In the article A Sobering Lunation, we talked about the Capricorn new moon on December 30 which was followed by the second exact opposition of Mars and Pluto on January 3. Then, on January 6, Mars entered Cancer, a few hours before the First Quarter phase, the crisis of action that saw the resignation of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister of Canada. As promised, the year began with a bang.
It is now time to talk about the January 13 full moon in Cancer at 3:27 p.m. in California, 4:27 p.m. in Mexico City, or 11:27 p.m. in Central Europe. Prior to the full moon, on January 11, the nodal axis will have moved from having the North Node in Aries and the South Node in Libra to Pisces and Virgo, respectively, for the nodes always move retrograde.
The Lunar Nodes
Two planes that are not parallel will intersect in a line. The nodal axis is such an intersection of the apparent orbit of Sun around Earth, called the ecliptic, and Moon’s orbit around Earth. As shown in the diagram, Moon crosses the ecliptic at two points: the North Node when moving towards the northern hemisphere, using the ecliptic as “equator”, and the South Node when moving towards the southern hemisphere. Thus, the nodes are not celestial bodies but computed places in the ecliptic, where the zodiac resides.
In a natal chart, the North Node represents the overall direction of our evolutionary journey. The astrological house in which it is located relates to the field of experiences on which we should work to grow, evolutionary speaking. When pursuing those types of experiences, we have limitless energy, and there are limitless resources, or so it seems. Although these may be challenging experiences depending on our attitude towards growth. Directly opposite, the South Node represents where we are coming from in our evolutionary path. For example, its house symbolizes the type of experiences already learnt and whose lessons may be used in our pursuit of North Node experiences. South Node experiences, known and assimilated, will not help us grow at all, despite being familiar and comfortable. Life will seem to send endless opportunities to avoid being stuck in South Node experiences, which include our personal past in that field.
When I said “life” above, we imagine an entity outside ourselves that present us with experiences originated outside our consciousness, and this is experienced both individually and collectively. The transiting North Node represents such entity from which humanity as a whole, and each one of us, receives what we could call meaningful life experiences, where “meaningful” is relative to where we are, individually and collectively, in the evolutionary spiral through time. Meanwhile, the transiting South Node symbolizes meaningless life experiences and instead should be viewed as a field of experiences where we must exercise detachment and renewal.
Nodal Axis in Pisces–Virgo
Ever since the North Node entered Aries, on July 17, 2023, less than two hours after the new moon in Cancer, we mentioned that for the next eighteen months we would be encouraged to work on our personal sovereignty, which we carefully defined as being more than self-ownership because it implied having what we called valuable relationships, in the sense of being consistent with our value system. The South Node in Libra encouraged us to detach ourselves from relationships no longer aligned with those values. January 11, 2025 was our graduation day.
The North Node in Pisces will shift “life’s” focus and we will now get opportunities to work on universal love and compassion, particularly since it promptly formed an in-sign conjunction with Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. However, Pisces is the sign of misinformation as well so there will be plenty of “fake news” and the like. Pisces is also the sign of flooding and mass migrations, both of which would probably increase anyway but these energies will make them stronger. The South Node in Virgo will ask us not to be critical or overly concerned with exactness and to detach ourselves from being too dependent on technology.
Full Moon in Cancer
At the time of the full moon, the North Node will be at Pisces 29°37′ and form a 2° conjunction with Neptune (Pisces 27°31′) that will be exact on February 6.
January 13, 2025
22:26:45 hours GMT
As you can see in the full-moon chart above, Sun will be at Capricorn 23°59′ in an exact opposition to Moon at Cancer 23°59′, which forms a conjunction with Mars retrograde (Cancer 27°05′). Since Mars is still in opposition with Pluto (Aquarius 1°28′), albeit out of sign, Sun will be in a wide conjunction with Pluto. At Aries 19°06′, Chiron forms a T-Square with the opposition of Sun and Moon.
Note how Uranus, at Taurus 23°23′, forms an exact Mystic Triangle with the Sun–Moon opposition. As a matter of fact, there is a Trapeze formed by the sextiles joining Sun, Neptune, Uranus and Moon, a configuration that helps to understand the polarity of the full moon. Meanwhile, Jupiter (Gemini 12°03′) still forms the waxing square with Saturn (Pisces 15°36′), which is acting in conjunction with Venus (Pisces 11°07′), itself forming a sextile with Mercury (Capricorn 7°59′).
Let’s try to unpack the meaning of all this, shall we?
Conscious Alignment of Wills
The four conjunctions in the chart, namely, Sun–Pluto (out of sign), Venus–Saturn, Neptune–North Node, and Moon–Mars, produce double aspects that result in many lines drawn. Nonetheless, the four blue diagonals (oppositions) call our attention immediately, one of them joining Sun and Moon. Every full moon makes us conscious of what we have actualized since the new moon by bringing to light the polarity of the signs where it falls. In this case, they are Cancer and Capricorn, where the Day and the Night forces are, respectively, at their maximum. However, they are now joined by the opposition of Mars and Pluto which we have called a test of wills, in other words, whether our individual will is in alignment with the Cosmic Will. In the last article, we looked at the overall Mars–Pluto cycle whose oppositions will continue to affect us well into May.
In a natal chart, the conjunction of Mars and Moon often indicates rash behavior and a volatile personality with emotions ruling actions. On the other hand, an objective mind can aim such strong emotions towards an equally strong willpower. We have previously called Sun “the integrator” and thus its conjunction with Pluto will only make it stronger. Taking both of these together, the waning phases following the full moon will help us realize how to align ourselves to our destiny. However, Moon in mundane astrology represents the people and Mars next to it will likely bring energies of violence against human beings which will be shown at around the full moon for everyone to see.
