by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Scorpio New Moon chart. This Lunation will take us into the unknown, helping us get in touch with a deeper faith, a more potent magnetism, and a regenerative energy that will make it clear what’s to be left behind, and what’s to be synthesized into a vision of the future.
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 very late 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 Jones pattern in the sky is primarily influenced by the position of the inner planets, shifting the pattern every so often.
At this point, Mars is inside the outer planet span in Aquarius, and rules the Lunation, augmenting the theme of synthesis. The inner planets now occupy late Libra through early Sagittarius,, creating a “Bowl” Jones pattern, opened by Venus in Libra and closed by Uranus in Aries.
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 in 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, the coming New Moon in Aquarius in Feb 2019 will be the first "Bundle" in many years, even though it's wider than ideal. By early 2020 we will have more and more “Bundle” patterns, since the planets will all be within a 120 degree span.
The Bowl Pattern and how it works
This type of spread, with all the planets occupying approximately half of the signs with an empty half opposite the occupies half, creates a “special type of conscious selfhood,” which Dr. Jones says “marks the Bowl type of temperament. He goes on to state “Fundamentally it is an extreme self-containment,” which “holds things, and a Bowl individual is one who always has something to bear.”
He goes on to state that with the Bowl, “the whole dynamic of man, his total power of achievement, arises in his instinctive realization that he is set off against a definite part of the world, that there is a complete segment of experience from which he is excluded in some subtle fashion. The Bowl not only holds something, but also places whatever it holds into relationship with a larger consideration.”
Dr. Jones continues that “the occupied segment of the Bowl horoscope reveals the activity and organization of the self, since planets are significant according to their place by sign and house, and the unoccupied segment becomes a challenge to existence, or the need and emptiness to which the native must direct his attention. The outstanding characteristic of the Bowl temperament is its marked sense of what is self-contained in contrast with what the self cannot hold, and this take an everyday form in an advocacy of some cause, the furtherance of a mission, an introspective concern over the purpose of experience.”
He concludes his explanation of how the pattern works with “The Bowl native always has something to give to his fellows, whether literally or psychologically, whether constructively or vindictively, because his orientation to the world arises from division; that is, frustration and uncertainty. The leading planets, determined in exactly the same way as for the Locomotive pattern, give a point of application, and shows where and how the native seeks to carry out his mission or gain his everyday justification for existence.”
He brings up another important point of analysis, as he states “the leading planet is of secondary importance in the Bowl pattern, unless it is found in a strong opposition or cosmic cross. The fundamental attack on the problems of life by the Bowl individual is indicated more significantly by the tilt or house-position of the Bowl-segment.”
He concludes this section by stating “the Bowl character is definitely more self-expending, or self-seeking, and more practically interested in what things mean and what they are. It continually throws the emphasis from the signs into the houses. It a general way the Bowl tends to ‘scoop up’ things and initiate experience when the position of the leading planet ranges from the fourth cusp, up and over the ascendant, to the Midheaven cusp, and then inclines to “capture” things or consummate various phases of life when the leading planet is placed similarly from the tenth angle down over the descendant to the nadir.”
With Venus leading this Bowl pattern, it shows us the need to be well-balanced, reasonable, diplomatic, and always in good taste to open our planetary experience. Lead all interactions with a sense of moderation and peacefulness. Libra is a very creative sign, and offers us many perspectives to any given thing. As Libra is an Air sign, understanding and a sense of how things are related in a balanced overview will open doors to experience.
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. This will resume once Venus conjuncts Jupiter in Sag, only then Jupiter will be in Sagittarius, making that sign the energy to open experience.
At this time, Jupiter is 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 Aries, and is currently the ruler of every other planet in the sky except Venus and Neptune. That indicates in all areas ruled by all the 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.
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart Venus through Jupiter) is 4 planets in 33 degrees, making that the major focus. If we add Mercury in early Sag, we expand the span to 5 planets in 41+ degrees, keeping an intense focus in that area of the zodiac.
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 16 Scorpio, and 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 Scorpio it has a sub-influence of Pisces. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 16th degree of Scorpio is "A girl’s face breaking into a smile.” In the original Jones class notes from The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Fervent outreaching of self in moments of the purest beauty,” “leaping to meet the potentialities of life,” and “blossoming forth.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes “the fervent reaching out on the part of the young of heart to new experiences,” where “faith in life and in other human beings enables us to go forth toward relationships with whatever attracts our senses or stirs our imagination.” He says the smile represents “a conscious acceptance of relationship, thus a choice” which “pictures a glowing warmth of feeling.” He says this degree is the initial degree in the Span of Appreciation, Act of Group Integration, and Scene of Faith on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of “the need to share any true essence of selfhood,” where “no ultimate values can be cloistered forever in the depths of self.” He states this symbolizes “the gregarious nature of the human soul as revealed in the naïve friendliness it shows for all other creatures,” where “a magic of personality by which any desired reality may be conjured into being.”
