A Last Quarter Moon of Relationship Reflection, Exploration, and Breakthrough

Saturday afternoon’s Last Quarter Moon in the 27th degree of Scorpio, early to late evening for the east coast and Europe, brings up an interesting lunation when we will be entering into a reflective period, assessing in these times of extreme change how far we have come, and how much of what we are attempting in a psychological way for ourselves might yet remain to be accomplished. The Moon’s position, at 26 Scorpio 41 more precisely, along with the Sun in the same degree of Aquarius, makes a significant aspect to Saturn in Capricorn, bringing his Senex archetype to the fore, along with that archetype’s trademark indications of caution, limitation and practicality. Dane Rudhyar famously referred to this lunar phase as a “crisis in consciousness” when we must all strive to become more aware of what we have gained, and what lost, in the preceding three weeks of the lunar cycle – which began with the initial impulse of the January 24th Aquarius New Moon that was in aspect to Neptune and Uranus. It is interesting to note that Uranus is still active in these current skies being in exact semi-sextile to Chiron, to the minute of a degree, and in close septile with a stationing Mercury which enters into its retrograde period the very next day! Venus is quite intensely aspected as well, and in connection to both Chiron and to limiting Saturn. Venus was conjunct Chiron at the preceding Full Moon from one week ago, and is now in exact parallel aspect to this representation of the Wounded Healer archetype, presaging an introspective time of looking into your hidden complexes, and imagining the way that these shape or distort your relationship dynamic with important Others in your life.

This is all so appropriate as well to the Valentine’s Day holiday, just passed. With the Moon in Scorpio, we are being drawn to depth, to the hidden parts of our personality, where dark places – the residue of early trauma that we might be relatively unaware of – can become bugaboos or scary monsters that take us over in a knee-jerk reaction to events in a way that seems quite beyond conscious control. This reactivity can affect our close personal relationship the most, it seems, and thus it is quite fitting, the close connection in the sky right now between Venus and Chiron, by exact parallel. Uranus is also in perfect longitudinal aspect to Chiron as well, a semi-sextile, speaking to a process of awakening to deep intuitional information regarding our relationships in connection with inner wounding. We have the chance at this time to become more familiar with the dark places inside us that are still grieving, the hurt child within that feels lost and alone and that needs the attention of our more informed adult self to begin to emerge into the light of consciousness. It is a good experiment to try in mediation to reach down from enlightened consciousness to the hurt spaces within yourself that perhaps have long been festering, imagining that you can bring a healing and loving awareness to these parts of yourself, allowing them a seat at the table and a more relaxed presence within you. As poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen has written, “forget your perfect offering (and acknowledge) that there is crack (within you) – a crack in everything.” That is how, he states, we can begin to let the light in.

With abundant Neptune now and at the preceding New Moon that began this current cycle, and with Mercury about to turn retrograde in a close septile to Uranus, the Awakener, the time is ripe for spiritual approaches that will have a distinct interior reflective or introspective quality to them. Because Saturn is also forming to square the new planetary archetype of Haumea, representing profound connection to Nature, or Natural Law, or Nature as Spiritual Path, we have in these current skies as well a signifier of grace that may yet see us through.

The Sabian Symbols for this Last Quarter Moon might also prove instructive. They are, for the Moon in the 27th degree of Scorpio, “A military band on the march,” which may remind us that there is strength and a sense of order that springs to life out of community and ritual. Marc Edmund Jones, who compiled these symbols almost one hundred years ago, references, “the blare of self-affirmation (and) its martial nature arises from the realization that things of worth must be gained at the price of a thoroughly mobilized effort.” For the Sun in the same degree of Aquarius we find the pleasant symbol of “A ancient pottery bowl filled with violets.” This symbol again speaks to ritual and to the sweetness of remembered wisdom. Jones writes of, “the permanence or changelessness of the real, as an ultimate assurance to the human heart (and) surviving tokens of an enduring stability on which the ephemeral and the superficial are unable to make any impact… an overall continuance of meaning and identity in which the self may anchor itself.” We can all use a touch of this assurance right now, and it is at least comforting to recognize that we can always find it when we look deeply within.

A Last Quarter Moon of Relationship Reflection, Exploration, and Breakthrough

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April 2024