by Robert Wilkinson
New Moon coming tomorrow! Over the next 4 weeks the New Moon in Taurus will show us how to enjoy life to a greater degree, and solidify recent gifts and specialized interactions! Once things are stripped down to “the bare trees” and we’ve examined the Light of our expectancies, we will find our “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The Grand Irrationality is again front and center!
This is the fifth New Moon of the Saturn in Capricorn era! That planet continues to be exceptionally important in several ways, through aspects and dispositorship. This Lunation takes us out of the long terms series of Bowl Jones patterns and puts us back in a Bucket pattern.
This is the eighth New Moon with Jupiter in Scorpio, and it continues to be extraordinarily powerful as it is the handle of the Bucket. That implies a sense of adventure will help us focus and demonstrate the deep transformational energies that predominate at this time. Also, Jupiter is again exactly making a “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.
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 semi-sextile with Venus, a trine to Mars, and a quintile to Neptune, showing it’s a great time to cultivate intuition in a grounded simple way. 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 stabilizing, enjoyable, grounded and “destiny producing” New Moon occurs at 25 Taurus on May 15 at 4:48 am PDT, 7:48 am EDT, and 12:48 pm BST. This will bring us into the Light of seeing how various parts of our life fit together, and how we are part of “collective power” when we choose to BE part of that collectivity. This one has a huge number of productive and specializing aspects, as well as the major friction of Mars square Uranus just hours before both change signs!
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 Aries set the seed for the following Full Moon with the Sun at 10 Taurus and the Moon at 10 Scorpio. This one at 25 Taurus will have a Full Moon in about 2 weeks with the Sun at 9 Gemini and the Moon at 9 Sagittarius, which is the annual Christ Fest where the Ageless Wisdom of the Wesak is distributed to the world by the World Teacher!
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 Gemini, and the Sun about to move into that sign, we continue many months of inner planets occupying the empty zone between Taurus and Libra.
As I mentioned, now that Venus has moved into late Gemini, we’ve left the long term Bowl pattern we’ve been in for many months, and won’t frame things in terms of the duality of that pattern. We now have all the planets in half the chart except for one in the other half, showing the handle or nozzle through which all the other planets express their energies. This makes it a “Bucket” Jones pattern.
As Jupiter is the handle of the Bucket, we are learning to manage Scorpio energy skillfully to achieve best focus. Here two important things present themselves.
First, this “expansive Scorpio” influence is opposite the planets in Taurus, and though there aren’t any forming oppositions, that sign axis is still the focus of “The Light of New Moon Awareness and How that Awareness Externalizes.” Look at what you have come to expect in the Light of what is possible to achieve enjoyably and naturally.
Second, Jupiter is again on the degree of Transfiguration where the Mars-Jupiter conjunction happened in January. That indicates the next four weeks should show us how we have transfigured since then, or give a new angle of understanding of our larger process of Transfiguration which will complete itself when Jupiter goes over this degree a third time in late August and early September. As you see how you and your life have been transfigured and continue to transfigure, re-focus the magnetism around your expectancies and bring more Light to bear in your expansive regeneration.
In this “Bucket,” Saturn opens the way to the occupied group of planets, and Venus closes the span. So a sense of purpose and/or responsibility leads our current experience, and it should lead to some form of knowledge or meetings with new people. Lead by attuning to your invisible helpers, and let them show you the essentials in every situation.
Saturn will lead and Venus will close for many months to come, except when the Moon alters the pattern. However, the atmosphere will shift soon, once Venus enters Cancer and we have a Locomotive pattern, with the empty span defined by Venus in Cancer and Jupiter in Scorpio.
Remember that through the end of this year, Uranus is teaching us to listen to our inner voice to find our place in the Cosmic Choir. The April New Moon in Aries put the focus squarely on that part of our spiritual training! With Uranus at the all-important last degree of Aries, continue to find your field of effective activity, and enjoy playing in your “duck pond,” once you find it.
