Shiva and Parvati (1820) Rajput painting

We experience yet another Full Moon carrying potent astrological aspects on July 12, 2014 with the Moon in Capricorn and the Sun in Cancer.  Most interesting to me is that the disseminating trine in the current cycle of Mars and Venus is ripening at the same time as the Full Moon, as I have been focusing on the Mars and Venus cycle in my writing this year beginning with the Venus retrograde in Capricorn that was followed by the  Mars retrograde in Libra we are now emerging from.  At this time of lunar illumination, we are well past the halfway point of our current Mars and Venus cycle which began on April 6, 2013 at 20 degrees of Aries and have arrived at the auspicious disseminating trine, a time in which we reach a fruition of the meaning of this cycle.  To get more specific to your chart you can track sequences of events which began in April of 2013, and can look in your chart at the aspects that 20 degrees of Aries impact.  However, even without getting into a complex analysis of your chart, there are certain insights we can all find in the fact that the disseminating trine of this cycle is occurring with Venus in Gemini and Mars in Libra at 24 degrees.

To be clear, the exact trine between Gemini Venus and Libra Mars will not occur on the same day as the Full Moon, but instead will occur less than twenty-four hours later on July 13, 2014.  Yet the aspect will be reaching fruition and illuminated by a Full Moon carrying numerous powerful aspects, especially in relation to Mars in Libra.  Venus being in Gemini for this trine of dissemination links strongly with the meaning of this current cycle being about deep Self-knowledge while facing environmental crisis:  this is true not only because the cycle began in Aries, but also because at the time of the first quarter square in their cycle, we experienced both a Venus retrograde cycle and a Mars retrograde cycle that took us into interior realms of our unconscious.  In fact, we had an incredibly drawn out initiation into the first quarter square phase to this cycle that lasted from September 28, 2013 until March 2, 2014 (09/28/13 Venus was at 20 Scorpio, Mars at 20 Leo; 01/16/14 Venus was retrograde at 19 Capricorn, Mars at 19 Libra; 03/02/14 Venus was at 28 Capricorn and Mars had just stationed retrograde at 28 Libra).  In the Dane Rudhyar school of viewing the cycle, it is in the first quarter square phase that we establish the root system for the seed of the cycle’s new vision, which can require us to build a structure or form for the vision while facing harsh elements of our environment that will test whether or not our new vision will be able to survive and flower.  Demetra George, drawing from Rudyhar in her classic Finding Our Way Through the Dark, connected the crises of the first quarter phase to the Greek word crino (to decide), and the necessity at this time of circumstances in our environment demanding us “to make a decision, to choose among alternatives, and to take action based on that decision” (p. 18).  While the series of Venus, then Mercury, then Mars retrograde cycles could have made our decision making appear more disorientating, they also created an opportunity for a fresh perspective to make a new decision liberated from past habitual thought patterns.

Whatever challenges, losses, and resiliency we experienced in pursuit of our Venus-Mars vision from October 2013 through March 2014, in the time following May 11, 2014 (when Venus at 10° Aries opposed Mars retrograde at 10º Libra) we would have experienced an epiphany of polarization, in which the full phase opposition occurred that illuminated the meaning of the entire cycle so far: some of us may have been realizing and manifesting more of the meaning of the vision, whereas other of us may have needed to re-formulate and re-new again a  vision based upon realizations from having destructive struggles during the first half of the cycle.  At this point today, however, we have been given all of the necessary realizations regarding how to manifest and express the desire of our Mars-Venus vision-  in this current disseminating phase, in this moment, it is time to integrate the lessons we have learned, assimilate the values we have developed for ourselves, and make a conscious intention to walk our talk, live life in accordance with our vision and out of our new philosophy, and to spread the meaning we have harvested from our experiences to others.  This is a time in which the fruit of our tree has ripened to be enjoyed, and we will want to take action to share our bounty with others in our environment.

Woman picking fruit by Battista Franco (Italian, Venice ca. 1510–1561 Venice)

in astrology, some keywords associated with the disseminating phase are distributing, teaching, reaping, conveying, communicating, wisdom, and abundance.  We will want to become clear about what specific ideas we want to share and spread into a larger societal context, and the mode or vehicle of communication we will want to utilize in conveying our message.  If we have been flowing well with this cycle up until now we will have created a form to express our message to an audience that is responsive and interested in our ideas.  If we have struggled to find meaning in our life to express, or instead have faced many challenges in creating a vehicle to share our ideas, or feel like others around us lack interest in our ideas, we will need to be aware that we could fall into a bleak feeling of meaningless in life unless we make a conscious effort to re-vitalize our sense of purpose.  A further danger in the disseminating phase as taught by Demetra George, is in becoming fanatical about our message and believing that we have discovered an essential truth that everyone must learn about and agree with- fortunately, the combination of Venus in Gemini with Mars in Libra at this time can help us greatly in breaking free from dogmatic tendencies, as both combinations are interested in being exposed to diversity and accepting the individual realities of different people.

