by Robert Wilkinson
Yes, it was quite a show! I got up at 3:30 am and the eclipse had already begun here in the western US, and by 5 am was total, with only a tiny part of the Moon visible. Very powerful, very dramatic. So what else is this Eclipse about? Hint: Love, Love, Love!
This is the first of two Total Lunar Eclipses this year. This one’s Umbral phase lasted 3 hours and 29 minutes, showing it will be in force these next 15 weeks. It was visible at Moonrise in Pakistan, India, and all of Asia east of there, and was visible across the Pacific. It was visible at Moonset in North and South America except the easternmost tip of Brazil.
Since all Eclipses shut something down, this Total Lunar Eclipse begins a several month "shut down" in the houses it occupies in our charts. The voids this Eclipse will yield over the next 3+ months will be the workshop for us to demonstrate Aries power skills expressed through Libra forms.
These will be directly related to the Saturn in Libra lessons of November-December 2010, March-April 2011, and August 2011. Of some importance is the Eclipse makes a T-square with Pluto throwing the energies into mid-Cancer, showing we must draw on what we learned in Sept 2013, January 2014, and April-May 2014.
Due to the strong Libra-Aries and other Fire energies active in this Lunar Eclipse, over the next few months we’ll find a new power, balance or perspective on past events that will help us reclaim some things that we will need in the future once the endings shown by this Eclipse have come to pass. This will give us new understanding of what we really care about.
It’s important to remember that most worldly events follow celestial events. Whether an event happens simultaneously with or later than an Eclipse, or some aspect configuration, is conditioned by many things. Sometimes a decision is made that will affect many things in the future, but we don’t know about that until the result manifests.
The time of an Eclipse is when the future effects are set into motion. Regard it as beginning a process of elimination to come to an understanding in the future about why those things had to be shut down for a while, or leave the life altogether. We have to close out parts of our past to create space for future ways to do our Being. Eclipses create excellent time periods to do that.
For example, the Eclipses in Gemini and Sagittarius in 2011-2012, both Solar and Lunar, served to shut down old ways of life, thinking, and understanding wherever we have Gemini and Sagittarius in our charts. There's a lot about them in the archives if you want to know more about their ongoing influence. The Eclipses earlier in 2013 shut down down old ways of life, feeling, and valuing wherever we have Taurus and Scorpio in our charts, and the Wesak Full Moon Lunar Eclipse opened us to a form of “Buddha Wisdom.”
This is the next Eclipse where the Nodes are in Libra and Aries, showing we’ve been in an era when those signs will be most affected in our charts. And in an interesting note, both Lunar Eclipses in 2015 occur in Aries/Libra, whereas the recent Solar Eclipse was in Pisces, and the next one will be in Virgo, showing we’re cleaning up our Aries/Libra via the Lunar Eclipses, but focused on the years-long Pisces/Virgo endings at the Solar Eclipses.
So like most Lunar Eclipses, this one ushers in a transitional period of several months (this one will be in effect for 3+ months) that will clear things out of our lives, and especially our past (the Moon). The space created can attract circumstances and people through which we can develop skills helping us deal with the wild ride of The Grand Irrationality that's in continuous motion during these months and years.
This initiating, innovating, revolutionizing, and integrating Full Moon at 15 Aries-Libra will release a lot of energy, and show us how we learned to take care of what mattered in the last half of 2013 and first half of 2014.
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 no other forming oppositions other than the Libra/Aries axis, decreasing polarization. All in all not remarkable, since there are no inner planet oppositions made when they transit Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus.
In fact, there have been no additional oppositions made by the inner planets in Lunation charts for many months except Mercury opposed Jupiter some weeks ago. The next forming opposition happening in a Lunation will be Venus opposed Pluto in the chart of the May Taurus New Moon, followed by Mercury retrograde opposed Saturn in the June Full Moon (even though it does not go back to the exact opposition). At the July Full Moon we begin a string of various additional oppositions off and on for many months.
Dispositors - What's the Backdrop to the Energies?
The Moon is in Libra, making Venus its ruler in worldly affairs, and TransPluto in spiritual matters. Venus in Taurus is in its home sign, and so is very powerful. TransPluto is at 1 Virgo. This makes Earth (practicality) strong in how the Moon expresses itself.
The Sun is in Aries, making Mars the ruler in worldly affairs, and Pluto the ruler in spiritual matters. Mars is in Taurus, the sign of its exile, and is ruled by Venus in Taurus, and Pluto is in Capricorn, making the Earth element VERY strong these next two weeks in how the Sun expresses itself.
This chart is distinguished by power of Venus as the final dispositor for every other planet except Neptune. That makes Venus the most powerful planet in this chart. Welcome to the gentle, loving energies of Venus! At 22 Taurus, it's a new time, a new day, and a new way!
