by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Capricorn indicates a time when we will need to settle into enjoying the role we were born to play, and allow ourselves refreshment and time to withdraw from the ordinary interactions of the world so we may find those who “speak our language.”
This is the sixteenth New Moon since the launch of the Saturn in Sagittarius era in late September 2015, and that planet figures in very important ways in this Lunation. There are a number of important aspects in play which I’ll discuss in part two. This Lunation maintains the Bowl Jones pattern, which begins with Jupiter in Libra and ends with Uranus in Aries, the sign of Electric Fire!
Libra is the sign of relationships, reconsideration of proportionality, and the dance of interactivity. It is a time to lead all activity with new ideals and new ideas. We’re “communing with others” who understand us, and how have retired from something preparing to leap forward into a new way of living in 2017. I’ll explain more about the Bowl and why it’s so important in part 2.
This New Moon in Capricorn will bring the Jupiter in Libra era to a radical shift and focus what began in early October. It will also bring up echoes of 2011-2012, as Pluto went SRX at 8 Capricorn in April 2011, and crossed this degree several times between then and late 2012 when the global shift occurred.
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 organizing, productive, purifying, and reflecting New Moon helping us to release ourselves from old inhibitions as we get a new look at old “laws” occurs at 8 Capricorn on December 28 at 10:53 pm PST, December 29 at 1:53 am EST and 6:53 am GMT. Capricorn takes the magnetism bound in Scorpio that was widely distributed in Sagittarius and shapes it into forms of personal power and expertise. This begins the new year of power through its conjunction with Pluto.
This New Moon is the eighth in a sequence where the Sun falls in the same sign as the Sun in the next Full Moon. We are now in a different pattern than we were during the 16 months before the 2016 New Moon in Gemini, where the New Moon Sun was different than the subsequent Full Moon Sun. In other words, we’ve now returned to the “normal order” of Lunations, because this New Moon Sun is in Capricorn, and the coming Full Moon Sun will also be in Capricorn. Since I explain this phenomenon and what it means in the Full Moon articles, you will learn more from consulting recent Full Moon articles.
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 and made pleasing in Libra, purified and focused 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
We are now done with many months of shifting Jones patterns. Up through the Summer we had a run of Bucket Patterns that dominated off and on for most of the past several years. Then we had a Splay with a tripod of Water energies, and then moved into a Locomotive followed by a Splay. A few weeks ago it shifted into the Bowl pattern that will dominate every New Moon through March 2017.
This chart has many important forming aspects, including the Lunation sextile Neptune and conjunct Pluto. We also see Mercury quintile Jupiter, Mars conjunct Neptune and septile Pluto, and Jupiter sextile Saturn. While the strong “4 note chord” involving planets in an opposition bookending multiple sextiles and trines is done for now, it merely set the vibrational patterns for what’s coming in a few weeks as the Sun and Mercury move through Aquarius and trine Jupiter, sextile Saturn, and sextile Pluto. This will facilitate a long wave broad-based understanding with great productive potential. And it'll be with us for quite a while!
This is a very powerful harmonizing energy involve 4 points of a Grand Sextile 6-Pointed Star pattern! As I noted earlier, it creates voids in Gemini and Leo, offering new forms of Love and understanding to those who are open to it, whether the love of an idea, the love of new freedom, the love of new truths, and/or the love of a new dedication!
This New Moon will jump start Capricorn energy wherever it falls in our chart. With this Lunation, we enter into a period where we need to enjoy being who we are, letting go of old inhibitions so we can be as natural as possible as we hear a call to renewal. Capricorn deals with claiming forms of personal power in the world, but only those forms which are in harmony with our “true and original nature,” the innate innocence we are and have been since birth.
Through what you enjoy that refreshes you in natural ways, you’ll find ways to generate power. As noted earlier, some important seeds were planted in this degree in 2011 which germinated through late 2012. With Mercury retrograde, the next four weeks could bring reviews, returns, and renewals related to those seeds, or new insights and a different way to understand those “seed roles” that emerged then.
So What Rules the Lunation?
This New Moon in Capricorn makes Saturn in Sagittarius the worldly ruler and Uranus in Aries the spiritual ruler of the Lunation. That makes Saturn’s ruler Jupiter in Libra, which is ruled by Venus in Aquarius, which is ruled by Saturn in Sagittarius. That makes Venus, Jupiter and Saturn major players in the “chain of dispositors,” since they rule all the other planets directly or indirectly except Mars in Pisces, which is spiritually ruled by Neptune in its home in the same sign. You can find out more about dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.
In a strange anomaly, a few months back we had no planet leading the Lunation. However, since the Inferior Conjunction between the Sun and Mercury just took place a few hours ago, now Mercury retrograde leads the New Moon, itself being led by its ruler Saturn. This makes it a “back to the future” New Moon, with reflections, returns, rehearsals, and all those other good Mercury retrograde things conditioned by its ruler in Sagittarius, the sign of the future. This will help up to a well-rounded understanding of many things past and future.
