by Robert Wilkinson
This Lunar Eclipse will be extraordinarily dynamic, with tremendous friction helping us integrate our personalities by shedding old desires and stuck feelings. This will help us shed magnetism we don’t want, and some will find suppressed “healing powers” that will be used in the future once the retrogrades are over. This one launches the rehearsal of a grand adventure, and some will find themselves in states of “lightness of Being.”
This stabilizing, synthesizing, creative Full Moon Lunar Eclipse occurs at 1:20 pm PDT, 9:20 pm BST on July 27, and falls at the 5th degree of Leo and Aquarius. Continuing the theme that proceeds at each Full Moon as they move through each polarity, this one gives us the ability to use the clarity we’ve been seeing and expressing since the New Moon, and take the light of a greater vision of our Spiritual Way, giving it form and focus through a more natural and heart-felt expression.
Today’s Full Moon post will be an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In parts 3 and 4 we’ll cover the Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
An Overview
Continuing the theme that proceeds at each Full Moon as they move through each polarity, this one gives us the ability to use the integrity we’re glimpsed or expressed since the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Cancer to see how we’ve fulfilled at least one life ambition or object of a life quest. This Eclipse puts us through a time of friction so we may re-evaluate people and things in our lives, and give our integrity form and focus through seeing ways to shed old “skins of personality.”
This Full Moon brings forth Ancestral (genetic) Wisdom, new long term views based in the understanding we’ve received since touching our integrity during the time since the last Solar Eclipse. This marks the beginning of 6 months of phenomenal growth through embracing Heart power and demonstrating it through our understanding. We stand on the threshold of a new adventure, if we can a) appreciate being educated through direct action, but also b) be patient and organized enough to know to wait for the right time in Autumn to launch.
This Eclipse will help many to heal old inner aggravations and wounds, as well as blocks to their effective responses in life. This encourages us to let go, see the big picture, and embrace our healing by participating in our own “mystery ritual.” The increase in pressure may feel conflicted, but all we have to do is “show what we know,” getting around and behind inhibitions and resistances residing in ours or another’s subconscious mind.
Obviously, Mars stationary retrograde is a major player in this chart, so we’re in a time to re-evaluate what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, taking care of neglected things or “planning anew,” and asking ourselves what we really want, don’t want, like, and don’t like. What is worth our effort? Could something be done differently that will make it run more smoothly in the future?
Flexibility and examining our imagination to see if we really care about what we’re doing or how we’re doing it. What are you imaging forth? Time to pull back from the old projections and learn to see and hear clearly. This is a time when much of what we previously liked is now fading into the past, so get a new view, get a new plan, get behind your inhibitions, and don’t get frustrated at the temporarily slowed pace, since things will speed up from here now that the Sun opposition Mars is over.
This is an exceptionally dynamic Total Eclipse for those who have hidden “healing powers,” since the Moon in partile separating conjunction with Mars puts the focus on the revelation of that which can heal us or others, or integrate things so they work as they should. This is another Eclipse where Saturn, our “Spiritual Master and Spiritual Friend” will be front and center on the stage of life these next 6 months, since it rules the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Pluto in this chart.
Of course, we continue to be in a very important time of a spiritual “separation of the wheat from the chaff,” with the entire world reeling at the current chaos associated with the recent “fork in the road of destiny” precipitated by the now separating Jupiter septile Saturn coupled with the on-going Uranus biseptile Pluto, creating a different kind of “Grand Irrationality” than the one created by Neptune since 1992. Venus will assist us in getting to the heart of any Venusian matter via the trine to Pluto, and those who use it well will find themselves in a very high state, even ecstatic at times, due to seeing which way “the winds of destiny” are blowing.
The Rhombus
As Uranus is still semisquare Neptune, anchoring the off-again, on-again friction Rhombus Diamond configuration, we’ll have to continue to deal with this “cutting, grinding, and polishing” quality each time the Moon moves through the middle of the mutable signs and the end of the cardinal and beginning of the fixed signs. In this chart the Sun and Moon are square Uranus, creating a Fixed T-square, but make no frictional aspects to Neptune.
However, Venus makes a semisquare to the Sun, is sesquisquared by the Moon, and separates from its opposition to Neptune. So the Rhombus was in play during the hours before the Eclipse, but the Eclipse does not make a perfect Octile-driven Rhombus Diamond.
