by Robert Wilkinson
This initiating, balancing, innovative, dynamic Full Moon Lunar Eclipse will show us the light of a new individuality, with slow steady growth and productive intuitive flashes. And the Grand Irrationality is in full swing!
This Full Moon Lunar Eclipse occurs at 5:05 am PDT, 8:05 am EDT, 12:05 pm BST April 4. It falls at the 15th degree of Aries and Libra, showing the light of a greater “Is-Be-ness” expressed in perfect forms and archetypes. Use the light you’ve been seeing and expressing since the New Moon, and give it form and focus through materializing the spiritual and taking on new personality integration techniques.
Today’s Full Moon Eclipse post will be an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In parts 2 and 3 we’ll cover more about the timeline on this eclipse, as well as Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
We’ve now entered many months where the Full Moon Sun is not the same as the Sun sign of the previous New Moon. I’ll explain the importance of this later in this article. Because the New Moon preceding the Full Moon always represents the seed forms that are brought to surface at and after the Full Moon, please check out the recent New Moon articles The Total Solar Eclipse at 30 Pisces Pt. 1, as well as The New Moon Total Solar Eclipse at 30 Pisces Pt. 2 – What’s Happening in April 2015 (through the Summer of 2019 and The Total Solar Eclipse at 30 Pisces - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means.
An Overview
This Full Moon gives an aftershock to the Great Fracturing of April 2014, and shows us how integrated we are or are not. This one will shake some foundations, especially wherever we have mid-Cancer in our charts, and ushers in both personality integration as well as the ability to “make the spiritual real,” in some material ways.
A practical and self-mobilizing Full Moon, we are offered a potential for a greater life enjoyment and stability. This one requires balance, perspective, and caution as things get extreme or seem to spin out of control, or dealing with things which have recently spun out of control.
With Jupiter going stationary direct in triseptile to both Neptune and Pluto, the Grand Irrationality is front and center! Because of a number of favorable aspects, this one will both stabilize and release, inspire and integrate. While the Mars quincunx Saturn shows hard adjustments and sacrifices wherever these fall in our charts, but they can be excellent for establishing new patterns where fear is left behind, and lesser rules and obligations pass away.
Saturn continues to open new perspectives as it begins its long stay in Sagittarius, the sign of truth, philosophy, law, spirituality, distant visions, and future possibilities. It’s at 5 Sagittarius, on its stationary retrograde degree.
At this time of the year, Saturn leads the occupied segment in Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus. That makes seeing duty and responsibility in terms of personal truth and how these are helping or hindering your future as the primary lessons to be learned now.
Is the Grand Irrationality A Factor in this Full Moon?
The Grand Irrationality, along with the other non-rational configurations that happen off and on, indicate that we’ve been living in an era of very heavy decisions determining the future destiny of humanity since 1993. For those who don’t remember, the Grand Irrationality is a long wave configuration set into motion every time a planet makes a conjunction, septile, biseptile, or triseptile to Neptune and Pluto. Septile series aspects show us points in time when our future destiny is precipitated by critical choices made in the present.
This Lunation marks the reappearance of the influence of this configuration through Jupiter triseptile both Neptune and Pluto! This makes the entire configuration “hot” for the next two weeks, as well as any time any of the transiting planets move through the seven affected zones. In any case, the next two weeks will be extremely important in terms of hitting forks in the road of destiny!
Because it involves Neptune and Pluto, the outermost spiritual planets, they show a long wave evolutionary crisis for the entire human race. Since 1993, at one point or another, everyone on Earth has experienced a nonstop energy of having to choose, at the bottom of our beings, the path to evolution or devolution, progress or regress, love or fear, joy or control. It’s why things have been so weird, irrational, and hard-edged.
At this time, the current seven “hot zone” spans that trigger the Grand Irrationality are approximately 11-15 Leo, 2-6 Libra, 23-27 Scorpio, 14-18 Capricorn, 6-10 Pisces, 27 Aries- 1 Taurus, and 19-23 Gemini.
We’ve been in a time of the year when Neptune has been in close septile to Pluto, which is the main aspect anchoring the Grand Irrationality. Right now Neptune is 53 degrees and 06 minutes away from Pluto, so they’re definitely in septile, and the configuration will be triggered over the next few months every time any other planet transits any of the 7 zones listed above.
At this time, the Grand Irrationality gains strength as we move through Autumn and Winter, and will again lessen in strength in the late Winter into the Spring and Summer. As I’ve explained in other articles, that means that in the Autumn and Winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) they operate as a simultaneous “pulse,” since they’re both aspected near the same time. But in the Spring and Summer we experience it as a rolling influence, with first Pluto aspected, and then Neptune at some time after that, depending on which planet is doing the aspect to these planets.
