by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Libra New Moon chart. This one is activating, fulfilling, unveiling, and helps us cut to the chase, so embrace the journey with enthusiasm!
During the times the inner planets were in Leo, we have definitely been back in the land of the Locomotive Jones pattern! Though the planets have moved into Virgo, the pattern is still in play at this time.
It will give way to a Bowl pattern in mid-November when Mars enters Libra, since all the planets will occupy signs between Libra and Aries except the Moon in late November and early December, and again in late December. During those times the Bowl will modify into a Bucket, a Locomotive, or a Splay pattern. I’ll explain more when it’s time for those Lunation articles.
In this New Moon, the span occupied by the inner planets (in this chart Venus in Virgo through the New Moon in Libra) is 45+ degrees, making it the major focus in our charts. This cluster is split between Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in a 9+ degree span in early Virgo, and a 17+ degree span featuring Mercury, the NN, and the New Moon.
This month we have 10 planets occupying 6 signs, which are fairly spread out around the zodiacal wheel. We have Virgo, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aries represented, and that makes it a modified “Locomotive” Jones pattern, since the empty span is from 19 Aries to 4 Virgo, which is a sesquisquare rather than the ideal trine.
So What is a “Locomotive Pattern” and how does it work?
This type of spread, with all the planets occupying 2/3 of the signs with an empty third, creates an imbalance that leads to power if we can find the compensatory “weight” to make things move forward smoothly rather than rock side to side creating friction. Target what is needed, and provide compensatory energies accordingly.
As Marc Jones put it, “this type of horoscope reveals a balance of this sort in the life. A third part of things… consisting of a free span in experience, is set against a two-thirds part, embracing a related but limited span in experience…. The basis of the dynamic is found in the native’s resulting strong sense of a lack or a need, of a problem to be solved, a task to be achieved in the social and intellectual world around him.”
Dr. Jones states “The temperament reveals a self-driving individuality, an executive eccentricity that is not … unbalance but rather is power. It exhibits a dynamic and exceptionally practical capacity which is neither the broad universality of the Splash pattern, nor the special obsession with some particularly narrowed aspect of experience characteristic of the Bundle people.
He goes on to state “The Locomotive classification is … moved more by external factors in the environment than by aspects of its own character. The point of application for the powers of the self is shown … by the “leading planet,” or the one of the two in the empty trine which forms its aspect clockwise in the zodiac, irrespective of any distinction as “applying” or “separating.”
With Venus as the lead planet in this Locomotive Pattern, understand what is of value, what needs to be actively appreciated and/or admired, and be open to different types of fellowship, and rise above contrasts as you stay aware of distinctions. Venus teaches us lessons involving Wisdom v Folly, and how our subconscious mind reacts to our self-conscious mind. Here we can see how our vanities function, and find ways to capture beautiful forms of a higher elegance in life and relationships.
The Sabian Symbols for the New Moon
A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following month will demonstrate. This Lunation falls at 20 Libra. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 20th degree of Libra is “A Jewish rabbi.”In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 20 Libra is said to symbolize “interest in permanent rather than transient values,” “accumulation of ancient wisdom brought to use,” and “competent service.”
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes “the ability to draw on the power of an ancestral tradition in order to serve and inspire one’s fellow-men.” He goes on to say that this is about “the constructive use of rather rigid yet effectual sociocultural and religious patterns,” where “the energies of the collective Unconscious are channeled through well-defined, age-old forms and formulas.”
He offers that there is “beauty and wisdom” in these rituals, and here the relationship of the individual to their community is stable and effective, where “inherited wisdom can be focused through a person who accepts its limitations.” He says it falls in the span of Revelation, and it’s the fulfilling degree in the actional level of the scene of Reconstruction in the Act of Group Integration.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, this degree is about “self-assurance as gained by bringing a deeper understanding” to others. He states this is about “the social nature of inner Being” having “an interest in eternal values” and a “receptivity of soul” which expresses in “the warmer contacts of a ministration to everyday human needs.”
He says there is a potential for “high dedication” where individuals and groups “may become a special channel for the aspirations of all. He offers us the keyword HERITAGE, and says when the degree is functioning in a positive way, it is “the extraordinary insight which comes to those who are able to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before.”
Important Aspects
Remember that in reading a Lunation chart (as well as a horary, inceptional, electional, or any event chart) the forming aspects show things to come, while separating aspects show things already past. This section covers only forming aspects.
As I outlined in part 1, most of the outer planet aspects to each other are the same as were in play when Mercury went stationary direct just a few days ago. Please refer to that article to understand more about the aspects from Jupiter and Saturn to the transpersonal outer Triad.
In this chart, there are quite a few inner planet aspects that are not the same as those just a few days ago. The Lunation makes a novile to Mars, a novile to Saturn, and a sesquisquare to Neptune. Stay clear about your role, shine a light on unclear things, and make time your ally as you receive some realizations you’ve been waiting a long time to glimpse.
This is an intensely spiritualizing New Moon, and promises the possibility of a birth, or rebirth, of something genuinely spiritual. Take the long overview of the game being played, stay focused on what’s important, and you can see many moves out what to do and when to do it.
