by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, 2015’s second New Moon in Aquarius introduces us to a time of seeing how we’re part of a larger field of Light/Life, and offers us a greater vision of how we can manage our individuality to join a greater group energy wherever we have Aquarius in our charts. Idealism, vision, and intuition is sky high, and we’re about to get some highly specialized visions, insights, and opportunities.
This New Moon is the first one of the sequence falling at the end of their signs, and it’s also the second New Moon with Saturn in Sagittarius. Saturn will be in that sign until it slips back into late Scorpio for the 4 New Moons between June and September 2015.
As Saturn was the ruler of the last New Moon as well as this one, we should be able to get interesting insights into how the energies have shifted from Scorpio in 2014 to Sagittarius for last month and the next month. I believe that since Sagittarius represents an honesty of expression, that will be a primary theme during the time Saturn is in Sagittarius.
Though the Lunation makes only out of sign forming aspects, the chart is dominated by several important influences. Mercury septile Venus is important, since it creates an edge of choice and change in houses in our charts ruled by Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, and Libra. It is also the only septile series aspect in play in this Lunation.
We also have a tight Mercury sextile Saturn, promoting sane coordination of past, present, and future, and Venus conjunct Mars, fusing those energies in the house where we have late Pisces. The other major influences involve the outer planets, and include Jupiter trine Uranus and quincunx Pluto, Saturn novile Pluto, and the long wave Uranus novile Neptune. I discussed the importance of these outer planet noviles in the class “2015 – An Overview of the Year as a Whole,” so if you haven't ordered your materials yet, you may want to in order to understand the importance of what's going on this year. Email me if you're interested.
So What’s Happening?
Today we’ll do an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In part 2 we’ll cover Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
This stabilizing, idealizing, independent, and visionary New Moon occurs at 30 Aquarius on February 18, at 3:47 pm PST, 6:47 pm EST, 11:47 pm Greenwich. This one shows us our Light, our community, and how we may join the “Cosmic Choir” in a conscious totality of awareness of the form and the field. This New Moon bookends last month’s New Moon at 1 Aquarius, which showed us how we can make a greater contribution to our world that will outlive us, and cooperate in something that will be a “spiritual touchstone” for those yet to come.
Last month’s New Moon was 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 Aquarius will have a Full Moon Sun in Pisces, reversing the natural order. The last time we had this phenomenon of the Full Moon Sun being in the sign after the New Moon Sun was between July 2011-July 2013.
We shifted back to “normal” with the New and Full Moons of August 2013. That’s what ended with the New Moon at 1 Aquarius. Since I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, I’ll elaborate more on this shift into the “abnormal order of things,” and when the pattern will 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.
Is This New Moon “Void of Course?”
This New Moon falls at 29d 59m 54s of Aquarius. This is the last degree and last minute of the sign of Aquarius. This begins a string of New Moons at the final degrees of their signs. You will read in other places that this makes it a “Void of Course” (VOC) New Moon. However, I disagree with most interpretations of this phenomenon, and this is why.
First, the definition of a VOC Moon is that it makes no exact forming aspects before leaving the sign. In this Lunation, there are two strong out of sign aspects (aspects formed after the Moon moves into the next sign), but no forming aspects before it leaves Aquarius. Traditionally that indicates the current condition must pass before the circumstances indicated by those aspects come into manifestation.
Supposedly a "Void of Course" Moon shows that nothing significant will happen concerning events during the time the Moon is VOC. That is a very limited and erroneous view of an astrological phenomenon. Life is infinite and ever-changing demonstrating its robustness through "the 10,000 things" that eternally come and go in the course of an eternal stream of interrelated events. Since all that arises are part of our magnetic field within the larger Unified Field of Consciousness, how could there ever be a time "when nothing significant happens?"
So regardless of the supposedly VOC New Moons at this time in history, we must search for the meaning of the configurations since they reveal the evolving Divine Patterns in the NOW. Remember that we have the power to act or react from our center of Higher Awareness, and are not victims of astrological patterns.
As an aside, besides the objections I raised in my articles on the Void of Course Moon, historically the VOC Moon was used ONLY in Horary Astrology before the latter part of the 20th century. That would seemingly limit the validity in applying it in the other branches of Astrology, including any evaluation of a Lunation where the Moon falls in the final degree(s) of a sign. That’s why I do not consider most interpretations of a VOC Moon to be relevant in understanding what this Lunation may yield.
An Overview of the New Moon
As noted, there are actually very few significant aspects that are not “out of sign” in this chart. And yes, that indicates certain conditions must occur before the energies of those aspects come into play. And as with last month’s New Moon, we also have a powerful concentration of 3 planets in Aquarius and 3 planets in Pisces, bringing visions of the future, as well as what is ending. This cluster of personal planets in the “harvest signs” of Aquarius and Pisces last month and this one help a lot come together in a synthesized understanding.