Important Factors
This Lunation brings us a mixed bag of aspects which I’ll discuss in parts 2 & 3. The most prominent favorable factor is the Moon biquintile both Venus and Neptune, forming a powerful specializing “Kite” configuration that promises gifts and unique blessings for those with planets or angles near 13-17 Libra, 25-29 Sagittarius, 7-11 Pisces, 19-23 Taurus, and 1-5 Leo.
Other favorable aspects include Mercury conjunct the Sun and Uranus trine Jupiter, Mars sextile Neptune and tredecile Pluto, and the first of this year’s Uranus novile Neptune. Very productive and inspiring, with unique interactive situations that help us to a greater effectiveness.
Frictional aspects include the Full Moon T-square Pluto, Mercury square Pluto, Mars quincunx Saturn, Saturn sesquisquare Uranus, and of course, the eternally present and now very exact and tremendously powerful Uranus square Pluto. Still, as Jupiter makes the favorable trine to Uranus, with the Mars tredecile Pluto, the integrative friction of the T-square.
Due to the Moon in Libra, Jupiter is again the handle of the Bucket Jones pattern happening at this time. That makes it a huge player in how we do what we do most of the time. Jupiter in Leo makes for an adventure in courage, spontaneity, and self-expression, so face forward and move on up and out!
In this Full Moon, the span occupied by the inner planets (in this chart Mercury in Aries through Venus in Taurus) is 43+ degrees, and includes early Aries through late Taurus, making it a very tightly occupied cluster. This month we have 10 planets occupying 7 signs, which are spread out while heavily weighted in Pisces, Aries, and Taurus, with Jupiter in Leo fairly far away from its nearest neighbor. That indicates we’ve re-entered a “Bucket” pattern at the present time, defined by an occupied span from the Moon in Libra through Venus in Taurus, with Jupiter outside that occupied span.
The Bucket Pattern and how it works
A “Bucket Pattern” is a type of planetary spread with all the planets in about half the signs with one outside that span wide enough to be a handle. The energies of the occupied half are focused through the “handle,” or “nozzle,” in this case Jupiter, termed the “focal determinator.” The handle, or focal determinator, represents the way to greater effectiveness, the cause to be embraced, the lack to be filled, or the way to use the total energies of this time in a focused manner.
Dr. Jones states “the Bucket type indicates a particular and rather uncompromising direction in the life effort.” This pattern gives “interest in a cause,” with executive tendencies that will adapt allegiances to maximize results of the effort. He says “the Bucket type at its best reveals the real instructor and inspirer of others, and at its worst the agitator and malcontent.” This is the larger planetary pattern within which we’re all trying to do what we do.
We are also told this pattern is more about finding an effective release for energy within social settings, but also about the individual imposing their patterns on society rather than adapting to what is there. It’s about focused intention. So all of us can expect some sort of focused attention on the house where we have 11-15 Leo.
We’ve been going back and forth between Bucket and Locomotive Jones patterns for quite a few months, and now are back in the Bucket. Jupiter has been the nozzle for all the Buckets we’ve been in since last year, but from mid-2013 to mid-2014 it was in Cancer, and since mid-2014 it’s been in Leo. So it’s the same handle, but with a different expression.
As Jupiter is now on a degree of “an old sea captain rocking,” we can now retire from old dramas, or see that which we learned in the past that can lead us to a sense of peace now. Memories will yield a treasure trove, but don’t fight old battles anew. Find newer, fresher ways of the powers you’ve gained in your quest for self-fulfillment, and find peace in reviewing skills you’ve learned along the way.
Jupiter is the handle of the Bucket, so show humor, vision, and go for the loving protection of the heart when called upon to express yourself. Jupiter can bring joy and enthusiasm when it's being its natural expansive self, and in Leo, it's giving us all the chance to open our hearts to the joyous song of life!
This is the power of focused dramatic expression that can rouse others to a greater feeling-state. With Jupiter's honesty of genuine natural expression leading the way, it’s important to remember the wise words of the great wit Wavy Gravy that if you don’t have a sense of humor, it’s not funny!
This marks the beginning of changing Jones patterns in the coming months. When the Moon is between Sagittarius and Gemini, we’ll be back in a Locomotive pattern, defined by the empty span between Jupiter and Saturn rather than the previous Locomotives defined by the span between Jupiter and Uranus, and by late April Venus will be close enough to Jupiter we won’t be in a Bucket any more. By mid-June, it’s a “Splay,” so as you can see the Spring will feature a rapidly shifting string of various types of Jones Patterns.
Is the Sun Following the Moon, or the Moon Following the Sun?
After 19 Full Moons in another relationships, this is the second Full Moon where the Sun falls in a different sign than the Sun of the previous New Moon. We’ve now completed the “normal” pattern we last experienced between September 2010 and June 2012, and have begun the “reversed pattern” we last experienced between June 2012 and August 2013, where the Full Moon Sun was in a different sign than the previous New Moon.
