![The Grandmother Land in Ulster County, NY at dusk, Sept. 1, 2013. Photo by Eric.](https://i0.wp.com/planetwaves.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/640+web-grandmother-5888.jpg?resize=640%2C297&ssl=1)
This week is the Virgo New Moon, an obvious checkpoint in the year. It will be the last New Moon before the autumnal (Libra) equinox, with the added distinction of happening in an opposition to Chiron in Pisces. Because Chiron is so closely associated with the themes of Virgo and indeed tells us a good bit about Virgo, we have something of the perfect mirror.
Along the way there’s a series of poignant aspects, all involving blends of traditional and minor planets, which always strive to take us beyond ordinary consciousness. Monday, for example, Mercury in Virgo will be square trans-Neptunian object Chaos in Gemini, and also square centaur Pholus and a Pluto-like body called Ixion, both in Sagittarius. That’s an alignment that is, among other things, calling the mind to focus with an eternal question: do the concepts ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ mean anything?
There’s also the flirtation of how your mind handles the sensation of things seeming like they’re about to go out of control. (That’s a significant theme in our time of history.)
There are other aspects that are rich with information — such as Venus in Libra opposing Eris (a planet orbiting our Sun though far beyond Pluto) in Aries. This is offering some provocation to find oneself within one’s relationships. I read it as being about the ‘real you’ waking up in the midst of a coupling experience that involves the ‘relationship you’. These ‘two yous’ need to make friends and perhaps even fully reconcile their realities.
![Moss and lichen grow on a rock near the Coxing on the Grandmother Land in Ulster County, NY.](https://i0.wp.com/planetwaves.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/275+web-moss-lichen-5870.jpg?resize=275%2C413&ssl=1)
Yet in the background of all this is a gradually building aspect, a square, between Mars and Saturn, which comes into full focus on Sept. 9, a week from today. It may seem like that’s a long way off, but in my experience this is the kind of aspect to track and monitor as it develops. It’s offering opportunities and ideas, and describes a diversity of potential circumstances.
Squares can all be put to good use. They can be examples of integrity or working out the seeming contradictions that block integrity. Mars is in Leo, pulsing with vital force, courage and heat.
Saturn in Scorpio evokes many images, though one is sexual energy that’s frozen, stifled or suppressed by the traditions and values of your ancestors — right down to your parents and grandparents. Though we tend to push our relationships toward structure and supposed permanence, that can come at the cost of binding up vitality.
Gradually over the next week, Mars is moving into position to give Saturn a push. We have a kind of inner standoff (a square, which can also manifest as an event) between the passion of Mars and the potential stagnation or resistance of Saturn in Scorpio. This might be the ‘I’m so hot for him/her and he’s/she’s so cold’ kind of equation; it might be a lot more volatile. Yet whatever situation this represents will be entirely more productive and easier to handle if it’s taken incrementally rather than allowing yourself or anything around you to be pushed to its limits.
It would be better to do any of that melting of the ice that Saturn in Scorpio represents with some sunshine, body heat or maybe a hair dryer, rather than, say, a hot poker or bit of TNT. By now whatever this aspect represents for you is discernible. And you can start making decisions.
One point of assistance in terms of figuring out what this might be is that overnight (Sunday into Monday) the Moon is in Leo, making a conjunction to Mars and a square to Saturn. That’s providing a point of intuition or direct sensation. Then when Mars makes its exact square in seven days, the Moon will be conjunct Saturn and square Mars.
As for those other minor planets — one interesting element is that Mars is opposite the ever-important asteroid Juno. This may be provoking some tension in marital relationships, though it may have the flavor of social justice (for example, the human right to some independence). I suggest you take it gently; state your case as if you expect to be listened to. Listen to others and give them the satisfaction of knowing that you care.
If you’re interested in Juno, I can share this article from our Friday morning members’ series from late last year, published right before 12.21.12 — which gives my reading on the discovery chart of this intriguing asteroid.
Additional research by Amanda Painter.
I have a sister who was born September 9…, there are high chances that she farts a lead where she is waking up from a deep sleep?
Experience shows when you cross a calm period, under such kind of March and something Saturn will come to reverse the trend. But one who is evil in its skins. ES – what it is possible to react, to get out of a neurotic State?
It is a square not descending the same energy that if the square would have been growing phase…
Thanks Eric
“I’ve been presented with a wonderful opportunity that touches a deep dream in me” go for it Starrynight! I know that sense of inadequacy well, it goes with the territory but that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it, just make sure you check into your intuition, stay grounded.
I’m feeling it Lizzy. Ominous vibratory energy (not to mention drums of war); I’ve been presented with a wonderful opportunity that touches a deep dream in me yet am filled with self-doubt (6th house sun?) With this opportunity(my Jup return) comes structure, discipline (Saturn) and feelings of inadequacy (mars). Then I was blindsided by the fallout of a loved ones drama and her need for a “safe” target. Many people around me are in desperate straits, like the drowning grabbing for anything (or one) solid to prevent the submersion. I am focusing on being at the hub of the wheel as the drama and the karma unfold fast and furious…One day at a time. My little plans and designs fall by the wayside; I surrender to a greater power than myself to show the way, to guide me through to whatever the Universe requires if me at this oh so big moment of shift.
