by Robert Wilkinson
New Moon coming this Sunday! Over the next 4 weeks the New Moon in Aries will show us how to use our creative imagination and initiative to “re-claim an opportunity thought lost” and get clear about our unique part to play in the Cosmic Choir as we move into a strange Spring and even stranger Summer. Practice openness to the new, since we’re riding a new wave!
This is the fourth New Moon of the Saturn in Capricorn era! That planet continues to be exceptionally important in several ways, through aspects and dispositorship. This Lunation continues a long term series of Bowl patterns.
This is the seventh New Moon with Jupiter in Scorpio, and it continues to be extraordinarily powerful as it is the leading planet of the Bowl. That implies a sense of adventure will help us embrace the deep transformational energies that predominate at this time. Also, Jupiter is now retrograding back toward its “fateful septile” in the closing phase of its 20 year cycle with Saturn, which is a time of choice based in the hard inner adjustment associated with the stress or crises of the recent semisquare. I'll explain more in part 2 of this series.
Like the other New Moons of 2018, this is another “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 a powerful tredecile with Saturn and conjunction with Uranus, promising unexpected serendipity! I’ll offer more about the aspects in part 2.
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 revolutionary, original, somewhat erratic and imaginative New Moon occurs at 27 Aries on April 15 at 6:57 pm PDT, 9:57 pm EDT, and 2:57 am BST on April 16. This will bring us into the Light of seeing our part in the “Cosmic Choir” we’ve been searching for and practicing since Summer 2017. This one powers up the Saturn tredecile Uranus in a HUGE way, showing that we should all have unique blessings and interactions based in how we’ve awakened these past 9 months.
We are now solidly in the “alternate” Sun/Moon relationship than we knew before last Summer. The July 2017 New Moon at 1 Leo was the fifteenth and last in a sequence where the Sun fell 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 were in the first pattern up to the 2017 Solar Eclipse at 29 Leo, when we shifted to the second (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. The past New Moon at 27 Pisces set the seed for the following Full Moon with the Sun at 11 Aries and the Moon at 11 Libra. This one at 27 Aries will have a Full Moon in about 2 weeks with the Sun at 10 Taurus and the Moon at 10 Scorpio, which is the Wesak Festival! 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 expand the outer planet occupied zone between Jupiter and Uranus. Now that Venus is in late Taurus, and the Sun about to move into that sign, we begin many months of inner planets occupying the empty zone between Taurus and Libra.
Once the planets move into late Gemini, we’ll leave the long term Bowl pattern we’ve been in. The Bowl puts a focus on what we possess and what we don’t, with an emphasis on duality. Up to a few weeks ago, we led with Scorpio qualities, showing us the need to evaluate our expectancies, and finished with Uranus in Aries energy, which brought clarity and freedom of understanding. That has now shifted, since while Jupiter still leads the Bowl, now Venus completes it.
So Jupiter leads all of our planetary direct experience. Be open to the adventure, be open to adapting your instincts to be more at ease in social situations, and go deeper because it’s a Scorpio entryway. Except for when the Moon creates a Bucket or Locomotive when in the span between mid-Gemini and mid-Virgo, this will last through mid-May 2018, after which the pattern becomes a Locomotive with the empty span defined by Venus in Cancer and Jupiter in Scorpio.
So for the next few weeks, we lead with Jupiter and end with Venus. Be open initially, and after you’ve been through the range of experience associated with whatever you’re doing now, you’ll find that when you reduce it to an enjoyable and simple value, you’ll open to an “ecstatic” lightness, with blessings showing you which way the “winds of destiny” are blowing in your lives!
Because of where Uranus is, as unique or unexpected events present themselves for your awareness, remember that last year and this year we are learning to listen to our inner voice to find our place in the Cosmic Choir. As I noted, this New Moon puts the focus squarely on that part of our spiritual training!
Besides Jupiter, Uranus is also an “opening” planetary energy, just on more of a invisible spiritual level. So open to your uniqueness, your special gifts and talents, and imagination that can help you awaken to a new possibility of something that slipped away in the past. We’re all “singing our song” within a greater harmony symbolized by “the Cosmic Choir,” so be alert to those you’re singing with, and the changes in the songs being sung in different life contexts.