As I've explained in previous Full Moon articles,
... the Full Moon being in a subsequent sign than the previous New Moon indicates that what is released as realizations in the Full Moon period actually "prepares the ground" for the coming New Moon seed. Strange reversal of function, since you would think the New Moon provides the seed for the next Full Moon. But this set of Lunations works the opposite way....Another way to look at this is the Sun sign of the Full Moon is the same as and precedes the Sun sign of the next New Moon, reversing the usual way Lunations work. So the fulfillment of the Full Moon sets up the next "seed" to be revealed at the next New Moon....
So Sept 2010 through May 2012 we had the New Moon Sun in the same sign as the subsequent Full Moon Sun every month. This shifted in June 2012, when we had a New Moon at 1 Gemini in late May, a Full Moon at 15 Gemini-Sag in early June, and another New Moon at 29 Gemini in late June. That began the sequence of the New Moon Sun at the end of one sign, with the following Full Moon Sun in the next sign.
So June 2012 began the reversed experience from the “normal” New Moon-Full Moon cycle. We had an illuminated form shown to us at the Full Moon, followed by the Sun being in the same sign as the previous Full Moon. This is fulfillment followed by similar Solar seeds of potential while reversing the natural process.
To illustrate, the January 11, 2013 New Moon Sun was at 22 Capricorn, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 8 Aquarius. The February 10, 2013 New Moon Sun was at 22 Aquarius, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 8 Pisces. This continued through the June 8 New Moon at 19 Gemini, while the next Full Moon Sun was at 3 Cancer.
This “reversed Sun sign” phenomenon ended then. In August 2013 we had a New Moon Sun at 15 Leo on August 6-7, and then the Full Moon Sun at 29 Leo. In September we had a New Moon Sun at 14 Virgo, and then we had a Full Moon Sun at 27 Virgo. In October we had a New Moon Sun at 12 Libra, and then a Full Moon Sun at 26 Libra.
This continued through all of 2014, with the New Moon Solar Eclipse in late April having the Sun at 9 Taurus and the subsequent Sun at the Wesak Full Moon was 24 Taurus. This continued through the Summer and Autumn, with the Partial Solar Eclipse New Moon in October at 1 Scorpio and the following Full Moon Sun was at 15 Scorpio. The late January 2015 New Moon was at 1 Aquarius, and the subsequent Full Moon Sun at 15 Aquarius.
The first New Moon in the new pattern had the Sun at 30 Aquarius, with the Full Moon Sun at 15 Pisces. The last New Moon Solar Eclipse was at 30 Pisces, and this Full Moon Sun is at 15 Aries.
So we’ve ended the pattern of the “natural” order of Lunation Suns, offering us seeds shown in the first half, fulfillment in the second half, and begins a new order of things. Now we were offered seeds of the past light (Sun in Pisces) at the New Moon at 30 Pisces, and the future light (Sun in Aries) is now the Sun sign at this following Full Moon.
What Do You Care About, and What Do You Need?
The next two weeks require a mobilization on our behalf, or on behalf of something we care about. The T-square to Pluto brings challenges to find self-confidence through self-reliance, and pioneering initiatives that free our individuality to express itself. As I mentioned earlier, it’s time to act on our self-interest, make the spiritual real in some material way, and find effective personality integration techniques.
The lesson of the second half of 2014 was seeing how to withdraw with dignity from people and circumstances that have been wasting our time. For some, a huge expansion through sacrifice as we learned to trust “the God Within.” This Full Moon shows us the Light of why we did those withdrawals, and stabilizes a new way of life or living, as well as messages from Spirit showing that our ordeal is over, and we’re ready to accept blessings from the Divine realm to live a more appropriate and enjoyable life.
See you in the near future with parts two and three, where we will explore the Sabian Symbols, aspects, and other important chart factors.
© Copyright 2015 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert--this is for not only the full moon but the lunar eclipse, correct?
Thanks, Kristin
Posted by: Kristin | April 03, 2015 at 06:07 PM
Hi Kristin - They are one and the same. Everything I've written applies to this Full Moon Lunar Eclipse.
Posted by: Robert | April 03, 2015 at 06:17 PM
Less abstract, more real. Time for me to get busy. Hooah! Hooah! Move my carcass. :D
Posted by: caliban | April 04, 2015 at 11:45 AM
Thank you Robert. I am that old sea captain rocking. I feel the weight lifting finally. The old dramas are drifting away and I do not want to carry the burden of old garbade into my future. I find myself asking if I really need this both with the physical and psychological lately. Things seem to be clearing in a way they have not for around 8 years or more. It is about time.I just do not want to carry much with me into the future.I am retiring from over investing in anything further and I am watchig those ships sail away in the distance or in some cases burn from a distance. It is a beautiful sight and I no longer sail those ships.
Posted by: ellen | April 04, 2015 at 07:42 PM
Lovely thorough read. A few great insights and inner guidance points along way. Read slow, and took a few notes. Thank you for sharing. Appreciated.
Posted by: Nancy | April 06, 2015 at 03:21 PM