by Robert Wilkinson
This “Second High Moon” will awaken power in many, and we can find a more abundant view of things. This Full Moon has two oppositions along the Taurus-Scorpio axis, producing awareness and a “Tension of Opposites” requiring that we leave parts of the past behind. By what we let go of, we can move forward with determination and will to part the veil and enter unknown zones, leaving fear and egocentrism behind.
This Full Moon is stabilizing, expansive, clarifying, and brings rewards for courage. Our openness to new experiences and new ways to “reclaim opportunities thought lost” will prove our faith, and by our faith we will prove our ability to enter a new life. Over the next 2 weeks, we can take the revolutionary awakening underway since the New Moon, and find power, focus, and members of our “spiritual group.” We are all being mentored to step out of the old collective field and discover our individuality anew as we stand on new ground.
The Sun in Earth and Moon in Water shows a time of fixed Earth (practical experience) of Taurus (practicality and grounded action) expressing its enjoyment of the NOW through the fixed Water (feelings and experiences) of Scorpio. The inner planets have already begun a new year cycle with Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, and now Uranus, and Mars has now launched a new Pluto cycle, the last new outer planet Mars cycle initiated until December. The inner planets have now almost all conjuncted Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and we’re into a new part of the year with Venus leading the way in Gemini!
Why Are Full Moons So Important?
At a Full Moon, that which has opened since the previous New Moon surfaces in a public form, and heads toward the culmination and fruition symbolized by the second half of any cycle. First half, birth into form and field. Second half, culmination and completion of the purpose of that cycle.
That’s why it’s important to regard the New and Full Moon charts as “God’s Footprints in Time,” since one follows the other in an unending sequence of births of newer and newer seeds. The New Moons show us the seeds that will flourish under the reflected light of the Full Moon.
Full Moons heighten feelings, due to the opposition of the Moon and the Sun. We’ve now begun a period of the year when we’ll have more and more oppositions that involve the inner planets. We’ve already had Venus opposed Jupiter, and now have the Sun opposed Jupiter. By late May we’ll have Mercury opposed Jupiter and Venus opposed Saturn and then in June Mercury opposes Saturn and Pluto, Venus opposes Pluto and then Mars, moving us into a very retrograde Summer!
Dispositors - What's the Backdrop to the Energies?
The Moon is in Scorpio, making Mars in Capricorn its worldly ruler, and Pluto in Capricorn as its Spiritual Ruler. The Sun is in Taurus, making Venus in Gemini its worldly ruler, and TransPluto in Virgo its Spiritual Ruler. Venus in Gemini is ruled by Mercury in Aries, itself ruled by Mars in Capricorn. This makes Mars VERY important in this Wesak Festival Full Moon, and a key component of the Wisdom being poured out to the world at this time.
Mars is exalted in Capricorn, its sign of greatest growth. With the Lunation quintile and tredecile Mars, with Mercury and Venus making spiritual aspects to Mars and Mars septile Neptune and conjunct Pluto, triggering the Grand Irrationality, it seems that Mars will build a tremendous amount of energy to be released through the square to Uranus. Stay balanced, see what’s needed and what’s not, what’s venerable and what’s not, what ideal you want to see made manifest and what you don’t, and this will express very productively!
We also see Saturn is in its home sign, thus ruling itself. So looking at the “chains of dispositors,” we see the Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto are all ruled by planets ultimately ruled by Saturn in Capricorn, and Neptune is a standalone final dispositor of itself.
By looking at how “chains of dispositors,” “final dispositors,” and “mutual reception” are in play between the planets, we get a clear picture of the backdrop for how each planet operates. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to Astrology Class – What Is A Dispositor and What Is Mutual Reception Between Two Planets?
The Sabian Symbols for the Full Moon
This Full Moon falls at 10 Taurus and Scorpio. It is said that the middle third (decan) of any sign deals with the emotional, social, and cultural levels of life, and as the Lunation is in the second decan of those signs, invokes a sub-influence of Virgo and Pisces.
Since the Moon always focuses the light of the Sun in specific forms, the degree symbols for both are important. The Sun degree is the illumination or enlightenment of the Lunation, whereas the Moon shows us the potential forms that enlightenment will take. Though I’ve given you a sense of what this is about up to now, here’s where we go into detail.
The Solar degree symbol for the 10th degree of Taurus is “A Red Cross nurse.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of "Natural, unrestrained pouring of self in service to one’s fellow-men” and “self-expression through compassionate understanding.”