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 Taurus energy wherever it falls in our chart. The Lunation at the end of Taurus puts the spotlight on what will become part of a mass awakening when Uranus transits this part of Taurus between 2023-2025. Mercury in early Taurus also has traversed the span where Uranus will occupy for many months, and by its trine to Saturn is a prelude to the return of Saturn trine Uranus in a week, 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 Taurus has Venus as the worldly ruler of the Lunation, and TransPluto as the spiritual ruler. Venus in Gemini is Airy and unstable, but Venus still is at home in Air signs due to its rulership of Libra, showing perception, interaction, and communication will rule the next 4 weeks. This will give more flexibility to the Taurus New Moon energies.
Venus in Gemini is ruled by Mercury in Taurus, putting them in “mutual reception.” This mutual reception, along with the other two “final dispositors,” rules all the other planets in the sky. As the planets move through Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer, we’re in a time of shifting dispositors. So while this Lunation has a heavy Mercury and Venus emphasis, we’re moving 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! Now that Uranus is leaving Aries, Saturn will no longer rule that revolutionary energy except the second week of November when Uranus takes its last encore in Aries and Mars is at the end of Saturn-ruled Aquarius.
So Venus and Mercury rule the Lunation, with Saturn ruling Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto in this chart. Neptune continues 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, Mercury and Venus bring it front and center, with Mercury making a biseptile to Pluto and Venus making a triseptile to Pluto. It’s definitely a huge fork in the road of destiny for all who are impacted by this “three note irrational chord.”
This means we can’t relax too much as we navigate the “forks in the road of destiny” these next four weeks. It gets triggered every few weeks by transits, and 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 2 Aries. Chiron has not been in this “face” of Aries since 1968-1970, 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.
Chiron is now squarely in the transition zone between late Pisces and early Aries! Chiron entered Aries for the first time in this era on April 17, 2018, marking a new period of Chironic healing energies. It goes SRX at 3 Aries in July, and makes a second visit to its current position at 2 Aries while retrograde in August and September 2018 before re-entering Pisces on September 25.
It then goes SD at 28 Pisces in December, re-enters Aries on February 18, 2019, and makes its next pass over this degree in March 2019. Once it re-enters Aries on February 18, it will remain in Aries until 2026 when it enters Taurus.
With Chiron at the end of Pisces and beginning of Aries in 2018, 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 find a sense of humor to become more objective in our emergent reality. This will help us get over fear so we may heal into our Higher Self by becoming some sort of Avatar or grounding energy for a collective need or yearning. As it will retrograde back into Pisces in a few months, keep your focus on how things fall apart at the end of long cycles even as new forms and views present themselves. We have had a long mentoring in learning closure rituals, and much that we’ve let go of created the space for the new life emerging.
We have been shown how to bless a lot as it flows down the time stream. We’ve been taught how to let go of dogmas, let go of beliefs that have us stuck in ambivalence or suffering, and we’ve heal by having compassion for ourselves and the suffering we share with the world. Now we heal by living in the NOW, embracing the new life with humor and a sense that we’re being led to identify with a larger Life and collective work.
As Chiron passed through late Pisces, it heralded what will be “dreamed into collective consciousness” by Neptune these next 7 years. This has brought and will bring echoes in the collective consciousness related to the various Uranus stations from 2008-2010, and specifically the Jupiter conjunctions to Uranus during 2010. Chiron mentored us and gave us mentoring techniques which 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. Now that it’s entered Aries, we are finding ways to mentor and be mentored in Aries. We are now healing into our higher Self by moving into direct action, securing our initial position in the new Life, leading to a vision of a larger role to play in the future as an inspiration to others.
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 17 Pisces, an “unknown zone” that Neptune hasn’t occupied since 1855-56. The themes of this degree involve participating in some collective “rebirth,” showing ourselves at our best in a larger call to renewal we hear with others.
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 minds have 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 first 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 conjuncted the North Node while making Grand Fire trines with Saturn and Uranus.
The NN degree is the 9th degree of Leo. The Sabian Symbol is “Glass Blowers.” In the original Jones class notes Dane Rudhyar published in The Astrology of Personality, he states this degree is about “the formative power of the Soul in moments of emotional intensity,” “controlled self-expression,” and “art as a spiritual fact.”
