by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Aries indicates a time when we will have opportunities to learn how to transcend the strife of modern existence, and both learn and teach skills that may not be natural, but are necessary to living in our world.
This is the seventh New Moon since the launch of the Saturn in Sagittarius era in late September after a last blast of Saturn in Scorpio from mid-June through mid-September 2015. There are a number of important aspects in play which I’ll discuss in part two. This Lunation continues a Bucket Jones pattern, with Jupiter as the handle and focal director. This gives an added emphasis to Virgo energies as an important nozzle to express the energies of the other planets, and continues our lessons of practical vision, ordered seeking, getting a plan, and glimpsing a form of grounded cultural fulfillment.
This Lunation also continues to accent “the tension of opposites,” due to the forming Jupiter opposition to Neptune, with Saturn still putting friction via its square to Neptune from Sagittarius, throwing the void into Gemini. This will continue for many lunations to come, culminating in the Grand Mutable Crosses of June that I term a “Great Fracturing.” We will have tremendous opportunities to achieve forms of personality integration before then, and whatever is fractured will create space for us to recombine the pieces into new forms of service.
Even though Jupiter’s square to Saturn is separating, it is still held in force by their relationships to Neptune. Because both the Jupiter square to Saturn and the Saturn square to Neptune are waning they are culminative, and shows tension between the expansive principle and the limiting principle, setting up both gear grinds and liberating experiences within challenging circumstances in the collective consciousness.
The main challenge with Jupiter square Saturn is to make sure that our values are supporting our ambitions, and that we are willing to use what we have to expand in some way or seize an opportunity. It is a conflict between radical expansion and the rules and limits of our lives. It requires using time as our ally to achieved measured expansion, and not allow rules or discouragement to block our possibilities.
As with all squares, the trick is to see how to use the energies of each planet to release the favorable energies inherent in both planets making the square. For example, we can use Jupiter to release favorable Saturn energies created by Saturn’s tredecile from Venus. We can use Saturn to release favorable Jupiter energies created by the biquintiles made by the Lunation conjunct Uranus to Jupiter.
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 actional, innovating, revolutionary New Moon focusing our ability to move into a more dynamic yet peaceful future occurs at 19 Aries on April 7 at 4:24 am PDT, 7:24 am EDT, and 12:24 pm BST. This one shows great blessings of learning techniques to get above and beyond hassles, and shows us new ways of generating power in our social or cultural world. This one confirms the value of seeing broader roles to play in bringing solutions to a collective need, and a broader life identification.
This New Moon is the fifteenth in a sequence where the Sun falls in the sign preceding the next Full Moon. This is the opposite of the “normal order of Lunation Suns,” where the New Moon Sun is in the same sign as the next Full Moon Sun. In other words, while this New Moon Sun is in Aries, the coming Full Moon Sun will be in Taurus. Since I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, you can find out more by consulting the Full Moon articles of two weeks ago or two weeks from now.
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
Now that we’re back in a Bucket Pattern, Jupiter in Virgo and Mars in Sagittarius again become extraordinarily important in how we approach experience, and how we release the energies of this time period. This chart has many important forming aspects, including the New Moon conjunct Uranus, Venus trine Mars, and Jupiter opposed Neptune and Saturn square Neptune.
The Lunation makes two major and two minor aspects. It’s conjunct Uranus, and biquintile Jupiter, as well as quadraelftile to Mars and novile to Neptune. The conjunction shows we’re renewing the yearly Uranian cycle, promising to revolutionize the house in falls in and the planets near 19-21 Aries.
The biquintile is a unique interactive aspect, promising that as we’ve cultivated our gifts up to now, we’ll be specializing the areas this aspect falls, as well as the other three void points of this potential 5 pointed Star pattern. This will bring forth gifts and unique circumstances for those with planets or angles near 13-17 Virgo, 25-29 Scorpio, 7-11 Aquarius, 19-22 Aries, and 1-5 Cancer.
The 9th harmonic aspects (novile) and 11th harmonic aspects (elftiles) are angles related to spiritual development. You can find more about these series and more by using the site google box to find the articles in the archives related to these aspects.
Besides these aspects and the ones discussed in the first section, there are many other aspects that make this Lunation memorable which we’ll explore in part 2. We have quite a few minor aspects that promise long awaited spiritual realizations, as well as major serendipity as things intensify! There are a lot of 9th, 10th, and 11th harmonic aspects, so this is a launch or harvest of many realizations and interactive gifts.
