On August 16, 2023, a new moon occurs at 23° Leo 17’ at 5:38 am EDT. Leo is the fixed condition of self-actualization, which initiates in cardinal Aries and culminates in mutable Sagittarius. Ruled by the Sun, Leo channels solar energy that permeates us with Life Force. This intense male frequency is balanced with feminine energy from Venus transiting through her retrograde cycle and Black Moon Lilith, the secondary focal point of the Moon’s elliptical orbit, sublimating a retroactive rogue quality to this lunation.
All of the personal planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and the Sun and Moon, occupy the first six houses of the natural zodiac, which implies that the lunation is the beginning of a new cycle of personal development. Anchored by the fifth and sixth houses, the baseline is work on the self and growth through crisis.
The heavy outer planets, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto, are in their annual retrograde cycles deepening and intensifying personal work. Their transits through the last quadrant of the natural zodiac correlate to collective experiences that express individual authenticity, both for better and for worse. Self-organizing groups are increasingly coalescing around shared beliefs.
Pluto continues to square the lunar nodes generating necessities for fulfilling incomplete karmic responsibilities. Juno at 0° Leo instills more distaff energy as it completes a grand cross, opposing Pluto and squaring the lunar nodes. Juno was the wife of Zeus, who was of equal rank to her husband among the Olympians but denied its expression. Zeus was a prolific philanderer, causing great distress in his relationship with Hera. Hera was the Olympian queen of the gods, and the goddess of marriage, women, the sky, and the stars of heaven.1 Despite it all, she remained faithful to him, committed to their marriage.
The new moon separates from a waxing partile (exact) 1st Quarter “crisis in action” Square to Uranus retrograde in Taurus. Sun and Moon apply to a waxing facilitating 1st Quarter Trine to the Aries Lunar North Node and waxing Crescent Sextile to the Libra Lunar South Node.
There are karmic implications that this lunation directs us to renew and be unwavering in our commitment to our self-development, who we are, and who we are becoming.
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
Mercury, the planet closest to the sun, rules two signs. Mercury’s outward-directed Yang expression is Gemini, the world of words and ideas. In its Yin expression, energy moving inward toward the center, Mercury rules Virgo, the sacred space of ritual and ceremony, and work on the self.
Who Was Athena?
On August 8, 2023, Mercury will conjoin asteroid Pallas Athene at 14° Virgo, Mercury’s Yin, introspective expression. Athena was second only to Zeus in the Greek pantheon, above Apollo. Athena was born parthenogenetically from her father’s crown chakra. A soothsayer had prophesied that the second child he bore would be more powerful than him, so he swallowed Metis, whose name means wisdom, Athena’s mother. One day, he was in a field with his son Hephaestus, the Greek god of armor and metalwork, and was seized by a violent headache. He asked Hephaestus to use his battle axe to cleave his skull to release the pain, and Athena leaped out, fully clad in golden armor, waving her spear and shouting a battle cry. She was a virgin goddess. She resisted all amorous advances, had neither consort nor offspring and was given the attribution parthenos, meaning a chaste maiden. This name became the Parthenon in Athens.
There was a contest to determine the patron of Athens between Athena and Poseidon. Poseidon struck the ground and created a spring of fresh water for the city. Athena instead planted an olive tree to represent peace and won the contest.
Athena was the patron goddess of household crafts, sewing and weaving, and pottery which allowed cooking. She gave men the bridle to harness horses for their work.
Athene was a peace activist and would always try to negotiate peace, but she never shunned from taking up arms and going to battle. In Homer’s Iliad, she fought alongside the Greek war god Ares and the heroes of the Greek classical age. She represents the intellectual and civilized side of war and the virtues of justice and skill, whereas Ares represents mere blood lust. She wore the aegis, her father’s breastplate when she goes to war which represented fear, strife, defense, and assault. She was associated with birds, particularly the owl, which became famous as the city’s own symbol, and with the snake.
Mercury and Pallas Athene
Planet Mercury and asteroid Pallas Athene have an important relationship with each other. Astrologically, there is a principle known as planetary octaves. Uranus, as the illogical, irrational higher mind, correlates to the higher octave of Mercury, which is the lower rational mind. Pallas Athene holds a special place in this archetypal structure as the octave transformer between lower mind Mercury and higher mind Uranus. As the Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy, Pallas Athene can transform the sometimes seemingly impossible mental downloads from Uranus into rational, workable strategies. As these two mental forces conjoin, the potential for mental inspiration is magnified.
The Conjunction of Mercury and Pallas Athene in Virgo
Due to Mercury’s retrograde cycles, the conjunction will occur three times:
August 8, 2023, at 22° Virgo
August 26, 2023, at 21° Virgo Rx
October 12, 2023, at 13° Libra
This current Mercury-Pallas cycle will persist until January 21, 2025.
