New Moon in Virgo / Uranus-Pluto Square #2 / 12th-House Reflections

The New Moon in Virgo happens tonight at 10:11 p.m. EDT. (Please note that all times given are EDT.) This New Moon kicks off a busy astrological week. The final week of the summer of 2012 will most definitely go out with a bang, not a whimper:

Mercury enters Libra tomorrow (Sunday) at 7:22 p.m., leading up to the argumentative, confrontational aspects of Mercury opposing Uranus and squaring Pluto. Although both of these aspects occur on Thursday (6:24 p.m. and 7:19 p.m., respectively), we will get a taste of it tomorrow evening between 8:33 and 8:42 p.m., and it is likely not to taste good. Although the Moon transiting Libra normally indicates two and a half days of harmonious, diplomatic relating to one another, it has quite a different flavor in our current Uranus-in-Aries and Pluto-in-Capricorn era. The Moon-Pluto square and Moon-Uranus opposition marks the beginning of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year; I am very concerned of above-average incidents of anti-Semitic-induced fanaticism, clashes, and violence. If there are any rabbis reading this, please put in a request to double your temple's security.

Pluto turns direct at 1:05 a.m. on Tuesday; although outer planets' stationing direct or retrograde tend not to be that noticeable on an individual level, we will certainly be feeling this shift collectively, as it precedes the infamous, revolutionary, hotheaded yet cold-blooded Uranus-Pluto square -- two down, five to go. I am just now realizing that this summer is literally bookended by the Uranus-Pluto square, as the first one happened on June 24, just three days after the solstice, and #2 occurs on September 19, just three days before the equinox. Unless you have been in a coma, or in a spot of the world with no newspapers, TV, or Wi-Fi, you know how much unrest and jaw-dropping indignities have been going on in the world. (A lot.)

On a personal level (knock wood) I feel much better now, in just about every area, than I did in lateish June -- yet I admittedly have a sense of foreboding that I cannot seem to shake off. It's not so much the "be careful what you wish for" syndrome, but the feeling that all my heart's desires are balanced precariously atop a house of cards, or a fountain whose height and force are beyond my control, and I could lose it all in a heartbeat. In part this is a reaction to Neptune opposing my natal Venus, which will not be over and done with till early next year, but even the most stable, settled, successful souls cannot rest on their laurels under the Uranus-Pluto square. Any challenging aspect between these two outer planets -- Uranus the volatile, iconoclastic visionary that alternates between genius and madness; Pluto the cruel Godfather of the underworld with an equally strong potential for healing others' pain, but always the never-say-die phoenix rising from its own ashes -- turns the world and all its inhabitants upside down. No one can take anything for granted, even if it (and the possibilities are limitless -- a law, a lover, a career, a coastline) seems like A Sure Thing. Those who not just survive but thrive will have fast reflexes and be uncannily cunning, creating their own niches and, if necessary, their own rules. The most recent challenging aspect between Uranus and Pluto was the conjunction back in 1965-66; before that, a square back in the early 1930s. If you were not alive during either of these Uranus-Pluto eras, talk to those who were, watch some documentaries, read some books, and reflect on Mark Twain's observation about history: it may not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

If roller coasters are not your cup of tea, you probably do not much care for the Uranus-Pluto square -- but unlike an amusement-park ride that you can politely decline in favor of the more sedate merry-go-round, you cannot sit this square out. Maybe by the third or fourth go-around you will get the hang of it, even if you would rather go home and go fetal. If you happen to adore roller coasters, it is also worth considering that the Uranus-Pluto square is not a ride that you have to stand on an endless line for and that is over way too soon; it is nearly three years of Real Life.

Speaking of Real Life, I wish I were a middle-class European, in order to be able to remove myself from the workaday fray each and every year between approximately August 22 and September 18, when the Sun transits my 12th House. With the exception of a few souls who are firmly ensconced in my heart, this is the time of year when the sound of an incoming text or phone call makes me wince, and work (the kind of I get paid to do) is the last area I want to focus on. If it were up to me, I would've spent the past three weeks (and the next three days) drifting, drawing, writing, inhaling movies and museums, daydreaming, beaching, sleeping, making love, lolling, recharging. All of these activities would make me a Very Bad American indeed, since the aim of most U.S. citizens is to take pride in being not merely busy, but monumentally, balls-to-the-wall, about-to-go-postal, blood-vessel-popping busy. This New Moon happens two degrees behind my Ascendant (and 1.5 deg. from my Pluto)...so close and yet so far away from the astrological time zone known as the 1st House. Oh well.

Getting Personal

As a Pluto Rising person with Moon in Scorpio, it would pretty much be a no-duh no-brainer to state that I am a private person.

That is, except when I am not.

My 10th-house Sun and Mars-Mercury conjunction across my 11th-house cusp does give me the undeniable urge to be heard, if not seen, by as many people as possible -- and even when seen, I can rely on a veritable costume closet of personae to protect my innermost Sun-in-Cancer core.

All this by way of saying that instead of writing from on high discussing various aspects in an impersonal way, right now I feel like focusing this on how I've been faring under certain aspects and progressions.

The weekend before last, with the Sun in late Leo squaring my natal Neptune in Scorpio and also squaring my progressed Moon in Taurus, I received word from my editor that she was planning to shut down Paper Bag Press, an erotica e-press she launched on Valentine's Day 2009 (fitting, since my editor is an Aquarius). She did not give an official reason for her decision in her email, but with virtually nonexistent sales over the past several months, it hardly came as a surprise. Still, it came as disappointing news. In 24 hours or so, all rights to Sandwich Filling and The Poetry Prostitute shall revert back to me, and I will be free to try to place them elsewhere.

My progressed Moon has just entered the final degree of Taurus; as it is squaring the cusps of my 6th house and 12th house, with transiting Neptune once again conjunct the 6th house at 29 Aquarius (where it was when I came down with the flu earlier this year), my health has suffered in minor yet irritating ways. Not even a week after I finally recovered from a month-long back injury that had prevented me from doing yoga, I came down with a bad head cold that has kept me home from work for two days (and since I am technically a part-timer, I do not get paid sick days).

The New Moon in Virgo fell in my 12th house, and I have not been outside my apartment building since Friday evening; this is due to my bad cold, yet even if I were well enough to go outside and soak in the warm late-summer sunshine, I would want to do so as far removed from crowds of people as possible. Unfortunately, this annual desire for retreat cannot be honored in full...at least not this year.

I have been reading up on 29 degrees of Taurus and it seems that along with the final degree of Pisces, something is coming to an end that cannot be continued. This confirms my innermost feeling at the same time I do not know what will happen when this chapter of my life is over.

I have some ideas, of course, but hypothesizing at this point seems vaguely silly. Right now it makes more sense to look back over the past two years (my progressed Moon entered Taurus in July 2009). There is much in my progressed Moon-in-Taurus life to be grateful for -- love, validation for my creativity, some trustworthy friends who have my back, steady work, a nice home -- yet at the same time, I must face up to the dark side of Taurus: stubbornness, materialism, heaviness (both literally and figuratively), defensiveness, and tendency to get stuck in a rut.

Change is the only constant, but it is easy to forget that piece of wisdom during a progressed Moon in Taurus.