Other prominent aspects include Mercury sextile Saturn, pentelftile (11th harmonic) Uranus, and triseptile Neptune, and Venus semisquare the Lunation, conjunct Mars and Jupiter, opposition Neptune and trine Pluto. Venus is part of a Virgo stellium that is trine Pluto, so harmony of efficiency should be way up for the next 4 weeks. Be practical, keep it simple and pleasant, and things should work just fine.
Venus opposed Neptune collects the light of Mars and Jupiter, and yields an effect of bringing those planetary oppositions back into play. That opposition-sextile-trine generates a void in Cancer, so imitate as you grow, avoid cat and mouse games, search for the Mystery, and see the timeless Wisdom opening to you in your own way. This should ground many of our realizations and initiatives of July-August 2013 in practical forms.
Mars is conjunct Jupiter, binovile Saturn, biquintile Uranus, and trine Pluto, Jupiter is biquintile Uranus and trine Pluto, Saturn is sesquisquare Uranus, square Neptune, and novile Pluto, and Uranus is novile Neptune and square Pluto. This is a mix of spiritualizing, specializing, and irritating energies. There is tremendous promise or practical harmony and understanding, along with interactive gifts and specialized circumstances.
The trines to Pluto on a degree of a technique to get a valid perspective shows us anew what to let go of, what to understand on a deeper level, and how things fit together to get us to where we’re at here and now. We’ve already done our transfiguration and self-transcendence, and are now in a larger process where our lives will be transformed by January in significant ways. This can show us essential practical plans, skills, and disciplines of an expansive plan.
Element Balance
Of the traditional 10 planets, there are 2 planets in Fire signs, 1 in Water, 4 in Earth, and 3 in Air. This indicates a major emphasis on practicality and the material world along with intense interactions in both inner and outer worlds, with some inspiration and not much in the way of specific feelings, even if they are strong in curious ways.
Both Mercury and the New Moon in Libra provides relatedness, and now that Mercury is direct, we’ll begin to put some recent events together in different perspectives as we embrace new archetypes of living and doing our Being. To note, Libra will occupy the stage for the rest of the year, so much of what has already begun and is now getting a jump start will still produce related results for many weeks to come.
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things will be running a lot more cold than hot, with the Earth element steadying the energy. And much of what’s been promised by last month’s New Moon Solar Eclipse in Virgo is being triggers by the Venus, Mars, and Jupiter transits between now and October 2016!
What's the proper sequence at present of deciding, feeling, and thinking, with an Overview of the Lunation
As a process of moving through events, over the next 4 weeks we’re all going to be inclined to feel our way into ideas, visions, interactions, and understanding. Once we’ve felt our way to a vision or understanding, then it will be important to make a decision and act on it. Once we’ve moved everything forward that one step, then a new feeling-experience will naturally arise that points the way to the next view or information needed to again move it forward one step.
So feel, flow, experience, since these will lead you to information and understanding. When your understanding leads to a clear vision, then see the fundamental fact, or act that must be done to move it all one step forward. Let your feeling and experience follow your actions, and let your mind follow your feelings into new views and understanding that can help you make decisions that you’ll act on.
The Virgo energy leading the occupied 2/3 of the map should help us be practical in how we express the energies we were flooded with when Venus, Mars, and Jupiter were in Leo. This should bring a grounded stability and understanding of that power that will be a permanent part of our tool box in 2016.
The next 4 weeks will offer us all opportunities to come to a balanced approach to wisdom that can help us see our place in the larger collective atmosphere. This is a training Lunation that can help us be more wholehearted in traveling our "journey home," and bring us a measure of peace though knowing the permanent from the transitory. Now that Mercury is direct, embrace the creative process, move toward a more ideal archetype of expression, and get ready for all of it to leap forward in November and December!
Mercury Retrograde
On a final note for today, Mercury has just gone stationary direct, and is in its “shadow zone” for the next 12 days. If you haven’t already gotten your copy of my TISBA award winning book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde, please consider getting this great resource that can help you understand what we all just went through, and what to expect in every Mercury retrograde period to come.
The first major work on Mercury retrograde ever written, I wrote it for both astrologers and laypeople. It offers in-depth information about Mercury retrograde people, Mercury retrograde in the various signs and houses, and what the entire Mercury Retrograde phenomenon is about.
If you want to know what the past Mercury retrograde in Libra was all about, or the earlier ones this year in Aquarius and Gemini, or those that happen in any other sign and house, it’s all in there. By knowing more about 2014's Mercury retrograde periods in Pisces/Aquarius, Cancer/Gemini, and Scorpio/Libra, as well as 2015’s Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra, you may see patterns in what was going on in your life, what you were taking a new look at and why, and how this "looking back" influenced your choices as you moved through past events.
Here's the Amazon link to the page where you can order your paperback or ebook copy of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. It is an invaluable resource for understanding past, present, and future Mercury retrogrades, so get your copy today. Just make sure you get the 2015 edition, and not the 1997 first edition, since the second is a far superior product!
© Copyright 2015 Robert Wilkinson
A very clear post that brings into centre stage what is important to focus on. It appears to be a culmination point of things trigger of forming in the recent past and oppening doors to a new stage. I hope this view is not only of individual aspects but that it will also prove true on world and collective events.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | October 12, 2015 at 09:28 AM