by Robert Wilkinson
This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Virgo Lunation chart. This New Moon marks a major shift in the year’s inner planet oppositions to the outer planets, because rather than the open trine being between Leo and Sagittarius, it’s now between Virgo and Taurus. This is a gigantic shift from the inspiration of Fire to the grounding of Earth!
This month puts the focus on the sign Virgo. Because Mercury in its home sign of Virgo rules every planet not in their home sign, Virgo holds center stage and dominates the energies. This is the fifth Lunation outside the outer planet occupied zone, and all the planets are now converging in a multiple conjunction zone in early Virgo making a Grand Earth Trine.
A few months back we had all the planets bundled in about one third of the sky. They’ve now expanded again into two thirds of the sky, creating a classic Locomotive Jones pattern. However, while last month’s pattern opened and closed with planets in Fire signs, as I just noted we now have the opening and closing planets in Earth.
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 mid-Sagittarius, and proceeds through outer planets in Capricorn, Pisces, and early Taurus. This is a fairly narrow distribution, with all the outer planets in a little over a third of the sky (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.
Mars At the Far Side of the Occupied Span
Between December 2017 and April 2018 we literally had no non-lunar oppositions. Between late October 2018 and early May 2019 we had only one non-lunar opposition, between Venus and Uranus in early December. As oppositions bring awareness, we were in a time of compression rather than awareness.
Mars began this year’s run of its oppositions in early May with the opposition to Jupiter. In June it joined with Mercury to oppose Saturn and Pluto as the Sun and Venus opposed Jupiter. So we went from months of no oppositions to a season of many oppositions!
We are now in the backstretch of oppositions to the outer planets, with all the inner planets and Mars opposing Neptune this month. This year’s oppositions will be complete in October and November with all of the oppositions to Uranus. By December we will again be in a long run of no non-lunar oppositions, with all the planets in half of the zodiac. By early March 2020 every planet will be compressed into a span of about 108 degrees, which is an extremely rare occurrence!
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 is at the far side of the occupied outer planet span, it is 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 widely spread out in 5 signs with an empty span of 115+ between Taurus and Virgo, creating a classic “Locomotive” Jones pattern. This shows how the energies are to be approached, and how the sequence of any activity unfolds from beginning to end.
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.”
Whereas last month Jupiter was the leading planet and the Stellium in Leo was the closing energies of in the Locomotive, this month Mercury in Virgo is the leading planet and Uranus in Taurus the closing planet. Find appropriate active personal Virgo ways of approaching life and experience through tapping your inner powers, or invoking your Angelic help.
As Virgo opens, embrace experience with an eye to humility, practical discipleship, forms of service, and divine discernment. Because the leading edge is Earth, approach experience with practicality. Because the closing planet is also in Earth, it implies that after all is said and done, you’ll find simple enjoyable grounded ways to awaken to a new ways of life and expressing your genius or uniqueness.
As the Locomotive keeps things out of balance, Mercury in Virgo is now the front end to finding the way of initiating activity that must be accompanied by a compensatory “weight” to keep things moving forward rather than sideways. The more we work with the imbalances by making small but important practical adjustments, seeing what’s core and what’s peripheral, the easier it will be to navigate the imbalances in this pattern and come to a different way of finding the assistance we need to keep things grounded.
With Virgo leading, be willing to release whatever you need to in order to make practical adjustments. Pay attention to details, and remember you have Divine help via Angels and Devas “when human efforts seem to fail.” With Taurus closing, find a harvest of enjoyable individuality as you awaken to a “new quality of life rendering the old patterns obsolete.”
The Outer Planets Anchor the Pattern of Half the Sky
At this time, Jupiter is direct and beginning to close the occupied span involving Saturn, Pluto, Neptune, and Uranus from its current width of 141+ degrees. Now that Jupiter is direct, it continues to lead the outer planet occupied span through December 2020, when it conjuncts Saturn at 1 Aquarius! So last year, this year, and next year, Jupiter plays a major part in how we enter life experience. 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 at times 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.
Since April, Jupiter and Saturn surrendered their dominance to a number of shifting rulerships and dispositors. As I mentioned in part 1, the Lunation is ruled by Mercury in Virgo, continuing our run of four “Final Dispositors” during these months.
Want to “move Mars?” Use Mercury. Want to move the Sun? Use Mercury’s natural Virgo expression. Want to move Uranus? Use Venus ruled by Mercury.
