Waning Moon in Virgo

Today's Moon aspects are simple yet significant: She flows energy with Mars and Venus in Scorpio. These sextiles come exact at 1:01pm (Venus) and 2:42pm (Mars) this afternoon. The Moon in Virgo is detailed and analytical. Mars and Venus in Scorpio are deep and incisive. This powerful combination offers alternatives.

As Mars and Venus in Scorpio continue to uncover what's really going on in our relationships, creative lives, and actions, we've possibly been brought face to face with some less than lovely truths, or issues we'd stuffed way back in the drawer, and had our buttons pushed a few times. Adding Virgo's devastating talent for critique to that mix could take us to a place where we see exactly where things went wrong and are ready to point that out in excrutiating and excoriating detail to the person or persons we hold responsible, which could be us.

Let's agree to step back from that one, if possible.

Moray eel

A fascinating alternative presents itself in an AP story picked up this morning on Yahoo! News: A worldwide census of the deep oceans reveals that marine life is far more interconnected that previously thought. Key species have a much wider distribution than we knew, and the DNA overlap among species is tremendous, despite their apparent diversity.

Imagine the Moon in Virgo as a careful scientist diving deep into Scorpionic oceans, studying each species in detail, analyzing data step by step. Her work is an act of service that she hopes will bring healing through a greater understanding of the ocean world. Yet as she works on one piece of the data, she can't see the whole picture.

Now, as Mars and Venus combine action and values, desire and relationship, into a creative whole, the gifts of Virgo are illuminated. We see the overall pattern of dark and light, predators and prey, the beautiful and the grotesque, and yet everything within these vast depths is intricately and intimately connected. Just like us.

The Sun in balanced and harmonious Libra sits right between the Virgo Moon, and Mars and Venus in Scorpio, creating semisextiles to each. The additional solar light helps us appreciate the marvelous wonders of Scorpio's depths, revealed by the detailed research of the Virgo Moon.

Waning Moon in Leo Moving into Virgo

Today we transition, spending (as we did last Monday) a chunk of the day in a void-of-course time. Here in Ohio, it rained in the night and thick gray clouds blanket the sky. The Leo Moon has, perhaps, a closing song for us, one last speech to declaim or poem to share, as she opposes Neptune and Chiron at 9:52am EDT.

Ceiling, Maccabees Chapel, Geneva

The Moon's face-to-face dialogue with Neptune and Chiron may bring messages from the cosmos, as it ushers in the official beginning of the void-of-course time. If we recognize the inconjunct, that angle of active adjustment, as worthy of note (and I do include the inconjunct as important), then we wait until the Moon reaches her inconjunct with Jupiter (10:36am) and then Uranus the trickster (12:54pm) before saying the time-between-times has begun.

However we recognize these aspects, we feel the Leo Moon enter a more reflective, visionary time as she touches three outer planets bearing messages (Neptune the visionary, Chiron the wounded healer, and Uranus the revolutionary), plus Jupiter the philosopher and bringer of quests. This morning is a time for holding large ideas and feelings in our hearts, allowing them to take shape slowly.

The Moon enters practical Virgo at 4:00pm, ready to buckle down and take care of details. Virgo is the sign of service and healing, of research and organizing. If you need something, ask a Virgo; she'll know where it is or how to find it!

to Adadi Mariam, Ethiopia

And yet, don't overlook the importance of Virgo. At 8:41pm, the Virgo Moon trines Pluto, sharing an easy flow of information with the great transformer. These two planets in Earth signs work together, Pluto with the grand design for how the world (and we) will be reforged, and the Virgo Moon with her felt sense of what the next steps need to be. A Mercury-Pluto square at 2:08am Tuesday brings Cardinal Air and Cardinal Earth into focus: Time to plan our work and work our plan.

Today's energy begins with strong connections with planets bringing visions and insights, and a time to absorb and reflect on them. This afternoon, we move into a time of doing, where we take the next practical, specific steps on our path.

Waning Moon in Cancer Moving into Leo

Loutra Thermes Xanthi

Today's notes cover the Moon's transit through Cancer and Leo today, Saturday, and Sunday.

Today's Cancer Moon swims in deep waters as she trines Mars and Venus in Scorpio. For the last week or two, Mars and Venus have been traveling close together through Pluto's sign of Shadow and transformation. Since Mars is the ancient ruler of Scorpio, this transit has been inviting us––and at times the invitation may feel fairly insistent––to look beneath the surface of our relationships, our values, our actions, and our anger.

Early this morning, the Moon reached her exact trine with Mars (5:39am EDT), bringing intense dreams that may reference old patterns, perhaps ancestral ones. The trine with Venus is exact at 7:50am. A series of challenging aspects between Mercury (thought, communication, messages) and Neptune, Chiron, and Jupiter today reinforce our sense of needing to reexamine and perhaps release old ways of thinking, acting and relating that no longer serve us.

The Moon in Cancer has a strong connection with the past, so change may not feel easy. Yet if we accept the guidance of loving ancestors, they can show us paths to healing that honor our traditions.

Tomorrow morning may open the gateway to whatever change is needed. The Moon trines expansive, philosophical Jupiter at 9:07am EDT Saturday. Jupiter, in visionary Pisces, has the power and grace to bring us big dreams.

Meanwhile, Mercury is opposite Uranus, asking for the practical details we need to bring new visions into our world in healing and service. The Cancer Moon trines revolutionary Uranus at 11:14am, then reaches a sextile with Mercury at 11:21am, touching each side of this dialogue between the cosmic and the everyday, the big picture and the work needed to make it real.

The sextile with Mercury is the Moon's last aspect in Cancer, ushering in her time-between-times. At 2:21pm EDT, she steps onto the stage in blazing Leo, ready to share her vision with the world.

Saturday afternoon becomes a time for creative play, passionate expression, and connecting with our heart's desire. This is a time to give form to visions and dreams, a form that reflects our own unique light. The Leo Moon reaches an unconjunct angle-of-adjustment with transformative Pluto at 7:13pm, when the brilliant passionate heart faces an immovable force.

Malek

In the hero's journey (and Leo is all about the hero), Pluto can play many roles: threshold guardian, monster, trap, final challenger, wise elder and giver of boons. How we meet him depends on where we are in this particular journey, and how well we've prepared. The Leo Moon will help keep our courage high, and our hearts strong.

Sunday's aspects suggest opportunities for insight. The Leo Moon trines Saturn in balanced Libra at 3:53am, grounding and enhancing the creativity of this fiery Moon. The Moon reaches her waning sextile with the Sun at 7:26am, a time of deep understanding as the Moon approaches the end of this lunar cycle.

At 11:04am, Mercury enters Libra, lending balance and harmony to our thoughts and communications. We may wish to call on Mercury as the Leo Moon challenges Mars (square at 11:40am) and then Venus (square at 11:53am), both in Scorpio. For added intensity (if any were needed), Mars and Venus reach their conjunction in Scorpio at 5:58pm.

If Mars and Venus in Scorpio have brought unwelcome revelations, or stirred feelings of anger, the challenges in square from the Leo Moon could trigger fiery expressions of hurt. The presence of Saturn, the Sun, and now Mercury in creative, harmonious Libra offer another path: we can channel the Leo Moon's bright courage into strong, beautiful, passionate expressions of the heart.