by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Capricorn introduces us to a time of accepting a form of power or authority wherever we have Capricorn in our charts. Efficiency is sky high, and we’re about to “cut to the chase” and accelerate quite a few areas of growth!
This New Moon in Capricorn will help us in seeing how to manage different types and areas of pressure! And though the pressure’s definitely ON, those who tune in to a disciplined way of understanding the collective field will have no problem navigating this time of organizing or reorganizing. This is a time of concentrating energies in fulfilled ways, and will help us mobilize to our best advantage, however we define that.
This New Moon falls just after the Solstice, so of course most of the aspects are identical! That implies that whatever the next 4 weeks are about will profoundly affect the next 3 months! It’s also the final New Moon with Saturn in Scorpio until the 4 between June and September 2015. As Saturn is the ruler of this New Moon, we’ll see how well we’ve mastered Saturn in Scorpio energy these past 2 years.
Two other significant influences dominate this New Moon chart. Mercury is conjunct Pluto and square Uranus, putting that revolutionary gear grinding into play, and bringing new information and insights related to Mars triggering this square a few weeks ago in November. These squares occur every time a planet moves through mid-Aries, mid-Cancer, mid-Libra, and mid-Capricorn at this time in history.
The Sun will activate it in about a week for at least a week. As these are triggered from Capricorn, they begin a new year cycle for each of the inner planets in their dance with Pluto. The next big shift will occur in early March and again in early April. Everything that comes down during these squares should be related to the Great Fracturing of January through June 2014 that affected everyone wherever these signs fall in the birth chart.
The second major influence results from the intense cluster of planets in early Capricorn. Because of the cluster in early Capricorn, this New Moon will echo some of the major themes related to 2006-2009, when Pluto conjuncted the Galactic Center. This brought galactic energy every December Solstice via Plutonic seed forms, thus influencing all that followed. You can learn more by going to the numerous articles in the archives published back then.
So What’s Happening Where?
This initiating, pragmatic, self-organizing, and mobilizing New Moon occurs at 1 Capricorn on December 21, 2014, at 5:36 pm PST, 8:36 pm EST, Dec 22 at 1:36 am Greenwich. The Lunation finds 12 Cancer rising in Santa Monica, 19 Cancer in Vancouver, 18 Leo in Toronto, 24 Leo in Montreal, and 18 Leo in Washington DC. That means the span of Ascendants across North America is between mid-Cancer and late Leo.
Continuing eastward, we find rising signs of 6 Virgo in Rio, 13 Libra in Lisbon (Dec 22), 18 Libra in London, 27 Libra in Berlin, 8 Scorpio in Sofia, 6 Sagittarius in Johannesburg, and 12 Scorpio in Moscow. That means the span of Ascendants across Europe and Africa is between mid-Libra and early Sagittarius.
Moving into Asia and Oceana, we find Ascendants at 22 Sagittarius in Abbottabad, 29 Sagittarius in New Delhi, 8 Capricorn in Trivandrum, 11 Aquarius in Jakarta, 9 Aquarius in Hong Kong, 6 Pisces in Tokyo, 27 Aquarius in Perth, 22 Pisces in Melbourne, 28 Pisces in Brisbane, 16 Aries in Wellington, and 29 Taurus rising on Maui (Dec 21).
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 1 Capricorn, Mercury is 8 Capricorn, Venus is 15 Capricorn, Mars is 14 Aquarius, Jupiter is 23 Leo (SRX degree!), Saturn is 30 Scorpio, Uranus is 13 Aries (SD degree), Neptune is 6 Pisces, Pluto is 13 Capricorn, TransPluto is 2 Virgo retrograde, Chiron is 14 Pisces, and the NN is 17 Libra (October 2014 Mercury SD degree).
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 in Tokyo, Melbourne, Bisbane, and Wellington, and setting in Vancouver and Santa Monica. It is near the nadir in Rio and Lisbon, and rising in Johannesburg, Abbottabad, New Delhi, and Trivandrum.
