Sabian Symbol, Jones Pattern, Evolutionary Configurations, and More.

This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this New Moon at 21 Capricorn on January 11. This brings the Light of cooperation in a group performance, with the ability to overcome negative states of mind.

This is a clarifying, organizing and efficient influence wherever we have 21 Capricorn in our charts. Having left a lot behind in 2023, including old questions, old answers, and old approaches, this helps us face forward into a newer life and social function or service. We now have reviewed how we’ve aligned with our Higher Self this past year, and now can show our stuff to our world in clear ways. A lot depends on if we’ve finished up the old before seeking entrance to the new.

The last decan of Capricorn is about “group performance” on the emotional, social, and spiritual levels of life. We’ve all been “paying dues” or finished paying dues since the Libra Solar eclipse, and now are free to embrace a new course of action, of relationship, of field, and of focus. Throw off discouraging tendencies, and know you’ve gotten clear about many things.

The Planetary Spread

In this chart, because the inner planets are between mid-Sagittarius and late Capricorn in a 35+ degree span, we’re beginning to go into this period’s planetary compression, as all the planets will be in an ever-narrowing span until Venus conjuncts Pluto. At that point everything will be in a very tight span between 1 Aquarius and 20 Taurus! Because of the planetary spread, we now have between half and a third of the chart occupied, departing from the ideal Bowl Jones pattern but not yet tight enough to be a Bundle. At this time we have planets in Sagittarius, Capricorn, Pisces, and Taurus.

Depending on the position of the Moon and the inner planets relative to the outer planets, different months bring us different Jones Patterns. These patterns operate their own independent influence, regardless of which planet is in which sign.

Currently, the outer planet occupied span begins with Pluto in late Capricorn, and proceeds through Saturn in early Pisces, Neptune in late Pisces, Jupiter in early Taurus, and ends with Uranus in late Taurus. (We don’t include TransPluto, since Jones didn’t use it in defining his patterns). Because we have 4 signs represented in a 153+ degree span and another empty 206+ span, this chart is a “Bowl” Jones Pattern.

So What is a “Bowl” Jones Pattern and how does it work?

This type of spread, with all the planets occupying approximately half of the signs with an empty half opposite the occupied half, creates a “special type of conscious selfhood,” which Dr. Jones says “marks the Bowl type of temperament. He goes on to state “Fundamentally it is an extreme self-containment,” which “holds things, and a Bowl individual is one who always has something to bear.”

He goes on to state that with the Bowl, “the whole dynamic of man, his total power of achievement, arises in his instinctive realization that he is set off against a definite part of the world, that there is a complete segment of experience from which he is excluded in some subtle fashion. The Bowl not only holds something, but also places whatever it holds into relationship with a larger consideration.”

Dr. Jones continues that “the occupied segment of the Bowl horoscope reveals the activity and organization of the self, since planets are significant according to their place by sign and house, and the unoccupied segment becomes a challenge to existence, or the need and emptiness to which the native must direct his attention. The outstanding characteristic of the Bowl temperament is its marked sense of what is self-contained in contrast with what the self cannot hold, and this take an everyday form in an advocacy of some cause, the furtherance of a mission, an introspective concern over the purpose of experience.”

He concludes his explanation of how the pattern works with “The Bowl native always has something to give to his fellows, whether literally or psychologically, whether constructively or vindictively, because his orientation to the world arises from division; that is, frustration and uncertainty. The leading planets, determined in exactly the same way as for the Locomotive pattern, give a point of application, and shows where and how the native seeks to carry out his mission or gain his everyday justification for existence.”

He brings up another important point of analysis, as he states “the leading planet is of secondary importance in the Bowl pattern, unless it is found in a strong opposition or cosmic cross. The fundamental attack on the problems of life by the Bowl individual is indicated more significantly by the tilt or house-position of the Bowl-segment.”

