Fall is here, and so is change. ‘The Shoots of Autumn Crops’ By Zinaida Serebriakova 1908 {{PD}}
Keeping our usual tight orbs for a Lunar event, the upcoming New Moon in Libra (25 September 2:54 PM PDT at 2 Libra 48) shows only one major aspect: an opposition to Jupiter in Aries. But, you may say, what about the past and still technically in orb conjunction of the New Moon to Mercury? Good point, I’d say, since Merc’s retro status tells us they’ve met more recently than if Merc was in direct motion–but that’s more than 5 degrees distance; rather than illuminating the New Moon event, it speaks to what preceded it: a thought, an idea, one we’d already been contemplating (retro status) involving fresh ideas around partnership, cooperation, aesthetics, fairness, described by the Inferior Conjunction of the Sun and Mercury at 00 Libra on the 22nd.
So, we know the background; now our attention goes to Jupiter, the Earth due to conjoin it in exactly one degree (so about one day) in the sign of Aries. Jupiter-Earth suggests a Big Event, in Aries one either driven by the individual choices and actions, or one driven by an individual (Aries) that affects the masses (Jupiter). At a personal level, this could also imply that the individual who acts creates opportunity, or simply that their choices bring them knowledge or more–but more can include more difficulties, as much as it could be bounty or profit, with a negative result most likely if ego, rather than the Libran cooperative spirit, runs the show. Relating this to the New Moon, we can expect new emotional insight or feeling generated from this meeting of individual energy and the larger world.
There are more clues about this Lunar event, found in three contacts, the first being an out-of-sign trine to Sedna from its place in the final, stressful degree of Taurus=there’s something jangly, out-of-context about the ease with which the instincts and ‘blind spot’ material surfaces and colors the emotional palette–don’t be surprised at how things you ‘knew but didn’t know’ are suddenly exceptionally clear. The second contact is the New Moon novile the South Node=the past plays its part, and we would be smart to take a moment and trace the thread from seminal occurrence yesterday to results today. Third, we see a configuration formed: a Fist of God, apex the New Moon with base of Saturn square Uranus=again, big energies speak, this time perhaps implying a clash between what’s established and what will carry us forward into the future–or maybe it’s accident or innovation that shifts the timeline, sending everything in a new direction and sparking new feelings about others (NM in Libra) in the process.
The Sabian confirms this: ‘The Dawn Of A New Day Reveals Everything Changed’. Everything is a big concept, and is most likely to apply to an emotional shift at the individual level that changes the way we see and process the world. Nothing may change around us, and yet everything may be different, with this New Moon.
‘Mountainous Landscape by Moonlight’ By Albert Bierstadt 1871 {{PD}}
The Moon and Sun in Libra perfect their meeting (the 6th at 4:04 AM PDT at 13 Libra 24) just before catching up to Mars, uncomfortable in the sign (in detriment, in fact) and so probably looking for company. This gives the Lunar new start a definite edge, a nervy, hair-trigger, even pushy need to go forward–because current conditions chafe. The sense may be that we need to take action, or to get out of present circumstances, or that it’s imperative to get started, or to express the Will, now. And what areas are causing this reaction? Relationships, first and foremost, and possibly in aesthetic matters, areas where fairness or expenditures, especially shared ones, are prominent, but it’s in partnerships, cooperative situations, anywhere our lives rub up against others that the focus is strongest–and Mars says we won’t let what’s causing the itch go without doing something about it.
There are two ways this may play out: one, taking action, probably action most characteristic to the individual (defined by the natal Mars), or two, ego clash, likely through attempts by each side of a scenario trying to impose their Will on the other–just remember, there are no innocent parties here; though aggressions and assertions may look uneven, they carry equal potency (and obstinacy).
The New Moon-Mars is also semi-square Venus and sesquiquadrate Sedna at the stressful 29th degree, which describes a Venus-Sedna opposition. This reiterates the tension in Venusian ruled subjects and adds difficulty trusting our own instincts. What we ‘know but don’t know’ will exert its affect in areas where we actively carry a ‘blind spot’–meaning we’ll be asserting ourselves into precisely the territory we fail to completely comprehend.
