by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Gemini New Moon chart. This Lunation will help us integrate our personality so we can live a more Soul-ful life. This allows us to see “the world of the 5 senses and the mind as the playground of God and Soul,” eventually finding what we value and are willing to uphold in the future. With the Lunation septile Uranus and triseptile Pluto, destiny is on the move in all our lives these next 4 weeks!
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 outer planets in 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.
At this time the inner planets are now in Gemini and Cancer. This indicates we have emerged from the Bowl, and are in a Locomotive pattern now that planets are in Cancer leaving the empty span between them and Jupiter.
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 Sagittarius 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.
Since all the planets are between early Capricorn and very late Cancer, with only Jupiter enough degrees away from the other planets to determine the pattern, we’ve now moved from a Bowl pattern to a Locomotive Jones pattern. This will dominate the next 4 weeks.
The "Locomotive Pattern" and how it works
This type of spread, with all the planets occupying 2/3 of the signs with an empty third, creates an imbalance that leads to power if we can find the compensatory “weight” to make things move forward smoothly rather than rock side to side creating friction. Target what is needed, and provide compensatory energies accordingly.
As Marc Jones put it, “this type of horoscope reveals a balance of this sort in the life. A third part of things… consisting of a free span in experience, is set against a two-thirds part, embracing a related but limited span in experience…. The basis of the dynamic is found in the native’s resulting strong sense of a lack or a need, of a problem to be solved, a task to be achieved in the social and intellectual world around him.”
Dr. Jones states “The temperament reveals a self-driving individuality, an executive eccentricity that is not … unbalance but rather is power. It exhibits a dynamic and exceptionally practical capacity which is neither the broad universality of the Splash pattern, nor the special obsession with some particularly narrowed aspect of experience characteristic of the Bundle people.
He goes on to state “The Locomotive classification is … moved more by external factors in the environment than by aspects of its own character. The point of application for the powers of the self is shown … by the “leading planet,” or the one of the two in the empty trine which forms its aspect clockwise in the zodiac, irrespective of any distinction as “applying” or “separating.”
Jupiter is the leading planet in the Locomotive, and Venus the closing planet. This shows that feelings lead and feelings close all significant experiences at this time. Both Venus and Jupiter have some very heavy aspects to and from them, so expect quite a bit of friction these next few weeks, within a larger adventure of major decisions and changes to come. Still, with Mercury in Cancer tredecile Neptune, many will get unique flashes of insight that will help them know through their feelings what is to be done, understood, or communicated.
As an aside, Jupiter has at various points in time been the nozzle for recurring Bucket patterns during the past 5 years. It was the handle when in Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio, giving us a long run of learning how to focus many different types of energies through Jupiter. So whether it’s the handle of a Bowl, or the leading edge of a Locomotive, Jupiter continues to play a major part in how we enter or focus other planetary energies. It's why sometimes these past few years have seemed like a wild ride, an adventure, a quest, and more!
Saturn continues to lead the occupied outer planet span between Capricorn and Taurus. That indicates we’re all approaching our daily existence through the filter and lessons of Saturn. While things can be heavy with this placement, as I offer in my book on Saturn, it’s also the gateway to perfecting your personality and taking command of your life.
While it leads the occupied span and is again making a trine with Uranus, this time in Earth signs, look at your "response-ability," to see what you can do, or need to do, or need to learn to do, to anchor the new life that is opening. Now that it’s begun to make another trine, it’s a very favorable time to understanding how to innovate what is established, and how to stabilize the new.
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart the Lunation plus Mercury and Venus) is 4 planets in 37+ degrees, making that the major focus. As there are no planets in signs just before or after this span, this is the primary focus of activity. Of course, we also have Mars, Saturn, and Pluto in the 31+ degrees between early Capricorn and early Aquarius, so that too will continue to be associated with a lot of activity wherever it falls in our chart.
This month we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 7 signs, showing a widespread distribution with all the planets in Earth, Water, and Air signs, and none in Fire. This month we have Scorpio, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Taurus, Gemini, and Cancer 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 23 Gemini. 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 Gemini it has a sub-influence of Aquarius. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 23rd degree of Gemini is "three fledglings in a nest high in a tree.” In the original Jones class notes published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Conscious self-establishment in the soul and its threefold nature,” “innate self-confidence,” and “superiority of real being.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree symbolizes “the growth of spiritually creative processes in an at least relatively integrated mind.” He states birds symbolize spiritual forces, or “the higher and freer aspects of the mind,” and offers that this is the beginning of a process “where the creative power of the spirit can be received and assimilated” in “the upper chamber of the consciousness.”
He goes on to say “fecundated by the spirit and supported by a deeply rooted cultural and vitalistic tradition, (we) can gradually develop an integral personality.” On a final note, he says “this should lead to a deeper and more natural understanding of human existence,” where our aroused desires are “transmuted through harmonization with natural drives … and spontaneous responses attuned to the phases of natural evolution. Stressed here is creative integration.” He says this degree falls in the Span of Restlessness, Act of Differentiation, and Scene of Exteriorization on the Emotional-Social level.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of “potentiality caught and held through an initial and effective appreciation” shown through our ability for proving ourselves in some way. He states “the human soul is a consistent manifestation of its own special genius from the very beginning,” and we find ourselves in “the early and transcendental perspectives of immaturity.”