Virgo
Virgo sets the tone for this series of conjunctions. Virgo pertains to work on the self. It is growth through crisis. We can study foreign languages and learn mathematics or rocket science, but what we truly master are the lessons that we learn by direct emotional experience. If we are smokers, we do not stop because everyone tells us to. We only stop when we have a serious health crisis, sometimes, it takes more than one.
A rich repository of opportunities for work on the self will persist throughout this 18-month cycle with intuitive support. The three conjunctions will utilize personal introspection to establish both mental clarity and self-compassion, which is free of emotional imbalances. Mercury’s retrograde cycle will drive us deeper into our psyches to expose what we need to work on and how to do it.
Intuitive messages from Pallas are sometimes startling in their synchronicity. We are more likely to react rather than respond or ignore them. Our first reaction might be dismissal. Our rational mind says, “That’s impossible.” Awareness of mental impulses increases, and we become more receptive to mental downloads. It is never necessary to jump on any bandwagons with banners unfurled, but become the observer and watch to see who and what shows up in your outer world.
The first Hermetic Principle is that the Universe is mental. Ideas are seed thoughts that, over time, sprout roots and leaves. Our eyes are not receivers, they are projectors. Our thoughts script the events of our lives. Our reality is projected on our outer world. The world around us does not control us. Like the stars that circle overhead, our outer world is our reflection.
1st Conjunction
At the 1st conjunction, Mercury and Pallas:
Separate from a waning Full Phase Opposition to Saturn retrograde in Pisces.
Apply to a waxing 1st Quarter trine to Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus.
Apply to a waxing 1st Quarter square to asteroid Vesta in Gemini.
Though the Moon does not form any aspect to Mercury-Pallas, it separates from a conjunction only 2° degrees away from Uranus.
A push-me/pull-me condition exists. We can feel stuck between divergent ideas and pathways forward. The struggle is between what our heart tells us to do and what we think necessity demands. A mental startle reflex activates. The cognitive terrain is rocky and uneven, and we might feel “lost at sea.” The higher mind struggles to do “the right thing,” stick to what is “essential,” “The right thing” is elusive, and what is “essential” may not be. This crisis catalyzes our instinctual nature requiring that we examine where we are and where we are going.
Pluto retrograde in Capricorn squares the lunar nodes requiring the resolution of unresolved karmic issues. An internal discussion ignites the spark that initiates personal growth. Venus, retrograde in the sign of Leo, suggests that these unresolved issues concern our relationships with ourselves and others.
2nd Conjunction
During Mercury’s retrograde cycle, a second conjunction occurs on August 26th at 22° Virgo.
A mutable grand cross is briefly drawn across the sky as Mercury-Pallas in Virgo applies to a gibbous opposition to Neptune retrograde in Pisces.
A Sagittarius Moon separates from full phase opposition to asteroid Vesta in Gemini.
Mercurial energies continue to saturate the atmosphere. Conversations, gossip, innuendo, and lies swirl through the zeitgeist like ribbons on a maypole. The Moon emotionally accelerates the mental maelstrom inside our heads. We can silence our ideas, but it is much harder to sublimate our emotions.
A facilitating grand trine in the earth signs helps Mercury become more receptive to Pallas, as the conjunction by aspect separates from Pluto and applies to Uranus. Discussions are grounded in issues regarding self-empowerment and implementing structured innovation.
The Libra Lunar North Node triangulates compatible frequencies from Saturn in Pisces and Vesta in Gemini to Mercury and Pallas. Any intention for the future needs to include taking ownership of authenticity and a sacred commitment to self.
Thor’s Hammer strikes Venus retrograde in Leo from a Sagittarius Moon and Neptune retrograde in his native water world of Pisces. Our emotional experiences with the emerging world around us are reshaping our values and priorities. We are going to learn to sink or swim, one way or another.
Thor’s Hammer strikes Mars in Gemini from Jupiter in Taurus and asteroid Hygeia retrograde in Aquarius. Pointed discussions about our choices continue to populate the airwaves, discussions with others, and inside our heads.
3rd Conjunction
As Mercury returns to her forward progression across the ecliptic, the third conjunction occurs on October 12, 2023, at 14 ° Libra. Goddess Athene and her Hermetic partner are supercharged, especially after their recent meetup with the Libran Sun. What do I see in you that I see in myself? I am listening. What can you tell me? What do I need to know? How can we stop the madness?
