by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Virgo New Moon chart. This Lunation will lead us through radical and dynamic transformations which will open the doors to life-changing adventures for many! Because last month’s Leo Solar Eclipse had EIGHT powerful septile-series aspects in play, destiny has been on the move in all our lives these past 4 weeks and will continue for the next 3+ years!
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 Taurus. 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.
Three months ago we had an open trine span between Cancer and Scorpio, creating a Locomotive pattern. The past 2 months had the Sun and Mercury in Leo and Venus in Virgo and Libra, augmenting and anticipating the Jupiter openings that happen when planets conjunct Jupiter each year. Since the inner planets continue to occupy the empty half outside the outer planets, now that Mercury is in early Virgo, we’re back in a combination of “Splay” and “Locomotive” Jones patterns, anchored by Earth signs opening and closing the pattern.
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.
Because all the planets are currently within 2/3 of the sky, with an open “trine” third, this chart would ordinarily be a “Locomotive” Jones pattern. However, since all the planets are spread out at irregular angles, with gaps a semisquare wide between all the clusters, it’s also clearly a “Splay” Jones pattern. The blend of these two patterns will dominate the next 4 weeks. I’ll give you the info on the Splay first, and the Locomotive after it.
So What is a “Splay Pattern” and how does it work?
This chart is spread out in odd angles and clusters, since the 10 planets occupy 5 signs that are fairly widely separated around the zodiacal wheel. As the distribution is uneven, with clusters in three different zones a semisquare from each other, it is a very skewed. 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 promote individuality. As we have had Splay patterns off and on over the past few months, we’ve been learning how to be grounded and organized despite the diverse pushes and pulls.
So What is a “Locomotive Pattern” and how does it work?
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.”
Mercury in Virgo is the leading planet in the Locomotive. Find appropriate Virgo ways to enter into experience with an eye to precision, details, ordered plans, and diligent attentiveness based in a sense of humility and willingness to adjust as needed. Virgo is Divine Discrimination, Viveka, which can lead us from the unreal to the Real through some sort of spiritual service.
Mercury is the Guide of Souls. When the Guide of Souls is in His home sign, he rules the plan, the procedure, and the execution of the work, adjusting as needed. Be diligent, as the entry to experience requires attention and the willingness to get to work.
The closing planet is Uranus, so what begins with Mercury ends with the synthesizing revolutionizing energy that throws us forward into our Divine Individuality. Because the leading and closing edge of the Locomotive are both in Earth signs, keep opening to being part of a team executing a larger plan since it will result in a simple, grounded unique practicality and enjoyment of life.
The Locomotive keeps things out of balance. Mercury is the guide to find ways of initiating activity that must be accompanied by a compensatory “weight” to keep things moving forward rather than sideways. The more we regard innovations as an adventure in working with imbalances through skillfully introducing Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, or Leo energies into skewed situations, the easier it will be to use the pattern’s power to move things forward.
The Outer Planets Anchor the Pattern of Half the Sky
In the past 5 years, Jupiter has at various times been the nozzle or handle for recurring Bucket patterns, focusing energies through Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio. When we haven’t had Bucket patterns, Jupiter has also been the leading edge of both Bowl and Locomotive configurations when no planets have occupied Leo, Virgo, and Libra.
Now it’s moving closer to the occupied span involving Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus. As it will still lead the outer planet occupied span through December 2020, 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, and is currently the ruler of Venus, Mars Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto as well as itself. That indicates in all areas ruled by these planets, if we want any of them to operate differently, we must use Saturn. Want to “move Mars?” Use Saturn. Going through a Plutonic experience? Use good Saturn skills you’ve developed, and you’ll do fine. While things can be heavy with this placement, as I offer in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, it’s also the gateway to perfecting your personality and taking command of your life.
While it continues to make its trine with Uranus in Earth, 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. We are learning to innovate and revolutionize structures and rules, while organizing and stabilizing our genius or unique gifts using practical methods.
