Lunar cycle | Gray Crawford

“Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches, and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divining, perhaps we would endure our sadnesses with greater confidence than our joys. For they are the moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet”

Libra New Moon

Cycles are central to astrology, at the core of the rhythm within the nature around and within us that we perceive in correspondence; at the root of our imaginal revelations, feelings, and the stories we participate in with our lives. Each and every New Moon brings a death and rebirth. Approximately aligned with the calendrical timeframe of a month, each time the Moon approaches her regenerative union with the Sun, we experience a putrefaction and decomposition of matters belonging to the past month, while simultaneously experiencing the reanimation of meaning to be brought forth in the cycle ahead. During the dark of the Moon, when her silvery light is cloaked in night due to being too close to the Sun, we also draw sustenance and resources from the past. Cultures across time have used the dark, invisible lunar phase to feed and commune with their ancestors, receiving guidance on the path to come and the inborn gifts to cultivate in the process. Within the liminal embrace between Sun and Moon, we move through a threshold of intersecting narratives, sensing how to embody and tell our next chapter.

The New Moon on October 6 is much more regenerative than normal, as it involves new cycles between the Moon and Mars beginning with the Sun at the same time. Just after the Moon’s coming cycle of light becomes rekindled by her solar union, within an hour of clock time she will conjoin Mars, followed by Mars becoming reanimated by the Sun a day later on October 7. In contrast to the Moon’s monthly mingling with the Sun, it takes Mars approximately two years to move from one solar conjunction to the next. The last time there was a conjunction between Mars and the Sun was on September 2, 2019 in Virgo. And so the gestative darkness of the Libra New Moon also bears endings and beginnings of your relationship with Mars, a regeneration of patterns and stories related to courage, conflict, dynamic creativity, how you fight for what you love and want to protect, how you draw from the inner forge of fiery desire to pursue goals and dreams of purpose in the world.

Yet there is more, for also lingering nearby the Sun, Moon, and Mars in Libra is the star of Hermes. Mercury is also invisible, also traversing an underworld landscape as it moves backwards through retrograde motion toward its inferior conjunction with the Sun that will take place a few days later on October 9. In stark contrast to Moon and Mars, Mercury typically makes six conjunctions with the Sun every year, a six pointed pattern in which three solar unions occur while moving fast and direct, and three other solar unions occur while moving slow and retrograde. Just like the newly revivified Libra Moon will form a conjunction with Mars later in the day on October 6, so will she unite with Mercury and draw us more deeply into internal processing of the myriad aspects of our perceptual, intellectual, vocational, and relational patterns being actively transmuted by the liminal passage of Mercury.

Mercury so close to Mars and the Sun will be wielding their piercing heat which distinguishes and separates matters within the thoughtful terrain of Libra, where Mercury can deftly oscillate with probing analysis that turns issues around on every side, reflecting back and forth between questions and responses within relationship, deciphering where imbalances need reform and restoration. The Mercury cycle ending and beginning can be traced all the way back to the last time Mercury formed an inferior, retrograde conjunction with the Sun in Gemini on June 10, the same day as a Solar Eclipse in Gemini. More recently, Mercury was reanimated by the Sun while moving direct on August 1 in Leo while also setting off the propulsive tension of the ongoing square between Saturn and Uranus, as it formed an opposition with Saturn and a square with Uranus. As a result, Mercury’s past cycle has been connected to sources of immense, radical change within the astrology of the past six months, and so its skills for recalibration and noticing the pivotal way our stories are changing will be much needed medicine in the week following the Libra New Moon.

While the Libra New Moon is applying to conjunctions with Mars and Mercury, it is separating from a trine with Saturn in Aquarius and an opposition with Chiron in Aries. In between aspects with Saturn and Mars, the lunation calls for initiation into the next stage of our story. As in all initiations we must process loss as part of making a sacred transition across a new threshold of experience, and so whether we feel suffering over the present state of the world or more personal travails, the Libra New Moon forming in between aspects with Saturn and Mars will call attention to the challenges that need our attention. When possible find moments of stillness and rest to better orient with whatever personal patterns and issues need your full presence, so better to begin adapting to the new visions of future growth that will soon begin stirring within.

