Tarot University ArkLetters: NewMoon Notes, September 13, 2015

Tarot ArkLetter - http://www.tarotarkletters.com
By Christine Payne-Towler
ArkLetter 125, Septeber 13, 2015

NewMoon Notes, September NewMoon 2015

I’m happy to report that the Sun/Moon conjunction in Virgo is casting a fortunate, healing, and creative spell over the coming month. Even after the chart itself breaks up, these influences continue to stretch through the month, and some even farther into fall. Let’s catalog the primary features.

NewMoon in earthy Virgo shares the sign with Jupiter. I see this as a great boon for the mineature lives playing out inside our bodies, as if the micro-environment for digestion, assimilation, and nourishment experiences a radical upgrade. This being harvest season, when all the good things from the green earth are available in abundance, I would suggest that people reconsider their lifestyle and diet in favor of fresh, natural ingredients served with minimal processing. The closer to the natural state, the better. Do what you can to bolster the supply of beneficial internal flora, and reduce your consumption of damaging substances. A lot of good can be done by cooperating with the urge to simplify and improve the quality of your inputs. Don’t neglect proper sleep, hydration, meditation, and general making-order, either. Open some space for the blessings of the incoming season, by clearing out unproductive habits and distractions. And remember, Jupiter will be in Virgo for the whole of next year, so incremental change is fine. No need for drastic action, just slow and steady redirection of appetites and habits. Start with the most destructive habits so there's time to reduce cravings and unhook from old patterns before Jupiter goes retrograde on January 8th of 2016. The retrograde doesn't end until May 8th 2016, during which time it might hit old temptation buttons and put our progress at risk. The 2nd half of 2016 we are likely to see ourselves naturally attracted to better choices, and there isn't such a great need for willpower.

Mars and Venus sharing time in Leo have their final Fire dance. The ephemeris shows Mars embracing Venus through the end of her retrograde and during her return to forward motion. Enacting a balletic dance between traditional lovers, Mars plays the strong and supportive balance point for Venus’ expressive pirouettes. She moved ahead of Mars to the first degree of Virgo in late July, before falling back behind Mars again in his steady course through Leo. Now she has completed her retrograde, and is retracing her footsteps to catch up those lost degrees. The loving pair will have their next and final conjunction of this triple pass in Virgo at 20+ degrees, at the beginning of November. This is coincidentally the celestial spot where the NewMoon converged in its exactitude! I would suggest that readers sieze a thought or intention from this NewMoon insemination and introduce it into the fertile soil of the imagination, intending that the Mars/Venus conjunction in November will fertilize, fructify, and manifest it. This is a perfect expression of the practice called “astral magic”, which is the art of front-loading upcoming celestial alignments (which are bound to happen anyway) with one’s personal intentions. We do this by simply imagining how we would like the natural energies (of the Sun/Moon conjunction, in this case) to be expressed as these vectors fulfill themselves (when the Mars/Venus conjunction lands in the same spot in November). Our innermost thoughts and visions can create a channel between the current event and the future outcomes we desire. We only have to notice how it works and “lean into it” a little more consciously.

Mercury having abandoned forward motion on September 16th, is stretching the incipient opposition with Uranus retrograde while simultaneously moving back towards exact square with Pluto. This is likely to raise echoes inside of some people, reminding them of previous stages of the longstanding cardinal T-square that has wrung out the collective psyche over the last 18 months. (The final square between Uranus and Pisces will culminate in January of 2016. After that, Uranus’ forward motion will take him beyond the degrees where a square with Pluto is possible.) The general message for now is, things that are unsustainable will not be sustained, so plan accordingly. The infinite field of the mind can easily conceive any number of paths leading from point A to point B. Therefore no outside source has the leverage to control all the variables available to the sovereign individual. The unstoppable creativity of the protean and ever-evolving self (Uranus in Aries, Mercury in Libra) will forever evade the grip of the corporate, herd-based solutions (Pluto in Capricorn). Those who are ready, willing, and able to break precedent and try new strategies will win their way past the artificially-constructed barricades of convention. Don't make any promises, sign any contracts, or commit to any binding obligations until after October 9th, when Mercury's appearance and true trajectory catch back up to each other again. By October 25th, the entire episode will be integrated, with no further blow-back from the retrograde issues reappearing.

Saturn is mediating the opposition between the North and South nodes, taking a position that is a sextile ahead of the North node and a trine behind the South node. This can seem subtle in comparison with the other forces at work, but for those who catch this wave, Saturn could help to smooth and open their path going forward. It would seem that some new doors and windows are opening at the cusps of Pisces/Aries, Scorpio/Sagittarius and Virgo/Libra. The nodes move backwards against the flow of the Zodiac, whereas Saturn has completed his retrograde and is now proceeding into Sagittarius after a back-and-forth wobble after his first entry. From now until the 12th of October,, Saturn and the Nodes are in harmonious 1/3 and 1/6 relations to each other, indicating cooperation, the exchange of useful ideas, open paths and stable conditions. I’d suggest that we take this time to raise our heads and do some farsighted thinking, calculating the action of time on current events. Saturn is about to give us a glimpse of the bigger picture, especially after he enters Sagittarius on Friday the 18th. It certainly wouldn’t hurt us to be receptive to the fresh and stirring impulse of Saturn entering Sagittarius. By bringing the lessons of past experience (Saturn) to the cusp of the incoming future (Sagittarius), the long-term perspective that becomes available allows one to make a timely adjustment, saving uncounted waste and trouble down the road. “A stitch in time saves nine.”

