NewMoon Notes: April 2010
Happy Aries NewMoon! Oh joy of rebirth! We are one and all made new for the season, at least to the degree that we want to be. Spring is upon the Northern Hemisphere in earnest; the quality of the light has changed profoundly over the last month, and the obscuring smog of late-winter lethargy has been dispelled.
Aries always brings a sense of returning to oneself, as if awakening from a dream. The memory of past adventures fades, and our previous accomplishments don't seem quite so satisfying anymore. The lure of the future captures our attention and causes us to point, like a hunting dog, towards the unscripted infinite potential of the yet unknown.
I was asked last month what happened to the "February doom and gloom letter", meaning the ArkLetter that I failed to send out during my distracted period.
Oh really? My doom and gloom letter? Hmmmm....
Almost immediately, my inner apologist started throwing out defenses for my past writings. Am I really that much of a pessimist? Aren't I all about helping people 'reframe and re-aim', so to speak? What about all the encouragement I'm constantly dishing out to grease the wheels of positive imagination? You all know that I'm trying to help, I'm trying to look out for our collective best interests, right?
But after that little dust storm died down, I realized -- I'm still a Libra, and I still see things as basically mixy/mixy. Life is invariably six of one, half dozen of the other. Some things coming, some thing going, like the Wheel card in the Tarot. My preferred stance is at the fulcrum, rather than in this or that pan of the scales. As far as I can tell, nothing about that attitude has changed lately, despite the headlines.
Nevertheless it is true that I do have a sense of concern about this year as it unfolds. People are resilient, and Nature is too, but even an organism as big as our planet has limits and fragilities. My wonderfully pragmatic mother reminds me that humanity is huge, and imponderably creative, having hauled itself out of many a near miss over our long and mostly unwritten history.
Even so, I feel obligated to pass along the intuitions that pop up in my psycho-sphere, trusting you to filter the information your own way. (And frankly, I'll be thrilled to be wrong about some of the intimations that come to me in unguarded moments!)
NewMoon Points To A Yod
This month's NewMoon chart fulfills my mixed-bag expectations perfectly. It very nearly sets up as a full-on Yod or Finger of God, ranged along the opposition between Saturn and Uranus. Neptune is exactly one sign behind Uranus, and the NewMoon is ~nearly~ but not quite a full sign ahead. (Actually, on Saturday this figure will be exact, but by then the Moon will have moved away.)
It's that little bit of inexactitude that relieves this NewMoon moment from being utterly identified with the Judgment of Saturn. The pattern is just slightly shy of its full potential. This allows our beautiful NewMoon chart to be electrified by the opposition between Uranus and Saturn, without the Sun and Moon being completely co-opted by the push-me-pull-ye of entanglement with inconjuncts and semisextiles.
Thank Heaven for this small favor! We have a few days to get square in the saddle before this figure truly jells and delivers its fullest impact.
Let me continue to muse on this just a little bit more, because it really is a dramatic image that presages a sharp critique and possible reckoning popping into focus in the collective mind.
The Yod or Finger of God has the significance for Astrology that the Hanged Man has in the Tarot ; everything is suddenly upended and suspended, hanging by a thread held by an unseen hand. Invariably, whoever or whatever finds itself in this situation experiences true and irredeemable helplessness. The central opposition (Uranus to Saturn in this case) demonstrates in stark black-and-white terms the extremes that bring the precariousness of the situation to light.
Flanking inconjuncts (Neptune to Saturn and Sun to Saturn) demonstrate torturous paradoxes that hedge in the freedom of the principals and constrain their choices nearly completely. Situations that correspond to this Finger of God/Hanged Man energy are rarely fatal, but they are often maximally stressful and always require that we be stripped of our dignity as well as any falsity or excess we might have accumulated in the previous cycle.
As an additional feature, by Saturday (April 17th), Jupiter will have entered into an undeniable conjunction with Uranus, exaggerating and multiplying the significance of Uranus' hangdog dilemma.
At that point Saturn , the outermost visible planet, will not only be opposing his younger brother Jupiter, who represents expansion (in contrast with Saturn's constriction) - Saturn will also, simultaneously be opposing his older slower brother Uranus, who represents individuality and creativity (contrasting with Saturn's conservatism and conformity). This alone suggests that we are witnessing the setup to a Clash of Titans scenario.
Now what national or international development seems to be echoing this circumstance that we playing out in the heavens above? Could it be the increasingly tense standoff between the very elite saturnine global financial players (heads of the giant multinational corporations, the too-big-to-fail financial institutions, and the government functionaries on their payrolls) versus virtually the entire rest of the world?
Granted, I'm painting with a broad brush here, but we are talking about the expression of an archetypal situation, after all. I'm sure that you, dear readers, could fill in the blanks with examples of parallel double binds from your own lives without much trouble.
At whatever scale this drama plays out, it looks to me like "the little guy" is hoist on the corporate/global economic petard. In the short run, the sovereign individual (Uranus) seems to suffer the indignity of being made subject to a constrictive, punitive regime (Saturn). We are under Virgo's microscope, and Saturn is carefully scrutinizing our every muscle, nerve and bone.
