by Robert Wilkinson
This initiating, idealistic, action-oriented Total Lunar Eclipse Full Moon showing us a new view of what we’ve let go of in the past and why falls at the 16th degree of Libra and Aries. This is the power of spiritual “repair work” that will show quick results in how we focus a new potential. These next two weeks (and 3+ months!) will show us a new balance, a new kindness when communicating, and new perspectives and innovations.
At a Full Moon, that which has opened since the previous New Moon surfaces in a public form, and heads toward the culmination and fruition symbolized by the second half of any cycle. First half, birth into form and field. Second half, culmination and completion of the purpose of that cycle.
That’s why it’s important to regard the New and Full Moon charts as “God’s Footprints in Time,” since one follows the other in an unending sequence of births of newer and newer seeds. The New Moons show us the seeds that will flourish under the reflected light of the Full Moon.
Full Moons heighten feelings, due to the opposition of the Moon and the Sun. This particular Lunation has one other forming opposition, that being Venus opposed Uranus.
As Venus is a personality planet opposing Transpersonal-Spiritual energies, we can use Venus (social feelings and sense of value and relatedness) to express Uranus (Creative Divine Mind). So while there will be polarization we can also come to a higher awareness by letting our personal energies be the expression of Spiritual forces beyond individual control.
This Lunation marks another one of the more-or-less constant T-squares and Grand Crosses in play for longer than I care to remember. If you’re wondering why so many things have crashed, or been challenged, or turned radical life corners, it’s due to the Uranus square Pluto that have formed two legs in the various T-squares in play since 2010, and especially since late December 2013 through June 2014.
That’s been indicative of the very volatile energies that have fragmented everyone’s life in some way. Many have had some very inharmonious experiences, creating echoes and energy releases related to other cardinal T-squares over the past 3+ years. As I’ve told you before, this square is most affecting those born the first week of April, July, October, and January, as well as those with planets or angles between approximately 10-15 degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.
The good news is that each time planets transit mid-Cancer and mid-Libra they form a T-square, which can release a lot of pent-up energy, helping break log jams and stuck situations. Venus brings the return of the Libra energy triggering the T-square, with the void thrown into Cancer. Be kind, gentle, tender, and caring in balanced, sensitive ways.
This is one more phase of learning to embrace self-purification and self-transformation, while seeing how some things are done for good. We have been learning to practice kindness since May 2011, and this Eclipse brings that front and center as a bottom line in how we relate to others, as well as ourselves. Just move innovation into action, and honor your genius through being decisive in responding to demands on your talents, values, and creativity.
Dispositors - What's the Backdrop to the Energies?
The Moon in Aries is ruled by Mars in worldly affairs and Pluto in spiritual matters, while the Sun in Libra is ruled by Venus in worldly affairs and TransPluto in spiritual matters. This makes the Fire and Earth elements strong in how the Moon expresses itself, while the Air and Earth elements are strong as backdrops to the Sun.
In this chart, in worldly affairs all of the planets are ruled by Venus, making Venus the final dispositor for all the other planets except Neptune in Pisces, which is its own final dispositor. That makes Venus the primary force behind the scenes in this chart. You can find more about dispositors by going to Astrology Class – What Is A Dispositor and What Is Mutual Reception Between Two Planets?
The Sabian Symbols for the Full Moon
This Full Moon falls at 16 Libra-Aries. It is said that the second third (decan) of any sign deals with the emotional, social, and cultural levels of life, and being the second decan of those signs, invokes a sub-influence of Aquarius and Leo.
Since the Moon always focuses the light of the Sun in specific forms, the degree symbols for both are important. The Sun degree is the illumination or enlightenment of the Lunation, whereas the Moon shows us the potential forms that enlightenment will take. Though I’ve given you a sense of what this is about up to now, here’s where we go into detail.
The Solar degree symbol for the 16th degree of Libra is “A boat landing washed away.” In the original Jones class notes, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Constructive results of apparently destructive forces,” “stimulation to new accomplishment,” and “glad response to needed work.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes “the need to keep in operation steady links between the vast Unconscious and the ego-consciousness,” where we have confronted, are confronting, or will confront “broad issues of relationship” that have a destructive potential. He says the boats symbolize the vehicles that allow us to “draw food from the sea (ie, new realizations which (exist) in the unconscious realm of the planetary Mind)” or get away on excursions so we may get a “feel for the water.”
He states that life adventures where we venture “away from the consciously defined and socially structured ways of life” may turn destructive from time to time, and we then need to reconstruct “the boat landings” through a process of repair. He says this degree falls in the Span of Revelation, Act of Group Integration, and Scene of Reconstruction on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of “the superficially unfriendly relations which exist between man as a person and the totally impersonal forces of nature.” He states “cosmic integrity” continually moves toward re-order “to restore each phase of reality to pristine conditions.”
