You are living a reality I left years ago, it quite nearly killed me. In the long run, it will make you cry, make you crazy and old before your time.
— Stephen Stills, from “You Don’t Have To Cry”
You are not a machine. Even as much as a world regulated by clocks, calendars and quotas expects you (and even convinces you to expect) to be a robot, it’s never quite going to happen. That’s good.
Even the most regimented and disciplined people eventually realize that any prolonged attempt to live like a machine will damage the quality of life.
By the same token, as much as other people might want you to continue filling a particular role for them, part of you will (at least occasionally) want and need to be something else. That’s good too.
Part of being a happy and healthy human being means being changeable, sometimes to the point of appearing to be capricious or even erratic. It’s a good thing because the one constant in the world is change.
Hence, to survive (much less thrive) you need to love, support, nourish and encourage your ability to change with the world. For if you go the other way and resist or devalue the vagarious essence of your human nature, the changing world will often function to age and disillusion you prematurely. Beyond that, it’s also important to initiate change in the world — especially the changes you want or need to see.
Of all the things in the sky that correlate with an imperative to change and be changed, perhaps the Moon comes closest to expressing that particular and essential (if also exasperating) facet of human nature. As astrology would have it, today it is an appropriate time to consider lunar manifestations of change because several are about to happen — essentially at once.
Tomorrow, shortly after 10:53 am EDT (14:53:21 UTC) the emblematic Sun and Moon will come together in precisely the same degree of Leo even as the actual Sun and Moon move alongside each other in the sky. Such an event happens every four weeks or so, and is called a New Moon.
By convention, a New Moon is considered the beginning of a new lunar cycle of phases, sometimes called a lunation. On the day of a New Moon, the actual Moon is like a seed in the ground, hidden from view but full of potential. Then, much as with a seed’s germination, things begin to change.
On Saturday evening, the actual Moon will become visible again as a thin crescent of reflected light just above the western horizon shortly after sunset. Then, with each successive night the crescent will grow larger, and increase its separation from the Sun, culminating in the fruition of a Full Moon on Aug. 29. Following the Full Moon, the illuminated portion of the Moon will gradually decrease, rising later and later each night until it sows the seed of the next lunation to come.
Every New Moon is thus a new beginning of the most familiar lunar cycle. It is a cycle you can see in your life. You can see it in external germinations, fruitions and completions. You can also follow the cycle within, playing out in your emotions, intuitions, fascinations and enthusiasms. Yet, lunations are not the only form of lunar cycle.
Other lunar expressions in your life are to be located at essential points in the Moon’s orbit, most notably the lunar nodes and the mean lunar apogee (which is also referred to as Black Moon Lilith). Those points have cycles of their own. Interestingly, both of those cycles are also on the verge of change at this time.
To put it most simply, the lunar nodes are where eclipses take place. On the zodiac circle, they are represented by horseshoe-shaped glyphs perpetually opposed (always separated by 180 degrees). In actuality, the lunar nodes are the two points where the Moon’s orbit around Earth intersects with the plane of Earth’s orbit around the Sun.
As one would expect of something associated with the Moon, the location of the nodes on the zodiac and in the sky is in constant and seemingly impetuous oscillation. The net change over time is a retrograde motion, which causes the nodes to change signs every 18 months or so.
Again keeping it simple, the ascending (or ‘North’) lunar node now winding up its time in Libra has meaning for astrologers. Among other things, that meaning has to do with the unknown future and how you feel about it. Conversely, the descending (or ‘South’) lunar node now completing its time in Aries corresponds with the known past and your emotional attachments to it.
The lunar apogee is the point of the Moon’s orbit furthest from Earth. It also moves, and it also has a meaning for astrologers. Appropriately for something associated with the Moon, the motion of the lunar apogee appears to be capricious and erratic, even if it is ultimately understandable.
Also known as Black Moon Lilith (and once again keeping things simple), the lunar apogee point corresponds to human vagaries that can be either deprecated or appreciated. That depends on how you feel about the essential changeability of human nature, contrasted with the pressure to conform and be like a machine.
Black Moon Lilith changes signs in direct motion every nine months or so. Hence, about every year and a half, the lunar nodes and the mean lunar apogee change signs at about the same time. That time has come again, with implications that you will once again be faced with the choice of either embracing or resisting your whimsical and wild, yet essential and indispensable, ways.
The lunation beginning with tomorrow’s Leo New Moon is planting the seeds for those changes. Later this month, on Aug. 25, the mean lunar apogee will move from Virgo into Libra. Later this year, on Oct. 9 (or Oct. 10, depending on your time zone) the opposing mean lunar nodes will leave Libra and Aries behind and take their oscillating ways into Virgo and Pisces.
