A Dramatic and Illusion-filled First Quarter Moon

Saturday's First Quarter Moon follows a week of relatively high intensity, when Uranus and Pluto were in exact square with one another, symbolizing the evolutionary pressure mounting yet another notch higher as we as a society go thorough our trials. This decade will eventually be seen as the necessary encouragement to begin to address a set of collective problems that is long overdue. Action, whether collectively or in our individual lives as well, is only possible once there has been a recognition of the issue and an end to denial. A further stage is potentially reached with the minor crisis of this Quarter Moon, when the Sun and Moon in square echo the larger motions of these potent outer planets.

This phase is in any case about hitting some snags in our progress since the New Moon of one week ago, and about recognizing the shifts symbolized by the Fall Equinox this same day. As we slip officially into the fall season, and into this volatile election time period, the Moon in the first degree of Capricorn squares the Sun in the first degree of Libra, and conjuncts Pluto in square with Uranus in forward-thinking Aries.

This is a poignant and a potent time, when we must face up - as we have all this spring and summer - to the necessity for some things near and dear to us to be irrevocably lost in order that we might be empowered to move on with our lives. The acceptance that change is really happening is the best preparation that we can make, and the best gift that we can give ourselves, as we continue to transform. The Sun's Sabian symbol as it moves into Libra is telling: A butterfly made perfect by a dart through it. For this symbol Marc Edmond Jones has the key phrase "whole-souled focus of character" - and needless to add, transformation.

The Sabian symbol of the Moon in square is also very symbolic as we turn toward the gradual absence of ordinary light represented by this season: An Indian chief claims recognition. We might think of this symbol as a return to natural law in an important replacement for modernity and its tendency to mental abstraction that can often lead us astray.

Neptune in the first degree of his own sign of Pisces is also strongly aspected by this configuration, so that we have in the current mix of energies deception, illusion and confusion. We don't always know what is really happening; something to be alert for. Nowhere does this potential for illusion show up better than in national affairs, as each party scouring for votes puts their own particular spin on whatever events are going down.

This past week we were treated to the sight of Republican candidate Mitt Romney appearing on the television or the computer screen several shades darker than his previous shade of white, as he addressed the Latino crowd at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles. Presumably his comments were similarly tailored to suit the occasion of this particular set of potential voters.

We are empowered, and at this time especially so, by our discernment. We need to stay vigilant, aware as we possibly can be, to everything that is happening around us and through us, and to remain alert for the true meaning. Something is profoundly shifting as we move through this equinoctial period into the fall season, and it is vital that we know our changes through and through, from the deepest possible perspective.