- Sabian Symbols, Evolutionary Configurations, and More -

This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this New Moon happening March 21. This marks the new activation of the Aquarian promise, along with a full forward energy because right now, no planets are retrograde!

The first decan of Aries is about new beginnings, and new emergence of Self from the collective. Everything’s in dynamic motion right now, and having had to release and/or say goodbye to a lot, we now can take the remains of the past and re-weave them into something uniquely our own. Aries seeks action to fulfill the impulse to grow into unknown new areas, and takes the initiative on its own without needing or asking for permission from others. With Mars as the ruler of the Lunation and Mercury ruling Mars, this month is all in for diversified Aries impulses! As this Lunation conjuncts the Mars-Jupiter conjunction at 4 Aries in late May 2022, this month activates that pulse which has been teaching us how to enjoy ourselves in new ways wherever we have 4 Aries in our charts.

Even though Saturn is no long a main player on the stage of life, in this chart it occupies the degree of the February New Moon at 2 Pisces. That indicates we are still learning to create structures which help guard us against those who are unnecessarily aggressive, and help us find a place of inner or outer safety as we see the future before it arrives.

Long Term Effects of the Capricorn and Aquarius Compressions

Everything that’s going on has to be referenced within the larger Capricorn and Aquarius cycles set into motion in early 2020, as two are in play for 12 years and one is going to last 33 years! Each year January and February have been the period when a series of Great Compressions have brought all the planets together in a relatively narrow span in 2020, 2021, 2022, with the last one in 2024.

This explains the four year sequence of The Great Compressions of Early 2020, 2021, and 2022. The first was in early 2019 when all the planets were bundled in about one third of the sky, called a Bundle pattern, which is the rarest of all. While the inner planets transited through all the other signs after that, we again hit maximum compression again in March 2020, and then expanded through the rest of the year.

This clustering happened again in 2021 in the last half of January into early February, with maximum compression was around January 19-21 when all of the planets were within a 101 degree span, creating a very intense zone of activity wherever we have late Capricorn through early Taurus. Four planets in Aquarius and two in Taurus made for a very crowded house, with 10 distinct energies occupying less than 1/3 of the total space.

The Planetary Spread

In 2022 we hit maximum compression in early March, with all planets between 28 Capricorn and 12 Taurus, only 104 degrees. In June we left the Bundle, and for the past two months have been experiencing this year’s compression which isn’t as tight as the past several years.

In this chart, because the inner planets are in Aries and Taurus, we’re still experiencing a concentrated span of activity. We now have all the planets in the 148+ degree span between late Capricorn and Mars in late Gemini with Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini all occupied by at least one planet. At this time the inner planets are all in the 34+ degrees between 1 Aries and 6 Taurus, making that area most active in our charts at present. Though there has not been a tight compression in early 2023, there will be one more in early 2024.

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, as just noted the outer planet occupied span begins with Pluto in late Capricorn, and proceeds through Saturn in early Pisces, Neptune in late Pisces, Jupiter in mid-Aries, and ends with Uranus in mid-Taurus. (We don’t include TransPluto, since Jones didn’t use it in defining his patterns). Because we have 5 signs represented between Capricorn and Gemini and the planets only occupy about half the signs, this chart begins a run of shifting patterns beginning with this month’s imperfect “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.”

Pluto at 30 Capricorn is the leading planet on a degree of “executive power,” showing the seeds of transformation lead into experience. It is in the Virgo decan, adding a Mercurial precision to how these sprouting seeds will function, as well as a Solar energy adding influence. This entry to the Bowl tells us to mobilize in a disciplined, organized, and economical way in our approach as we accept responsibility for being a decision maker, preparing us to take a position of power in the future. With Mars in Gemini closing the Bundle, we’ll finish experience with a sense of some message which needs to be spread to others. So we open with organization, and finish with adaptability.

This leads with individual spiritual crystallization, and closes with ideas to be externalized through positive actions. Because the leading edge is Capricorn Earth, approach experience with a pragmatic and mature honesty, and because the closing planet is Gemini Air, it implies that after all is said and done, you’ll recognize the many perspectives which come from seeing what’s in or out of balance, and the need to rebuild or find a new way to communicate something.

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 1 Aries, and it is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the actional, physical, and material levels of life, and being the first decan of Aries it has a sub-influence of Aries with an added dose of Mars. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.

The symbol for the 1st degree of Aries is "A woman rises out of water, a seal rises and embraces her.” In the original Jones notes published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this symbolizes “potentiality of selfhood; the individual is emerging from the collective and realizes self for the first time.”

