by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Taurus New Moon chart. This Lunation begins a major transition between the recent retrograde sea changes and powerful spiritual growth over the next few weeks. Happiness is in the air for those who are willing to open to dancing with it, as well as unexpected “pots of gold at the end of the rainbow” for those who choose to awaken rather than slumber.
This month puts the focus on the sign Taurus, though we still have very powerful Aries energies in play. Venus rules the Lunation, making Aries the backdrop to this New Moon, bringing the themes of learning to preserve energy by knowing when to go inward and when to go outward, finding fluidity in knowing when “to do” and knowing when “to be.” Be willing to adapt, be flexible, taking the initiative when you need to, and just sitting with the energies when that’s most important.
As this is the first Lunation outside the outer planet occupied zone, and Mars already “laying down tracks” for future Lunations, we’re now officially out of the Bundle of everything being in a very narrow span of just a few weeks ago. The inner planets now occupy late Aries through late Gemini, with Mars opposed Jupiter defining a very clear “Bowl” Jones pattern, opened by Jupiter in Sagittarius and closed by Mars in Gemini.
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 late Sagittarius, and proceeds through outer planets in Capricorn, Pisces, and early Taurus. This is a fairly narrow distribution, with all the outer planets in about a third of 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.
This is already happening in a big way, as Mars is exactly opposed Jupiter, initiating the Mars oppositions to come over the next 7 months! These are the first non-Lunar oppositions for over a year, and as Mars is the “nozzle” through which the outer planets can express their transformational evolutionary energies, those with “surgical skills” or “athletic precision” will be able to use Mars to achieve a lot in a fairly short time. As Jupiter opens and Mars activates, be willing to use energy in skillful ways and you’ll open a greater happiness.
Applying this to your chart, oppositions are great for producing integrated greater awareness and the ability to use that energy to achieve what we need to in our own planetary matrix. Each of these oppositions makes many aspects to your chart; the sextiles and trines to your planets will help you understand and stabilize those energies, and the quintile and related specializing aspects show unique processes which can be used according to your need through planets which square them.
Because Mars has moved out of the occupied outer planet span where it’s been since November 2017, it will be a major player in all Jones patterns created in 2019 before it again disappears in the occupied span in 2020. At this time, all the planets are spread out in 6 signs within a 179 degree span it approaches an ideal “Bowl” Jones pattern. This shows how the energies are to be approached, and how the sequence of any activity unfolds from beginning to end.
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.”
Wherever these Bowl organized planets fall in your chart is THE primary focus of your life since it shows how the outer world is positioned in your chart areas. If you have planets in Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, or Scorpio, those parts of you fill in what’s missing in the world. Conversely, if you have planets in Sag, Cap, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, or Gemini, those parts of your life are being impacted by those external motivators.
With Jupiter leading the concentration of planets, it shows we need willingness to open to greater experience with a spirit of adventure, honesty, and truth-seeking. Lead all interactions with a sense of the bigger picture and the greater adventure in consciousness to enjoy. Dance with life’s openings, and be honest with yourself as you embrace the ride you’re already on!
The Outer Planets Anchor the Pattern of Half the Sky
At this time, Jupiter is retrograde, again expanding 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!
Long term, as Jupiter closes in on its conjunction with Saturn late this year and next, there will be times when most of the planets will be compressed into very narrow spans centered in 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 then Neptune over the coming years. Due to the increasing compression, by early 2020 we will begin to see more “Bundle” patterns than we’ve seen in many years, since the planets will all be within a 120 degree span.
Saturn continues to be the second planetary “pulse” of the occupied outer planet span between Sagittarius and Taurus, and trades primary rulership of the other planets with Jupiter depending on where the other planets are. When the inner planets transit Sagittarius and Pisces, Jupiter comes to the front; when the inner planets transit Capricorn and Aquarius, Saturn takes center stage.
In this chart we no longer have only Jupiter and Saturn ruling everything else, and begin many months of shifting rulerships and dispositors. As I mentioned in part 1, the Lunation is ruled by Venus in Aries, which is ruled by Mars in Gemini, which is ruled by Mercury in Aries, setting up a mutual reception between Mercury and Mars.