A Full Moon at 9° Aquarius 15’ occurs on August 1, 2023, at 2:31 pm EDT. The Moon forms a fated bi-septile to the Lunar South Node in Libra and Uranus in Taurus. Destiny balances in the air like the precipitousness of a coming thunderstorm. There is a concentration of retrograde energies between Chiron, Eris, and the Lunar North Node in Aries. Something rogue and unexpected threatens to either wound or enlighten us. The Moon squares Jupiter. The ground is shaking beneath our feet.
Mercury, Mars, and Pallas Athene in Virgo propose uncomfortable non-negotiable choices. There are reports that COVID is re-emerging. This current record-breaking summer heatwave is the elephant in the room. It has thrust climate change into our critical awareness.
Why is the sign of Aquarius associated with rebellion and revolution? How do we individuate and become our authentic selves? Capricorn is the sign that precedes Aquarius. Capricorn is Cardinal Earth. Ruled by Saturn, it creates form and structure. It correlates to maturity and the aging process. What happens is that the structures Saturn creates become crystallized, hardened, and stuck. The hurricane-force winds of Aquarius shatter the crystallization creating the space for something new to awaken. Innovation reveals new ways of dealing with old issues. This process occurs cyclicly within societies and ourselves.
Change is disruptive. The security of what is believed and known is threatened as the ground shifts. Change is the only constant. Everything is in a constant state of imperceptible growth. Sometimes change is unexpected and startling.
Polarity is the basic format of the Universe. Everything that exists is in contrast to what it is not. Astrological archetypes exist as polarities. The polarity of Aquarius is Leo, the fixed archetype of the self-actualization process. Our ego, or self-image, realized in the sign of Cancer, is projected outward in Leo as our personality. Leo is who we are. Aquarius is who we are becoming. Most often, gradual growth is hard to observe day to day. We do not necessarily detect change when we look at ourselves daily in the mirror. We would see our startling changes more clearly if we viewed a stream of Timelapse photography over many days, months, or years.
Many of us anticipate the Age of Aquarius. There is much disagreement about that timeline. What might it look like? Would it be a gentle, gradual change process or sudden, cataclysmic, and disruptive?
Astrologically we are standing at the threshold of Pluto’s transit through Aquarius. We have already had a taste of what to expect as Jupiter and Saturn transited the sign of individuation over the last decade. Climate change, Donald Trump, and COVID are the benchmarks of our current time. Each of these events has also changed the world around us and our lives.
“A MAN WHO HAD FOR A TIME BECOME THE EMBODIMENT OF A POPULAR IDEAL IS MADE TO REALIZE THAT AS A PERSON HE IS NOT THIS IDEAL.”
Native American prophesy tells us that the Earth has been destroyed three times. Each time the “faithful” were delivered by going underground. This time, we will not need to retreat underground. The Fourth World is emerging even as the Third World goes away. But we will only each survive by becoming as strong as we can physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The clock is ticking. The wake-up alarm is already ringing.
Venus, Goddess of Relationships, stations retrograde on July 22nd at 29° Leo. This is the anaretic degree, “ring not pass” point of an archetype. In order to evolve further, unresolved issues must be addressed. Leo is the archetype of self-actualization, becoming. As Venus has transited Leo, we have had opportunities for personal growth that we may have chosen to work with. As Venus retraces her steps backward through Leo, these opportunities for personal growth will re-emerge with greater intensity that can be harder to ignore.
Venus is now the ruler of the lunar south node, making this retrograde cycle more significant. Venus applies to a partile (exact) 1st Quarter (waxing) trine to the lunar north node, which is the Soul-intended future, and applies to a Last Quarter (waning) sextile to the lunar south node, the repository of past karma. This is an open portal for six weeks to work on our relationships with others and ourselves.
Venus applies to a partile Full Phase (waning) quincunx to Pluto retrograde in Capricorn. Venus applies to a Full Phase opposition to Saturn retrograde in Pisces, the current ruler of Pluto in Capricorn. Circumstances will illuminate and empower where and how a course change with others must occur.
Venus separates from a tight Gibbous (waning) quincunx to Neptune retrograde in Pisces and “casts bread on the waters“ potentially washing away any anger or resentments with compassion and understanding.
Venus retrograde applies to a 1st Quarter Square to Uranus in Taurus, activating critical awareness of what is out of balance and presenting new perspectives that help with needed reconciliations.
The south node of Venus conjoins Mars in Virgo, bringing the opportunity to make new choices for work on the self. The north node of Venus conjoins asteroid Juno in Cancer empowering commitment.
These are hard transits requiring work on the self, supported by karmic energies that empower evolutionary growth. Watch for openings to find common grounds for relationship issues that have been “hanging fire.” This is an excellent time for couples counseling if necessary.
