by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Gemini New Moon chart. This one takes what has been previously stabilized and moves it forward even as many things fall apart and destabilize via the Great Fracturing shown by the Grand Mutable Cross that is just separating. Find a balanced view, a balanced understanding, or a balanced way of swapping information.
At this time, the planetary layout has moved between many different Jones Patterns, depending on the position of the Moon. These patterns operate their own independent influence, regardless of which planet is in which sign.
Currently, the occupied span is between Mars in late Scorpio and the Lunation plus Venus in mid-Gemini, with only Jupiter outside that span. This spread is called a Bucket pattern, with all the planets occupying one half of the signs except for Jupiter, which serves as a handle or “focal determinator.”
In this New Moon, the span occupied by the innermost planets (in this chart Mercury in Taurus through the Lunation) is almost 24 degrees, showing the major focus in play. This is a very intense cluster, and if we add Uranus to the mix, we have 5 planets in a 51+ degree span.
This month we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 8 signs, which are fairly spread out around the zodiacal wheel. We have Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini represented, with 6 planets plus Chiron clustered between mid-Pisces and mid-Gemini. That 92+ degree span will be the primary zone of action these next 4 weeks.
The Bucket Pattern and how it works
Because the Bucket pattern has been in play off and on for many months during the times when the Moon has been between late Scorpio and mid-Cancer, let’s take another look at this Jones pattern and how it works. As I explained above, with all the planets on one side of the zodiac and Jupiter in Virgo far enough away from the nearest planet to become a nozzle for the focus of all the other planetary energies, it becomes the “handle,” or nozzle for focusing the energies of the rest. 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 15 Virgo.
We also had Jupiter as the handle of a Bucket pattern off and on through the past two years. In 2014, Jupiter was the nozzle then as now, but was in Cancer at that time. It then became the nozzle, or handle, when it was in Leo in 2015. Now it’s in Virgo. Same handle, different expression. It would seem we’re all learning a lot about how to manage Jupiter’s energies as the nozzle for the fire hose!
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 15 Gemini. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 15th degree of Gemini is “Two Dutch children talking.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “conscious approach to spiritual truth and underlying meanings,” “open mindedness,” and “clarity of thought along traditional lines.”
In the Mandala he says this is a degree of "the need to clarify one’s experiences through actual contacts with like-minded individuals.” Here we “test and clarify” our new experiences through a spirit of open minded discussion with others, checking our discoveries to assess their validity. He states “the need for objectivity has to be met; and this implies the confirmation of any subjective realization by some similar experience.”
So a theme of this New Moon is through how we test our discoveries and experiences in open-minded discussion with others who have had those experiences, so that we can be more conscious in our approach to spiritual truths. Rudhyar says this degree falls in the Span of Zeal, Act of Differentiation, and Scene of Discovery at the culmination of the Individual-Mental level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of our “creative interest... in the broad range of potentialities on which (we) may draw,” where our “rehearsal of experience” facilitates “a more effective grasp of life on every practical or everyday level.” Here we experience “common elements of background and skills” in our interactions with others.
He offers the keyword CLARIFICATION. He states that when operating positively, the degree is a “self-confidence of spirit by which (we are) able to establish (ourselves) advantageously at ease in any possible situation.”
Clearly the focus of this New Moon requires us to be willing to share our discoveries with others, so that we can get clear about spiritual truth and “underlying meanings.” We can learn how to adapt to new ways of learning and expressing by finding new ways to communicate, and through “self-confidence of spirit” we can establish ourselves to our advantage in life situations. This can help us to a greater power to shape the drift of potentials, and through self-adjustment, find reassurance through knowing how to be and what to do in those life situations.
Remember to be alert to soft and tender responses as you jump into action. Be willing to acknowledge greater potential futures based in trends you’ve already established in the past two months. Keep practicing ever greater precision in how you do what you do while letting go of old distractions in the mind.
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.
This Lunation makes three major aspects and one minor aspect. It’s conjunct Venus, which helps to “collect the light” and reactivate some Solar aspects that are just separating. The New Moon is quindecile Mercury, conjunct Venus, septile Uranus, and quincunx Pluto. Venus should make our Gemini focus more pleasing or balanced in some way. The quincunx to Pluto shows our need to get over certain inhibitions, and find forms of heart rebirth, as well as using our x-ray vision to go deep into “the God Within” and find faith in our power of ultimate radiance.
The New Moon septile Uranus makes this another “fork in the road” period for humanity. Uranus shows we’re all going to get huge electric surges of spiritual energy, so cultivate receptivity if you think you’re getting a dose of something heavy. Chances are you are!!
We’ll all get an intensification of “spiritual ideas,” each according to the level of their receptivity. Areas of activation include 22-26 Aries, 13-17 Gemini, 5-9 Leo, 26-30 Virgo, 18-22 Scorpio, 10-14 Capricorn, and 1-5 Pisces. If you have planets or angles close to these zones, you’re about to be launched into a new spiritual understanding!
Other important inner planet aspects include Mercury quindecile Venus and the Sun, opposed Mars, quadranovile Saturn, and binovile Neptune; Venus is conjunct the Lunation, septile Uranus and quincunx Pluto; and Mars quintile Jupiter and septile Pluto. The quindecile (24 degrees) is a sub-harmonic of the quintile, as is the decile (36 degrees). These are specializing aspects, which you can more about in various articles on the subject in the archives.
