by Robert Wilkinson
This distributive, dramatic-expressive serendipitous Full Moon occurs at 4:56 am PDT, 7:56 am EDT, 12:56 pm BST on August 26, and falls at the 4th degree of Virgo and Pisces. As with all Full Moons, use the light you’ve been seeing and expressing since the New Moon, and give it form and focus through “reading the tea leaves” to navigate metaphoric “traffic jams” in relationships.
Continuing the theme that proceeds at each Full Moon as they move through each polarity, this one gives us the ability to bring to surface the spiritual power resulting from techniques of finding joy in fellowship and freedom from old social rigidities since the New Moon Solar Eclipse. By making adjustments, paying attention to details, and moving with the flow of going deeper into our feelings to know things we need to know, we will learn new interpersonal navigational skills.
Today’s Full Moon post will be an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In parts 2 and 3 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 transformational process in a balanced way we’ve been demonstrating since the New Moon Solar Eclipse in Leo to see how we’ve freed ourselves in a crucial way, or found a new heart expression or love. Here we begin to externalize many things after months of Mars retrograde slowing our process and even bringing things to a halt for a while.
This Full Moon brings forth lessons of learning to trust “the god within,” and go deeper into the transformational process. We have had about 9 weeks of withdrawing from old projections, so that many things we used to like are no longer near the top of our list. We’re now in the heart of many things shutting down in the area in our chart between 21 Cancer and 19 Leo, within the massive irrationality pervading our times thanks to The Grand Irrationality V.2 driven by Uranus biseptile Pluto. I’ll discuss that later in this series.
To remind you, we’re still receiving signs and signals about our ancestral (genetic) Wisdom, and new long term views based in the integrity we’ve embraced and the understanding we’ve received since the Cancer Solar Eclipse. The entire last half of 2018 is a period of phenomenal growth through embracing Heart power and demonstrating it through our understanding. We now stand on the threshold of a new adventure as Mars prepares to go direct.
Obviously, Mars its stationary direct degree at 29 Capricorn is a major player in this chart, since we’re done with 2 months of reworking many things, delaying other things, and setting some things in motion that will support our efforts beginning September. We’ve re-evaluated what we want to do and how we want to do it, took care of neglected things and “planned anew,” and had times of 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? We’re about to find out.
We’re now done examining what we’re imaging, and pulled back from old projections so we could see and hear clearly. Much of what we previously liked is now fading into the past, so get a new view, trust a new plan, and remember you’ve already done your rehearsal, and now it’s time to get it in gear!
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 create a hemispheric Octile frictional configuration with Venus square Pluto, promising a lot of grinding, especially in the realm of relationships.
The Moon is sesquisquare Venus, conjunct Neptune, and semisquare Pluto; Venus is square Pluto; and the Sun is opposed Neptune and semisquare Pluto. This creates major friction for those with planets or points near 2-7 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, as well as 17-22 of Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn. While it’s not a Rhombus due to only one opposition, the Light bookending Venus square Pluto is not an easy group of energies to deal with!
Interestingly, the last Full Moon was an Eclipse, and it too was semisquare and sesquisquare Venus. And like the last Full Moon, Mars is still square Uranus and semisquare Neptune, creating friction in the last degrees of the Cardinal signs and early degrees of the Fixed signs. This is a continuity of friction that is leading us to know we must act, and can no longer just wait for whatever.
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.
This long wave general agitation began in mid-May when Mars entered Aquarius and semisquared Neptune and squared Uranus. This generated major friction, and we’re now in the second pass of Mars making these aspects. The first pass of Mars through these octile aspects gave us our first of three experiences of that friction. The next phase has been happening the past few weeks, and the third phase will be in late September when it makes its last pass over this trigger point of octile energy.
The other octile generated aspects involve Mercury square Jupiter and sesquisquare Saturn, coupled with Jupiter semisquare Saturn. This creates another zone of friction in the middle degrees of the Fixed signs and the early degrees of the Cardinal signs. The difference is that the semisquares are internal friction, whereas sesquisquares are external friction. So it would seem no one is spared the pervasive friction of our times!
Jupiter Semisquare Saturn
We finished the important Jupiter septile Saturn about a month ago. We’re now in the end game of the long wave Jupiter-Saturn cycle, moving through the end of whatever began 18 years ago at their conjunction. Jupiter is now semisquare Saturn, dealing the death blow to the last cycle and a point of entry into the twilight of their long wave cycle.
The waning septiles are points of crisis of choice, where the “future destiny” of the cycle is shaped according to what is imprinted in the seed forms that will sprout in the new cycle. The first septile was October 2017 with Jupiter at 3 Scorpio and Saturn at 24, while the second septile earlier this Summer featured Jupiter in the Scene of Faith on the actional level for a few months.
This series of septiles indicate a 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 in July.
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 is a phenomenon we’ve been living within since 1993. Since then, we’ve been put through an irrational period that continues to this day. 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/or 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 the return of a long wave sextile at some point. However, it seems these past 26 years were preparing us for the current radical irrationality indicated by Uranus biseptile Pluto!
This particular period is even stranger than it’s been, since it combines Uranus biseptile Pluto with Uranus’ 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. I term this phase The Grand Irrationality V.2!
We’re now slowly moving out of that Neptune-involved configuration, and are moving 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 into Autumn and Winter, and will again lessen in strength in the late Winter into the Spring and Summer. (Right now they’re 56d 21m 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!” That prophesy has certainly played out in the news with trumpets blaring, thanks to other transits triggering these 7th harmonic non-rational energies.