That makes this another teaching and learning New Moon, with interaction, reflection, and relatedness the major themes. As Jupiter in Libra also leads the Bowl, it provides the entry to the rest of the planetary energies at this time. When in doubt, be diplomatic, pleasant, reasonable, and expansive in your sense of how to smooth things out for everyone!
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. In this Lunation, Mars conjunct Neptune and septile Pluto put it front and center as an initiating point for many shifts, forks in the road of destiny, and important (if non-rational!) events coming these next 4 weeks (if nothing else, the US inauguration is Jan 20.)
This configuration is set into motion by any septile-series aspect to Neptune or Pluto, and was activated when Mars conjuncted Pluto and septiled Neptune, and triggered again when Venus made the same transit. These developments will be kicked into life when the Sun makes its transit between one and three weeks from now. All of this is within the umbra of late September’s Sun conjunct Jupiter triseptile Neptune, keeping the energy active throughout various points in this Sun-Jupiter in Libra cycle lasting through next October.
What Mars indicates in this new Moon will show results over the next two months as the Sun and Mercury conjunct Pluto and septile Neptune, and Venus conjuncts Neptune and septiles Pluto. These are times to stay alert to factors showing you which way the “winds of destiny” are blowing in our world. Each time there’s a transit to any of the 7 zones, it profoundly affects those with a planet or angle in any of the 7 “hot zones” defining the phenomenon.
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 brings Neptune into a close septile with Pluto, during those months the configuration acts as a simultaneous “pulse” that activates Neptune and Pluto at the same time. However, as we get into late Spring through mid-Autumn, we’re experiencing a lag in how Neptune and Pluto operate, since they’re now 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 10-14 Leo, 2-6 Libra, 23-27 Scorpio, 15-19 Capricorn, 7-11 Pisces, 28 Aries-2 Taurus, and 19-23 Gemini. 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. This event requires that we put our spiritual knowledge and truth to the test, and live the teachings we believe!
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 the fifty-eighth 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 22 Pisces. Chiron has not been in this “face” of Pisces since 1966-1968. It first transited this degree in March 2015, then retrograded back over this degree in Oct-Nov 2016. It went direct on 21 Pisces in early December, and now moves forward over this degree again in Dec 2016 and Jan 2017, advancing the Chironic themes to unfold in 2017.
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. We shall also be shown healing and mentoring techniques that will dominate collective consciousness when it too goes through its purification from 2022-2024.
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 showing us how we’ve succeeded in meeting the standards of a new life order, or showing us the new life order we can heal into in order to demonstrate our mastery or Higher Self’s virtues.
Neptune shows us how to merge the sacred and the everyday in our lives. Over the past several years, we have heard a call to a life renewal, dumped excess and 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 has Neptune direct at 10 Pisces. We should now be clear about our larger issues dominating April through August 2015 which became clearer in Feb-March 2016. As it is the degree where Neptune recently went stationary direct, it establishes a platform to the collective atmosphere, and now begins to sail through known and unknown zones to come.
In recent months we were introduced to a new ideal of courage and focused will power within a greater cause or dedication. We “entered the sanctuary” where our minds were introduced to Soul realms in March and early April, and were then tested to prove we are qualified to occupy the “spiritual office” we have accepted before now in April and May. This year and next we are moving into a Sacred Space, awakening to a greater role, letting go of fear, and learning from those who are true custodians of Soul force.
Because Neptune is at 10 Pisces, the collective atmosphere is related to the quickening in collective consciousness awakened by Uranus in 2005-2006. Though we will be finishing up some lessons related to earlier degrees in Pisces through 2017, we are now in a culminative zone, since Neptune has not been in this face of Pisces since 1852-1854. By April, we will be in an entirely new era in Neptune’s influence on the collective consciousness!
As Neptune has not experienced this span of Pisces since the 1850s, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2014-2016 is in a zone that is filled with turmoil historically. Given Pluto is also in a zone where it last was in the 1770s, it would seem revolution is in the air!
Over the past 24 months, we’ve strengthened our intuition and emotional intelligence, as well as a greater feeling-connection of our positioning within a vaster field. We now can take a final look at how we’ve mastered “flying by the seat of our pants,” and come to a new mastery in our lives. Because of where Neptune went RX a few months ago, it’s part of a larger phase of showing courage and valor in demonstrating our ability to focus will power to be the vehicle for Divine Will to manifest in our world. We’ve been tested, and faced forms of collective wisdom to re-affirm our purpose. Some have received revelations about God or Truth, which will be key factors in the courage we have to demonstrate and the will power we have to focus now, but with the added theme of taking a new look or finding a new understanding related to our personality’s entrance into the Soul realm.
The North Node
This is the fourteenth 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 the first decan of Virgo brings a more specific focus on growth in that direction. We now are going to develop through the Saturn skills and disciplines we confronted when it transited this degree in October 2007, late February and early March 2008, and late June and early July of 2008. Those were times when the ongoing lessons of the world involved the themes of this degree.