New Moon-Mars also finds itself the apex to a Finger of God with base of Uranus-Pallas, and also opposed Chiron. The opposition is separating; that suggests the hurt we feel dates from the past, not the present–and that’s a good thing to know: that we’re not reacting to what is, but to old wounds over what was. The Finger takes an upset, a rebellion, an accident (which can also be a serendipity), a radical new idea or approach, or something the group has required, forced, or otherwise asked for, and combines it with inner wisdom, practicality, or developed skills, with the effect being revealed by either the New Moon event or our actions or choices prompted by it.
The New Moon-Mars also trines Ceres. This major asteroid can represent personal authority and its exercise, Nature with a capital ‘N’ (and via this matters of health and diet, agriculture and natural disasters), and the act of mothering (and how intrusive this may or may not be–think of Persephone/ Proserpina–was she kidnapped, or have we just been told that, the story relayed by an overbearing maternal figure who took it upon herself to negotiate the terms of her daughter being away from the world Ceres controlled?). Ceres is certainly competent at what she does; the question is, does she have the right to dictate whatever it is she’s asserting?
With the Lunar event, this leads us into Willfulness territory, into the ego asserting itself, and just how much assertion is our prerogative, how much is going beyond our mandate. That’s an individual matter; just remain aware that what we act on should be considered in light of our rights and responsibilities, as well as the rights and responsibilities of others. Boundaries are vital, to protect yourself and to protect our relationships from ourselves. We must also consider the effects of NM events on our health; expressions of temper debilitate us, while doing what needs doing can free us–so, probably a delicate balance needs to be achieved.
The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘In The Heat Of The Noon Hour A Man Takes A Siesta’. That ‘heat’ may be Martian energies, the fiery urge that wants to make things happen, that inadvertently runs over others or fails to apply patience or uses anger rather than inspiration as fuel. The advice the symbol offers is to take it easy, step back from the heat of the Sun (which just so happens to be agitating the emotions of the Moon and jump starting the assertive and aggressive inclinations via Mars), and in so doing rest–that is, the image tells us it’s the wrong time to get into a too-heated situation, to push, to insist.
This image, along with the other aspects formed by the New Moon, adds up to a warning: what occurs at this point may seem inseparable from our own needs, wants, and urges, and the situation will likely stress us, stirring an old wound and making us feel that we must act now. The thing is, Merc retrograde tells us to reconsider those inclinations, and the Finger points to the wisdom to be found in the unexpected. Our job, then, is to see it when it happens, and refuse to act precipitously, or out of a sense that if we don’t do something, we might lose our autonomy. Everything else, most especially the Libra energies and the contact to Venus, tells us that it’s not our independence that could be a casualty of current conditions, but what actually matters most: our relationships with others. Proceed, then, with caution, and leave your hair-trigger responses at the door (or as in the picture, out in Ceres’ domain, to be purified in the night air and around the campfire, where we can re-connect with those important relationships, our ‘fellow campers’).
A side note: this New Moon falls exactly, to the minute, on my natal Sun. I’ll let you know if I see any extraordinary effects.
The New Moon perfects at 12:31 PM PDT on the 16th at 23 Libra 53, after just recently passing Zeus at 21 Libra and so still conjoined, and still within opposition of Mars, which recently conjoined Earth as the Warrior continued apparent backward motion. Immediately the New Moon takes on the tone of the near-past, where emotional aspirations and attentions toward ambitions and passions have been faced with the effectiveness (or not) of choices and actions meant to bring those goals into concrete realization. What dawns here may derive from recent choices and interactions, and let us know who will help us, who has hindered us, and who we must cooperate with or accept support (or even criticism) from, in order to make ‘it’ happen. With whom do we want to bond, with whom partner or share, in whom are we interested romantically, with whom are we aligned? This New Moon brings forward these important questions–but do we get an answer, during Merc retrograde?
Merc in Scorpio is prone to dig, and that doesn’t always sit well within Libran relationships–too, our Mercury cycle may focus our thinking in directions other than those brought forward by the New Moon, so it may be highly individual whether these two tie together in any way. If we don’t learn who is vital to our efforts and our happiness at the New Moon, we’ll definitely get an inkling at the Inferior Conjunction–simply because our excavations will naturally have at least some effect on our relationships, and vice versa.
