The Imminent Breakthrough of the First Quarter Moon

Friday's First Quarter Moon is an interesting one in that, as the moment comes of greatest tension in their square aspect, the Sun and Moon occupy the very last degree of their respective signs, for the Sun, Capricorn, and for the Moon, Aries. The Sun is thus about to break into the next Zodiacal sign of Aquarius - as in the age of; namely what we are all living through as this climactic decade unwinds.

In this quarter Moon configuration there are also, as has been the case so often recently, outer planet configurations to contend with. Jupiter is in perfect square with Chiron, which promises to allow interesting and necessarily painful situations to emerge from this moment of minor crisis in the lunation cycle. And this sense of crisis is proportional to the sense of pressure conveyed by the preceding New Moon, which was very strong, emphasizing Saturn and Uranus as well as Chiron. Jupiter still closely squares Chiron through Jupiter's station to direct motion on January 30th, and stays within 2 degrees to the end of March.

There is indeed a considerable amount of angst floating around our collective psyche lately, and mostly in connection to factors represented by the symbolism of Uranus and Saturn in collision, factors such as the unsettling rapidity of change, combined with the fear of change and the conservative tendency to hold onto what is known and familiar. We can see these issues clearly in the recent headlines, as they bring out in startlingly clear distinctions that we are entering into the uncertain days of a new era. Issues such as doing something about climate change and control of escalating violence in both psychological as well as logistical terms are emerging in stark relief against a background of television-sedated complacency that no longer seems to offer as much safety as it did before.

In our individual existence as well we are facing the necessity that the very structures of our lives must undergo transformation, in greater or in lesser extent in proportion to our preparedness, as in this post-2012 era we once more and with a greater sense of urgency stand squarely in the path of the enormous challenges of our times.

The final degree of any sign is considered a "last chance" degree, the chance to make one last-ditch effort to understand the qualities of the sign and to really get them. Regarding Capricorn, where the Sun resides Friday for one last day, while concerned with social obligation, material rewards and status recognition, the highest purpose of this particular sign is that we attend to the business of Spirit in this area of outer commitment; to assist, in any way that we can, the required and proper evolution of society, along the lines that it deeply and desperately needs to go. Recognizing this basic fact — and the lateness of the hour for what we face as a culture — perhaps the time has indeed come that each one of puts our shoulder to the wheel.