Themes of the underworld, death, rebirth, and what lurks in hidden places will be further amplified due to Pluto in Capricorn stationing direct on October 6, the same day as the Libra New Moon. Moreover, the Libra Moon will also be applying to an intensifying square aspect with Pluto within her orb of daily motion, deeply stirring the inner cauldron of unconscious desires and feelings. While stories in current events will involve major power plays and falls with those in positions of power, within our personal stories we may realize important revelations regarding how to shift balances of power within not only our external relationships but within our inner life. The stationing of Pluto brings the invisible gravity of Hades into palpable contact with our surface awareness, demanding we pay attention to issues at the root of embodying a more empowered presence. Old identities may need to be shed, old patterns released; let the psychopomp Hermes receive the message from Pluto most needed to be integrated, and allow the simultaneous rebirth of Mercury to shepherd you from where you have been to where you need to go with your full being.

from Anonymous version of Rosarium Philosophorum published in 1578

“I believe that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension that we find paralyzing because we no longer hear our surprised feelings living. Because we are alone with the alien thing that has entered into our self; because everything intimate and accustomed is for an instant taken away; because we stand in the middle of a transition where we cannot remain standing. For this reason the sadness too passes: the new thing in us, the added thing, has entered into our heart, has gone into its inmost chamber and is not even there anymore,- is already in our blood . . . We cannot say who has come, perhaps we shall never know, but many signs indicate that the future enters us in this way in order to transform itself in us long before it happens . . . The more still, more patient and more open we are when we are sad, so much the deeper and so much the more unswervingly does the new go into us, so much the better do we make it ours, so much the more will it be our destiny, and when on some later day it “happens” (that is, steps forth out of us to others), we shall feel in our inmost selves akin and near to it.”
Rainer Maria Rilke, “Letters to a Young Poet”

As the Moon, Mars, and Mercury enter and pass through the sacred, inmost chamber at the heart of the Sun from October 6 through 9, Saturn will be saturating the astrological atmosphere with its sobering and ponderous significations due to stationing direct on October 10. As the New Moon is in the exaltation of Saturn and in range of a trine aspect with Saturn in Aquarius, we may receive meaningful insights into the aleatory aspects of changing conditions by moving slowly and patiently taking our time surveying the scene. Saturn previously stationed retrograde on May 23, and so its stationing direct signals a pivotal turn of the tide that promises important new developments beginning to take shape. Yet the shift most readily felt from Saturn as it stands motionless in stillness may be felt within moments of deep, solitary contemplation and reflection. Rather than trying to rush ahead, take your time coming into deeper relationship with the ways in which inner desires are continuing to be reshaped and will be continuing to alter forward trajectory.

While Mars and Mercury are both invisible during the Libra New Moon, Venus is continuing to glow bright as an Evening Star during twilight. As Venus is the ruler of the Libra lunation, her capacity within the nocturnal waters of Scorpio for absorbing surrounding emotions and underlying dynamics within relationships will bring an additional level of intensity to the insights that may be received during the New Moon in Libra. Venus is separating from a sextile with Pluto, a square with Jupiter, and a trine with Neptune that altogether has helped Venus bring whatever deep material has been inhabiting the underbelly of relational patterns and attractors to the surface of awareness. While Venus may have taken us into uncomfortable material and feelings to confront, she is ultimately leading us through an incredibly cathartic process that can enable us to redream our life to be more authentically aligned with the present state of our authentic desires and purpose.

