by Robert Wilkinson
Over the next 4 weeks, the New Moon in Libra indicates a time of finding a broader and higher view of things, with a minimum of agitation and a maximum of focus that will yield gifts and unique experiences. This is a transformational New Moon that will introduce many to new life adventures!
This is the twenty-sixth New Moon since the launch of the Saturn in Sagittarius era in late September 2015, and that planet continues to be important in several ways, even though the Grand Fire Trines are now over except for when the Moon is in Leo. This Lunation begin a long term series of Bowl patterns.
This is the first New Moon with Jupiter in Scorpio, and it’s extraordinarily powerful in this chart! While it makes very favorable aspects to Neptune and Pluto (along with Mercury), Jupiter’s septile to Saturn marks an important phase shift in their 20 year cycle, which I’ll explain in part 2 of this series.
The “out of sign” conjunction with the Lunation indicates this is a “promissory” New Moon, with much to come after a crucial transition symbolized by the New Moon at the end of its sign. Still, the New Moon is not Void of Course, since it makes an exact sesquisquare with Neptune, keeping the octile resonant Rhombus Diamond in play for the next month. I explained more about that in previous articles, and I’ll also offer more in the aspects section in part 2.
Jupiter is still the dispositor to Saturn, but now it’s in intense watery Scorpio instead of moderate airy Libra. Expect all Saturn-ruled matters to feel very differently than they have the past year. Still, there should be major opportunities for elimination and regeneration in the season to come so we can strip away all that is obsolete or not useful to us any more. This begins a depth adventure in consciousness!
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 transcendent, idealistic, agitating, transformational, and hopeful New Moon occurs at 27 Libra on October 19 at 12:12 pm PDT, 3:12 pm EDT, and 8:12 pm BST, and will keep things moving as we focus and go deeper to figure out how to tame what needs to be tamed, and how to strengthen what we are able to defend. Libra takes the practical, functional forms of Virgo and sculpts them into aesthetically pleasing archetypal forms.
We have now entered an entirely different Sun/Moon relationship than we’ve known for many months. The July 2017 New Moon at 1 Leo was the fifteenth and last in a sequence where the Sun falls in the same sign as the Sun in the next Full Moon. There are two patterns: one with the Sun in the same sign as the Sun in the following Full Moon (New Moon between 1-15 degrees of a sign), and one with the Sun in a different sign than it’s in at the following Full Moon (New Moon between 16-30 degrees of a sign).
We’ve been moving through a time of the “normal order” of Lunation Sun placements. At the Solar Eclipse at 29 Leo, we shifted to a reverse pattern, since that New Moon Solar Eclipse was followed by a Full Moon with the Sun at 14 Virgo and Moon at 14 Pisces. This New Moon at 27 Libra will have a Full Moon with the Sun at 12 Scorpio and the Moon at 12 Taurus. The last time we had this “different order” was during the 16 months before the 2016 New Moon in Gemini. 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 have now entered a time when the inner planets are beginning to cluster together, which will continue for many months to come. In fact, soon we’ll be in a classic long term Bowl pattern except for when the Moon is between Gemini and Virgo. This means we’ll be more aware of what we possess and what we don’t, with an emphasis on duality. We’ll lead with the inner planet sign qualities, and finish with Uranus in Aries energy.
Because of where Uranus is, as unique or unexpected events present themselves for your awareness, we are learning this year to listen to our inner voice to find our place in the Cosmic Choir. Here it’s useful to remember that in any choir, there are times to sing unisons, times to sing harmonies, times to sing solo, and times not to sing at all. Even when we’re not singing, we’re still part of the choir. What is your part to sing? Be as clear as you can about what you can offer to the harmony of the whole, and keep training to bring it forth!
This New Moon will jumpstart Libra energy wherever it falls in our chart. With this Lunation, we are in a time where we can and should prepare to implement the dreams and opportunities we’ve seen are real since October 2016. This is a time to soar above the conflicts and doubts generated by Uranus semisquare Neptune, let go of the ghosts of the past, and be roused out of our comfort zone, rising to some occasion that will help us complete this phase of personality integration.
The ongoing Saturn trine Uranus this year is giving us the ability to cultivate heart strength, creativity, and the Solar Fire by which we become our Eternal Light that can never be extinguished. By developing new heart strengths via the Fire trine, using Jupiter to express different kinds of power in balanced, rhythmic ways, we’ve been learning to adjust to the natural rhythm of the NOW. Those who are disciplined and mature in their adaptation have found great good fortune and joy through the Summer.
Saturn trine Uranus will continue for a while, so continue to see how established structures can be renovated, and how the new, original, and/or revolutionary can be give a solid structure. This allows innovation in reasonable, practical ways, and finds power in blending the past with the future.
So What Rules the Lunation?