He offers us the keyword ACQUIESCENCE. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is our “ingratiating gift for employing the simple things of life for surmounting any momentary obstacles to (our) self-fulfillment.”
So the theme of this New Moon turns on the Light of some sort of warmth of feeling or outreach in a deeper reality or relationships, where we can demonstrate friendliness to others. Allow your life to “blossom forth,” and rise to whatever possibilities offer themselves for your “acceptance of relationship.” This should deepen our experience wherever it falls in our chart, and show us the way to intensified relationships which are inherently friendly to who we are.
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. Partile separating aspects show what’s been going on in the Now. This section covers only forming and partile separating aspects.
As mentioned in previous parts, this Eclipse features a wide variety of frictional and harmonious aspects. There are a bunch, some powerful, some spiritual, some hard, some specializing, with the 7th, 10th, and 15th harmonic dominating the landscape!
Forming (and closely partile separating) frictional aspects include Mercury semisquare Venus and square Neptune; Venus is opposed Uranus and sesquisquare Neptune, setting up a “Rhombus Diamond” configuration described in part 1; Mars is square Jupiter; and finally, there are NO outer planet frictional aspects except Jupiter quincunx Uranus, and Uranus semisquare Neptune.
Favorable aspects include the Lunation quindecile Mercury, vigintile Venus, trine Neptune and sextile Pluto; Mercury quindecile the Sun and conjunct Jupiter (out of sign); Venus is vigintile the Sun, trine Mars, decile Jupiter, and quintile Saturn; Mars is sextile Uranus, vigintile Neptune, and decile Pluto; and Jupiter is decile Saturn.
Spiritual aspects are numerous and powerful! We see the Lunation septile Saturn and pentelftile Uranus, Mercury novile Pluto, Mars septile Saturn, and Jupiter biseptile Neptune. The Lunation and Mars both making septiles to Saturn indicate a span of degrees where destiny will be set into motion by who and what we welcome in an atmosphere of synthesis and the willingness to “pick up and deliver spiritual energy.” Affected areas include 13-18 Scorpio, 4-9 Capricorn, 25-30 Aquarius, 17-22 Aries, 9-14 Gemini, 1-6 Leo, and 22-27 Virgo.
Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology
We’re now back to 1 opposition, so the primary “Axis of Awareness,” showing where “the Tensions of Opposites” will play out in our charts these next few weeks, in in late Aries-Libra. Mars creates an opposition, sextile, and trine configuration with Venus and Uranus, generating a favorable void in late Leo, This can help us find productive stability via the synthesizing power of Mars in Aquarius. However, keep in mind that the opposition is also activates 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 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. This semisquare is indicative or the hard edge all of us are going through as we try to find 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. We just went through this again a few weeks ago.
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.
Explaining Harmonics
While I explained the spiritual aspects in an earlier paragraph, we now take a look at the specializing aspects, since they are in abundance! Of the specializing aspects, we have 3 vigintiles, 2 quindeciles, 3 deciles, and 1 quintile. Of the spiritual aspects, we have 1 novile.
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 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 have the 10 traditional planets occupying 7 signs, showing a balanced distribution with an emphasis on Water. We have 4 planets in Water (feelings and experiencing), 2 in Air (relatedness and communicating), 2 in Earth (practical grounding), and 2 in Fire (inspiration and warmth), showing a feeling-oriented month ahead, with a balance in interactivity, inspiration, and practicality. This month we have Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, and Aries represented, with no planet in the other signs.
Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things are somewhat in balance, with Water predominating, even though Saturn’s disposition of most of the planets will keep 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..
Since Venus’ Inferior Conjunction with the Sun, it now leads the Sun. So Venus, besides being the the entry to the Bowl, also is the means to approach the Greater Light.
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 gives us a new pattern!
As a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience over the next 4 weeks involves leading with our feelings, then deciding, then thinking. This pattern approaches life through what they feel, with the feelings leading to decisions and actions.
While this pattern is tempted to move back into more feeling after the actions, to complete the sequence in an integrated way, after we make our decisions and/or act, it is of paramount importance to get new information to come to a new vision or understanding. Once we get the right view or understanding, then a new feeling-experience will naturally arise that points the way to the next action.
So when you are moved by a feeling or experience, it will naturally lead to decisions on the basis of those feeling experiences, which should be followed by a search for new information, new ideas, new interpretations, and new views. We’ll be “feeling our way” into new experiences, then deciding and acting on the basis of those feelings. After a decision or action, then we’ll have to find newer, more up to date information, facts, and understanding so we can get a new vision.
So learn and teach through anecdotes, seeing how others handled things practically, or how you handed things practically in the past. Let your thinking and communicating and envisioning follow your actions, and let your feelings follow a new understanding, a new perception, or a new view.
Because of Venus retrograde in Libra, remember that some of what you’re feeling has deep roots in the past, or reactions formed by relationships long dead and gone. This could be a great period for getting a new perspective on old misunderstandings, or seeing how old relationships have led you to the vision of life you have at present.