In The Astrological Mandala,, Rudhyar offers this degree involves “the need to involve one’s most spiritual and vital energies in the creative act if it is to produce significant and beautiful new forms.” He states these symbols have deep meaning, as “the breath represents the power of the spirit, animator of all living manifestations. Because the glass blower uses (the) breath to shape the glass vessels, (it) is a fitting symbol of how deeply any creative individual has to involve (their) total being in (their) creation.”
He continues this is about “using the fire of the spirit – transpersonal inspiration – or … the fire of deeply felt emotions.” He goes on to say that we really have to put “fire” into our creations, and this degree is the technique we use in any transformational work, which he calls “creative intensity.” He states that this symbol falls in the Span of Assurance, the Act of Stabilization, and the Scene of Combustion on the Emotional-Cultural level.
According to Dr. Jones, this degree is about our “inexhaustibly creative skill of hand and genius of self-application” and our drive to get things done that “justify our ideals.” He offers that this enables us to contribute “enduring form to things through a private manifestation of the divine breath, and a manipulation of the baser materials of life through a heat that represents (our) living enthusiasm.” He finishes with “the arts and crafts of a culture are both its first beginnings and its final testimony.”
He states they keyword is DEFTNESS. He says that when positive, this degree is “an effectiveness of personal participation in everyday existence.”
So the North Node, our line of greatest evolutionary development, indicates these next 4 weeks point to “the formative power of the Soul” to expression through our controlled breath, feelings, or enthusiasms. Some will find inspiration in how their “art of life” can take greater shape, or will find a new way to give life to their expression. Dr. Jones said some amazing things up there. Please re-read it, since it is truly a formula for moving matter in creative ways.
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 manifestations of Spirit! 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 9 Aquarius. The themes are letting the vision take wings and fly! This way to contribute on a social, emotional, or cultural level involves an “inexhaustibly fertile imagination or genius for self-representation” and the ability to rise to any situation in terms of “rewarding potentials.” “Spring to action” in defense of your loyalties within your culture, and renew your self-dedication to your ideals, giving expression to them in some way.
Summing Up
I’ll close today by telling you to use this incredibly stabilizing and potentially very enjoyable New Moon to shine the Light of Self-dedication to your ideals while enjoying your ride! Despite the dire predictions involving the Mars square Uranus, since both of those planets are extraordinarily well aspected by other planets, this promises a dynamic productive time once we find the right perspective, rhythm, and self-commitment.
This New Moon puts the focus squarely on Transfiguration. How have you transfigured in the past that brought you here? What have you done well that you can now let go of? What have you done well in the past that shows you who you have become? What did you once hope for or expect to happen that did, but in ways you hadn’t imagined, that showed you the Light of your Heart? By meditating on these questions for a few days or weeks, you will realize things about your process you never knew before. Enjoy the journey!
We have a host of extraordinary aspects I’ll discuss in part 2. We have productivity, we have specialization, we have harmony, we have what I term “frictional polishing,” and some will find their metaphoric “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”
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. Since the recent Eclipses, we’re now dropping old ideals and elements of the past, clearing the way to do new work with new people.
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. We saw a greater Selfhood, and had opportunities to expand our hearts, our Light, our Fire, and our inspiration. This New Moon is the Light of Confirmation on the Social-Cultural levels of life expressing itself through our transfigured deepened Self so we can go deeper into our experience of life, others, and the beauty of our existence.
Use this New Moon’s Taurus influence to find strength in gentle interactive situations, and see the power in the values of your culture, including your astrological, spiritual, or social culture as you’re living it. Take a new look at what you’ve achieved in the past, have faith in yourself for having done it, and trust in your ability to achieve things in the future, once you find “the breath and the fire” to express your vision.
See you soon with part 2, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks Robert, loaded with information and beauty, as an example: “the breath and the fire” to express your vision." Great!
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | May 14, 2018 at 07:18 PM