In this New Moon, the most intense occupied span (in this chart the span between Mercury and Venus) is 5 planets in 9+ degrees, making that the major focus. As this is the most intense cluster, there are no adjacent planets we can add to expand the range of 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 7 Virgo, and it is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the actional, material, and physical levels of life, and being the first decan of Virgo 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 7th degree of Virgo is “A harem.” In the original Marc Jones class notes on the symbols published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Early stage of development of individual soul, with full yet binding life-protection” and “freedom from responsibility or restraint.”
In The Astrological Mandala,, Rudhyar offers this degree is about “a fateful (even if sought after) subservience to the vagaries or desires of the emotional nature.” He goes on to state that this is a passive experience, where “the motive power is exterior to the experiencer, who is caught in a pattern of forces over which he or she has no control.”
This symbol is about being “one with a number of individuals all seeking or being subjected to the same type of experience or fate.” He offers that we should not “become addicted to the excitement of the merry-go-round of vital emotions,” or “become a slave to the hope of recapturing the exultation of the initial experiences” while learning how to use the waiting or down times between activities. He says this degree falls in the Span of Idealization, Act of Stabilization, and Scene of Characterization on the Emotional-Cultural level.
So this second degree counterpoint symbol shows us the illumination of being in patterns over which we have little control, where we may from time to time use our skills or talents to win or acquire something. This tells us that “those who stand and wait also serve,” and we can see Light and power in understanding the patterns of forces controlling situations and interactions. Light can also be found by examining what types of stimulation and/or excitement we are attached to, or not.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of “withdrawal from reality in one aspect as a means for regrasping it in another,” by accepting of “regimentation” to insulate ourselves “against life’s demand” for a more dynamic form of self-expression. He continues with our need for using our “fellowship in lesser values” for self-strengthening in our “renewed struggle towards the greater.”
He finishes with stating that “an enforced conservation of energies need not encourage a surrender of basic ideals. He offers us the keyword RESTRAINT. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “a courageous and complete disregard of limitation by the rejection of its terms at any cost.”
So this Lunation indicates these next 4 weeks point to the Light of Divine Discrimination revealing patterns we’re in that show us what characterizes social or emotional situations. Here we begin a practical grounding which will help us reject unnecessary limitations and stabilize a long term growth into enlightened service wherever we have early Virgo in our chart.
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.
This Lunation has a huge number of aspects, mainly conjunctions in Virgo! The big news is the Grand Earth Trine anchored by planets in all 3 Earth signs, with some trines re-activated via the “Translation of Light” provided by Mercury triggering the trines to Uranus one last time, and everything closing in on major trines to Saturn and Pluto while opposing Neptune, generating very favorable energy in mid-Cancer.
The Earth energies coupled with Neptune offer major productivity to any planets we have in the middle degrees of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces. This Lunation, due to the Translation of Light, brings a type of echo of 2018’s Earth trines, since the Virgo trines to Uranus and Saturn effectively pull together those energies creating another time of grounded innovation of established structures, and purposeful organization of energies of awakened innovation.
These structured awakenings in Earth signs will be integrated and released via the Venus square Jupiter and opposed Neptune Mutable T-square throwing the void into mid-Gemini. Be a good juggler, be alert to TMI, let go of the ghosts of the past, and if you’re confronted with issues of personality integration, allow your Higher Self to be your guide as you willingly release all you need to.
Forming (and closely partile separating) inner planet aspects include the Lunation conjunct Venus and Mars, trielftile Jupiter, trine Saturn, trine Uranus opposed Neptune, and sesquisquare Pluto; Mercury is conjunct Venus, the Sun, and Mars, biseptile Jupiter, quadraelftile Saturn, trine Uranus, opposition Neptune and sesquisquare Pluto; Venus is conjunct Mars, square Jupiter, trine Saturn, trine Uranus, opposed Neptune and quadraelftile Pluto; and Mars is square Jupiter, trine Saturn, trine Uranus, opposed Neptune, and sesquisquare Pluto.
Outer planet aspects include Jupiter semisextile Saturn, square Neptune, and decile Pluto; Saturn makes no aspects to Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto, and Uranus is again semisquare Neptune, associated with the general friction in the collective atmosphere without the nonrational energies of the biseptile from Saturn or to Pluto.
Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology
As you’ve read in other articles, 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.
The Rhombus Diamond configuration will be perfected this year when the Moon is in Scorpio on September 2-3, as it will semisquare Venus in mid-Virgo, oppose Uranus, and sesquisquare Neptune at the same time as Venus opposes Neptune and sesquisquares Uranus. Even when the Moon doesn’t perfect the pattern, it will be perfected every day when the local Ascendant is in early Scorpio, as long as the Virgo planets all oppose Neptune and sesquisquare Uranus. This implies a LOT of friction polishing us to perfection in early September!