He concludes this section by stating “the Bowl character is definitely more self-expending, or self-seeking, and more practically interested in what things mean and what they are. It continually throws the emphasis from the signs into the houses. It a general way the Bowl tends to ‘scoop up’ things and initiate experience when the position of the leading planet ranges from the fourth cusp, up and over the ascendant, to the Midheaven cusp, and then inclines to “capture” things or consummate various phases of life when the leading planet is placed similarly from the tenth angle down over the descendant to the nadir.”

Venus at 16 Sagittarius is the leading planet on a degree of “sea gulls watching a ship,” showing that we must maintain vigilance for our own benefit, with a need to be “alertly ready to act” if opportunity arises. This entry to the Bowl tells us we are now opening to a wider vision, detaching from stress when it comes to our sense of connection with others. Take a moment to pause and refresh as you continue to move into your “new lands.”

With Uranus in Taurus closing the Bowl, we’ll finish experience with a sense of enjoyment at our “lightness of Being,” and some will reach very high states of a new breadth of possibilities. See how you’re now freed from the past, and have found something which certifies your worth through the actions you’ve taken.

This leads with actional transference, and closes with actional confirmations. Because the leading edge is Sagittarian Fire, approach experience with a sense of openness and humor about what’s coming. Because the closing edge is Taurus Earth, by the time you’re done with a given experience, you’ll know a more enjoyable way of moving through life’s changes.

The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon

A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following month will demonstrate. This Lunation falls at falls at 21 Capricorn, and it is said that the third third (decan) of any sign deals with the individual, mental, and spiritual levels of life, and being the last decan of Capricorn it has a sub-influence of Virgo with an added dose of the Sun. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.

The Sabian Symbol for the 21st degree of Capricorn is “A relay race.” In the Astrology of Personality, where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, he states this degree is one of "extreme of cooperation and give-and-take in life relationships,” “full surrender of self to service,” and “planned group behavior.”

In The Astrological Mandala he states this is a symbol of “the value of competition in developing group consciousness,” where cooperative striving between “group of individuals who take turns successively in order to maximize the group effort” may yield “outstanding results.” He offers that “the whole of civilization is a vast kind of relay race” which generates form of progress across generations.

He goes further to state this symbol “emphasizes the value of group cooperation and of necessary give-and-take,” where we must adjust our responses “to the challenges presented by competitors in dynamic interchange.” Rudhyar says it falls in the span of Dependence in the Process of Collectivization, Act of Capitalization and the Scene of Group Performance on Emotional-Cultural level.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “an inevitable culmination for group opportunity,” where our skills and talents are “enhanced” by our “thoroughgoing cooperation with others in some vital phase of experience.” He states “human values are established as they become the coin of effective relationship” between people, and by dramatizing them we find the means to discover and refine our latent potentials.

He closes offering us that our importance to others is our “certainty of self-continuance.” He says the keyword is FITNESS, and when positive, this degree is “exceptional skill in bringing the elements of any given situation to a functional wholeness.”

From this symbol it seems the specific theme of the next month is related to some sort of group performance which began back in 2019 when first Pluto, then Saturn, both went SRX at 21 Capricorn. We now get to renew our ability to “give and take,” or “surrender to service” where we express our values in relationships and find our means of “self-continuance.” The next four weeks puts the focus on group activity, or planning for group activity, or mature interactions with others which offer us opportunities to cooperate with others to establish something of value.

Important Aspects

Remember that in reading a Lunation chart (as well as a horary, inceptional, electional, or any event chart) the forming aspects show things to come, while separating aspects show things already past. Partile separating aspects show what’s been going on in the Now. This section covers only forming and partile separating aspects.

This month we have relatively few aspects in the chart and only ONE special evolutionary configuration. It involves Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. To only have one configuration in play at this time is extremely rare.

The Lunation is quindecile Mercury, decile Venus, semisquare Saturn, trine Uranus, bielftile Neptune and conjunct Pluto. Mercury is quindecile the Sun, conjunct Mars (out of sign), bielftile Saturn and elftile Pluto; Venus is binovile Saturn, triseptile Uranus, and semisquare Pluto; and the Sun makes the same aspects as the Moon.

