An Otherworldly and Yet Practical First Quarter Moon

The First Quarter Moon taking place in the early morning hours of Friday, March 27th, is quite an interesting lunation, in part because it occupies the psychic space between two eclipses. The Sun and Moon in early Aries and Cancer, respectively, also simultaneously aspect Saturn in Sagittarius and Neptune in Pisces, being at the degree that is in the middle of their two degrees. The Aries Sun makes a forming semi-sextile to Neptune and remains trine Saturn within a degree and a half, while the Moon trines Neptune and is inconjunct to Saturn. The Uranus-Pluto square is not triggered by these aspects, although the transformational impact of these two powerhouse planets remains quite potent, since they are still less than half a degree apart, in the wake of the recent perfection of their square, ten days ago on March 16th. We are definitely caught in the midst of powerfully transformative times, and we all need to step up to the plate and take action in our individual lives if we are to save ourselves and our earthly environment. We benefit when we can recognize that we all make a difference, no matter how remote we might feel from the decisions of governments and corporations that seem to control our very future. We are each immensely influential, emblematic of the entire collective; with each individual act a symbolic one. It really is true, as the NY Times remarked in 2003, that the other super-power on the planet is the power of public opinion.

With Neptune and also Saturn both configured by this quarter Moon, their square alignment is suddenly once more thrust into the limelight. They represent antithetical energies, since Neptune refers to mystical realities beyond the physical plane, expressing most characteristically as poetry, music and dance, while Saturn represents the nuts and bolts reality of what we can concretely see, feel and touch with our physical senses. If they are at odds, our dreams come crashing down, or else the real world dissolves into fantasy and illusion. And yet when they work together they can act in concert to bring numinous spiritual or mythological truth into concrete practical terms, where they can affect real-world outcomes. We need some of each of these approaches to make it through the trials of earthly existence, in awareness that all this has a spiritual as well as a physical meaning.

In this First Quarter Moon also, we find that there is an emphasis on Eris, the new planet beyond Pluto that seems to represent a Spiritual Warrior energy in pursuit of soul intention. Mercury and the Sun both aspect Eris, while Mars remains in conjunction to this significant outer planet energy. Eris represents a vital and numinous archetype that is essential for these times that we are living through, since it is important for each one of us to stand up and be counted for what we most deeply and truly believe. This is independent of the world's way of seeing things, a way that does not always completely match our own internal concept. If we can make a difference, for collective ends, within the compass of what we each hold most dear, we will be performing a sacred task that has the chance to restore meaning and value to what constitutes what we have come to know as the society as a whole.

Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is also aspected by Pluto and by Jupiter at the timing of this configuration, indicating where we also still have work to do, as we struggle to accept ourselves at the deeper level of our psyche that correspond to inner wounding. This is the result of early trauma that perhaps remains undigested, to the present moment. Only by accepting ourselves at these deeper levels of our being will we become more whole, and thus become empowered to be the persons that we all along intended ourselves to be. And only in this way will our interactions with each other, and the society itself, be truly healed.

The Sabian Symbols for this quarter Moon configuration may have something to add as well. They are, for the Sun in the seventh degree of Aries, "A man [or woman] successfully expressing him- or herself in two realms at once." This reminds us of the numinous and the practical worlds, as symbolized also by Neptune and Saturn in square alignment. Marc Edmund Jones points out that there exist "interpenetrating realms of reality," and that there is "a capacity for control of events by shifting from one to another focus of emphasis when that proves ... expedient." He praises "a special gift for divorcing the things at issue from whatever lacks immediate pertinence." We are reminded as well that you are never angry for the reason that you think that you are, and therefore by taking the time to go inside, you might be able to save a great deal of energy and hurt feelings in the actual moment of difficult interaction. For the Moon, in the same degree of Cancer, we find the entirely appropriate symbol of "Two fairies on a moonlit night," which Jones relates to "healing imagination." This again reminds us of the mystical and deeply internal layers of our being that are present in every situation, as we go about our daily business, and which can greatly help us in all our activities, once we admit their numinous existence and allow them to come to our aid.