A Difficult and Illusory Last Quarter Moon

Saturday afternoon's Last Quarter Moon puts us in a reflective mode, in keeping with this final quarterly phase of the lunar cycle, during which we attempt to assess who we are, and where headed, from the standpoint of recent experience. This is also in chime with the Mercury Retrograde period that we have been in since last Monday, another cosmic factor drawing us toward the inside. We stand at the midpoint of two eclipses, with the next, a powerful Solar Eclipse in Scorpio, to come on Sunday, November 3rd. We might therefore at this crux of time be able to look more deeply into both our situation and also ourselves. In this we are aided — and drawn to an other-dimensional viewpoint — by an extreme emphasis at this juncture on Neptune, the astrological archetype of numinous awareness beyond simple logic. Still, we can trust the truest part of our interior vision right now, even though it feels like we are living within a dream.

The Quarter Moon takes place in the early degrees of the sign of Leo, with the Sun at 3 plus degrees of Scorpio, and with Neptune occupying a similar degree of Pisces. Thus the Sun and Moon in square with each other each make close aspects to Neptune, while Mars, opposed to Neptune from across the Zodiac in the sign of Virgo, makes a contra-parallel aspect as well. We remain, since the recent Lunar Eclipse, in a world of spin and of illusion, when we are no longer sure which end is up and where we must rely on our inner compass to guide us. We might find throughout this entire period of time between two eclipses that we are feeling vague stirrings of an unknown origin, emanating from deep within our very souls, and we do well to pay as close attention as we can to these inner voices.

Uranus and Pluto are also drawing very close to their square aspect with each other, now a week away. Only a quarter of a degree separates them from their perfect collision, revolutionary in its import, as we near this fourth of seven exact hits. They also align at this time with Chiron in Pisces, which could be seen as the fear of the radical changes that we all can feel looming on our psychic horizons. We know that we are going through something big; and we even know that this transformation is for our ultimate benefit, yet we would still sometimes rather stay dysfunctional and avoid the challenge of the unknown. It is vital during this period of illusion and confusion, of wonder and of fear, that we do not freeze up like a deer in the headlights, refusing to move. It is important that we remain flexible.

The Sabian Symbol of Neptune's degree, which it occupies until mid-December, is the third degree of Pisces: "A petrified forest." This reminds us of the illusion of stasis, the belief that we can indeed see, with our limited vision, a plan or a stand of trees where in fact there is really none. If we refuse to dwell in consensual delusion, remaining light on our feet and in our minds, we will be able to react intelligently to whatever the universe chooses to send our way.