I'm glad to note that there are several fortunate and beneficial indicators, to counterbalance the above stressors. Remember, this slow-rolling Finger of God with Uranus also exposes us to the conjunction with Jupiter, which is almost always a fortunate indicator. Since the action is happening in Jupiter's home sign of Pisces, I'm intuiting that there will be flashes of opportunity, which, if we are quick to adjust our game plan, we can use to compensate ourselves for the losses sustained in the turn-around.
Further, the Moon will cross over Venus and Mercury in Taurus in the days between NewMoon and the following Saturday, before the Finger of God reaches exactitude. This counsels staying open for an influx of ingenious, attractive and practical ideas that help to smooth your transition and reward your flexibility.
All in all, this period between NewMoon and the following weekend looks potentially fateful for our collective history, representing some kind of pivot or lever, which later we might look back on and say "that's when the changes started coming on thick and fast -- that's when it began to seem that we had crossed an inflection point and had arrived on the other side of the coin".
Other Points of Focus for our NewMoon Chart
One of the first three-sided regular figures to grab my attention is the septile triangle between NewMoon, Mars and Saturn. This narrow wedge slices through all the busyness of the chart and binds the NewMoon to the two planets at the farthest distance from it.
Because this triangle is made of pure septiles (division of the circle by 7) this figure has a very strong karmic quality to it overall, no matter what planets define its corners. The need for a "face the music" moment has been building up at the margins for some time, so now we are surrounded by it; there is no avoiding it regardless of what route we take. The sympathetic connection between NewMoon and Mars (both in fire signs, communicating along the tri-septile) suggests that the benefit goes to those who can spontaneously ignite, shape-shift freely and roar into action on a moment's notice.
Saturn in Virgo, by contrast, is so over-determined and bounded by constraining 'shoulds' that his only option is to hunker down where he is and endure. He's trying to complete his retrograde cycle, after all, so he can't simply drop everything to concentrate on the Aries/Leo impulse pouring in on him through this septile triangle. The energy is showering down around him, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears, so to speak.
Actually, if you look at Saturn by himself, you can see that he has intense aspects with the conjunctions on either side of NewMoon as well. His opposition to Uranus (and soon Jupiter) in Pisces defines the "tenor of the times", in that it will obtain for months, getting stronger and more exact as Uranus and Jupiter cross over into early Aries. The full transit will last across most of the upcoming summer.
Just to string some key words together, the symbolism suggests 'unpredictable crazy-lucky genius confronting the enforcer of the collective limits', all happening in the signs that highlight the experiential gap between the individual and the collective. I wonder how that will be working out, do you think?
I frankly don't think that Saturn is going to prevail in this contest, so my advice would be to place your bets on the relentless forward-moving power of Uranus and Jupiter to redefine this conversation as time unfolds. It's another great signature for mold breaking and precedent exceeding, but understandably distressing for the enforcers of conformity and predictability.
The Pisces planets are right now working their magic from the grass-roots level to dissolve the shell around Saturn's containment strategies. Once Uranus and Jupiter roll into Aries, we'll see the sprouting of a million seeds of change.
The final arrow in Saturn's quiver is his inconjunct with Neptune, which looks to me like a wake-up call for all of us who might have been dozing at the wheel, living on faith, a wing and a prayer. Faster-moving Saturn in Virgo is registering displeasure with Neptune's wobbly performance while crossing the last degrees of Aquarius.
Remember, both Capricorn and Aquarius are Saturn's traditional native lands. He is demanding an accounting of Neptune, like any good Virgo investigator, enquiring whether we can anymore afford to believe the fables being peddled by news analysts, school textbooks, religious leaders or the think tanks of the political parties.
It seems like, wherever Saturn sticks the point of his penknife, a crack begins to open and a new cover-up is revealed. Our so-called authorities, the leaders and figureheads upon whom we have been vesting our trust (keyed to the sigh of Aquarius), just keep disappointing us with their lame behaviors and their even lamer excuses. Public esteem abandons them more every week, as events expose their devastatingly poor choices and criminally suspect affiliations.
In the long run, it is probably good that the populace is becoming more critical, even a bit cynical -- if we can manage to do so without bursting into open hostility, that is. We need to wake up from our trance of hero-worship and party loyalty, so that we can ask ourselves the hard questions and then, depending our answers, reset our goals more in line with enlightened self-interest.
The day we stop fobbing the important issues off to that cabal of detached, lobbyist-owned 'representatives' over in Washington and our state Capitols, that's the day we'll take our first steps back to true self-determinism, eventually crafting liberty and justice for all. This type of freedom cannot be granted by any outside source, however, because it is actually built by the individual, one choice at a time, according to one's own inner compass and map.
Our challenge is to shake off the laziness that has held us entranced with the idea that "smart and capable people are taking care of the aspects of my reality that I can't control". No, they are not; the people in question are dog paddling in circles just like you and me, because they are scared shitless and don't know what to do either.