We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes “emergence of new forms and of the potentiality of consciousness.” He says this first degree of the 360 phases begins “a universal and multi-level cyclic process” influencing the development of our individualized consciousness so we may manifest our destiny. He continues that “to be individually conscious means to emerge out of the sea of generic and collective consciousness,” which is “the result of some basic action: a leaving behind, an emerging from a womb or matrix.”

He tells us this is not a powerful act, and is more potentiality than “actual presence.” The symbol speaks of a receptive being emerging from the vast collective consciousness, surrounded by ghosts of the past and memories of previous cycles. He offers this is an “initial statement, or theme” of an “Impulse to be.” This symbol is said to be in the Span of Realization, Act of Differentiation, and is the initial degree of the Actional level of the Scene of Desire.

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this degree is one of “completely unconditioned potentiality,” where “elements of Soul emerging from primordial nonexistence,” and a receptivity calling up a more “personal and self-seeking initiative.” Here there is “an implicit emphasis on the mutual interdependence of the emotional and purposeful aspects of self.”

He offers us the keyword REALIZATION. He states that when it operates in a positive way, this degree "is an illimitability of experience of which anyone can take advantage under any or all circumstances.”

So the specific theme of the next month involves the Light of emergent pure potential for individualized consciousness. This show the theme of the month is about realizing a new sense of Self. As the Lunation includes Mercury, Chiron, and Jupiter, no doubt there are pioneering new adventures in healing and being led to mastery to come!

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.

The Lunation is conjunct Mercury, decile Venus, conjunct Jupiter, semisextile Saturn, semisquare Uranus and sextile Pluto. Mercury is semisextile Venus, decile Saturn, novile Uranus and bielftile Pluto; Venus is septile Mars, vigintile Jupiter, bielftile Saturn, conjunct Uranus, and binovile Neptune; and Mars is quintile Jupiter, trine Saturn (out of sign), novile Uranus, and quincunx Pluto.

Outer planet aspects feature the powerful ongoing Jupiter semisquare Saturn and semisextile Uranus; Saturn is quintile Uranus, quindecile Neptune and elftile Pluto, and Uranus is septile Neptune and tredecile Pluto.

Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology

This month we have only 1 evolutionary configuration in play, with several notable aspects creating dynamic void points.

1) While not specifically triggered at this time, the Grand Irrationality is still active in the larger spiritual atmosphere. As you know from previous articles, this is the primary activator of the irrationality of our times. Uranus septile Neptune anchors the configuration, creating an invisible spiritual field of “fork in the road of destiny” type of energy which triggers any planet or point in any of the 7 active zones. This long wave configuration has affected all of us for the past 30 years. At the present time, choices and changes are activated for those who have planets or points near any of the 7 affected “hot zones” around 2-6 Aquarius, 24-28 Pisces, 15-19 Taurus, 6-10 Cancer, 27 Leo- 1 Virgo, 18-22 Libra, and 10-14 Sagittarius.

While not an entire configuration unto itself, Venus septile Mars will be a major factor in the next few weeks, putting our interactions and values at a turning point in terms of how we use what we have. Venus is on a degree of “building bridges” with others, while Mars is a technique of renewing how we spread our message. Those most affected have planets or points around 5-9 Taurus, 26-30 Gemini, 17-21 Leo, 9-13 Libra, 1-5 Sagittarius, 22-26 Capricorn, and 13-17 Pisces.

We also have high specialization promised by Mars quintile Jupiter and Saturn quintile Uranus, giving a “quintessential” quality to areas occupied by and ruled by these planets. Mars quintile Jupiter could bring unique opportunities if you know when to advance and when to withdraw. Affected areas include 15-19 Aries, 27 Gemini- 1 Cancer, 9-13 Virgo, 21-25 Scorpio, and 3-7 Aquarius. Saturn quintile Uranus brings gifts related to our awakening to the ability to use spiritual power to counter worldly brute force. Affected areas include 15-19 Taurus, 27 Cancer- 1 Leo, 9-13 Libra, 21-25 Sagittarius, and 3-7 Pisces. As you can see, there will be unique some gifts and blessings coming somewhere in your chart over the next month!

Explaining Harmonics

This month we have a lot of aspects with a generous helping of those in the various spiritual series and some intensely personal frictional aspects. The friction is provided by the Lunation semisquare Uranus, Jupiter semisquare Saturn, and Mars quincunx Pluto. There will be no more non-Lunar oppositions until May when Mars opposes Pluto at 1 Aquarius in a major T-square with Jupiter at 1 Taurus!