Of note is that Mars in this chart is at 30 Pisces, which will be the degree of the coming Solar Eclipse on March 20, about 13 hours before the Vernal Equinox at 3:45 pm PDT, 10:45 pm GMT. That means Mars activates those “archetypalization” energies that will be the focus a few weeks (and years!) down the road.
The North Node in mid-Libra 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 when Saturn was in Libra between late 2009 and late 2012. This NN degree is the exact one where Saturn went stationary direct in June 2011, so this Lunation will help us develop more about what Saturn taught us in October 2010 and after May 2011.
Due to the Lunation square Saturn and conjunct Neptune (both out of sign), we should begin to leave lesser obligations and duties behind, and move into more important work and ideals. With Mercury sextile Saturn, we will find major productivity that allows us to tap our “ancestral wisdom” to find greater peace and poise in understanding what’s hidden. This is where we use our foundations of character in some active way that will lead us to our understanding of the larger light field in which we live, breathe, and have our Being.
Aquarius symbolizes the “Better Angels of our Nature,” to quote one of the greatest Aquarians of all time. 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 commitment and idealism, as well as vision, friendliness, detachment, and see a more timeless way to live our spiritual ambitions.
This New Moon will jumpstart Aquarius energy wherever it falls in our chart. That's why this New Moon can yield a very wide angle view of possibilities. We can now take the responsibility for the wider vision and/or truth we’ve glimpsed since late November and turn it into a greater understanding of how we fit into a bigger picture. We now can take the power and initiative mobilized over the past string of 6 New Moons with an actional, physical-material “real world” focus and turn it to individualized self-expression within a greater group wholeness.
Because it happens in Aquarius, Saturn is the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and Uranus the spiritual ruler. Because Saturn is in Sagittarius, and Sagittarius’ ruler is Jupiter in Leo, and Leo’s ruler is the Sun, and the Sun is in Aquarius, they create a ”chain of dispositors.” This is a very powerful self-referencing, self-reinforcing energy loop.
This Fire chain involving Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius is the foundations of the different types of honesty of self-expression, and makes Saturn, Jupiter, and the Sun very powerful as backdrops to all the other energies except Neptune in its home sign of Pisces. This “chain of dispositors” plus Neptune dominate the background for all the planetary energies.
The Aquarius seed indicated by this New Moon helps us forge a sense of higher connectedness with others on our terms. This will lift up our energies into greater ideals of group function as we continue to move through the greater life adventure already shown by Jupiter in Leo with even greater inspiration and truths promised by Saturn in Sagittarius.
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 Mercury exalted in Aquarius leads the Lunation, this should lead us to a greater vision of our Soul, and how our wisdom derives from our heritage. Keep tapping into what “brought you to the dance,” and see how you are part of an eternal timeless lineage of wisdom.
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 not directly activated by any of the planets in a septile series aspect with Neptune or Pluto. It will be triggered as the Sun and Mercury conjunct Neptune and septile Pluto over the next few weeks. These transits will bring a new set of choices and changes that constitute the newest “fork in the road of destiny” for the world.
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 a little over 20 years, and will be active for a few more years to come, even though we’ve begun to be on the far side of that influence.
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! We’re certainly still seeing some global craziness and irrational behavior, so be aware!
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 5-9 Pisces, 26-30 Aries, 17-21 Gemini, 8-12 Leo, 29 Virgo-3 Libra, 21-25 Scorpio, and 13-17 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-eighth 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. Since the Sun occupies the first degree of Pisces between 3:50 pm PST Feb 18 through 3:50 pm PST Feb 19, when you're done here please check it out.
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. This will help us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, helping us to renew ourselves and become our best Self within a collective setup. It’s a time for self-improvement and renewal of faith, whether in ourselves or a larger situation that’s slowly unfolding.
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 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 March and April 2014 when Neptune first crossed this degree. It “thickened the water” between July and September 2014 when it retrograded back over this degree, and this Lunation says goodbye to that symbol for the next 150 years. This is the time to get clear about what we’re dedicated to and stand for what we believe in.
Because Neptune has not experienced 6, 7 and 8 Pisces since 1850-1851, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2013-2015 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 will now move into a new consecration, continuing 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 noted, we’ve now begun the Saturn in Sagittarius era, showing an emphasis on maturity, responsibility, and “doing the right thing,” but using Sagittarius energy instead of the familiar Scorpio energy of the past two years.
Aspects to Saturn are somewhat of a mixed bag in this chart. There’s Saturn square Neptune, made productive by Mercury sextile Saturn. We also have the Lunation in an out of sign square to Saturn, Venus and Mars in out of sign trines to Saturn, and the powerful spiritualizing influence of Saturn novile Pluto. Taken together, these are very productive, challenging, stabilizing, and spiritualizing influences.
