by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Sagittarius New Moon chart. This Lunation opens the door to a more personal, creative, and permanent form of self-expression, as well as a new destiny with the blessing of the highest! As Saturn is THE prominent player, expect any number of Saturn manifestations, so be efficient, mature, and responsible as you throw yourself into the future.
As you understand by now, different months bring us different Jones Patterns, depending on the position of the Moon and the inner planets relative to the outer planets. These patterns operate their own independent influence, regardless of which planet is in which sign.
Currently, the outer planet occupied span begins with Jupiter in Scorpio, and proceeds through planets in Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aries. This is a hemispheric distribution, with all the outer planets in about half the signs (excluding TransPluto, since Jones didn’t use it in defining his patterns). That means the pattern du jour is primarily influenced by the position of the inner planets, shifting the pattern every so often.
As I offered in part 1, now that all the inner planets are moving through the span defined by Scorpio through Aries, for the next few months we’ll mainly have a Bowl Pattern, except when the Moon is in late Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo or early Libra. The Virgo New Moon was the last to feature a Locomotive Pattern until June 2018, though we will have a Locomotive at the early January Full Moon in Cancer, with the open trine between the Moon and Jupiter in Scorpio.
Long term, as Jupiter closes in on its conjunction with Saturn during the next few years, there will be times when most of the planets will be compressed into very narrow spans centered around Sag and Capricorn. Though the outer planets have been expanding out to a wide spread these past 20 years since the last Saturn conjunct Uranus, the outers are now compressing, with Jupiter and Saturn headed to a karmic rendezvous with Pluto and Neptune over the coming years. Due to the compression, by early 2020 we will see the first “Bundle” in many years, since the planets will all be within a 120 degree span.
The Bowl is now close to an ideal pattern, since all of the planets are in half the zodiac, with the other half unoccupied. This is important, since it will dominate the next 4 weeks.
The Bowl Pattern and how it works
This type of spread, with all the planets occupying approximately half of the signs with an empty half opposite the occupies half, creates a “special type of conscious selfhood,” which Dr. Jones says “marks the Bowl type of temperament. He goes on to state “Fundamentally it is an extreme self-containment,” which “holds things, and a Bowl individual is one who always has something to bear.”
He goes on to state that with the Bowl, “the whole dynamic of man, his total power of achievement, arises in his instinctive realization that he is set off against a definite part of the world, that there is a complete segment of experience from which he is excluded in some subtle fashion. The Bowl not only holds something, but also places whatever it holds into relationship with a larger consideration.”
Dr. Jones continues that “the occupied segment of the Bowl horoscope reveals the activity and organization of the self, since planets are significant according to their place by sign and house, and the unoccupied segment becomes a challenge to existence, or the need and emptiness to which the native must direct his attention. The outstanding characteristic of the Bowl temperament is its marked sense of what is self-contained in contrast with what the self cannot hold, and this take an everyday form in an advocacy of some cause, the furtherance of a mission, an introspective concern over the purpose of experience.”
He concludes his explanation of how the pattern works with “The Bowl native always has something to give to his fellows, whether literally or psychologically, whether constructively or vindictively, because his orientation to the world arises from division; that is, frustration and uncertainty. The leading planets, determined in exactly the same way as for the Locomotive pattern, give a point of application, and shows where and how the native seeks to carry out his mission or gain his everyday justification for existence.”
He brings up another important point of analysis, as he states “the leading planet is of secondary importance in the Bowl pattern, unless it is found in a strong opposition or cosmic cross. The fundamental attack on the problems of life by the Bowl individual is indicated more significantly by the tilt or house-position of the Bowl-segment.”
He concludes this section by stating “the Bowl character is definitely more self-expending, or self-seeking, and more practically interested in what things mean and what they are. It continually throws the emphasis from the signs into the houses. It a general way the Bowl tends to ‘scoop up’ things and initiate experience when the position of the leading planet ranges from the fourth cusp, up and over the ascendant, to the Midheaven cusp, and then inclines to “capture” things or consummate various phases of life when the leading planet is placed similarly from the tenth angle down over the descendant to the nadir.”