He offers us the keyword ELEVATION. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “is an unconditioned creativity exalted to the point of complete freedom from any immediate involvement.”
So the theme of this New Moon illuminates our ability to express the Light through forms of the elevation of the personality to the “upper chamber of consciousness,” where we find creativity and the ability to give and receive information that assists creative integration. This is the form of externalizing an idea with social worth, or cultural value, that shows how the Higher Mind is always assimilating the contents of the lower mind, and evolving its image of Self-perfection and self-expression as a consequence.
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. We have relatively few and they are very powerful, with the 7th harmonic dominating the landscape!
Frictional aspects include the Lunation sesquisquare Mars, Mercury opposed Saturn, Venus out of sign square to Uranus and sesquisquare Neptune, and Uranus semisquare Neptune. This gives us lots of annoying, aggravating, or irritating interactive circumstances, but almost no crises to speak of.
Those are literally all the frictional aspects. The waxing Uranus semisquare Neptune marks a crucial point of shift in the opening of their very long wave cycle. Uranus semisquare Neptune is an indicator of our unsettled times, and specifically impacts those with planets near the late degrees of the Cardinal signs and any of the middle degrees of the Mutable signs.
This very frictional energy has been with us a while and will continue to be with us a LONG time! That aspect anchors a very frictional configuration that is kicked into play whenever planets pass through late Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn, very early Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and mid-Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. It is especially powerful when a planet transits mid-Virgo and late Libra.
As the planets make various octile aspects to these Uranus and Neptune, those phase shifts generate 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.
Last Autumn, this “Rhombus Diamond” octile was created during the transits of the mid-Virgo and late Libra zones. Again, this is a “cutting, grinding, and polishing” type of frictional energy that can lead to awareness via the opposition(s) and the ability to act productively even in impossible conditions.
As I told you in the September 2017 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.
Now to the favorable aspects. There are so many important spiritual aspects going on that it’s a great time to make the most of what’s coming forth!
Inner planet favorable forming (and partile separating) aspects include the Lunation decile Venus, septile Uranus, and triseptile Pluto; Mercury is biquintile Mars, sextile Uranus, and tredecile Neptune; and Venus is biseptile Jupiter and triseptile Saturn.
Outer planet favorable aspects include Mars vigintile Pluto; Jupiter septile Saturn and bielftile Pluto; and Saturn trine Uranus and quintile Neptune. Again, partile separating aspects are still powerful, since they indicate the period immediately past which led to the NOW.
I spoke of the Lunation triseptile Pluto in part one, since this triggers the Grand Irrationality in a huge way. When we add Venus biseptile Jupiter and triseptile Saturn with Jupiter septile Saturn, you can see we have another whole pattern formed, as irrational as the triseptile to Pluto, but working more on a social or cultural level, since Jupiter and Saturn operate on that level.
Jupiter septile Saturn is a huge event, since it is part of the larger “seeds of future destiny” being formed by Jupiter at its closing phase with Saturn. Those most affected by this septile have planets and points near 13-17 Scorpio, 5-9 Capricorn, 26-30 Aquarius, 17-21 Aries, 8-12 Gemini, 29 Cancer-3 Leo, and 21-25 Virgo. If you have something near these points, you are definitely at a fork in the road of your larger social-cultural destiny!
So the Lunation septile Uranus and triseptile Pluto coupled with the Venus-Jupiter-Saturn configuration makes for a multi-level “forks in the road of destiny” period of time. The first involves the Moon, Sun, Uranus, and Pluto, and the second involves Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. As you can see, this will affect all signs either on a worldly or spiritual level, and will put choices and changes on our plates in these areas of our chart.
Taken together, the spiritual and specializing aspects seriously outweigh both the harmonious and the frictional. Of the specializing aspects, we have 2 deciles, 1 quintile, 1 biquintile, 1 tredecile, and 1 vigintile. Of the spiritual aspects, we have 3 septiles, 1 biseptile, 3 triseptiles, and 1 bielftile.
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 – The Quintile and Biquintile, and Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Part 2 – The Decile, Tredecile, 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 move back into a very skewed element balance. Of the traditional 10 planets, in this chart there are NO planets in Fire signs, 4 in Water, 3 in Earth, and 3 in Air. This decreases the Earth emphasis and boosts the Air quality. This indicates a very heavy emphasis on feelings and experiencing (Water), with a balance between practical grounding (Earth) and relatedness and communicating element (Air), with no inspiration and warmth (Fire).
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things will run very cool, with a lot of Earth to keep it all grounded and a lot of Water to keep it fluid. Still, remember that with so much Earth and Water, this combo makes either mud or bricks, depending on how you work with the material. So while some will find a sensitivity as they organize things so they further an “enlightened self-interest,” others will find themselves “stuck in the mud” of defensive calculations.
