Moon Musing

Everyone, even the most skeptical, seems to have their own Moon tales. Fishermen fish and farmers reap and sow according to the Moon’s sign and phase. First responders, from Police and Fire to emergency room personnel, all relate stories of how things get crazy when the Moon shines brightly in the night sky.  While the believers and skeptics all know their Sun sign, many are totally unaware of what their Moon sign is. While the Sun provides the vital, essential energy, the Moon supplies the primal survival instinct.

The Moon presides over the inner realm, the unconscious, instinctive actions and reactions.  The natal Moon points to how or what makes you feel secure. What you need to make you happy and how you express your feelings. The Moon tells of childhood experience, of being nurtured, or not. The sign and house position of the Natal Moon provides a vital piece to your personal puzzle. It is where you instinctively go and drop into like a worn, old, comfortable shoe. Natal Moon placement points to where you adapt, what you are open to. The very nature of the Moon is fluctuation so even the fixed sign Moons are open to change in the area where the Moon falls in the natal chart.

The Moon phase you were born under indicates personality type and how you act/react to the outside world. While you share the waxing and waning of the Moon with the rest of the world when this phase recurs monthly it is the beginning of your personal cycle. As an exercise in self knowledge note how you feel and react to events around you when you experience a natal phase return.

The Moon returns to the exact sign and degree of your Natal Moon every 27 ½ days. This is your Lunar Return. A horoscope erected for that moment in time reveals the temper of your times, the flavor of the month so to speak. This pinpoints the focus of your upcoming month.

Through the method of Secondary Progressions, where a year in the life of an individual corresponds to a day in the ephemeris, astrologers “Progress” the horoscope. This moves the planets along changing aspects and signs through the course of a lifetime. The Progressed Moon moves 12 degrees a year thus, over a two and a half year period it hits every point in a chart. And every two and half years it changes signs. The Progressed Moon is the thermometer that takes your emotional temperature. When the Progressed Moon forms an aspect to a natal planet or angle, a change, an event or attitude adjustment is on the horizon.

The Moon makes a complete circuit around the Zodiac in 27.33 days. This is called the sidereal cycle. From New Moon to New Moon is the Synodic cycle, a period of 29.53 days.  Whatever the cycle, the Moon activates every point in the horoscope on a monthly basis. Fast moving, the influence of the Moon is often fleeting. Just as it rules the tides, the Moon rules the ups and downs of daily life. Knowing where it is, what phase it is in and how it relates to your horoscope allows you to “catch the wave “.  Timing is everything so use the Moon to your advantage.

New Moon Start Anew And Other Delights

New Moons signal the beginning of a new cycle. This New Moon, in Aquarius, on January 23, 2012 holds some noteworthy patterns and points of interest that will hold sway far longer than the typical lunation cycle.  Mars in Virgo, stations in preparation for a 3 month retrograde period a few hours after the New Moon perfects. The New Moon, the conjunction of the Sun and Moon, is involved in a dynamic pattern with Saturn and Jupiter called a T-Square.  Saturn and Jupiter oppose (180 degrees) one another and the New Moon squares (90 degrees) them both. Saturn and Neptune are in a trine aspect (120 degrees) from Libra to Aquarius and they both are in the critical 29^th degree of their respective signs. Tying it all up is the developing waxing square between Uranus and Pluto. The seeds planted at this New Moon will continue to bear fruit well beyond this lunation.

Mars goes retrograde about every two years. The last time was from December 2009 to March 2010 in the sign of Leo.  When a planet is retrograde the qualities of that planet are more pronounced and it often does not function in the normal manner. Mars is the planet of action. In a natal chart Mars is the juice that gets you going, gives you the energy to function in the world and moves you across the finish line. In the big wide world Mars rules the military, wars and disputes of all kinds.  During this retrograde period Mars moves backward from 23 degrees Virgo to 3 degrees Virgo. Those with planets and angles within those degrees will be exposed to this energy three times, when Mars goes forward over them, retrograde and forward again. Mars was at 3 degrees of Virgo around November 18/19, 2011 and will station to go direct on April 13/14, 2012.

 Barack Obama has natal Mars at 22 degrees Virgo and Pluto at 6 degrees Virgo in his 7^th house of partners, relationships and open enemies. Transits to the horoscope of a head of state move from the personal to the very public. In Mundane astrology, the astrology of events, the 7^th house has to do with wars, foreign policy and international relationships. A Mars transit juices up the planet it touches and often brings out aggressiveness, belligerence and makes one prone to a snappy or snarly response. Mars prompts a combative stance. Obama will make his State of the Union address on Tuesday, January 24, 2012 at 9PM with transiting retrograde Mars conjunct his natal Mars. My guess is he will come out swinging and over the coming months he will face his opponents both foreign and domestic, within the party and without; in ways that are not his normal mode. What worries me is the natal square between Neptune (22 Virgo) and Mars (21 Gemini) in the horoscope of the Declaration of Independence.  Mars square Neptune means war for all the wrong reasons. Retrograde Mars, jazzing up this square, is up to no good.  High ideals dragged through the muck of combat seldom emerge pristine.  

The involvement of the New Moon in the Jupiter/Saturn opposition sends a frisson of energy to the long term Jupiter/Saturn cycle. Jupiter and Saturn form a conjunction every 20 years and their interactive dance over the years plays a big role in political, financial and societal events. The opposition is the half way point. Oppositions are just that, two opposing forces colliding head on. Jupiter wants expansion while Saturn wants contraction.  Jupiter wants to try something new while Saturn favors the tried and true.

Saturn is also involved in a trine with Neptune. Saturn is reality; Neptune the ideal. Before this Lunation cycle is over, Neptune will leave Aquarius for the final time and enter the home turf of Pisces, while Saturn turns retrograde.  (Neptune was briefly in Pisces from last April to August 2011) In the final degree of a sign a planet seems to always give it the “last hurrah” before leaving that sign, an event that signifies the symbolism of the sign and planet.   Neptune in Aquarius can denote a spiritual brotherhood. That’s the upside. The downside can be fraud, slander and misrepresentation.  Not much scandalizes us any more so it is difficult to imagine what event or revelation could set us on our heels.  We can only hope that the positive prevails, the sharing, caring and sense of universal human hood evidenced in the Occupy movement and other protests around the world.

The waxing square between Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn reaches exactness on June 24, 2012, the first of 7 squares from June 2012 through March 2015. These squares are part of the 126 year cycle of Uranus/Pluto.  This cycle brings about broad societal change. Uranus is the revolutionary rebel and rule breaker, in Aries; he’s willing to fight for it. Pluto is the great transformer, in Capricorn; he’s about altering the structure of business and government.  Here again it is the old against the new.  Think of these 7 squares as growing pains.  It will not be easy. Echoes from this New Moon will reverberate at the time of the first Uranus/Pluto square on June 24^th as Saturn moves in direct motion and Mars, once again in direct motion, reaches 22/23 degrees of Virgo.  Get ready to Rock and Roll.

This is not an easy time. These planetary dynamics touch each of us on a personal and collective level.  Transits to the natal planets and through the natal houses tell the tale of personal challenges and opportunities. A consultation with an astrologer is a valuable tool in troubled times. Astrology points the way around that stone wall so you don’t have to bust your skull trying to go through it.  As a timing device, astrology pinpoints the moment of chance and change.  Astrology gives you an edge when you need it and a heads up when difficulties loom.  Carpe Diem – seize the day!