This time the Lunar event forms one end of an opposition (the other end being the Earth and Mars), with both ends squared by Capricorn residents Jupiter (yes, we’ll give the orb a little more than usual, this time, because this body touches the two that have closer aspects to the NM), Pluto, and Saturn–and of course, that makes a Cardinal T-square. That’s a configuration of tension, stretching all energy components to their extremes within the situation, but it promises us something: we can resolve the basic opposition if we can resolve the conflict the ‘arm’ introduces to the general dynamic.
That presents a picture of ambition and desire fulfillment, and who or what is helping (or hindering) with that, as it stands in relation to our own actions and choices, and how these have affected the material situation. We’ll be seeing the disparities between enacting our Will (Aries) and our desires (Zeus–which naturally involve others, even if only in the form of an audience or witness, because we might ask if we really find satisfaction in a totally unnoticed act–even with an anonymous one, we want to see it affect others–Libra).
We sort through these disparities between getting our way and getting what we desire by recognizing what we’re doing that works, and what is impeding us–and this New Moon says we do so using the three energies of the square in a disciplined and controlled (Capricorn) way. There is a strong element of responsibility in all this, via both the need to assess our own behavior and its effectiveness, and in the ways to modify that in order to get what we truly want.
Jupiter says we need to face the facts, especially those that are restraining us or hemming us in, or it suggests that it’s our relationship to (or perhaps subjugation to) the social order that is causing problems, or that our expansion attempts are poorly engineered, or that our faith is somehow misplaced (probably invested in an unworthy authority figure). Saturn says we just need to stop! or that authorities have deemed we must, or that we are failing to follow ‘the rules’ or to discipline ourselves–and so we miss at least some of our marks. With Pluto the idea of power struggle is introduced, again possibly with authorities, or we either fail to recognize that change has occurred, or that changes need to be made. We underestimate the force behind the social order, the inevitability of evolution, and the march of time, and this New Moon allows us to re-calibrate, in terms of our own efforts.
Remember, it’s natural to weigh things, with this Libra New Moon–we’re meant to assess one thing against another–so don’t succumb to internal critics that may confuse discernment in matters that directly affect you with judging things that have nothing to do with you. Right now, weighing your own choices, actions, and goals is what it’s all about.
Though I don’t typically talk about other aspects in a New or Full Moon picture, because I prefer to keep the energies discussed Lunar-relevant, I want to mention a close square currently in place: Ceres in Aquarius square Sedna in Taurus, both late in the sign but not so late that they demand our attention (right now, at mid-28 degrees, they’re just whining and pulling on our sleeves!) This may bring an entirely different tension that we could mistake for New Moon conflict; in reality this shows more as our own intellectually held concepts of our personal authority as they clash with those matters that either sit in our ‘blind spot’ or that we ‘know but don’t know’. Here the clash is internal, and likely highly distracting, stirring all kinds of feeling–but not the same ones stirred by the Lunar need to measure our actions, and our effectiveness, as it applies to goals and the World.
Too, Black Moon Lilith at this time is found at 29 Aries 29, placing those things we’d like to ignore or that enrage us at a precarious, hard-to-maintain position that could become explosive–and that means this tension might factor in, as well.
This New Moon really is about knowing ourselves (Mars in Aries, retrograde, and so going over territory we’ve already seen but need to reassess), and this knowing must be in the context of our relationships with others. New interactions or bonds can be born at this time, just as long as we face what we need to. This NM may feel a lot more like a Full Moon because of the Mars opposition–so don’t be surprised if it brings as many endings as beginnings.
The Sabian for the New Moon is, ‘ A Butterfly With A Third Wing On Its Left Side’. This New Moon seems to be about discovery, specifically about our own assets and what we can do with them. An extraneous ‘third wing’ may at first appear useless, random, even in the way of our successful ‘flight’, but on a butterfly a wing is an object of delicacy and beauty, with location on the left suggesting a spiritual purpose or meaning to it. It may be that with this New Moon we find something, in the course of all our other weighing and measuring, that offers a profound spiritual connection to our own beauty and ability–do your best to accept it as genuine, and to incorporate it in your idea of You.
Feel like Saturn’s giving you a hard time lately? Are you near a Return? You may want to visit (or re-visit) this real-life Saturn advice.
Julie Demboski's ASTROLOGY 