First quarter Moon today, and the Moon is in Libra, applyling now to conjoin the north node and then trine Mercury in Gemini….Mercury who has also just moved past the square to Neptune for the last time. Meanwhile Mars is still combust the Sun and has also just entered Cancer, the sign where it is said to be “fallen,” (which is sort of like a place of intense discomfort for Mars; that’s how I like to think about it).
Translation:
It’s the kind of day where you might start off feeling conflicted or emotionally pent up. Both Mars and the Sun are in the terms of Mars and as the Moon made its first quarter the Moon was in the term of Saturn. So despite the cheery, sweet, harmony loving atmosphere of Cancer and Libra that’s currently in the air today, at the start there is also perhaps an underlying sense of urgency, drive, irritability, command, and withholding going on. Like the overly tight smiles of two diplomats trying to negotiate something though essentially not caring much for one another outside the negotiating table.
As the day goes on the Moon will conjoin the north node in Libra, and then move into the term of Venus. Then the Moon will trine Mercury who is currently in the term of Jupiter and in his rulership in Gemini. The reason this is significant, symbolically, is because Venus and Jupiter are currently coming together for a conjunction in the sky right now (you can see it in the evening if you look to the west after sunset!). So essentially it’s a strong day for positive negotiations, agreements, contracts, smooth exchanges, and rapid transactions of mutual benefit for multiple people. While some details might take some finagling based on the earlier configurations of the day, the rest of the day via the Moon looks like green lights and positive developments.
For today, let’s also take a look at another important transit taking place this summer. That is the entrance of Jupiter into the sign of Virgo.
As each planet moves into new signs, the ancient astrologers assigned various comfort levels or specific challenges to each placement. Jupiter in the sign of Virgo was considered in a place of debilitation or what we call “detriment.” The basic reason for this has to do with the temperament or qualities of a planet compared to the sign its in, or the time of year represented by the sign, etc.
While Jupiter was traditionally considered a hot/moist planet, related with spring time, Virgo is a dry/cold earth sign, related to the end of summer and the coming autumn or fall season. The point isn’t to make any moral judgments or to predict “bad things” because of the mismatching of these qualities, but rather to gain insight for our lives based on this information. So we have to ask ourselves the question, “What does it mean for Jupiter, the planet of expansion and growth, to be in the sign of harvest preparation or the decline of the solar year into autumn?”
On one level it means that we will find growth and expansion through practices that are more contractive or earthy, by nature. For example, most creative writers do not enjoy editing, revising, or proof reading. And most creative people don’t like the meticulous writing style of scholarly journals. They would prefer a chapbook of poems or a collection of short stories. Jupiter in Virgo might be the year where the creative writer finds the most amount of excitement, growth, and opportunity, through just those things that they typically don’t find as exciting. The detail work, the purification of craft, the intricacies of learning new skills, etc.
Another way of putting it is that with Jupiter in Virgo it’s a bit like learning how to clean and do the mechanical work within the guts of a Ferrari, instead of simply driving it at 80 mph down an empty freeway, pointing toward the sunset.
Though it’s not exactly Jupiter’s most comfortable mode of expression, we can find an enormous amount of happiness in the small things while Jupiter is in Virgo.
Along these lines, here’s a list of what to watch for come mid-August when
Jupiter enters his new sign:
* Purity, lifestyle discipline, diet, and health..being meticulous but also charismatic about these things
* Dramatic or expansive organizing, planning, or researching
* Editing, pruning, skill learning/development that is rapid, fast, and exciting though by its nature careful, methodical and calculated as well
* Making something boring into something sexy and exciting
* Taking off through a practice of coming down
* Puritan costumes of all kinds are suddenly sexy and exciting
* Keeping it simple, returning to nature, returning to daily rhythms, all feels bigger than life
Play with the same combination of themes and you’ll get more great images to help you prepare for this upcoming transit!
Tomorrow we’ll add in another layer of interpretation by looking at Jupiter’s square to Saturn, as well.
Prayer: Smooth sailing, smooth negotiations. Following. Following. Trusting. Sincerity. Faithfulness. A light hold brings good results.
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To learn more about the Nightlight Astrology School, or to follow Adam Elenbaas:
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Image by courtesy of Indianadinos, at creative commons image licensing