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 Aries energy wherever it falls in our chart. The Lunation at the end of Aries puts the spotlight on what was promised by Uranus in the past year, and as I said earlier, this Lunation powers up the very favorable and serendipitous tredecile to Uranus that will be in play for many weeks. This will be highly specializing and bring forth gifts and unique circumstances perfect for our situations, as a prelude to the return of Saturn trine Uranus in the Spring, this time from the Earth signs of Capricorn to Taurus.
Continue to see how established structures can be renovated in unique or specialized ways, and how the new, original, and/or revolutionary can be given a solid structure in unique or specialized ways. When in doubt, be imaginative, see the harmonics in situations, and overcome fear! 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 Aries has Mars as the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and Pluto as the spiritual ruler. Mars in Capricorn is exalted, and very powerful when disciplined. As both rulers are in Capricorn, it gives a strong backdrop of Cardinal Earth to the New Moon.
Both Mars and Pluto are ruled by Saturn in Capricorn. While we currently have three “final dispositors,” as the planets begin to move into Taurus and Gemini, we’ll begin a time of shifting dispositors. So while this Lunation has a heavy Mars emphasis and therefore Saturn presence, we’ve begun to move out of the past few months of everything being dominated by Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars.
Still, because Mars will rule Jupiter and be in a Saturn-ruled sign until November, Saturn will be a major stage manager for all these planets! And, as long as Uranus is in Aries, it will be disposited by Mars, making Saturn the ruler of Uranus through mid-May, with a last encore during the second week of November.
Venus is in Taurus, the sign it rules, so it too is a final dispositor in this chart, as is Neptune is in its home sign of Pisces, ruling its own domain for many years to come. That means the current planetary alignment is dominated by Venus and Saturn, both in Earth signs.
So Saturn rules the Lunation, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto at this time, with Venus in Taurus temporarily by itself and Neptune continuing as a “standalone” dispositor of itself, ruling the fogs and mists of the current collective consciousness. In any case, 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 last year, as well as the recent March 1 Full Moon with Sun septile Pluto. The Eclipse in the configuration 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, there are no septile series aspects to either of those planets, so it’s not a primary configuration these next 4 weeks.
However, it will always be triggered by transits which happen every few weeks, so we can’t relax too much as we navigate the “forks in the road of destiny” at the end of this long wave period. The configuration was triggered in early April when Venus made a biseptile to Pluto and then a septile to Neptune, and it’ll be triggered again in late April when the Sun makes the same aspects, followed by Mars conjunct Pluto and septile Neptune in late April and early May. Of course, the Moon triggers it 7 times each month. 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 about 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 experience a lag in how Neptune and Pluto operate, since they’re out of the septile and again approach the sextile they made from 1942-1995. This will become more evident in the Spring.
The current degree spans that trigger this transformative mass configuration are around 16-20 Leo, 8-12 Libra, 29 Scorpio-3 Sag, 21-25 Capricorn, 13-17 Pisces, 4-8 Taurus, and 25-29 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 7 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 30 Pisces. Chiron has not been in this “face” of Pisces since 1966-1968, and hasn’t seen this exact degree since Spring 1968. Jupiter and Uranus transited this span several times in 2010-2011, and what was awakened then and since then has prepared us for the current opportunities to heal or be mentored into our individuality. If you are unfamiliar with the power in 30 Pisces, please take a new look at The 30th Degree of Pisces - Archetypes, Thought Forms, and the Power to Make Our Dreams A Reality.
Chiron now begins its transition out of its long stay in Pisces as it makes its move into a new sign! It will soon enter Aries for the first time on April 17, 2018, marking a new era of Chironic healing energies. It will return to this degree while retrograde in September and October 2018, before going SD and making its third pass in Jan-Feb 2019 en route to re-entering Aries where it will remain until 2026 when it enters Taurus.
