by Robert Wilkinson
This stabilizing, transforming, educative, and power-generating Full Moon at 3 Taurus-Scorpio will allow us to see and express truth and wisdom demonstrating that a new day is dawning in all our lives. This will bring slow, steady growth with cooperation, courage, and optimism being key elements in the wisdom begin revealed at this 2016 Western Wesak Festival.
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 one other planetary opposition, the Jupiter opposition to Neptune. This emphasizes the Virgo-Pisces opposition axis which has been dominating the landscape for many months up to now, and will continue to dominate the larger atmosphere through July. Add Saturn in Sagittarius making a powerful mutable T-square, and the coming months will definitely shake the tree of our life!
Dispositors - What's the Backdrop to the Energies?
The Moon is in Scorpio, making Mars in Sagittarius its worldly ruler, and Pluto in Capricorn its spiritual ruler. The Sun is in Taurus, making Venus in Aries its ruler in worldly affairs, and TransPluto in Virgo the ruler in spiritual matters.
Mars in Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter in Virgo, and Venus in Aries is ruled by Mars in Sagittarius. Jupiter in Virgo is ruled by Mercury in Taurus, which is ruled by Venus in Aries, which is ruled by Mars. This creates a “chain of dispositors” between Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, which serves as the backdrop blend of energies ruling those planets, as well as all the others except for Neptune, which is in its home sign of Pisces. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to Astrology Class – What Is A Dispositor and What Is Mutual Reception Between Two Planets?
Because Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are such powerful influences and Neptune is a standalone, we’ll be dealing with 2 distinct energy circuits moving all the planetary energy. Some will open new futures by what they learn or teach in the way of “unnatural” skills. Others will see a greater effective part to play in their collective reality, and see that a new day has dawned in their life via a signal from Spirit. While some will awaken to the power of their individuality, others will find a greater faith that will help them overcome a duality and demonstrate a form of mastery.
Mercury Retrograde
Because Mercury is in the chain of dispositors and occupying a very important degree in its “shadow zone,” it’s a major player in this Lunation. Since it’s about to go retrograde, adapt to the slowing pace of things, be willing to put some things on hold for a little while, and take a look at what's been set into motion up to now with an eye to seeing what has to be done before things can again move forward in late May in Mercury ruled areas, and late June in Mars ruled areas.
If you want to know what we can expect from Mercury retrograde in Taurus, if you haven't already gotten your copy, you may want to buy a copy of the new expanded 2nd edition of my pioneering book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde. The first major work on Mercury retrograde ever written, it offers in-depth information about Mercury retrograde people, Mercury retrograde in the various signs and houses, and what the Mercury Retrograde phenomenon is about. If you want to know what to expect from Mercury retrograde in Taurus, or the last one in Aquarius and Capricorn, or any other sign or house, it’s all in there.
It is written for both astrologers and laypeople. There is a special section on how all retrogrades work, and includes almost everything you could want to know about Mercury retrograde, including what it means, celebrities who have it in their charts, historic events that happened during Mercury retrograde, and what signs are involved in future Mercury retrograde periods.
By knowing more about 2014's Mercury retrograde periods in Pisces/Aquarius, Cancer/Gemini, and Scorpio/Libra, or 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. And you can get a heads up by taking a look at the coming 2016 Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius/Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn/Sagittarius. It’s all in the book!
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!
The Sabian Symbols for the Full Moon
This Full Moon falls at 3 Taurus and Scorpio. It is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the actional, physical, and material levels of life, and as the Lunation is in the first decan of those signs, invokes a sub-influence of Taurus and Scorpio.
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 3rd degree of Taurus is “Steps up to a lawn blooming with clover.” In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 3 Taurus is said to be a symbol of “the invitation extended by all nature to man for self-expression,” “inspirational possibilities in all experience,” and “hope.”
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the gradual expansion of the individual consciousness after a fecundating experience.” We are told this symbolizes the normal growth occurring after some sort of “electrical energy activates us,” and the clover symbolizes our three-fold nature. He states this indicates a need to put forth effort “to reach the flowering garden of mind.”
He continues that this “is a stage at which one should seek with diligence and determination, but in humility and faith, to reach natural fulfillment.” He says it falls in the span of Experience, and it’s the synthesizing degree in the actional level of the scene of Substantiation in the Act of Differentiation.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, this degree is one of “the indomitable outreaching of the human spirit on the side of a possible and profitable cooperation with the natural universe, and of (our) intuition of divine reality as (we entrench ourselves) in beauty and order.” While some things are restrained that contribute to “self-realization,” there is also a “steady questing for all worth-while fruits of living” and an “upward vision” that is “held completely in leash.”
He offers us the keyword HOPEFULNESS. He states when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “a creative optimism brought to embrace every facet of everyday striving.”
So we'll use the illumination available over the next two weeks to see Light, Life, and Integration in our self-expression, inspirational possibilities, and through our cooperation with the natural universe, find beauty and order. This implies we will reach forms of “natural fulfillment,” and through our “creative optimism,” we can find a greater striving that will lead to a greater fulfillment.The Lunar degree symbol for the 3rd degree of Scorpio is “A house-raising.” In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 3 Scorpio is said to be a symbol of "the constructive sharing of experience which builds social values,” “interchange of efforts,” and “necessity to learn cooperation.”
He goes on to state in the Mandala that the keynote for this degree is "the feeling of community demonstrated in a basic joint effort.” He goes on to say that this symbolizes a “collective, friendly enterprise,” where “newcomers building their home-to-be found friendly helpers in their neighbors,” where a “sense of togetherness and participation in a common enterprise was developed by such collective work.”