Sun and Mars are previewing their opposition which will occur two days later, on January 15. Mars’s synodic period, defined as the time between two successive conjunctions with Sun, is the longest of all planets at roughly 780 days. It represents the mythological hero’s journey of going “north” on a quest chock-full of hazards and temptations defined at the conjunction; in this case on November 17, 2023, four days after the new moon. The culmination of the journey is reached at the opposition, from which the hero must return and share the wisdom of his adventures. In this sense, Mars is linked to the sacred masculine, empowering our will to attain self realization and, in this case, alignment with the Cosmic Will.
Brutal Healing
Normally, oppositions have a lot of energy for conscious realizations but not for action. However, conjunctions are aspects of joint action so Mars and Moon, along with Sun and Pluto, will energize the four oppositions mentioned above. In the best-case scenario, the energies of Sun, Moon, Mars and Pluto will work in unison and provide a background frequency promoting the alignment of wills mentioned earlier. However, Sun and Pluto may engage in a power struggle that feeds the violent emotional reactions of the Mars and Moon conjunction.
The T-Square driven by Chiron will, in all likelihood, provide a healing “incentive” to integrate the four energies mentioned above. The squares formed by Chiron with Sun and Moon, and indirectly with Pluto and Mars, will demand that attention be given to the integration of polarities. Aries is the sense of selfhood and Chiron in Aries makes us doubt our sense of self, sometimes having trouble believing our “right” to exist. As with everything with Chiron, once this is healed, it becomes a source of personal power. What better way to find our identity than to align our will with the will of the Cosmos?
New Consciousness Trapeze
As mentioned earlier, the Sun–Moon opposition forms the larger base of a Trapeze configuration, in which the other sides are sextiles providing an alternative viewpoint to integrate the opposition’s polarity. But this is not an ordinary Trapeze! Its sextiles join Sun and Pluto, Neptune and the North Node, Uranus, plus Moon and Mars, in that order. The entire Minor Grand Trine of the transpersonal planets, the North Node, Sun, Moon and Mars are all involved.
There will be opportunities for us to realize what our role should be in co-creating the new civilization, and this will continue as long as the North Node and Neptune are both in Pisces. However, the other energies available at this full moon will make the waning phases propitious to discern our co-creating role.
Sabian Symbols
The symbol for Capricorn 24° (Sun) has the image: “A woman entering a convent”, further explained as total commitment to a transcendent goal. Its key phrase is: Transcendent Security. Meanwhile, Cancer 24° (Moon) has the image: “A woman and two men on a bit of sunlit land facing south”, expanded as the focalization of complex inner potentialities in harmonic and concrete relationships.Its keyword is: Interdependence. For context, the new-moon symbol had the image of an albatross being fed from the hand of a sailor, implying the conveyance of trust from the sailor towards the large bird. It encouraged us to always act with the utmost honesty so as to radiate peace.
Dane Rudhyar points out that a convent is an example of the relationship between society (its religion and culture) with the individual. Regarding our present discussion, it is a place for the alignment of the woman’s will with the Divine Will. On the other hand, the three individuals in Moon’s image represent the three-fold aspect of a human personality that should be integrated: spiritual, mental and emotional (the woman). It must be a concrete type of integration in terms of biological and emotional drives. South, according to Rudhyar, “always refers symbolically to the strong and passionate impulses of human nature”.
Venus and Saturn Together
Not everything is about long-term growth, there are significant energies for immediate personal advancement. In particular, Mercury and Venus are linked by a sextile so we may experience life with high sensibility, our mind and our senses working productively with the feelings they arouse. Mercury also forms a sesquiquadrate with Uranus, its higher octave, an aspect of consciousness similar to the opposition, so we should allow fresh intuitions to come from our environment and let them influence our business or romantic relationships (Venus).
While the conjunction of Venus and Saturn speaks of structuring our relationships, and indeed an aspect between those two planets is often found in the charts of weddings, it is worth noting that the conjunction happens in Pisces, where structures are often rendered obsolete and simply dissolved. We have said, however, that Saturn in Pisces is able to give form and structure to our dreams and fantasies, especially once it begins its year-long conjunction with Neptune in March, around the initial eclipses.
Venus is said to be exalted in Pisces, a phase in a planetary process where the planet’s influence is softened and beautified; more so with Venus. In the exaltation phase, a planet’s finest and best energies are manifested, often being its most spiritual ones, especially in Pisces. The combination of Venus and Saturn in Pisces could also give form to artistic pursuits and their square with Jupiter could mark a perfect time to launch an art project. For relationships, however, the square of Venus and Jupiter may incite to overindulge in pleasures or build great castles in the air. On the other hand, it could give wings to relationships that are ready to fly.
Wrapping Up…
Other than the brief mention of Trudeau’s resignation, I have not talked about “current events” on purpose. I am not denying the suffering of countless people in many corners of the world, but such behavior feeds on negative emotions, like fear and hate. Rather than succumbing to these emotions, it is better to remain blissfully ignorant of the news.
Whereas those are signs of the old paradigms last gasp, more people are working on a new tomorrow, starting by forming communities, perhaps virtual, of like-minded people.
The next two weeks will be perfect to reflect on our place in the new civilization, what we would personally like to co-create. The emphasis should be on local communities and our role in their development.
There will be energy to expand and structure our business or romantic relationships, perhaps under novel arrangements. More than ever, it is crucial that we act with total honesty and with truth.
Always Love. 🌹🙏💖
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