Since we will want to be sharing the meaning we have been developing for ourselves with others, we will become drawn into more and more group and collective activities and events at this time, creating the opportunity for what Demetra George calls a cross-pollination of the beliefs and ideas of others around us.  We will want to use Venus being in Gemini as the motivation behind the integration of our values at this time, and a Gemini Venus will help facilitate us evolving our consciousness to be more open, accepting, and inclusive of the viewpoints and perceptions of others.  Receiving new ideas from others around us will eventually help us to question the meaning and philosophy we have developed for ourself in this phase, which will take us into what Dane Rudhyar called the “crisis of consciousness” found in the Last Quarter square phase where we can discover what is ultimately essential to keep from the values we have developed at this time.  The last quarter square of this cycle between Mars and Venus will occur on August 27, 2014 with Venus in Leo and Mars in Scorpio at 19 degrees (and for those curious, the Balsamic Phase will occur around November 18, 2014 with Venus at 3º Sagittarius and Mars at 18º Capricorn; the next conjunction between Mars and Venus will be on February 22, 2015 at 2º Aries).

Venus in Gemini being our underlying motivation behind the values we are integrating to bring meaning to our life has an emphasized connection to self-knowledge in the school of evolutionary astrology taught by Jeffrey Wolf Green.  Green taught that Venus in Gemini evolves through expansion followed by contraction that leads to a conscious intention:  this expansion occurs through thoughts and questions posed inwardly, in which we are able to imagine how we would react to a multiplicity of scenarios and gain self-knowledge as a result.  During cycles of expansion, a Venus in Gemini will seek out a wide variety of information from diverse sources, investigating endless lines of research and resources; during cycles of contraction, they will pull back from becoming too fragmented in too many directions by integrating the essential self-knowledge learned into a conscious intention.  This ability of Venus in Gemini to ultimately focus on essential self-knowledge, discerning the meaning and values connecting to their authentic self, is melodiously harmonious with the Mars in Libra desire to also ultimately actualize soul intentions through initiating relationships with a diversity of people with different values and beliefs.  Venus in Gemini and Mars in Libra can be a powerful combination when given a mission of spreading a message into a wider societal network, as well as a supportive resource in being able to receive a cross-pollination of ideas from others in the process.

In synastry with the disseminating trine between Mars and Venus, we have also been experiencing in this past year the disseminating trine and phase between Jupiter and Saturn, with Jupiter in Cancer and Saturn in Scorpio.  This current Saturn-Jupiter cycle (which I will be posting about in more depth soon) goes all the way back to May of 2000, and its disseminating phase will continue until they eventually reach a last quarter square over a year from now in August 2015.  This disseminating phase between Jupiter and Saturn amplifies the societal aspect of the Mars-Venus disseminating phase and our call at this time to integrate our developing life philosophy and values into the greater collective surrounding us.  This Full Moon is also a culmination of Jupiter’s journey through Cancer that involved an opposition to Pluto for so long, with Jupiter at 29 degrees and widely conjunct the Sun while the Full Moon is widely conjunct Pluto.  As a result, we will have a lunar illumination of our experiences from Jupiter’s time in Cancer since June 27, 2013.

A further collective impact from Jupiter in Cancer came recently by its square to the lunar nodes in Aries and Libra, uprooting many conflicts of belief in the collective going back far across time.  Along these lines, this Capricorn Full Moon is full of many astrological aspects connecting to a great collective crossroads we are facing at this time.  In the chart below set for Olympia, Washington in the USA, you will notice that Mars is exactly conjunct Ceres in Libra, as well as Vesta and the North Node of the Moon, while Eris (not visible in the chart below) is conjunct the South Node of the Moon in Aries. Furthermore, the Full Moon is squaring it’s own nodes of the Moon, as well as Eris, Mars, Ceres, and Vesta:

As you can see, this Full Moon is dramatically stirring up the cardinal grand cross that happened in April of 2014.  Many people began to liberate themselves from past patterns at that time- if this fits your description, you will be gaining new insight at this time into how effectively you are maintaining your personal liberation to take you where you want to go in life.  Other issues that came up back in April may have been more of an unknown in exactly where they were taking us, and in these situations we should now be gaining some greater clarity into what is exactly happening in the scenario.  On the world-wide stage of current events, it is very clear that a lot of extraordinary conflict is escalating that connect back in one way or another to events from April when the cardinal grand cross first formed.