Summing Up
2017’s Fire trine between Saturn in Sagittarius and Uranus in Aries stabilized unique forms of heart expression, love, or creativity, and launched the final phase of our “escape from a narrow destiny” begun in the Summer of 2016. We’ve been quickened since the Spring of 2017, and Jupiter has taught us to eliminate all that prevents our Spiritual Self from coming forth 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 has reaping a promised blessing in 2018.
Jupiter is now done with its transit of the various Scorpio eclipses, Lunations, and planetary station points, bringing forth blessings, opportunities, and liberating factors in life related to those events this past year. It will of course transit past Sagittarius eclipse, Lunation, and planetary station points over the next year, so whatever was “bound up” or “cocooned” in Scorpio will blast off into infinite space as Jupiter moves through Sagittarius!
This is the last time we’ll have Jupiter in Scorpio as our “lead-in” to our outer planet experiences. We’ve gotten a laser focus as we’ve moved into an adventure in going deeper and experiencing a greater intensity! And now we stand on the threshold of Jupiter in Sagittarius, which will open greater vistas wherever it falls in our charts.
The North Node was in Sagittarius between March 2011 and August 2012. Whatever was removed by the Eclipses of that period created space that will be filled with new Jupiterian material this next year. Longtime readers will note that June 2011 Solar Eclipse was VERY powerful, and helped us break loose from “ghosts of the past” over the 3.6 years it was in active operation. We also had a Solar Eclipse in early Sag in Nov 2011 and early Gemini in May 2012. All of those voids will open to a new Sagittarian promise.
We are still in the process of a long term major transformation period, and we now get yet another look back in various areas of our lives as the long period of “tag team retrogrades” enters its final phase. We’ve been put through “dignified withdrawals” as we’ve allowed our highest Truths to transform our everyday lives. We’ve had a new set of lessons about overcoming fear and getting rewards for cultivating kindness. And we’ve had “defeats” that spelled true spiritual victory.
While many old areas of our lives are in active “shut down” mode associated with Solar Eclipses from the past few years, we’ve also pulled back from our old projections and no longer like the same things we used to. We’ve all had to plan anew in some way, and see the hidden signature of things. We’ve reunited with people, memories, skills, and parts of our past, as well as “the power of our spiritual ancestry” in whatever form that can take.
Of course, all of this is conditioned by the larger framework of the outer planet transits weaving the matrix we all live within. For the past several years, and for several years to come, Jupiter is in the closing phase of its long cycles with Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus. Many things are naturally coming to harvest, for better or worse, in the larger world.
So be at peace with your memories of what was and what never was, and synthesize them all into a greater understanding of “the movie of your life,” since we will soon enter a new phase of learning to act within the Dreamscape after our radical transformational period happening as Mars transits the final face of Aquarius.
At this time in history, we’re almost always dealing with some sort of 7th harmonic irrationality. We’ve recently had The Grand Irrationality in full action, and this New Moon continues the configuration with Jupiter biseptile Neptune. Talk about crazy changes in collective consciousness! Find your “camouflage,” and wear your inner wealth with elegance.
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!
So we enter 4 weeks of “blossoming forth,” where our faith in action should bring us intense new interactions! We’ve been doing repair and/or reconstruction the past 4 weeks while reclaiming or building new relationships with our allies. We’ve had chances to undo old hurts and misunderstandings and eliminate all that keeps us alienated or suspicious or going where we don’t need to go. Now we get to blow out some old tensions while finding a transcendent peace and higher vision.
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 dominated the period between March and November 2018 because Mars transited Saturn-ruled signs during those months. It will still be powerful for months because of the transits of Capricorn and Aquarius coming from late December through late March 2019.
Add that it’s doing a very interesting dance with Uranus all of 2018, and their Earth trine in effect through now has shown us how to blend past and future together and craft our destiny. 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. 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 even those with little or no understanding of astrology will benefit from understanding why they had to make certain choices at crucial times shaping their lives 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!
Please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page on Amazon and this should be all you need to order your copy. The ebook is available through Kindle. 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
Thank you for the clarity your work here opens within me.
I’m glad and soothed to know the truths here described are far happier than my fears and of areas currently in my life gone and disappearing.
My sadness cannot be helped in face of this, and is somewhat lessened to read about the requirement to say goodbye, not that I’m bad at finding new ways to hold on.
Posted by: Sherry | November 07, 2018 at 11:39 AM
Your words inspired these, dear Robert...
Universal Truths hitting the Cosmic fan
Rising above the myths of man
The Planets bring balance and a transgender plan...
Posted by: sue | November 08, 2018 at 09:44 AM
Thanks for the clear and encompassing information.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | November 08, 2018 at 10:53 AM
Looking forward to this, since I changed everything in my life during North Node in Sagittarius.
Posted by: Mary | November 09, 2018 at 02:15 AM