense of humor, adventure, natural playful expression, through which we’ll come to forms of emotional and social rebirth and renewal. While the Leo-Scorpio square will be intense, it will also help us turn corners, or put the brakes on old inertias and move things more to our liking.
Mars Has Moved On
This Lunation, like the last several, offers us a practicum in skillfully managing our emotions after many months of major life rebalancing and re-prioritization. While the North Node continues to teach us how to find a reasonable perspective and balanced approach to long term pressures, Mars in Scorpio shows us how to focus our intensity as we let go of all that we no longer need. And the Leo-Scorpio square will most affect those with planets or angles in the middle degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius.
This month Venus is the visible planet that leads the Lunation, with TransPluto the invisible planet that is closes to leading the Lunation. Thus these planets are “heralds” for all that is developing in September. Venus is very strong in Leo, and promises new likes, new relationships, and sets the tone for new adventures, new truths, new futures, and new ways of understanding the spiritual factors in what we can and cannot grasp between now and next Summer.
Just try to use the power of the fixed square to move things forward in your advantage, rather than get stuck in gear grinds or friction that throws you off course. The square will be liberating for many, who will realize a new independence.
Pluto has now retrograded back to 12 Capricorn, giving us another look at life as an “experimental science lab,” where we’re learning about the natural world and what makes things work as they do at the core level. We’re squarely in a several month period where we are finding a valid perspective on important events of our past, and separating out the superficial forms to find the enduring essence of our Higher Self that was distilled out of those experiences.
The Grand Irrationality
The reason this section is a recurring feature in the Lunation articles is because it was set into long term play by the 2011 Solar Eclipse, which is triggered each time any transiting planet occupies any of the 7 zones of the Grand Irrationality. Since then it’s been reinforced and triggered by various Lunations, planetary stations, and transits.
This Lunation finds the Grand Irrationality is incredibly powerful, since it’s being triggered by Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in the Leo and Scorpio zones. This makes 4 of the 7 “hot zones” active, and those with planets or angles in any of the 7 zones of the Grand Irrationality will find themselves confronting choices and changes as they stand at forks in the road of their destiny.
For those who are new to the site, here’s a bit of explanation about this thing called “the Grand Irrationality” associated with why everything continues to be so weird. As I’ve explained many times before, 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.
Everyone has been confronting inner compulsions, continual choices that seem to have a major impact on our destiny, and occasionally irrational behaviors in others or external conditions. 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.
When the Grand Irrationality is in play, it’s a time when things don’t have to make sense. Get used to it, since we’ve been living with it for about 19 years, and will be in play for a few more years to come.
The current degree spans that trigger this transformative mass configuration are around 18-23 Scorpio, 10-15 Capricorn, 2-7 Pisces, 23-28 Aries, 14-19 Gemini, 6-11 Leo, and 27 Virgo-2 Libra. If you have a planet or angle in any of these zones, you are making critical choices and decisions that will alter your future in important ways. And because it’s in motion due to outer planets, these are pretty much forces beyond your ability to control, even if you can always control your response to these critical events.
Neptune and Chiron at the Cusp of the Age:
Now that these two are well into Pisces, they are no longer at the Cusp of the Age. Since they first entered the zone back in 2011-2012, we’ve been navigating through the threshold of an entirely new era that will not resemble the old Age in any way within just a few decades. We’re already solidly in the Dreamscape, and are already seeing long wave manifestations of the ending of the old and the emerging field we’re all learning how to maneuver through.
Other than the brief look we had in mid-2011, this is only the thirty-second New Moon with Neptune in Pisces for the next approximately 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 2011, when Neptune retrograded back into late Aquarius, and the January 2012 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!
In 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. The article deals specifically with the first degree of Pisces, which is where the Precessional point occupies at present.
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. You can find more about what we’re going through to get to the coming Age of Aquarius in the article The Sun Enters Pisces Today Illuminating the Cusp of the Great Age, Where The Age of Pisces Gives Way to the Age of Aquarius
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.
In this chart, Chiron is at 17 Pisces, the degree it went stationary retrograde. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, helping us find forms of “renewed faith,” “self-improvement,” and new perspectives on who our spiritual group is and isn’t.