Mars in Libra is still in its retrograde shadow zone (we may gain an even stronger sense of direction after July 22 when Mars finally leaves the shadow zone), and clearly a collective force at this time with all of its intense aspects. There is an almost exact conjunction between Mars and Ceres at the time of the Full Moon, Mars is also closely conjunct the North Node of the Moon and Vesta, and this grouping in Libra around Mars is also in square to the Full Moon itself.  We need to be in our complete integrity at this time, using the harmonious trine from Venus in Gemini to help us integrate meaning into our life and express our message into our surrounding community.  If we can find healthy outlets for anger and struggles that could come up in conflicts with others in relationship, it will help us get the positive gift we can receive from Mars being conjunct Ceres, Vesta, and the North Node of the Moon.  All together, we have the potential to focus our will to nurture essential growth and significant creative production aligned with our authentic path.  There is tremendous dynamic potential for creation in this moment.

There is also a disseminating trine happening between Chiron in Pisces and Saturn in Scorpio which can help us integrate healing from challenges if we can have the discipline to consciously face whatever is occurring in our life with the intention that we can handle pain and loss through releasing the energy from destruction or deconstruction, and that ultimately we can resurrect a purified sense of Self more connected to our authentic nature than we were previously embodying.  We may experience some cathartic experiences that are at first painful but ultimately healing, and with Pallas Athene in Virgo involved with a sextile to Saturn and an opposition to Chiron, we will have the creative intelligence to discover the vital self-knowledge we can take from the experiences, to help us integrate into the same process involved in the disseminating trine between Venus in Gemini and Mars in Libra.  Especially in connection with the Mars/Ceres/North Node of the Moon opposition to Eris/South Node of the Moon, we want to remember that pain and suffering come from isolation and separation, and that supportive relationships and interconnection with the soul of the world around us help us to embrace whatever loss we are facing and engage in greater participation with life.

Meanwhile, I’m sure all the astrologers out there have not let you forget that we are still going through the first quarter square between Pluto in Capricorn and Uranus in Aries at this time.  Less often discussed, however, is that this Full Moon carries enormous insight into the long-term arc of the Uranus-Pluto cycle across ages of time, since the Full Moon in Capricorn will be conjunct the South Node of Pluto, and the Sun in Cancer will be conjunct the North Node of Pluto.  I find the nodes of all of the planets to be powerful in charts, and it is one of the main reasons I became initially interested in more deeply learning the work of Jeffrey Wolf Green, since he works with all of the planetary nodes.  Dane Rudhyar also found the planetary nodes to be so significant, he famously wrote that they may in fact be more significant than anything else in the chart, since they symbolize the entire journey and evolution of a planet’s motion and orbit, thereby providing insight into how the entire history of the archetype functions on both individual and collective levels.

Considering this, think of how illuminating this Full Moon can be not only into current events, but how our current moment sits inside moments of time, in fact the entire history of life on our planet stretching behind us and ahead of us.  As if this isn’t powerful enough, at the same time the Full Moon is aligning with the nodes of Pluto, the Full Moon is squaring it’s own nodes, as well as our personal planet Mars.  When we add in that for most of us the South Node of Saturn is also conjunct the Full Moon, while the North Node of Saturn is also conjunct the Sun, we seem to be at a huge crossroads in our collective that from a positive perspective could reveal what is out of alignment and in need of integration.  But to truly access the self-knowledge available, we will want to be very present in this actual moment of time.  Of course, a Venus transiting in Gemini while Mercury is culminating its transit through Gemini can have great fun imagining all of the possibilities indicated by the Full Moon being conjunct the entire history of the Pluto archetype behind us, with the Sun conjunct the entire history of the Pluto archetype unfolding ahead of us, all within the context of the seven squares in the cycle of Pluto and Uranus.  If twenty degrees or so of Cancer, Capricorn, the cardinal signs, the water signs, or the earth signs are significant in your chart, you may certainly realize something significant about yourself from analyzing your chart.  However, I feel the power of this Full Moon goes far beyond astrological analysis of a birth chart, and all of us will be impacted in one way or another.  Enjoying the full potency of our moment in time may be the most opportune method for accessing the Self-realization available.

XVIII Moon arcanum from the Marseille tarot

References

George, Demetra.(1994). Finding Our Way through the Dark. AFA.

Green, Jeff. (2009). Pluto Volume II: the Soul’s Evolution through Relationships. Wessex.