A Numinously Neptunian New Moon

Wednesday's New Moon is an important one and makes an enormous chime within us all for vital inner work, in combination with the logical thought process that is more typical of the sign of Gemini where it takes place. The reason is that, as this New Moon comes into perfection, it also makes a perfect square alignment with Neptune in his own sign of Pisces, thereby bringing the curiosity and pointed mental focus represented by Mercury's sign into contrast with numinous realms, as symbolized by the oceanic wide-open sensibility of the Neptunian archetype. This New Moon also begins a lunar cycle that includes a very meaningful Mercury Retrograde period during most of June. Through this final week of May and into June, we might feel as though we were living in a dream world, a foggy sense of unreality that nevertheless has important information to convey to us, as dreams often do.

Mercury is already slowing down, in preparation for its station to retrograde motion in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 7th, in the fourth degree of Cancer. Mercury will enter this Cardinal Water sign on the day following the New Moon. Every Mercury Retrograde period this year takes place in the early degrees of a Water sign, bringing greater emotional consciousness into the meditative time of the Mercury Retrograde period. This adds to the contrast of symbolism between the astrological elements of Air and Water already implicit in the square between the Gemini New Moon and Piscean Neptune. We are therefore tuned to interior realms during this entire monthly cycle, and have the chance to more fully explore the inner layers of our psyche. This corresponds to what seminal 20th century psychologist C.G. Jung termed the process of individuation, in other words bringing these deeper levels of our being into greater conscious awareness and integration.

This New Moon also makes two other significant aspects, being closely bi-quintile to Pluto and in trine with action-oriented Mars, recently stationing to forward motion. Mars turned direct about a week ago, on May 19th. These powerful aspects bring to our conscious mental process the recent intensity of the Uranus-Pluto cardinal cross, including their square and opposition to retrograde Mars, which therefore impacted our sensibilities on a more internal level. Chiron, the Wounded Healer, is also activated now. We are changing in subtle ways throughout this climactic year of 2014, and we do well to pay the closest possible attention to our interior process. This next retrograde cycle of Mercury presents us with a fantastic opportunity to do just that. The meditative awareness that this period brings allows us to better integrate inner and outer, so that when we do move forward, it will be from a more centered place.

The Sabian symbol for this New Moon, in the eighth degree of Gemini, is quite interesting; it is: "An industrial strike." This symbol actually reminds us of the square with Neptune and the Mercury Retrograde period of the upcoming June weeks. Our logical left-hemisphere linear processing brain might in fact be on strike right now. For the degree of Neptune, in the eighth degree of Pisces, we find: "A girl blowing a bugle" which Marc Edmond Jones sees as a "summons." If so, it represents a call from the less assertive side of our nature, from soul perspective. Jones also refers the first symbol, for the degree of the New Moon in Gemini, as "constructive reorganization," and says that it represents "undeviating self-assertiveness and a refusal to accept any lesser in lieu of a greater." Indeed, we owe it to our inner consciousness, and to the cosmic forces that guide us, to accept nothing less than the very best that we have to offer.

A Numinously Neptunian New Moon

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Chart for the New Moon on May 28, 2014

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