Seen and Unseen — Aries New Moon

Thursday at 10:37 am EDT, the luminaries, Sun and Moon, will conjoin just past the point where Aries begins. The conjunction will be a New Moon, the beginning of a monthly lunar cycle. That New Moon will take place two days after Sun enters Aries for a Vernal Equinox, which starts an annual solar cycle. The two brightest lights in the sky initiating their respective cycles so concurrently is not something that happens every month or every year.

It is a rare occurrence, and thus auspicious for astrologers who correspond events in the sky with events in life. The correspondence for you is that more than one cycle is beginning at the same time and not just for you alone. Some of those beginnings are available for you to see, others are unseen. Astrology can help you understand the former, perceive the latter and connect them both. You can start with the seen, which is Sun.

Sun is defined by day and light. Most of us correspond day and light with being conscious. You have probably been known to say that a light came on when you grasped a concept consciously. Hence, Sun in astrology is the symbolic light consciousness brings when you say ‘I see’. Today is a a good day to see, both literally and figuratively, how the symbolic and real Sun correspond. 

If you go online to astro.com or Astrolabe (or any number of other sites), enter some data about where you are, and generate a zodiac chart for today, you will see Sun’s glyph, a circle with a dot in the middle, on the line where the sign Aries begins. That line is called the Aries Point. What the Aries Point symbolizes in general is defined by what happens in the real world every time Sun’s glyph is close to it, something that happens at the same time in the same place every year. Now is the time and the real Sun is marking the place.

The real Sun in the sky is currently encountering the celestial equator from the South. The celestial equator is the imaginary line in the sky that is directly above the imaginary equatorial line on our planet’s surface. That solar position and its northward direction define a Vernal Equinox in the making, connecting events in the sky with events on Earth. Sun on either horizon is now and for the next several days also marking the spot where celestial equator meets horizon, visibly revealing the exact locations of East and West, no matter where you are to see it, connecting you with everyone else who sees it. In addition Sun is currently marking a time, one of two times every year when day and night are equal for everyone, and one of four times every year when a new season begins for all of us together at once. All of those real connecting events correspond to what Sun’s glyph on the Aries Point symbolizes.

Sun’s glyph on the Aries Point symbolizes Sun on the celestial equator and how its position and motion connects your perception and experience with that of everyone else. What you see with your eyes or through your consciousness today and for the next several days corresponds to a new cycle beginning in the world, a solar cycle that begins anew in the same place at the same time every year. Lunar cycles work differently.

The Moon is largely defined by its association with darkness and night, when many of us are asleep and unconscious. What happens during sleep connects with what Moon symbolizes in astrology. It represents a deeply personal part of your existence when you are alone with yourself, an inner and private experience of reflection, perceived through feelings and going through cycles that do not begin anew at the same time and place, but rather in a conjunction to the Sun that takes place at a different time every month and in a different place both on the zodiac and in the sky but with a common connection to the unseen.       

A New Moon is a conjunction of the luminaries, symbolized by their glyphs at the same point on the zodiac. That symbolism corresponds to Sun and Moon close to each other from our visual perspective here on Earth. The corresponding reality is that the Moon is not visually evident during its new phase because it is between Earth and Sun with its illuminated side turned away from us, lost in the glare of daytime sky just as stars are. That does not mean a New Moon is without influence, literally or figuratively, only that it is unseen, actually concealed by daylight and symbolically by waking consciousness, a presence that must be surmised by indirect observation, such as with the ocean tides.

As a rule, tidal fluctuations are most extreme during a New Moon because the influence of Moon’s gravity is from the same direction as Sun’s. The unseen is aligned with the seen, indirectly evinced in by the greater rise and fall of deep and voluminous waters that, in large part, distinguish our planet. A new lunar cycle beginning unseen in the sky is thus characterized by what happens, rather than where or when it takes place. Symbolically, the New Moon also corresponds to something unseen inside of you, but which is nonetheless very closely felt. It is feelings aligning with awareness and revealed by what happens in the emotional and intuitive depths that define a large part of your existence. What you feel corresponds to a new cycle in your life. 

About four hours after Moon enters Aries on Thursday, it will conjoin with Sun, in close proximity to the Aries Point, while the Vernal Equinox and its visible connections are still in process. What happens with the beginning of a lunar cycle will thus be merged with the when and where that marks the start of a solar cycle. The tides, within and without, will amplify not only in response to the unseen but also in correspondence with the seen, rising toward the Sun, where direction is being defined, concurrent with a new season, when day and night balance. That which is available to every eye will connect what is felt by each heart.

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