This is the eighteenth and third from the last 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 Capricorn will also have a Full Moon Sun in Capricorn. This is the reverse of what we experienced between July 2011-July 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 August 2013. 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
There are a mixed bag of aspects in this New Moon chart, mainly concentrated in a very few signs. There will be the powerful concentration of having 5 planets in Capricorn releasing via the squares to Uranus in Aries. This challenges us to demonstrate good Cancer and Libra energy. We’ve been learning this off and on for several years, and usually we learn balance, moderation, and a sense of proportion in the Summer, and learn care, self-gathering, protection, and forms of nurture in the Autumn.
Now that the North Node is in mid-Libra, it brings a more specific focus on growth in that direction. And of course, as I’ve noted in other articles, it also develops many of the Saturn skills and disciplines we took on and learned to deal with back between November 2010 and October 2011.
Due to the Lunation sextile Neptune, we can take heart in our inner “feeling-knowing” and reorganized our priorities in terms of what we are and are not dedicated to. We’ve now been through 2 years of learning to “master discouragement,” and are on the threshold of being able to see clearly as we demonstrate our mastery over our “animal nature.”
It is said that when the Divine Spark within us tames the animal self and trains it to manifest our Highest Self, we will be the masters of any and all situations we’re in, since that Divine Self can never be “defeated.” The next weeks offer tremendous opportunities to demonstrate focus and discipline, as well as courage, valor, and mastery.
This New Moon will jumpstart Capricorn energy wherever it falls in our chart. That's why this should be a very efficient time. We can now accept responsibility for the wider vision and/or truth we’ve glimpsed the past 4 weeks, and mobilize our involvement so we have power and initiative in whatever we’re doing. This is self-initiating pragmatic self-positioning in terms of skills, where we can find our place of natural “authorship” or authority. Like the last 5 New Moons, this one continues an actional, physical-material “real world” focus.
Because it happens in Capricorn, Saturn is the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and Uranus the spiritual ruler. Because Saturn is in Scorpio, and Scorpio’s ruler is Mars in Aquarius, they are in ”mutual reception.” This is a very powerful self-referencing, self-reinforcing energy loop.
We also find Pluto in Capricorn is ruled by Saturn in Scorpio, creating a second mutual reception in this chart, and with Uranus in Aries and Mars in Aquarius, we have a THIRD mutual reception! Since these involve both the worldly rulers and the spiritual rulers of Aries, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Aquarius, this makes for a powerful blend of very strong planets dominating each others’ signs. It also means these 4 planets 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 backdrop, so these planets dominate the background for all the planetary energies.
The Capricorn seed indicated by this New Moon helps us forge a sense of personal power and effectiveness on our terms. This will sharpen our focus and efficiency as we move into the greater life adventure already shown by Jupiter in Leo with even greater inspiration and truths promised by Saturn in Sagittarius. We’ll be offered opportunities to be more socially effective through embracing a collective dedication and faith as we finish leaving stuck conditions behind.
Jupiter will be leading the occupied span of signs for quite a while, since it opens the Locomotive span. As noted in previous Lunation articles, it’s also the nozzle, or handle, for a Bucket pattern. So we’re experiencing two different Jones patterns simultaneously I’ll discuss more about this in part 2. Because Saturn in Scorpio leads the Lunation yet another month, this should be a very heavy and/or important period where duty and responsibility will be important. Be willing to use mind in mature, patient, structured, and focused ways to manage pressure or unregenerate energies that need a safe outlet.
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 set into motion by Venus in extremely close separating septile to Neptune. This will be triggered again shortly as Mercury conjuncts Pluto and septiles Neptune from Dec 23-26. This brings a new set of Capricorn choices that constitute the newest “fork in the road of destiny” for the world. We finished the Scorpio choices that set the options for current and coming choices last month, while a new long wave set of choices and changes were set into motion via our Pluto response by Mars the second week of November at the same time Venus was in the Scorpio zone.
