An Emotional Quarter Moon

Monday evening's First Quarter Moon, taking place in the last decant of Libra, is traditionally a time when the tension of the initiating lunar cycle peaks, so that we encounter a "crisis in action" as we attempt to move some factor in our lives further forward. In this case, with the Cancer emphasis, and under the reflectively inward orientation of the Cancer Mercury Retrograde period, it is inner rather than outer goals that resonate with us most strongly. Can you free yourself of outward diversions, enabling you to turn to the inside with awareness, with sympathy and with love? It is well said that in order to be able to reach out to others with compassion, we must first have a compassionate connection with ourselves, and at the deepest possible level.

It is a level that is difficult to reach. Like a deep-sea diver we need weights to find the depths we seek and to actually go down. The fruit of inner work is well worth the effort to harvest it; yet the Moon in Libra wants balance, and it wants partnership with others, and these are the beautiful distractions that can upset the apple cart. We must be, right now, spiritual warriors for our cause, which is to be enabled to simultaneously reach out to others, and inward to ourselves.

All this is especially poignant in view of the perfection of the grand trine between Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in water signs that takes place over the remainder of this week, as Mars catches up to Jupiter. This important week is also when Mercury is preparing to station to direct motion on Saturday, in trine with Chiron. Mercury moves less than a full degree between the Quarter Moon configuration of Monday evening and its station Saturday morning, July 20th, and as it does it gets closer and closer to a perfect trine with Chiron, the Wounded Healer, in the same degree of Pisces. Mercury is also the entire time in forming square with the powerfully intuitive factor of Uranus, stationing, and therefore far more potent, at 12-plus degrees of Aries.

We are drawn to our emotional depths, and to our inner wounding, and as well to our deeply non-verbal process of intuition. The prayer is that, as we are, we pay the closest possible attention to everything that is happening; and with the ideal firmly in our mind of acceptance and forgiveness, of others, and of ourselves.

The Sabian Symbols for the Sun and Moon in square with each other in this Quarter Moon configuration are provocative and mysterious. For the Moon: "A third wing on the left side of a butterfly," and for the Sun: "A woman and two men on a bit of sunlit land facing South." These images reinforce each other, and speak of inner concentration and connection that goes beyond the normal ways of the outer world. The butterfly, perfect as it is, has suddenly acquired a third wing, and on its left side, translated 'sinister' in Latin, referencing an occult, or deeply internalized, mode of operating. The woman, symbolic of soul, is, in the context of South — representing an inner, profoundly emotional, dimension — confronted with relationship choices, so that the entirety of these images symbolize facing both inner and outer perceptions and concerns.

As human beings we are multiform and dwell not only in logical, but also simultaneously in symbolic inner spaces. We do well to acknowledge this simple fact and strive to accept ourselves at these deeper levels of our being, where our very humanity might actually be found. We must not thereby abandon the physical world; far from it. The inner concentration that is currently strengthened within us can, paradoxically, enhance our outer experience and bring us into better alignment with our true power.