Last Quarter Moon: Making the Cut

pruning ... where to cut?

Last Quarter Moon in Pisces: June 11, 2012

Last Quarter Moons can be relaxing––the deep exhale before the next round––or shadowy––stepping into the darkest time of the lunar cycle––or nostalgic––looking back at was has been and is no more.

This Last Quarter Moon is none of those things.

This Last Quarter Moon is filled with challenge, a time of contest and striving. And this Last Quarter Moon is in Pisces, whose default setting is to sacrifice everything.

Luckily, one of the key challenges to this Piscean Last Quarter is Mars in Virgo who says, "Really? Can we talk about this?"

Virgoan Mars serves to keep both Sun and Moon in check, in a Last Quarter T-square. All three are mutable signs, flexible enough to find a solution. Neither Gemini nor Pisces are especially good at staying focused; Mars in Virgo makes sure someone is keeping an eye on the ball.

Another T-square brings home the fierce energies rocking our world. The first Uranus–Pluto square is very close to exact, and is now in a T-square with Mercury in Cancer. This interesting pattern links two of the most traditional signs in the zodiac––Capricorn the Father and Cancer the Mother––with Uranus in Aries, the ultimate revolutionary.

The news is full of ideological and political conflicts about what it means to be a woman in this world.

What rights do we have? What health care are we entitled to? How do commentators view us when we advocate for our needs? Why are those commentators predominantly male? Can religious women speak the truth as they see it and explore scholarly topics without sanction?

Gender as a whole is more fluid today––or maybe not, depending on your point of view.

Are we what our anatomy shows? Are we what we feel? Does anatomy define who we can feel attracted to, who we're allowed to love, who we can partner with to build a life?

Pluto and Uranus are prepared to keep presenting us with those questions until each of us individually, and society as a whole, explore every corner and move into a new paradigm. With Uranus and Pluto, change is certain, and may well be swift and sweeping.

The presence of Mercury brings this issue to our conscious attention.  Mercury in Cancer brings in emotions and ancestry. If key information from the past can help in our journey to the future, now's the time for it to come forward.

Neptune in Pisces, now retrograde, continues to square the Nodes of the Moon. Neptune's presence here calls for a deepening of our life path, an opening to spirituality, and a certain fogginess about exactly how to accomplish this. Neptune's fog facilitates deception of all kinds, including self-deception. Perhaps only the intensity of Uranus and Pluto can strip away lies and leave us face to face with truth.

At the Last Quarter Moon, we turn the corner toward the Dark Moon. Questions arise at this time about whether we're ready to move on, to let go of what's finished, and release what we no longer need.

In the garden, pruning is my least favorite task. It's difficult for me to cut away healthy wood just because it's growing at the wrong angle, or in the wrong place, or there's too much, too close together. Isn't abundant growth a good thing?

Yet the Last Quarter is a time for pruning. Which branches are strong, healthy, and placed so they can support future growth? Which branches need to be trimmed, to make room for the best and strongest? But ... what if I cut the wrong ones? What if I do a bad job?

It's tough, but needs to be done to create strong foundations for the future. This lunar phase calls for a good plan, clear vision, sharp tools, and skillful action. What shapes and structures are we trying to create? Which ideas, values, commitments, paradigms, will support that vision? Which need to go? It's time to make the cut.