Sabian Symbol, Jones Pattern, Evolutionary Configurations, and More

This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this New Moon at 1 Virgo on August 22/23, 2025.

This brings the light of discerning what’s core and what’s peripheral as we develop the independence we’ve experienced the past 4 weeks. This one has a serious Yod with the New Moon as the nozzle!

This month adjusts and expands the emergent Aries energies into the world by showing us the sacrifices and adjustments we have to make over the next month before the Solar eclipse which will help us all “escape from an old destiny.” With Mercury in Leo ruling the New Moon, show love, see love, and be love as you learn about practicality, discernment about which parts reveal the whole, and continue to develop humor while hitting a threshold of Saturn’s return to Pisces showing us what we much finish this Autumn and early Winter.

The span between 1-5 Virgo is about “characterization” on actional and material levels of life, and taking what was dramatically or creatively expressed in Leo and crafting it into “significant form” in Virgo. This Lunation is a mixed bag, as the Yod shows very powerful adjustments and sacrifices, Jupiter cuts the Sun square Uranus into two semisquares, and Venus quintiles Mars and Mercury quintiles Uranus (continuing the Mercury quintile Uranus in the Leo New Moon.) Of course the double sextile-trine between Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto continue to bring productive momentum.

The Planetary Spread

In this chart, because we have 6 planets between 17 Cancer and 11 Libra, that’s the main focus for the next 4 weeks. At this point, we have planets occupying 7 signs in an irregular distribution between Aquarius around to Libra. At this time we have planets in Aquarius, Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and Libra.

Depending on the position of the Moon and the inner planets relative to the outer planets, different months bring us different Jones Patterns. These patterns operate their own independent influence, regardless of which planet is in which sign.

Currently, the outer planet occupied span begins with Pluto in early Aquarius, and proceeds through Saturn and Neptune in early Aries, Uranus in early Gemini and ends with Jupiter in mid-Cancer. (We don’t include TransPluto, since Jones didn’t use it in defining his patterns). Because we have 7 signs represented with an empty span of about 111+ degrees, with Pluto’s nearest neighbor 60 degrees away, we have a “Bucket” Jones Pattern with Pluto as the handle or nozzle.

So What is a “Bucket” Jones Pattern and how does it work?

A “Bucket Pattern” is a planetary spread with all the planets in about half the signs with one outside that span wide enough to be a handle. The energies of the occupied half are focused through the “handle,” or “nozzle,” in this case Pluto, termed the “focal determinator.” The handle, or focal determinator, represents the way to greater effectiveness, the cause to be embraced, the lack to be filled, or the way to use the total energies of this time in a focused manner.

Pluto is how we're going to "get a handle on things," or focus the potential of the rest of the planets, so if you have any doubt, express Aquarius! Pluto requires honesty and a willingness to look at core issues and do whatever is the right thing to do.

Dr. Jones states “the Bucket type indicates a particular and rather uncompromising direction in the life effort.” This pattern gives “interest in a cause,” with executive tendencies that will adapt allegiances to maximize results of the effort. He says “the Bucket type at its best reveals the real instructor and inspirer of others, and at its worst the agitator and malcontent.” This is the larger planetary pattern within which we’re all trying to do what we do.

We are also told this pattern is more about finding an effective release for energy within social settings, but also about the individual imposing their patterns on society rather than adapting to what is there. It’s about focused intention. So all of us can expect some sort of focused attention on the house where we have 2 Aquarius.

As Aquarius seeks the greater good for the greatest number, be clear about the larger work going on since 2021 and be focused on that. The handle is showing us the seeds of things, as well as the longer process bringing forth a better Aquarian world. A firm intention to make an ideal real is often more effective than ambivalence or second guessing the plan.

Saturn in the first decan of Aries leads the occupied span for months to come. Because it went SRX at 2 Aries, the new understanding we get through seeing the humor in things and being objective in our approach to initiating activities is going to present itself in Saturnine forms over the next few months. With Neptune at 2 Aries, this will spread into the collective. This entry to the occupied part of the Bucket tells us to think about the new duties, responsibilities, and lessons we’ve been exposed to, as we begin our Saturn RX review taking us back to the last face of Pisces, where we finish blessing things which need to end to flow down the time stream.

