An Optimistic New Moon Full of Surprises

Sunday’s Leo New Moon is exciting because taking place at the very beginning point of the fun sign of Leo, nearly exactly conjunct Mars. There is an important square between this New Moon and Uranus, located in the last few degrees of Aries, where he will station, in little more than a week. This makes his influence much stronger now and through the beginning of August. We also have quite a bit of Saturn in this picture, trine Eris and opposed by Venus, so that the polarization of these fractious times is likely to continue. The fact that Saturn remains in close parallel with Pluto is also a bit daunting. Like it or not, massive structural changes are underway at both personal and collective levels. There is strong Jupiter also in this configuration, so that we might be able to find the grace to take everything lightly, as part of cosmic process, destination unknown.

Neptune in Pisces is also illuminated by this New Moon, by a sesquiquadrate aspect from Sun, Moon and Mars. Strong Neptune has been in the astrological patterning for some time now already, meaning that there is a degree of uncertainty to the proceedings. The standard of journalistic accuracy has been weakened by the application of the term “fake news” and it is hard to tell which end is up, criminal behavior or business as usual, or potential outcomes. Neptune as an archetype inclines away from the earth plane, into other dimensions of experience, so that there is also a spiritual thrust to these times that is quite compelling. Just when it all seems hopeless there comes along a magnificent gesture on the part of some person, or a small group of persons, that restores our faith in humanity.

With all three outer planets so distinctly activated now, signifying transformation, we have a choice: to resist or to go with the flow. Personal evolution is taking place no matter what, and it is up to us to only become aware of that simple, inescapable, and difficult fact. A historical commentator once remarked that true freedom consists in seeing the course of events and choosing to go that way. Then, too, we have our individual will to find our own grounding. Somehow these two antithetical directions merge. Striking out on your own, as spiritual warrior for your own bottom-line cause, is the province of the new planet, Eris, prominent in the New Moon as well, which has turned out to be extremely powerful in charts. And this striking out invariably becomes part of the collective experience, helping to move the culture in a particular direction. A grand trine in Fire signs in this New Moon, involving Saturn, Eris, and Mercury, implies that there is plenty of energy in support of speaking with your own voice.

The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon, in the first degree of Leo, is “A case of apoplexy.” This is not very encouraging on the face of it, but symbolically could serve as notification of being at a fundamental crossroads. Marc Edmund Jones has, “this is a symbol of overwhelming potentiality, and of an ever-pressing necessity for genuine self-establishment and personal stability… here is emphasis on the unbroken continuity between being and doing.” He goes on to reference “creativity in the day-by-day expression of the self’s real possibilities.” May we all be so blessed.