A Time for Courage

I am publishing this article earlier than usual because I want to show you the powerful Last Quarter chart of the current lunation, which symbolizes the crisis of consciousness encountered when trying to make sense of last week’s full-moon revelations. These are the final days of a lunation which began with the symbol of a swimming race. It encouraged us to become as proficient as possible in a new element—water, which we interpreted as the nascent world of new paradigms—so as to be able to participate in a race. But, at the same time, it reminded us that the goal is not to win the race but to recognize those who are ahead of us and emulate their behavior.

That said, a week after the Last Quarter, the new moon in Libra will begin a lunation when our values system, and how we use it to form personal relationships, will be at the forefront. As we will discuss shortly, this is all done still within an environment of reflection that, importantly, includes Saturn going back to form a final operational conjunction with Neptune in the near future.

Quick Recap

Last week, the full moon gave us a powerful Kite configuration that was co-led by Neptune and Moon, and piloted by Sun; with the trine of Pluto and Uranus completing the configuration. Such a trine will continue to fuel the craze in Artificial Intelligence by linking Pluto in Aquarius—the planet of power and transformation in the sign of technology—with Uranus in Gemini—the ruler of Aquarius in the sign of communications. Their highly-creative trine, which will be exact four more times between now and 2028, fits to a tee the Large Language Model (LLM) technology on which AI is currently based. With both Pluto and Uranus retrograde, it should not be surprising that there was a pseudo-contrite attempt at self-regulation from the industry announced this week.

However, during the full moon, there were two events on the world stage: the United Nations General Assembly and the state visit by Xi Jinping to Washington D.C. The former brought to mind the symbol for Sun (“A group around a campfire”) which we took as a reference to dedication (or at least hope) for the reception of creative inspiration—even though the UN is a powerless body nowadays. Similarly, the Trump–Xi meeting seemed like a reference to the symbol for Moon (“Two lovers strolling through a secluded walk”), which Rudhyar interpreted as a symbol of integration of a polarity. While he was focused on the integration of inner polarities in order to become whole, China and the US represent two polar opposites of how capitalism can operate: one through the neoliberal belief in the markets and the other through authoritarian dictates.

Last Quarter in Cancer

Every full moon is an opportunity to understand a polarity: of the signs at the most general level and the houses at the most personal; both of them given meaning by the symbols of the degrees in which the opposition of Sun and Moon occurs. And, just like the waxing phases were meant to actualize as much as possible the potentialities of the new-moon seed, the waning ones are to gain consciousness of what the full moon revealed. When trying to do the “waxing actualizations”, so to speak, we come to a crisis of action at the First Quarter; and, as I said earlier, when trying to understand the “waning realizations”, we similarly come to a crisis of consciousness at the Last Quarter.

With that as a review of the lunation cycle, let’s look at tomorrow’s Last Quarter chart:

This time, the crisscrossing is extremely significant, for it is a chart that I wasn’t going to discuss but it earned writing this article ahead of time. Let me enumerate the multiple sources of possible aha moments:

1. In addition to the exact square with Sun (Libra 10°21′), characteristic of all First and Last Quarter phases, Moon (Cancer 10°21′) also forms a tight square with Saturn (Aries 11°23′), therefore serving as vertex for a powerful T-square with the Sun–Saturn opposition. The fact that Saturn is approaching Neptune (Aries 2°47′), who is driving the Minor Grand Trine of the transpersonal planets, is starting to be felt as a braking force in the warring imagination of Neptune in Aries. Countries are beginning to realize that, perhaps, there is not such a need for a military buildup, despite what Trump desires.
2. A second T-square is formed between the opposition of Mars (Leo 3°10′) and Pluto (Aquarius 3°06′)—exact three hours earlier—and Mercury (Scorpio 3°59′). Here the opposition of Mars and Pluto can provoke enormous destructive acts of violence, although Pluto being retrograde may temper things. Mercury in Scorpio is the energy needed to get to the bottom of any issue. Since Pluto is part of the Minor Grand Trine feeling Saturn’s breaks, Mercury has a chance to restrain and reorient the Martian energy towards a Plutonian transformation without violence.
3. At Scorpio 8°29′, Venus is still at the same spot where it just changed direction and it will have barely begun to move retrograde at less than 1% of its average speed. Venus has been going retrograde in Scorpio every eight years and, each time, it has resulted in reevaluations of international relationships, sometimes due to crises. Perhaps the most infamous was when it went retrograde at Scorpio 28 on October 23, 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16 to October 28). At a personal level, Venus retrograde in Scorpio often coincides with the discovery of secrets in relationships or the reappearance of former romantic liaisons. It is worth noting that Venus makes a trine with Moon and a quincunx with Uranus (Gemini 5°29′) so it will be involved in the first two items.
4. Lastly, there is an exact Mystic Triangle formed by the Nodal axis, at 29°04′ of Leo (South Node) and Aquarius (North Node), with Chiron (Aries 29°23′) that may manifest as events related to our personal sovereignty. If you know your chart, find out the house where the last degree of Aries is located because that would be the field of experiences in which you may feel threatened as a person.