Outer planet aspects feature Mars trine Jupiter, sextile Saturn, sesquisquare Uranus, binovile Neptune, and quindecile Pluto; Jupiter is sextile Saturn and novile Neptune; Saturn is quintile Uranus and decile Pluto, and Uranus is back in septile to Neptune and tredecile Pluto

This month the friction is provided by 3 semisquares and 1 sesquisquare. As you can see, this month is more about internal movement than external challenges.

Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology

As mentioned, this month we have the rare circumstance of only one evolutionary configuration in play. We also have entered a period of all waning aspects, since nothing will make a waxing aspect to any other planet other than the Moon. In fact, there will be no significant waxing aspects until early March.

1) Mars is trine Jupiter, with Saturn cutting it into two sextiles. This is a very stabilized and productive “three note chord” of these social, cultural, and spiritual planets, and harmonizes any planets or points we have around 3-8 Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces.

A special note here is given to Venus triseptile Uranus, showing another important fork in the road of how we are in relationships relative to our or another’s autonomy and individuality. This will bring all kinds of openings to those with planets or points near 14-18 Sagittarius, 6-10 Aquarius, 27 Pisces-1 Aries, 18-22 Taurus, 9-13 Cancer, 1-5 Virgo, and 23-27 Libra. If you have something in one of these zones, the part of your destiny related to those planets in those houses and the houses they rule is in motion! Expect major choices and changes these next 4 weeks.

Explaining Harmonics

Aspects in the same series are considered to be various stages of “harmonics” for each series. In the 7th harmonic aspect series of “destiny,” this month we have 1 septile and 1 triseptile. In the 5th, 10th, 15th and 24th harmonic specialization series, we have 3 quindeciles, 3 deciles, 1 quintile, and 1 tredecile. The 9th harmonic gives us 1 novile and 2 binoviles, and in the 11th harmonic faith series there is 1 elftile and 3 bielftiles.

The novile (9th harmonic), septile (7th harmonic) and elftile (11th harmonic) series all feature spiritual aspects. All novile series (9th harmonic) aspects indicate things which need to be put on the shelf for a while, or that which has been waiting can now move forward. They represent gestative energies that can lead to great spiritual realizations. Septile series aspects represent forks in the road of destiny, while the 11th harmonic elftile series indicate that faith is required to deal with transcending some dualities, issues and points of evolution where we must make a leap of faith to attain a form of mastery over that type of duality. This series tests our faith. Both the 7th and 11th series involve non-rational aspect values, bringing an element of irrationality in behavior and circumstances.

The quintile and biquintile (5th harmonic) and related 10th (decile and tredecile), 15th (quindecile), and 20th harmonic (vigintile) aspects are all specialization aspects. You can find more by going to Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Pt. 1 – The Quintile and Biquintile, and Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Part 2 – The Decile, Tredecile, Quindecile and the Vigintile.

You can find out more about the spiritual aspects (septile, novile, and elftile series) by referencing this brief overview of Astrological Aspects – the 7th, 9th, and 11th Harmonic Series Aspects and their Symbols.

Element Balance and Who’s Leading the Sun

This month shows a big imbalance in the elements, with the 10 traditional planets occupying 4 signs. We have 2 planets in Fire (inspiration and warmth), 6 planets in Earth (practical grounding), 0 in Air (relatedness and communicating), and 2 in Water (feelings and experiencing). This month we have very few signs represented.

Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, it’s very out of balance, with no Air, a balance between Fire and Water, and a huge preponderance of Earth. This is good for practical matters, with positivity and warmth provided by the Fire and depth connections provided by Water. The interactivity of Air will have to be generated from within. This will change in short order, with all the inner planets occupying Aquarius not that far from now.

Mars is the planet leading the Sun. This is the “gateway to the Light” showing our ability to complete the old and find new fulfillment in a self-mobilized transcendence using precision and a disciplined approach to the use of power. Mars in the Capricorn decan of Capricorn is very powerful, as it’s in its sign of greatest development. Make the most of your practical methods to be thorough in quickly cleaning up what needs finishing and be ready to jump into action in your metaphoric “relay race.” The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but overlooked part of understanding how the planets work in sequence.