With Mars at 11 Libra as the closing planet to the span, we’ll close experience by seeing what needs to be communicated, as well as the need for balance in how we express it. After we’re done with a given experience, we should have an ability to apply our experience of transfiguration as individuals to see a new way to express our spiritual Self. This leads with actional and material Desire to differentiate and closes with individual-spiritual transfiguration which allows us an elegant and balanced way of communicating the ideal.

Pluto at 2 Aquarius is the way to get a handle on things to get a focused release of the other energies. See what mobilizes you or “galvanizes you to action” which “liberates you from adverse conditions through spectacular developments.” As this is the degree where the Sun conjuncted Pluto in January 2025, you can find out more about the Sabian symbol for 2 Aquarius by going to Sun conjunct Pluto at 2 Aquarius.

The Sabian Symbol for the New Moon

A New Moon sets the seed forms for what the following month will demonstrate. This Lunation falls at 1 Virgo, and it is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the physical, material, and actional levels of life, and being the first decan of Virgo it has a sub-influence of Virgo/Mercury with an added dose of the Sun. Because Virgo is ruled by Mercury which this month is in Leo, we have Love as the backdrop to the Lunation. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.

The Sabian symbol for the 1st degree of Virgo is “A man’s head.” In the original Jones notes published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this symbolizes “the shaping power of idea or ideal over outer form and behavior,” “completeness of realization,” “pure aggrandizement,” and “intent.”

In The Astrological Mandala, he states this degree is about “the capacity to picture to oneself clearly the salient features and the overall meaning of any life situation.” He says that Leo is about the feel of energy of an ego-centered consciousness “eagerly and devotionally reaching up to a realization of divine or cosmic order,” while Virgo is “the symbol of harvesting, but it is also that of the Path of discipleship” and “processes of training, or retraining.”

He continues “Flooded with and having enjoyed and released energy, the personalized consciousness now has to learn the lesson of significant form,” able to “see life situations as whole of experience, and to discover their meaning by distinguishing their most characteristic forms” using both analysis and intuition. He offers the insight that “the mind separates and identifies – and unfortunately often exaggerates – what makes a person or a situation different from another; but the intuitive responses of the whole person to what confronts him or her is also essential, for what matters is not only my or your “difference,” but the place and function this difference occupies in the organic pattern of the evolution of humanity as a whole.”

He says the keyword is discrimination, and says this degree falls in the Span of Idealization, Act of Stabilization, and is the initial degree of the Scene of Characterization on the Actional level.

Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “personal integrity which represents in general what all are asked to be in particular. The ideals of an inner life are given their outer manifestation through some self-accepted responsibility on which others can count.”

He continues “Ambition has its high dignity here in the distinction with which it endows those who remain most faithful to its exactions and thereupon become most conscious of its rewards. He gives us the keyword CHARACTER, and say that when operating positively, the degree is “an effective self-assurance and an ever-clear vision of each emerging opportunity in life.”

So the theme of the next month involves understanding how to express energy in “significant form,” and how our ideas and ideals shape the outer forms in our lives and how we act. It’s about picturing “the salient features and the overall meaning of any life situation,” as well as the Path of discipleship and other forms of training, so we can see life as a whole, and find meaning in seeing the significant features of the entire picture. We can find a new understanding of the value and function of differences, and see how our personal integrity allowed us to make our ideals real through accepting some sort of responsibility.

Important Aspects

Remember that in reading a Lunation chart (as well as a horary, inceptional, electional, or any event chart) the forming aspects show things to come, while separating aspects show things already past. Partile separating aspects show what’s been going on in the Now. This section covers only forming and partile separating aspects. Out of sign aspects are indicated by (oos).