Therefore, besides the powerful Fixed T-square, this Eclipse has two other octile-driven configurations! One is the Eclipse semisquare and sesquisquare Venus, throwing the void into 18-22 Pisces, and the other is Mars square Uranus and semisquare Neptune, creating friction near 1-4 degrees of the Fixed signs, and the middle degrees of the Mutable signs. As you can see, these are very close, and together will create a LOT of friction for anyone with planets or points in the first 7 degrees of the Fixed Signs and 16-22 of the Mutable signs!
We had a perfect complete Diamond several times last year when planets transited mid-Virgo and late Libra at the same time, and will happen again this September when all four points will be occupied by 4 planets making two oppositions, two semisquares, and two sesquisquares to other planets in the diamond. And as long as Mars squares Uranus, and semisquares Neptune, a Rhombus will be created by the simultaneous occupancy of early Leo and mid-Virgo, as well as early Scorpio and mid-Virgo.
Get used to this agitation in the general atmosphere, since we had planets conjunct Uranus while semisquaring Neptune in April and May, and then began this long wave friction in mid-May when Mars entered Aquarius and semisquared Neptune and squared Uranus. This generated major friction, and now we get the second pass of Mars making these aspects! The difference is that the semisquares are internal friction, whereas sesquisquares are external friction.
The first pass of Mars through these octile aspects gave us our first of three experiences of that friction. The next phase is happening now, and the third phase will be in late September when it makes its last pass over this trigger point of octile energy.
Jupiter Septile Saturn
We have just finished the important Jupiter septile Saturn, marking the end of a time of decisions about which Jupiter and Saturn energies we will carry into the twilight of their long wave cycle. We had the first septile in late October 2017 with Jupiter at 3 Scorpio and Saturn at 24, both very important points. That "fork in the road of destiny" involved a more expansive connection with life.
The recent second septile featured Jupiter in the Scene of Faith on the actional level for a few months. That was the second in the sequence during a period in time when the Jupiter-Saturn cycle which began with their May 2000 conjunction at 23 Taurus is beginning to disintegrate.
This series of septiles indicate another huge turning point of choice and change for humanity determining future karmas big and small. We finished the third and final “fork in the road of destiny” at the just completed final septile that was exact when Jupiter went stationary direct at 14 Scorpio.
Any time an outer planet hits one of its stations, we collectively experience a type of “sea change,” or a swirl that moves us in familiar but different directions than before. At this Eclipse, Jupiter is still on its stationary direct degree in the individual, mental, and spiritual level of the Scene of Communion, showing communication is essential in our journey during this season of "nonrational" options.
This is a time when the seeds of what will commence at the Great Mutation of 2020 are beginning to take shape. 2020 features Saturn conjunct Pluto at 23 Capricorn, followed by Jupiter’s two conjunctions with Pluto at 25 Capricorn that Spring and Summer, culminating in the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at 1 Aquarius in December. I’ll write more about that very important period in coming months.
Is the Grand Irrationality A Factor in this Full Moon?
The Grand Irrationality, along with the other outer planet non-rational configurations that happen off and on throughout the year, indicate that we’ve been living in an era of very heavy decisions determining the future destiny of humanity since 1993. To refresh you, the Grand Irrationality is a long wave configuration set into motion every time a planet makes a conjunction, septile, biseptile, or triseptile to Neptune and Pluto. Septile series aspects show us points in time when our future destiny is precipitated by critical choices made in the present.
At this point in the year, Neptune is no longer septile Pluto, and even when they are at their closest in Winter, they no longer make an exact septile, showing that phase of the Grand Irrationality is now done. However, it seems these past 26 years were preparing us for the current radical irrationality indicated by Uranus biseptile Pluto!
That is what makes this particular period stranger than it’s been, combining Uranus biseptile Pluto with its semisquare to Neptune. So it’s not exactly the Grand Irrationality as we’ve known it, but it’s still a “never-ending revolution” now that the Cosmic Awakener has hit its “fork in the road of destiny” with the Lord of Transformation.
We’re now slowly moving out of that Neptune-involved configuration, and are beginning to move into a period when Neptune and Pluto are beginning to form a long term sextile, as they were for most of the last half of the 20th century. At this time, the Grand Irrationality gains strength as we move through Autumn and into Winter, and will again lessen in strength in the late Winter into the Spring and Summer. (Right now they’re 56d 27m apart, and by early August will be 56d 39m degrees apart, closer to a sextile than a septile.)