We are again able to find healing through Pisces attributes, strengths, and blessings. This continues to show us how to merge the sacred and the everyday in our lives. Over the past couple of years, we have healed through knowing what we stand for, and heard a call to a life renewal that is now front and center. We’ve had to let go of unnecessary baggage to quicken the pace in achieving some social goal, mastered something important in our spiritual quest, been offered higher responsibilities, and been shown what spiritual goals we’re fit to accomplish.
In this chart Neptune is at 7 Pisces. The degrees Neptune is transiting in 2014 is a span we haven’t experienced for almost 150 years, and the degree where it went stationary retrograde in June 2014 shows that we’ve all being summoned to hear “a call to renewal,” where “tomorrow acts through today.” This month’s degree is related to collective lessons glimpsed in March and April during “the Great Fracturing.” This month gives a new look and feel to what disintegrated then.
Because Neptune has not experienced 7 and 8 Pisces for over a century, it indicates that collective consciousness is now in an “unknown zone” of experience, feeling what it stands for amidst the swirl of the tides, “hearing the call” during this Summer of 2014. This continues to strengthen our intuition and emotional intelligence, as well as a greater feeling-connection of our positioning within a vaster field.
More on Saturn’s Universally Important Influence
Saturn continues to put a focus on eliminating stagnant feelings and responses, finding appropriate boundaries and a sense of responsibility for our magnetism as we continue to shed various “skins of personality.” This Lunation shows Saturn with many powerful aspects, indicating it will be a primary mover of shifts in destiny that should stabilize our values, resources, and relationships.
Saturn in Scorpio continues to help us make choices about what to eliminate, what to regenerate, and how to let go of all that we don’t want nor need to take with us into a future that began to rapidly unfold last July and August around the time Mars conjuncted Jupiter. And as I’ve told you before, when in doubt, you might as well let go, since you cannot hold on to those things anyway.
Saturn continues to help us see a) how we have shifted our magnetism on relationships since Summer, and/or b) how we need to find a new view or way of understanding the losses and eliminations of the past we’ve been through. Now we’re flowing into a long wave period of finding the right focus to allow inspiring teachings to transform our daily lives.
Because of Saturn’s path the past year, through our magnetism and desires we have begun to demonstrate a higher level of social functioning. Now that we’ve learned what is permanent and stable in our life structures, this is the next step in practicing those Saturn lessons.
Saturn is now direct, giving us one last time to apply the lessons of the past few months. This one will show us a transfiguration at the end of a cycle if we’ve done what we needed to with excellence and found the right perspective on the dues we’ve had to pay these past two years. We are now in the final run of Saturn through mid-Scorpio, preparing to enter Sagittarius in late December.
So we’re now in the last act of the play of Saturn in Scorpio, where we complete eliminating and regenerating, seeing what to let go of that which no longer works. We have found ways to get focused and clear about what structures are worthwhile and which need eliminating or purifying, and have finished the long wave process showing us how to conduct ourselves at a higher social level of interaction. This gives us another period of seeing our inner wealth at the point of consummation.
As Saturn rules the bones, and Scorpio rules regenerative processes, you may want to regard the current Saturn in Scorpio transit as symbolizing a type of “bone regeneration,” or the elimination of all in our skin and bones that would block our ability to meet and greet others at a higher level of dignity, reserve, and “civilized” behavior. This shows us a long wave elimination and regeneration work each of us is doing in our own ways and times.
2012 finished our philosophical and ideological understanding in life areas related to Libra, Capricorn, and Aquarius in our charts, and since October 2012 we have entered a Scorpio experience of an intensification of magnetics to attract what we need and repel what is not needed. Saturn in Scorpio will continue to be a MUCH different manifestation of Saturn than we were used to between 2010-2012!
Due to the 2012 and 2013 Scorpio Solar Eclipses, we’ve been looking back to rehearse the future after eliminating elements of the past. This opened the doors that we walked through in late December 2012 that continued through January 2013, and the Solar Eclipse from November 2013 renewed the pulse. Whether we want to or not, we’ve all had to be willing to embrace a purification process, especially purifying the life of stuck feelings and desires, and open to a new game and a new way of playing that game.
