How to Use Astrology to Make the Most Out of this New Moon — April 20, 2023

Let go of what you think you know and listen to what you hear before it becomes words

New moon in a waxing square to Pluto

The new moon conjunction is 90° ahead of Pluto. This 90° crisis of direction between Pluto and the lights of our conscious solar system (sun-moon conjunction) represents a fundamental change of direction.

With the square being between the new moon and Pluto, it’s about what’s burning off to make way for what’s being born.

There are new qualities of consciousness are being born and we will have to act in the near future, but not yet. The Mercury Retrograde phase, which I’ll discuss in a moment, is about openness and listening, rather than active creation.

Presence in this new moon requires faith; meaning, it requires loyalty to an unseen reality. It corresponds to a point of no return for consciousness on Earth.

It’s like we’re in a 4-wheel slide and literally burning through the rubber of our only set of tires.

Bowl — Mars is 163° ahead of Pluto

I’m using this chart from astrodienst so it’s easier to show you a cleaner picture of the solar system with just the bodies inside of Pluto (Eris isn’t shown but it’s in there too), so we can talk about an important tool for grounding the energy of this new moon — The Midpoint of the bowl’s edges (Mars — the circle with the arrow pointing up and to the right, and Pluto — the capital P with the drop foot).

Mars, in 14° Cancer, calls for a way beyond appearances and toward permanence in truth. Pluto is back in the first degree of Aquarius and calls for endurance to ideals rather than dedication to institutions. Plutonic alchemy is burning through the idea that any institution can exactly be the ideals it represents. Any construct misses the spiritual reality.

Mars is about personal ambition — a type of individual transformation — and Pluto is about cultural transformation. Pluto (10th center from the center of the solar system) is a higher harmonic of Mars (5th center from the center of the solar system). Point is, they’re related.

Mars and Pluto are related.

Just as a person can over-identify with “the other,” we can also over-commit ourselves beyond our capacity. A person is not their country, for example. No individual is God, though aspects of God can be individualized.

The point exactly between Mars and Pluto (the midpoint of the bowl) represents the energy necessary to stabilize oneself, which allows oneself to be infinitely open, but also present to their personhood and the boundaries that go with it.

The midpoint between Mars and Pluto is Aries 21° 43'

Because Sabian Symbols describe the degree that’s being developed, we look at Aries 22°:

*> (ARIES 22°): THE GATE TO THE GARDEN OF ALL FULFILLED DESIRES.

KEYNOTE: Abundance made possible by human togetherness and cooperation.*

This midpoint calls for connection rather than competition.

Find your balance by connecting with your people, rather than by competing with those who aren’t your people. We, anyone, can fight invasive species, or we can nurture the organic growth of what we actually want in our personal gardens.

Distinctions — “valiant observation”

Mercury’s role is to create distinctions between layers — the sun and its first satellite (Mercury), the black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the sun, for two examples. This gives way to the recognition of thought, which is why Mercury is associated with the mind.

Mercury is just behind (balsamic to) Uranus at a point of power in the development of a spiritual foundation in Taurus. It stands frustrated by the inadequacy of past knowledge while intuition is getting a cleaning.

Mercury moves retrograde on April 21, just a day after this new moon. In and of itself, this emphasizes observation rather than action.
Within the layers, a quality of valor is dominant. It suggests that facing the silence within ourselves is brave. Facing the silence that’s more true and transcendent than words provides the stability necessary to rise to the occasion. This is not a time for ego action — it’s a time for the cultivation of self in pure consciousness. It’s a type of action, but not one that’s self-satisfying — one that’s soul-satisfying.

As Mercury goes retrograde, appearing to change directions in the sky from the perspective of the earth (though not actually changing directions in reality), perceptions of the ego mind — a structural foundation of oneself — are being shaken, and only timeless truths that have spiritual durability (those truths beyond words and explanations) remain.

At this time of crisis, when the inadequacy of past knowledge reveals itself evermore strongly, Mercury is about to move in retrograde to integrate new qualities into its character and upgrade the durability of its consciousness.

Following the 4-wheel slide metaphor from above with the waxing square of the new moon to Pluto — Those of us who are doing our personal work are receiving the rides of our lives. Those of us who are not, are blowing through tires and grinding metal rims on pavement, out of control.

Takeaway — Listen for truths that exist before you turn them into words. The gnostic knows.

The (un)Usefulness of Knowledge

Jupiter is conjunct with Eris. Eris is the great pot stirrer. Archetypally, she’s the one you didn’t want to invite to the wedding but showed up anyway. She forces you to look at what you’d rather ignore, especially when you least want to deal with it. She’s active in shadow.

The downloads we got at the recent full moon during the conjunction between Jupiter and Chiron are necessary now, to help us feel/sense the emotions/sensations that come up when Eris shows up unannounced and uninvited to the party you didn’t want her at in the first place.

What comes up in you, and how do you navigate your experience without overreacting and spoiling the party for everyone?

I might suggest — Temperance, and Prudence.

Now, we’re almost done, but…

Let’s talk about “nodes”

The new moon is at the 90° square mark to Pluto, discussed above, and Jupiter’s north node is at that same 90° square mark, at 0° Cancer, to the galactic ecliptic.

At 90°, what’s unique about movement is its stillness. There can be a tendency to bypass one’s current reality because it looks like nothing’s happening, or because there’s too much tension.

Sit in the inaction, and be present to the feelings. The more you can, the more energy will move and make room for opportunities to come your way when Mercury goes direct again, starting on May 14.

Archetypally, this 90° change of direction that’s marked by both movement and stillness is best captured by faith in (and steadfastness to) the bigger journey of wholeness.

It’s important to take some time to go for a walk (especially in nature) for bilateral stimulation, aka brain-body balancing, and to connect with the elements you want in your garden.

The lunar north node:

The north node of the moon is the moon’s integration point. It’s “the head of the dragon” in Chinese astrology. If we’re sitting in the moment aching for something to believe in, we could take a look at the Sabian Symbol for the 4th degree of Taurus, where the lunar north node (big horseshoe) is in this chart.

Consciousness is integrating the ability to feel/sense beyond this realm, to have faith in promises as the linkage between a promise made and a promise kept, just like the idea that all of nature and the natural universe are linked.

Experiencing this linkage across dimensions, realities, and perspectives allows for the empathy necessary to move with the car in the 4-wheel slide, whose tires are burning, and ride it just right so you make it through the slide alive and rolling.

Aquarius’ desire is to reform and manage. While monumental reformations are on the (multi-year) horizon, and many of us can sense what they might look like, it’s currently time to stand with silence and listen for instructions from consciousness for our unique role to play, rather than lash out with self-satisfied confidence.

The New Moon is at 30th degree of Aries. This degree is the last of Aries, the first archetype in the spiritual journey of wholeness. It describes what must occur for an entity that has made its presence known to have a physical (Taurus) existence. Energy must be focused into form to become substance.

In Summary

I know the energy of the world is intense right now. It’s like that for everyone. We’re all here as souls having a physical experience to learn what we need to learn as souls to help the earth understand its own consciousness better.

The more we can open our hearts and minds to the beauty in the garden, to the symbiotic relationships within ourselves and within our ecosystems, all while standing up for the ideals in the bigger pictures of our visions, the more we’ll seed opportunities for our bigger visions to grow deep roots first, that allow for greater flowering and flourishing in the coming years as Pluto’s foreplay with Aquarius builds.