A Last Quarter Moon of Relationship Communication and Discernment

Friday morning’s Last Quarter Moon in the very first degree of Gemini, taking place around 8 am on August 23rd for the west coast, later morning or early afternoon for points east, brings a communicative stance to all our relationships. That is because Venus and Mars, conjunct in Virgo, are also closely conjunct the Sun at the zero degree mark of Virgo, and square the Moon. The sign of Virgo is ruled by the planet Mercury, located in mid-Leo, and Mercury is precisely parallel this Gemini Moon, so that as you deal with issues of relationship and desire (Venus-Mars) you might come to understand that communication is the name of your game. A Virgo-like penchant for fine distinctions will also come in quite handy. Venus, having been closely conjunct the Sun for several weeks, is now finally catching up to Mars, enhancing what has been a relationship-oriented mid-month of August with the assertive power of the Red Planet. This heightens the energy for male-female relations, and could indeed tend toward reactivity or anger emerging in what is lovingly termed “the battle of the sexes.” We will want to remember as well that Venus and Mars are trine volatile Uranus, in Venus-ruled Taurus, an aspect that gets even stronger over upcoming days, perfecting on the 28th. If reactivity does arise in relating to friends, significant others, or in business partnerships, it is of course helpful to remember to take a step or two back and pause before blurting out something that you will later regret. A psychologist I know is fond of saying that “you are never angry for the reason that you think!” Another way of putting this is that the anger emotion that we experience comes from inside ourselves, and not from any perceived action by another. This is usually more the result of undigested childhood trauma than from anything that is currently taking place. We will want also to be particularly alert to inner wounding now, since Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is also active in these late August skies, being aspected by Mercury, Neptune, and Pluto. As usual, the outer planets are conspiring to bring us along to our next evolutionary stage. Whether gladly, or kicking and screaming, is entirely up to us.

With Mercury featured in this Last Quarter Moon configuration, it is also interesting to note that the illusionary energy of Neptune is also involved, bringing up the potential for confusion, deception, or over-idealization. Mercury is inconjunct Neptune and Jupiter squares this otherworldly archetype, with the Moon parallel plus making a close quintile aspect. This highlighted Neptune presence has been around for months now, and represents one of the key emblems of these fractious times. In the midst of extreme polarization, we encounter each side typically claiming “truth” for viewpoints that are utterly opposed. It is difficult to tell what is actually the factual case in the context of such rampant “spin” coming out of the mouths of our nation’s supposed leaders. Obviously, Virgoan discernment is required, however we may manage to arrive at it.

The upside of the Neptunian motif is that there is a decided spiritual component to all that we say and do now, including the acknowledgment of evolutionary necessity for massive structural change. The important planetary archetypes of Saturn and Pluto are still closely parallel to each other, implying exactly that, and Saturn is further emphasized by sesquiquadrate aspects from the Sun and the Moon in this last quarter, making a sesqui-yod to Saturn as the focal point. This implies dealing with limitation, contraction, and potential economic recession. We must also recognize that the time is running out to be able to take some form of decisive action regarding man-made climate change. In truth, “there is no Planet B.” As a witty Benjamin Franklin once remarked at the timing of the signing of the Declaration of Independence from England, at the very birth of the American experiment, “We must all hang together now, or we will surely all hang separately.” This is a sentiment of unity in the face of difficult times that may be even truer today than it was 240 years ago, and that now must be modified to include all the nations of the earth.

The Sabian Symbols for this Last Quarter Moon are, as usual, instructive. For the Moon, in the first degree of Gemini, we have, “A glass-bottomed boat in still water,” which might remind us of true perception and discernment. Marc Edmund Jones, who prompted the creation of these symbols in the 1920s, comments, “This is a symbol of mankind’s alertness to every ramification of experience open to him, or her, and of the necessity that one take definite action on one’s own account if one is to capitalize on any particular opportunity.” For the Sun, in the first degree of Virgo, we find, “A man’s head,” seen here as an emblem for the human condition. Jones remarks, “the ideas of an inner life are given their outer manifestation through self-accepted responsibility on which others can count… the keyword is character [representing] an effective self-assurance and an ever-clear vision of each emerging opportunity in life.” It is, indeed, individual character that must be exercised now by each one of us, if we are to evade the jaws of our ongoing societal dilemma and emerge whole into the next decade of our common existence on this beautiful and fragile planet.

A Last Quarter Moon of Relationship Communication and Discernment

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Chart for the Last Quarter Moon on August 23, 2019

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November 2024