If there's something you care about, which impinges upon your ability to go forward in your life, you have to get busy yourself and craft your solutions from materials that are within your present grasp. There isn't time to wait until Congress or the House gets a bill passed, you know what I mean?
Step lively and start right now, living the change you need to see in your life. Don't wait around to find out what fate delivers -- be proactive and assert your own fate. I think this is the substance of Saturn in Virgo's critique; if you don't like the way things are working out, why haven't you changed it yet? No more kicking the can down the road, waiting to see what "the experts" will say.
Stop projecting and exporting your power of agency onto anybody or anything outside your own body/mind. Take the risk and consult your mind, heart and gut, and believe what you learn. If there's anything that all three of them agree on, then that becomes your lodestone going forward. There is no higher authority than your own self-knowledge.
A few last remarks about this NewMoon...
There are some figures buried in the chart that might be relevant to one or another reader in a personal way, depending upon the lay of your birth chart:
*A lovely triangle of noviles extends from Venus to Mars and Neptune. (The North Node wants to join the party too, though technically the space between Neptune and N. Node is a little wide. Your call!) This looks conducive to meditation, inner dialogue, and visions whether waking or sleeping. Consider the workings of your inner life, the 'theater of the mind', to be exceptionally interesting and relevant these days. Make extra time to hang out with yourself in there, studying the action and the unfolding of the dialogue between Venus and Mars (with Neptune as their mediator).
*In terms of most aspects received, the Mercury/Venus conjunction and Mars are equal. Even the NewMoon's wider orbs didn't give it any advantage in this instance. The trine/sextile extending from Mercury/Venus to the Nodes looks quite open to all kinds of interactions and transactions to me. Add in the novile-family aspects converging on Mars from the N. Node, Neptune and Venus, and you get the impression of a very social, networked, accessible interface amongst a number of related interests. To me this looks like a boom in small-is-beautiful enterprises that grow because of the World Wide Web.
*Here's an interesting hourglass-shaped figure, based on the cross inconjuncts of Pluto/Mars and Neptune/Saturn. In this case each end of the X is closed with a septile, both from Neptune to Pluto and from Mars to Saturn. I don't remember seeing a figure like this before! The presence of so many slow-moving planets in the figure suggests there a karmic component to the arrangement, which isn't surprising because Saturn is one of the planets involved. Looks to me like another story about the trouble we get into when we cut corners and depart from the narrow road of virtue in some area of our lives. Whatever has been swept under the rug is bound to come out, so are we going to 'fess up, or will we keep looking the other way, whistling past the graveyard, hoping it will all blow over if ignored long enough? Those who have not double-crossed themselves will have nothing to worry about from this aspect, thought they might be pained to see who ends up 'hoist on their own petard'.
If there's any last message to pass on from this chart, it is the very strong suggestion to individuate quite aggressively right now, popping all your stitches and assuming the most natural shape you can maintain going forward.
With so much energy spread across the cusp of Pisces and Aries, there's a nearly irresistible urge to throw off all masks, disguises, costumes or uniforms and "let your freak flag fly", in so many words. We all have an amazing array of talents, energies, interests, gifts, and natural aptitudes, many of which have probably had to be largely overlooked so that we could fit into the cookie-cutter jobs and cookie-cutter lives that this culture provides.
To the extent we keep ourselves confined within the dimensions that are approved by and convenient for the mass culture, we lose a lot of our uniqueness, authenticity, and potential for spontaneous evolution. I'm suggesting here that we need to reach inside ourselves and lay our hands on our unexpressed potential, however that shows itself.
Go with the assumption that you are destined to thrive in times like these, so you will be provided with the energy and the vision to pull it off. Fearlessly trust that your true genius and luck magnet (Uranus and Jupiter) are cued up and ready to offer their services.
If we don't fight the change, these two are enough to provide saving grace and balancing restoration, not only for you, but for your family, community, and region as well. Look around and you'll find your tribe right at hand, with everybody awakening from their walking trances on the verge of newborn freedom and delight.
Best blessings to all!
cpt
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CURRENT STAGE OF THE MOON - April 14, 2010:
NewMoon is at 24+ Aries on on Wednesday April 14th at 8:30 AM (EDT) / 5:30 AM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wax, or increase.
FUTURE STAGES:
2nd Quarter, Waxing Half Moon at 1+ Leo, on Wednesday April 21st at 2:21 PM (EDT) / 11:21 AM (PDT)
Full Moon at 8+ Scorpio, on Wednesday, April 28th at 8:20 AM (EDT) / 5:20 AM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wane, or decrease.
4th Quarter, Waning Half Moon at 15+ Aquarius across the midnight hour of Thursday May 6th at 12:16 AM (EDT) / Wednesday May 5th at 9:16 PM (PDT).
Next NewMoon 23+ Taurus on May 13th at 9:05 PM (EDT)/ 6:05 PM (PDT) From this moment, the Moon begins to wax, or increase.
ArkLetter 61
April 14, 2010
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