A Curiously Interesting First Quarter Moon

Thursday's First Quarter Moon is quite interesting, and perhaps a bit daunting, as symbolized by two very important astrological factors that accompany it. The first is the limiting, restrictive and conservative archetype of Saturn, highly emphasized in this configuration, and corresponding as well to the nature of this phase, which represents a mild crisis in the accomplishment of the tasks that were self-imposed in the enthusiasm and rush of energy of the Aquarius New Moon from the end of the previous month. This week, the Sun remains in Aquarius, while the Moon has traveled on to solid and pleasure-loving Taurus, in square with the Sun, and in opposition to Saturn in Scorpio. Saturn is also contraparallel to the Moon and in close parallel with its ruler, Venus, just coming out of retrograde and still conjoined with intense Pluto.

The second factor is the retrograde of Mercury on the very same day, just a few hours later. This means that not only is progress slowed and the world a more difficult place in which to get things done, but also with the onset of the Mercury Retrograde we have a meditative push to the inside and a pulling back from outer accomplishment. This is a terrific time to journal or to mull over the events of our lives, and a terrible time to be obsessed with getting on with them.

Since Mercury Retrogrades in early Pisces, in close conjunction with mystical Neptune, as we find ourselves thinking and communicating less clearly with one another, we are also watching everything turn mysterious, cloudy and vague, even as we attempt to firmly fix our minds upon them. Some of the affairs of state have that feeling right now. We hear a big speech that seems to promise meaningful change and then see that the results on the ground where the concern is actually being played out are not so simple and straightforward. Or we try to figure out what a disaster like Fukushima means to the future of the world and come up with nothing but thin air to rest our hopes upon; any determination at all is potentially available, from "not a problem" to "the world is ending," and we can't decide which is more real. We saw an excellent cartoon example in the opening of the recent Super Bowl event in which there was a historically unprecedented first score in the opening twelve seconds of the game. On the first snap, as Mercury that day made a strong aspect to Peyton Manning's chart, the football went flying high in the air over the quarterback's head, corresponding to the incipient Mercury Retrograde with Neptune factor perfecting a few days away. Our entire collective life actually seems like that these days.

The good news is that as we lose track of the practicalities of the situation, we have the chance to gain in mystical knowledge, the other side of the coin for this huge Neptune symbolism. Synchronicity is speeding up and becoming more common, which has the tendency to clue us in, if we are willing, to the unending mystery of the universe that surrounds us.

The Sabian Symbols for this Quarter Moon are a bit mysterious also. For the Moon in Taurus we have "A woman holding a bag out of a window," which Marc Edmond Jones likens to a principle of service, and of "handling things as they are." He states that this symbol corresponds to "high personal effectiveness in commandeering the elements of experience for any particular purpose." For the Sun degree, the 18th of Aquarius, we find "A man unmasked." This goes nicely with the Mercury Retrograde and the Venus-Pluto conjunction that still remains a factor in these February skies. When we can see beneath the covers of the pose, we might be able, doggedly and with a feminine style of wiliness, to dig down below the surface layers and discover, finally, the truth.