This article covers significant aspects, degree symbols, and other important factors in this Pisces New Moon chart. We have now moved from the Bowl Jones pattern into a Bundle pattern with all the planets between Mars in early Capricorn and Uranus in early Taurus. This Lunation is extraordinarily productive, and will benefit any planets we have in the early and middle degrees of Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces, and Taurus. We enter 4 weeks of full mobilization!

This month puts the focus on the sign Pisces, with a huge dose of Capricorn and Pisces and a dash of Aries. The adventure continues to take shape! Saturn still dominates the stage, with Neptune also prominent on center stage through its wide conjunction with the New Moon. We’re now deep into the Great Compression of 2020, with numerous conjunctions in Capricorn determining future patterns for years and decades to come!

As I explained in another article, we’re now in the second of four consecutive compressions of planets. The first was In early 2019 when all the planets were bundled in about one third of the sky. Throughout 2019 they expanded into half and then two thirds of the sky, creating a Bowl and then Locomotive Jones pattern, with the Moon adjusting the pattern based in its position. We again contracted into a Bowl last month, and now have hit maximum compression creating a Bundle chart, the rarest pattern of all!

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

Currently, the outer planet occupied span begins with Mars in early Capricorn, and proceeds through the other outer planets in Capricorn, Pisces, and early Taurus. This is a fairly narrow distribution, with all the outer planets in a little over a third of the sky (excluding TransPluto, since Jones didn’t use it in defining his patterns). That means the Jones pattern in the sky is primarily influenced by the position of the inner planets, shifting the pattern every so often.

The Bundle Pattern and how it works

This type of spread, with all the planets occupying approximately one third of the signs with two thirds unoccupied, creates “the least common of the seven basic differentiations,” and creates a “bunching of interests or the intensive self-gathering which is least responsive to any universal stimulus” and as Dr. Jones noted in a section on another pattern, a “special obsession with some particularly narrowed aspect of experience” which characterizes the Bundle people.

He continues that “the meaning of the concentration of the ten planets in one single thirds of the zodiac is that the course of the native’s life is held to certain narrow bounds of opportunism,” and they are “almost completely inhibited, in contrast with the outstanding lack of inhibition in the Splash pattern. He then goes on to say that “Characteristic of the Bundle type is an outstanding capacity for making much of little, or for building small beginnings into great and often unanticipated final results.” He also notes this type can mold their world “by some highly centralized force of self-concentration.” This type is not universal in the slightest, but rather “brings universe to center.”

With Mars in Capricorn leading the concentration of planets, it shows we need to be disciplined and organized as we initiate experience, mobilizing and throwing off all discouraging attitudes. Lead all interactions with a sense of what needs to be done with an eye to the larger roles to play and greater duties to be accepted. We’re beginning a very dynamic period in history!

By March, Mars will initiate new long wave cycles as it conjuncts Pluto, Jupiter, and then Saturn, kicking off the next 200 years of Air energies, and 20 years of Aquarius energies, priming the pump for the Pluto in Aquarius era as we move into the “Spring of the 21st Century.” The future is activated in April, so keep your eyes on the prize, since 2021 will look much different than 2020!

With Uranus closing, take a new look at how you’ve linked “the above and below” in your life. See that you have found your “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” and have found something of Universal worth in 2019. Things are cooking, with a feast coming soon! This leads with actional Crystallization, and closes with actional Substantiation.

The Outer Planets Anchor the Pattern of Half the Sky

At this time, Jupiter is now part of the occupied span involving Saturn and Pluto, quickly closing in on its conjunction with Pluto in March and Saturn later this year. Jupiter will continue to lead the outer planet occupied span through December 2020, when it conjuncts Saturn at 1 Aquarius and we enter a new 20 year and 200 year era! Be willing to reorganize your life as needed, and you will find power flowing to you and from you as we move into a vaster tide of evolution this year, setting long term wave forms into motion related to Aquarius.

Because Jupiter has been closing on the outer planet span for several years, it has played a major part in how we entered life experience. It's why sometimes these past few years have seemed like a wild ride, an adventure, a quest, and more! With willingness, power, vision, and greater possibilities to contribute to a greater future good, we are now in the midst of a Cosmic “judgment day,” and must choose how we will express ourselves in our world, for better or worse. This prepares us for a forceful awakening in April when a great mobilization will occur.

Long term, as Jupiter closes in on its conjunction with Saturn beginning now and lasting all of 2020, there will be times (like now!) when most of the planets will be compressed into very narrow spans centered in Capricorn. Though the outer planets have been expanding out to a wide spread these past 20 years since the last Saturn conjunct Uranus, the outers are now compressing, with Jupiter and Saturn headed to a karmic rendezvous with Pluto and then Neptune over the coming years. Due to the increasing compression, by February we’ll begin to see more “Bundle” patterns than we’ve seen in many years, since at times the planets will all be within a 120 degree span.