Want to “move the Sun?” Use Venus. How you do that is shown by Mercury and Mars. That’s why despite the New Moon in Taurus, there is still a tremendous amount of Aries and Gemini energies dominating the backdrop to the inner planets at this time. Once Venus goes into Taurus in mid-May followed quickly by Mercury entering Gemini a week later, we’ll be back in a time of FIVE final dispositors!
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart the span between Venus and the Lunation) is 5 planets in 26+ degrees, making that the major focus. If we add Mars in late Gemini, we expand the range to 6 planets in 65+ 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 15 Taurus, 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 Taurus it has a sub-influence of Virgo. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 15th degree of Taurus is “A man muffled up, with a rakish silk hat.” In the original Marc Jones class notes on the symbols published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of the “Supremacy of conscious mind over brute nature forces,” “full appreciation of outer difficulties,” and “great inner resources.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this is a degree of "the courage needed to meet the crises precipitated by social ambition,” where regardless of what we have already succeeded at, we will still confront inner and outer storms the more “successful” we become. He offers that we must be ready to face these storms with courage and be willing “to accept crises and to go through them” to develop strength of character, which becomes the vehicle for Higher Consciousness.
He also states this symbol “implies a transition to a new level at which the individual who has learned from experience demonstrates a truly mature mind. What is revealed here is character under adverse circumstances.” He offers that this degree falls in the Span of Experience, Act of Differentiation, Scene of Substantiation on the Individual-Mental level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “Absolute self-integrity at a simple extreme of self-consciousness,” and of our Spirit’s “inherent supremacy over all possible limitations or embarrassments.” He states that this degree is about dramatizing self in “a continual and effective awareness of a role to be played in life.”
He offers that we must be “willing to utilize whatever arises in experience” while transcending the limitations of even the least part of it. He offers us the keyword SOPHISTICATION. He goes on to say that when operating positively, the degree is “a superb aplomb arising from the constant rediscovery of greater powers latent in selfhood.”
From these symbols it seems we enter a month of focusing the Light and Form by our willingness to go through what we must to cultivate the better aspects of our character as the foundation for living our Higher Self. This is the culmination of making something substantial, and because it’s the Ox point, it externalizes through the power of the Eagle point. While the Ox Point is a degree of ultimate stability, the Eagle Point is a degree of ultimate transcendence. Therefore this New Moon offers us the ability to move that which usually cannot be moved, and stabilize that which is usually unstable.
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.
While this Lunation will be very favorable in many ways, Mars provides a lot of powerful aspects to the transformational energies in motion! There are many productive and harmonizing aspects, and due to Mars activating the Grand Irrationality V.2 by its triseptile to Saturn and septile to Uranus, the next 4 weeks will show major forks in the road of destiny in the lives of people and nations!
Besides the “Tension of Opposites” set into vibratory action by Mars opposed Jupiter and the 7th harmonic aspects from Mars setting “forces of destiny” into play, it also makes a strong quincunx to Pluto, indicating that if we want the security of an integrated personality, we must adjust or sacrifice something while making productive activity in other areas to help focus our growth. Growth themes include training our personality to “put on the show” by focusing on the inner rather than the outer, the core instead of the appearance, as well as transmuting the natural to the transcendent and using our inspired teaching to transform our everyday life and responses as we’ve been shown since 2014.
Forming (and closely partile separating) inner planet aspects include the Lunation vigintile Mercury, decile Mars, trine Saturn, sextile Neptune, trine Pluto, and novile Chiron; Mercury vigintile the Sun, conjunct Uranus (out of sign), and novile Neptune; Venus is bielftile Mars, trine Jupiter, square Saturn, semisextile Neptune and square Pluto; and Mars is opposed Jupiter, triseptile Saturn, septile Uranus, quincunx Pluto, and binovile Chiron.