With Mars in Scorpio leading this Bowl pattern, it shows us the need to concentrate, eliminate all that is unnecessary or obstructive, shed skins we no longer need, and be aware of the magnetism around what we want and why we want it. If you’re unhappy or discontent, ask yourself why, and if you really need to go there. Learn to detach, and flow with what attracts you and what you see could lead to a form of liberation or opportunity. See the world of the 5 senses and the mind as the playground of God and Soul, and play with gifts that attract the new as the old is left behind.
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart Mercury, Venus, the Lunation, and Saturn) is 5 planets in 14+ degrees, making that the major focus. Adding Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto bookending the Sagittarius stellium, and the expanded specific emphasis is the span between Mars at 6 Scorpio and Pluto at 19 Capricorn. This involves 8 planets in 72+ degrees, showing a LOT of activity wherever this span falls in our chart.
This month we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 5 signs, showing a closing hemispheric distribution with an intense cluster noted above. This month we have Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Aries represented, with no planet in the other signs.
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 27 Sagittarius. It is said that the last third (decan) of any sign deals with the individual, mental, and spiritual levels of life, and being the third decan of Sagittarius it has a sub-influence of Leo. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 27th degree of Sagittarius is "A sculptor.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “mastery of formative intelligence over substance,” “sure characterization and understanding,” and “permanent self-expression.”
In the Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of "the ability to project one’s vision upon and to give form to materials,” where we can express our individuality creatively depending on the milieu in which we work. This is about our “creative individuality” transforming materials into our vision, of “self-projection into a work.” He says this degree falls in the Span of Detachment, Act of Group Integration, and is the counterpoint degree of the Individual-Mental level of the Scene of Transference.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of "creative ability as the manifestation of self-consciousness in its maturity of realization, dramatized by an irresistible desire to endow all life with some enduring potentiality.” He offers that as we master our talents, we find enlarged opportunities because of an “expanded vision which (we) must develop and share” with others.
He states that here we are “able to idealize nature because (we) have brought her to subjection.” He offers us the keyword IMMORTALIZATION, and says when positive, this degree "exception self-expression through a gift for building all experience into a personal fulfillment.”
So the theme of this New Moon shows the Light for the next 4 weeks is illuminating our power to express our vision in creative forms, where we can share our talents and find a greater vision and “enlarged horizons.” What we are called to express will demonstrated to our world something of our intelligence and what we want to make more real in our lives. Remember too that a sculptor is highly efficient, and the end product wastes no material or space.
Because the Lunation and Sag stellium is disposited by Jupiter in Scorpio, and Mars leads the Bowl, that energy is extremely powerful in this New Moon. As with last month’s Lunation in Scorpio, this one will also show us how, why, and what we want to attract or repel, eliminate and/or regenerate, to be shaped by Saturn’s steady hand on the faceting of the stellium.
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 chart has a mixed bag of aspects, mainly favorable, concentrating, and specializing. There are only three significant frictional aspects at work, those being the Lunation conjunct Saturn all semisquare Jupiter. The rest of the aspects are favorable.
These semisquares are of two qualities; the Lunation is a waxing semisquare, showing a crucial point in the opening of the new Jupiter cycle; and Jupiter waning semisquare Saturn, dealing a death blow to the old Jupiter-Saturn cycle. This will impact those with planets or angles near the middle degrees of Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, as well as the latter degrees of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn.
As an aside, for right now the powerful Uranus semisquare Neptune is separating, giving us a slight break from a very frictional energy which has been with us a while and will continue to be with us a LONG time! This anchors a very frictional configuration that is kicked into play whenever planets pass through mid-Virgo and late Libra specifically, and more generally, any of the late degrees of the Cardinal signs and any of the middle degrees of the Mutable signs.
As the planets make various octile aspects to these planets, the energy of the Uranus semisquare Neptune generates a LOT of tension and friction in the atmosphere, creating a grind for us wherever we have mid-Mutable and late Cardinal sectors. I believe this semisquare is entirely behind the inner hard choices all of us are considering right now in how our individuality fits into the collective atmosphere, and why there is so much friction between the transpersonal Uranian forces and the transpersonal Neptunian forces at this time.
During recent transits of these zones, a “Rhombus Diamond” octile was created. This creates a “cutting, grinding, and polishing” type of energy that is frictional and can lead to awareness and the ability to act productively even in impossible conditions.