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
This month we’re back to a large number of spiritual aspects, but very few specializing aspects. Of the specializing aspects, we have only 1 decile. Of the spiritual aspects, we have quite a few more, including 2 trielftiles, 2 quadraelftiles, and 1 biseptile.
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 5 signs in an extraordinarily skewed distribution. We have 1 planet in Fire (inspiration and warmth), EIGHT planets in Earth (practical grounding), 1 in Water (feelings and experiencing), and no planets in Air (relatedness and communicating). This month we have Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, Taurus, and Virgo 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 extremely cool, practical, and grounded. It should be good for getting a lot done, especially for those who can make checklists of what to do and when, in a specific order.
Because the New Moon falls in Virgo, Mercury in Virgo is the planet currently leading the Sun. That makes our guardian angels and inner powers of competent service as gatekeepers of the planetary energy we need to approach the Greater Light. Be open to seeing your Divine Service, see the vaster forces of compassionate redemption in play, and look for signs and signals of Divine Mother energy which will be pervasive thanks to Mercury’s exact conjunction with TransPluto. This is a Lunation where we will be guided to our Soul if only we are willing to let go of worry, criticism, and over analyzing situations where Divine Grace is in the air. These are the ways to be led 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 brings a new pattern, as Venus has now moved ahead of the Sun.
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 thinking, communicating, understanding, and envisioning, followed by a decision or action. Once a decision has been made and an action done, then we must go deep within to experience what we’re feeling as a result of that decision and/or action.
This pattern leads with the mind, then uses the idea, vision, or communication to make a decision it can act on. However, there is a tendency to get caught in self-reinforcing perceptions and actions which confirm those perceptions, while ignoring what we’re experiencing as we move through ideas and actions. So use your mind to see how to act, but then after enough thinking and doing has happened, this pattern MUST slow down and feel what it’s experiencing. This pattern is extraordinarily perceptive and effective, but needs to remember to experience Life as Being while doing all that must be done.
So lead with your thinking, your vision, your understanding, and then do what you have to do. After you’ve decided or acted, feel what you’re experiencing based in that action or decision. This will naturally lead to a new vision, a new understanding, and a new perception. Let your feeling follow your doing, and new understanding will naturally arise. If you’re perplexed as to what to do, go to your feelings, since they’ll lead you to an understanding.
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! Especially with the current dynamic of the inner planets in Virgo square Jupiter, this period can release the potential of the Leo trines through the current Virgo trines to Saturn. Last month stabilized our practical inspiration and inspired practicality, and this month releases those energies in precise forms!
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 Lunation helps us get grounded, and see how our practical efforts of 2018 now are solid life structures which will help us with all material matters for the next month. Angels and divine help are in the air, as are redemption and the beginnings of trained creative expression. We just have to learn to put the down times to good use, unveil what needs unveiling, and find our unique and specific practical function in the fogs and confusion of the collective consciousness.
We continue to train to use power in different ways which will be needed later this year, and this period demands we continue to awaken to a new life. This is a time to rest and relax, being ready to act if necessary, and not falling into conflict because we don’t know what’s ahead. We’ve entered into a new dialog with inner “whispers of wisdom,” and use foresight to see what’s coming down the road. We all are in a search for transcendent security while learning to accept those things which will yield major rewards in 2020 and beyond.
So we enter a period of narrowly focused training, service, and preparation for new ways of relating to others in a few weeks. Be willing to train however you need to, see the usefulness of small things, pay attention to details, and you will find yourself understanding how to use your personal power cultivated in 2018. This is a time of slow, steady growth in learning the place and function of things, seeing what’s core and what’s peripheral. Remember that you’re training for mastery, and in the hands of a master, no material goes unused or unappreciated.
A new love and vision has now taken flight in our lives, and our past sacrifices have brought us new power and new ways to focus our spiritual intention. Jupiter continues to be the oracle of the omens of things to come, and Saturn is our coach, training us to do group work in the future.
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 many things came to the surface through the Summer oppositions which are being anchored as practical methods to mastery in late August and early September. As Saturn is training us for group work to come next year and beyond, remember that as you make inner Saturn your friend, you’ll overcome fear and be able to embrace your higher Destiny.
If you’re wondering what that would look like, 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
Thank you for two very clear and comprehensive posts on this New Moon.
Truly enlightening and helpful.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | August 29, 2019 at 07:04 PM
“...in the hands of a master no material goes unused or unappreciated.”
That’s a powerful reminder. Thank you.
Posted by: Sharada Devi | August 30, 2019 at 07:27 AM
Thanks dear Robert, seriously helpful...deep go the roots.
The harem when not being used and abused my man was drinking tea and solving world problems...
Posted by: sue | August 31, 2019 at 07:09 AM