by Robert Wilkinson
New Moon Annular Solar eclipse coming soon! The next month will be a time when many things will be communicated as other things shut down in the Libra area of our charts. This is a “fork in the road” eclipse, where many will experience “the iron fist in the velvet glove” and a clear flow forward, releasing parts of the past we no longer need.
This Lunation introduces a new focus wherever we have 11 Libra, a degree of a “kindly professor” trying to assist others in learning what they need to learn. Be willing to cooperate, even if it seems like something is falling apart. There is the promise of healing in this eclipse if we can be elegant in letting go while accepting the new.
At this time of year, we approach the final oppositions to Uranus as Venus closes in on Her next conjunction with Pluto in early December. Due to where the inner planets are now, the focus of activity these next 4 weeks is in the 31+ degree span which includes Mercury and the eclipse in mid-Libra and Venus in mid-Scorpio.
An Overview of the New Moon
Today we’ll do an overview of the Lunation and some of its primary qualities. In part 2 we’ll cover Sabian Symbols, aspects, distributions, and patterns.
This initiating, balancing, healing, recalibrating, moderate, and idealistic New Moon Solar eclipse at 11 Libra occurs at 11:49 am PDT, 7:49 pm BST on October 2. This is the second of the last three New Moons with Pluto in Capricorn for centuries to come. The next New Moon with Pluto in Aquarius will be the Sagittarius New Moon on Nov 30/Dec 1.
All of this year’s Lunations with Pluto in Aquarius have assisted the sprouting of Aquarian seeds which will impact generations to come. This one in Libra helps us find a new balance, a new perspective, and a new rhythm of movement through the Libra Yods coming this month as we embrace the flow of the Grand Water Trine between Venus, Mars, and Saturn. This will help us recalibrate as we navigate the flow of those deep waters of feeling.
This month continues the annoyance of Saturn semisquare Pluto, with added friction from the eclipse square Mars and sesquisquares Uranus. However, there are also some very specializing harmonious aspects made by the Lunation to Jupiter and Pluto, promising unique interactive gifts, and the Lunation’s triseptile to Saturn puts us at a turning point where we will actively shed what we won’t need in 2025!
At this time of year the Sun shines a light on all of us in our Libra sector, allowing us to take the heart energy and creative power of Leo and express it as an ideal. We’re still on a trip “back to the future,” with important decisions coming down after 2 years of consideration at the deepest of spiritual levels. What stable service did Virgo reveal? Who and what do you serve? This month brings pleasing form and balance to those things.
This New Moon will jumpstart Libra energy wherever it falls in our chart. As that sign is now a focus of activity, along with a healthy dose of the middle degrees of Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, be alert to the flow of things, know when to move and when to be still, and because of where Venus, ruler of the eclipse is at this time, meet others at the highest level of interaction. Be an ambassador or diplomat as a way to integrate your energies to a more holistic way of Being.
So What Rules the Lunation?
This New Moon in Libra has Venus in Scorpio as its ruler. As Virgo is in the axis of the Archetype of the Archetype of the Lover/Relator, we enter a time of old ways of relating to others ending while other, more elegant and elevated and refined forms come forth. Again, this eclipse will have effects which manifest for 6 years, so settle into teaching and being taught, assisting and being assisted. This is the Light of Divine Relationship where we learn how to be elegant in our dances with others, balanced and fair and reasonable and moderate in our assessments.
So this Lunation is ruled by Venus in Scorpio, which is ruled by Mars in Cancer which is ruled by the Moon in Libra. Mercury’s in Libra, ruled by Venus; Jupiter’s in Gemini, ruled by Mercury; Saturn in Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, Uranus in Taurus is ruled by Venus, Pluto is ruled by Saturn, and as usual, Neptune occupies its home sign continuing as a long wave “standalone” dispositor of itself, ruling the fogs and mists of the current collective consciousness.
So this month we have a “chain of dispositors” of Venus, Mars, and the Moon ruling all the planets except Neptune. You can find out more about dispositors in general, chains of dispositors, and mutual reception by going to dispositors and Mutual Reception at the link.
Who Leads the Light?
