A Difficult First Quarter Moon

Wednesday's First Quarter Moon is an extremely important lunation, coming as it does after the second Aquarius New Moon that began the current cycle. Even though this recent New Moon took place in the last six arc-seconds of Aquarius, this cycle partakes of that Aquarian moment; this is just the way that astrology works. The sign is still the sign, even though attenuated in its final degrees, and then along comes Pisces, quite different. Wednesday therefore marks the first lunation configuration with the Sun in Pisces, making for an interesting turning point. I would say that this lunar phase presents, in starker and more intense form, the sense of transition from the objectivity of Aquarius to the softer sensitivity of Pisces that the entire cycle in some way also represents. Additionally, in this lunation, the Sun in Pisces and the Moon in thoughtful Gemini form a T-square with Saturn in Sagittarius, while the Sun conjuncts Neptune, thus bringing up the contrast between idealism and practicality. We have our dreams and even, perhaps, our illusions and our little self-deceptions. But Saturn, the stern task-master, is there, in square with Neptune for this brief moment before retrograding in mid-March, making us aware of the necessity to temper our graceful and sensitive ideals with a dose of the nuts and bolts requirements and restrictions that we must also live within, particularly if we want to concretely manifest our fondest vision for a livable future.

The powerful outer planet archetypes of Uranus and Pluto are reforming next month for their seventh and final exact alignment, with now less than three quarters of a degree separating them from the perfection of their square. Jupiter in this configuration chart for the First Quarter Moon makes a close inconjunct aspect to Pluto and a trine to Uranus, bringing their storied collision to new heights during this last week of February. For several years now, you may have had it building within you to take a journey into unknown waters, or perhaps to lose some aspect of your inner being that is holding you back. This involves quite a lot of surrender. One factor however that makes it difficult to let go is the presence of a strongly configured Saturn — holding down the fort against all change — while another is prominent Chiron, representing where you are perhaps afraid to make the leap to what astrologer Jeffrey Greene referred to as "freedom from the known." So this dynamic is fully engaged within you now as well, reflected in these late February skies.

Jupiter itself is also featured in this configuration, making close aspects to Pluto, to Uranus and as well to Chiron, as Uranus and Pluto begin to close in on their final square. Jupiter is located in Leo, standing apart from all the other planets occupying the hemisphere of the Zodiac between Sagittarius and Gemini, making him especially potent at this timing, and promising that a fundamental optimism is present in our consciousness, offsetting the cynical and critical stance of prominent Saturn. The house that Leo occupies in each person's natal chart becomes quite important now; and we will also publish an indication of how this First Quarter Moon strikes each sign, by the power of the solar chart.

The Sabian Symbols for these lunation charts are nearly always of great interest, in synchronistic chime with the call to inner work that these recent intense configurations consistently imply. For the Moon, in the seventh degree of Gemini, we have: "An old-fashioned well," and this reminds us of the deep resource of internal wisdom that we all possess and are able to share with others around us. Marc Edmund Jones remarks that this is a symbol for "the unimpeachable source of life on the side of personal self-renewal and simple organic integrity." For the Sun, in the seventh degree of Pisces, we find: "A cross lying on rocks," which Jones references, in an entirely fitting commentary on Neptune in connection with Saturn, as "withdrawal from reality in one aspect as a means for regrasping it in another." This image reminds us also that the way to inner strength of character, symbolized by the cross, is never easy. Jones has "a rugged independence of inner spirit and a courageous rejection of all outer compromise." As we enter next month into the maelstrom of Uranus and Pluto for one final time, may this idea indeed be our guiding mantra.