As I told you in the Rhombus Diamond articles, we can expect solar flares and plasma eruptions, warping in the electromagnetic field, breakaway impulses, sideways explosions, and all equivalent human behavior symbolized by these octile aspects testing our clarity. It has presented all of us with certain questions. What is your role as you would define it? Reject timidity and uncertainty, and find your place in the larger scheme of things.
Again, this shows long wave friction which will be set off any time any planet moves through the middle degrees of Sagittarius or the late degrees of Libra and Capricorn, in play through the end of 2017 in those signs. I’ve given you several articles about the Rhombus Diamond configuration and how it works, as well as which resonant points are activated every time a planet opposes Uranus and sesquisquares Neptune. Please take a new look at those articles, since the semisquare will be strong through December, and again in early 2018.
Besides the semisquares listed above, the Lunation makes a conjunction with Venus, a septile to Mars, a trine to Uranus (via collection of light by Venus) and a quintile to Neptune. This will help us find those “who speak our language,” and offer chances to trust your intuition and connectedness with all of life.
The septile will put those affected at forks in the road of destiny between holding on and letting go. Active zones include 4-8 Scorpio, 25-29 Sagittarius, 17-21 Aquarius, 9-13 Aries, 1-5 Gemini, 22-26 Cancer, and 13-17 Virgo.
Besides the aspects listed above, other inner planet forming aspects include Venus trine Uranus and binovile Neptune; Mercury makes no aspects in this Lunation, a rare event!
Outer planet aspects are very favorable overall! Mars is conjunct Jupiter, septile Saturn, trine Neptune and quntile Pluto; Jupiter is quadranovile Uranus, trine Neptune (via collection of light from Mars), and sextile Pluto; Saturn trine Uranus is brought back into focus through Venus, with Saturn quintile Neptune via the Lunation, and vigintile Pluto. Uranus and Neptune currently make no aspects to planets outside their orbits.
Partile separating aspects are few, but strong! Mercury is novile Mars, and Venus is semisquare Mars and decile Jupiter. All these are so tight as to be active, though separating.
The seeds of transformation and adventure are to be found in the Lunation’s conjunction to Saturn and trine to Uranus, since it brings the entire Mercury cycle for 2017 to a glorious conclusion and brings power to the blessing of this Mercury retrograde period! This last conjunction to Saturn in Sag brings the Fire trine back into prominence, opening favorable zones in late Fire and Air signs. Mars and Jupiter in favorable aspect to Pluto indicate a great time for eliminating the old, moving into deeper waters of feeling and experiencing, and purifying the process so the adventure may continue without goop interrupting the journey.
Mars septile Saturn plays off the Lunation septile Mars, extending the degree spans at least 3 more degrees past the zones listed above. Given that Mars is very strong and favorable where it is, a lot could get done efficiently and quickly.
For the next few weeks, specialization is indicated by the Lunation and Saturn quintile Neptune, Venus decile Jupiter, Mars quintile Pluto and Saturn vigintile Pluto. This month, the only novile series aspects are Venus binovile Neptune and Jupiter quadranovile Uranus.
The novile (9th harmonic), septile (7th harmonic) and elftile (11th harmonic) series all feature spiritual aspects. All novile series aspects represent gestative energies that can lead to great spiritual realizations. Septile series aspects in this New Moon, they represent forks in the road of destiny, while the elftile series aspects represent issues requiring we resolve some sort of duality by making a leap of faith to attain a form of mastery over that type of duality.
The quintile and biquintile (5th harmonic) and related 10th (decile and tredecile), 15th (quindecile), and 20th harmonic (vigintile) aspects are all specialization aspects. You can find more by going to Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Pt. 1 – Quintile, Tredecile, Decile, and Biquintile, and Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Part 2 – The Quindecile and the Vigintile.
You can find out more about the spiritual aspects (septile, novile, and elftile series) by referencing this brief overview of the Spiritual aspects, complete with glyphs for all of them.