As I’ve explained in other articles, that means that in the Autumn and Winter (in the Northern Hemisphere) they operate as a simultaneous “pulse,” since they’re both aspected near the same time. But in the Spring and Summer we experience it as a rolling influence, with first Pluto aspected, and then Neptune at some time after that, depending on which planet is doing the aspect to these planets.
Because this configuration involves Neptune and Pluto, the outermost spiritual planets, they show a long wave evolutionary crisis for the entire human race. Since 1993, at one point or another, everyone on Earth has experienced a nonstop energy of having to choose, at the bottom of our beings, the path to evolution or devolution, progress or regress, love or fear, joy or control. It’s why things have been so weird, irrational, and hard-edged.
More on Uranus Biseptile Pluto
As I offered back in May when Uranus first entered Taurus, “… they will soon make a biseptile, guaranteed to be a very unstable and irrational time!” This began at the end of June 2018 with Uranus 101+ degrees from Pluto, lasting through October when the orb gets too large. We then enjoy a brief return to the trielftile between December 2018 and April 2019. The biseptile comes roaring back between May and July, and again October 2019 through December 2019.
This is the first biseptile in the larger Uranus/Pluto cycle that began at their conjunctions in the mid-1960s. The waxing septile occurred 1989-1991, so this is the next point in that larger “Pulse of Destiny.” The hot zones, measured from the Uranus biseptile Pluto, are around 18-22 Capricorn, 10-14 Pisces, 1-5 Taurus, 22-26 Gemini, 13-17 Leo, 4-8 Libra, and 26-30 Scorpio. If you have anything near these zones, your life will have some abrupt transformational experiences this Summer!
As this aspect was in play during the Solstice, and will still be in play in the coming September Equinox chart, it’s no wonder that we’ve had radical events, and continue to have radical events, now and into the future! This is a major fork in the road for the entire world, and things may become extraordinarily irrational at times.
As I told you at the Solstice, if things don’t make sense, they don’t have to. The only thing that matters is to know how to focus and not get distracted by the craziness in the atmosphere. Sometimes, when we keep our heads when all around us are losing theirs, we come out on the other side looking and feeling good!
Planetary Distribution
In this Full Moon, the span occupied by the inner planets (in this chart the Sun at 5 Leo through Venus at 20 Virgo spans 44+ degrees. This span will be most active in our charts. There are no other clusters near this span, but there is a very active zone between Saturn at 4 Capricorn and the Moon at 5 Aquarius, with 4 planets in that 30+ degree span, making it also very active. We hit maximum compression last March, with all planets between Jupiter at 24 Scorpio and Uranus at 27 Aries, making a very powerful triseptile between the bookends.
At this time we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 7 signs, in an uneven widespread distribution. Currently, the outer planet occupied span begins with Jupiter in Scorpio, then moves through Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, Neptune in Pisces, and Uranus in Taurus, with the inner planets now occupying Aquarius, Leo, and Virgo with the Moon inside the outer planet span at 5 Aquarius.
With Saturn in Capricorn and Mars in Aquarius, we continue a stable pattern of dispositors. I’ll discuss the ruling dispositors in another article. The bigger shift is that at this time, no planet immediately leads the Sun, with Uranus a distant 92+ degrees. So I suppose this would indicate that after the “gestation after the electrical storm” indicated by Uranus, we would experience a gap in time before we’d “see the light” of the Illumination available at this time.
We’ve now moved into a time period of shifting Jones pattern. The patterns change mainly due to the position of the Moon, and at this Full Moon, we’re back in a “Splay” pattern, indicated by the Earth trines.
So What is a “Splay Pattern” and how does it work?
Due to the way the planets are irregularly spread out among the signs, this type of spread which features all the planets in odd angles to each other with differing distributions among the signs, creates a “Splay” Jones Pattern. As Marc Jones put it, “the arrangement is neither even nor symmetrical,” revealing “strong and sharp aggregations of the planets at irregular points.”
Dr. Jones states “This suggests highly individual or purposeful emphases in the life, where the temperament juts out into experiences according to its own very special tastes.” This pattern “makes its own anchorage in existence,” and has a quality of “rugged resistance to pigeonholing, either in the near conventional compartments of nature, or in the idea-pockets of associates.”
