This Moon's Quarter: Dreaming True

White Stone (detail) by Nicholas Roerich

Crescent Moon in Pisces
10:35 pm February 2 EST
3:35 am February 3 GMT

Imbolc (astrological)
February 3, 2014
5:03 pm EST / 10:03 pm GMT

First Quarter Moon in Taurus
February 6, 2014
2:22 pm EST / 7:22 pm GMT

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces
February 6, 2014
4:43 pm EST / 9:43 pm GMT

There's so much happening, this First Quarter gets its own post. We're now in the midst of celebrations for the new Chinese Year of the Wood Horse. Tomorrow brings the Crescent Moon, followed by the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, the First Quarter Moon, and our first Mercury Rertrograde of 2014 ... what's going on??

As promised, the New Moon in Aquarius awakened a new vision, and we're already getting glimmers of what's coming. What? You thought an Aquarian New Moon would be slow?

Still in the dark of the New Moon time, the Pisces Moon brings strong dreams. Right now, she's traveling with Neptune and Chiron, so be sure you have a notebook or recorder handy. (I use my iPhone.)

Tomorrow night's Crescent Moon, the edgy half-square when we get our first glimmer of our New Moon intentions, finds the Moon in the last, powerful, anaretic degree of Pisces. Poised to jump into a new cycle of Fire, this Moon is widely trine Saturn is mysterious Scorpio. Perhaps tonight's dreams will show us obstacles––along with the magic to work through them.

The next day, the ancient festival of Imbolc arrives. Known as Candelmas in later calendars, Imbolc arrives astrologically when the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Aquarius, the middle of winter. At this deeply quiet, frozen, silent, time, we look for early signs of Spring: snowdrops blooming through snow, the stirring of unborn lambs, the peeking out of a groundhog.

The middle of winter is deepest yin, when yang is potentiated most strongly. We have planted seeds. Now, before we see the first shoots, we feel the seed crack open in the dark earth. Somehow, the growth tip knows how to find the Sun, and heads upward.

And, oh! what a sprouting this will be! The Imbolc Moon sits right with Uranus the trickster revolutionary, igniting Fire that will light our way for the year to come. The goddess and saint associated with Imbolc is Brigid, whose triple skills in smithcraft, healing and poetry are all based in the inspiration of Fire.

The First Quarter Moon grounds us firmly in Earth, as she sits at 17 Taurus, squaring the Sun, opposite Saturn, and trine Venus and Pluto. The First Quarter is the challenge: Are we ready to step into our new vision?

The Moon's pattern is challenging, alright, and thumps us back down in the middle of the New Moon's pattern: This is about reality AND vision, coinciding, working together, becoming real.

No getting lost in the clouds at this First Quarter, it's all about what works from top to bottom, high to low, edge to edge, and every bit in between.

Which is good, because we're about to offered time to think it through: Just a few hours after the First Quarter, Mercury goes retrograde in Pisces.

Mercury is very close to Neptune as he stations, continuing the strong dreaming vibe. Keep those notebooks and recorders handy!

Over the course of the month, Mercury will move back into Aquarian territory, giving us the time to check and double check our plans. Remember, Mercury retrograde is not about making us miserable with constant glitches. It's about taking the time to reflect, review, revisit, retreat (when necessary), revise ... all the "re" words.

These periods are vital for us. We can't go, go, go all the time. Embracing the gifts of Mercury retrograde, taking time for meditation and slowness, will reduce frustration and most likely the number of mishaps as well.

So will backing up your computer and other tech devices. and making allowances for more dreaminess than usual––this is Piscean and Aquarian territory, after all.

This first week of the new lunar cycle is crowded with incident, and then we slow down. Pay attention to what's coming up for you now. This is a time of thinking and feeling, mind and body, the vision and the manifestation. Noticing where things don't fit will alert us to where those new shoots will soon be breaking through.

This Full Moon coming up is in passionate Leo, and falls on Valentine's Day. Can't wait to tell you more about that one ...
    

New Moon in Aquarius: Real Vision

fractal geometry

New Moon in Aquarius
Thursday, January 30, 2014
4:39 pm EST / 9:39 pm GMT

Today's the New Moon in Aquarius, sign of vision, community, our common being-ness with all that is. Aquarius is a formal sign, fixed Air, sometimes building castles in the air, always searching for the "Why not?"