Element Balance
This month we continue our heavy emphasis with lots of Fire planets and very few Air and Earth planets. Of the traditional 10 planets, in this chart there are 6 planets in Fire signs, 3 in Water, 1 in Earth, and none in Air. This element spread is extremely one sided, with Fire and Water dominating the atmosphere. So we have a deficiency of practicality (Earth) and relatedness/communication element (Air), with a huge excess of varied inspiration (Fire), and a very strong presence of feeling/experiencing (Water).
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things are extraordinarily feeling-based, where we must remember a fundamental scientific fact. Fire and Water make for a very volatile combination that creates steam power when focused or fogs and mists when uncontained. This is especially true of the “Distributive Fire” of Mercury, Venus, Moon, Sun, and Saturn in Sagittarius combined with the major Water pressure Mars conjunct Jupiter in Scorpio! Keep the boiler hot, but don't let it explode!
Because Venus leads the Sun from Sagittarius, the Light is being led by a very freedom-loving good sport with adventure on her mind! As she occupies the same degree as Saturn’s SD point last August, as well as the recent Mercury inferior conjunction, please re-read what I offered during those two events to know more about Venus’ theme the next 4 weeks.
The current sequence at present of Deciding, Feeling, 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. As a process of moving through events, this New Moon has shifted again, showing that over the next 4 weeks the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience involves leading with our thinking, communicating, understanding, and envisioning, and follow that with our feelings and ability to experience that vision or understanding. For the next few weeks, those feelings must be followed by decisions and actions.
So lead with your thinking, and then feel your way to decisions and actions. After you do the single act that can move everything forward one step, then we need to go find ideas, information, and new visions that can help us find a new way to experience our feelings.
Due to the Mercury retrograde quality in how the mind works in this New Moon, we’ll be seeking information and or a vision that may have echoes in the past, after which we’ll “feel our way” into new experiences, getting hunches about decisions and the need for action. After we come to the fundamental fact that allows us to decide and act on that decision, we’ll naturally find new information and views which lead us to new experiences. So lead with thinking, see how the vision or information is related to the past or is a new iteration of that view, then move through the feelings and experience of that vision into a new action.
Because this New Moon is conjunct Saturn, and Saturn is on the exact degree where Mercury went stationary retrograde, I have no doubt the coming weeks will give us all a “look back” at how we’ve been in a time of a “cosmic pause” where we could rest while being alert to act when needed. We continue to get RX information about various “cause and effect” processes, and if you want to know more about how retrogrades work, please consult the section on Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius in my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde.
Summing Up
Now that we’ve been through a solid year of Saturn in Sagittarius trine Uranus in Aries, we’ve stabilized our unique forms of heart expression, love, or creativity, and learned how to move out of the old into the new with calm confidence. We now have had opportunities to structure “the future in the making” into our life evolutionary process while “escaping from a narrow destiny.” This is the last reprise of the Fire trine before Saturn leaves Sag and enters Capricorn, where it will trine Uranus anew, but in Earth signs, this coming Spring.
Much has been quickened since last Spring, and we have been eliminating all that would prevent our spiritual Self from demonstrating itself with ease. This is the final New Moon of the Saturn in Sagittarius era, promising a blessing to each of us in 2018. It all depends on how we’ve trained to put things together since January 2017.
This is the third New Moon with Jupiter in Scorpio, and you can bet that as Jupiter transits the various Scorpio eclipses, Lunations, and planetary stations over the next 10 months, many things promised in 2017 will become blessings, opportunities, and liberating factors in life. Add Mars conjunct Jupiter leading the Bowl, and it’s clear our approach to life will have to become laser focused and as efficient as we can be!
Because of the Bowl, things may seem very “divided” in many ways, but keep referencing your passion to “break on through to the other side” to find your way to a view of “the 5 senses and the mind as the playground of God and Soul.” This Lunation sets a powerful magnetic “pulse” into motion that will bring us to “the farther shore” by this coming Summer. You can take that to the bank.
This New Moon quickens and continues to intensify the emerging adventure in transformation! Be efficient in your response to the vast possibilities offered by the stellium in Sagittarius, enjoy anticipating the adventure to come, and be alertly ready to act. Don’t push the river, but sense the flow, move in that direction, and open your imagination, since with Mercury RX, we’re still not seeing the whole picture.