The current sequence at present of Deciding, Feeling, and Thinking

We’ve been through several different sequences over the past few months. There are six patterns, and each has their strengths and weaknesses. This begins a new pattern. For now, as a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience over the next four weeks involves feeling, then thinking and communicating, and then making a decision.

So initiate activity by feeling your way into ideas, perceptions, and information. Let your hunches lead to new knowledge. Then, after a new idea, vision, or understanding, then make a decision and act on it! Try not to overplan too far into the future. Take your feeling-knowing one step at a time, and keep things in balanced motion, even if they go all over the place at times.

Once we’ve made a decision and acted on it, then a new feeling will naturally arise showing the next thing to learn about, communicate, or understand. So feel, flow, and experience, since these will lead you to ideas and views that will in turn lead to the next decision.

This pattern is sensitive to others’ feelings, and when healthy usually offers a positive and encouraging take on things. It is said this pattern has the best “bedside manner,” and can be a good sounding board to bounce all kinds of things off of until everything’s been discussed and processed so that a clear decision can be made. This pattern offers us that the journey of a thousand miles is truly one step at a time.

Summing Up

This New Moon will open doors to a more intense socially cooperative period and help us all to get beyond discouraging mindsets. We had to let go of a lot in late 2023, and reviewed the year to see how much we attained a state of “fulfilled Selfhood.” Now that Mercury and Jupiter are in direct motion, it’s time to activate! Take responsibility for charting your course as you see fit, and know that whatever opens is because you’ve finished something of the past.

With Saturn now a major player behind the scenes, ruling the current and future transits through Capricorn and Aquarius, remember that its occupancy of Pisces allows us to learn about “non-local awareness” at this time while developing our subtle senses of clairvoyance, clairaudience, and clairsentience.

As Mercury is direct and giving us a third transit of its shadow zone, we’re actively preparing for our “entrance into a new country,” so keep sacrificing the lesser for the greater, and get ready to find yourself in a new environment, whether physical or psychological. With Venus and Mercury both in Sagittarius, stretch your mental and social-emotional “wings” and fly free or take a joyous walk! Play with perspectives, play with ideas, play with friends, play with letting go and receiving, and play with the idea that as you have already made space in your inner and outer life, it is now being filled perfectly with a new expression of you!

We’ve finished a time of saying goodbye to old ways, places, and people, However, since all forms pass away in this impermanent world, this created space for new ways and new experiences since there’s more potential than there is in whatever has left. Celebrate the Sagittarian dance with life, applaud your lesser self for being brave enough to make it to here and now, and feel the lightness of your unique evolutionary dance through space and time. We’re all moving from the interpersonal to the transpersonal level of focus.

With Saturn in Pisces, demonstrate practical compassion as you live at a higher level than you thought of living before now. We are now moving into the life renewal we’ve “heard as a call” since June, and have just made our lives more secure in some way. We recently turned a corner which allowed us to see “the world of the 5 senses and the mind as the playground of God and Soul,” and now are living differently, freed from the conflicts between the old and new perspectives.

We have been trained in expressing our integrated awareness from awakening to the simultaneity of past, present, and future all existing in the NOW. This Lunation allows us to move forward and expand our group work with a minimum of friction and a maximum of faith. With Mercury and Venus in Sagittarius, look to the future to see a clear vision and a means to accomplish it. Show humor and a sense of abundance as you leap forward now.

Pluto is about to give us a re-run of the first degree of Aquarius, bringing us “back to the future,” since we’ve been experiencing the energies of 1 Aquarius in huge ways since April 2020! Neptune’s showing us why we’ve needed to purify this year, since the abundance we’ve received is only the first of several phases of receiving what we need to walk into the new collective reality of Neptune in Aries in 2025! Uranus offers us a “lightness of Being,” so allow yourself to feel the joy and “ecstatic state of awareness” which is your Soul’s nature.