With Chiron at the end of Pisces and about to enter Aries, we are now in an important position in space-time, since we must fully embrace compassion and a vast understanding of ourselves as Spirits having human experiences. And to be human is to be flawed. Those flaws provide the spur for us to overcome them by transmuting them into strengths and skills that serve a higher purpose in our lives.
Chiron now mentors us forward, urging us to use our creative imagination to visualize ways and means to take control of some life circumstance. Again, it’s now on one of its last passes through this part of Pisces, requiring us to see how things fall apart at the end of long cycles. We are being mentored in closure rituals. Learn when closure is needed, and find ways to achieve it.
Bless a lot as it flows down the time stream. Let go of dogmas, let go of beliefs that have you stuck in ambivalence or suffering, and heal by having compassion for yourself and what suffering you share with the world. We are offered a deeper Soul contact this month, so make the most of it!
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. 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 to achieve some social goal, 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 direct at 16 Pisces, an “unknown zone” that Neptune hasn’t occupied since 1855-56. The themes of this degree involve getting some quiet space and time to get a new inspiration, finding “deep, vibrant realizations,” “communing with accumulated race power,” and experiencing the “source of strength around all manifestation.”
So Neptune is now “dreaming” into collective consciousness the same themes Chiron introduced to us between 2014-2015. As you can see, both Neptune and Chiron have been taking us into a far vaster collective healing and mentoring than we’ve known in many decades. Collectively, we’re now solidly in 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 “proved our qualifications,” as per the theme of the Sabian Symbol for 12 Pisces. That was the platform from which Neptune has moved forward through its shadow zone (12-15 Pisces). It has now moved into yet another unknown zone, on the way to its RX station at 17 Pisces in June.
We finished some lessons related to earlier degrees in Pisces in 2017, echoing when it last was in the face of Pisces between 1854-1856. Now Neptune has entered a new face of Pisces, where it hasn’t been since 1855-57. As Neptune has not experienced this span of Pisces since then, it indicates that collective consciousness in 2018-2020 is in a zone filled with turmoil historically. Given Pluto is also in a zone where it last was in 1772, it would seem a “pre-revolution” is in the air!
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 2017. 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 second decan of Leo brings a more specific focus on growth in that direction. This created a great growth in heart energy last Summer as the inner planets conjunct the North Node while making Grand Fire trines with Saturn and Uranus.
This NN is at 12 Leo, the same degree of the Moon in the recent Solar Eclipse at the end of January. That implies the development of the themes of the Moon in that eclipse, and since that Lunar Eclipse is still active, we may see the rapid end to some things which should be replaced in very short order!
The NN degree is the 12th degree of Leo which we are told is “An evening lawn party.” In the original Jones class notes Dane Rudhyar published in The Astrology of Personality, he states this degree is about “easy intercourse of human souls in moments of relaxation from strain” and “examination of, or self-loss in social values.”
In The Astrological Mandala,, Rudhyar offers this degree involves “group-relaxation in fashionable surroundings as an escape from work routine.” He states this symbol “refers to the more or less standardized and fashion-dictated relaxation of adults,” where the interactions are cultivated and socialized.
He tells us that here “we have now reached a stage of sophistication and involvement in externals and superficial intellectuality and wit.” He states that this symbol falls in the Span of Assurance, the Act of Stabilization, and the Scene of Combustion on the Individual-Mental level.
According to Dr. Jones, this degree is about “superficial gratifications” enhancing our “individual experience,” and of “the inherent normality through which (we) share the fruits of (our) personal accomplishment” with friends and neighbors. He offers “there are limitless forms of self-expression” through which we discover our “distinct personality, but what we achieve is meaningless unless there is some definite recognition of its worth” from others.
He states they keyword is COMPANIONSHIP. He says that when positive, this degree "is a genuine social maturity and an effective capacity for working with others.”
So the North Node, our line of greatest evolutionary development, indicates these next 4 weeks point to growth through easy adult interactions, and relaxing from stress and strain through events and relationships where we can all be natural in our expression. If appropriate, be wholehearted and demonstrative in some creative way, or some way that expresses the heart. This can generate or develop spontaneity, and leads to powerful releases!
