There’s more unfolding during the Disseminating Moon phase than I can fit in inside the short posts I usually do, so I’m not going to try. This one will be longer 🙂
Tomorrow afternoon we enter the Disseminating phase, following the Full Moon in Leo. This is the phase in which we sort out what we learned from the Full Moon and what happens next.
Often, this phase includes sharing what we’ve learned in some form or other, as the name suggests. Again this cycle we find ourselves in a place of unfolding.
We find the Disseminating Moon at 5º Libra. This first decan is associated with the Two of Swords, which in the Rider Waite Smith deck pictures a woman wearing a blindfold holding crossed swords. The theme of justice emerges, a desire for balance and peace. There is more to process before we can say, “This! This is what I learned.” We need more time.
The Sun at 20º Aquarius moves to conjunct Saturn at 26º. This Saturn is already under the beams of the Sun, moving toward cazimi, looking for renewal. Yet this conjunction increases the Saturnian vibe of the Sun, another call to take things slowly.
The Moon is conjunct the asteroid Ceres, who recently stationed retrograde. Here we find another call to pause.
The Moon also opposes Jupiter at 7º Aries. This feels like a pulse, a surge of energy. I thought of Maya Angelou’s poem, On the Pulse of Morning. When I looked it up, rereading her words, it offered the ideal frame for where we are:
… today, the Rock cries out to us, clearly, forcefully,
Come, you may stand upon my
Back and face your distant destiny,
But seek no haven in my shadow.
I will give you no more hiding place down here.
So much time spent in Capricorn these last years, as well as the Age of Earth that ended with the Saturn–Jupiter conjunction of December 21, 2020. We are now in an Age of Air. If we haven’t felt that fully yet, we will soon: Pluto will enter Aquarius on June 11.
A new day, a new era is dawning. Jupiter is ready.
The Moon moves to trine Mars at 12º Gemini, who trines Chiron at 12º Aries. The Moon will carry Jupiter’s message to Mars, along with a call to heal whatever is getting in the way. When the Moon trines Mars, they will also oppose Chiron.
This is a lot for the Moon to balance, so it’s good the skills of diplomatic Libra are available. The special gift of Libra’s way of knowing is understanding context. Aquarius has vision. Gemini has facts and ideas. Libra brings an understanding of people, history, needs, and desires to craft a harmonious outcome.
On February 10, the Mercury–Pluto conjunct is exact at 28º58’ Capricorn.
This is the final meeting between the mind and the depths of the unconscious in this sign of cardinal Earth.
Mercury has completed a retrograde in Cap and just emerged from the retrograde shadow. Now they meet with the lord of all that is chthonic.
We can benefit from this meeting, if we listen deeply and carefully. What have we learned in the depths of the last three years? What has Pluto learned since entering Capricorn in 2008?
Pluto speaks with the voice of the collective unconscious. Jung defined this place in the psyche as the repository of all that is human, and makes us human. The imprint of human history. I’d suggest the collective unconscious goes beyond the human, containing the imprint of all life and soul.
Mercury is how we perceive, how we process, and how we communicate. The work of the mind. With the conjunction, we step into the cave of Shadow, our minds struggling to take in the immensity of Pluto’s force.
I think of Pluto as absolute zero, a temperature that remained theoretical for many years, until scientists found ways to create it within carefully controlled chambers.
What we now know is that at absolute zero, substances lose the properties we associate with matter and begin taking on quantum behaviors normally seen only in the tinies particles.
With Pluto, all bets are off.
That night, we reach the Waning Sextile, as the Moon reaches the end of Libra. We’re still within the Disseminating phase as the Moon trines both the Sun and Saturn in Aquarius.
There is an austerity to Aquarius that echoes the icy cold of later winter.
The Libra Moon reminds us this is a beautiful time, if not for the faint of heart.
On February 11, still within the Disseminating phase, Mercury enters Aquarius as the Moon trines Saturn and squares Pluto. Mercury enjoys the Air signs and has more traditional dignity here than in Capricorn.
As we close this phase within the lunar cycle, we’re just beginning to feel ready to speak. There are new visions to share. New plans to make.
Lift up your eyes upon
The day breaking for you.
Give birth again
To the dream.
–Maya Angelou, On the Pulse of Morning