Saturn square Neptune begins a long wave influence which will become more pronounced once Saturn re-enters Sagittarius in September. 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. Consider this a dress rehearsal to find ways to maintain clarity and connectedness despite some peculiar and foggy conditions..
From late 2012 to late December 2014, Saturn helped 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. These themes will return this Summer, where we will finish the Saturn in Scorpio lessons in a metaphoric “final exam” testing our ability to be compassionate and manage energies that are under pressure..
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, we’ve entered into the next adventure in letting these permanent and stable factors in our life lift us to a greater vision, greater truth, and a future much more free than what we’ve known since October 2012.
When Saturn returns to Scorpio for a few weeks this Summer, it will be the final scene of the last act of the play of Saturn in Scorpio, This has helped us all 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 Summer will give 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 thirteenth 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 doing some creative Imagineering, being more playful in creating dreams and affirmations for the future. As it is the second New Moon with the North Node in the first half of Libra, this begins a growth process through individual-mental transfiguration processes. 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 balanced transfiguration of our individuality.
During the time Saturn occupied the last half of Scorpio (between Nov 2013 and Dec 2014 and one last blast to come in mid-Summer 2015) it has concretized and structured what we learned via the North Node when it was in Scorpio. Now that Saturn occupies the first 5 degrees of Sagittarius through June, it’s crystallizing North Node growth patterns set into motion between April and August 2012.
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 elevating and collectively based. I’ll cover these in part 2 of this series, along with the Sabian Symbol for the Lunation. This period is one of vision, harvest, protecting and standing for what we believe in, finding ways to connect with others who are part of our Light/Life field, and showing cooperation in larger group enterprises and involvements.
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 a greater vision of who we could be within a larger group context.
This period can open us to a greater way to be of service to the world, with power, creativity, and play available for those who are willing to demonstrate heart and courage.
With so many planets in Aquarius and Pisces, use this time to lift up your eyes to a greater way of doing your Being, since it closes a long cycle related to the emotional intelligence and stability you’ve cultivated since Summer 2013. As always, show patience.....
© Copyright 2015 Robert Wilkinson
I am running a very very difficult life. i have given up now.you guys come up with hopes and it all turns hopeless. I worked hard, and don't get paid, i work hard don't get paid on time, i dont get work, and when i get i in all honesty don't get respect. i respect,and i don't complaint, but today do. forget about me, but does this cosmos have any honesty? prove my questions right or wrong.
Posted by: Tariq | February 20, 2015 at 11:42 PM
Hi Tariq - I am sorry you have a difficult life. Many do, through no apparent fault of their own. However, it's important to remember that WE create our lives, not some astrology pattern. Though the pattern may be easy or difficult, it is still WE who choose our responses, and whether we move forward, move backward, or stay stuck where we are.
If we "give up," it is WE who are giving up, not the stars that "make us" give up. I also have had hopes that have been crushed by people and by circumstances. We all have. So what? What has not killed me made me stronger. But I alone had to choose that.
As long as I'm alive, there is another moment to live, to love, to strive, to grow, and to experience all there is to experience in this body in this life. I also have worked hard and not been paid. Deny the loss, and at some point it will come to you in another form, since we cannot lose what truly belongs to us, even if it takes months or years to receive what is rightfully ours. Striving is everything.
When we have no work, or work for a jerk, then it's time to do another kind of work. As for respect, good luck finding respect in a world that seems to respect very little. That's an attachment that you carry within you, or not at all. Whether the outer world does or does not show respect, WE can show respect for who we are, what we've learned, and what we're able to do. We are Eternals having human experiences. Respect that, and all else that is true for us comes in the right way and time, even if it's a struggle between now and then.
Does the cosmos have any honesty? ALWAYS! Does it have to prove anything to us? NEVER. WE are the ones who "prove" our own honesty, and through that, we prove the cosmos is honest. It is our perception that is often not honest. It is our self-knowledge that is often not honest. Ego is not honest. Desires and the forms that seem to fulfill desire are only conditionally real or apparently real.
No one can prove we are not an Eternal Consciousness having human experiences. No one can prove Karma is not the Law. No one can prove the 3 "Refuges" are not "the Wisdom, the Way, and the Community." No one can prove that all forms do not pass away. No one can prove Love is not the way. Go and live your life, doing and being the best human being you can be.
If you cannot find fulfillment where you are, doing what you are doing, then find a different thing to do in a different place with different people where you will find fulfillment. Of course, you also have Dharma, which requires the fulfillment of some obligations you volunteered for. But these do not have to be chains that enslave you. Fulfill Dharma, and you fulfill your purpose for being alive in a human body.
You want honesty? You just found it.
Posted by: Robert | February 21, 2015 at 05:51 AM