A First Quarter Moon of Reassessment

Sunday evening's First Quarter Moon in Taurus represents a moment of adjustment, following upon the prior week's very powerful Aquarius New Moon. This lunar phase in any case signals a period of encountering fresh obstacles to the arc of both internal and external development that was initiated in the New Moon timing. The Moon in practical and Earth oriented Taurus is in one sense a departure from the high-flying energy of Aquarius inspiration, and yet in another sense grounds and completes the initial forward-looking vision of what was originally conceived. This practical side is also in chime with a prominent presence of conservative Saturn, in aspect to the Sun, Venus and Mercury, and remaining in close parallel with transformational energies of Pluto, while Pluto remains in square with revolutionary Uranus. The intense cosmic stew that we have going on right now is urging each of us forward to the place to which our destiny is leading. It might help to recognize that the Universe, like a kind and nurturing, although stern, parental figure has nothing planned for us that we are not, in some way, ready to handle. In response to difficulties we can find in the challenge something to surmount, to learn from, and to therefore grow with, accordingly.

Our urge to move ahead with what we are attempting is quite strong now, because positive and expansive Jupiter conjoined to the North Node is trined by active Mars, and also aspects Pluto, Uranus and the new planet, Eris. This potent Jupiter presence implies that we will continue to struggle for joyful resolutions to pressing problems that we experience as recalcitrant and un-amenable to simple answers. At the cultural level as well, we can see many positive developments, such as with climate change and with diplomatic solutions being proposed and even enacted, over warfare. In these fractious days of struggle and redemption, the movement toward a positive or spiritual agenda does however run aground, as we also see taking place, on our own entrenched resistance, or that of society. This holding back stems in part from selfish motives, or fear of the unknown, as symbolized by limitation-oriented Saturn, or just plain avoidance of any form of change. In reality, both these viewpoints must be honored in order for true progress to take place.

Conservative Saturn is indeed prominent in this quarter moon configuration, being in close parallel with Mercury and with Venus, as Mercury makes its entrance into the sign of Aquarius where it six weeks ago began, near the beginning of January. The good news is that as of this date, Mercury is finally out of its retrograde shadow so that misconception and communication breakdown is less of a normal occurrence. Saturn itself, in mid-Sagittarius, is in transition, being closely parallel to Pluto for the remainder of the month. This tells us that the fear of change must itself learn to change.

The Sabian symbols for this First Quarter Moon support an entrenched, and yet also transforming, sense of tradition. They are, for the Sun, in the 27th degree of Aquarius, "An ancient pottery bowl filled with violets," for which Marc Edmund Jones has the comment that "the permanence or changelessness of the real [is] an ultimate assurance to the human heart," and that, "where there is replacement of substance and variety of structure, there is overall continuance of meaning and identity in which self may anchor itself." For the Moon we find, "A squaw selling beads," a symbol which for Jones represents, "the soul's fundamental disinterest in everyday superficialities [and] its characteristic anchorage in an inner reality." He goes on to state that, "individual existence is justified in a fidelity to the recognized tokens of the cultural heritage." Indeed, as represented by this symbol, we find a studied excellence in praising both the conservative reaction that holds us back in the status quo track of our existing structures, and as well the spiritual impulse that leads us ever onward into rapidly dawning new realities for ourselves as individuals, and for the human race as a whole.