This New Moon in Libra has Venus as the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and TransPluto as the spiritual ruler. Venus is extremely strong in its home sign of Libra, but there is another energy that is also dominant in this Lunation, that being the Mercury-Mars Mutual Reception. Mercury in Scorpio and Mars in Virgo is a powerful “closed loop” of self-reinforcing energy ruling all the other planets except Neptune, which is a “standalone” dispositor of itself.
So Venus rules the Lunation and itself; Mercury and Mars rule themselves, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto; and Neptune rules itself. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.
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 past Lunations, including the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Pisces 6 months ago. That means humanity at large is in for major choices and changes over the next few years, which will certainly keep things dynamic, if unstable! This configuration is set into motion by any conjunction with or septile-series aspect to Neptune or Pluto. In this chart, though Venus is past the biseptile to Pluto, it’s in an exact triseptile with Neptune, putting the world at another “fork in the road of destiny” these next 4 weeks!
That also means the configuration will be triggered by Mars in early Libra at the end of October and beginning of November, as well as when planets move through 25-30 Scorpio, when they septile Pluto and biseptile Neptune. That will be November 1-5, 16-21, and 26-30. All the choices and changes occurring during those times in November will be triggered in a big way in January, when Mars moves through the Scorpio zone. 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! Add its influence in Solar Eclipses that can last for years, and it’s no surprise that 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 13-17 Leo, 4-8 Libra, 26-30 Scorpio, 17-21 Capricorn, 9-13 Pisces, 1-5 Taurus, and 22-26 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 allow what’s been stuffed down to come up to the surface of our lives, and see how we can allow use the available power wisely.
Neptune and Chiron in Pisces
I have offered this segment each month for years to give you a broader perspective on the collective atmosphere, and the long wave changes humanity is going through. However, since they have long passed the cusp of the Great Age, I am no longer going to post this segment as I have, and will instead post the entire piece updated at key points in the Neptune cycle in the future.
Because Neptune and Chiron have been in Pisces for 5 years, 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.
The last half of 2011 helped many break out of their "chrysalis" and transform their lives and relationships. 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 Spring and Summer of 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 this chart, Chiron is at 26 Pisces. Chiron has not been in this “face” of Pisces since 1966-1968. Uranus transited this span several times between April 2009 and March 2010, as did Jupiter between May and September 2010. What was awakened then and since then has prepared us for the current opportunities to heal or be mentored into our individuality.
Chiron went stationary retrograde on this degree in June 2016, making it important in our quest for healing into our Higher Self. Some of us have had to “go our own way,” while others have seen the fallacy of thinking anyone can do anything any other way than their own way. It was here in June-July 2016, again in March-April 2017, now, and the final time will be Jan-Feb 2018 when on its way to Aries.
As Chiron and Neptune pass through late 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 have been and are being shown healing and mentoring techniques that can help us deal with the larger collective atmosphere in the years to come.
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 using our creative visualization to dominate circumstances as we stand at the end of the end of healing old ghosts. We are closing in on the end of the Chiron in Pisces era, and continue to purify and find closure, healing into our higher Self by forgiving much and enjoying even more as we experience the end of a long cycle.
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. The March 2017 Solar Eclipse in Pisces continues to assist us in releasing the last baggage we no longer need over the next few years.
2016 completed our realizations of these lessons, and prepared us to move forward. This chart has Neptune retrograde at 12 Pisces, so we’re retracing steps and getting a new perspective on how collective consciousness is now related to the themes of this degree. Neptune first crossed this in April-May 2016, late June through mid-August 2016, and again Feb-Mar 2017. It will go stationary direct on this degree in November 2017, where it will stay until early January.
As you can see, both Neptune and Chiron are giving us a sense of the transition between recent years and a future yet to show up. Collectively, we’re now solidly launched into a newer spiritual realm, where our ego mind has been introduced to a deeper and vaster Soul realm and our testing has begun. We originally “entered this sanctuary” in the Spring of 2016, and got a review in August and September. In 2017 we’re “proving our qualifications,” as per the theme of the Sabian Symbol for 12 Pisces. This will be the platform from which Neptune will move forward through its shadow zone (12-15 Pisces), before it moves into unknown zones in April 2018.
Beginning June 2016, we were introduced to a new ideal of courage and focused will power within a greater cause or dedication. We’ve also had to find a “camouflage” to do what we must without being unnecessarily exposed or hassled by the world. This is opening a “Sacred Space” for each of us, where we may awaken to a greater role, let go of fear, and learn from those who are true custodians of Soul force.
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. We are now reviewing Neptunian lessons from earlier this year, absorbing this information as prelude to proving ourselves beginning November when Neptune goes stationary direct at 12 Pisces.
As Neptune has not experienced this span of Pisces since the 1850s, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2014-2017 is in a zone 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!
Because of where Neptune went RX June 2016, 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
We’re now solidly in the North Node in Leo and South Node in Aquarius era, showing our greatest development is now in a different element and mode of expression than it was before May. When the NN is in Leo, our greatest development is through our ability to love, to create, to play, to be spontaneous, and to be wholehearted in “tending the Solar Fire” that shows the world our heart’s strength and desire. Because the SN is in Aquarius, we will demonstrate these qualities through dispassion, idealism, working for the greatest good for the greatest number, and finding others in our true spiritual group of world servers.