That quote itself, dreaming things that never were and asking, why not? has a history: Often attributed to Robert Kennedy, it was first quoted by John F. Kennedy, from a play by George Bernard Shaw, where it was spoken by the Serpent. Interesting, no?

Here we are on a New Moon day about vision, and the real is so present, so unavoidably here, visions seem (perhaps) laughable if not irrelevant. This winter of biting cold and storms to shake foundations, of changes in air pressure and temperature so extreme we wonder which season it is at all, has triggered more discussions about vision and planning and projection and foresight than any airy debates could.

The charts for this New Moon show that pattern. Yes, the Sun and Moon sit in the 10th degree of Aquarius––check where this falls in your birth chart to see where clarity and new perspectives can enter your life––and yet another powerful pattern is here:

Venus and Pluto sit together in Capricorn, offering all the "real" we can handle. Opposite is Jupiter in Cancer, making it all bigger. These two, Capricorn and Cancer, are the tradition-holders of the zodiac, the places where we value what has been, how things are, and what needs to continue.

And yet ... and yet ... this opposition is squared by Uranus the revolutionary. The hard question posed by this T-Square is, our realities are changing. What are we going to do about it?

Change is happening all around us, on every level. Personal, professional, environmental, political––name a realm, an area of life, where huge changes are not the norm. What do we do?

There's the vision thing. Derided by some, this New Moon brings us back to that point. Life is uncertain. Our control over events is limited. Without a dream, a vision, a plan in some form of where we're headed and what we hope for––without something like that, how do we get anywhere at all?

That opposition of traditions, Pluto, Venus and Jupiter, is also linked in positive flows of energy to energies of dreaming and planning: There's a lovely rectangle of trines and sextiles connecting those three to Pallas Athena in Virgo (always clear-headed) and Chiron and Juno in Pisces, with Neptune nearby (open to the needs and wounding of others, looking for healing).

NB: For those of you looking at your birth charts, notice how much is happening in and around 10 degrees, especially in Capricorn, Cancer, Pisces and Aries. Anything in our charts in these degrees is being touched by these larger patterns.

There are also yods (fingers of fate), two of them, at this New Moon. The key yod points at the New Moon itself, with Jupiter and Pallas Athena at its base: In the contest between emotional connection to the past, and clear-eyed dedication to the best possible future, moving into a new vision is desperately needed.

We cannot, and should not, let go of what is best in the past. (This includes, by the way, our biosphere, which is our Cancerian home place at its most fundemental.) But the old ways alone will not bring us into the world we hope for.

This is not a comfortable time. This New Moon feels to me like that moment when an important deadline looms, the make-or-break presentation, and I suddenly realize my whole concept for the project is flawed. At the 11th hour, do I have the guts to tear up what I have and start over?

Over the last weeks, we've been brought face to face in some way with things that are and are not working in the realities of our lives. We've been asked to let go of something––beliefs, assumptions, convictions, relationships, tangible stuff, whatever. It hasn't been easy, although there has been some relief.

Now we're at the point of looking at what's in front of us and asking, what next? This is the "What next?" New Moon.

Keep in mind that Aquarius is also quirky, innovative, and iconoclastic. This is an outside-the-box New Moon. Also remember the New Moon is a dark time. We are looking for a vision, asking for one, hoping for one, but it won't be clear just yet.

This is the time to set intentions for where we want clarity, hope and commitment. Where we pledge to boldly go, and hold onto the dream. The choices we make and the directions we set are important.

Think about it.
     

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
Robert Kennedy
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_kennedy.html#v4AWfKpfCwfzW8xL.99

The Waning Moon: The Ideal and the Real

which glasses??

Disseminating Moon in Virgo
January 20, 2013
2:34 am EST / 7:34 am GMT

Last Quarter Moon in Scorpio
January 24, 2014
12:29 am EST / 4:29 am GMT

Balsamic Moon in Sagittarius
January 27, 2014
12:12 pm EST / 4:12 pm GMT

New Moon in Aquarius
January 30, 2014
4:39 pm EST / 9:39 pm GMT

I'm hibernating. Not literally, but part of me really wants to say: "... see you in March ..."