At this time, since Mercury made the Superior conjunction on September 30 at 11 Libra, the “gateway to the light” is Mars at 16 Cancer. This indicates the “entry to illumination” involves an awareness of the need for positive actions to integrate our personality, or integrate our life affairs in a way which is meaningful for us. Be balanced as you do your integration practices, and as Mars is in the Grand Water trine, learn to go with the flow without insecurity or clutching at things.
Mars will continue to be the gateway to the Light until the next time the Moon conjuncts Mars on October 23, when it will lead the Light through the November New Moon. After that Mars will resume being the gateway to the Light until the next Inferior conjunction of Mercury with the Sun in early December, when Mercury will again be the gateway to the Light. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often overlooked part of understanding how the planets work in sequence.
The Sun/Moon Sequence and Its Shifts
There are two patterns: one with the Sun in the same sign as the Sun in the following Full Moon (New Moon between 1-15 degrees of a sign), and one with the Sun in a different sign than it’s in at the following Full Moon (New Moon between 16-30 degrees of a sign). I term these the “Natural” pattern and the “Alternate” pattern, since the Natural pattern shows a continuity of the Light, whereas the Alternate pattern bridges the Light across two signs. Each pattern has its importance in the Soli-Lunar sequence, and at the end of each period of the Natural pattern we shift into a pattern which “bridges the Light” across two different Light signs in the Lunation cycle.
We are now at the fourth New Moon in many months where the Sun sign of the New Moon is also the Sun sign of the following Full Moon. We’ve just finished an era when the New Moon Sun sign was different than the Sun sign of the following Full Moon. Last month was the third one in the new sequence, as the New Moon Sun was at 12 Virgo and the Full Moon Sun was at 26 Virgo. This month’s Full Moon Sun is at 25 Libra. This indicates that we’ve returned to a time when the illuminated seed forms of the New Moon are the same energies which will find fulfillment at the Full Moon.
The New Moons and Full Moons are “God’s footprints in time.” Each shows the next in the 12 phases of how things come to be each year. The cycle could be described as follows: Life energy is initiated in Aries, substantiated in Taurus, explored in Gemini, grounded in Cancer, renewed and creatively expressed in Leo, refined and ordered in Virgo, balanced and made pleasing in Libra, purified and focused in Scorpio, expanded in Sagittarius, organized in Capricorn, solidified into a vision in Aquarius, and ended/perpetuated in Pisces.
Eclipses Effects in Play
The 2023 and 2024 Solar eclipses have been removing parts of our lives where we have 30 Aries, 20 Aries, and 22 Libra. We now care about other things, have a new focus, and can join with others for mutual strengthening. We continue to eliminate old ways of self-expression and equivocating in relationships, and now have eliminated old associations to create space to join with others to overcome “seasonal impotency.”
We are now freed of many old ideals and areas we used to work within. All of these eclipses ask us “What is the purpose to what you leave behind and what you’re moving into?” Certainly the April is shutting down some things in our Aries sector so we may grow toward the stellium conjunct the North Node in Aries. Since April we’re moving in new directions with new people!
Jupiter and Saturn
Jupiter’s conjunction with Uranus at 22 Taurus began a new 13 year adventure into new lives. That conjunction theme is about us seeing “the white dove flying over troubled waters” which promises that our ordeal is completed and we are or will see a sign from Spirit announcing a new day, a new land, and a new life wherever we have 22 Taurus. Mars activated that energy right before it conjuncted Uranus at 27 Taurus in mid-July.
Jupiter is now in Gemini and having made its first waxing square to Saturn, approaches its stationary retrograde degree of 22 Gemini. Jupiter square Saturn happens three time over an 11 month span. We had the first one in mid-August is from 17 Gemini to 17 Pisces. The second one happens Christmas eve from 15 Gemini to 15 Pisces. The third one is next June and falls from 2 Cancer to 2 Aries. As it’s fairly non-stop between now and then, the mutable squares require we bring forth healthy Virgo and Sag responses, and next Summer, healthy Libra and Capricorn responses.
Saturn is extraordinarily important in this New Moon because of the Grand Water trine with two of the main planets in the chain of dispositors ruling the other planets. We also see it in a triseptile with the eclipse and Mercury, activating two points in a “7 Pointed Star of Destiny.” I’ll speak of these aspects and more in the next part of this series.