The Lunation is vigintile Mercury, elftile Venus, novile Mars, semisquare Jupiter, quincunx Saturn/Neptune, square Uranus, and quincunx Pluto; Mercury sesquisquare Saturn, quintile Uranus and quadrelftile Neptune; Venus elftile the Sun, quintile Mars, trine Saturn and Neptune (oos), and opposed Pluto (oos); and the Sun makes the same aspects as the Moon.

Outer planet aspects feature Mars square Jupiter and quadrelftile Uranus; Jupiter is biseptile Saturn and Neptune, semisquare Uranus, and pentelftile Pluto; Sautrn is sextile Uranus, conjunct Neptune, and sextile Pluto; Uranus is sextile Neptune and Neptune’s finally again sextile Pluto for the first time in 30 years!

This month the friction is provided by 2 semisquares, 1 square, 1 sesquisquares, and SIX quincunxes. While squares challenge “right action” at a turning point of a cycle, the semisquares are more about internal decisions and movement with personal inner crises, both public and private, which we must deal with.

Sesquisquares on the other hand create friction, agitation, and irritation in our world that involves others. In my experience sesquisquares are not necessarily associated with times of crisis, but they do seem to be times of no rest and spurs to act that may be inconvenient and aggravating. They definitely aren’t calm! And quincunxes force adjustments and sacrifices.

Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology

This month we have 3 special evolutionary configurations, 2 involving the Lunation.

1) The Lunation is the focus of a very powerful Yod, or Finger of God, made by the Lunation quincunx Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto which are all in sextile. The Sun and Moon are the focus point of the Yod, so multiple “expansions through sacrifices” are in the air these next four weeks. This brings adjustment so squeeze out what is not helping the productivity of the sextile. You can find out more about the Yod by going to Astrology Class Review - The Yod, or Finger of God. For more about the quincunx specifically, you can find out more here: The Quincunx.

2) We also have the Lunation square Uranus with Jupiter cutting it into two sesquisquares. This activates three points of an “8 Pointed Star of the Need for Right Action.” This will primarily affect planets and points near 1-3 Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces, 14-18 Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn, and 29-30 Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius. If you have something in one of these zones, make a hard turn to pursue your heart’s desire, express your uniqueness in specific ways, see the relationship of the parts to the whole, and set things in motion once you have a clear plan.

3) We have the “three note chord” of the double sextile-trine in constant play with Uranus trine Pluto and both Saturn and Neptune in Aries forming sextiles to each. This is a very productive and stabilizing energy in the spiritual field which will greatly benefit any planets or points we have in the early degrees of the Fire and Air signs.

We'll also give a nod to the first Jupiter biseptile Saturn and Neptune, marking a fork in the road of destiny for how the expansive principle will move the collective Saturn/Neptune forward or off the rails. We’ll have two more; Jupiter biseptiles Neptune in March and April 2026, and biseptiles Saturn in May and June 2026. This involves the chart areas where we have Aries, Cancer, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Zones most affected now are 30 Pisces-4 Aries, 22-26 Taurus, 14-18 Cancer, 5-9 Virgo, 26-30 Libra, 18-22 Sagittarius, and 9-13 Aquarius. Expect turning points in those areas of your life if you have a planet in one of these zones.

Explaining Harmonics

Aspects in the same series are considered to be various stages of “harmonics” for each series.

The novile (9th harmonic), septile (7th harmonic) and elftile (11th harmonic) series all feature spiritual aspects. All novile series (9th harmonic) aspects indicate things which need to be put on the shelf for a while, or that which has been waiting can now move forward. They represent gestative energies that can lead to great spiritual realizations. Septile series aspects represent forks in the road of destiny, while the 11th harmonic elftile series indicate that faith is required to deal with transcending some dualities, issues and points of evolution where we must make a leap of faith to attain a form of mastery over that type of duality. This series tests our faith. Both the 7th and 11th series involve non-rational aspect values, bringing an element of irrationality in behavior and circumstances.

The quintile and biquintile (5th harmonic) and related 10th (decile and tredecile), 15th (quindecile), and 20th harmonic (vigintile) aspects are all specialization aspects. You can find more by going to Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Pt. 1 – The Quintile and Biquintile, and Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects Part 2 – The Decile, Tredecile, Quindecile and the Vigintile.

