The Courage of Changing Perspective

Tuesday morning's Last Quarter Moon in Libra makes for quite an interesting lunation, in part because the Sun and Moon create an almost perfect alignment with the new planet, Eris, beyond Pluto. The Sun, Moon and Eris are all in the same 23rd degree of Cardinal signs, making a T-square to the Sun. This indicates a heightened sense of stress between the solar and lunar lights, above even the usual intensity of dynamic tension normally indicated by this quarter Moon timing; a tension that is also creative. This is the lunar phase that seminal 20th Century astrologer Dane Rudhyar called a "crisis in consciousness," when we feel in our hearts that something about our point of view must shift in the light of new awareness. This difference in the way that we see the world around us leads to different understandings of our own and others' actions, eventually resulting in changed behavior. With Mercury still in close conjunction with Venus, and about to turn retrograde, we have an excellent period of time, from now until at least the middle of next month, to reflect upon what we are really up to, and on where we are heading.

We are also still in the midst of a three-month period of Uranus and Pluto, symbolizing revolutionary transformation, death and rebirth, as we have seen in the recent headlines. Something terrible has happened, a horrific and violent criminal act, and yet something positive is being born out of that tragedy. On an individual level as well, we could be confronting loss — and new gains.

Because Mars is now in Pisces, drawing near to Neptune, it is squared by Saturn, currently at the 2-degree mark of Sagittarius. This makes this Tuesday and the week that follows a difficult time for you to get things done. There is haziness to your motivation, and as well a spiritual component. It is also quite likely that obstacles will arise, at times suddenly, and that there will be lessons that you can take from this unexpected side-tracking of your original intention.

The symbolism of Eris, the new astrological body that I am currently beginning to describe, and after years of study to use in my work with clients, has lessons to contribute as well. I consider Eris to represent the energy of a Spiritual Warrior for Soul Purpose. As we hover on the cusp of major changes in our lives, we have something to fall back on, as indicated by the highlighted presence of this new planet in our current skies. This novel astrological archetype seems to suggest that if we can find what values we hold most closely, deep inside ourselves, and act strictly and with complete dedication from that heightened awareness of what we are truly all about, we can come to our calling, the path that we have all along, at soul level, been intending to take.

The Sabian Symbols for this Last Quarter Moon in alignment with Eris, at the 23rd degree of Capricorn and of Libra, throw an interesting light upon these deliberations. For the Sun we have "Two awards for bravery in war," and you might immediately think of the arena of society, and the considerable effort that that engagement involves, providing both financial remuneration and also the less tangible reward of doing what you feel is right. Marc Edmund Jones elaborates along these lines: "dramatizing the fruits of an everyday aliveness, thereby stimulating a broadened self-expenditure ... a social stewardship demanding a continual self-dedication." For the Moon's degree we find: "Chanticleer heralding the dawn." This image of the proud rooster crowing to greet the new day is an ancient one, that yet has the power to move us still. Jones calls this "a symbol the soul's ultimate self-realization" and states that the degree represents "a fearless self-affirmation which gains a sympathetic attention and wins immediate allegiance from the hearts and minds of everybody." Indeed we are all that rooster, proudly discovering a way to greet our own dawning awareness of what it means to truly be ourselves.