Venus will station direct on September 3rd at 12° Leo continuing the curriculum of work on the self at the Virgo ingress on October 8th. We should expect this theme to continue to unfold through the end of 2023 as Venus transits Libra, her native sign, and Scorpio, the realm we share with others.
Evolutionary Astrology maps the journey of the Soul from lifetime to lifetime. The trajectory of that incarnation pathway lies across the path of the lunar nodes. The lunar nodes are two energetic points in space where the ecliptic, the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, and the Moon’s orbit around the Earth intersect.
No planet, asteroid, or other celestial object exists at those points, however, lunar nodes generate a powerful, energetic imprint. As it descends below the ecliptic every day, the Lunar South Node reawakens the past. This subconscious emotional memory is the foundation of our instinctive behavior. The Moon’s diurnal motion generates the nodes each day. Astrologically, the Moon correlates to the emotional body. The Moon is the repository of all the emotional experiences that are the underlying determinant of our sense of safety and security. Ancestral patterning learned in early childhood from our parents and grandparents is the “programming” we receive in childhood. Our early childhood emotions are the reliving from the past. They are the “memory” of what came before, what is carried forward into this current lifetime. In our natal chart, the Moon is the container that structures the format of our emotions by house, sign, and aspects. The Moon and its native sign of Cancer are the Water element. Water takes the shape of whatever container it is in. Water must fill each space it passes through before it can move on.
As it ascends above the ecliptic each day, the Lunar North Node imprints a potential future that the Soul intends. But it is only a probable future. The resolution point between the past and future lies in the present, in the Moon, natal or transit which by sign, house, and aspects formats the potential ways for issues and circumstances in the present to be or not be resolved. There is more than one potential future. Our choices in the present are driven by the nature of our inner planets and their corresponding outer planet pressures.
On July 17th at 4 pm EDT, the Moon’s nodes will begin an 18-year transit of the signs of Aries and Libra. This important event occurs only 90 minutes after the Cancer New Moon.
Since 2003 the lunar nodes have been formatted by Taurus and Scorpio. Both archetypes are Yin by nature, with energy moving inward towards the center. They are Fixed signs; grounded, stubborn, singularly focused. Events stop, start, hesitate, and generally progress slowly and hesitantly, regulated by powerfully controlled stresses that push and pull against each other. Their respective rulers, Venus and Pluto, have necessitated lessons about self-reliance and what is essential for survival. Power expressed politically, economically, and socially has been an underlying theme. There have been chthonic disturbances. A major marker was stamped in time by COVID: “BC” Before COVID, “AC” After COVID.
Aries and Libra are Cardinal signs, spontaneous, dynamic, initiatory, experimental, and experiential. Both are Yang energy moving outward from the center. Aries is the birth point. Spirit into Matter. Aries is primal. It is the desire to separate from Source as a spiritual being having a human experience. Aries instinctively seeks experience. Its archetype is a non-cognitive expression, often without forethought, learning by trial and error. Aries, in its higher expression, is the pioneer and the warrior. In its distortion, it is narcissism, self-interest, and violence.
“ Aries natural home is the 1st house, ruled by Mars. Yang (day, male, light) energy represents the desire to separate. It is energy moving out from the center. Yin (female) energy represents the desire to return to the center. Aries represents the original anxiety of separation from the womb. Mars is the agent on the subjective, egoic level that the Soul uses to carry out its desires. It’s tied to the primal brain. The sign on the 1st house, the house sign that Aries is in, the house, and the sign that Mars is in all represent the types of desires we are aware of to connect with our evolutionary requirements. Ascendant, Mars, Aries, and 1st house correlate to the phenomenon of becoming. We are in a perpetual state of becoming. This is why Aries requires freedom to act upon the core desire and cannot tolerate restrictions. The 1st house naturally opposed the 7th house (Libra, relationships). The emotional paradox is too much isolation vs. too much social interaction threatening the loss of sense of self. We understand who we are by comparing and contrasting ourselves to others. The Ascendant is NOT the personality. Aries is instinctive; nothing instinctive is constructed. The 7th house Descendant is the actual constructed personality, how others see us. “
—(Paraphrased from JWG’s Pluto Vol. 1 and JWG School course
In cardinal signs, things happen, sometimes suddenly and quickly, with little forethought. As this nodal cycle unfolds, the “magnetic” attraction to personal desires, values, and priorities increases.
The chart for any celestial event formats its duration. The ingress chart for any event is the template for the event’s duration. Our birth chart is the dynamic template for our lifetime described over time by planetary transits and progressions. The chart for the day the Sun returns to the point it was at birth, called a solar return, is the format for the full year. The chart below holds the embryonic template for the next 18 months.
