New Moon in Sagittarius — December 13, 2012, 10:42 UT

The Sagittarius New Moon was on Thursday. There is a prominent yod pattern in the chart, formed by Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Saturn is sextile to Pluto, and retrograding Jupiter is the apex of this yod, forming quincunx aspects (150 degrees) to both Saturn and Pluto. The ruler of Sagittarius, the current New Moon’s sign, is Jupiter, which forms the focal point of the yod. This yod will still be valid in the Winter Solstice chart on Dec. 21 and also in the Full Moon chart on Dec 28.

Quincunxes may feel annoying and stressful. This feeling is perhaps signaling that everything is not as it should be. Bernadette Brady writes in Predictive Astrology, that “the quincunx wants to move you into a new situation whether you are ready for it or not. Sometimes this is very stressful; at other times it may be joyful.” To ease the stress, you could make some adjustments, and to be able to do the right kind of adjustments, you first need to understand your present situation and what needs to be changed. We humans seldom manage to do everything perfectly, but even small adjustments can make a difference. Striving for the goal may pay off now.

Sagittarius is an adventurous, enthusiastic and future-oriented fire sign. Exploration and long-distance travel are connected to this sign. Faith, trust, joy and optimism are attributes commonly associated with it.

Jupiter stands for expansion, growth, opportunity, support and faith. Saturn stands for grounding, structures, limits and fear. Jupiter and Saturn are called the social planets. They mediate between the so-called personal planets (the luminaries, Mercury, Venus and Mars) and the collective planets (Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), and connect our personal life to the wider world. Jupiter and Saturn represent opposite principles. We need both of them.

Pluto is known as the planet of renewal, the great transformer. It operates deep in the shadows. Just as the physical planet Pluto cannot be seen without technical equipment, the matters it deals with tend to be hidden in our consciousness.

So, the challenge of the moment is to make these energies represented in the yod work constructively for your goal, whatever that may be. The retrograde movement of Jupiter gives a clue that integrating something from the past might be beneficial for the task.

When considering the nature of the quincunx aspect, it is worthwhile to determine if the aspect is approaching or departing. On which side of an opposition the quincunx takes place, matters. Jupiter, the faster moving planet, is moving towards the opposition to Pluto, away from the conjunction which has already taken place in the past. This is a departing quincunx, which corresponds to the sign Virgo and the sixth house. For a while, dedicate yourself to practical work, remember to take care of your health though, and pay attention to details. There is a strong Mercury connection, because Jupiter is now in Gemini, the other Mercury ruled sign besides Virgo.

The aspect between Jupiter and Saturn is an approaching quincunx. The opposition has already taken place, and now Jupiter is moving toward the conjunction with Saturn. The approaching quincunx corresponds to Scorpio and the eighth house matters. Saturn is in Scorpio, which emphasizes the need for renewal, even if it causes a bit of pain. Perhaps opening up a little bit with others is what is needed. In Minor Aspects, Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker say about the approaching quincunx:

“It is often associated with death of old conditions and birth of new ones on some level of expression. To achieve this successfully, it is essential to learn the lesson of proper recycling of the waste products of the old as a useful part of the new expression. …These waste products can also be mental, emotional or physical in their nature.”

An apt image for this New Moon is Voyager 1 on the edge of our solar system heading to the stars, the news which was widely reported just recently.


Image by NASA

Voyager 1 is one of two space probes launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system. On board is a recording of music and voices, greetings from Earth. A favorable alignment of the planets allowed the probes to reach the outer solar system by means of the new gravity assist technique. A slingshot maneuver around a planet was used to adjust the probe’s trajectory and speed relative to the Sun. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter and Saturn, made new discoveries, and sent detailed pictures of the giants to us.

When the primary mission was over and Voyager 1 was speeding out of the solar system, it was still operational, so the scientists gave it a new one, an interstellar mission. At the moment Voyager 1 is the farthest manmade object ever sent from Earth, still receiving commands and transmitting information to Earth. It is near a new breakthrough in the heliosheath, the last boundary before interstellar space. It has reached a “magnetic highway” where the Sun’s magnetic field connects to the magnetic field of interstellar space. Voyager 1 keeps moving forward in a region unlike anything any manmade machine has entered before, until it exits from our solar system. It has enough power to continue the adventure into the future and keep communicating with Earth until 2020, possibly longer.

As my friend and editor Chad Townsend expressed it, the lesson of the quincunx is to adjust (Virgo) to where you end up and make the most of what you are given (acceptance).

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The news about the tragedy in Connecticut reached me while I was writing the blog. I would like to express my sincere condolences for the community of Newtown.

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