Gibbous Moon: The Ripening Promise

Gibbous Moon: June 1, 2012 (EDT)

Tomorrow very early (overnight, really), the Moon reaches her square-and-a-half with the Sun that marks the Gibbous Moon. What is that word?

A gibbous Moon is a bulging Moon, full but not quite, round but not quite, promising but just a little off to our eye. "Gibbous" is an old word for "hump" or "hunch" and was used for hunchbacks as well as the Moon.

Awkward, then, this Moon. Something we can't look away from and yet don't want to be caught staring at. It pushes at us, wanting to be adjusted.

Sesquiquadrates, the square-and-a-half aspect, are like that. We've made it past the First Quarter challenge, heading for the illumination of the Full Moon, and here comes something else to trip us up.

It doesn't seem fair, and yet all the great stories have this one-more-challenge pattern. This is the falling action, the dénouement. The hero has passed the crisis and all seems resolved, but wait––who is that hiding in the shadow?

At this Gibbous Moon, we find the Moon conjunct Saturn, both in Libra and Saturn (still) retrograde. They sit at the apex of a Finger of the World, as they are sesquiquadrate both the Sun and Chiron, who square each other.

The Sun, conjunct Mercury, Venus and the South Node, also squares Mars, who opposes Chiron. Meanwhile, Neptune and Chiron square the Nodes of the Moon, and Uranus is one degree away from his first exact square to Pluto.

This is looking like the scene in the frontier cantina when everyone has his/her weapons drawn and pointed at everyone else, and no one can move.

Definitely awkward.

light increasing

There's another image of the Gibbous Moon that offers hope. Looking at the almost-full profile of this brightening Moon, we see the profile of a heavily pregnant woman not quite ready to give birth, "big-bellied with the wanton wind," as Shakespeare had it.

This is a delicate time, when we wait with some anxiety, ready to celebrate the coming birth and hoping nothing happens so close to threaten the outcome.

The signs in the sky point to surprises, flashes of energy, and hidden support: the Gibbous Moon flows in trine with Neptune and Venus, and sextiles Pluto. Mars trines Pluto, and Uranus trines the North Node.

At this time, we may feel a strong need to act without being able to see clearly what action will be best. The heady mix of planets standing around this particular cantina suggests action will be needed. It's a good time to stop the cycle of anxious thinking, and tune in to a deeper, more intuitive channel.

As we move toward the powerfully energized Full Moon, careful steps are called for, yet we want to move without anxiety, calling in our intuitive connections, and finding the way.
        

First Quarter Moon: Rising Storm

First Quarter Moon: May 28, 2012

I woke early this morning to rolling thunder, thick, roiling, grey clouds, and the electric feeling of change.

I got up, put the kettle on, and began my morning tai chi with releasing old chi and gathering fresh chi from the four directions. The new chi is then mixed in the cauldron of the body. Just as I reached the mixing movements, the storm broke and rain pelted down.

We're in the First Quarter Moon now, having arrived yesterday afternoon (EDT). Not only is the Moon squaring the Sun, she is conjunct Mars, opposing Chiron, and squaring the Nodes. Again, the question is presented: What steps have we missed on the way? What details (Moon and Mars in Virgo) have escaped our attention, that will leave our healing vision (Chiron in Pisces) incomplete?

The Sun is conjunct Mercury and the South Node, and therefore completing a Grand Cross that includes Sun + South Node + Mercury, opposite North Node, squaring Mars + Moon, opposite Chiron + Neptune. Here we have messages, mind, action, analysis, dreams, wounding and healing all tied together.

Are we at cross-purposes in this Grand Cross? Or are we checking our bearings, making adjustments, and gritting our teeth in determination as the wind rises? The saving grace here is, this Grand Cross is in the mutable signs––wiggle room is available.

Look at Saturn in this First Quarter chart, where he forms sesquiquadrates to the Sun group and to Chiron. Yep, there's another Finger of the World here, with Saturn at the apex.

This is another message we've heard before, the one Saturn continues to offer in his long, long trek through Libra: Patience, balance, careful planning. We're in a time of tremendous change and massive energy shifts; our responses must remain calm and measured to create the world of peace and tranquility we seek.

May 25 was Towel Day, celebration of Douglas Adam's work, and the key motto is highly appropriate now: Don't Panic! (in large, friendly letters ...)