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart the Lunation plus Mercury) is 3 planets in 10+ degrees, making that the major focus. We also have Venus and Jupiter within 18+ degrees, and Mars, Saturn, and Pluto in the 27+ degrees between early and late Capricorn, 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 5 signs, showing a skewed distribution with all planets in Earth and Water signs! There are no planets in Fire or Air signs at the current time. This month we have Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces, and Taurus 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 17 Virgo, the sign following Leo, where we learn “to rule is to serve.” It is said that the second third (decan) of any sign deals with the emotional, social, and cultural levels of life, and being the second decan of Virgo it has a sub-influence of Capricorn. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 17th degree of Virgo is "A volcano in eruption.” In the original Jones class notes from The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Irresistible outbursting of pent-up impulses, creatively or regeneratively,” “breaking up of complexes,” and “will to wholeness.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes “the explosive energy of long-repressed contents of the subconscious.” He states this is about “the dramatic release of energies” which have been repressed by the ego, leading to a catharsis. He goes on to say this is about a “form of purification by fire,” releasing the “inner pressure of the karmic past” in an explosion!
He speaks of “the objective confrontation with an image of the karmic past is replaced by a subjective irruption of repressed memories,” where “everything must be released from the psyche seeking to attain the transfigured state.” He says this degree falls in the Span of Experimentation, Act of Stabilization, and Scene of Education on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of the “constant expansion of self and nature” which fundamentally involves “physical force and the blind urge of life to continue to be.” He goes on to state that “implicit in the wonder and destructiveness is (our) ease of self-recovery in the critical phases of (our) experience, often aided by the sheer violence with which (we) act to meet some major issue.”
He says the “irresistible outbursts may be merely the total mobilization of (our) deeper potentials.” He offers us the keyword EXPLOSION. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “is creative passion as a rejection of superficiality and a genuine ordering of self.”
So the theme of this New Moon turns on the Light of some sort of dramatic release of energy associated with a purification, where our “will to wholeness” breaks up old complexes. This is the light of releasing energy in a full mobilization of some sort of “reordering of self.”
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 previous parts, this Eclipse features a lot of frictional and harmonious aspects. There are a bunch, some powerful, some spiritual, some hard, some specializing, with the 5th, 6th, and 8th harmonic dominating the landscape!
Forming (and closely partile separating) frictional aspects include the Lunation semisquare Venus, sextile Jupiter, sesquisquare Uranus, opposed Neptune, and trine Pluto; Mercury is septile Venus, biquintile Mars, quintile Jupiter, opposed Neptune, and quadraelftile Pluto; Venus is square Mars (out of sign), vigintile Jupiter, sextile Saturn, opposed Uranus, sesquisquare Neptune, and binovile Pluto; Mars is quintile Jupiter, square Uranus (oos), and semisquare Neptune; Jupiter is semisquare Saturn, pentelftile Uranus, and sextile Pluto; Saturn is trine Uranus and quintile Neptune; and Uranus is semisquare Neptune and biseptile Pluto.
As I gave you in part 1, taken together these give us a lot of friction and urgent internal and external challenges, but also gifts, special circumstances, and a LOT of productivity and grounded practical activity. Mercury septile Venus coupled with Uranus biseptile Pluto continues to accompany a time when many things won’t make any sense, but will serve to throw us all into our future destiny, sometimes in abrupt or even rude circumstances.
Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology
So after a time of very few oppositions at New Moons, we now have FOUR oppositions across two “Axes of Awareness,” showing where “the Tensions of Opposites” will play out in our charts these next few weeks. As we have a Grand Earth Trine involving Saturn, Uranus, and TransPluto with Venus in early Scorpio giving us 4 points of a 6 pointed Grand Sextile, as well as the Lunation, Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune creating the same thing in the middle parts of the Earth and Water signs, all who have Earth and Water planets in their charts will be greatly benefited by the events of the next few weeks.
Besides these incredibly favorable “4 note chords” of productivity, understanding, and stability, we also have 3 points of a 5 pointed Star, also known as a Great Quintile. We see Mercury biquintile Mars and quintile Jupiter, with Mars quintile Jupiter. That opens up zones of high specialization, gifts, and unique circumstances and “quintessential” experiences around 5-9 Virgo, 17-21 Scorpio, 29 Capricorn-3 Aquarius, 11-15 Aries, and 23-27 Gemini. If one of these zones is active in your chart, gifts are on the way!
The Lunation is also semisquare Venus and sesquisquare Uranus. Venus is opposed Uranus and sesquisquare Neptune, and as always Uranus is semisquare Neptune. This creates the octile-driven “Rhombus Diamond” configuration with intense “cutting, grinding, and polishing” energies wherever it impacts our charts.
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 that Mars is direct, it’s again in close forming square with Uranus. This square has been in play since May, and primarily affects everyone born the last 10 days of April, July, October, and January. As this will last through the end of September, grow through cultivating positive Leo and Scorpio energies.