Outer planet aspects include Jupiter quadarelftile Uranus, square Neptune, and semisextile Pluto, with a wide forming biseptile to Chiron forming over the next few weeks; Saturn is biseptile Uranus and sextile Neptune, and the ongoing Uranus semisquare Neptune, symbolizing the general friction in the collective atmosphere.
Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology
This Lunation makes a very favorable “three note chord” of harmonized productivity involving the trines from Taurus to Capricorn with Pisces bisecting the trine to form two sextiles. This will be extraordinarily harmonizing for planets we may have between about 12 and 25 Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces, with even more zones of high specialization in other signs.
Because Saturn is biseptile Uranus, we can use the favorable Saturn to guide our Uranian choices and changes which are awakening us to a new way to “do our Being” in the world. Mars, closing the Bowl span, this month activates these destiny-shaping planets through its aspects, helping us integrate our personalities and become more genuinely happy than we were before now.
This evolutionary configuration involves three points of a Great Septile, indicating those with planets in any of the 7 zones are going through major choices and changes. It will most affect those with planets or angles near 19-23 Capricorn, 10-14 Pisces, 1-5 Taurus, 22-26 Gemini, 14-18 Leo, 6-10 Libra, and 27 Scorpio-1 Sagittarius. If you have any planet or important point in these zones, expect turning points and shifts in direction.
Uranus is also involved in a “bottom tone” of friction in the collective consciousness because of its long wave semisquare to Neptune, anchoring the octile-driven “Rhombus Diamond” configuration with intense “cutting, grinding, and polishing” energies wherever we have the very early degrees of Taurus and Scorpio, as well as the middle degrees of Pisces and Virgo.
As you know if you’ve been reading this column for any length of time, the waxing Uranus semisquare Neptune marks a crucial point of shift in the opening of their very long wave cycle, and is a major significator of our unsettled times. This very frictional energy has been with us a while and will continue to be with us a LONG time! That aspect anchors a frictional configuration that is kicked into play whenever planets pass through early Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and mid-Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. It is especially powerful when a planet transits mid-Virgo and early Scorpio.
As the planets make various octile aspects to these Uranus and Neptune, those phase shifts generate a LOT of tension in the atmosphere, creating a grind for us where they fall in our chart. 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.
As I told you in the September 2017 Rhombus Diamond articles, when it’s active 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
We now take a look at the specializing and spiritual aspects. Of the specializing aspects, we have only 2 vigintiles and 2 dectiles. Of the spiritual aspects, we have 1 septile, 1 biseptile, 1 triseptile, 3 noviles, 2 binoviles (all to Chiron except the novile to Neptune), 1 bielftile, 1 trielftile and 1 quadraelftile.
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 6 signs, skewing to an extraordinary imbalance with 5 planets in Earth (practical grounding), 3 in Fire (inspiration and warmth), and only Mars in Air (relatedness and communicating), and Neptune Water (feelings and experiencing). This month we have Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini 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 slightly cooler than warmer, and almost no feelings except the vast ocean of consciousness. This will soon shift when Mercury and Venus enter Taurus and Mars enters Cancer, yielding a much different mix of elements than this month!
Because the New Moon falls in Taurus, Uranus becomes the planet currently leading the Sun. That makes Uranus, the awakener, renovator, and revolutionizer who brings forth our spiritual individuality the gatekeeper of the planetary energy we need to approach the Greater Light. Be open to unique and unusual awakenings, and you’re find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which will lead you to the 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 continues last month’s 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 thinking, communicating, envisioning, and then deciding and acting.
This pattern leads with feelings, and then seeks information to confirm or deny those feeling impressions. It feels its way into ideas, visions, interactions, and understanding. However, once we’ve felt our way to a vision or understanding, then it will be important to make a decision and act on it. Once we’ve moved everything forward that one step, then a new feeling-experience will naturally arise that points the way to the next view or information needed to again move it forward one step.
So feel, flow, experience, since these will lead you to information and understanding. When your understanding leads to a clear vision, then see the fundamental fact, or act that must be done to move it all one step forward. Let your feeling and experience follow your actions, and let your mind follow your feelings into new views and understanding that can help you make decisions that you’ll act on.