In the Astrological Mandala he states this degree is one of "the compassionate linking of all men.” He offers that this symbol shows us this stage is about “the feeling of human cooperation at the stage of pure altruism and service to the social Whole. On that foundation of Christ love (Agape, or true companionship), (we) can reach a still higher level of experience made possible by the refinement of the substance of (our) being, (our) consciousness, and (our) will.”
He continues by telling us this is “beyond imagination and faith in the future” and requires our willingness to go “into the dark to bring life and love to the tormented and the deprived.” He states “personal attachment in love to a husband or wife has changed level becoming a consecration to humanity.” We are told this falls in the Span of Experience, and is the final degree of the emotional, social, and cultural level of the Scene of Substantiation in the Act of Differentiation.
Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “human service on the ideal or spiritual side and it emphasizes the greatest of all roads to self-realization.” Here our “concern for the more extreme needs of others” shows us “consistent opportunities … to become momentarily a phase of all-self, and through that universal experience to become more satisfactorily whatever (we) wish to be on (our) own account.”
He offers us the keyword ENLISTMENT. When operating in a positive way, we are told this degree is “a complete dedication of the self to the worth-while and enduring projects through which it can lose all sense of separativeness.”
So this is a degree illuminating our ability to embrace a greater self-dedication to the welfare of all, where as we lose our little self we gain the power of the Higher Self. This is a form of selfless service where we can lose our sense of separateness, which we are told is the ultimate goal for all humans on Earth. This lights up our ability to become a greater servant of a greater good, and find some project that is “worthwhile and enduring.”
The Lunar degree symbol for the 10th degree of Scorpio is "A fellowship supper.” In the original Jones class notes Dane Rudhyar published in The Astrology of Personality, he states this is a degree of “Companionship rooted in past performance,” ”Group personality emergence,“ and Fraternity of ideals uplifting individual efforts.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes “the overtones of human relationships based on a community of work or experience.” It’s about the bond we share with others after we’ve done something together, where “activity is at the root of consciousness.”
He states it’s about generating social consciousness and patterns and in the process seeing the emergence of group consciousness and/or a “group personality.” He states “wherever this symbol appears, it suggests the importance of establishing or strengthening links with those with whom one has shared, or can share, living experiences.”
Ultimately, this is a degree of “comradeship.” This degree falls in the Span of Retention, and is the fifth, or culminating degree, of the Act of Group Integration in the Scene of Communion on the emotional-cultural level.
Dr. Marc E Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “human service,” and our need for the company of others. “Here the emphasis is on the physical and bodily essentials of life as the simplest possible factors in any social intercourse.”
He goes on to say that what we understand best in our own way becomes the basis for how we may appreciate others in our lives. We are told the keyword is FRATERNITY. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “an effective channeling of personal aspirations into the commonplace grooves of a shared experience.”
From these symbols it seems we can see the light of a greater dedication and consecration expressed through gathering with others and feeling the closeness and fellowship generated by what we’ve done together, or what we’re doing together. Through shining the light of fulfillment on the social level of making something of eternal worth real, we can find closeness with others who also share this value.
TransPluto, Divine Mother, Neptune, and the Polarization in the Collective Atmosphere
Both Neptune and TransPluto represent very vast fields of feeling and connectedness beyond individual control. Neptune is the oceanic field of collective consciousness in which we all swim, and TransPluto is an almost incomprehensibly vast Divine Mother energy which redeems all things, brings grace to all circumstances, and is beyond even Death itself. When these two planets make an aspect, it shows us how the collective field is relating to Divine Redemption.
Many important collective developments related to these themes began to surface between 2009-2012, when Neptune in Aquarius was in very close opposition to TransPluto, or Divine Mother. That’s a major factor in why things became so polarized during those years, where the “tension of opposites” began to bring forth lessons in our Oneness, our need to share, and the human collective consciousness faced its need to embrace compassion and learn Viveka, or Divine Discrimination, especially when TransPluto was at the first degree of Virgo. Since that important opposition, we’ve all experienced intensified opportunities to join together in the Great Mother and realize our interrelatedness on a feeling level with All-That-Is.
In terms of the larger Era, we’ve now ended the TransPluto (Percephone, Parvati) in Leo era that we knew from September 20, 1935 through July 4, 2014. The transition period where this planet danced at the last degree of Leo and first two degrees of Virgo began October 2011 and ended July 4, 2014, when TransPluto left Leo for many centuries to come, and entered into Virgo for the next century.