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 current 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 has had some abrupt transformational experiences this Summer, with more to come over the next few weeks!
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 Mercury at 15 Leo through Venus at 19 Libra spans 63+ degrees. This span will be the focus of broad activity in our charts. There are no other clusters near this span, but there is a very active zone between Saturn at 3 Capricorn and Mars at 29+ Capricorn, with 3 planets in that 25+ 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 Leo, Virgo, and Libra, with the Moon inside the outer planet span at 4 Pisces.
With Saturn in Capricorn and Mars still retrograde in Capricorn, we have 5 planets disposited by Saturn. I’ll discuss the ruling dispositors in another article. We’re also done with a time when no planet led the Sun, since now that Mercury went retrograde, it again immediately leads the Sun, showing we will all use Mercury to “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 still 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 thirteenth 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 Leo coming to a Full Moon illumination through the current Sun in Virgo and Moon in Pisces.
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 19 Leo. You can learn more about that New Moon Solar Eclipse in Leo by going to The Partial Solar Eclipse of August 2018 at 19 Leo Pt. 1 – Who Does It Affect and For How Long?, and The Partial Solar Eclipse of August 2018 at 19 Leo Pt. 2 – What’s Happening in August-September 2018 (and through Feb 2022!), and The August 2018 Partial Solar Eclipse New Moon at 19 Leo Pt. 3 – Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What it All Means.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn is 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 since it is the final dispositor of the Moon. It will continue to play a different and powerful part in world affairs through 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 we’ve had numerous long term events featuring Saturn in Capricorn trine Uranus in Taurus, we’ve begun the next chapter in learning how to blend past and future together to craft our future destiny in conscious ways. Their 2017 Fire trines stabilized Electric Fire and distributive “Fire by Friction,” which led naturally to the Earth trine helping us ground our efforts in practical ways.
We are all learning to organize and simplify our Saturn-Uranus “dance of individualization” in our lives. If you haven’t already, I cover a lot of their dance guiding us to create our destiny in conscious individualized ways in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and in Capricorn, teaches us how to construct an “organized personal structure” to the Uranian energies making our spiritual life come alive.
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.
The second part of the book examines how Saturn cycles mark major points of choice and change throughout life, and what we can expect when Saturn makes conjunctions, squares, and oppositions to our planets and Ascendant. There are tables assisting the reader to know when Saturn was in each sign, so even those with little or no understanding of astrology can track the timing on their major life changes. There is an entire chapter dedicated to the Saturn Return, perhaps the most important times in life when our decisions profoundly shape our future.
Part two closes with a chapter on one of the most crucial factors in our personal unfoldment: how the progressed Moon and transiting Saturn cycles track each other throughout life and relate to our emotional growth, and a chapter on a global phenomenon happening since 2003 impacting everyone on Earth. The Epilogue offers a few insights about living “the spiritual life,” and opens dimensions of higher and broader possibilities of personal evolution, regardless of which path to Truth we may be on.
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.
On A Final Note
See you in the near future with parts two and three on this Full Moon that will help us to unique gifts and interactions despite tremendous friction and pressure. This one takes us deeper into our “god within,” and many will find themselves at the end of a search and the beginning of a great quest!
This Full Moon will help us become perfectly clear about what works and what doesn’t, what we need to do quickly to move into new effective realms of activity, and tunes us into the larger “feeling field” in which we all live, even when we’re unaware of the soupy quality of the collective unconscious. There’s a lot of “cutting, grinding, and polishing” energies in the air at present, and any sense of unfairness, inequality, or exaggerated vanities will be obvious for all to see.
Beware of dishonest comparisons, and false equivalents. The dysfunction of Venus in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn is self-justifying superficial statements, falsely juxtaposing things that have no relationship to each other, and dishonest people who may be preventing certain natural results from taking their course. The problems and solutions can be found in Aries and Cancer energies, for good or bad. Be direct, stay on point, focus on the heart of the matter, and ignore the rationalizations and superficial distractions.
The friction will be obvious, and there are great creative potentials available if we simply put on the show, doing what we must, with style, enthusiasm, artistry, and love. Go deep, contact “the god within,” and let your vision lead to actions that will transform your life experience by recalibrating your social perspectives.
I’ll see you soon when we’ll discuss Sabian Symbols, aspects, and other important chart factors.
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
When humanity hand God their beautiful jewel...She said...It's very nice...but where's the rest of it?
Posted by: sue | August 24, 2018 at 08:52 AM
Hi Robert,
If this is a Pisces Full Moon, why do you refer to it as the Virgo / Pisces full moon and look to 4 Virgo for the Sabian symbol?
Just curious - thank you!
JM.
Posted by: JM. | August 26, 2018 at 02:48 AM
Hi JM - Because a Full Moon is a function of an opposition between the Sun and Moon. A Full Moon has no meaning other than the relationship of the Moon to the Sun, since the Moon reflects the light of the Sun. For example, we don't call a Full Moon the point when the Moon opposes the New Moon point; it's when the transiting Moon opposes the transiting Sun from a sign axis they both occupy. In this instance the Moon in Pisces reflects the Light of the Sun in Virgo. The Moon point has no intrinsic meaning apart from its opposition to the Sun. So in a Full Moon, the Light of a degree/sign expresses itself through the reflected light of the opposite degree/sign. That's why I include both.
Posted by: Robert | August 26, 2018 at 05:57 AM
Thank you Robert.
I really enjoyed your talk on Michele's show - you have an excellent radio personality....maybe your own show soon?
JM. x
Posted by: JM | August 27, 2018 at 12:11 AM