A cardinal grand cross dominates the sky at the Aries Libra nodal ingress. Pluto anchors a cardinal T-square with the Lunar Nodes and opposes the nascent Moon creating a Cardinal Grand Cross. Cardinal crosses are extremely dynamic and overcharged with potential. They are like a thunderstorm about to deliver a downpour of rain and hail. The partile, (exact) 90-degree crisis-laden squares between Pluto and the lunar nodes intensify this already precipitous configuration. As I stated, this event occurs only 90 minutes after the New Moon and will underscore this next lunar cycle.
The other key planetary players are a Chiron Eris conjunction in Aries conjunct the Lunar South Node, Venus in Leo, and Mars and Pallas Athene marshaled together in Virgo.
In its Yin expression, Venus was the ruler of the recent Taurus North Node. Now Venus in its Yang expression, rules Libra. The Goddess of Relationship maintains her nodal rulership as the ruler of the Lunar South Node in Libra. Taurus is about our relationship with ourselves. In Libra, Venus correlates to our relationship with others, primarily one-on-one. Venus correlates to our values and their resulting priorities.
There is also another “carryover” from the last nodal transit as Mars, the “lower octave” of Pluto, is now the ruler of the Lunar North Node. Mars correlates to the choices we make based on the values and priorities handed off from Venus. A favorable trine to the lunar north node from Pallas Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom and Strategy billeted with Mars, suggests the potential for more considered and conscious choices regarding remedies and workable options for healing the pending crises that are issuing from the past. Though Venus and Mars are in an out-of-sign conjunction, their relative closeness suggests conflicting perspectives coming closer to singularity.
Chiron and Eris conjunct the lunar north could be a wild card. Chiron correlates to homeopathic healing based on “like heals like.” New strategies from Pallas Athene can activate Chiron homeopathy. Eris is a rogue personality. Eris activates circumstances that dislodge what she deems unjust. January 6, the presidency of DJ Trump, and COVID are examples of collective homeopathic societal healing. We are becoming more conscious but must take higher steps to climb.
This nodal transit’s core theme will be about who and what we are in a relationship with and how we see ourselves in that relationship. Self and others will come into greater focus and awareness. We will continue to create and participate in self-organizing groups that reflect our values and priorities. Clearly, that implies a wide range of personal expression. Martin Buber’s concept of I and Thou expresses what has become the dichotomy that surrounds us. Do we see others as “It” or as “Thou”? We will be exposed to lessons that teach us that everything is connected to everything else, and we are all connected. In essence, there is only one of us on the planet. How long will that realization take? G_d only knows. It is not about the destination. It is about the journey.
On July 17, 2023, a new moon occurs at 25° Cancer at 2:32 pm EDT. The sign of Cancer, the Moon, and the 4th House astrologically correlates to the emotional body. This archetype is the repository of all the emotional experiences that are the underlying determinant of our sense of safety and security. What is familiar feels safe. The root of the word familiar is family. For most of us, family is sanctuary, though unfortunately, this is not always true. There is a sense of safety in these instinctive emotional responses, which unknowingly pattern our behavior. Often it is ancestral patterning learned in early childhood from our parents and grandparents. Our early childhood emotions are the reliving from the past. They are the “memory” of what came before, what is carried forward into this current lifetime.
At this lunation, the lunar nodes, the trajectory of our evolutionary development, rest at the final degree of an 18-month journey through Taurus and Scorpio. Venus has been the ruler of the lunar north node through this nodal transit. Venus, in its inner Yin expression, formatted the lunar north node through this transit.
Taurus teaches us about self-reliance and what is essential for our survival. Taurus correlates to our relationship with ourselves. Astrologically, Venus is magnetism. The quotient of our self-love is the magnetic center for what has been called the law of attraction. The lunar north node is the potential promise of the future. We are developing new potentials for our relationship with ourselves.
Pluto rules the sign of Scorpio. Planet Pluto is the engine that drives evolution forward. For the last 18 months, it has been the ruler of the lunar south node. The lunar south node is the composite emotional patterning of the most recent lifetimes. Pluto empowers us or disempowers us. We stand in our power or surrender it. Pluto takes no prisoners. At this lunation, Pluto is retrograde, temporarily back in Capricorn, and faces off against the Sun and Moon at 29° Capricorn. The last twenty-ninth degree of a sign is the “ring not pass” that requires resolution of whatever still “hangs fire” regarding that archetype. The shape of the new moon chart is a locomotive with Pluto as the lead planet driving the energy forward with tremendous force.