The quintile set up voids creating energies related to a 5 pointed Star pattern. Mars quintile Jupiter sets up active specializing zones around 13-17 Virgo, 25-29 Scorpio, 7-11 Aquarius, 19-23 Aries, and 1-5 Cancer. (For astrologers: Uranus is not in biquintile to either Mars or Jupiter, so it’s not part of this configuration.)
The major outer planet aspects have mostly passed, except for Saturn square Neptune. This continues to create friction in the collective consciousness between authoritarian thinking or the aspiration to a more spiritual structure (Saturn in Sag) and collective confusion or the need for a vaster compassion and sense of connection with all of Life (Neptune in Pisces.) This friction will be with us for many months to come, so keep an open mind, be adaptable, and use Divine discernment to figure out what works, what doesn’t, what fits where, and what is no longer useful.
Even though most of the interactive outer planet aspects are passed, we still have Saturn quadraelftile Uranus and decile Pluto, and Uranus trielftile Pluto. It seems that Pluto is quite the player these next 4 weeks, given it is receiving 3 quincunxes, a septile, a decile, and a trielftile!
Mars is now making the second waning septile to Pluto in this part of their cycle. The first time was in mid-to-late February when Pluto was 17 Capricorn and Mars was 23-28 Scorpio. At this New Moon, Pluto is again at 17 Capricorn and Mars is RX in that same zone, and the final one in early July will happen from the same degrees! This is highly abnormal, and shows many things are intensifying at the end of this Mars-Pluto cycle.
As I explained in part 1, aspects to Neptune or Pluto trigger The Grand Irrationality, a global phenomenon we’ve been dealing with since the early 1990s. I gave you the active degree spans in that article, so please take a new look at what I wrote there. Because of the spread between Neptune and Pluto at this time of the year, you will also note that Mars biseptiled Neptune just before its first septile to Pluto in February, and because Mars is now retrograde, it means it biseptiled Neptune this past week. It also means that Mars will make its final biseptile to Neptune in this cycle in the days after it septiles Pluto in July.
The septile, binovile, quadranovile, trielftile, and quadraelftile are spiritual aspects. All novile series aspects introduce an element of gestation, whether something is going into it or coming out from a gestative period. These aspects hold the promise of realization and revelation, pointing us toward whatever spiritual pulse governs the planetary interaction.
The elftile series aspect all show some phase of learning to overcome some form of duality by making a leap of faith that will lead to mastery, and as I mentioned, the quindecile is a minor sub-harmonic aspect of the 5th harmonic series that gives the beginning of a type of specialization that takes further shape at the decile and quintile.
Element Balance
Of the traditional 10 planets, there are 2 planets in Fire signs, 2 in Water, 3 in Earth, and 3 in Air. This indicates a very balanced element spread, with a slight emphasis on interaction and practicality. This is the time to interact with others, and if something needs to be revisited, reworked, replanned, or undone, then go easy.
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things will be fairly balanced, with slightly more cool than heat.
The current sequence at present of Feeling, Deciding, and Thinking
We’ve been through several different sequences over the past few months. There are six patterns, and each has their strengths and weaknesses. This one continues the last Full Moon pattern.
As a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience during the next 4 weeks involves an initial stage of leading with our thinking, communicating, understanding, and envisioning, and following that with knowing what we feel or are experiencing about that vision or understanding. Then, after the vision or information has led to a feeling, we must follow that with decisions or actions based in a fundamental fact.
So lead with your thinking, communicating, and envisioning, and then feel your way to decisions and actions. After you find the basic fact that allows you to focus on the single act that can move everything forward one step, then go find newer ideas, information, and visions that can help you find a new way to experience your feelings.
Summing Up
We’re still in a long term situation where we can keep things relatively steady and stable despite the multiple fractures all around us. This is a time of “favorable disintegration,” and by the time Mars goes direct in late June we will not feel as blocked as we have in the past.
This New Moon will generate activity wherever we have mid-Gemini in our charts, so be balanced as you fulfill some path of discovery you’ve already entered. As the New Moon is in a decan ruled by both Venus and Mars, there will be an inherent tension as we find a well-rounded understanding or approach to things.
As always, Jupiter in Virgo is showing us the way to maximum effectiveness through paying attention to details. Because Mercury is still in Taurus, keep it all simple, solid, and enjoyable as you explore ways to move through this slowed-down time of Mars retrograde helping us revisit something from the past so we can do it a different way.
So take a new look or a new approach to whatever you need to, and keep it simple, practical, and enjoyable. Everything in the wisdom we’ve learned through deliberate, slow, and steady action will move forward as a result of the challenge to transformation indicated by the coming Mars stationary direct point.
The Virgo energy serving as the focus for the occupied half of the map assists us to be practical in how we express the new adventures initiated when Mercury, the Sun, Mars, and Venus were in Virgo making their conjunctions to Jupiter between August and October 2015. This should bring a grounded practicality and productive use of power that will be a permanent part of our tool box in 2016.
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Interesting how things manifest. My house 3 is going to be very active and that is a good thing.
Humanity is indeed facing important forks on the road but it seems that aspects are good for many decisions, regardless of the Grand Irrationality's influence and the way current events appear often in confused and complicated.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | June 03, 2016 at 05:34 PM
Thanks Robert,
All innocence and little baggage sometimes is the best approach to solutions
Posted by: sue | June 04, 2016 at 09:13 AM
...and call me british ...all but 2 of the planets are male in energy ...that's an imbalance that totally symbolizes our pridicka mount...
Posted by: sue | June 04, 2016 at 09:31 AM