The last time such a turnover of lunar manifestations took place was in the early months of 2014, as winter yielded to spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Now as Northern Hemisphere summer slowly moves toward autumn, it’s happening again.
Thus, you might want to look back 18 months or so and consider what you did (or did not do) to either accommodate or resist change. You may want to consider what you have been through, and learned, since that time.
If there is anything to the interpretation of lunar manifestations presented here today, there should be something you can do. You should at least be able to begin with the Leo New Moon tomorrow by planting the seeds of a reality you will be living for the next year and a half or so. Ideally, it will be a reality where you won’t have to cry as much as in the past, or as often, precisely because you have become the change you want to see.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Right on!
Thank you, Michael.
Oh, I do hope the Leo new moon marks an easier stretch! This usually optimistic Sagittarius has been struggling through a swamp of despondency, feeling stuck, progress on most fronts at a standstill, sprouting frustrating physical symptoms – all amidst a protracted & fierce heatwave. I don’t generally allow my self to whine, but today I’ve indulged in exactly that. Oh well.
Looking back 18 months, yes, I believe I was looking to make necessary changes, & I seem to have followed through on some major ones. The results have been somewhat mixed, but perhaps that’s “normal”?
The only relief from my current discomforts came in the form of a couple of hours last night spent watching the Perseid meteor shower, finally feeling the cool air & relaxing for a while. I was/am grateful for that respite.
I’ve begun looking back at my experiences of past Jupiter & Saturn cycles – the last time Saturn transited Sagittarius, I went back to school to work on my bachelor of fine arts degree. At present, I have ideas for new art, but considering that there is little to no market for art of any kind where I live, I find myself saying “why bother?” – AND I know I need to get over that.
Mantra: this too shall pass….this too…
The “whimsical and wild” parts of me have been terribly neglected. Thanks for the reminder, Len.
Bette: Here’s wishing you an easier stretch! You have earned it. The concept of “normal” is an elusive thing, and you may want to simply focus on what works (and hasn’t worked for you) as a starting point with this New Moon, allowing the time frames of the longer lunar cycles to become part of the whole as well. i’m really glad you had a chance to see the Perseids, the weather has been rather uncooperative where i reside. Sharing your mantra.
Bette, Christeen Skinner tells a story of a client to whom she said that her artwork would sell in Alaska (astrocartology) but she could equally take themes or colours from there to help sales. When she said ‘Alaska’ the girl jumped a mile, because she said her art work was currently visible on a sub page of her boyfriend’s website ie not something you would come across easily, but a guy in Alaska had stumbled on her artwork and loved it so much he contacted her about putting it in an Alaskan competition.
Perhaps you could find something that works for you through the internet and or astrocartography, or just who would you enjoy buying your pictures, who do you want to touch with your artwork.
I’ve been inspired this week by interviews I watched on youtube – both Rickie Lee Jones and Taylor Swift saying in effect that their latest music is let go to the public with a desire to speak to the despair or difficulty human beings experience – and alleviate it or lift mood. I also watched an interview with KD Lang and the choreograoher who has made a ballet of her life (loosely) to her songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZKihWAUrnA
Len, your words come through like the homing beacon of clarity amidst and among the vary changeable realities you describe. I am glad you left that other reality years ago, and are here now to mark the truly important cycles of our lives through your reading of the Heavens.
chief niwot’s son: Your comment today means more to me than words can possibly express. Thank you so very much.
Len, I remember when you and I had a private session a couple of years ago, and among the many interesting things you told me, you repeated one thing several times, and I was struck by the choice of words, because you are so careful with your diction: “Survive until your second Saturn return…” Survive….
Since last November, I have suffered two life-threatening scenarios: a ruptured aneurysm/sub-arachnoid hemorrhage in my brain, and breast cancer earlier this spring. I have been extraordinarily lucky in both of these challenges, and it appears that I will, indeed, survive.
Tomorrow is my 54th birthday, a fine day for any new moon, much less one of this overall import: my life is in serious need of some overhauling, and it helps to feel like the universe and the stars have my back.
Thank you, Len, for everything you do.
Just Suzanne: Happy birthday! Please accept my heartfelt gratitude for bringing your experience forward in such an affirming way. Good to have you still here with the rest of us survivors. Your example is valuable and deeply appreciated.
Happy Bday Suzanne…………..Stay well…………be strong………….the best to you……………..
Great stuff, Len. You teach your children well.
Geoff: Thank you for being so very generous and kind.