In this New Moon, we have TWO very intense occupied spans! The first span (in this chart the span between Mars in early Capricorn and Saturn in late Capricorn is 4 planets in 22+ degrees, making that a major focus. This month we also have a second span of intense activity between the Lunation in early Pisces and Neptune in mid-Pisces, yielding 4 planets in a 13+ degree span. Together the give us EIGHT planets in a 72+ degree span. The area between early Cap and mid-Pisces is going to be VERY active in the next few weeks!

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 5 Pisces, and it is said that the first third decan) of any sign deals with the actional, material, and physical levels of life, and being the first decan of Pisces it has a sub-influence of Pisces with Saturn. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.

The symbol for the 5th degree of Pisces is “A church bazaar.” In the original Marc Jones class notes on the symbols published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “Interchange of Spirit and understanding on which groups are built,” “New Self-development,” “Discouragement mastered,” and “commerce.”

We are told in The Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes “the value of giving a spiritual or transcendent sanction to even the most commonplace interchanges between social persons and individual minds.” He speaks of the value of religion in giving “a more permanent significance to interpersonal relationships within the framework of a particular way of life and culture. It helps to keep the society ‘whole’ by making it ‘holy’ – at least in principle and ideal.”

He offers that “it justifies human behavior by blessing it with a divine Revelation of what is good and valuable,” and is a degree of “ritualized beneficence,” with “the possibility of the ‘Presence of God’ in even the most material human activities.” He says this is in the Span of Innocence, and is the culminating degree on the actional-physical level of the Scene of Federation in the Act of Capitalization.

Dr. Marc Jones says this symbol is one of “the instinctive loyalties of life as manifest in community institutions,” and our ability “to capitalize on the enduring allegiances” we develop with others. He speaks of “everyday communion with the warmth of personality and its pyramiding powers of accomplishment.” He offers we make our “over-all contribution to human achievement through (our) ever-revivifying contacts” with others.

He offers us the keyword BENEFIT. He says when this degree is working positively, it’s one of “a special genius for philanthropy and the organization of society’s real concern for the well-being of (people) in general.”

From this symbol we should be able to see the Light of new self-developments furthering group building while mastering discouragement . This New Moon shows us the power of blessing and being blessed through our loyalties with others and how we can make more significant achievements with others. Take a philanthropic point of view, and open to a greater concern for the general well-being.

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.

We are now beginning a long run of no transit to transit oppositions except for when the Moon is outside the occupied span. That means there will be lessened oppositional energies in the next few months, except of course for those with planets in Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo who will be affected by the transits since planets continue to move through Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces during coming months.

This Lunation has quite a few aspects, with almost no dynamic configurations set into motion this month, but a lot of standalone evolutionary aspects promising major change in our relationships! Overall, It’s mainly a favorable, productive, and stabilizing period due to the Lunation sextile both Mars and Uranus which are in trine. This will yield very favorable movement for those with planets in the early degrees of the Earth and Water signs.

The Lunation makes a conjunction with Mercury retrograde, a semisquare with Venus, sextile to Mars, semisquare Jupiter, decile Saturn, sextile Uranus, conjunct Neptune, and novile Pluto. The real action will be found in Mercury septile Jupiter, Venus biseptile Mars and square Jupiter, and as with the last two months, Saturn is septile Neptune, bringing echoes of the First Grand Irrationality of 1995-2017. And now that Jupiter is conjunct Pluto and chasing Saturn, we continue to be in a time of “expansive sobriety” or “sober expansion,” launching numerous cycles of new visions, adventures, and truths, set to a new understanding of responsibility.

Besides the Lunation aspects and other planetary aspects just mentioned, we also see Mercury novile Venus, sextile Mars, novile Saturn, sextile Uranus, and semisquare Pluto; and Venus is binovile Saturn, semisextile Neptune, and square Pluto.

Outer planet aspects include Mars conjunct Jupiter, trine Uranus, and quintile Neptune; Jupiter is conjunct Saturn, sextile Neptune, and conjunct Pluto; Saturn is in an out of sign square to Uranus and septile Neptune, and Uranus is semisquare Neptune, anchoring the Rhombus Diamond energy discussed a few paragraphs down.

Special Configurations in Evolutionary Astrology

As noted, while we have important aspects going on, there are no “three planet configurations in play at this time.” As I mentioned, Saturn septile Neptune has been activating the original Grand Irrationality. Specific zones were listed in part 1.

Venus is a primary player this month, making important aspects to all the other planets except Uranus. The squares to Jupiter and Pluto require that we keep our eyes on the prize, not settle for less than the best, and always put our best self forward in social interactions. If there are situations where you’re getting lost in random loose ends or are unable to accomplish what you want, see if there’s not someone interfering or deflecting your energies.

