Last Quarter Moon: Thinking Again

Last Quarter Moon in Libra
January 4, 2013

The Last Quarter Moon arrives tonight, just before 11pm EST, turning us around the corner to the coming Full Moon in Capricorn.

January 4 itself is an intriguing day, before we reach the Last Quarter: Tem Tarrikar of The Mountain Astrologer chose this day as his Featured Chart (which you can read for free in the sample forecast section currently available online here).

The day offers a Grand Trine in Air of the Libra Moon (charming and diplomatic), Mars in Aquarius (quirky, opinionated, stubborn) and Jupiter retrograde in Gemini (reflective, philosophical, less certain than usual for Jupiter).

There's also a T-square of the Moon, Uranus in Aries and Mercury–Juno–Pluto in Capricorn, a challenging mix of let's-do-it-now vs. have-we-got-this-right?

Then we reach the Last Quarter, when the Moon is still holding on to the Grand Air Trine, and just barely to the T-square, and we're going ... whew! what was that?

This Last Quarter is about thinking again, in all the ways we can interpret the phrase. The Libra Moon is ready to find creative solutions to all problems, while making sure everyone is represented at the table and has their say. With Jupiter retrograde, we're still in the process of rethinking our personal philosophies, sorting the wheat from the chaff.

So, thinking again as in, rethinking, checking in with ourselves, our assumptions, our plans, our beliefs. Uranus and Mars want to act now, and are also interested in entertaining really radical, revolutionary ideas. We might do well to remember the tight connection between thought and action, and give the thinking process the time it deserves.

We've also come through a time of intense emotion. The Full Moon in Cancer came with a Grand Trine in Water, so we've been swimming in some pretty deep seas. Now we move into more airy territory, where we can pull back, gain perspective, consider other points of view, and make plans.

So, thinking again as in, maybe we haven't been thinking too clearly lately.

This thinking time is not about maintaining the status quo. Saturn and Pluto are still in their mutually receptive, highly transformative sextile. Plus, the prominence of Uranus and Mars in current aspects points to shifts, possibly major, possibly sudden. This thinking time is about really getting into what our thoughts actually are, what we focus on, what we attend to, and what we say to ourselves. Is this mental territory the one we want to be in? Or not?

With the Last Quarter Moon, we're heading into the days of letting go. Beginning the night of January 4, we enter the part of the lunar cycle when we're releasing, composting, and preparing the ground.

The New Moon in Capricorn of January 11 will be a no-nonsense, hands-on, rock-solid Moon when we can plant seeds for the physical reality we hope for. Now we strengthen patterns of thought that are working, locate patterns getting in the way, and prepare to let the latter go.