A First Quarter Moon of Frustration and Reassessment

Monday's First Quarter Moon is especially significant, coming, as it does, between two eclipses. Last weekend's powerful New Moon eclipse featured Chiron, Uranus, and Pluto, symbolizing inner wounding, sudden enlightenment and revolutionary transformation, so that we are currently in the midst of a flurry of major change — a theme that has been powerfully active for us all year — and as well the resultant great angst. It is also noteworthy that Mercury is now in retrograde motion, emblematic of inner exploration. In terms of Chiron, known also as the Wounded Healer, this month represents an excellent opportunity to get into closer touch with ourselves at deep levels, and to honestly and openly accept without judgment or need for action whatever we there encounter, including our flawed and wounded nature. With the advent of this crucial lunation stage, just days after Mercury stationed, we are running into potentially difficult adjustments and reassessments. Saturn is also strongly constellated in this quarter moon configuration, slowing us down and making us think twice. The nature of this lunar phase in any case represents uncovering the inherent conflicts in what we are up to, as we attempt to navigate the intensely disruptive and growth-oriented energies of these fractious times.

With Mercury now retrograde we have an opportunity to look more closely into whatever it is that we have going on, both in terms of our efforts in the world of schedules and responsibilities, and also with respect to the interpersonal relationships and personal commitments of our busy and chaotic lives. In this quarter moon configuration, Mercury, slowly picking up speed in its newly backward direction, is in almost exact semi-square with Saturn, now in Sagittarius, bringing a sharp sense of restriction and limitation and, as well, adding an interesting philosophical point of view to our introspective meditations. Neptune, too, is configured by parallel with retrograde Mercury, and with Jupiter, lending to these proceedings a sense of unreality and spiritual striving. In truth, as the emphasis on numinous Neptune serves to remind us, we need to find the deeper meaning in what we are up to, collectively and individually, or we are lost.

Uranus and Pluto are also emphasized in this current lunation cycle, stemming from the recent Virgo eclipse, with a symbolism that extends over the remainder of this month, and even further, to beyond the end of the year. The square that they are involved in, the hallmark of this difficult decade, is again becoming prominent, heading up to January 2016 when they will be separated by a mere 1 degree from an exact alignment. Their joint symbolism of revolutionary transformation is therefore further thrust into the picture of the intense astrological currents as this changeful year draws to its close. This First Quarter Moon configuration has the effect of stopping dead in its tracks the forward momentum of business as usual, frustrating our mundane occupations. It is yet an opening for us to see more deeply into what characterizes our actual arc of growth and spiritual development.

The Sabian Symbols for this First Quarter Moon are subtle and mysterious, as befits these times. They are, for the Sun, in the 29th degree of Virgo: "A man gaining secret knowledge from a paper he is reading." This reminds us that we are engaged in a process of teasing out the real meaning of our own actions, and of whatever lies behind the activities of the culture that surrounds us in its current profound transition. Marc Edmund Jones comments, "The possibilities of greater experience lie in embryo throughout the lesser." For the Moon we find: "A fat boy mowing the lawn," a symbol that seems to speak of worthy toil and of its benefits as well for the individual that is able to muster his or her efforts in service. Jones speaks of "the contribution of familiar experience to the refinement of selfhood." Indeed, the dire situation in which we collectively find ourselves requires from us our utmost effort to transform our society. This effort, well placed, has the effect of changing not only the evolving era, but also we ourselves.