This includes inner voices we heard when younger which have frustrated our ability to accomplish what we want. Get rid of those voices, and do whatever you need to do to claim your right to move into the new. If you’re dealing with extremists or people with hidden (and toxic or coercive agendas) stay balanced, protect yourself, and find a “strife transcending, unattached outlook” on life.

Venus waxing biseptile Mars puts many relationships at a crucial fork in the road of destiny. This will mainly influence us where we have Aries, Taurus, Libra, and Scorpio houses and planets, as well as any planets or points near 3-7 Capricorn, 25-29 Aquarius, 17-21 Aries, 8-12 Gemini, 29 Cancer-3 Leo, 20-24 Virgo, and 12-16 Scorpio. If you have something in these zones, you can bet you’ve hit a turning point in that department of planetary labor!

Mercury retrograde septile Jupiter shows the rational mind and expansive abstract mind are at a turning point, but one they have experienced before. This puts many ideas and potentials at crucial forks in the road of destiny, with rehearsals, reconsiderations, reviews, and research required in order to move forward at the final septile coming in late April when Mercury makes its third and final waxing septile to Jupiter at the same time as Mars conjuncts Saturn. This will mainly influence us where we have Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces houses and planets, as well as any planets or point near 17-21 Capricorn, 8-12 Pisces, 30 Aries-4 Taurus, 22-26 Gemini, 13-17 Leo, 5-9 Libra, and 26-30 Scorpio.

The Rhombus Diamond

As you’ve read in other articles, Uranus is involved in a “bottom tone” of friction in the collective consciousness because of its long wave semisquare to Neptune, anchoring the octile-driven “Rhombus Diamond” configuration with intense “cutting, grinding, and polishing” energies wherever we have the very early degrees of Taurus and Scorpio, as well as the middle degrees of Pisces and Virgo. In this chart there is no third planet to activate the pattern.

The Rhombus Diamond configuration was perfected last September when the Moon is in Scorpio was semisquare Venus in mid-Virgo, opposed Uranus, and sesquisquare Neptune at the same time as Venus opposed Neptune and sesquisquared Uranus. Since then and into the future, it will be perfected every time the Moon and Ascendant are in early Scorpio and mid-Virgo at the same time.

As you know if you’ve been reading this column for any length of time, the waxing Uranus semisquare Neptune marks a crucial point of shift in the opening of their very long wave cycle, and is a major significator of our unsettled times. This very frictional energy has been with us a while and will continue to be with us a LONG time! That aspect anchors a frictional configuration that is kicked into play whenever planets pass through early Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, and mid-Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. It is especially powerful when a planet transits mid-Virgo and early Scorpio.

As the planets make various octile aspects to these Uranus and Neptune, those phase shifts generate a LOT of tension in the atmosphere, creating a grind for us where they fall in our chart. This semisquare is indicative or the hard edge all of us are going through as we try to find how our individuality fits into the collective atmosphere, and why there is so much friction between the transpersonal Uranian forces and the transpersonal Neptunian forces at this time.

As I told you in the September 2017 Rhombus Diamond articles, when it’s active we can expect solar flares and plasma eruptions, warping in the electromagnetic field, breakaway impulses, sideways explosions, and all equivalent human behavior symbolized by these octile aspects testing our clarity. It has presented all of us with certain questions. What is your role as you would define it? Reject timidity and uncertainty, and find your place in the larger scheme of things.

Explaining Harmonics

This month we have quite a few spiritual and specializing aspects. Of the specializing aspects, we have 2 deciles and 1 quintile. In the spiritual gestation aspects, we continue to have a lot dominating the Lunation, with FOUR noviles and 1 binovile. There are no elftile series aspects made in this Lunation, and of the nonrational septile series, we have 2 septiles and 1 biseptile.

The novile (9th harmonic), septile (7th harmonic) and elftile (11th harmonic) series all feature spiritual aspects. All novile series aspects represent gestative energies that can lead to great spiritual realizations. Septile series aspects represent forks in the road of destiny, while the elftile series aspects represent issues requiring we resolve some sort of duality by making a leap of faith to attain a form of mastery over that type of duality.

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 the Spiritual aspects, complete with glyphs for all of them.

Element Balance and Who’s Leading the Sun

This month we have the 10 traditional planets occupying 4 signs in an extraordinarily imbalanced element distribution. We have 1 planet in Fire (inspiration and warmth), 4 in Water (feelings and experiencing), 0 in Air (relatedness and communicating), and 5 planets in Earth (practical grounding). This month we have Capricorn, Pisces, Aries, and Taurus represented, with no planet in the other signs.

Air and Earth are “cool” elements, while Fire and Water are “hot” elements. With this distribution, things are balanced between cold and heat, but extraordinarily weighted toward Earth and Water. With so much Earth and Water, there are materials to make bricks, as long as we don’t get stuck in the mud of defensive calculations.