Leave behind whatever hesitancy makes you ambivalent about leaping into the future. Be your creative-expressive Self, and show your uniqueness rather than your conformity. Things are accelerating very quickly with this New Moon thanks to Pluto’s degree, and as the planets transit this point in January those seeds will be sprouted into forms of group power. Keep blending the past and future, renovating the structures that no longer serve your sense of purpose, while organizing the grounding of that which is an expression of your unique genius and purpose in this world.
This one continues to take us deeper into the magnetism of our Mystery, our “hero’s journey” and Quest for Self-Realization. This will be great for seeing how the past is feeding the future, finding the birth of a new way of understanding “God” or “All-That-Is” in your life, and “materializing the spiritual.” Because Mars is triggering all recent Scorpio trigger points, and will conjunct Jupiter on a point of transfiguration, we will all experience that pull to a greater life in January.
This is an interesting point in time, since it is the final Lunation before the Solstice, and the final conjunction with Saturn in Sagittarius until December 2045. This New Moon stimulates a tremendous number of points in the second half of Sag, so we’re all going to be responding in positive ways wherever we have planets or houses in the second half of the Fire and Air signs! This brings the lessons of 2016-2017 into acute (and “beautifully mature”) focus, where we may express our wisdom in forms perfect for our unique self-expression.
Add the very favorable harmonious “3 note chord” of Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto in Water and Earth precipitating very positive energy wherever we have planets or houses in the middle degrees of Earth and Water signs, and we’re heading into a very strong current pulling us in very favorable ways! When we add the resonant 3rd, 5th 6th, and 10th harmonic points to these trines and sextiles it’s easy to see there is a great harmonic “choir” happening that is helping us all to hear what to sing and where to sing it.
With Mercury still retrograde, all good Sagittarian things promised in this Lunation will be moved forward in the near future. Due to the Saturn trine Uranus renewed one last time, it continues to be an excellent time for structured learning that opens doors to different truths, perspective, and futures. While Venus and the Lunation conjunct Saturn can bring a seriousness to the atmosphere, in Sagittarius there’s just enough structure to see and embrace the adventure in moving into the future!
The Lunation occupies the exact degree Saturn did in the last New Moon. Clearly we are being shown the way to express our individuality in unique ways, taking materials and shaping them so they reveal something of our special gifts to our world. Whatever we have trained to do, we will begin to do it as of now. Take an unusual point of view, be alert and efficient in your response, and continue to blend wisdom and understanding as you continue to practive a greater Love and Wisdom.
Magic continues to pervade the atmosphere, and by reflection, review, and re-imaging, many can see how the emotional stresses of 2017 helped them to a blessing after the death of useless ideas and responses. We have all experienced “spiritual linkage through emotional distress” in some way these past 7 months, and now our personality has access to our Higher Self through referencing the heart or creativity. We now are being pulled magnetically to a greater life adventure. Open to the flow, take a broad point of view, be patient with the process, and remember that sometimes magic comes in roundabout ways.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn is important as a stable leg of the Fire trines happening during these months, as well as the current focus of Venus and the New Moon via their conjunctions, we are still in a time when we can see how to blend past and future together and craft our future destiny. We have just finished a season of stabilizing Electric Fire with Distributive Fire by Friction, and learned to express it in loving, creative forms of Solar Fire between July and September during the Grand Fire trines. This is the next step in understanding the movement of Fire in our lives this past year!
You can learn more about mastering the Saturn and Uranus part of generating your future destiny by taking a look at my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and in Sag, brings an “expansive structure” to the Uranian energies infused with concentrated doses of spiritual energy that is making our spiritual life come alive.
Our inner Saturn gives us the power to take command of our lives and destiny. Saturn shows us those things we must master to 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.
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. It's also available as an ebook on B&N's Nook. 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.
© Copyright 2017 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks Robert...so many visions come by your words
There's a cosmic kiss on the way and Divine Balance will have it's day...
...When Mother Earth woke humanity
She gave him a mighty grin...
The words that slipped from her lips were "Where have you been"
Sitting knitting chinstraps and patience wearing thin...
Posted by: sue | December 18, 2017 at 10:16 AM
Thanks for all the information.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | December 18, 2017 at 11:55 AM