We now stand at the entrance to a new life and land, a new field and focus. Be brave as you get clear about what dances you want to do and which things you’ll need to express as part of your new life roles to play. The future is now, and will get clearer over the next few weeks.

The Long View

In 2020 we entered a transition phase in human history. While we will be functioning within the Capricorn cycles we began then, we also have begun an era unknown to humanity since the 13th and 14th centuries. Even then, we were still in the depth of the Age of Pisces, so the awakening of new ideas then were relative to the old era, whereas what’s coming involves wave after wave of Aquarian energies, pushing us to the coming Great Age emerging in the second half of this century.

The long wave Aquarian pulses were initially set into motion by the Mars conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius on March 31, 2020, marking the initiation of archetypal Aquarian preliminary structures offered by Saturn. The promise and potential of the new Aquarian pulse then began to expand into a greater social and cultural vision beginning at the Jupiter conjunction with Saturn, the Grand Mutation of the Solstice also at 1 Aquarius. So we have 20 years of Aquarian energies set into motion by that conjunction!

When Venus and Mars conjuncted at 1 Aquarius in March 2022 it gave a new impetus and new expression to the Aquarian structures which took shape in 2021. The next time Mars transits Aquarius will be in February and March 2024, when it conjuncts Pluto at 1 Aquarius in February about 3 weeks after Pluto’s next ingress into Aquarius. That will strengthen the Pluto in Aquarius “generation” of the 21st century which lasts until 2043. As there will be a Jupiter conjunction with Pluto at 15 Aquarius in 2033, we’ll see the “expansion of the Angels of the Age of Aquarius” at that time.

2021 opened a new adventure for all of us, and the long term “metamorphosis” we went through showed us what the beginning of the coming Age of Aquarius is about. 2022 helped us remember we are Beings of Light, a Superstar shining the Light of our Eternal Love into our world. We’re now expanding our spiritual knowledge, understanding, and effective forms of service, and have entered a new phase with Mars now done with its outer planet oppositions as it closes in on a new Sun/Mars conjunction cycle.

New groups of Spiritual communities have formed since 2021, and will be given a boost in early 2024. Those which are Aquarian in nature will be “lifted on the wings of angels” in 2024. Trust the process. Revolution is in the air! And when you find things and people of eternal worth, value them with all your heart.

Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend

Saturn is now solidly in Pisces. This helps us to a deeper feeling of connection with others and Source. Because Saturn plays such a large part in our lives, if you haven’t gotten your copy already, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. This book shows you the way to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to master life on your own terms. It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will help you understand how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and your power to change negative karma to positive karma. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.

And now, on a related note….

Because Venus occupies 16 Sagittarius and is one of the two planets in “Mutual Reception” ruling all the other planets besides Neptune, She has tremendous power behind the scenes. She dances free in Sagittarius, and this month reminds us that occasionally we find ourselves in a “moment of pause which presages change.” Be ready to act at the right time, and try not to get stressed when things are unclear.

As She leads the occupied half of the zodiac, She is the entryway to the Bowl Jones pattern which I’ll discuss in part 2. She is a good humored liberating force in this Lunation, and should bring associations which allow cooperative collective awakening at a fork in the road of destiny. Once She moves across the Lunation degree, we’ll see the value in the new “relay race” we’re in which is allowing us to show cooperation and “give and take in planned group behavior.” All of this will show in the house where we have 21 Capricorn.

If you want to know more about how Venus works its magic to bring us the people and things we need to find spiritual understanding, you can get a deeper understanding of you power to shape your future by getting your copy of The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.

It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and takes a deep dive into how our Venus shapes why we like or don’t like the people and things we do, and how we can change our patterns of attraction to make future relationships more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angles of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and worldly experience. I’ve heard it helps people find strength to turn away from unhealthy relationships and understand how not to attract anything similar in the future. It examines the qualities in healthy relationships and friendships, and offers tips on how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.

It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)

Here's part one with the overview and more! The January 2024 New Moon at 21 Capricorn Pt. 1 - What’s Happening in January-February 2024

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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