He continues that “here is not so much a thwarting of human effort as a stimulation to new accomplishment, and a freedom from whatever has exceeded its usefulness.” This is a “challenge to pure individuality.” He offers us the keyword RESPITE. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “is a joy in bringing every self-competence to the recurrent emergencies of life.”
So the illumination available via this Full Moon is through the light of reconstruction and repair in action that restores harmony, balance, and connections between the individual and the collective, and the links between the conscious and unconscious sides of life. With Mercury retrograde, we may catch glimpses of the constructive results of prior destructive events that stimulated us to new accomplishments.
The Lunar degree symbol for the 16th degree of Aries is “Brownies dancing in the setting sun.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar says this is a degree of the “relationship between conscious and unconscious sides of life,” and “invisible assistance often entailing obligation to outer forces.”
In the Mandala he says this is a degree of "attunement to the potency of invisible forces of nature,” where “in the light of personal fulfillment….(we) may be able to establish a life-giving contact with natural forces” which constitute a part of the larger life of the biosphere, or Gaia. He offers that these nature spirits are part of the one life of the planet, and are “nonindividualized and unfree energies” within the planet as an organism that act as a “guiding and balancing-harmonizing factor” similar to a human endocrine system.
He goes on to say “when this Sabian Symbol reaches into the consciousness of (those who seek) meaning, it should be seen as an invitation to open (our minds) to the possibility of approaching life in a holistic and nonrational, intuitive manner…. It implies a call to repotentialization.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Examination, Act of Differentiation, Scene of Potency on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “the essentially friendly relationships which exist between man as a persona and the totally impersonal forces of nature,” where the “cosmic integrity demands a continual reversion to pure source in the case of each segment of reality, and the universal activity provides a continual sorting and sifting of all things into convenience and order. He continues that “the dance of life” is “an unending rehearsal and exhibition of every special capacity of selfhood.”
He offers us the keyword INVIGORATION. He goes on to say that when operating positively, the degree is “simple good fortune together with unlimited opportunity as the direct fruitage of effort.”
So the focus of the light of this Full Moon requires us to open our minds to seeing things with fresh eyes and a willingness to embrace a new potential and the “friendliness” of life that allows us to contact the source. We should be invigorated by our communion with nature and those “energy distributing forces” that allow us to “rehearse and exhibit” our special capacities.
This is a productive and inspiring Full Moon, even if it does challenge our balance and sense of fairness. Much that is left over from the 2009-2012 Saturn in Libra era will be revisited, and many will be able to understand how to be more kind to themselves and others when it comes to giving and receiving information that can help transfigure us and them as individuals.
Be joyous in doing the repair work you need to, and/or reconstructing things in the past that may have damaged some relationship, whether with another or some part of yourself to another part of yourself. Definitely surrender old feelings to new awareness, and see old endings you “did well” as symbols of your Spiritual Immortality. Keep bringing your actions to a more specific focus so you can get a sense of how to handle them, don’t jump to conclusions, and be deliberate in your responses.
If something unexpected, sudden, or unusual shows up, see how you can direct the flow to your desired ends. And if you’re getting diverted or frustrated from getting definite results in what you’re attempting, dump whoever or whatever is getting you lost in loose ends. Let go of extreme or corrosive people, or those whose motive is not above board, and see ways to relate scattered interests to cohesive ends.
Due to some very favorable Saturn aspects, keep finding ways to trust your feeling-knowing as you move into unknown social zones. Let go of stagnant feelings while being clear about how or what to renew, and trust in your ability to navigate these currents as you embrace a new life. This feeling magnetism is showing us who are others in our Soul-group.
Jupiter is helping us all expand our heart expression, and with the very favorable Sun sextile Jupiter and Moon trine Jupiter, this should bring a tremendous sense of well-being to those with planets in the middle degrees of Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, and Aquarius. In this Eclipse, extraordinarily favorable energy is built in Fire and Air, and released through Pluto in the T-square. Major integration time!!
TransPluto, Divine Mother, Neptune, and the Polarization in the Collective Atmosphere
In the Full Moon charts of 2009-2012, Neptune was in a very close opposition to TransPluto, the planet symbolizing Divine Mother Energy. That’s one factor in why things have been so polarized the past several years, teaching humanity compassion and the need for Viveka, or Divine Discrimination. This has offered all of us opportunities to join together in the Great Mother and realize our interrelatedness on a feeling level with All-That-Is.
