When it reaches its first quarter tomorrow, the Cancer Moon will appear in the sky as half-illuminated, half dark. The phase is referred to as a quarter instead of a half because Luna will be in the first quarter of its orbit around Earth as measured from the New Moon on March 22. In this particular case, however, the appearance will have its own symbolic meaning. In the context of astrology, the Moon in its first quarter will be forming an aspect called a cardinal T-square with the Aries Sun and Pluto in Capricorn while halfway between the new and full lunar phases.
Tomorrow’s first quarter Moon implies an opportunity to work with the astrology and perceive the progress of your own initiatives, efforts and aspirations as the Moon really is, in fact, half full. Moon’s appearance during its first quarter is the result of our position in relationship to the luminaries, Sun and Moon. Weather permitting, you will see Luna rise at midday, overhead at sunset and setting around midnight.
In other words, from your perspective, the luminaries will be 90 degrees apart in the sky, and you will see half of the lunar surface lit by the Sun and half of what is not. The visage of a Moon half light and half dark translates to your life as something halfway towards completion. The visual perception of a right angle between the luminaries in the sky translates to astrology as a square aspect.
In astrology, objects forming a square are also 90 degrees apart on the zodiac wheel, occupying different signs that share the same quality — cardinal, fixed or mutable. In general, a square aspect symbolizes and frequently corresponds in reality to a tension you feel on the inside. That’s how squares come to have a bad reputation. In all cases, resolving that tension requires you to take some action. In order to take the appropriate action you have to consciously reject a square’s bad reputation and replace it with another perspective.