by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Cancer New Moon chart. This one builds on what we stabilized in May that kept us on a steady course as things fell apart and destabilized via the Great Fracturing shown by the Grand Mutable Cross that dominated June. Find a way to do your thing while remembering this is the end of a quest requiring strength, flexibility, and a sense of the Divine Play of life.
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 begins with the inner planets in Cancer, and proceeds through one planet in each of Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aries. Because of the irregularity of the gaps between planets and the tripod effect of all 3 Water signs being occupied, this spread is called a Splay Jones pattern.
In this New Moon, the span occupied by the innermost planets (in this chart Mercury, the Lunation, and Venus in Cancer) is 10+ degrees, showing the major focus in play. This is a very intense cluster, since it’s a 4 planet stellium bunched in a narrow span of degrees.
This month we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 7 signs, which are fairly spread out around the zodiacal wheel. As noted, we have Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aries represented, with no significant cluster outside of the Cancer stellium.
The Splay Pattern and how it works
This type of spread, with all the planets in odd angles to each other with differing distributions among the signs, creates a “Splay” Jones Pattern. As Dr. Marc Jones put it, “the arrangement is neither even nor symmetrical,” revealing “strong and sharp aggregations of the planets at irregular points.”
He offers that “This suggests highly individual or purposeful emphases in the life, where the temperament juts out into experiences according to its own very special tastes.” This pattern “makes its own anchorage in existence,” and has a quality of “rugged resistance to pigeonholing, either in the near conventional compartments of nature, or in the idea-pockets of associates.”
He goes on to state this pattern gives a “persistent emphasis on individuality,” and the “spokelike emphases of the planetary groupings” are random, but have a “tripod” footing and approach to life circumstances. He says this pattern “reveals a very intensive personality who cannot be limited to any single steady point of application.” This temperament is “particular and impersonal in its interests,” rather than “universal-impersonal” or “particular-personal.”
This implies that affairs will be diversely spread out, some will not mesh well with others, and there will be a “hub and spoke" quality to what happens these next 4 weeks. This spread shows a wide diversity of things going on that promotes individuality.
The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon
A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following month will demonstrate. This Lunation falls at 13 Cancer. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 13th degree of Cancer is “One hand slightly flexed with a very prominent thumb.” Rudhyar ways this is a degree of “strong, active and self-certain will, or persistent yet blind plunging ahead into reality,” and “Freedom from soft illusions.”
In the Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of "the power of the will in shaping character.” Here we see how personal characteristics reveal the psychological and spiritual qualities behind them, and how the will must be somewhat flexible, and therefore the character also has that quality. He states that “a strong will is required to face (some) issue at stake.”
So the seed forms for this next month are through how flexible we can be when confronted with issues requiring strength of will or strength of character. We may be required to persistently plunge ahead into our lives in some way, and thereby be freed from “soft illusions.” He says this degree falls in the Span of Expansion, Act of Stabilization, and Scene of Decision on the Individual-Mental level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of our “belief in (our) inherent supremacy over all other orders of nature” through our “normal confidence in (our) ability to deal with every eventuality of day-by-day activity and relationship.” He states that “any individual must rule his environment or surrender his own potentialities forever.”
He states that this is a degree where “practicality (is) brought to the point of ruthlessness.” He offers the keyword DETERMINATION. He states that when operating positively, the degree is an “exceptional steadiness and a high sense of self-responsibility in every issue of the moment.”
So it’s clear from this symbol that the overarching theme of this New Moon is to see ways to be strong yet flexible as we plunge into life’s possibilities, and synthesize our humor and objectivity to see the deeper meaning in life’s events and experiences. With Mercury leading the Lunation, we’ll all be in yet another phase of “training for perfection,” and with Venus following the Lunation, it’s time to go for your life ambition through some form of artistic dramatization.
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 mentioned in part 1, the Lunation makes three major aspects and one minor aspect. It’s conjunct Venus, and with both Mercury and the Moon forming conjunctions to Venus they “collect the light” and reactivates the Sun-Venus conjunction. The New Moon is also sextile Jupiter, activating the just separating Jupiter trine Pluto. And it’s binovile Uranus and opposed to Pluto. This creates an opposition-sextile-trine configuration, and throws very favorable resonant void energy into mid-Pisces near the current South Node.
The New Moon binovile Uranus shows we’ve now hit a counterpoint of the realization process that began back at the Sun conjunct Uranus. Some things we’ve been waiting for will make an appearance, while other things will be postponed for a while. The opposition to Pluto requires that we all find self-confidence through the self-reliance we’ve demonstrated before now, and use the power of concentration and self-discipline to create order despite the extreme and/or chaotic conditions that usually accompany this aspect.
Other important inner planet aspects include Mercury conjunct Venus and the Sun, quincunx Saturn, trine Neptune, and opposed Pluto; Venus trine Mars and square Uranus; and Mars bielftile Jupiter, quincunx Uranus, tredecile Neptune, and septile Pluto, which as I said in part 1, now triggers the Grand Irrationality. The quincunxes produce situations that require hard adjustments, and sacrifices to correct the course of something.
Mercury quincunx Saturn shows when it comes to a conflict about our sentimentalities and our instinctive wisdom, give your final insights a greater weight than your initial ones, and Mars quincunx Uranus indicates that we need to adjust our way of doing things to fulfill a future promise, or reshape our minds in individual ways to implement a transformed way of living our lives. Venus trine Mars harmonizes the areas where we have Aries, Taurus, Libra, and Scorpio, and opens several resonant voids in late Pisces. The coming month pretty much favors and harmonizes all planets or angles we may have in the middle and late degrees of all the Water and Earth signs, so be as productive as you can!
