Taking place in the last decant of the Libra, Monday evening’s
First Quarter Moon is established as a time when the initiating lunar cycle’s tension
peaks, leading to a “crisis in action” regarding our attempts to advance in a
certain area of our lives. With the Cancer emphasis, and under the reflectively
inward orientation of the Cancer Mercury Retrograde period, at this time inner
goals resonate with us most strongly as opposed to outer ones. Can you free
yourself of outward diversions, thus turning to the inside with love, awareness,
and sympathy? It is well said that having a compassionate connection with
ourselves – at the deepest possible level – is a prerequisite to being able to
reach out to others with compassion.
Just like a deep-sea diver, in order to establish a strong connection
with ourselves, we need weights to find the depths we seek and to actually go
down. The effort put into harvesting the fruit of inner work is well worth it.
However, the Moon in Libra wants balance, as well as partnership with others, both
beautiful distractions that can upset the apple cart. We have to be spiritual
warriors of our cause so that we can simultaneously reach out to others, and
inward to ourselves.
Given the perfection of the grand trine between Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune in water signs, which takes place over the
remainder of this week as Mars catches up to Jupiter, the above-presented state
of things is especially poignant. This week is all the more important as Mercury
is preparing to station to direct motion on Saturday, in trine with Chiron.
Moving less than a full degree between the Quarter Moon configuration of Monday
evening and its station Saturday morning, July 20th, Mercury gets closer and
closer to a perfect trine with Chiron, the Wounded Healer, in the same degree
of Pisces. Furthermore, throughout the entire period Mercury is in forming
square with the powerfully intuitive factor of Uranus, stationing, and
therefore far more powerful, at 12-plus degrees of Aries.
Drawn in equal measure to our inner wounding and to our
deeply non-verbal process of intuition, drawn to our emotional depths, we have
to be particularly observant regarding everything that is happening, holding in
mind at all times the ideal of acceptance and forgiveness, both of others and
of ourselves.
In square with each other in this Quarter Moon configuration,
the Sabian Symbols for the Sun and Moon are provocative and mysterious. For the
Moon: "A third wing on the left side of a butterfly," and for the
Sun: "A woman and two men on a bit of sunlit land facing South." These
images augment each other’s force, speaking of inner concentration and
connection that reaches beyond the common ways of the physical world.
Already
perfect as it is, the butterfly has suddenly acquired a third wing on its left
side, term which is translated 'sinister' in Latin. Therefore, it references an
occult, or deeply internalized, mode of operating. In the context of South –
representing an inner, profoundly emotional dimension –, the woman, symbolic of
soul, is faced with the difficulties of making choices which concern
relationships. This suggests that the entirety of these images symbolize not
only facing the inner perceptions and concerns, but the outer ones as well.
The fact that we are human beings means that we are multiform
and, therefore, dwell concurrently in both logical and symbolic inner spaces. Acknowledging
this simple fact and striving to accept ourselves at these deeper levels of our
being – levels where our very humanity might actually be found – leads to the realization that we must not forsake the
outer, physical world. The currently strengthened inner concentration within us
can, paradoxically, amplify our outer experience, thereby bringing us into
better alignment with our true power.
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