Once again, note that the first three points above will be exact in a span of only six hours, so Saturday, October 3 may be a memorable day. Only Jupiter (Leo 20°03′) will not be involved, although the chart draws a wide sesquiquadrate aspect with Neptune.

New Moon in Libra

A week later, on October 10, Sun and Moon will form a conjunction at Libra 17°22′ to begin a new lunation. The new moon will occur at 8:50 a.m. in California, at 9:50 a.m. in Mexico City, or at 5:50 p.m. in Central Europe, as shown in the following chart:

Compared with the Last Quarter chart, the new moon one feels anticlimactic. That said, note the exact square between Venus (Scorpio 7°25′) and Mars (Leo 7°13′). This is an aspect that always pits our needs against our desires, and often brings tension in our romantic relationships. With Venus retrograde in Scorpio, there may be an opportunity for deep conversations. Given that Mars is still opposing Pluto (Aquarius 3°05′), it places Venus where Mercury was a week earlier, namely at the vertex of a T-square that colors the Mars–Pluto opposition. Speaking of which, Mercury (Scorpio 12°18′) forms a conjunction with Venus, which will facilitate the aforementioned meaningful conversations.

In the meantime, Mars is seen forming a sextile with Uranus (Gemini 5°20′) and therefore a quincunx with Venus, perhaps continuing to fuel the aforementioned AI craze. Finally, there is also a sextile between the Sun–Moon conjunction and Jupiter (Leo 21°15′). The chart has a few more aspects drawn but I consider them too wide; for example, it shows an opposition of Saturn (Aries 10°49′) with the Sun–Moon conjunction, but is nearly 7° from exactitude.

Sabian Symbol

The symbol for Libra 18, where Sun and Moon will be located, has the image: “Two men placed under arrest”, further explained as a breakdown in the constructive relationship between the individual and society, and the expectable result. Both Diana Roche and Dane Rudhyar agree that the image is one of Facing the Consequences of acting in a manner that goes against what society can tolerate and assimilate within its norms. However, in more times than one, substantial reforms begin with acts that must go against the status quo. All major revolutions began with such actions and we are in the midst of widespread discontent with how western society, at least, has behaved towards the individual. The fact that two men were arrested implies a polarity, perhaps internal, feeding the actions deemed punishable.

Discussion

When I wrote about the last lunation, I mentioned that it would be mostly centered on personal development and evolution, and that the next one would focus on our relationship with “the other”, ranging from personal relationships to the one with society in general. I based such a prediction in part from the primary archetypes of the new-moon signs, Virgo and Libra, but also by looking at the planets in retrograde motion. Having the transpersonal planets and Saturn moving retrograde indicated a period of reflection after all the new energy of July and August.

During the upcoming lunation, Pluto will exit its retrograde motion on October 16, before the First Quarter phase. Pluto is the ruler of Scorpio and Venus, the ruler of Libra, will have its inferior conjunction with Sun in the first degree of Scorpio on October 23; that is, just as Sun will enter the sign. Together, those are energetic factors for looking deeply at relationships in general, especially on the days prior to the next full moon in Scorpio. Remember that Venus is the planet of our values system so it will be put under the microscope as well.

The Sabian symbol talks about a particular relationship, between the individual and society. Given that we still have many strong retrograde energies, we may be asked to reflect on what aspects of society are based in the old paradigms and therefore belonging to the old world. The energy will be available at all levels, so don’t be surprised if there are social uprisings in the news.

Wrapping Up…

Lean heavily on your intuition this weekend. The Last Quarter phase will begin with a bang and it may present us with important realizations about how we can personally approach the new order of things.

The next lunation speaks of courage. We may have to face consequences of having decided to move on and not stay attached to the old paradigms.

The deadline to declare your intentions is October 9, so there is plenty of time. The weekend may give you better ideas.

Always Love. 🌹🙏💖