Looking back at 2014 might tempt you to live in a geodesic dome, forever banning 90-degree angles from your life. It was a year when Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun and the Moon took turns elaborating on the backbone of Uranus and Pluto — in a functionally continuous square aspect with a legion of periodic T-squares and one exceptionally long-lived grand cardinal cross.
Whew! It was enough to make you cut corners. So you must not be cross. Indeed you must be amused, and amazed at the fact that the last major lunar aspect of 2014 will be a first quarter Moon.
Not just any first quarter Moon, mind you. At 1:31 pm EST (18:31 UT) Sunday, the Moon in early Aries will have opened a separation of 90 degrees from the Sun in early Capricorn just one week after a profound solstice and New Moon conjunction of the luminaries all rolled up in one.
In other words, the last lunar first quarter of the year will be an opening square from cardinal signs — the template through which all other opening cardinal squares (including Uranus and Pluto now) are interpreted.
It’s not like opening square aspects are bad. They augur and argue for good — the good that comes of strength, growth, evolution and life’s way of finding a way.
It’s just that variety is the spice of life. It’s been rumored (although not conclusively proven) that even great sex gets old after a long period of unrelenting abundance.
Yet, if Sunday’s last quarter Moon indicates anything, it implies that we are not done yet in any sense of the word.
We are not done with square aspects, whether major and rare or minor and frequent. You are not done getting stronger. We are not done growing. Our kind is not done evolving, and life on Earth is not done finding a way to keep on keeping on.
Looking at it that way, you might not want to cut corners after all, as we all turn a corner together after Christmas, and before New Year’s Day 2015 — along with the luminaries, Sun and Moon.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
So true; we aren’t done yet are we Len! Not by a long shot. You know, whenever I see a 1:31 (as in the time of the square on Sunday) or a 2:12 or a 5:35, 6:06, etc. I see bookends (1-1, 2-2,4-4, etc.) and I think support. Is that crazy? Well, whatever, it makes me say thank you to the Universe, and saying thank you makes me feel grateful to be part of the grand transformation we are all participating in. Today I’m also grateful that all the news anchors and reporters are home with their families today and one really has to go looking for any new bad news!
What about transiting Pallas who will be entering the sign of Sagittarius on Saturday and making a conjunction to transiting Saturn on Sunday? She’s the lady with a plan, and Saturn is in it for the long haul, so maybe Sunday will open up, as only Sagittarius can do, new ideas for getting through the next couple of years (while Saturn makes his transit of the sign). If, like Robert Hand says, “Saturn is the gateway to higher consciousness” and “Saturn is the significator of contemplation”, and Sunday offers an opportunity for contemplation, well, . . . . who knows what that could lead to?
On your last thread I mentioned the curious match-up of Venus (in the magical 11+ degree of Aquarius) within the Uranus ingress chart, and Mercury (at 11+ Aquarius) in the Neptune ingress chart. I thought the meaning of having the two personal planets playing a significant role, not in the ingress chart of their “higher octave” planet, but rather, switching places with each other, puzzling. I wondered if maybe the purpose of that was to strike a balance between heart (Venus-Neptune) and mind (Mercury-Uranus) in each chart, but I’ve just found a better way to phrase it. “Neutralizing Polarization”.
Those words come from Ralfee Finn who writes The Aquarium Age column at Stariq-dot-com. Thanks Ralfee! And thank you Len for coming to work on Christmas Day, you are an oasis in the desert. Peace.
be
How lovely to find your column on this quiet Christmas day, which I have chosen to spend alone, avoiding turkey & other foods I’m not comfortable with.
Funny you should mention geodesic domes – I’ve long found typical modern buildings not pleasing to the eye nor the spirit, preferring instead rounds & other organic shapes that feel closer to how nature designs & creates.
And then there’s the matter of those skyward squares! 2014 has been a doozie of a year for me & many I know, with many setbacks & losses but also some breakthroughs (mostly hard-earned). Although my felt sense of New Year comes with winter Solstice, I shall be glad to turn the final calendar page on 2014.
For me, major changes/decisions are being carried forward, not yet finalized, & I maintain an attentive patience as best I can. Saturn has just nosed into my 6th house for a while, so I have some time to work with that from where I’m at now, which is different (yet bears similarities) to its last trip, back in the late 1980’s, before it reaches my sun a ways down the road.