It’s still doing its review of 13 to 20 Pisces, promising us nourishment and rewards at “the end of our day of labor.” As this New Moon is opposed Saturn, throw off any vague heaviness or worry related to ghosts of the past, unveil what needs unveiling, and it should lead to a renewal of some sort. The best thing Saturn has going these days is the quintile to Uranus, setting up several powerful voids bringing gifts, unique developments, and quintessential experiences and blessings to those with planets near 13-17 Pisces, 25-29 Taurus, 7-11 Leo, 19-23 Libra, and 1-5 Capricorn.
We’re now solidly in the next stage of our life renewal as we experience “non-local awareness” with our Spiritual Sisters and Brothers within the One Life. We now are “finding nourishment,” have “walked with our wisdom,” and now get to participate in a collective renewal. We’ve been revising many ideas and some have been called to a greater stage. If called to perform, don’t hesitate! Saturn in Pisces certainly tests our compassion for everything and everyone!
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn now sails the open seas of Pisces, the part of us learning to be spiritually mature and grateful for our understanding of healthy boundaries and self-disciplines is now in a seascape of the collective feelings of all humanity over all time. This is a powerful restructuring spiritual force wherever we have mid-Pisces in our chart. Saturn now leads us in a Master Class in compassion and forgiveness practices, and learning a sober view of the collective human condition.
Between 2018 and early 2023, Saturn taught us to be more spiritually effective within a group work than we were before that period. We’ve used those skills since then in our Capricorn and Aquarius areas to achieve closures, helping us prepare for the new era coming when Saturn enters Aries in May of 2025.
Making friends with our inner Saturn is the most important thing we can do to fulfill our spiritual destiny. If you want to know more about your power to throw off oppressive chains, limitations, and fears, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our power to fulfill our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.
The book offers ways to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to master life on your own terms. As Saturn is such a dominant energy in life, by owning our ability to demonstrate Saturn's virtues, we take command of our destiny and become the living purpose we were born to make manifest!
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will assist your understanding of how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and power to turn away from unhelpful karmic cause and effect patterns. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.
A Look Back - The Great Compression of 2020 in Capricorn Still Affects Us
As mentioned earlier, we’re now in the fifth year of a long term focus wherever we have late Capricorn and early Aquarius in our charts. In the first 90 days of 2020, we had a “Great Compression” of planets involving Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto all making conjunctions in the last decan of Capricorn, setting off a number of Saturn cycles, one of which will last 33 years! We then began an accelerated phase of our collective spiritual evolution which will take us from the threshold of the Age of Aquarius into the Age itself.
You can find out more about the very powerful Sun, Mercury, and Saturn's conjunctions with Pluto by revisiting The Great Compression of January 2020 – Mercury, Sun, Saturn and Pluto all Conjunct in Capricorn. That lays out the long wave patterns set into motion then.
Because of the Capricorn conjunctions set in motion in 2020, we reorganized our lives wherever we have late Capricorn in our charts. These cycles will impact all of us for some time to come. Especially with three Jupiter conjunctions with Pluto that year, it’s easy to see that for better or worse things were “expansively purified.”
When Mars conjuncted Saturn at 1 Aquarius on March 31, 2020, it set a cycle into motion which began to expand into a global system at the December 2020 Grand Mutation on the same degree. That Jupiter/Saturn conjunction launched both a new 20 year Aquarian cycle AND a new 200 year era of Jupiter/Saturn conjunctions in Air signs. That means less materialism than the past 200 years, with more focus on our commonality and ability to share ideas over the next 200.
Saturn in Aquarius led us to understand a more timeless role to play to help create a better world. Since then we have deepened with Saturn in Pisces. As always, Saturn in the harvest signs at the end of the zodiac challenge us to ask “What is our purpose? What structures and self-disciplines do we need to fulfill the ideal of that purpose?”
Neptune in Pisces and Chiron in Aries
In this chart, Chiron is at 22 Aries. Since its retrograde station, we’ve had doors open to “concentrated doses of spiritual energies” for the rest of the year. Chiron is said to help us “heal into our Higher Self” and the themes of 24 Aries promise “good fortune upon the putting forth of effort.” Be receptive to higher energies, as they’re blowing through our mind-windows everywhere!
