A Thoughtful and Optimistic Last Quarter Moon

The Last Quarter Moon taking place early on Monday morning is an interesting one, with plenty of idealism in the air. This last week of the lunar cycle is the phase associated with review and recollection of recent events, perhaps from a very different angle. At the time of the early morning Sun-Moon square, these lights aspect optimistic Jupiter in mid-Gemini, while Neptune in Pisces shines with the attention of Mercury, Mars and Saturn. There is a dreamy and almost shape-shifting aura to the energy now, as we strive to reconcile our ideals with our dawning understanding regarding what has recently transpired and how we are sharing it with each other, both in interaction and in mutual reverberating difference of perception.

Saturn with Neptune, currently triggered by Mars' entrance into Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius, can be creative - allowing inspiration and wild flights of fancy to be better grounded in reality. There is another side to this combination whereby the solid-seeming structures of our lives can lose their underpinning, allowing us to fly off into space or perhaps to hover a few feet up in the air. Mars in square with Neptune represents the ability for events to seem rather than to be. There are many ways to look at the occurrences in both our individual and our collective lives, so that just when we think that we have a handle on things another point of view intrudes, championed by a friend or partner, and we suddenly do not know anymore what is really happening.

This configuration lends itself to deception and illusion, and to ultimately the break-down of illusion. The presidential race is certainly one example. After the recent debate, the spin seemed almost more real than the candidates. Mr. Romney was aggressive and won on points, even though pretty much everything that he said was later shown to be factually untrue. At least he looked good saying it. Since the President, while sincere and relatively truthful, was neither upbeat nor did he press the attack, he was declared to have lost. Or wait, wasn't this supposed to be the other way around? The case can be made, and has been made, for either side in these kinds of questions, leaving an open issue of whom if anyone to trust; and this is redolent of the times. In our individual lives as well we might find ourselves struggling to identify the reality behind the charade.

Since Venus also opposes Chiron right now, we might need to be prepared to go through a degree of pain as we journey through our underworld dream existences; perhaps the pain of coming down to the real. Looking to the inside we can discover the light of truth if, like Diogenes of old, we keep searching. Like the mythic figure, we must be prepared to go through a certain amount of suffering along the way to finding what is supremely valuable.