Since Laura and Chateaux Crew are preparing a new batch of Crystals for us during this New Moon Cycle, I thought I'd pass on the following information I received from my friend, Dharman, via e-mail. I realize we don't put much stock in the astrology stuff here -- and rightly so -- but this particular New Moon reading seemed more apropos than usual vis-a-vis the energies discussed. I wish it were possible to include an actual chart picture because it would be easier to envision what's being said if you could actually see the little planetary symbols in relation to each other.
Just ignore any of the astrologese language, and focus only on the actual info without attempting to understand all the confusing references to aspects and placements. So, FWIW . . . here we go.
Here's an image on Google Images if you're interested in seeing it.
https://s17-us2.ixquick.com/cgi-bin/serveimage?url=https%3A%2F%2Flichtsite.files.wordpress.com%2F2016%2F06%2Fgem-nm-2016-mutable-gc.jpg%3Fw%3D490&sp=83dfce9333d10ee797d888d773a510bd
THE GEMINI NEW MOON + GRAND CROSS
Saturday -- June 4, 2016 at 7:58pm PDT / 2:58am UT (5th)
Sun and Moon conjoined at 14°53' Gemini
Last month's Taurus New Moon came with a grand trine, linking all three earth signs, and tomorrow's new moon comes with another kind of grand — a grand cross, inscribing the zodiac wheel with a perfect square linking the four mutable (flowing, adaptable) signs: Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo and Pisces.
A relatively rare pattern, this New Moon grand cross comes with a tight triple conjunction of Sun, Moon and Venus, all in Gemini, one of the four points of the cross, with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune on the other three, plus bonus lunar nodes standing close by as well. Pretty powerful set up there!
Grand crosses are potentially stressful chart patterns, but on the plus side, they impart great determination and focus. FORMIDABLE sources of power, grand crosses are frequently found in the charts of our most highly successful individuals, successful perhaps, not necessarily benevolent. Requiring careful handling, else the energies build up internally, one must have worthy projects and goals through which to direct and discharge this considerable power in ideally productive ways. "Either-or," black-and-white thinking, and stubborn defensiveness can be a problem. There is the sense with the grand cross that we are grasping the reins of a powerful team of horses, stagecoach drivers barreling down a rutted, dusty road. True for you personally if you have one of these tucked in your own chart, true for us all when one is forming, as it is now, in the heavens. With grand crosses we often feel pulled in four different directions, symbolized in the configuration by the four points/planets,
With the grand cross, made up of two interlocking oppositions, there is the need to examine the function — and dysfunction — of the polarity effect in our lives, to better integrate and balance contradictory forces and facets of experience so that we are not "going to extremes" in our behavior and therefore working at cross-purposes. Often, when one has formed in the heavens, situations arise that highlight these extremes, these polarized situations. Here in America, one obvious example is the current, highly charged presidential race. Where I live, here in California, we are in the midst of our presidential primary, voting just as this grand cross forms.
"They live as if trapped in a room with four locked doors," astrologer Tracy Marks writes of the natal grand cross experience, "and frequently try to force each door open by pounding upon it until they have exhausted themselves." Marks adds:
"Yet their situation is not hopeless, for if they position themselves in the middle of the room, they will discover a central staircase which will lead them to the roof and open air. These people often feel stuck, paralyzed by their problems in their lives which seem to be unresolvable, until they turn inward and discover their own inner center. Then they are able to attain a spiritual or creative state of consciousness which allows them to rise above their mundane conflicts and view their life with clarity and objectivity. "The suggested resolution Marks makes here for native grand cross folks is good advice for us all, especially right now. For when we stop struggling, going to those extremes, often it is only then that the best options materialize, options we couldn't, in our stressed-out state see at all. As the New Moon signals a fresh start, over the next lunar month, it would be wise to pay attention to how you fall prey to the kind of faulty thinking which can lead to limiting extremes in attitudes and approaches to your life. Look out for certain familiar frustrations, and notice when stubborn defensiveness and polarizing attitudes and situations arise. There is another way to operate.
"Fate is shaped half by expectation, half by inattention."
— Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
There's an opportunity right now, to not only acquire better insights (Jupiter in Virgo opposite Neptune in Pisces), but also transform the way in which we see our lives and handle conflicts that tend to trigger these less-than-ideal, defensive reactions (Saturn in Sagittarius opposite the New Moon and Venus). This New Moon grand cross involving a tight triple conjunction with our two luminaries and Venus, along with Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune, AND both of the Moon's nodes
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fateful events, soul growth, evolution) all in releasing, mutable signs emphasizes the importance of letting go the old to make way for the new, untangling old knots that have kept us bound, personally and collectively, in unhealthy ways of thinking and relating.
The harmonious aspects from Mercury, ruler of the lunation, to both of the lunar nodes: a trine to the North Node of the Moon, which represents the direction we are heading, the qualities we are being asked to build in ourselves, falling in Mercury's own sign of Virgo; and a sextile to the South Node in Pisces, Neptune's sign, suggests that some amount of self-delusion, inability to face reality needs to be examined and resolved right now. Another indication of the potential over this next month to gather critical insights into how we are relating and connecting with others, and, perhaps most important of all, how well we pay attention to the details and facts of our lives and the world in which we live. How good are you at really facing the truth? How effective is that internal BS-detector? Do you exercise sufficient skepticism or do you too often accept what people say without digging deeper? Do you do your homework?
In many ways the next month will show us all where we fail to use our own noggins adequately enough, where we tend to make foolish choices, support the wrong people, the wrong causes, and end up paving the way for unfortunate, unintended results. This New Moon is a wake-up call.
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Aloha Uhane and Mahalao Nui Loa!
Always & in All Ways!
Dharman