Visualize and Co-create

This post is about the full moon that will occur in the wee hours of Friday, September 29th: at 2:57 AM in California or 03:57 hours in Mexico City.

This is the last of three consecutive “super moons”, so called because they happen when the moon is near its perihelion, closest to Earth. While the media claims them to be bigger and brighter than other full moons, such differences are too small to be noticed by the naked eye or even binoculars. Yet, the tides are definitely affected by the proximity so it is reasonable to assume that Moon is symbolically stronger during this time.

Spiritual Gifts for Aries and Libra

You may notice in the enclosed chart that Sun is at exactly Libra 6⁰00′ opposite Moon at Aries 6⁰00′. We will get to the Sabian symbols of those degrees, but first let me say a few words about the Aries-Libra polarity.

All the zodiacal signs are balanced around the equinoctial axis that links Aries and Libra, the two signs when the Day and Night forces are of equal strength. To them, Spirit offers the gifts of Adaptability and Ease, respectively. As Rudhyar writes: “What ‘adaptability’ is to the novice in spiritual living, ‘ease’ is to the man of more mature experience ready to establish himself and his work among his peers.”

In the beginning of the zodiac, Aries emerges from the depths of the collective (Pisces) to assert himself as a different individual in every which way possible. Rather than forcing himself onto the world, Spirit suggest relying on the virtue of adaptability. That doesn’t mean compromising his nature, for Aries cannot do that, but rather accept that others may be different, too.

Six months have now passed since Aries, and Spirit has been offering gifts to meet the challenges of the growing individuality who now is rather sure of himself. The question is, what about the others? Up to now, they have served as contrast to gain objectivity about who we are, but it is time to form relationships to continue growing. The final lesson learned—in Virgo—was that of tolerance, the realization that to grow in individuality one has to give up all ego-centered judgements and welcome what is different, yet assimilable.

If such inclusiveness of unfamiliar points of view is a strain on the mind and feelings, imagine full relatedness with unfamiliar people! And yet that is expected of Libra now that, past the equinox, the Night Force became the dominant one. Like tolerance, ease is often defined for what it is not, but ease is more that freedom from agitation, constraint, affliction, tension or fear. Even more than tranquility, comfort, or facility to do something, ease is the realization that “co-operation” is more than “operation” in the same sense that a whole is more than the sum of its parts, as Rudhyar often remarked. He wrote about ease: “It is the sense of being lived by a greater life which embraces and contains all the components of a situation, or of a relationship of which one is a part”—emphasis in the original.

Aries and Libra on the Horizon

The Day Force’s nature is to seek manifestation through differentiation and personalization at any level, and that moves Aries toward a concrete, tangible and personalized state of existence. When a person has an Aries Ascendant, she will eagerly assert her uniqueness of destiny, her dharma, attempting to define who she is by taking the lead in life situations. Aries is closely linked to the spirit of adolescence, for the Day Force is beginning to test its strength, still insecure, and she may compensate her insecurities by appearing aggressive.

She may romanticize her individuality, and perhaps be full of yearnings and desires for anything that mirrors her essential and unique self. However, her Libra Descendant will demand that the objects of her desire and the mirrors of her true self present a degree of social and cultural awareness. The adolescent yearning to assert her individuality needs something to assert in or for, which shouldn’t be too difficult for Aries, but it would be best if it were a group, a collective set of values, or a noble ideal. That would allow the Aries drive for self-actualization to take form in the release of impersonal or transpersonal spiritual energies.

Astrologers have misunderstood the symbol of Libra, seeing the shape of the balance rather than its function. As a result, the Libra type has been misrepresented as balanced, able to see both sides of a situation, and champions of justice. They can be all that but, just like a balance is used to find the mass of an unknown object by comparing it to known masses, a Libra type is constantly comparing her contribution to society or a group relationship to a collectively accepted value system. If a person has a Libra Ascendant, she will tend to be a field of operation for collective urges and group ideals, for it is in terms of group activity, or at least a strong and idealized partnership, that the individual will learn what and who she is.

She will be concerned by her social or cultural role, and by the value of her acts of self-expression. She will likely have trouble finding herself in aloneness and may experience insecurity and inner confusion until she has found a group or collectivity where she intuitively feels that she belongs. Her Aries Descendant will look for an individualistic and emotional partner who will help her find herself through the relationship, which then becomes her desired “collectivity”. This may mean forcing herself into a relationship in an adolescent manner, as long as she can display her organizational skills and sociocultural or religious enjoyment. Rudhyar wrote: “Any group experience requires the catalytic presence of an individualized vision or release of energy”.

Sabian Symbols

Libra 6⁰ (Sun) has the image: “A man watches his ideals taking a concrete form before his inner vision”, further explained as the need to visualize clearly one’s dreams or ideals in order to make them truly effectual. Its key phrase is: Interior Formulation. According to a French proverb, what is well conceived can easily be formulated. For most of us, the creative act is a projection into the world of what we have first seen in our mind.

Meanwhile, the image of Aries 6⁰ (Moon) is: “A square, with one of its sides brightly illumined”, expanded as the emotional desire for concrete and stabilized existence as a person. The process of individualization must initially be a one-sided and exclusivist affair of individuals who, like the woman emerging from the sea in Aries 1⁰, have a weight of inertia (a seal in that case) trying to return them to a place of undifferentiated and non-individualized beings.

Once again, we must see these symbols keeping in mind the new moon image of a coat of arms, which asked us to accept the responsibilities of assuming the Spiritual Office of our own life. Such a seed has now matured in the awareness of having to imagine—and image—the ideals of such “office” in our mind, ideals that must be pointed (one-sidedly) towards the exclusivity of being the ones who can make them concrete.