Chiron involves mentoring or being mentored, assisting or being assisted related to these themes. This will help us focus our potency or move us toward our potential. Chiron is now moving us forward in the level of social or emotional potency. This month puts the focus on 22 Aries showing our optimism should be a healing sensation.
In the bigger picture, Jupiter’s conjunction with Chiron in early 2023 began a very long wave healing and mentoring cycles wherever we have mid- Aries. Because Chiron’s last direct station was at 16 Aries, it means in 2024 Chiron is mentoring us and teaching us how to heal into our Higher Self through getting a new inspiration while seeing the relationship between the conscious and unconscious sides of life.
This continues our adventure related to Chiron’s healing and mentoring energies in the second decan of Aries. We now have two major Chironic themes in play: one was set into motion when Mars recently conjuncted Chiron in Aries in 2024, which I explained in Mars Conjunct Chiron at 23 Aries. The other major Chironic cycle was set into motion when Chiron went stationary direct, which I wrote about in Astrology Healing Cycles in 2024 - Chiron Stationary Direct at 16 Aries.
So Aries continues to dominate the Mars/Chiron cycle, with a new long wave Chironic pulse added at the Jupiter/Chiron cycle which began at 15 Aries in March 2023. This began a new cycle of “the expansive healer,” “opportunities to mentor and be mentored,” and "healing and teaching through humor." The last Jupiter/Chiron conjunction happened in late Aquarius in 2009, and this one lasts through 2036 when they meet again at 17 Gemini. This is an important cycle which will help us “heal into our Higher Self” at crucial points over the next 13 years.
Neptune now approaches the end of its depth immersion in its home sign of Pisces, and now is in its long term stay in the last decan, ruled by Scorpio with an added dose of Mars. This is “the end of the end” of the 360 degree “Whole Cycle,” and so encompasses all of the ghosts and unfulfilled mysteries of this past 150 year cycle since it was last here. It also allows us to purify and forgive much of the past and move into a deeper compassion regarding suffering humanity.
This New Moon shows Neptune at 29 Pisces, a degree of seeing how the parts relate to the whole, and how at the end of a cycle the whole splits into its parts, like white light splitting into the spectrum. We stand at a threshold where the future is just around the corner, so be clear about what you want to see made manifest in the next era. We are in a time which is a prelude to a new collective mindset coming in mid-2025. We began an acceleration in this “disintegration” energy when Mars conjuncted Neptune on this degree in late April. The end of Pisces allows us expanded “non-local knowing.”
Summing Up - The Big Picture
The Capricorn conjunctions of early 2020 continue to condition the long wave cycles unfolding since then even as we simultaneously build a new Aquarian social-spiritual ideal. Jupiter raced through Pisces and Aries at perihelion after its time in Aquarius and opened infinite potentials to be actualized over the next 20 years. What Jupiter opened in 2021, Saturn crystallized in 2022, and the promise of fortunate endings made when Jupiter was in mid Pisces February-March 2022 is now being made real by Saturn.
We’re now at a stage where, having heard Saturn’s “call to self-renewal,” we have been flowing into our mastery, our archetypal Self, and our part to play in the bigger picture of our spiritual journey. With Saturn in Pisces, while endings may feel heavy, the immediate lightness which follows helps move us into a new life adventure.
We are now solidly in the dawning of the emergent Pluto in Aquarius era, with new work to be done and new lands appearing. This is a turning point in our relationships, so express your heart, your play, your creativity, and see how all of these are related to relationships in the past. We are now on a new adventure, so enjoy the clarity of Uranus trine Pluto. We are learning how to stabilize and express the dawning Plutonic seeds of the emerging Aquarian era, so things will be very “transitional” from now through 2025.
Summing Up – The Immediate Picture
We now enter a race to complete some things, get other things ready for movement forward in the Spring of 2025, and are in a time of greater “feeling awareness” with the Grand Water Trine. This eclipse will help us release old superficial ways of relating to others, and enable us to see how to assists and teach from a different perspective.