Since there are so many spiritual aspects in this Lunation, if you want to know more about the septile (7th harmonic), novile (9th harmonic), and elftile (11th harmonic) series aspects, when you’re done here you can check out The Spiritual Aspects – Novile, Septile, and Elftile Series. I also have a recorded class for those who want more on these important aspects.
As almost all the planets are concentrated between mid-Pisces and early Taurus, you can bet those sectors will be highly active over the next 4 weeks. This New Moon will jumpstart Aries energy wherever it falls in our chart. With such a heavy emphasis in Aries, it’s time to embrace the new, without looking to others for permission or reassurance. When in doubt, just do it the only way you know how!
So What Rules the Lunation?
This New Moon in Aries makes Mars the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and Pluto the spiritual ruler of the Lunation. Because Mars is in Sagittarius and Pluto is in Capricorn and the two are in novile, this is another major spiritual factor behind what is initiated at this New Moon. Mars is ruled by Jupiter, and Pluto is ruled by Saturn which is ruled by Jupiter, it’s another Lunation where the Jupiter in Virgo influence is very powerful.
As Jupiter in Virgo is ruled by Mercury in Taurus, and Mercury is ruled by Venus in Aries which is ruled by Mars, it sets up a chain of dispositors involving Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus. This is fairly powerful, even if it is spread out.
Planets involved in a chain of dispositors or a mutual reception are both “closed loop” powerful self-reinforcing energies that governs the backdrop for all the other planets in the map. You can find out more about dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.
Because Venus in Aries leads the Lunation, the energies leading the Light are social, aesthetic, seeking beauty and balance, as well as a way to identify with a larger collective life and role. It shows that our relationships will take on an added importance these next 4 weeks, and we’ll have excellent opportunities to embrace relationships and values that will be important in our future, as well as feed our heart and/or creativity.
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, as well as subsequent Solar Eclipses whose influence continues. These effects are 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.
It’s been triggered in quite a few Lunations this year already. This one is one of the rare Lunations that doesn’t have one or more planets triggering the Grand Irrationality, and it’s very rare that there isn’t one septile series aspect happening between any of the planets are present. So no big forks in the road in the world at large, but certainly anyone with a planet or angle in any of the 7 “hot zones” are having that happen in their personal life!
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 almost 25 years, and it will be active for a couple 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’ve been in several weeks where the configuration acts as a simultaneous “pulse” that will activate Neptune and Pluto at the same time. However, as we get into late Spring through mid-Autumn, we’ll experience a lag in how Neptune and Pluto are experienced, since they’ll be out of the septile and again approaching the sextile they made from 1942-1995.
The current degree spans that trigger this transformative mass configuration are around 8-12 Pisces, 29 Aries- 3 Taurus, 20-24 Gemini, 11-15 Leo, 3-7 Libra, 24-28 Scorpio, and 16-20 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 2011-2012, and Where We're At Now
I offer this segment each month to give you a broader perspective on the collective atmosphere, and the long wave changes humanity is going through.
Now that these two are well into Pisces, they are no longer at the Cusp of the Great 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 fiftieth 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 1 Pisces - the Cusp 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 23 Pisces. This is the first time Chiron has been on this degree since 1965-1967. It will of course retrograde over this degree later this year, and then go direct and pass over it again. I suspect that as Chiron and then Neptune pass through Pisces, we shall see echoes in the collective consciousness related to the various Uranus stations from 2008-2010, and specifically the Jupiter conjunctions to Uranus during 2010.
Chiron transits help each of us heal anew through our positioning within collective consciousness, assisting us to find ways to mentor and be mentored in Piscean ways. This one has the themes of demonstrating powers hidden within, and surrendering to a greater effectiveness, even if we have no idea how it’s happening. Here we heal ourselves and others through active mastery of life, or submitting to what life is showing us about our potential.
Neptune shows 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.
2016 completes our realizations of these lessons, and prepares us to move forward. This chart again shows us the entryway to “the sanctuary,” where our minds are being introduced to Soul realms. When in doubt, walk into the Sacred Space and be willing to become more than you’ve imagined. Awaken to a greater role, get over fear, and accept that if you’re confronting true custodians of Soul force, listen and learn!