TransPluto, or Divine Mother, danced between 1 and 2 Virgo between July 2014 and Oct 2017, showing us the larger view of what we are learning about how we conceive of God the Mother. The symbol for 1 Virgo is about how our ideas and ideals shape the outer forms in our lives, as well as how we act. It’s about picturing “the salient features and the overall meaning of any life situation,” as well as the Path of discipleship and other forms of training.
So one of the two great themes Divine Mother has taught all of us these past several years was to see life as a whole, and find meaning in seeing the significant features of the whole picture. We have had to understand the value and function of differences, and seeing how our personal integrity has allowed us to make our ideals real through accepting some sort of responsibility.
TransPluto then made its first entry into 2 Virgo October 2014, and we began humanity’s “liberating ordeal.” That initial visit was between October 2014 and mid-January 2015, and began the themes of the “crucifixion” of our sense of ego-separateness so that compassion and understanding could come forth. We are told it symbolizes “eminence at the cost of struggle,”’ which certainly seems to be very much the case as humanity redeems the promise of its better nature.
It was at 2 Virgo between October 2014 and mid-January 2015, after which it retrograded back to 1 Virgo. It re-entered 2 Virgo in early September 2015, and stayed at that degree until February 2016, when it retrograded back to 1 Virgo again. In mid-May 2016 it went stationary direct at 1 Virgo, and then re-entered 2 Virgo in early August 2016. It remained at 2 Virgo until the end of March 2017 and then retrograded back to 1 Virgo between April and the end of June 2017.
It then again entered 2 Virgo until October 11, 2017, when it entered 3 Virgo, which we are told is a degree of “Two angels bring protection,” symbolizing inner powers and “divine help when human efforts fail.” Its occupancy of 1 Virgo is now complete, and this is the next phase in our collective “liberating ordeal,” promising relief, protection, as well as the manifestation of unexpected latent powers.
This should bring forms of security via “the simple and consistent convergence of all good things toward their own kind.” This is a type of conviction that guarantees “an effective fulfillment of our dreams.” With the planet symbolizing Divine Mother expressing help via guardian angels, it should provide us a welcome relief from some parts of our “liberating ordeal.”
It went stationary retrograde at the end of November at 3 Virgo, and re-entered 2 Virgo on Jan 19, 2018. It stays at 2 Virgo, going stationary direct in mid-May 2018 on that degree, occupying it until Sept 6, 2018, when it re-enters 3 Virgo again. As you can see, while we dealt with themes related to 1 and 2 Virgo for a long time, we’re now moving into themes related to 2 and 3 Virgo for many months to come.
The energies of Divine Mother will only grow stronger throughout this century, and these will be demonstrated each time the planets make significant aspects to TransPluto. One major set of cycles were set into motion when Jupiter conjuncted TransPluto in August 2015 in Virgo, beginning a new 12 year cycle of how these “Divine Mother energies” will manifest. It also began a new long wave era, since Jupiter will conjunct TransPluto in Virgo every 12 years until the 22nd century!
Related to this, Venus went stationary retrograde exactly conjunct TransPluto in late July 2015, setting up Venusian manifestations of Divine Mother that will show each and every time 1 Virgo is transited. That means the Venusian Divine Mother promise of late July 2015 was expanded, or set into motion somehow, by Jupiter's transit of 1 Virgo in mid-August 2015, and then took expression due to Mars’ transit of that degree in late September 2015, and found “beauty of form” when Venus transited it in early October 2015.
Those two conjunctions have dominated the Virgo landscape in our charts since then, and were given new value, new power, and new understanding each time the inner planets transited those early degrees in 2016 and 2017. Related to this, please take a new look at the Mars-Jupiter cycle set into motion by their conjunction in mid-Virgo between October 2015 and their most recent conjunction in mid-Scorpio a few weeks ago in early January 2018, since that will give you some clues about how this “Divine Mother” redemptive energy was made manifest in your life.
So we’ve officially entered a different Spiritual Era that will last through July 2107, when it leaves Virgo for good and re-enters Libra for the first time in many centuries, also after a few years of dancing on the cusp of Virgo and Libra. I offered you a bit more about this vast spiritual energy field in Astrology in the Age of Aquarius - Transpluto, a.k.a Divine Mother, Parvati, and Percephone.
See you soon with part 3, covering aspects, planetary sequencing, and other important factors in this Full Moon!
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
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