Because the New Moon falls in early Pisces, Saturn in late Capricorn is the planet currently leading the Sun. That means “the Gateway to the Light” involves our “Spiritual Master and Spiritual Friend” guiding us to a greater transcendent security through our willingness to accept power, responsibility, or a greater understanding of emotion and social dynamics within a group or social environment. Our maturity and understanding can lead us to a greater Light of a larger contribution based in what has gone before, and those who can be Spiritual adults will gain access to the Great Light.

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 month shifts the pattern yet again. As a process of moving through events, the most effective “firing sequence” for approaching life and experience over the next 4 weeks involves leading with our decisions and actions, then thinking, communicating, and gathering information, and then getting deep into how we feel about something or are experiencing something.

This pattern is very decisive, and acts first and foremost. After the decision and action, it then searches for understanding, information, or a vision. After it interacts enough, gathering the perceptions it needs, while it may be tempting to move back into more decisions and actions, instead of staying in motion this pattern must follow its insights and understanding into feeling what it needs to feel about that vision or understanding so the experience is grounded in the emotional nature.

This pattern is very decisive and can get a lot accomplished. It acts, and then searches for information which will help it make the next decision. However, once an understanding or a vision is found, then we must go deep into our feeling-experience around what we just saw or discovered. When we go deep enough and understand what we are experiencing, then new decisions will naturally arise based on the “feeling facts” of our experience.

When you are moved to make a decision and act, it will naturally lead to new ideas, visions, perceptions, and understanding. This should be followed by a time of solitude and reflection where we can identify what we’re feeling and experiencing. Once we identify what we’re experiencing, we’ll naturally be moved to decisions on the basis of those feelings. So let your feelings follow your understanding, and let your decisions follow your feelings, and you’ll find nothing will get bottled up through underuse, and you can move through experiences with power and clarity.

Summing Up

This Lunation shows us activating structures we’ll be using this year to prepare for the dawning of a 20 year Aquarian era which gathers strength in April and May, opening doors of infinite potential in January 2021! As this New Moon occurs in early Pisces, we now have an intuitive window into the collective atmosphere, and can productively organize or reorganize to get ready for the appearance of a new Aquarian pulse in our lives coming in a few weeks!

We’re in the thick of the Great Compression of January through March even as all which would obstruct our mobilization is swept away. Just as a tide lifts all ships, whether merchant, pleasure, and pirate, this tide will mobilize both constructive and destructive forces. Since there is work to be done, be and willing to rise to the occasion, learning practical group skills and wielding power with economy and precision.

We’re now in the transition between the old way which is no more, and the coming Grand Mutation. The current Great Compression in Capricorn will set forces into motion in this bridge year between the old promise and the new 200 year Era coming with the Grand Mutation of 2020! By how we respond between now and May we’ll position ourselves in a greater work which begins in April and changes life as we know it by January 2021.

This month we get to accelerate our growth while mastering discouraging attitudes. We’re now in a “group personality” building phase, where by joining with others and seeing the larger whole we’re a part of, we can overcome separateness and find a form of mastery perfect for where we have to “fly our vehicle.”

With SIX semisquares, there will be a lot of internal friction at the opening phase of this year’s great reorganization. This one pushes us toward important decisions about how we want to express the concentrated Capricorn energies we’re experiencing. With the stable productivity promised by the Cap-Pisces-Taurus “three note chord,” overall we should be able to get a lot done this month!

We’ve been in a time when angels and divine help are in the air, as well as redemption and forms of trained creative expression. We now have an expanded sense of humor and irony, and can continue exploring how to embody something our group or world needs. We continue to participate in forms of spiritual rebirth within a community where we can present our best to each other and God. Keep calm, carry on, and embrace your role in that group. You could find yourself performing beyond any previous sense of self!

Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend

Saturn in its home sign of Capricorn for the first time since 1991 makes it the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023. It was a major influence in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 Eclipses, continuing its years-long power behind events.

Saturn continues to hold court in its home sign of Capricorn, and many things came to the surface through the Summer oppositions which helped us mature and grow this Summer. Saturn has trained us for group work to come in 2020 and beyond, remember that as you make inner Saturn your friend, you’ll overcome fear and be able to embrace your higher Destiny.

If you’re wondering what that would look like, if you haven’t already, please consider getting a copy of my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and in Capricorn, will help bring an “organized personal structure” to the Uranian energies infused with concentrated doses of spiritual energy that is making our spiritual life come alive.

It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and will help you understand why some things happened when they did. Each time you read any section of this book you will find new insights about your power to steer your personal evolution. You will understand how to throw off all the attitudes which have held you back from finding and living your life and purpose, and fulfill your destiny as an Eternal having human experiences!

Please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page on Amazon and this should be all you need to order your copy. The ebook is available through Kindle and Nook. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.