Perhaps we can mark our current time as “BC, before COVID,” and AC, After COVID. This current nodal transit that is ending correlates to the genesis of what has transpired since COVID. A transit of Uranus in Taurus has underscored the last five years. These Aquarian/Uranian energies have shaken to the ground what has become outmoded and crystallized. We have been saddled with the crises generated by the irreconcilable truths of the past.
According to the Theosophical Society, “ring not pass” is,
“A profoundly mystical and suggestive term signifying the circle or bounds of frontiers within which is contained the consciousness of those who are still under the sway of the delusion of separateness….It is a general term applicable to any state in which an entity, having reached a certain stage of evolutionary growth of the unfolding of consciousness, finds itself unable to pass into a still higher state because of some delusion under which the consciousness is laboring, be that delusion mental or spiritual.”
—Occult Glossary, G. de Purucker
Pluto and the Sun-Moon conjunction square the lunar nodes at the Cancer New Moon. In Evolutionary Astrology, this is known as a “skipped step.” It is a mostly fixed grand cross. A grand cross is a highly dynamic configuration. It correlates to a “locked and loaded situation,” primed to unleash pent-up energies. This is especially true in fixed modalities.
The Sun is the self-actualization process. When the Sun squares the lunar nodes, it is not a “skipped step’ per se; however, it generates potential “skipped steps” during this next lunation cycle. The archetypes in play include the need for justice and fairness (asteroid Astraea in Taurus), the activity of rogue personalities (Eris in Aries), self-wounding (Chiron in Aries), and mass delusion (Neptune retrograde in Pisces).
We can navigate this energetic implosion by harnessing the nourishing and nurturing qualities of the sign of Cancer. Connect to your balanced power source, whatever that might be. Express your authenticity with your innate talents. Take refuge and safety in family and what is familiar. Honor your sense of justice and right and wrong. Express your authenticity and allow others the same. The Wheel of Fortune is spinning. Find your center of balance and breathe.
There are multiple versions of the birth chart of the United States. Mostly hearsay, little actual data establish the “true” date and time of our country’s birthday. I use the date and time when we declared war against our mother country and ceased being colonies. Not everyone agrees with that. What all the charts do share is a date in early July. A full moon occurs at 11° Capricorn 18’ as North Americans begin to celebrate their national birthday. Full moons are release points and manifestations. Any police force will tell you things can get dicey at a full moon.
The Moon is conjunct Jupiter’s south node. The Cancer Sun conjoins Jupiter’s north node and Mercury. The issues that swirl through our current zeitgeist revolve around ancestral patterning and security. At the core are ideas that force-feed beliefs. Personal truths are acted out with self-appointed legitimacy.
This lunation brings into focus what is collectively held captive from the past, bigotry, misogyny, patriarchy, and racial intolerance. The United States was born in bloodshed. The last pinnacle of this bellicose behavior occurred as neighbors took up arms against neighbors during the American Civil War. More fathers, brothers, and sons died at Gettysburg than on D-Day. This inherent aberrant behavior has recently splintered and spread as gun violence which used to be random and sporadic and is in the news almost daily.
Saturn in Pisces rules this full moon. Self-authorized emotions run wild. Boundaries are crossed.
Neptune underscores Saturn’s self-importance by releasing the furies of collective beliefs. Neptune just turned retrograde and is standing still in the sky, drilling down like the Sun through a magnifying glass, igniting emotional fevers that have spilled over into the streets.
Mars, Venus, and asteroid Pallas Athene, all in extremely close company, are in self-actualizing Leo and are generating personal strategies that act out individualized agendas.
Jupiter, the planet that tends to blow things way out of proportion, is in a favorable relationship with the Moon at the core of the emotional tidal wave.
According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, “The full Moon in July is called the Buck Moon because the male deer (bucks) antlers are in full growth mode. Bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year, producing a larger and more impressive set as the years pass.” We could see the street littered with many spent antlers by the time this holiday ends.
Please, be safe, be patient, and do what my grandmother always cautioned me to do. Look both ways at every intersection.
On June 30th, 2023, the big blue planet Neptune stood still at 28° Pisces and began to move backward through the sky. It will remain in this retrograde condition for the rest of this year, turning direct again on December 6th at 25° Pisces.
Astrologically the planet named for the king of the waters, on land and sea, is recognized for intuition as well as dementia, dreams and waking nightmares, forgiveness, compassion, unconditional love, and betrayal. Neptune correlates to the beliefs that we share collectively with others, the collective unconscious.
It is the archetype that correlates to our consciousness, or lack thereof. Everything in the Universe is conscious; minerals, plants, animals, and people. Consciousness, like the water element to correlate to, takes the shape and form of whatever it enters. In rocks and minerals, it manifests as crystal emanations. Plants are the source of all the pharmaceuticals we need for survival. The plants know they are here to help us and silently endure so all species can survive. Animals know that they are here as our helpers, partners, and companions. The plants eat the minerals. The animals eat the plants. We eat the plants and the animals… some of us.