Explaining Harmonics
Taking a look at the spiritual and specializing aspects, while they aren’t in great number, they are strong. Of the specializing aspects, we have 1 vigintile, 3 quintiles and 1 biquintile. Of the spiritual aspects, we have 1 septile, 1 biseptile, 1 binovile, 1 quadraelftile, and 1 pentelftile.
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 and Who’s Leading the Sun
This month we move back into an EXTREMELY skewed element balance. Of the traditional 10 planets, in this chart there are 3 planets in Water (feelings and experiencing), 7 in Earth (practical grounding), and none in Fire (inspiration and warmth) or Air (relatedness and communicating). This is an extremely rare condition which will ground a lot in an intense feeling field.
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things will be completely out of balance, with twice as much “cool” as hot, and the Water ruled by Earth keeps it all practical. 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..
We finally have a planet leading the Sun again! Yes, thanks to Mercury retrograde, that planet again leads the Sun until its next Superior Conjunction, so Mercury “leads the Light.” Use the precision of Mercury in Virgo to execute the vision of the future we glimpsed during its recent retrograde.
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. This New Moon Eclipse continues the pattern begun at the last New Moon.
As a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience at present involves leading with our thinking, followed by the need to make decisions or act on what we’ve seen or understood, and then getting in touch with our feelings, or how and what we’re experiencing based in acting on the vision or understanding.
So lead with your vision, understanding, and what’s being communicated into decisions and actions. Then after the decision or action, sit with the feelings and experience them, bringing them to the surface of your consciousness and get clear about what you’re feeling and why.
That will lead you back to new information, new vision, new ideals, and new understanding upon which you can do your next set of decisions and actions. Then again name what you’re feeling. That way nothing will get bottled up through underuse, and you can move through experiences with power and clarity.
So for the next 4 weeks take a close look at the plan, the method, and the details to make sure things are on track regarding the details of things. Once you’ve found your understanding, then do what you need to do. Then stop thinking and doing and go deep into your feelings about what was done resulting from the initial 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. See it all as an adventure in a thought experiment.
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 long gone, we can stabilize that inspired fiery energy via the long term Saturn in Earthy Cap trine 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. Saturn in Capricorn continues to show us “promises to keep, and miles to go before (we) sleep,” to quote the legendary Frost. We trained in 2017, and each is reaping a promised blessing in 2018.
Jupiter continues to transit various Scorpio eclipses, Lunations, and planetary stations, bringing forth blessings, opportunities, and liberating factors in life related to those events. With Jupiter in Scorpio as our “lead-in” to our outer planet experiences, get a laser focus and be as efficient as you can as you live a grand adventure in going deeper and experiencing a greater intensity! Again, all of this is showing us our integrity under pressured conditions.
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’ve already set things into motion that will change our lives in radical ways, due to recent Eclipses and the swirl of the numerous retrogrades we’re still navigating.
We’ve been withdrawing from old ways of being attached to things the past 2 months, and many things slowed down so we could re-plan, reconfigure, or re-do what we needed to so that our lives can move forward more easily in September. We’re about to get some “new blood” in our life and efforts, so pay attention when your relationships take on a greater intensity!
Jupiter continues to help us eliminate past patterns to clear the space for future patterns to emerge as Saturn continues to help us with the disciplines we need to learn to express our Spiritual Maturity. These two planets, along with Uranus and Pluto, have been part of the greater “irrational times” we live in, with a lot of things making no sense at all. Just remember that often success is found by not losing our cool when everyone else is, so that when the storm is past we haven’t made things worse, and may even have made them better!
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn is in its home sign of Capricorn, it is the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023. It was a ruler of the Aquarius 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 at least through November 2018 because Mars is transiting those signs during that time. That makes Saturn a major force to be reckoned with!
Add that it’s doing a very interesting dance with Uranus all of 2018, and their Earth trine in effect through October is showing us 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,” these have provided 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 that Summer 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 has now yielded an entirely new Earth understanding!
You can learn more about the Saturn-Uranus “dance of individualization” 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.
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.
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
Robert, I wish you'd write a book on synastry, or even just a few articles on some of your favorite aspects. That's what got me interested in astrology to begin with. I'd love to hear your take on it.
Posted by: Diana | September 07, 2018 at 09:36 AM