It's way cold here for what used to be "normal" and yes, others have it much worse. I have the luxury of working from home in a safe, warm place, and still, my brain moves in slow motion. Sometimes I watch my ideas form on a very slow screen––or maybe they're just defrosting.

As I sat down to write this morning (which I made myself do, knowing I'm already late with this post), I realized my slow-moving state fits the astrological weather (duh!). These weeks from the Full Moon in Cancer to the upcoming New Moon in Aquarius, we're at the interface of mind and body, the idea and the reality, the transition between thinking something up and manifesting it in the physical world.

At the Disseminating Moon on January 20, the Sun stepped into Aquarius, the cool, clear-eyed visionary. No longer in plodding, pragmatic Capricorn, we find ourselves on a mountaintop, the air dazzlingly clear, able to see far horizons on every side.

With Mercury also in Aquarius, grand visions form easily. We might find ourselves dazzled by sparking new thoughts, ready to jump on the latest bandwagon. How wonderful to see it all clearly now. Visions are so intoxicating!

And yet, the most powerful thing happening in the sky right now is Venus retrograde in Capricorn moving inexorably back toward Pluto, opposed by Jupiter retrograde in Cancer moving into a more exact opposition.

Venus, Pluto and Jupiter are keeping us firmly in what is real. With these planets, in these signs, we cannot look away from what is actually happening day-to-day, sometimes moment-to-moment, in our lives. What is working? What is not working? What needs to change?

Tomorrow (January 24) is the Last Quarter Moon in Scorpio. The Sun–Moon square in fixed (read: stubborn) Aquarius and Scorpio will force us to face places where our lovely vision does not square with emotional, psychological, and/or deeper realities.

This is not a bad thing, although it won't always feel comfortable. At this Last Quarter, the Moon flows energy with Neptune, allowing our deepest dreams to come through to enrich our cerebral visions (if we let them). Also, Mars in diplomatic Libra flows energy with clear-sighted Mercury in Aquarius, supporting positive action.

We're being offered the chance, at this time, to think, feel and experience where our visions and our realities are not matching up. It's not about being judged and found wanting. It's about getting essential feedback that will actually support us in reaching big goals.

We can look away if we choose, but we'll miss something important.

What that "something" is will be different for each of us, depending on our birth charts, life choices, where we are in our life cycle––all those things. It could be seeing where a job, workplace, or relationship is not a good fit. It could be realizing we need to commit to THIS and let THAT go.

The Balsamic Moon of January 27 suggests part of the alignment process in this cycle has to do with our beliefs. For this late waning Moon, the Sun continues in visionary Aquarius and the Moon sails through Sagittarius. Sag is optimistic and generous, but also philosophical. One of Sagittarius' failings is being too certain, too wedded to a particular worldview, too confident we've found "the way."

So at this Balsamic Moon, the time of letting go and clearing out, we get the opportunity to see where our ideas don't quite fit what's actually happening. Mercury and Mars continue to support each other in moving easily between thought and action, so things can shift.  The ongoing Venus–Pluto–Jupiter dance keeps the focus on what's really important.

Think of this like a complex piece of music (you choose the style). Venus, Pluto and Jupiter are the bass line, thumping away, keeping us grounded. The Sun, Mercury and Mars bring in a lighter melodic line, something enticing and playful, beautiful imagery. The Moon moves from sign to sign, sometimes focusing on the slow, steady bass, sometimes flying high with the melody.

Both are there, neither is going away, and for the music to work, they need to match. (Unless you've chosen a really dissonant musical style, in which case, you're on your own...)

During any waning cycle, we let go of what doesn't work. During this particular waning cycle, we're at the edge between what we think we know, and what's actually going on. This is a good place to be. Not comfortable, necessarily, but good. Without a reasonable amount of congruence in our sense of where we are now and our vision of where we're headed, progress is unlikely.

The upcoming New Moon will be in Aquarius. At that time, we'll be invited to commit to a new vision, or recommit to our current vision. Now, we have time to check the game plan. Where is our thinking outmoded? Where has reality shifted in a way we need to recognize? Now's the time to let go of old ideas that just don't fit.

Sometimes, changing our thinking is the hardest change to make. The results, though, can be amazing.