You can find out more about the spiritual aspects (septile, novile, and elftile series) by referencing this brief overview of Astrological Aspects – the 7th, 9th, and 11th Harmonic Series Aspects and their Symbols. I did a much lengthier exploration and explanation of how each of the 11th harmonic series aspects work in the article The 11th Harmonic Aspects in Astrology – the Elftile Series of Faith and Transcendence.

Element Balance

This month shows a somewhat balanced distribution, and the 10 traditional planets occupy 7 signs. We have 3 planets in Fire (inspiration and warmth), 2 planets in Earth (practical grounding), 3 in Air (relatedness and communicating), and 2 in Water (feelings and experiencing).

Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, it’s balanced, with an emphasis on the inspirational and interactive levels of life. Of note is there are no planets in Earth except the Sun and Moon.

The current sequence at present of Deciding, Feeling, and Thinking

We’ve been through several different sequences over the past few months. There are six patterns, and each has their strengths and weaknesses. This Lunation begins a new sequence. For now, as a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience as our growth accelerates involves beginning activity with feeling, then thinking, and then making decisions.

This pattern initiates activity by feeling its way into ideas, perceptions, and information. Let your hunches lead to new knowledge. Then, after a new idea, vision, or understanding, then make a decision and act on it! Try not to overplan too far into the future. Take your feeling-knowing one step at a time, and keep things in balanced motion, even if they go all over the place at times.

Once we’ve made a decision and acted on it, then a new feeling will naturally arise showing the next thing to learn about, communicate, or understand. So feel, flow, and experience, since these will lead you to ideas and views that will in turn lead to the next decision.

This pattern is sensitive to others’ feelings, and when healthy usually offers a positive and encouraging take on things. It is said this pattern has the best “bedside manner,” and can be a good sounding board to bounce all kinds of things off of until everything’s been discussed and processed so that a clear decision can be made. This pattern offers us that the journey of a thousand miles is truly one step at a time.

If you’re wondering what to do, go to your feelings and sit with them. What are you experiencing which can help you feel what you need to know before you act? If you understand something but don’t know what to do, what are your feelings telling you that you must do? If your actions aren’t bringing you clarity, what internal feelings are blocking your vision? Let your feelings lead you to clear ideas which help you make decisions.

What are you feeling which can help you get the information or insights you need before you act? If you understand something but don’t know what to do, make sure you’re not overthinking it or “over feeling” it. If your feelings aren’t bringing you clarity, what internal hesitancy is blocking your vision? Let your feelings lead you to see things differently so you know what to do.

Summing Up

This New Moon will bring discernment, love and needed adjustments so we can better serve the need of the future. When it doubt, retire from the drama, or if moved to reflect on old dramas no longer wasting your time, love yourself for having left them behind.

The next four weeks should open up a long wave redemptive process, with unique interactions and ideas. This brings new information of how the parts relate to the whole, and show us what’s coming in late September and early October. We’re still standing at the threshold of a new cycle of experience, so stabilize what you need to, since Saturn and Neptune will RX back into Pisces and Uranus will RX back into Taurus this Autumn. That means for the next few months we’ll still be between the old and the new, and will be until February 2026 when we move through a time portal.

Purify, love without inhibitions, and take a new look at past and current Soul expressions. This is a time of understanding that a balanced expression works better than pushing. The reward of self-care these next few weeks will be spiritually integrated knowledge so that the Soul can express itself through our personality. We’re linking a lot within and without these next 4 weeks which will lead us to serenity and rewards for growth integrating the inner and the outer.

We have been moving into a new life or a new way of living the past year and a half, and now have the understanding we need to embrace a new role, see a new archetype, or find a new way to express our understanding on the stage of life. For better or worse, we’ve all fulfilled a dream (or a nightmare!) and now stand facing an entirely new vista of possibilities on the world stage.

Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend

Because Saturn has shown us the future and given us the task to use humor to find objective understanding in Aries, the realm of direct self-initiated action, it is showing us the way forward. In Aries it’s ruled by Mars in Libra, helping us see how to express Saturn in elegant and balanced ways.

Soon it will be back in Pisces, where Jupiter in Cancer will become its ruler. Expect a LOT of feeling-oriented lessons to begin in September! Saturn has shown us new initiatives since June, and when it returns to Pisces, we’ll get our final exam in compassion and forgiveness practices so we can leave many things behind and get ready to take the initiative in some way beginning early 2026.

Making friends with our inner Saturn is the most important thing we can do to fulfill our spiritual destiny. If you want to claim your power to throw off oppressive limitations and fears, please give yourself the timeless gift of my book, Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. We all need to make friends with our inner Saturn if we would claim our power to fulfill our higher purpose for being alive as Spirits in the material world.

The book offers ways to take command of your power to steer your life in a conscious way, using Saturn’s strengths and skills to master life on your own terms. As Saturn is such a dominant energy in life, by owning our ability to demonstrate Saturn's virtues, we take command of our destiny and become the living purpose we were born to make manifest!

It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will assist your understanding of how your life experiences assisted your Soul growth and power to turn away from unhelpful karmic cause and effect patterns. Each time you re-read any part of it you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight helping you throw off attitudes which frustrate your ability to live your higher Purpose on your own terms.

And now, on a related note….

Venus in Cancer loves the tender expressions of that sign, even though it occasionally experiences a bit of insecurity. As it’s on a degree of the Soul introducing the mind to the life, this month it naturally links inner and outer realms. The next 4 weeks brings wisdom related to sensitivity and the promise of next Summer!

Venus shows us what we like and why we like it. If you want to learn more about finding your heart’s desire and joyous relationships which fulfill your Soul, please consider getting your copy of my book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames. It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, explains how our Venus shapes our attractions, and offering techniques on how to change wh0 and what we attracts so they’re more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angles of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and worldly experience.

I’ve heard it helps people find strength to turn away from unhealthy relationships and understand how not to attract anything similar in the future. It examines the qualities in healthy relationships and friendships, and offers tips on how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.

It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)

The Long View

In 2020 we entered a transition phase in human history. While we will be functioning within the Capricorn cycles we began then, we also have begun an era unknown to humanity since the 13th and 14th centuries. Even then, we were still in the depth of the Age of Pisces, so the awakening of new ideas then were relative to the old era, whereas what’s coming involves wave after wave of Aquarian energies, pushing us to the coming Great Age emerging in the second half of this century.

The long wave Aquarian pulses were initially set into motion by the Mars conjunct Saturn at 1 Aquarius on March 31, 2020, marking the initiation of archetypal Aquarian preliminary structures offered by Saturn. The promise and potential of the new Aquarian pulse then began to expand into a greater social and cultural vision beginning at the Jupiter conjunction with Saturn, the Grand Mutation of the Solstice also at 1 Aquarius. So we have 20 years of Aquarian energies set into motion by that conjunction!

All Aquarian transits and conjunctions in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 have given a new impetus and new expression to the Aquarian structures which took shape in 2021. Each transit strengthens the Pluto in Aquarius “generation” of the 21st century which lasts until 2043. As there will be a Jupiter conjunction with Pluto at 15 Aquarius in 2033, we’ll see the “expansion of the Angels of the Age of Aquarius” at that time.

2021 opened a new adventure for all of us, and the “metamorphosis” we went through showed us what the coming Age of Aquarius is about. 2022 helped us remember we are Beings of Light, a Superstar shining the Light of our Eternal Love into our world. We’re now expanding our spiritual knowledge, understanding, and effective forms of service, and are now completing the old Sun/Mars conjunction cycle, with a new one beginning in January 2026.

New groups of Spiritual communities have formed since 2021, and are being given a boost this year. Those which are Aquarian in nature will are being “lifted on the wings of angels” in 2025. Trust the process. Revolution is in the air! And when you find things and people of eternal worth, value them with all your heart.

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© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson

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