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. We’ve been living with it for about 20 years, and will be active for a few more years to come. Though it will wane in intensity in the future, there will be enough set into motion that won’t make sense that we certainly can’t be lulled into a false sense of complacency!
Because late Autumn through mid-Spring shows Neptune in close septile with Pluto, we’ll have the configuration operating in close sequence at this time. For the next few months, every time a planet makes a conjunction or septile-series aspect to either Neptune or Pluto, it’ll create a simultaneous “pulse” that will activate Neptune and Pluto at the same time, unlike the late Spring through mid-Autumn, when we have a lag in how these energies express.
The current degree spans that trigger this transformative mass configuration are around 4-8 Pisces, 25-29 Aries, 17-21 Gemini, 8-12 Leo, 29 Virgo-3 Libra, 20-24 Scorpio, and 12-16 Capricorn. 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-sixth 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 14 Pisces. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, helping us to find the right "camouflage" so we can do the work we need to do. We are solidly in a time of healing through accepting and demonstrating positive 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 6 Pisces. The degrees Neptune is transiting in 2015 beginning at the March Equinox is a span we haven’t experienced for almost 150 years. So far, since June of 2014, we’ve all being summoned to hear “a call to renewal,” where “tomorrow acts through today.” Whatever has called us to a life renewal will be much clearer by mid-March at the latest, since it will be activated by Mars in a huge way in late January.
This month’s degree is related to collective lessons we were first exposed to in May, June, and July of 2013 when Neptune went stationary retrograde at 6 Pisces. It “thickened the water” in Feb-Mar 2014 with its next pass over the degree, and now says goodbye to that symbol for the next 150 years. This is the time to get clear about what we’re dedicated to as a preparation for standing for what we believe in before moving into the renewal coming in January when Mars conjuncts Neptune at 6 Pisces, setting a new two year cycle into motion.
Because Neptune has not experienced 6, 7 and 8 Pisces since 1850-1851, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2013-2014 has been in an “unknown zone” relative to the recent past, but somehow echoing lessons of the last period. We have felt a greater collective dedication or consecration, felt what we stand for amidst the swirl of the tides, and “heard the call” this year.
We now move forward over familiar ground, preparing to spring into the new consecration in January. This continues to strengthen our intuition and emotional intelligence, as well as a greater feeling-connection of our positioning within a vaster field. By March, we'll again enter uncharted waters when Neptune moves into 9 Pisces.
More on Saturn’s Universally Important Influence
We now approach the end of the Saturn in Scorpio era. For two years, we’ve had to find ways to use Saturn’s virtues to eliminate stagnant feelings and responses, and find appropriate boundaries and a sense of responsibility for our magnetism while shedding various “skins of personality.” As note, Saturn is prominent because it leads the Lunation, showing an emphasis on maturity, responsibility, and “doing the right thing.”
Saturn makes only 3 aspects: a novile from Mercury, a semisquare from Venus, and an out of sign (oos) square to Neptune. Mercury should help bring intelligence and coordination to the mature structuring of Saturn, showing natural roles to play and finding enjoyment in those roles.
Venus will no doubt bring some to an inner social emotional crisis. Tender care is the antidote to a host of pressures. Those with planets or angles near 12-18 Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn are most affected, as are 27-30 Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and 1-3 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces.
Saturn square Neptune begins a long wave influence which will become more pronounced once Saturn enters Sagittarius. This aspect requires tremendous focus on how to make the larger ideal real, or workable in a practical way. Usually something has to give: either the method or the ideal. I’ll write about that next month.
So the next 4 weeks (and 3 months, since it also occurs in the Solstice chart) Saturn in Scorpio helps us finish our skill in knowing what to eliminate, what to regenerate, and let go of all that we don’t want nor need to take with us into the future. Remember too that the Mars conjunct Saturn in late August at 18 Scorpio continues to lead us to see how and what we’ve transfigured, or how some part of our life is transfiguring as a result of us achieving “a job well done.” We’re now solidly into a two year period when we’ll see what we’ve completed that has transfigured our lives.