He goes on to state this pattern gives a “persistent emphasis on individuality,” and the “spokelike emphases of the planetary groupings” are random, but have a “tripod” footing and approach to life circumstances. He says this pattern “reveals a very intensive personality who cannot be limited to any single steady point of application.” This temperament is “particular and impersonal in its interests,” rather than “universal-impersonal” or “particular-personal.”
This implies that affairs will be diversely spread out, some will not mesh well with others, and there will be a “hub and spoke" quality to what happens these next 4 weeks. This spread shows a wide diversity of things going on that promotes individuality.
Is the Sun Following the Moon, or the Moon Following the Sun?
There are two patterns; one is when the Full Moon Sun is the same sign as the previous New Moon Sun, and the other is when the Full Moon Sun is in the next sign from the Sun in the previous New Moon. We had the Sun in the same sign in both the New Moon and Full Moon between September 2013 and September 2014. We then changed pattern, and between October 2014 and May 2016 we had a “reversed pattern” of the Sun of the Full Moon occupying the sign after the New Moon Sun.
We then went back to the “natural” order between June 2016 and the late July 2017 New Moon in Leo, when the Full Moon Sun fell in the same sign as the Sun of the previous New Moon. This is the twelfth Full Moon since then where we again are in a “reversed pattern” of the Sun of the Full Moon occupying the sign after the New Moon Sun. So we’re now in “the other” New Moon/Full Moon sign expression.
We finished the period of the “natural” order of Lunation Suns at the August 2017 Solar Eclipse in late Leo and began this other sequence, since that New Moon Sun was in Leo, but the subsequent Full Moon Sun was in Virgo. Since the New Moon offers us seeds in the first half of the month’s lunar cycle, and fulfillment in the second half, we now are in a sequence with the “Seed Light” of Cancer coming to a Full Moon illumination through the current Sun in Leo and Moon in Aquarius.
Because the New Moon preceding the Full Moon always represents the seed forms that are brought to surface at and after the Full Moon, this begins the fulfillment of the theme of the recent New Moon at 21 Cancer. You can learn more about that New Moon Solar Eclipse in Cancer by going to The Partial Solar Eclipse of July 2018 at 21 Cancer – Who Does It Affect and For How Long?, and The Partial Solar Eclipse New Moon at 21 Cancer Pt. 2 – What’s Happening in July-August 2018 (and through 2020!), and The July 2018 Partial Solar Eclipse New Moon at 21 Cancer Pt. 3 – Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What it All Means.
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. Because of the Moon in this Lunation, Saturn is again a major player in the 2018 Eclipses!
It was the 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 2018 because Mars is transiting Capricorn and Aquarius during this 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 are back in a trine between May and October involving Capricorn and Taurus, we’ve begun the next chapter in us learning how to blend past and future together and craft our 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.
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. Even those with little or no understanding of astrology will benefit from understanding why you had to make certain choices at crucial times that shaped your life in profound ways.
Each time you read any section of this book you will find new insights about your power to steer your personal evolution. You will understand how to throw off all the attitudes and memories which have held you back from finding and living the life and purpose. Through your journey of self-discovery, you can find ways to live your life on your own terms, and fulfill your purpose for being alive as an Eternal having human experiences!
If you’ve haven’t already gotten your copy, you can go to the Createspace page and this should be all you need to order your copy. It’s also available on Amazon and as an ebook on Kindle, so if that’s more to your liking, go for it! I’ve been told people who live outside the US can get their copy much faster by going through Amazon. If you would, whether you’ve gotten the ebook or the paperback, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the more of a boost they give it.
On A Final Note
See you in the near future with parts three and four on this transformational Eclipse that will dislodge a lot of people and things from their current momentum or inertia. This one will shut down all that would prevent our Heart power from expressing our natural ancestral wisdom. Many will find themselves in spaces, physical and psychological, that are unfamiliar. Use those times to see how cohesive your life is, and who your allies are.
This Full Moon will require some flexibility as we deal with the integrative potential of the Fixed T-square, forcing us to go deeper to clean out whatever we no longer need in our subconscious mind or desire body. Concentrate on the inner, and don’t spend much time worrying about the outer! Things are cooking, and this is the time to prepare.
The friction will be obvious, and there are great creative potentials available if we learn to appreciate others’ values and ways of creative expression. And yes, remember that we can do a lot of healing very quickly these next 6 months if we just get behind our own inhibitions and self-defeating attitudes and behaviors.
I’ll see you soon when we’ll discuss Sabian Symbols, aspects, and other important chart factors.
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
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