And I will bear in mind your excellent advice. Changing our mood/attitude is fundamental (where’s that lipstick?), thank you for reminding me of this xxx
Strawberry dear, you are such a love! I was moved to tears by your kind comment, your solidarity and beautiful advice. I can’t thank you enough for your words. You know – when I sit down to meditate these days I realize that the joy is still there – I think it’s a small flame that has appeared in me that gets overwhelmed, but it’s showing me a new way of being. Like so many here, I’m sure, I grew up in a home where there was a lot of fear, depression, anger – and when I go back to stay with my parents it just overtakes me again, as it’s the language I know, its imprinting is so deep (though my parents show nothing but appreciation and love for me when I stay with them now, times are so very tough for them both). So this newfound joy is still a small shoot . but I’m coming to realize that the importaant thing is that it has emerged – and that with patience and perseverance it’ll grow and become morre stable. I say this also to give hope to anyone who’s struggling with something similar. The struggle is inevitable – but like you, dear Strawberry, I know that the important thing is to persevere! Lots of love to you!
Lizzy, I’m so sorry to hear you feel like you’ve lost that magical, liberated feeling! I (and I expect many others here) was so happy for you when you shared your experience, I nearly cried for you.
I think one of the things that happens when we go away somewhere new is that we’re more free to feel the “illicit” parts of ourselves, and then when we come back to our “normal” lives, we slip back into our “normal” selves. I wonder if you could inject something distinctly hot & sexy into your environment–a gaudy silk scarf from a 2nd hand store that you keep in your handbag, or a swath of scarlet or hot pink silk thrown over your reading lamp. Something that you can deliberately make sacred, that can carry the identity of that liberated moment, & remind you how sexy it felt? I love wearing bold red lipstick to remind myself I’m not as drab as I feel some days. We’re so conditioned to fear, disown, or otherwise not honor those “bursting with excess” moments, & it’s a tragedy that they get replaced with the feeling of loss.
All the best to you! (((Hugs)))
What can I look for with these aspects given that I am in my Saturn return 3 degrees Scorp at the 10th house squaring my natal moon and Pluto in 8th as wellas transiting moon and mars in Leo? Appreciate any help!
My favorite line from this article is about the Moon in Leo being of assistance in dealing with the square between Mars and Saturn. I’ve noticed, as the months have passed after 12.21.12, that solutions or hard decisions to be made regarding serious problems have come faster and with less back-and-forth waffling (on my part). I do believe that Juno (or the Juno function) can be credited with that progress. So thanks Eric for linking the Juno discovery chart and reminding us of how she was conjunct the Sun in the winter solstice chart.
Thanks too for coming up with the theory of Juno, in this case, symbolizing a marriage to oneself. It has just occurred to me in hindsight that Terpsichore, also being conjunct the Sun and Juno at that time, has added the element of choreography to an on-going process; that of bringing the two (at least!) differing factors of oneself into a (conscious) discussion of those serious problems. We have referred to this process variously as evolution or ascension, or raising consciousness, but maturation is often what it comes down to. You are never to old to learn. For me anyway, marriage didn’t work well because of a lack of maturity on the part of one or both parties. Marriage to oneself is no different.
So today the Moon in Leo listened to Mars’ version of the problem(s) as he begins his square with Saturn. Mars (headstrong) in Leo (self-important) could epitomize the childishness of one’s nature while Saturn (maturity) in Scorpio (fixed but sharing) could express as one’s rigid adult. Next week when the square is exact, Moon will be there with Saturn to, hopefully, ease into the resolution of the problem. It has been that way (for me) for months and months now; as if some unseen hand guides me to solutions I could not see beforehand.
Just as the 12.21.12 chart’s sextile between Sun-Juno in Capricorn and Neptune in Pisces sets up a yod for any transiting planet that crosses over 0 Leo into becoming the focus of that combined energy, so too does the Aries Juno’s sextile to Aquarian Eris in Juno’s Discovery chart setup a yod for any newly arriving transiting planet in Virgo. These combinations of distinctly unique energies as represented by the symbols (Sun-Neptune-Eris-Juno and whatever transits the focal points), have to integrate (function of yod) their uniqueness into a balance or blend of expression in order to progress, evolve, ascend, mature, or become more conscious. Even though there is more of that to be done in recent times (it seems to me anyway), there is also more assistance, seemingly beyond oneself, to achieving it.
Dare I say that acceptance of the feminine strengths into the fold of the once all-masculine problem-solving process is underway? My heart says it is so.
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Beautiful photo! Lizzy, I’ve not been feeling down, but I’ve been very aware of the standoff between passion and frozen sexuality in my life. My natal Chiron is in Pisces too, right opposite my midheaven/Pluto/Uranus trinity in Virgo, so I’ve felt like the two sides are each holding up a magnifying glass and showing every detail of the opposite side. And I have no idea what to make of the information, I’m just kind of watching it.
Thanks for this great piece Eric| “It would be better to do any of that melting of the ice that Saturn in Scorpio represents with some Sunshine”, This is so interesting, I’d love it iif you could explain more about this aspect at some point. All that lovely sexual energy and joy I had in August has gone – really miss it, feeling really down right now. But that’s also cos staying with the folks is always a tall order, plus back to gut grinding reality again, trying to drum up more work. Could also be the Chiron Virgo opposition (my Chiron’s in Pisces), wonder if anyone else s feeling it?