There are two essential qualities of water. The first is that water must fill up every space it passes through before it can move on. The second is that water dissolves anything it encounters, either slowly in small drips or rapidly in a torrent. Someone once suggested that a cataclysmic geological torrent formed the Grand Canyon in minutes—just some food for thought.
Neptune rules Pisces, the culmination of the evolution of consciousness through the water signs. In Cancer, through our lunar experiences, we see ourselves. In Scorpio, we descend into the underworld of the subconscious repository of our wounds, failures, and disappointments to find a new basis for understanding why these experiences occurred. Pluto helps us release the emotional corpses we carry and reintegrate those experiences into whom we are becoming. In Pisces and through the dynamics of Neptune, we cleanse ourselves completing the Ensō that is of our lives and prepare for renewal.
“When Neptune is retrograde, it points to our Soul. When Neptune is retrograde, there is an accelerated evolutionary desire, need, to throw off all delusive things: that which is not actually ‘real’ yet what we have considered real before the delusion or illusion was finally understood.”
–Jeffrey Wolf Green
This six-month cycle is formatted by a Sagittarian Moon in a compatible trine to Neptune, which can lift our spirits. Our collective dream is of a world connected to the natural world, free of hatred, pestilence, and ignorance.
At this station, Neptune approaching the last degrees of its native sign of Pisces, anchors a bond between Pluto and star maiden asteroid Astraea. Pluto is re-experiencing unresolved lessons about the responsibilities that come with power. Astraea is concerned with justice and fairness, law and order. She has been called “Neptune’s storyteller.” Unlike her cousin Eris, Astraea is not grounded. She has her head in the clouds. She is non-confrontational and would rather withdraw then engage in conflict.
Neptune forms a waning inconjunct with her sister Pallas Athene in Leo. We are getting active downloads of new ways to grow by making life-changing course corrections.
Minor planet Ceres, in the early degrees of Libra, separates from opposition to Neptune. We are encouraged to nurture ourselves by nurturing others.
Some minor crises predicate change due to Mars applying a balsamic conjunction to Pallas Athene. Mars is also sesquisquare to Neptune. Our choices can be more compassionate and less self-centered.
In short, we are “dreaming the impossible dream”, but not the way we expected it to go.
Over the next 7 days, a Gemini New Moon occurs and then joins the Sun at its greatest maximum to mark the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. Both of these astral events are starting points. One marks the next monthly cycle, and the other marks the beginning of a seasonal cycle. In the Northern Hemisphere, Summer begins. The newly found verdant world begins to bear fruit, whispering the promise of an abundance to come. In the Southern Hemisphere, Winter sends Terran fertility inward to rest and restore in preparation for its scheduled return.
The new moon occurs at 26° Gemini 43’ on June 18 at 12:37 am EDT. The solstice will occur on June 21, marking the Sun’s entry into the cardinal sign of Cancer on June 21 at 10:57 am EDT.
Gemini is about what we know or perhaps what we think we know. We are submerged in a data-saturated world. It is hard to tell whether truth or lies are more elusive. Opinions are presented as fact. Facts are reduced to an opinion. With Jupiter and Uranus both in sometimes bull-y Taurus, there is much castling and hunkering down.
The Sun anchors a grand trine applying to a last quarter (waxing) share to the Lunar South Node and separating from a first quarter (waning) trine to health advocate asteroid Hygeia. Something from the past lingers, unfinished but loaded with potential. Localized epidemics threaten to rebound elsewhere. The learned experiences of the past offer multiple pathways forward.
Mars is under Venus’s sway as she approaches him from behind, whispering in his ear. Is she murmuring sweet nothings or veiled ultimatums? New priorities are on the table. New choices are under consideration. New commitments are possible with asteroid Juno’s urging.
Maternal Divinity Ceres in the early degrees of Libra separates from a full phase opposition to elusive Neptune in Pisces. The Sun separates from a last quarter (waxing) square to Neptune. The Sun applies to a last quarter (waning) square to Ceres.
An inconjunct tightening from the Sun to Pluto, retrograde for the last time into Capricorn, underscores both events. Self-empowerment is re-infused with self-authority. The social and political tremors show no hint of receding. Gaia is re-awakening from a long period of tolerance and restraint. Nature is actively at work to heal itself. We are in crisis with our Planetary Mother. She reveals the chthonic place within herself and us. This current sequence of astral events are her messengers.
