Henry Seltzer – The Last Quarter Moon of early Wednesday, April 19th emphasizes the conservative nay-saying of stodgy Saturn, with the Sun in the final degree of Aries making a close trine to Saturn in late Sagittarius, and the Moon, retrograde Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Uranus also closely aspecting this emblem of the Senex archetype. This contrasts with powerful Uranus, representing innovation, by in effect putting up barriers to change, saying “oh no you won’t.” The polarity of progressive versus conservative empowerment is thus invoked.
This lunar phase in any case represents coming to terms with an enhanced understanding of the true reality one faces, indicating a reconsideration of initial assumptions, based on obstacles encountered during the previous three weeks of the cycle. And obstacles are Saturn’s specialty. With Mercury in the mid-motion of its retrograde as well, about to move backwards into Aries the very next day, there are plenty of indications that our thoughts are returning to issues that have been perhaps overly neglected in previous assessments of our current evolving situation.
The Venus-Saturn square, close to exact just as Venus stationed last Saturday, and carrying through this current Last Quarter Moon configuration, and on, within two degrees, to the timing of the next New Moon one week away, makes for a very special concentration of energies. Venus was also closely conjunct Chiron, the Wounded Healer, at the recent station, so that this aspect also remains active over the coming week. We therefore have the Saturn-Chiron archetype in force, for this entire period, representing an authority wound, as well as Venus-Saturn and Venus-Chiron.
We would relate these latter two combinations to primarily issues of relationship. With Saturn invoked, there could be difficulties thrown in the path of the relationship, obstacles to overcome, that test character. Venus-Saturn also represents a long-lasting and serious connection, and thus makes for stronger bonding between the partners. Venus-Chiron also creates a bond, because without the depth connection between participants represented by Venus and Chiron in combination, the richness of full intimate connection is lacking. There is also the possibility, as with any Chironic activation, of matters stemming from early wounding rearing their heads at an important moment. The way that these issues, when they arise, are dealt with might well become a “make-or-break” moment of the partner connection.
Mercury being still in retrograde in combination with this Last Quarter Moon implies that as we reassess and re-imagine our situation, that there is an introspective quality to our reflective musings. Mercury re-enters Aries on April 20th, and lingers there for the following week, coming to a near-exact conjunction with Uranus and trine with Saturn in the timing of the Taurus New Moon of April 26th. Over the following week, the first of this next Taurus lunation cycle, Mercury moves backward only two more degrees, to the other side of Uranus, so that the Mercury station to direct motion on May 3rd is full-on conjunction with Uranus of about a degree.
Because moving so slowly in the actual stations, the fact that both Venus and then Mercury make such close aspects, in this particular timing, with important outer planet combinations is quite remarkable. The Venus station from April 15th and the Mercury station direct of May 3rd both emphasize Saturn-Uranus, the planetary combination described in the first paragraph. This first week of May that is upcoming in just two weeks will thus be another quite powerful time of unexpected events, surprising epiphanies, and further reassessment of what is going on for us in these difficult and yet exciting times that we all are currently living through.
The Sabian Symbols for this Last Quarter Moon are revealing. They are, for the Sun, in the last, or 30th degree of Aries, “A duck pond and its brood.” This symbol brings Nature and Natural Law into the picture as an emblem for human group organization, related therefore to the sign of Aquarius and to Uranus. Marc Edmund Jones remarks upon, “the eternal fitness of things, provided that the individual take the fullest advantage of the cosmic ordering.”
For the Moon in the final degree of Capricorn we find, “A secret business conference.” This is definitely a Capricorn symbol, bringing up the Saturn archetype, that sign’s ruler. We thus have by chance both Uranus and Saturn present in this pair of symbols. For the latter, Jones has, “a determination to capitalize on any given situation through effective allegiances… successful administration in every area of life.” Indeed, we win big when we can combine the strengths of Saturn and Uranus, brining a business-like savvy to the inspiration and innovation of a truly forward-thinking approach to the complexities of our situation – on both societal and personal levels.
SF Source Astrograph April 2017