A New Moon of Activism and Reconsideration of Priorities

Monday evening’s New Moon in activist Aries is accompanied by the presence of Retrograde Venus, indicating that while the impulse is still very much there to charge ahead with our agenda, we are also simultaneously questioning the very goals that seem to drive us. This can be considered a hindrance, if viewed in negative terms, but it is actually a golden opportunity to make needed course corrections. Venus retrograde is particularly active in this New Moon configuration, and over the entire final week of March, because conjunct the Sun. On the 31st Venus symbolically escapes from her journey through realms of underworld uncertainty to emerge, once again, as the Morning Star.

Meanwhile in these early spring skies we also find plenty of astrological evidence for the urge for forward motion, in the active presence of Uranus and Eris in close partile conjunction, a mere half degree apart, supported by Mercury just two degrees away and by Jupiter across the Zodiac from them. As my research has shown, Eris herself lends a flavor of warrior energy in pursuit of soul intention. For more details see my book, The Tenth Planet. Retrograde Venus is also closely parallel to Uranus in this New Moon, increasing our thrust to be out there exploring new horizons with the idea of more closely aligning with deeper purpose.

And by what means can we discover the more profound set of goals that truly drives us, and of which we might be more, or less, conscious? There is the process of rational thought, much admired in our present culture and brought to a peak of excitement in the timing of this New Moon by the strong presence of Mercury, aligned with Uranus and Eris, and in trine with Saturn. It is both a wildly experimental cast of mind, and also a serious one, that is currently emphasized. We must also recognize, however, that mental ratiocination alone will not get us all the way to where we need to go. C. G. Jung, seminal 20th century psychologist, outlined four functions within the psyche of which thinking was only one. By means of sensation we see what we actually have in our physical field of activity, and by means of feeling we come to see its value to us. We can use the logical faculty of thought to project physical outcomes from specific actions. More significantly, we understand the subtle meaning of what we are up to by means of intuition, which is directly tapping into our unconscious process for a different kind of answer. While this latter process is not given much credit in our linearly thinking society, it is yet of fundamental importance. The journey right now of Venus though her underworld symbolically indicates that we must, at this juncture, find our own way through, a way that is unique to each individual. To get there it is suggested that, in a form of meditation, or of waking dream, you close your physical eyes to look inside yourself for what you most sincerely believe.

It must also be stated that the unrelenting go-go-go! in this New Moon configuration of such an activist Uranus is tempered by the strong dose of conservative Saturn alluded to above, operating from the final degrees of Sagittarius, and therefore in trine aspect to Uranus, Eris, and Mercury. This energy slows us down, and asks that we think twice before launching off into outer space, as does also the introspective feeling tone of retrograde Venus. So this is far from a simple set of archetypes that we are dealing with. There is a distinct push-pull of the urge for leaping forward and also of pulling back. Numinous and foggy Neptune is powerful now as well, so that it might be difficult to tell truth from falsehood, and brilliant ideas from phantasmagoric misconceptions. Nevertheless you have to try.

The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon might also be of interest. It is, for the eighth degree of Aries, “A large hat, streamers flying, facing east.” By “hat” is perhaps meant a process of thoughtful mind orientation, and the direction of East traditionally symbolizes a spiritual vision encompassing greater meaning, represented in the Jungian system by the function of Intuition. Marc Edmund Jones has “naïve creativity, … continual self-orientation to the nascent potentialities of all life and experience.” Indeed, it may be that only by continually orienting to the largest possible viewpoint do we come to an understanding of what we, and this life, are all about.

A New Moon of Activism and Reconsideration of Priorities

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Chart for the New Moon on March 27, 2017

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November 2024