This is the seventh Lunation with North Node in Libra and South Node in Aries. Good for reasoned, balanced action! With NN in Libra, our greatest development is through our ability to balance, weigh, judge fairly, be diplomatic peacemakers, and generally cultivate our grace, style, elegance, and sense of beautiful forms.
We have now entered a time of growth through learning how to repair or reconstruct whatever we need to, and can grow by seeing the balances or imbalances in our relationships. Where it is in this Lunation chart shows we can grow through finding ways to refresh ourselves and regenerate with others in environments of universally recognized worth. Rest and recuperation are favored by this placement. Here we learn why we went through repair, reconstruction, or reclamation some things in 2011-2012.
During the time Saturn occupies the last half of Scorpio (between Nov 2013 and Dec 2014) it is concretizing and structuring what we learned via the North Node when it was in middle and late Scorpio. Though the lessons will take a Saturnine form, we are now almost at a threshold of reviewing how we’ve contacted our innermost “God force” and move beyond old forms. Last Autumn we learned to go to our “center of reality” and see how Spirit and Soul are dancing with whatever in our personality is conflicted. Now we get to do transmutation practices.
This Lunation features some very powerful aspects, as many favorable and specializing as frictional. I’ll cover these in part 2 of this series, along with the Sabian Symbol for the New Moon. This will be a specializing period leading to creative-expressive gifts and a sense of freedom wherever the Lunation, Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto are transiting and rule in your chart.
I’ll close today by reminding you that we’re in the heart of the long wave friction and crashes symbolized by the encroaching Uranus square Pluto indicating the global collision between a new humanity and an old slave system. So while we all get a joyous break from the pandemic friction in some really enjoyable ways, just keep relying on the emotional intelligence and stability you’ve cultivated since last Summer, and as always, show patience.....
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.
Since the Solar Eclipse in Scorpio from last November is still a powerful influence, coming to the fore since Mars recently transited that degree, here are the articles for your review.
Astrology in November 2013 - On The Threshold of a Hybrid Solar Eclipse at 12 Scorpio
The Hybrid Solar Eclipse at 12 Scorpio Nov 3, 2013 Pt. 1 - Who Does It Affect and for How Long?
Since that Solar Eclipse occurred so close to the Inferior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury, here's the article outlining how that influence was a factor in what we experienced this past month, and will be dealing with for the next 2+ years. It will definitely take a concrete shape as Saturn transits over those degrees in the next few weeks.
© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson
insightful, thorough, and brilliantly comprehensible as usual Robert, thanks once more for your continued excellent efforts!
Posted by: JP | August 25, 2014 at 12:09 PM
Hi Robert,
Great call on your last "Astrology in August" post. Man oh man the snakes in the grass are out in force! Provided one does not evoke any further skulduggery, this new moon sounds like it will be a welcome break! Looking forward to parts 2 and 3 :-D
Namaste
Posted by: Jean | August 25, 2014 at 08:45 PM
"Emotional Intelligence" I like that Your Highness!!!!!
Posted by: chickie | August 26, 2014 at 04:18 AM
I am so dab-blamed happy that Mars and Saturn exactly conjuncted my natal Sun at the time of their conjunction! Third pass of Saturn, too. Transmutation, you say! It's been a long time in the works. (Rub a dub a dub)
Can't wait for the next post! blessings, jo
Posted by: Jo Garceau | August 26, 2014 at 10:43 AM
Great post and good times ahead to make the most of them.
Indeed the decay of the present system requires a sense of humour and patient, but also the recognition of those beings (Angels) that have guide us whether we are aware of them or not. All part of the transit that now is opening great opportunities, specially after the weir times lived this last lunation.
Ready for the second part!
Blessings be to all,
Nic
Posted by: Nic | August 26, 2014 at 12:58 PM
About venus releasing the potential of mars/saturn: does that happen in a square. Does the faster moving planet move the slower? Or is it just this particular squaring?
Posted by: caliban | August 26, 2014 at 11:46 PM