My pleasure, Sir. I have never before read such a concise yet comprehensive account of the effects of the Moon’s changing phases, its nodes and its relationship to our home planet and our emotions. Priceless knowledge, understanding and explanation. That’s good.
The changing Moon: Om, no?
Len………this is an amazing piece……..the path I chose 18 months ago was very narrow…….the mission…….service……..the gifts….. too many to innumerate……love is the guide……I am ready for the planting……………thank you…………I saw one meteor Tuesday night…..I’m good……………..
Barbara: You are most welcome. i do hope that you were able to make a wish on the the meteor you did see, and that the wish will be granted in full.
You did it again, Len,
bless your heart 🙂
Thank you, Tug.
Thank-you, Len – I’ve discovered that most of what ails me has its roots in anxiety, so I’m trying to learn the shapes/causes of its origins. I am finding some ease in focusing on “what works”, endeavouring to sort it out from what doesn’t, & letting the latter go.
Pam, thank-you so much for the ideas & encouragement – I do know that the last place a creative person tends to find an appreciative public is in one’s hometown. That may be especially true here, where generations of negative thinking have most probably believing that “anything from here can’t be any good.”
Yes, my best market for art is elsewhere, possibly the Canadian west coast, where many transplanted prairie folks, I’m told, are nostaligic for the landscape/sky they remember. I hope to create some kind of presence for my work there & elsewhere.
Hello Len and all. Apologies for the tardiness, I have a question.
Does anyone have a general delineation of Black Moon Lilith?
I’ve come far into contact with its effect (having a grand fire trine to the degree with Saturn and Sun, in the natal) yet, can’t quite grasp an essential aspect of its demeanor. I can throw it around my head in a myriad of ways, but it still remains elusive (as far as a sure understanding).
Crumbs are useful in my case. Thank you.
Jere
Jere: Thank you for your question. Please see the link below for a scholarly treatise to get you started:
http://www.mountainastrologer.com/standards/editor's%20choice/articles/lilith_hunter/lilith.html
Thank you, Len, especially for all that grounding when i had no idea which way was up, or where i was, let alone where the ground was!
Through all the changes, a new seed: sacred balance, within and without. It sounds so simple. Perhaps it is.
It is also gratifying to realize that even the road less traveled, is yet well traveled.
“I find myself, in this state, with knowledge that comes directly from being part of something very much larger, a global ecology of mind. And while the concept is mystical and the words I reach for never quite adequate to the task, there is nothing other-worldly about the condition. It is very well earthed, and only comes at times when I am steeped in some natural cycle – bathed by a spring tide or swept along on the energies of an equinox.” (Watson, L. 1986[1973] Supernature II p.307)
Well, if i was taking any notice at that time i would have noticed that there was a solar eclipse at the location of my midheaven in 2014 (maybe); however, now that i have noticed i can see it was an antecedent to the conjunction of Isis and Osiris earlier this year (speaking linearly) which was placed at the coming together of the Leo New Moon with Venus and a heavenly host. I found a delineation for Isis-Transpluto that suggested ‘transformation beyond previously considered transformations’ which I understand as relating to boundary dissolution and psychic and/or spiritual openness and a concomitant expanded capacity to respond to new dimensions, for example, a dramatically larger solar system, a global ecology of mind, the ‘aware’ individual, both human and divine. And as we move towards a complete renewal, regeneration, revitalisation, of each one and all of us here together now, i’ve a feeling that if ever there was a time to put the vagarious essence of my human nature (oh…that’s what it is……) to creative and constructive purpose that is truly my own expression, the time is now! (as always – thank you, son). Miracles, magic and love open me up, but there is much that confuses and confounds! Taking a cue from ‘superbiologist’ Lyall Watson, i shall defer to ‘weeping philosopher’ Heraclitus in adapting his words: Unless we expect the unexpected, we won’t recognize it.
Eighteen months in my particular (and peculiar) manifestation of ‘hermitage, i’m still here, and now, as always, anything is possible!
for we exist as a seed of love –
the oceanic infinite eternal –
to own the potentials from which we came forth
forthwith, to choose and sow.
we exist as a seed of love
and it is with generosity, pleasure and appreciation,
that we, love’s seed, seed love,
here, just as we are, and,
there, where no form of distance can extend,
there, where neither space nor time nor absence can extend.
shalom.
Marie: The way you combine the highly eclectic with the profound and uncommon depth of your interdisciplinary (and pan-cultural) erudition always leaves me in awe. It is almost as if you are a divine gem maker working with the elements in a way which would humble the most skilled of alchemists. Your insights, contemplations, and extraordinary conclusions are always and ever deeply appreciated here.