The Sagittarian Promise
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 Spring 2017, and in 2018 Jupiter 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.
Jupiter is now solidly in Sagittarius, and has already triggered numerous past Sagittarius eclipse, Lunation, and planetary station points. Whatever was “bound up” or “cocooned” when Jupiter was in Scorpio is now blasting off into infinite space as Jupiter moves through Sagittarius!
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.
Summing Up
This New Moon launches a new era in our lives. This generates strength of character, stable and practical work and play, and promises a great happiness to those who are willing to integrate their personalities in ways which they can demonstrate to others. Use your imagination to reclaim “opportunities thought lost,” and find ways to be more balanced in “doing” and “being.”
We’ve already launched into a new long term social renewal, and had our introduction and a “dress rehearsal” for important developments to come forth this Summer. We’ve dreamed the dream we want to see made manifest in the future; now it’s time to adjust, adapt, and expand our methods of interacting in our world. We’ve already hit a threshold of anticipating powers to come and responsibilities which are more important than those we’ve left behind.
In 2018, our “defeats” spelled true spiritual victory. We are now reaping rewards for our past courage. What we pulled back from in 2018 created voids that will be filled this year and next. The Summer and Autumn gave us opportunities to reunite with people, memories, skills, and parts of our past, all revealing elements of “the power of our spiritual ancestry” which has opened new vistas, truths, and futures for us since January.
So we enter 4 weeks of broader awareness, dynamic shifts, choices and changes related to the larger forces of destiny shaping our lives, all with the promise of new group work and some sort of “transcendent security” at the end of this journey. We’ve already begun to harvest the “seeds of rewards for our courage,” and the need to keep it slow, steady, and pleasant as we continue to navigate the challenges of the next 4 weeks. Group activity will be an important theme in 2019. Thanks to Saturn, we’ve been reorienting, getting ready for some “planned group behavior.”
March and April offered us a look back as we stood on the threshold of new activity, so reflect on the thought forms you crafted in March which are being made real now and in the future. We’ve found our places in the Cosmic Choir and learned the “rules of the choir” these past 23 months, so when it’s time, sing your part within the One We Are All Together.
For the rest of the big picture about this New Moon, please take a new look at The May 2019 New Moon at 15 Taurus Pt. 1 - What’s Happening in May. It has an overview, an explanation of the dispositors at work, and a lot more which augments what you've read here.
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Saturn in its home sign of Capricorn for the first time since 1991 makes it the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023. It was a major influence in the Jan-Feb and July-August 2018 eclipses, as well as the more recent January 2019 eclipses, continuing its years-long power behind events.
Saturn continues to hold court in its home sign of Capricorn, and will continue to play a big part due to its biseptile with Uranus, indicating we’re all at a major fork in the road of destiny wherever we have mid-Capricorn and early Taurus. We now have seen what parts we should play in the larger Light/Life field, and are getting ready for more effective functioning in our world.
In order to use your inner Saturn power to shape your destiny by being aware of what to do and why, if you haven’t already, please consider getting a copy of 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.
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will help you understand why some things happened when they did. 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 which have held you back from finding and living your life and purpose, and fulfill your destiny 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 Nook. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.
© Copyright 2019 Robert Wilkinson
don't post this unless you enjoy laughing even at our own Freudian spellslips.
the Term "rolls" would be helped by the spelling "roles" no, it does't
"have to make sense" 4d chartfree doing our Dahrma dance in this choir, irrationally silent, smiling
harmonius, soloed, off script, Improving and Improoving, I am finding unison (as usual) with your excellent Aria,and Apt Tapped dance Oratory. now put a little sustainably salted butter on these delicious but nonsensical crossed buns, best Hot in Fire Times.
Posted by: Bop Pierson | May 03, 2019 at 02:32 PM
Loving this...the doing and the being of it all... But surely a rakish silk hat in cold weather is an ego thing?
Posted by: sue | May 04, 2019 at 08:31 AM