Because no planet immediately leads the Lunation, we have to go back to Uranus in Taurus to find the planet before the Lunation. That implies this will be a revolutionary time, with many lives electrified by Uranus at 2 Taurus. This will bring “flashes of awe” to those who are open to this transfiguring energy.
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. We are now in a time of shifting patterns, and this New Moon begins a brand new pattern thanks to Mercury’s recent Superior Conjunction.
As a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience at present involves leading with our decisions and actions, and then searching for new information, new understanding, or a new vision that will help us to get clear about something, followed by the need to reference our feelings and what we’re experiencing as a result of those insights, memories, understanding, or vision.
After we decide or act and then think, research, revision, rehearse, or review our understanding, we then need to go deep within to feel the implications of those ideas and visions. So get it in gear, and then go get new information or new ways of seeing things, and then feel your feelings and check in about how you’re experiencing those thoughts, or that information or vision you are sensing.
This pattern is great for getting things done, but needs to move beyond just finding the information that confirms its decisions, and learn to feel the implications of the vision or information. Once the experience of the vision or understand has occurred, then it’s safe to act in ways that further that understanding.
So for the next 4 weeks, do what you have to do with focused intention, and then find a vision and/or understanding. Once you know what you need to know, then take time to go deeply into your feelings about what was done that led to that understanding or vision. This pattern reminds us that though our lives are filled with actions and ideas, from time to time we need to stop and feel what we’ve done and check in with ourselves about what we’re experiencing.
Summing Up
2017’s Fire trine between Saturn in Sagittarius and Uranus in Aries stabilized unique forms of heart expression, love, or creativity. This helped launch the final phase of our “escape from a narrow destiny” begun in the Summer of 2016. While the Fire trine is done, now we have entered a new era of Saturn trine Uranus, this time from Saturn in Earthy Cap to Uranus in Earthy Taurus.
Much has been quickened since the Spring of 2017, and we have been eliminating all that would prevent our spiritual Self from demonstrating itself with ease. This is the sixth New Moon of the Saturn in Capricorn era, showing us “promises to keep, and miles to go before (we) sleep,” to quote the legendary Frost. We trained in 2017, and each will reap a promised blessing in 2018.
This is the ninth 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 5 months, many things promised by those events will become blessings, opportunities, and liberating factors in life. With Jupiter in Scorpio as our “lead-in” to experience, our approach to life will have to become laser focused and as efficient as we can be as we live a grand adventure in going deeper and experiencing a greater intensity in our lives!
We are still in the process of a long term major transformation period, so see this time as a good exercise period, like getting ready for an adventure that's just begun and still has a long way to go. We’re learning cooperative interactive group work, understanding a new law of our Life, and are getting beyond the known and familiar. This Lunation continues our review of our depth-journey into seeing the world and our sense impressions as the playground of our Higher Self and Truth. Jupiter in Scorpio continues to show us the magnetism of our Mystery, our “hero’s journey” and Quest for Self-Realization.
That planet continues to help us eliminate past patterns to clear the space for future patterns to emerge, and with Mars, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn, it’s time to be disciplined as we learn to express our Spiritual Maturity. This will stimulate the core wherever this occurs in our charts, so take a look at the divine “Economy of Energy” opportunities to express your skill.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn is now in its home sign of Capricorn for the first time since 1991, it is the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023. It was a ruler of the last two eclipses, making it an important factor for the next few years, and it will continue to play a different and powerful part in world affairs between March and November because Mars will be transiting those signs during that time. That makes Saturn a major force to be reckoned with in 2018!
Add the fact that it’s doing a very interesting dance with Uranus all of 2018, and now that they’re again forming a trine between May and October involving Capricorn and Taurus, it’s the next chapter in us learning how to blend past and future together and craft your future destiny. After the 2017 Fire trines between these planets stabilizing Electric Fire and distributive “Fire by Friction,” this will provide practical grounding to our efforts.
In 2017, we stabilized Electric Fire, harmonized 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, as well as every month when the Moon was in Leo. 2017 was the next step in understanding the movement of Fire in our lives, which will yield to Earth understanding in a few months!
This will help us organize and simplify our Saturn-Uranus “dance of individualization” in our charts. You can learn more about cooperating with Saturn and Uranus to create your future destiny by taking a look at the material in my book “Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend.” Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and in Capricorn, will help bring an “organized personal 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 how 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 2018 Robert Wilkinson
The Queen of Chinstraps over coffee and cake
with a few nameless Angels in cosmic debate
On the fundamental futures of Freewill and Fate
And a car park full of food trucks at Heaven's Gate...
Posted by: sue | June 13, 2018 at 09:52 AM
Thanks for two very deep and comprehensive post on this New Moon.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | June 13, 2018 at 03:32 PM
another great , make that, awesome article! i will read Saturn and review! thank you thank you thank you for all. om shanti
Posted by: Marci | June 19, 2018 at 10:30 AM