Balsamic Moon: Alchemical Magic

Antony and Cleopatra

Balsamic Moon in Leo: September 12, 2012

At the Balsamic Moon, we turn toward the darkest Moon time, a time of letting go and preparing the ground for the New Moon to come. Balsamic moons are often nostalgic, quiet, calm, a little sad ... but not this one.

We're closing out the lunar cycle that began with the New Moon in Leo, and this Balsamic Moon takes the stage for one last passionate performance. This Leo Balsamic Moon is conjunct Venus, which amps up the drama, romance, creativity, and sheer beauty of this waning crescent.

Think of great scenes with passionate couples. Beatrice and Benedick will do, but also Macbeth and his Lady, for what we make of our stars is up to us. This couple need not be a romantic pair, either––think of Lear and his Fool.

Picture a stage, dark except for a spotlight front and center. There stand two people, deeply connected, tied together by fate, but not (yet) of one heart and mind: They have things to work out. These two might well be voices within the psyche, and what they choose at this Moon will have a lasting impact.

Tremendous power focuses in on the Moon and Venus, who sit at the apex of a Yod with Chiron and Pluto at the base. The presence of the wounded healer and the great transformer make this an alchemical Moon. We're in the cauldron––what will we become at the end of the process?

The Moon and Venus in Leo suggest the final, red stage of alchemical transformation: the rubedo, associated with the phoenix, the rose, and the king. This is the moment of success, when the alchemical gold, the philosopher's stone, is within our grasp.

Poised in the final moments of a delicate process, we know things can still go wrong. How many alchemists failed again and again and again, in search of the magical elixir?

This Balsamic Moon flows energy with Uranus in Aries, accessing a fiery energy very difficult to control. Great care is needed.

Meanwhile, the Sun in Virgo is conjunct Mercury, and both are semisquare the Moon and Venus. Here are the careful practitioners of secret arts, consulting their notes, moving deftly, hands and eyes steady. To return to the stage, these are the behind-the-curtain technicians who create magic unseen.

So much has gone into this experiment that is our life. Time, toil, heart, mind, and soul. Hopes, dreams, desires, and fears. We have made mistakes. We have learned. We are poised at a crucial point, to make or mar what we have worked on so long.

This is no time to hesitate. Be not faint of heart! (Excuse the flowery language, but seeing the Moon and Venus in Leo staring down Pluto and Chiron, and trying to balance Uranus as well, makes me feel all Shakespearean.)

Having made it through this Leo lunar cycle, your heart knows what to let go of, and what to hold on to. Listen to your heart, and follow.
    

Last Quarter Moon: Too Many to Count

monarch butterflies wintering together

Last Quarter Moon in Gemini:
September 8, 2012

At the Last Quarter Moon, we turn the corner from what we've gained to look at what we've lost––or need to let go of. We began with the heart-filled, heart-felt New Moon in Leo, sailed through the misty oceans of the intense Full Moon in Pisces, and now reach the final stretch in this particular lunar race.

Each stop in the cycle presents a challenge. At the Last Quarter, the Moon and Sun square each other, and our resolve to move successfully through the path we've laid out is tested. Are we ready to take the final, and possibly hardest, steps?

With the Moon in bright, active, talkative Gemini, we might be hoping someone will talk us out of it––or maybe we'll talk ourselves out of it. The Moon is conjunct Jupiter, making the temptation to talk fast, tell a few jokes, dazzle the audience, and exit stage left before the tough part could feel overwhelming. Whatever this Moon brings up for us, Jupiter makes it bigger.

The Sun is in careful, critical, analytical Virgo, conjunct Mercury. Mercury has a large presence at this Last Quarter, as he rules both Gemini and Virgo. So, thoughts and speech are front and center now.

The worst options at this Moon include dominating any and all conversations, deflecting important conversations with humor and sleight of hand tricks, offering unsolicited advice, getting lost in overwhelming detail, avoiding important stuff by giving in to easy distractions, and simply talking too much.

The best options include offering our gifts of language and humor in service to others, making new connections between ideas and people we've never noticed before, finding the perfect words to bring healing to others, creating innovative and skillful solutions to knotty problems, and understanding things quickly and effortlessly.

Moving from the worst to the best could be as simple as choosing silence over speech, listening carefully, and widening our perceptions to include things we might usually ignore.

Venus in Leo, holding the space opened up at the New Moon, stands exactly between the Sun and Moon, semisquare to each. She reminds us where we were at the New Leo Moon and how we opened our hearts. Holding that compassionate, vulnerable place will help us turn this corner with grace.

At this Last Quarter, we can see and understand much, if only we can keep quiet long enough to notice what's already here.
    

Disseminating Moon: Emerging Flame

lighting a new fire

Disseminating Moon in Aries: September 4, 2012

The Blue Moon in Pisces was intense, mystical, and for some, life changing. The sense of cosmic connection, of things sensed dimly through veils or in dreams, still lingers.

At this Disseminating Moon (the square-and-a-half that follows the Full Moon), the wheel turns. After the dissolving-into-all of Pisces, we experience the bright, sharp emergence of the new.

The Moon shifted into Aries, and it was like the first deep breath after being underwater; rebirth. The Moon reached conjunction with Uranus, and something unexpected came into focus. Now we reach the Disseminating Moon and we see more clearly what the Full Moon brought.

Can we take the revelations of the Full Moon into the world? This is the question we're asked.

At this Disseminating Moon, the Moon opposes Saturn in Libra as Venus in Cancer squares them both. The Moon is ready to begin something new, Saturn supports while urging caution, and Venus wants to know that emotional needs are being recognized and met.

Around the wheel, the many planets at 6, 7 and 8 degrees form an intricate pattern that includes action, intensity, transformation, healing, and attention to detail. With Pluto, Uranus, Chiron, Mars and Mercury involved, the questions of what to think, and what to do, in the face of great change, are put before us.

This Moon is eager to act, facing the future without fear, curious about what is to come. This spark lives somewhere in each of us, to be cradled gently until the tinder catches and the new flame is strong.

With this Moon, we can relight hearth fires that have gone out, bringing new light, new warmth, and new life to what has been cold.