Jupiter in Virgo is pressing into opposition aspect with retrograde Neptune in Pisces, so they cross into each other's degrees in the late single digits of their signs. My intuition sums this situation up thus: The need of the little people is great (Jupiter in Virgo), but the response from the leadership class is sadly lacking (Neptune retrograde in Pisces). As a result a quiet but massive grass-roots response is gathering, like a big wave far out to sea. When this wave hits the shore there will be no one who is immune or untouched. When Jupiter is provoked anger he is bolstered by righteous indignation; when he is riled or confounded, his temper is as thunderous as his affection is generous. Our leaders’ selfishness and feet of clay are now on display for all to see. I imagine that many hallowed idols are going to be washed from their niches as the rumble of change upends business as usual. It will feel like a relief and a therapeutic breakthrough just to tell the truth about this long-simmering frustration, and to discover that the sentiment is shared near universally. It feels like the over-reach of power is going to pull the false fronts down by the workings of natural consequence, while the majority of people simply opt out of participation with a system they see as hollow or meaningless.

As we witness the ending of Summer 2015, and curl around the Equinox into Fall, let's remember that we are midway through the Dry Way of Detachment, which commenced when the Sun entered Leo, and will continue until the Sun completes Capricorn. This is the period when we strive to consolidate the lessons we learned during the Wet Way (Aquarius through Cancer), so we can give back to the creation all the wisdom, insight and compassion we have learned while struggling with the conditions of our incarnation. Along the Wet Way we set out from Aquarius full of immature but hopeful zeal motivated by theory. of how things "should" be. Completing the circuit along the Dry way we circle around to Capricorn accumulating insight through impersonal experience motivated by pragmatism. Through this continued and eternal coming-and-going around the Wheel of Time, repeated by all the Planets as they transit the Signs, the immortal soul tutors the mortal ego, that it might learn (or remember) what the highest manifestation of the human impulse could potentially be.

All the best for your Fall Equinox on Wednesday the 23rd. May we all experience a rebirth in harmony with Great Nature!

YOU CAN USE THE TAROT ARKLETTERS TO ATTUNE WITH THE NEW MOON - read "New Moon Notes" every ArkLetter:

Our publication date and time corresponds to the New Moon each month. This month the Moon is conjunct the Sun on Tuesday June 16th. As an astrologer-symbolist, I habitually tie my activities to the cycle of the Moon. If you would like, you can use the Tarot University ArkLetters to help you track the moon's phase - just subscribe to our website and you'll always know what the next phases and dates are!

Stages of the Moon; Dates/Times for the American Northern Hemisphere  

• The present NewMoon/Eclipse is at 20+ Virgo across the midnight hour of Sunday September 13th at 2:41 AM (EDT) / Saturday September 12th at 11:41 PM (PDT).. From this moment, the Moon begins to wax, or increase.  

FUTURE STAGES:   

• 2nd Quarter, Waxing Half Moon is at 28+ Scorpio on Monday September 21st at 4:59 AM (EDT) / 1:59 AM (PDT).  

• Eclipse happens three minutes before FullMoon at 4+ Aries on Sunday September 27th, at 10:51 PM (EDT) / 7:51 PM (PDT). From this moment, the Moon begins to wane, or decrease. 

• 4th Quarter, Waning Half Moon is at 11+ Cancer on Sunday, October 4th at 5:06 PM (EDT) / 2:06 PM (PDT). 

• The next NewMoon is at 19+ Libra on Monday October 12th at 8:06 PM (EDT) / 5:06 PM (PDT). From this moment the Moon begins to wax, or increase.

PARTICIPATE IN AN ONLINE CONVERSATION

If you want to engage in even more conversation about Tarot, I invite online comments to my ArkLetter essays. Just visit the ArkLetter URL of the article you want to discuss and tell me what you think - your comments are published immediately on the site, and may stimulate more dialogue over time.

GET MY ONLINE TAROT READINGS AT TAROT.COM
I wrote the divinatory text used at Tarot.com, an online place for exploring the self-guided initiatory arts. Astrology, Numerology, I-Ching and Tarot readings are all available there, and you might be both surprised and pleased with the services offered to members.

Learn how and why I think Tarot.com's computerized online Tarot readings work: http://noreah.typepad.com/tarot_arkletters/2005/07/tarotcom_readin.html

_______________________________

SUBSCRIBE INFORMATION

You may be receiving this note because you sent an inquiry to Tarot University or Tarot.com. Unsubscribing is easy - just follow the instructions. This list is free, and light - I send out one note a month, like this one, informing you of my new publications and discussions via these New Moon ArkLetters - http://www.tarotarkletters.com.

If you've received this through a friend and want this ArkLetter Announcement each new moon in your in-box, please visit our subscribe link: http://www.tarotarkletters.com/subscribe/index.html. We have an RSS syndication feed, too!!

If you're not sure whether or not you've subscribed, subscribe again and the program will let you know.

blessings,

Christine