In this chart Neptune is at 11 Pisces, reinforcing the quickening in collective consciousness awakened by Uranus in 2005-2006. While we’re still finishing up some lessons related to earlier degrees in Pisces through 2017, this marks the first time that Neptune has been in this face of Pisces since 1852-1853. That opens an entirely new era in Neptune’s influence on the collective consciousness!
Because Neptune has not experienced this span of Pisces since the 1850s, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2014-2016 has been in an “unknown zone” relative to the recent past, but somehow echoing lessons of the last period. The past 21 months, we’ve strengthened our intuition and emotional intelligence, as well as a greater feeling-connection of our positioning within a vaster field.
This quickening has helped us drop many irrelevant considerations and able us to a new form of mastery that will lead to new functional roles and truths in the next year. We’re definitely learning how to be precise in moving through the larger fogs and vast feelings in the collective atmosphere.
Now that Neptune has moved past its previously occupied span, collective consciousness has again entered an “unknown zone” of experience, feeling what it stands for amidst the swirl of the tides, preparing us to demonstrate courage and focused will within a larger collective circumstance. The collective consciousness is now officially in uncharted waters that it has not experienced since 1852-1854.
The North Node
This is the fifth New Moon with North Node in Virgo and South Node in Pisces. Good for learning precision, practicality, refined discipleship and service! With NN in Virgo, our greatest development is through our ability to analyze, figure out what’s core and peripheral, what’s important and unimportant, and how each detail fits the bigger picture. We will demonstrate these qualities through compassion, forgiveness, and the ability to get emotional closure while relating our experiences to the general timeless human condition.
The North Node in late Virgo brings a more specific focus on growth in that direction. We now begin many months of developing many of the Saturn skills and disciplines we took on and learned to deal with when Saturn was in this face of late Virgo between mid-November 2008 and mid-February 2009, and again in August and September 2009.
This NN degree is 22 Virgo, which we’ve extensively explored in past Lunation articles because Jupiter has been dancing around that exact degree for quite a few weeks. This is the degree of “A royal coat of arms,” showing our spiritual ancestry and what we hold as venerable standards.
Again, as this was the degree where Saturn went stationary retrograde in early 2009, this Eclipse will precipitate endings due to our living those standards these past 7 years. Be willing to teach and/or learn through emotional, social, and/or cultural forms of experimentation. This helps us find the authority of our wisdom so that we can join with others to bring a “unified stability” to achieve a “common purpose.”
Uranus Square Pluto is now Separating!
Though we’re finally at the “far side” of the long wave friction and crashes symbolized by Uranus square Pluto, the energies are still thick and heavy in the atmosphere at present, since the square is barely separating! This square is indicative of the global collision between a new humanity and an old slave/control system.
Now that Uranus is direct, the square which has been strong the past few months is again separating, pretty much exact for the last time. Finally!! Just stay alert the next couple of months for the conjunctions, squares, and oppositions when the Moon moves through Aries, Cancer, Libra, or Capricorn, and when Venus activates the square between April 19-28.
I’ll close today by reminding you that the powerful Fire trine of Venus and Mars indicates many areas of our lives will be stabilized (or at least understood in their dynamic newness!) With so many spiritual aspects, there will be many realizations come forth after a long wait, and gifts will abound for those who can deliver spiritual energy in interactive situations. Get above the strife, see how you can participate in a greater life, and you’ll see the door to renewal that will spring into high gear by August-September!
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you Robert. The whole post is full of information that is so linked and attuned to what, from my perspective, is going on at a personal level and at a collective level.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | April 06, 2016 at 02:57 AM
Thank you for the very interesting article on the Aries NM, Robert. It conjuncts my natal Venus in 11th natal house, at the moment it also conjucts my progressive Moon on pr. 9th house. Tr.Mercury conjucts pr. Venus in pr. 10th house.
NM makes a number of interesting other aspects. Sqare n.Mars in 2nd house, trines n. Uranus in 3rd, trines pr. Mars. I wonder what it is going to bring..... :)
Posted by: Kate Minogianni | April 06, 2016 at 07:21 AM
Robert, another thank you for the splendid April New Moon analysis. Your comment about Chiron's new degree prompted me to take a look at when it moves across that fascinating last degree of Pisces and specifically the full moon just after it moves into Aries. These are exciting times.
Posted by: jo garceau | April 06, 2016 at 03:59 PM