This is growth through rousing self and others through creative or heart-felt demonstrations of authentic self-expression. These will express through the South Node at 12 Aquarius. The themes are seeing the broad scope of evolution and the give and take between those who are more evolved with those who are less evolved at any level of awareness. There may be a need to “divorce the past,” as well as understand that pure equality doesn’t really exist in any part of our reality.
Summing Up
I’ll close today by telling you to use this revolutionary, “breaking loose, breaking free, and breaking on through to the other side” New Moon to use your creative imagination and claim or re-claim an opportunity you thought had slipped away. This will be an extraordinarily powerful New Moon, as it features the first non-Lunar opposition in many months! Those who keep their eyes on the prize will find a new way to experience a spontaneity they may not have felt for many months.
Besides the very power Saturn tredecile Uranus, we’re still in the heart of the Uranus semisquare with Neptune, setting up future “cutting and grinding” times as multiple Octile series aspects are triggered each time a planet moves through late Capricorn, mid-Pisces, and late Aries, as well as when the Moon moves through the late degrees of ALL the Cardinal signs and the middle degrees of ALL the Mutable signs.
Last year’s Solar Eclipses in Pisces and Leo quickened us, and we’ve been eliminating a lot of expectancies, considerations, and excess baggage. We continue to dump all kinds of old ghosts and elements of pride that would hinder our hearts from its authentic self-expression, and are getting clear about our priorities and what we should and should not expect of ourselves and others. We now are at the end of an old phase, and prepare for a newer, more structured and/or responsible way to do our Being.
Remember too we are still “under the beams” of the recent Solar and Lunar Eclipses. While the Solar Eclipse was fairly weak, the Lunar Eclipse of Jan 31 at 12 Aquarius/Leo indicates we’re still leaving elements of our past behind, seeing what we have to do, and redeeming a promise first awakened in the Summer of 2016.
Since the March 2017 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.
In 2017 we experienced a more natural or creative self-expression, and the dawning of a new day that will last for many 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.
Be the Light of your transfigured deepened Self, and accept the opportunity to go deeper into your experience of life, others, and the beauty of our existence. This Lunation shows us the time to act is NOW, using imagination and awareness of our part to play in the greater group work. Leap forward, throw off your inhibitions, let go of fear, and see what must be surrendered to achieve a greater spiritual awareness.
This New Moon shows us how to awaken to our genius and our unique part to play in the greater plan. This is a time to mobilize, using discipline and organization in a balanced way to achieve forward motion into what will nurture us, protect us, or give us a sense of emotional connection in our day to day life. Saturn’s guiding hand will help us get beyond fear and extinguish it for all time, if we embrace “the culture of harmlessness” and use kindness to overcome the sources of fear in self and others.
Use this New Moon’s Aries influence to “get it in motion” these next 4 weeks. Intensify your striving, stay focused in the NOW, get a plan, and implement it with confidence. Some things have ended; keep being forgiving and compassionate as you let them go in consciousness. Some things have begun, and have been reviewed during Mercury retrograde; now it’s time for action!
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
I like what you said here Robert: Chiron now mentors us forward, urging us to use our creative imagination to visualize ways and means to take control of some life circumstance. Again, it’s now on one of its last passes through this part of Pisces, requiring us to see how things fall apart at the end of long cycles. We are being mentored in closure rituals. Learn when closure is needed, and find ways to achieve it.
Bless a lot as it flows down the time stream. Let go of dogmas, let go of beliefs that have you stuck in ambivalence or suffering, and heal by having compassion for yourself and what suffering you share with the world. We are offered a deeper Soul contact this month, so make the most of it!
However, I have been fearful because I can see nothing to wish for or plan for the future. I don't know what to "imagine" into being. That is highly unusual for me, and I've been here for 2 years. I just do what needs to be done to survive. I've felt a great clearing and that I'm continuing to clear (tho I feel that is a life long process).
I will have to plan on a meditation and ritual for the new moon on Sunday. Thank you for all the work you do to inform and inspire us.
Joanne
Posted by: Joanne | April 11, 2018 at 10:11 AM
Great post and awaiting part II.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | April 11, 2018 at 03:22 PM