Much Yang Energy

Both Mars and Uranus, the two most individualistic planets, are featured prominently and that implies a lot of Yang energy. Mars rules Aries so, from its position at Libra 21⁰27′, it rules the important Moon at Aries 6⁰00′ and the North Node at Aries 24⁰55′, while it forms a conjunction to the South Node of our past. The Nodal axis resembles a circulatory system of psychic contents, connecting the future perceived by the conscious mind to the past memories in the unconscious. Mars also forms a loose square (6⁰) with Pluto—its higher octave—who, from Capricorn 27⁰55′, is still squaring the Nodal axis, figuratively agitating it and mixing the contents of both aspects of the mind, the conscious and the subconscious; all of this contributing to the confusing times we are experiencing.

Mars and Uranus also form a quincunx (150⁰) between themselves, an aspect that indicates the possibility of conscious creation between their energies, with Uranus representing that which is oriented towards the future, but especially our ideals. Uranus forms many more aspects, including a square with Venus at Leo 22⁰26′ that will ask us to seek new and more intuitive ways of relating, resulting in relationships “from the heart”. It also forms a sesquiquadrate (135⁰) with Sun, and obviously a semisquare (45⁰) with Moon, which together bring intuitive awareness to the polarity of “I am” and “I relate to thou” of the Aries-Libra axis.

It is also worth noting that Mars and Venus are still forming the powerful and beautiful sextile we mentioned at the new moon and which will be available throughout the entire lunation. The keyword for a sextile is “production”, which cannot be achieved without effort; this is a very creative aspect, provided we work on it. Mars will provide energy for the formation and maintenance of the new relationships mentioned earlier.

Mercury as Kite Leader

That said, Uranus continues being a member of the transpersonal Minor Gran Trine with Neptune and Pluto, a configuration that will persist until 2030. We have seen how it has been forming, and will continue to form, a Kite with various planets as they oppose Neptune, the Kite’s pilot, which is the case of Mercury on this full moon.

At Virgo 20⁰34′, Mercury is in its “nagging” sign forming an opposition to Neptune at Pisces 25⁰59′, also in its sign. On one hand, Mercury will try to dispel the Neptunian fantasies with pointed and practical arguments. In turn, Neptune will either evade the conflict and ignore Mercury, or it may inject some spiritual wisdom, based on universal love and compassion, to the cold and analytical Mercury. Oppositions should foster a dialog of polar opposites to become aware of the issues and “meet in the middle”, not only figuratively but literally in the center of the chart.

Ma’at and Makemake

A few weeks ago I wrote about Heather Ensworth, an astrologer and shaman who is a great mythologist. At that time, she spoke of the myth of Inanna (Venus) as she went to the underworld. This time, she likened the symbolism of Libra to that of Ma’at (‘mah-AHT’), an Egyptian goddess who had an important role in Creation, bringing order and harmony out of the original chaos, but was most revered for the “weighing of the heart”, a ritual she was said to perform with all new arrivals to the Duat, or Egyptian underworld.

In the ritual, the heart of the deceased, where the soul resided, was weighed on a balance against the “feather of Ma’at”, reason why the heart was the only organ kept with the body during embalmment. If the heart was heavier than the feather, it was devoured by the goddess Ammit and the deceased was condemned to stay in the Duat, else Osiris would open the gates of Aaru, the Egyptian heavenly paradise, admitting the soul of a light heart. Such ritual is more in line with the function of the balance in Libra, as discussed earlier.

As an astrologer, Heather uses many subplanetary bodies, in particular a few dwarf planets, centaurs and asteroids having shamanic mythology. At Libra 9⁰13′, Makemake (‘MAH-kee-MAH-kee’) is conjunct Sun, thus receiving a lot of prominence during the full moon. Makemake is a trans-neptunian dwarf planet, a plutoide, named after the creation deity of Easter Island natives. According to their tradition, he is the guide of living in harmony on Earth as well as the guide to a harmonious existence after death, a theme similar to that of Ma’at.

Wrapping Up…

It should be clear by now that we are experiencing the death of the paradigms of the past and the birth of new paradigms for the future, which causes anxiety and fear to those attempting to control what is, in reality, the inevitable evolution of humanity.

As we have seen, the quantum leap in consciousness will be felt strongest throughout the next seven years, while the “big boys” (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto) remain in a Minor Grand Trine configuration that speaks of transformations to our value systems so they are based on compassion and universal love, since Neptune will be the pilot of the forming Kites. Both Ma’at and Makemake straddle, so to speak, the world of the living and the underworld of the dead, by being involved in Creation as well as helping with the transformation required before a rebirth, just as we are having to straddle our future reality and the world around us, much of it still operating under the old paradigms.

The new paradigms, however, are not to be imposed upon humanity, for we have collectively reached enough maturity so we may understand that each and every one of us must assume the responsibilities of our Spiritual Office, symbolized in the coat of arms of our “reincarnation ancestry”, in other words, our personal karma. Chiefly among those responsibilities is to co-create the future with Nature and, more importantly, with each other, as we venture into the Age of Aquarius which, unlike the Age of Pisces, does not require of an external Creator. God, as the process of Creation, is truly within us all.

Spirit is showing us the way with the two gifts of this full moon. We must adapt as individuals accepting the new paradigms we are co-creating, with the ease of knowing that they are the product of the co-operation of all of us who are in the Path, where we work with the energies of our karma, of that which is known to us, our past experiences, and use them to co-create a future in which we meet every new experience, our life, as steps towards fulfilling our dharma.

Always Love. 🌹🙏💖