The North Node in the third decan of Leo brings a more specific focus on growth in that direction. I believe it has been laying down a favorable growth vector that has been made real in July, August, and September as the inner planets conjunct the North Node while making Grand Fire trines with Saturn and Uranus.
We are now are going to develop through the Saturn skills and disciplines we confronted when it transited this degree (23 Leo) in October 2006, January-February 2007, and June-July 2007. That means the next 4 weeks are directly related to the disciplines and hard truths we learned and duties we assumed in 2007 that blessed us to move in a new direction in July 2015 when Jupiter transited this part of Leo.
This NN degree is the 23rd degree of Leo, which we are told is "A bareback rider.” In the original Jones class notes from “The Astrology of Personality,” Rudhyar says this is a degree of "the supremacy given to the (person) who has mastered (their) senses and (their) emotions,” “full utilization of inner powers,” and “audacity.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes "the audacity and perseverance required to control and play with the powerful energies of the vital realm in human existence.” He says the horse “represents the magnificent, raw, impetuous energy” of the animal nature, and with training can be put to higher service. He offers there are people who “have dominated their natural energies so well that they can perform spectacular feats,” where the “achievements are seen within the context of a social function and expressing a flair for dramatics.”
He states that here “the ego is in control” and in putting on a show it serves a purpose in stirring the imagination and raising “the mind above the commonplace” through “virtuosity.” He says this degree falls in the Span of Interpretation, Act of Stabilization, and Scene of Release on the Social-Cultural level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of our “mastery of (our) immediate world of experience,” and our “ability to capitalize on any special function of life” which concerns us. He continues with “there are illimitable opportunities for the human spirit to dramatize its personal achievement or individual aspiration, and to do this is the way of most effective self-refinement if only it is pursued assiduously and valiantly enough.”
He offers the keyword AUDACITY. He states that when operating positively, the degree is "uncompromising courage in the everyday business of living and a carefree assurance in meeting the problems of a modern society.”
So the North Node, our line of greatest evolutionary development, indicates these next 4 weeks point to growth via taming and training our vital forces to come to a form of mastery that we can demonstrate to the world as we “put on the show.” These will express through the South Node at 23 Aquarius. The themes are needing to build “an adequate vehicle” to demonstrate spiritual power in the future, “striving for balance,” and performing “beyond our native endowment.”
Summing Up
I’ll close today by reminding you we have just finished a very rough “cutting and grinding” time due to the multiple Octile series aspects that have been triggered in the recent past. We have been in a VERY energetic period due to the recent Total Eclipse, and while some have been given a mantle of power, others found their lower ego unable prop up their illusions. This period deepens, intensifies, and specializes.
Mercury now heralds many things Jupiter will bless, expand, and protect over the next few weeks. Cooperate with others in building enterprises, and see everything as a symbol with a deeper meaning. We’ve all been awakened to new heart strength and ideals in the past 3 months, and now we get to let go of everything we no longer need to carry in our lives. This New Moon finishes our year of “paying dues,” and we can find a “transcendent security” by getting above the dualities of life.
As you know, ever since the Solar Eclipse in Pisces “the race has begun,” and there’s no time for hesitancy or unnecessary considerations. Do what needs to be done quickly and efficiently, and let the ghosts of the past flow down the time stream. Forgive much, let go of much, give away all you no longer need, and await the revelation to come.
We now have experienced a more natural or creative self-expression, and the dawning of a new day that will last for many weeks and years to come, so enjoy the lightness and brightness. We now have glimpsed a greater Selfhood, and had opportunities to expand our hearts, our Light, our Fire, and our inspiration.
Because the theme is still front and center, what are you expecting, and why? An old life has already ended and is dead and buried, and a new way of life has been revealed to each of us. The chaotic past has now moved down the timestream, and there are new opportunities as well as old promises to be redeemed.
Be the Light of your transfigured “reconstructed” Self, and accept the serendipity promised by this Lunation. You can see how the gestative power of the Ageless Wisdom in your life has now led you to shed many old inhibitions, and you can be more naturally yourself as you move into more intense relationships with yourself, others, and Life itself.
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2017 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you Robert for providing comprehensive, enlightening, accessible & free content. You're a generous soul.
After reading & contemplating your articles I am always inspired (as I'm sure many, many others are too!) to 'keep on trucking' and to share with others who are also willing and ready to listen, learn & evolve.
Aude sapere!
Posted by: Sarah | October 18, 2017 at 05:58 AM
I appreciate you Robert, and copy almost everything you post to read and read again and again to help complete my understanding of what you say. Thanks so much for giving of yourself and your wisdom to those who are blessed to receive them, like myself.
Posted by: Amanda | October 18, 2017 at 07:52 AM