Mars tredecile Neptune promises serendipity is on the move for many, in terms of intuitively knowing how to allow a greater ideal to shape our worldly expression. Those who will be most affected by these blessings and gifts that will be perfect for their situation have degree spans near 4-8 Aquarius-Leo, 10-14 Pisces-Virgo, 16-20 Aries-Libra, 22-26 Taurus-Scorpio, 28-30 Gemini-Sagittarius, and 1-2 Cancer-Capricorn.
Mars is now making the third 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 the last New Moon in Gemini, Pluto was again at 17 Capricorn and Mars was RX in that same zone, and this final one culminating 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 major outer planet aspects have mostly passed, except for Jupiter biquintile Uranus, Saturn sesquisquare Uranus and decile Pluto, and Uranus trielftile Pluto. As noted earlier in this series, even though the Saturn square Neptune is temporarily separating, it still 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.
Jupiter biquintile Uranus indicates interactive specialization or genius, and indicates those who have taken inner guidance up to now are seeing a promise to be redeemed in the future, while those who have focused their potency in social and/or emotional ways will have a greater discrimination about priorities. Those most affected by this long term uniqueness have planets or angles near 23-27 Aries, 5-9 Cancer, 17-21 Virgo, 29 Scorpio-3 Sagittarius, and 11-15 Aquarius.
The septile, binovile, bielftile, and trielftile 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. Mars bielftile Jupiter shows the leap of faith we’ll need to make to live a transfigured existence made clear by the Mars direct Sabian symbol, and the Uranus trielftile Pluto is the next phase in their larger cycle previously defined by the years’ long square that will yield a biseptile in 2017.
Element Balance
Of the traditional 10 planets, there are 2 planets in Fire signs, 6 in Water, 2 in Earth, and 0 in Air. This indicates we are again very short on interactivity and thinking, and very strong in feeling and experiencing. The preponderance is on feelings, with a balance of inspiration and practicality. So go with the flow, learn to listen to your feeling-wisdom, and when you can, generate an interactive vibe.
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things will be running very hot, with only practicality providing “cool.”
The current sequence at present of Thinking, Deciding, and Feeling
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 initially leading with our thinking, communicating, understanding, and envisioning, and following that with making decisions and doing the actions needed to develop those ideas or visions. However, after you make a decision or do an action, don’t just go back to more thinking, but instead move into your feelings about the decision you’ve just made, or the action you’ve just done.
So lead with your vision, understanding, and what’s being communicated, and then do the decisions and actions you’ve been shown. Then after the decision or action, sit with the feelings and experience them, bringing them to the surface of your consciousness and get clear about what you’re feeling and why.
That will lead you back to new information, new vision, new ideals, and new understanding upon which you can do your next set of decisions and actions. Then again name what you’re feeling. That way nothing will get bottled up through underuse, and you can move through experiences with power and clarity.
Summing Up
We’re now moving forward after the long Mars retrograde period. We enter a period of needing to allow whatever has inspired us to transform our everyday living, face whatever challenges we need to face, and be inspired in practical ways. We’ve been through several weeks of “favorable disintegration,” and from now on we should not feel as blocked as we have in the past.
This New Moon will generate activity wherever we have mid-Cancer in our charts, so be focused as you move into a new allegiance, a new alignment, and new ways of seeing the order of priority of things. Trust the wisdom of your body, and see the path of greatest refinement as the goal for the near future. As the New Moon is in a decan ruled by both Mercury and Mars, find a way to be focused in your efforts as you are shaped to a greater perfection through the practical inspiration available.
As always, Jupiter in Virgo is showing us the way to maximum effectiveness through paying attention to details. Be gentle as you throw off old inhibitions or let go of corrosive elements in your life, and be compassionate as you bless endings that are part of this period of the year.
Jupiter and the North Node continue to help us grow and claim the promise of 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 is assisting us to learn a grounded practicality and productive use of power that will be a permanent part of our tool box. These will be re-set at the next conjunctions with Jupiter beginning with Mercury and Venus at the end of August at 27-28 Virgo, and Mercury RX conjunct Jupiter again in early September at 29 Virgo. This year’s group will finish with Sun conjunct Jupiter at 4 Libra in late September, and the final Mercury conjunct Jupiter in October at 7 Libra.
There is great productivity promised over the next 4 weeks, and even though things are widely spread out, there is a huge potential for harmony via the Venus trine Mars and Mercury trine Neptune. There could be powerful reunions for some, and “embassy balls” for others. Look at the interrelationships while being clear about your focus, and find the faith that can give you a gentle hope as you flow toward major transformations. And play, play, and play!
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Great information and as per usual, clear and thorough.
Many thanks Robert,
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | July 03, 2016 at 12:20 PM
Thank you Robert. Just wondering - does the "favourable disintegration" apply to countries, as in Brexit, the Austrian presidential re-election and our flop of an election this past weekend? What's happening around the world does indeed appear to be a disintegration of sorts and I suppose, if you look long-term "favourable" Good can eventuate. Trying to see things in a positive Light!
Posted by: Ann | July 04, 2016 at 01:53 AM
Aloha Robert! I just viewed the video "Thrive", have had it laying around for some time, but felt compelled to watch it a few days ago. Incredible how the "plan" of the mighty few manipulators is unravelling...we need to keep shining the Light into the Shadow. I appreciate your integrity and honesty. You are a Wayshower extrordinaire! AiiA
Posted by: AiiA | July 04, 2016 at 08:07 AM