Venus separates from a partile (exact) semisquare to Venus in Leo at the new moon and the solstice. Venus is about our values and priorities. In Leo, they are formatting how we are currently self-actualizing. The current alliance of Venus and Mars actively inhabits our moment-to-moment, day-to-day choices. Ask yourself, “What is the right thing to do?” The correct answer will save a lot of צרות tsrus (trouble) later on.
The Sun applies to a partile semi-sextile to Vesta in Taurus and the new moon and separates from Vesta at the solstice. Finding our authenticity requires self-expression. Consensus works very well in telling us not to hurt others and to stop at red lights. But most of our other choices should come from the heart.
Saturn in Pisces is stationed retrograde at the New Moon. By early November, it will retreat to 0° Pisces before turning direct again. In my Astrological Weather Report for Saturn in Pisces, I wrote:
“Saturn has been churning the winds of change in Aquarius since the end of 2020. Since then, the worldwide spread of COVID-19 and its self-mutating variants have shattered our sense of normalcy. In the United States, the Capitol Riot and exposure of malfeasance at the highest level of government has politically splintered the nation. Europe has been drawn to the precipice of nuclear confrontation in Ukraine. In Asia, an active Chinese agenda is attempting to reset the balance of power in the region. We have witnessed a much different world emerge in the last three years.”
Saturn is the law of the land. We have begun to see the dominoes fall for Donald Trump. Over the balance of this year, this legal process will progress and possibly conclude.
In the US Chart,
transiting Saturn is squaring the Jupiter-Neptune in Gemini conjunction in the US 9th House of Jurisprudence and the court system. This conjunction also refers to the religious life of the US.
Saturn trines US 10th House Sun in Cancer. The Presidency is under political pressure from more than one direction.
US Saturn forms a tight crisis-laden inconjunct to 11th House US Mercury, ruler of the US ninth house. This also places pressure on the media as well as the court system.
Saturn sextiles rogue personality US Eris. I cringe at the thought of continued gun violence, nuclear catastrophe, or insurrection.
Saturn sesquisquares 1st House US Moon in Libra, predicting general turbulence for the US population.
The Cancer Sun applies to a disseminating trine to Saturn at the solstice. If we live in warmer climates, the outdoors offers opportunities to merge with the natural world. In the Southern Hemisphere, If winter sports are not your thing, use this coming season to nurture yourself with healthy food and good friends and family.
“When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time, I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.”
At 7:46 am MDT today, June 5, 2023, Venus entered the Sun’s sign of Leo. This Venusian ingress holds significant density. At the ingress, the planet of relationship to others and ourselves stood exactly opposite Pluto retrograde in Aquarius. This planetary opposition was in a tight 90° square aspect to the lunar nodes in Taurus and Scorpio. When a planet or planets square the lunar nodes, in Evolutionary Astrology, this is known as a “skipped step.” Some process necessary for evolution has been denied or avoided.
A fixed grand cross is drawn in the sky. A grand cross is a condition that is “locked and loaded.” There is a build-up of energy that necessitates release. In fixed signs, this condition is especially challenging. Pluto carries the karmic signature of the Soul’s evolutionary intention. The lunar nodes are the karmic/evolutionary trajectory, the pathway from the past to the future. The action point is the Moon, in this case, the Moon in Capricorn. Capricorn is about taking responsibility and creating a viable structure. The Moon forms a tight crisis aspect to Venus, requiring an adjustment, a course change. The intensity of the moment cannot endure. Something has to give.
At the ingress, the archetypal patterning is compacted. Venus is the ruler of the Lunar North Node. Pluto is the ruler of the Lunar South Node. Uranus rules Pluto in Aquarius in Taurus, which is, in turn, ruled by Venus. A crisis-laden square from Venus to rogue personality Eris adds additional complications. An out-of-sign trine from Venus to Neptune does little to clarify the situation. Venus applies to a conjunction to Mars, also in Leo.
We have all been feeling this pressure for quite some time. This celestial moment accentuates the issues and suggests a different pathway forward. Venus is about what is essential to our happiness and our survival. It correlates to our values and their resulting priorities. We are being made aware of what is truly important. Leo is the second phase of the self-actualization process. We have an innate sense of ourselves and express it naturally in the world. But does that sense of self express our authentic personal values, or is it driven by the need to conform to consensus reality?
Pluto holds the missives of our Soul’s deepest need for security and hands them off to Mars for expression. Are our choices aligned with what we need to be happy and thrive?
The inconvenient truth is that we will continue to experience personal and collective crises if our choices and priorities are not aligned with Soul’s intention. No one is saying that this is easy. It is actually the baseline of our evolutionary path. But if Earth is a Soul School, we are all on the same path, though not necessarily at the same mile marker.
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ― Rumi