He also offers that while the “home” is ours, because the whole community is involved in building it, it brings forth a sense of relatedness and connectedness. Here “feeling becomes activity. The past and its memories are repolarized in terms of the expanded social consciousness,“ and the keyword is “cooperation.” Rudhyar says it falls in the Span of Retention, and is the third degree in the Actional level of the Scene of Communion in the Act of Group-Integration.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, we find this degree symbolizes "the indomitable outreaching of the human spirit” in “simple co-operations in everyday living,” and of our “realization of (our) inherent divinity” as we seek fulfillment through others. He speaks of a “joy in common enterprise” which results in both personal gain and a sense of connection with the community.
He states the keyword is HELPFULNESS. He goes on to say that when positive, this degree is "exceptional power of accomplishment through a consistent success in winning the good will and enlisting the services of others.”
So the Lunar degree should help us express the Light through cooperative building endeavors, where we find both personal advantage as well as community connections. This implies that part of the wisdom this year is about joining with others, and through our shared experience we can realize a greater connectedness with others. This is an important part of learning to destroy the “heresy of separateness,” as one great Tibetan Master of the Wisdom has put it.
From these symbols it seems we can see the light of new stabilizing growth activities that should bring a newer, more hopeful sense of long term development of forms of beauty and order in our lives. This Light will be expressed through deeper relationships forged by cooperative activity and our ability to depend on others in our community, whether physical or spiritual.
Because of the dispositors, there are great personal and interpersonal “heritage” issues on display at this Lunation, and many will see signs and signals of a new day dawning in their lives. New ideas, new ways of understanding and communicating things, and faith rewarded that requires letting go of the ghosts of the past are all dominant themes in this Lunation, as are monitoring our expectancies, and taking the courage we’ve been generating since the last New Moon and confronting Truth directly, whatever that means to each of us.
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 finally retrograded back from 2 Virgo to 1 Virgo, again giving us a review of the long term future of humanity.
Before now, when TransPluto was at 2 Virgo, the Divine Redeemer has shown us ways to demonstrate a higher and broader level of discernment through accepting experiences that liberate us so that “compassion and understanding” may come forth. Now we’re revisiting the set of lessons related to the period when it occupied the first degree of Virgo in October 2011 through October 2014, as well as the time after that when it occupied 2 Virgo. It began its transit of 2 Virgo in October 2014, remaining there until mid-January 2015 when it retrograded back to 1 Virgo.
It re-entered 2 Virgo in early September 2015, and stayed at that degree until Feb 20, 2016, when it retrograded back to 1 Virgo. In mid-May it will go stationary direct at 1 Virgo, and then re-enters 2 Virgo in early August 2016. It remains on that degree until the end of March 2017, when it again retrogrades back to 1 Virgo. As you can see, we’ll be dealing with themes related to 1 and 2 Virgo for a long time to come.
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.
Of some importance is that Saturn squared TransPluto from December 2014 through June 2015, and again in late September and October 2015. That severely tested our ability to be far sighted, compassionate, and discerning in seeing the larger redemptive possibilities of this time in history. However, the first two months of 2016 Saturn made a waxing biseptile to TransPluto, showing this time is a huge turning point in finding responsible, future oriented truth teaching ways to demonstrate this “Divine Mother energy.”
Saturn is now retrograde, making no aspect to TransPluto, but within a few weeks it will again biseptile TransPluto, creating a huge “crisis of compassion and connectedness” for humanity. Last Full Moon it made a tredecile to TransPluto, which has important implications for late this year.
The tredecile is an aspect of “serendipity,” and indicates some very unique and specialized interactive gifts. That means the Saturn-TransPluto dance of the past few weeks has set up what will happen when Saturn is direct and makes the tredecile again in November and December 2016. Between now and then, the biseptile will be back in play in May and June, as well as again in October-November 2016.
Also, when Jupiter conjuncted TransPluto in August 2015 for the first time in Virgo, it began a new 12 year cycle of how these “Divine Mother energies” will manifest. It also began a new long wave era, since Jupiter will conjunct TransPluto in Virgo every 12 years until the 22nd century!
To finish this brief section, Venus also went stationary retrograde exactly conjunct TransPluto in late July 2015, setting up Venusian manifestations of Divine Mother that will show each and every time 1 Virgo is transited. That means the Venusian Divine Mother promise of late July was expanded, or set into motion somehow, by Jupiter's transit of 1 Virgo in mid-August, and then took expression due to Mars’ transit of that degree in late September, and found “beauty of form” when Venus transited it in early October 2015.
So we’ve officially entered a different Spiritual Era that 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. I just offered you a bit more about this vast spiritual energy field in Astrology in the Age of Aquarius - Transpluto, a.k.a Divine Mother, Parvati, and Percephone.
This closes part 2 on this Wesak Full Moon. Part 3 will cover important chart factors, aspects, configurations and more, which I'll give you soon.
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you Robert for the clarity and wisdom. It helps to gain perspective on what is moving, how and where to.
Ready for part three
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | April 22, 2016 at 04:59 AM
Ending the sense of separateness is what I'm getting energetically. Might be because of the transiting Sun which hit straight to my Sun-Moon conjunction. And that was a sorely needed medicine in so many ways...
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, Robert.
Posted by: Shasha | April 22, 2016 at 08:52 AM
I just did not appreciate the head jolts of the last week or so. I am not prone to head pain. I thought it was just an aneurism or something. What up with that activating electrical energy?
Posted by: caliban | April 23, 2016 at 11:37 AM