After Venus leaves the churning waters of Scorpio for the fiery expansiveness of Sagittarius on October 7, she will first pass through a conjunction with the South Node of the Moon during the same period of time that Mercury will be regenerated through its conjunction with the Sun. The visionary flame kindled between Venus with the South Node of the Moon will provide a sacred spark for offering relational patterns in need of being burned off within the flames of Mercury becoming regenerated by the fire of the Sun. Yet while we may experience a decomposition of what needs to be released from the past, there may also be treasures of insight to excavate through measured contemplation. Regarding creative ideas and goals we wish to further cultivate in the future, we may also experience a sharpening of focus into the essential qualities that need to be prioritized versus the excess weight that can be shed. Listen for the new ideas, dreams, symbols, and meaningful purpose that Mercury will be calling your attention to on October 9.

Following the intensity of Mars being regenerated on October 7, Mercury being regenerated on October 9, and Saturn stationing direct on October 11, there will be a strong undertow of directional change emerging in the following week as Jupiter will station direct on October 17 and Mercury will station direct on October 18. Furthermore, there will be a flowing trine between Mars in Libra with Jupiter in Aquarius on October 18 that will provide supportive wind to spur movement on developing goals. Thus while we may need to sense where subterfuge is lurking within shadows in the days following the Libra New Moon, previously hidden matters will come to light with greater clarity as the Moon waxes into the Aries Full Moon on October 20. Since the Aries Full Moon will form an opposition with Mars in Libra, whatever new desires are beginning to emerge from the new cycle of Mars will be illuminated, enabling deeper attunement with whatever internal changes are simmering in the heat between Mars and the Sun.

Libra 2 decan

The New Moon is in the second decan of Libra associated with the Three of Swords card illustrated above by Pamela Colman Smith. Saturn rules the second face of Libra, and in the piercing heartbreak and cold atmosphere of the image we can observe the transcendence through painful experiences that can be facilitated by Saturn. In times of heartbreak we can access a newfound strength that can ultimately increase our capacity to return to love again, as well as opens us to greater levels of empathy, compassion, and awareness of those around us. The piercing of the heart by three swords is also resonant with the Moon, Mars, and Mercury all entering the heart of the Sun within days of the Libra New Moon, with Mars melting down its old blade to forge a sword anew.

Austin Coppock in his book on the decans 36 Faces linked Saturn’s exaltation in Libra to the binding of “happy marriages and fruitful alliances” found in the second decan of Libra, as well as the breaking apart of such agreements. Coppock described it as “a face of lasting unions and blended karma” in which “the power of obligation fixes volatile passions,” creating “a firm foundation for the good life.” Oaths and binding contracts are central symbols of this face that hold one of its central lessons: with whom and for what should one pledge themselves in oath. The second decan of Libra promises a bounty of abundance for those who stay true to their commitments in contracts of mutual beneficence. Yet it also contains the heartbreak of betrayal and becoming abandoned by the other side not holding up their end of the agreement. With the Moon, Mars, and Mercury all beginning new cycles with the Sun within the second face of Libra, take time to contemplate the commitments you are forming so that you do not later face the torment of being bound to a contract you do not want to uphold, nor a partner incapable of honoring their side of the oath.

The Hellenistic text 36 Airs ascribed Kairos to the second face of Libra, a curious repetition as it also connected Kairos to the third face of Scorpio where Venus is transiting during the lunation. Kairos in Greek myth was the youngest son of Zeus as well as the lover of Fortuna, an embodiment of luck and favorable opportunities. Kairos was portrayed as moving with winged feet, carrying a razor or scales that represent the fleeting moment in which opportunity comes and goes, the moment we need to seize and not neglect. In modern culture the term kairos refers to the opportune moment for something to occur that is not confined to the demands of chronological time but rather connects us with a soulful sense of destiny thrust into the moment. We generally know to commit to blessed opportunities brought by the goddess Fortuna when they align with our purpose, but other times we can feel stuck and unsure if the opportunities presenting themselves to us are truly worthy of our commitment. When possible take your time in considering options and the path to commit yourself to in the days surrounding the Libra New Moon, letting the regenerative depth of multiple astrological cycles beginning simultaneously take root within you.

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