This NN degree is 5 Virgo, which we are told is “A man dreaming of fairies.” The degree shows our line of greatest evolutional development these next 4 weeks involves our “creative imagination” showing us unconscious and subconscious facts of existence, new ways to “contact inner life energies,” so we may contact our inner powers. Dr. Jones tells us “the dreams of men are always the foretaste of human achievement,” and this degree is one where we find “subtle persuasiveness” and gain support for our efforts.
I’ll close today by offering that major endings and beginnings are promised by this New Moon. This one shows us our natural positions of personal power, even if indirectly, and the need to take a new look at laws we’ve been living by and see if there’s not another way to interpret those responsibilities and duties we’ve taken on because of those laws. All in all, this will continue last month’s pattern and be one of the more productive periods in recent memory, with positive developments in the midst of hard realities. Of course, I’ll go into more depth about the aspects in part 2.
This Lunation will help us relax into playing the role we’re born to play. We can find allies who “speak our language,” and take a break, refresh, and get ready for the next Sun-Pluto year that begins in 8 days! Many will hear a call to renewal as they close the old and prepare for the new. This will quicken all of us, give us new and/or roundabout insights into other ways to structure what needs structuring, and help all to make preparatory plans that will leap forward once Mercury does direct in early January.
There is high specialization for those who can reconsider or re-evaluate some way that was revealed before now. There are roles to be played, power to be claimed in a social or cultural setup, and the potential for spiritual transformation is extraordinarily high if you’re willing to let go of old inhibitions and use your imagination to embrace the future that’s already formed on the subtle planes of consciousness. Since this happens in Capricorn, and Mercury is retrograde while Mars is conjunct Neptune, the potential for intuitive flashes and dreams over the next four weeks can reveal what’s coming in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Open to a greater spiritual maturity to prepare for the adventure yet to come! We’ve done some repairs and renewals, made some choices who we want to journey with in the future, and are still in the midst of major productivity and harmonization, as well as a wider Love that will be a feature of the next few months.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Given Saturn is the dispositor of the New Moon, Mercury, and Venus, and makes a very powerful aspect with Jupiter (and will for many months to come), you will be assisted in navigating these strong tides of destiny by taking a look at the material I present in my new book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and being Pluto’s dispositor, is a behind the scenes power in how the ongoing transformational Shivaic force of our times is expressed.
This book takes an entirely new look at our inner Saturn and the power it gives us to take command of our lives and destiny. If Saturn represents all that limits us and holds us back, it’s only because we must master those lessons so we may become spiritual adults and fulfill our purpose for being alive on Earth. By knowing our Saturnian strengths, we can overcome fear and any sense of victimization or powerlessness.
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and gives the reader the power to understand why some things happened when they did. Throughout the book, it offers ways for us to “make friends” with this part of our existence and take command of our destiny. As you read each chapter, you’ll become more aware of all the factors assisting Soul growth through understanding how our Saturn lessons relate to Dharma (our Highest Spiritual Function) and various types of karma, both those we cause and those which are "Sacred Wounds" leading us to a greater compassion and understanding.
And as you've just sampled, we explore the concept of Saturn representing our Ring-Pass-Not, or that part of us which is limited while we learn certain lessons related to our understanding of who we are and why we can or cannot do certain things. As our Saturn expands its understanding and wisdom, then our Ring-Pass-Not expands so we can find purpose and meaning in each chapter of life. It is the secret to our power to guide our own evolution as we become conscious of the meaning of why we are on Earth.
The second part of the book examines how Saturn cycles mark major points of choice and change throughout life, and what we can expect when Saturn makes conjunctions, squares, and oppositions to our planets and Ascendant. There are tables assisting the reader to know when Saturn was in each sign, so even those with little or no understanding of astrology can track the timing on their major life changes. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the Saturn Return, perhaps the most important times in life when our decisions profoundly shape our future.
Part two closes with a chapter on one of the most crucial factors in our personal unfoldment: how the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn cycles track each other throughout life and relate to our emotional growth, and a chapter on a global phenomenon happening since 2003 impacting everyone on Earth. The Epilogue offers a few insights about living “the spiritual life,” and opens dimensions of higher and broader possibilities of personal evolution, regardless of which path to Truth we may be on.
This is a book you will reference many times for many reasons, and each time you pick it up you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight on each page. This book can help you throw off all the attitudes and memories which have held you back from finding and living the life and purpose you’ve been searching for since you were young. Welcome to the journey of self-discovery, and finding your power to live your life on your own terms, fulfilling your reason for being alive as an Eternal having human experiences!
Please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page and order your copy of either the paperback or the ebook. I’ve been told that people who live overseas can get their copy much faster by going through Amazon. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks Robert.
It will be interesting to see how that void in Gemini and Leo is going to unfold.
Also love the humour (I don't know if intended or not) when talking about the Grand Irrationality and immediately mentioning inauguration day on January 20th. It made me laugh and help to gain some perspective on certain issues. ;)
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | December 27, 2016 at 11:14 AM