The recent mutual receptions are over, as is the quantity of final dispositors in play the past several lunations. You can find more about dispositors and mutual reception 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 15 Aries-Libra. 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 Leo and Aquarius.
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 15th degree of Aries is "An Indian weaving a blanket.” In the original Jones class notes, Rudhyar says this symbolizes “Full and conscious realization of selfhood, through the memory of all the powers acquired in the past” and “retentiveness.”
He goes on to say in The Astrological Mandala that this indicates that at the end of our “day of manifestation,” we can catch glimpses of a greater purpose or fulfillment, or a more fully conscious realization of who we are, through remembering the powers we acquired in the past. Here we can find forms of culminating our urge to be something new these past three years. This degree falls in the Span of Realization, and is the final degree in the Scene of Emergence on the individual-mental level.
Dr. Marc E Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this indicates “personal fulfillment through a simple excellence of self-expression,” showing us the basic skills needed to bring all desired things to personal relevance. Here we stabilize our ego through preserving some artistic expression of self that demonstrates our cultural values. The keyword is DILIGENCE, and when positive this degree is “the quiet persistence of each proper act of self in the interest of its own genius.”
The Lunar degree symbol for the 15th degree of Libra is “Circular paths.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of “Perfect and effortless participation in the universal order” and “Smooth approach to self-expression; inert self-satisfaction.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves “coming to terms with the inevitability of establishing steady rhythms of social activity.” He states this is a degree where we find ourselves in repetitive patterns, where it is necessary “to have rest times during which (we) can be released from repetitive patterns.”
He goes on to say that it is only when we identify with cosmic or planetary patterns that we can act with peace on these “circular paths,” where our activity may “either bind or free the consciousness of the actor. This can mean boredom or transpersonal peace in action.” He says it falls in the span of Expectation, and it’s the fifth and final degree of the individual, mental, and spiritual level of the scene of Transfiguration in the Act of Group Integration.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the degree is one of our “subjective fulfillment through a thoroughness of participation in experience.” This is a degree that requires that we be true to ourselves, where the orbit we hold ensures that our ongoing self-revelation remain a constant.
He says that at points of crisis, we may seem to be at variance with our world, but eventually everything falls into place. He offers us the keyword of CONGRUITY. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “A rather extraordinary facility in self-adjustment or practical reorientation.”
This Lunation puts the Light on the Uranus transit of May, August, and September 2014 and March 2015, and the expression of the Saturn lessons of December 2010, March 2011, and late August and September 2011. What was awakened by Uranus then will be illuminated and powered up now, and what was crystallized by Saturn then will be given a more significant form these next two weeks.
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 a major factor in why things became so polarized during those 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 has retrograded back to 1 Virgo, showing us the long term future of humanity.
The Divine Redeemer is showing us ways to demonstrate a higher and broader level of discernment through understanding the place and function of individual differences. This is a review of the period after it entered the first degree of Virgo in October 2011 through October 2014, when it moved to 2 Virgo.
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 July 4, 2014. The transition period where this planet danced at the last degree of Leo and first two degrees of Virgo began October 2011 and ended July 2014.
On July 4, 2014, TransPluto left Leo for many centuries, and entered into Virgo for the next century. It made it to 2 Virgo on October 16, 2014, where it eventually went stationary retrograde. That degree is one of humanity experiencing “a liberating ordeal.”
Because it’s Divine Mother, I would think that would mean we all will be tested to allow compassion and understanding to come forth as humanity stands at the crossroads of time.
In this chart it’s retrograde at 1 Virgo, the degree it will go stationary direct on May 16-17. It will then resume forward motion, and complete our experience of 1 Virgo in early September when it returns to its previous SRX degree, the “liberating ordeal” of 2 Virgo. Since 1 and 2 Virgo will dominate the landscape through October 2017, any study given to this degree span will be helpful in navigating the next 32 months.
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 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 2 on this Full Moon. Part 3 will cover important chart factors, aspects, configurations and more, so I’ll see you down the road a piece!
© Copyright 2015 Robert Wilkinson
Love and the sense of peace from part 1 are dancing together for some reason.
Posted by: caliban | April 04, 2015 at 11:50 AM
As usual very interesting and complete information that is always of help.
Ready for part 3. Thanks Robert for the guidance.
Blessings be
Posted by: Nic | April 04, 2015 at 12:15 PM
1975 1st home Jupiter in Aries 14°13,18, thus embracing this lunar madness Aries/Libra 15° and ready to rock...tipping a natal square to my Saturn 15° Cancer in 5th house with moon sittin in 7th...ruled by Mercury/Venus...puts void in Capricorn that work friend easy house of mine...sounds to me like the grounds about ready to shift
Posted by: Jeremy Lee Eagle | April 04, 2015 at 06:25 PM
But how is this all about love love love? Will you go a bit further into that in part 3?
Posted by: Diana | April 05, 2015 at 10:40 AM