As the Moon moves through Virgo, opportunities for anxiety will surely arise. What should we be doing? What will help? Can we make a list, at least? Interestingly, Gneiss Moon's new post is a Tarot spread whose opening card is the 9 of Swords, the nightmare card. Virgos everywhere know this card!

Why not check in with fear? Rather than denying or suppressing it, invite your anxieties and fears to sit down a moment, have a cup of tea, and talk. Karla McLaren sees fear as a messenger with information about actions we need to take. Nothing makes a Virgo Moon feel better than something to do, so ask your fears what needs to be done, and do that.

Having turned the First Quarter corner, we're in the brightening phase heading for the Full Moon. More messages are available now (look at all that Gemini around) about what the New Moon has seeded in our lives.

What new shoots are poking their heads up in our gardens? Pay special attention to the unexpected and unusual ones (*cough* look at all that Gemini around). Uranus the revolutionary trickster forms an adjustment-needed inconjunct with the Moon, so expect the unexpected and prepare to laugh.

Change is the only constant. And, as a heart friend told me yesterday, the unaimed arrow never misses. We're looking for the way through the maze, when the best way is not to look ahead, simply to walk.
    

Crescent Moon: Careful Nurturing

Crescent Moon: May 24, 2012

First, my apologies for getting behind with the posts. My return trip from Scotland was a bit harrowing and I've been in the grip of jet lag. Without further delay, let's get on with this amazing lunar cycle and see where we are:

The Gemini New Moon and accompanying eclipse dubbed "The Ring of Fire" initiated a cascade of new somethings that will be popping up for a long time to come.

Wherever this New Moon touched your chart, you may already have experienced synchronicity, surprise, communication, connection, youth, sudden shifts, newness––or not quite yet.

The thing about the New Moon is, it's dark. Masked by the Sun, we can't see the Moon at all for about three days. The night is dark as the earth, where seeds wait to germinate, dark as the womb in which new life stirs.

At the New Moon, we note where energy is flowing and allow our energies to flow with it, in the form of wishes and intentions. But until seeds begin emerging, we can't see what we might be growing. Yes, we wished for roses, but are those sunflowers growing there? Or stinging nettle?

The Crescent Moon arrived on Thursday evening (in the Eastern Tome Zone) with the Moon in her home sign of Cancer. Semisquare to the Sun in bright Gemini, the Cancer Moon felt protective of those newly emerging seedlings, knowing full well Gemini may have completely lost interest by now, drawn to the latest shiny thing. Or remembering the seedlings, Gemini would want to see, right now, how they were doing, examining them so exhaustively the attention alone could wilt them.

So, the Cancer Moon hid the seedlings a bit longer, nurturing them. It's a harsh world out there. The Crescent Moon placed the Moon at the apex of an unusual aspect pattern called the Finger of the World, which is a broad isoceles triangle of challenging aspects.

As the North Node (the point of unfolding fate) and Chiron (the wounded healer) squared each other, the Moon formed a sesquiquadrate (a square and a half) to each. This places the Moon in the hot seat, driven to solve the problem presented by the North Node–Chiron square. In a contest between fate and wounding, a Cancer Moon will choose to protect.

Even though the Crescent Moon usually offers the first glimpse of our emerging seedlings, I'm wondering if, for many of us, we're still feeling a bit in the dark about what this New Moon will actually bring into our lives.

Now, the Moon is in bright and sturdy Leo. Early this morning, the Moon and Sun formed a sextile, and we look to the playful Leo Moon to give our seedlings the support and care they need without too much swaddling. Now we look to see what's growing in our gardens, in the energy of Air and Fire.

Challenges are still out there, though. At the moment of the Sun–Moon sextile, the Moon was also in the hot seat of a yod, in which Chiron the wounded healer sextiled Pluto the transformer, who each are inconjunct the Moon.

But wait ... the Sun–Moon sextile itself forms the base of another yod with Pluto at its apex. And, if that weren't enough, the Moon is part of a Grand Trine in Fire with the North Node and Uranus.

It's time to check in: How committed are we to those New Moon wishes? We're on our way to the First Quarter Moon, the square that will put that question right in front of us. Our seedling wishes are already on the receiving end of powerful energies, so it's good to be sure this is really what we want.

The thing is, New Moon eclipses carry power. Events, patterns, stuff reach back and forward in ways difficult to discern. The aspects we see at the Crescent Moon and this morning's Sun–Moon sextile remind us that transformation is afoot. Continue to watch the parts of your chart touched by the New Moon, and take care of your wish garden.