Yes, be, here in Canada I also notice something more of cheerful news stories, & at least somewhat fewer ain’t-it-awfuls at this time. Not that we don’t know the tragedy & insanity goes on, we’re just not being clobbered with it quite so much just now. Perhaps it’s akin to my observation that even some people who are normally quite unpleasant & dismissive manage just a smidge of warm & fuzzy wishes for their fellow humans at this time of year.
Yes, we have far to go. May the 2015 leg of our journey be both productive & positive as we go forward with the benefit of all we’ve learned in 2014.
Best wishes to all at PW, & yes, thanks for coming to work today, Len!
Barbara and Bette: Thank you both so much for taking the time to comment so generously and so richly on Christmas Day.
I laughed at the first sentence until my belly hurt. Thanks Len.
I’ve always wanted a round room for meditating, the curves just seem right for that. I’ve learned to really appreciate the squares though – they make lovely steps.
Sunday sounds delicious – perhaps Aries will be feeling a tad rambunctious!
me too, mandy — this has to be my favorite Len Wallick opening line from the whole year of posts.
the second paragraph opens with a fun continuation of the theme, too!
Len- It may be worth noting this strange gap between the Winter Solstice and the beginning of the next Gregorian Calendar Year. Our solar calendar does not align with the cycles of the Sun, in much the same way our culture fails to align with the cycles of nature. Since the New Moon coincided with the Solstice this time round the Sun, perhaps we can begin to reconcile the errors of our cultural viewpoints and reaffirm the fundamental cycles of existence as the source of health and happiness.
Hi Be! When reading your facinating comments and resesrch pondering the 11+ Aquarius degree of personal planets working with the outer planet ingress charts from Len’s last article, I thought this degree gang a bell. So I recasted my chart and realized 11+ Aquarius is the same degree my natal Psyche occupies..now I will have to read your notes again! Thank you ☺
Thank you Len. I am picking up from your reading..patience and persistance?! Regarding, would you mind advising me of the difference between the moon phases first quarter v/s Gibbon? I was born in this phase with Moon at 93 degrees ahead of the Sun. I see them described as both in the same degrees 90-135. I relate to first quarter tendancies, as I do charge forward with new ideas and impulses (for better and sometimes worse..especially if others dont work this way), and relate to his description of first quater I read. “Your primary mission in life lies in actualizing new forms into an objective and concrete existence, as separate from the old way of being”.
But, I also feel the characteristics of Gibbons as well, regarding my passion for building and perfecting of new forms and structures. Also I am rarely contented with the status quo of outmoded conceptions, being an entrepreneur, and now designer. I like initiating new elements to be perfected in order to achieve it’s true potential.
P. Sophia, Sisters in the Evolution of (Wo) Man!! Left a note to you in Jude’s column./be
Mandy: Thank you. It’s gratifying to know that my service delivered a Christmas laugh for you. Here’s wishing you a delicious Sunday as well.
chief niwot’s son: Thank you for pointing out that gap between the alignment of the civil calendar and the alignments of Earth with the Sun. It is worth serious contemplation as we live through so many mis-alignments.
P. Sophia: Thank you for your question(s). The line of demarcation between the peak of lunar first quarter phase (with the separation from Sun to Moon 90 degrees and growing) and the peak of “waxing gibbous” phase (a separation of 135 degrees and growing) depends on what astrology source you take reference from. It comes down to whether you “round” to the nearest peak (in which case, 93 degrees and widening would be a square aspect) or whether you “round up” to the next phase once the peak has been reached (in which case 93 degrees and widening would be into the gibbous phase). Also, i’m not clear what you mean by “ahead of the Sun”. At lunar first quarter, the Sun rises ahead of the Moon, the Moon rises about Noon, and at sunset the Moon is only about halfway across the sky in the process of separating towards the Full Moon opposition (when the Moon rises just as the Sun sets). As regards to your other (thematic) question, yes – further patience and continued persistence. Please let me know if my answer(s) are not satisfactory.
Thank you Len. OK, what I have read online and understood is your natal Moon phase is calculated by how far “ahead” the Moon is from natal Sun. My natal Sun is at 24+ Cancer and natal Moon is at 27 Libra, 93 degrees from the new moon at that time. Yes, please instruct me if this is incorrect.
P. Sophia: Thank you for your follow-up. What I think we have here is just a matter of how “ahead” is defined. With a natal Sun position in Cancer and a natal Moon position in Libra, what you indeed have is a natal aspect just hours after the First Quarter Moon was exact. So, you have it all right. It’s just a matter (as per my previous answer to you) of at what degree of separation the First Quarter Moon ends and at what degree of separation the Waxing Gibbous Moon begins, which will vary depending on which astrologer you ask.