First Quarter Moon: Rising Storm

First Quarter Moon: May 28, 2012

I woke early this morning to rolling thunder, thick, roiling, grey clouds, and the electric feeling of change.

I got up, put the kettle on, and began my morning tai chi with releasing old chi and gathering fresh chi from the four directions. The new chi is then mixed in the cauldron of the body. Just as I reached the mixing movements, the storm broke and rain pelted down.

We're in the First Quarter Moon now, having arrived yesterday afternoon (EDT). Not only is the Moon squaring the Sun, she is conjunct Mars, opposing Chiron, and squaring the Nodes. Again, the question is presented: What steps have we missed on the way? What details (Moon and Mars in Virgo) have escaped our attention, that will leave our healing vision (Chiron in Pisces) incomplete?

The Sun is conjunct Mercury and the South Node, and therefore completing a Grand Cross that includes Sun + South Node + Mercury, opposite North Node, squaring Mars + Moon, opposite Chiron + Neptune. Here we have messages, mind, action, analysis, dreams, wounding and healing all tied together.

Are we at cross-purposes in this Grand Cross? Or are we checking our bearings, making adjustments, and gritting our teeth in determination as the wind rises? The saving grace here is, this Grand Cross is in the mutable signs––wiggle room is available.

Look at Saturn in this First Quarter chart, where he forms sesquiquadrates to the Sun group and to Chiron. Yep, there's another Finger of the World here, with Saturn at the apex.

This is another message we've heard before, the one Saturn continues to offer in his long, long trek through Libra: Patience, balance, careful planning. We're in a time of tremendous change and massive energy shifts; our responses must remain calm and measured to create the world of peace and tranquility we seek.

May 25 was Towel Day, celebration of Douglas Adam's work, and the key motto is highly appropriate now: Don't Panic! (in large, friendly letters ...)

As the Moon moves through Virgo, opportunities for anxiety will surely arise. What should we be doing? What will help? Can we make a list, at least? Interestingly, Gneiss Moon's new post is a Tarot spread whose opening card is the 9 of Swords, the nightmare card. Virgos everywhere know this card!

Why not check in with fear? Rather than denying or suppressing it, invite your anxieties and fears to sit down a moment, have a cup of tea, and talk. Karla McLaren sees fear as a messenger with information about actions we need to take. Nothing makes a Virgo Moon feel better than something to do, so ask your fears what needs to be done, and do that.

Having turned the First Quarter corner, we're in the brightening phase heading for the Full Moon. More messages are available now (look at all that Gemini around) about what the New Moon has seeded in our lives.

What new shoots are poking their heads up in our gardens? Pay special attention to the unexpected and unusual ones (*cough* look at all that Gemini around). Uranus the revolutionary trickster forms an adjustment-needed inconjunct with the Moon, so expect the unexpected and prepare to laugh.

Change is the only constant. And, as a heart friend told me yesterday, the unaimed arrow never misses. We're looking for the way through the maze, when the best way is not to look ahead, simply to walk.