We attained some stability via the Grand Earth Trines of September, began a healing process which continues, and became clearer about what we’re taking forward and how some things are fracturing at the end of their shelf life. This is a time to a) rededicate ourselves to deeper work and deeper knowledge or b) come up for fresh air and sunshine.
Venus is about as favorable as it can be despite being in the sign of its “exile.” As mentioned earlier, meet and greet others at a high level of interaction, with grace and elegance and diplomacy, and you’ll find yourself operating at a much more ambassadorial level as a result of this eclipse. Venus in Scorpio is regenerative, and being ruled by Mars, it seems personality integration and psychological healing are available for those who can read the flow.
Remember that in this North Node in Aries/South Node in Libra era, Aries wants to get it in gear and Libra wants to look good doing it! As the North Node is in Aries, be willing “to boldly go where you’ve never gone before.” This month shows growth in multiple realms requiring us to “uplift the weak” and “tame the strong.” Keep demonstrating balance and you’ll glide through the occasional tensions.
This is a month of preparation and recalibration as we move into the Mars retrograde period coming soon. With the Grand Water Trine, move with the flow, taking responsibility for letting go and facilitating the flow as you navigate deep feelings. Release things of lesser importance and focus on stabilizing the plan forward. Use creative imagination, concentration, and a sense of the flow to move into new training. Focus on what you care about and what you need to nurture as you seek the Light, and in spite of the fogs of Pisces obscuring our vision, remember the wisdom of Nelson Wilbury, “If you don’t know where you’re going any road will take you there.”
Final Thoughts
In 2020-2022, Capricorn helped us to find new forms of social power, while Aquarius took it into a much vaster context of a greater good. As you journey into the “new lands” promised by the recent Jupiter conjunctions with Uranus, remember enlightenment is a verb, not a noun, and our connection with the World Soul allows us to act in harmony with “All That Is.”
Because of our total immersion in Aquarian energy in 2021-2022, we’ve received innovative ideas and know who our spiritual allies are. In the past 3 years we’ve broken away, broken free, and broken through whatever used to block our flow. We approach a new cooperative era, and we’re now in a time of new initiatives!
We’re still becoming more conscious of our interrelatedness within the spiritual field and moving through an immersion in a new sensitivity to the generic human condition. The new era dawning will show us that we are in fact individual sparks of Light within an infinite ocean of Light. We are not separate from any other thing, since all things are Light and therefore we are one with All.
This is the beginning of the beginning of a new 200 year era. The powerful forces being released at times may be chaotic, violent, intractable, and irrational, but there is power in our unified vision of a better future. Stay clear about what your vision is, and let go of all which prevents you from flying free with your Spiritual Brothers and Sisters into a better future. Keep the course steady despite the compressed tensions of this time, and know we’re on our way into the future together!
And now, a word from our sponsor!
Because Venus occupies 12 Scorpio and is the ruler of the eclipse, She is very powerful behind the scenes AND as a navigator directing the Grand Water Trine. As She is the first inner planet to enter Scorpio this year, She heralds what this year’s experience of that sign is about. And because She rules Uranus, she is also a factor in the renewal promised by that planet and the ways of offering wisdom in this chart.
As Venus is leading the other planets, She will be the herald for coming transits for the rest of the year as She is the first to move through Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sag, Capricorn and Aquarius through the end of this year. That shows our feelings will be very important as a way to process experience from now through next Spring. This month (and for the next 6 years!) She favors individual and spiritual interactions at the highest level of social dignity. And the Grand Water Trine will bring understanding and stability to planets we have in the middle degrees of the Earth and Water signs.
If you want to know more about Venus in Libra, Scorpio, and all the other signs, as well as explore your ability to change what and who you attract to your lives, finding your heart’s desire and a lot of joyous relationships which fulfill your Soul, please consider getting your copy of my book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.
It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and takes a deep dive into how our Venus shapes why we like or don’t like the people and things we do, and how we can change our patterns of attraction to make future relationships more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angles of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and worldly experience.
I’ve heard it helps people find strength to turn away from unhealthy relationships and understand how not to attract anything similar in the future. It examines the qualities in healthy relationships and friendships, and offers tips on how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.
It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)
See you soon with part 3, which will cover Sabian Symbols, Jones patterns, element distribution, and a whole lot more!
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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