In the 7th harmonic aspect series of “destiny,” we have only 2 septiles. In the 5th, 10th, 15th and 24th harmonic specialization series, we have 1 vigintiles, 1 quindecile, 3 deciles, 2 quintiles, and 1 tredecile. The 9th harmonic gives us 3 noviles, and in the 11th harmonic faith series there are 1 elftile and 2 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 gestating 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 confront the need to resolve some sort of duality by making 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 indicates a huge imbalance in the elements, with the 10 traditional planets occupying 5 signs. We have 4 planets in Fire (inspiration and warmth), 3 planets in Earth (practical grounding), 1 in Air (relatedness and communicating), and 2 in Water (feelings and experiencing). This month we have half the signs represented.

Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, it’s slightly more heat than cold, with all the fire provided by Aries and all the water provided by Pisces! With the preponderance of Fire and Earth, it should be good for inspired practicality, and practical inspiration. As usual, the Air is provided by Mars, while Neptune continues to hang out in the background, providing vast and vague feelings related to the collective feeling field.

Because the New Moon falls in early Aries, Neptune is the planet leading the Sun. This is the “gateway to the Light” showing we need an empathic, compassionate, forgiving, or universal approach to the Light, as well as an experience of our common humanity before we see the Light in events. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often 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 Lunation begins a new pattern which will hold sway through the coming Inferior Conjunction on May 1. 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 leading with our decisions and actions, followed by thinking, communicating, envisioning and finding a new view of things, and then feeling what we’ve done and seen.

This pattern is powerful and decisive, and leads with deciding and then acting. They assess what needs to be done and then do it. Efficient, practical decisions and actions lead the way, followed by new information, new understanding, new vision, new communications, and new ways of interacting that helps us get clear about something. This is a “get it done” pattern which acts decisively to get to a vision or understanding.

Following this thinking and envisioning function, we will need to reference our feelings and what we’re experiencing as a result of those insights, memories, understanding, or vision. After we decide or act and then think, we then need to go deep within to feel the implications of those ideas and visions. This is a highly effective pattern but tends to blow through experience without taking time to feel it.

So get it in gear, act on the facts at hand, and then go get new information or new ways of seeing things. After that, feel your feelings and check in about how you’re experiencing those thoughts, or that information or vision. Make a decision, get the view you need, and then name how and what you’re feeling. If you’re in doubt as to what to do, reference your feelings and not your ideas.

Summing Up

This New Moon is going to accelerate and stabilize our Aries and Taurus sectors even as we structure in the protection we began to glimpse last month. After two months of moving forward in some ways and saying goodbye in others, we’re now at a point of full mobilization. We’ve renewed the long wave Aquarian pulses for 2023, and now get to move that energy into new directions and new manifestations.

We’re now full speed ahead, with new adventures, new truths, new initiatives, and new ways of doing our Being. Mars is rapidly taking us into the future as Venus dances with the North Nord and Uranus, showing us how to enjoy using spiritual force to counter material density. If the past intrudes, let it go, since it’s just an echo of a memory at this point. This should be a time of enjoyment, healing, and new developments as we rediscover something of our individuality.

The pace begins to quicken from here on. We now have a new effectiveness in some way, and this launches us into unknown zones. Remember the year’s theme involves understanding old answers can’t confirm the new conditions of existence, and old approaches won’t get the job done. Re-evaluate whatever you need to, allow Spirit to act through you, and accept your inner knowing.

In 2020 we entered a transition phase in human history. While we still have to function within the Capricorn cycles we began in 2020, we also have crossed the threshold of 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 first ingress into Aquarius. That begins 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. Last year 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, with rapid developments on the way by mid-January.

New groups of Spiritual communities formed last year and will continue to form this year, and those which are Aquarian in nature were “lifted on the wings of angels” in 2021. Trust the process. We are learning not to play to the generic confusion, irrationality, and misleading notions. 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 at the front end of its time 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 is a major player in helping us enjoy “doing our uniqueness” this month, and rules Uranus, we’ll see some beneficial connections made these next few weeks. 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 is the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and offers a multi-faceted view of why we attract the people we do, as well as how to re-shape our inner Venus to create more satisfying relationships in the future.

This work is an in-depth examination of the psychological dimension of Venus, the spiritual dimension of Venus, and the astrological dimension of Venus. It offers practical techniques for changing your image of what you want to attract your heart’s desire, and how to make your relationships more fulfilling because you are living a Soul-ful life. You’ll find out about why you like or don’t like people and things, why you’ve attracted who you have in the past and present, and how to make those attractions more aligned with your Soul purpose in the future. A major theme weaving the various dimensions together is understanding 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!)

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

© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson

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