It is also showing us an on-going process of self-transformation 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. 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 last 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 has now entered a part of Scorpio that is beyond what it's known for 28 years. We are headed toward Sagittarius, which will be a MUCH different Saturn experience than we've had! So we’re now in the last act of the play of Saturn in Scorpio, where we complete our mastery of magnetism and desire, eliminating what no longer worked.
We’ve 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 a last look at how to focus our individual mental-spiritual energy. As Saturn rules the bones, and Scorpio rules regenerative processes, you may want to regard the 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.
2012 finished our philosophical and ideological understanding in life areas related to Libra, Capricorn, and Aquarius in our charts, and in October 2012 we entered a Scorpio intensification of magnetics so we could attract what we needed and repel what was not needed. Since then, we also had Solar Eclipses in Scorpio in 2012 and 2013 involving Saturn’s energies in huge ways.
Due to those Scorpio Solar Eclipses, over the past 2 years 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, 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 eleventh 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 continue to be in 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. In Libra we grow through understanding what is fair or unfair in what we confront, and many will find they have strong feelings for what is out of balance.
In this chart, it shows that we can all grow by taking a look back at old dramas and conflicts we overcame, and found wisdom from the experience. As it’s the same degree as the last Mercury direct station, no doubt there is much to be learned about what we retired from in October.
As with all North Nodes located in the last half of Libra, this one helps us repair something we may not have known needed it. And as noted earlier, since it’s in mid-Libra, we continue learn from the time Saturn occupied these degrees in 2010-2011, which also necessitated some form of repair or reconstruction of something that was wrecked.
During the time Saturn has occupied the last half of Scorpio (between Nov 2013 and Dec 2014 and one last blast to come in mid-Summer 2015) 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.
This Lunation features some very powerful element distinctions and imbalances, can express as either of two different Jones patterns, is extremely dynamic, and shows some degree of friction that is purifying and productive. I’ll cover these in part 2 of this series, along with the Sabian Symbol for the Lunation. This period is one of mobilization, dedication, penetration, quickening, pressure-relieving, and clarity regarding roles and duties. Those who opened to a greater vision and have achieved self-discipline will find new power, deep insights, and some contentment with the practical order of things.
I’ll close today by reminding you that we’re all in the heart of the long wave friction and crashes symbolized by Uranus square Pluto indicating the global collision between a new humanity and an old slave/control system. This Lunation opens us to an assertive self-mobilization toward the new identity we’ve been shown since Spring 2013. This period has unsuspected gifts for those who are willing to be loving, creative, and playful in communicating a larger vision or heart truth.
With so many planets in early Capricorn, use this time to anchor the power of the emotional intelligence and stability you’ve cultivated since Summer 2013. As always, show patience.....
© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert,
In doing this Capricorn New Moon this morning, I noticed that we had a Capricorn New Moon in January this year. How often does this happen; do you have any statistics on this. I figured if anyone knew, it would be you.
Blessed Holidays,
Sue
Posted by: J. Sue Gagliardi | December 19, 2014 at 09:35 AM
Complete overview of what we have been going through. I am sure part 2 will be as interesting and enlightening. Thanks Robert.
Blessings be to all
Posted by: Nic | December 19, 2014 at 09:44 AM
Hi Robert,
I have Capricorn in my first house and my Ascendant is Sag. Does this mean accepting a form of power or authority for my own self? Taking on more personal authority?
thanks!
Elizabeth McAlister
Posted by: Elizabeth McAlister | December 21, 2014 at 09:02 AM
Probably due to the degree of the new moon, I got a really good bead on my natal angle pattern. The 1-4-7-10 thing. It took me a long time to get to that. So much other stuff in the way. The other thing that is interesting to me is the sensation that I am or am on or am in a continuum. And it might be that locomotive pattern but I am really aware of the environments I am in and realize how important environment is to my well being and that affects how I act in those environments. Like you write, it's a jam packed lunation.
Posted by: caliban | December 27, 2014 at 08:50 AM