The energies of Divine Mother will only grow stronger throughout this century, and these will be demonstrated each time the planets make significant aspects to TransPluto. In this chart TransPluto continues to occupy the first degree of Virgo, showing us the long term future of humanity. Again, the Divine Redeemer is showing us ways to show Viveka through understand the place and function of individual differences.
In terms of the larger Era, we’ve now ended the TransPluto (Percephone, Parvati) in Leo era that we knew from September 20, 1935 through a few weeks ago. Since October, 2011, we’ve been a transition period where this planet has danced at the last degree of Leo and first degree of Virgo. On July 5, 2014, TransPluto left Leo for many centuries, and entered into Virgo for the next century.
So we’ve officially entered a different Spiritual Era will last through July 2107, when it leaves Virgo for good and re-enters Libra for the first time in many centuries, also after a few years of dancing on the cusp of Virgo and Libra. If you want to know more, please revisit the recent article Astrology in the Age of Aquarius - Transpluto, a.k.a Divine Mother, Parvati, and Percephone, Just Left Leo and Entered Virgo
As the Lunation articles have grown to impossible lengths, this closes part 3 on this Total Lunar Eclipse Full Moon. Part 4 will cover important chart factors, New Moon themes, Jones Patterns and more, so I’ll see you soon!
Remember that this Eclipse features Mercury retrograde, which will be an important influence for the next 3+ months. You can get more information how this important time of Mercury retrograde (which happens three times a year every year!) affects you personally by getting a copy of the new expanded 2nd edition of my book “A New Look At Mercury Retrograde,” available on Amazon kindle, as well as on Barnes and Noble’s Nook as an eBook. I've run into a problem with Apple, and am still figuring out a way to get it up as an iBook for those with Apple iPads and iPhones.
In this new edition I have rewritten and expanded the chapter on Mercury retrograde in the houses, as well as the chapter on Mercury retrograde in the signs. There’s also a lot of in-depth information about Mercury retrograde periods and people and what the entire Mercury Retrograde phenomenon is about. This book will help you understand what’s in play during every Mercury retrograde period, regardless of what signs or houses in your chart are affected by Mercury retrograde.
Previous articles in this series:
Astrology in October 2014 - On The Threshold of a Total Lunar Eclipse at 16 Libra-Aries
© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson
Robert,
Excellent article and I am looking forward to the next. I DID have an ending that I ended well though the current Venus square Pluto has put a bit of a mental 'hook and twist' to it. All things considered even that went unusually smoothly (how cool is that!). Your e-book is most excellent and kudos for finally getting it back into circulation. Happy Lunar Eclipse!
Namaste
Posted by: Jean | October 08, 2014 at 07:13 PM
Irrational happiness and rest? That is how I have felt.
Smile in my face, with no real meaning...
Interesting full moon. Gives no glue of the next New Moon (eclipse) to come.
Posted by: Helina | October 10, 2014 at 08:37 AM
Hi Robert, you wrote that T-squares are in play since 2010, and it was especially dramatic from Oct 2013 to June 2014, so for how long these crashing/challenging/radical transits will affect us? There is no stabilization in my life since I left West Africa (2012 solar eclipse), very disruptive energies at work, no long-term contracts, no residence place for more than 6-8 months etc. I know it depends from many different factors, but it would be good to expect some positive and lasting changes at last!
Posted by: moon | October 11, 2014 at 09:18 AM
Hi Jean - Yes, the Venus square Pluto is just one more time that something in Cancer or Libra releases the Uranus square Pluto grind. Thanks for the praise about the book. This 2nd edition is actually much better than the first edition, since I got to rewrite it as I wanted to, and not to please an editor who didn't know that much astrology.
Hi Helina - Libra can bring a sense of harmony and balance when it's most needed. I believe Lincoln's dictum that (to paraphrase) "I suspect a person's about as happy as they make up their mind to be."
Hi moon - These are affecting us as long as Uranus is square Pluto. Early Cardinal signs were most affected late 2009-late 2012. Mid Cardinal signs are most affected early 2013 through late 2016. After that they rapidly pass out of square, ending that particular trigger whenever a planet is in mid-Cancer or mid-Libra. To note, by mid 2017 Uranus makes its first biseptile to Pluto and semisquares Neptune, beginning a new era of "destiny producing" events.
There are some articles in the archives that explain the long term attributes of the square between these powerful Spiritual motivators. I have found that when we feel unstable, there are great possibilities in the unknown.
We must carry within us whatever we believe stabilizes us, since all outer forms are inherently impermanent, and thus unsuitable for finding anything other than a temporary stability. I believe "positive and lasting change" is done one day at a time. So look back, and rather than look at the disruptions, look at what types of order you brought out of the chaos that has enabled you to be living a new life on your own terms since then.
Posted by: Robert | October 11, 2014 at 10:52 AM