And also the Vernal Equinox down under!! The Autumnal Equinox occurs Sept 22, 2013, at 1:44 pm PDT, 4:44 pm EDT, 9:44 pm Greenwich daylight time, marking the end of Summer and the beginning of Autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. It is said that a chart done for this point in time offers a snapshot of the cosmic and literal weather for the next 3 months.
Today is the last day of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, the last day of Winter in the Southern. If you’re wondering how I reconcile the seemingly opposing energies between the hemispheres, when you’re done here please take a look at The Mirroring of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere Year Cycles in Astrology. It may help readers “down under” see how the important points of seasonal change, though opposite in physical manifestation, actually have similar challenges at each point of shift.
There is an old tradition that offers us two times when "the year begins," one at the Vernal Equinox, the other at the Autumnal. Perhaps that tradition came from explorers who saw the seasons flip between the Northern and Southern, going from the beginning of warm to the beginning of cold as they moved up and down the latitudes.
This is an excellent time for looking at what has ended and what is emerging. We up North have done our Summer labor, and are reaping the harvest of what we've done and not done. In the Southern latitudes, they're beginning to plant the seeds that will grow over the next 180 days.
So if you're "down under," it's the beginning of Spring and beautiful weather. Just remember to have a little compassion for us up here when December 21-22, the Winter Solstice, rolls around and we're freezing while you're enjoying the beach!
Whether North or South, keep following through on the new roles, new initiatives, new feelings, new flow, and new ways of relating to others on more refined levels you’ve already begun to experience since Spring, since the season to come is the time to transfigure our future into more perfect forms. Regardless of where we live, what follows explores elements we all can expect to experience over the next 13 weeks.
The charts for the Solstices and Equinoxes provide guideposts for what we can expect the following 90 days in the way of weather, both actual and symbolic. The Autumn Equinox chart shows a majority of planets in the second decan of their signs, with 3 in the first and 2 in the third decan of their signs. This indicates a three month period of activity involving a lot of emotional, social, and cultural focus, with a lesser amount of actional, physical, and material focus, and relatively little individual-mental focus.
The nights will now begin to be longer than the days for 6 months to come in the Northern Hemisphere, with lengthening days in the Southern. The Sun is now in Libra, promising enhanced and expanded relationships and social interactions. We can find new ideals, new ways of measuring and evaluating the balance in things, and new perspectives that offer us a well-rounded understanding.
The outstanding quality of this Equinox chart is the very powerful Fixed T-square involving Moon at 12 Taurus opposed to Venus at 14 Scorpio and square Mars at 17 Leo. This will force us to integrate the energies in life areas involving this square, so it’s heads up wherever you have mid Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius in your charts!!
As the void falls in Aquarius, this will be a season to see a bigger picture, a greater way to contribute to some collective effort that will outlive you, and a genuine friendly detachment and dispassion when confronted with stuck situations and people. The void of a T-square shows either the problem, the solution, or both, depending on what’s happening in your life when these configurations occur.
This is one of the reasons things have felt so stuck and so slow, requiring a lot of patience on everyone’s part. We dealt with Venus conjunct Saturn up to now, and this T-square will test us for the next 90 days to keep it very impersonal and friendly. Examine goals, ambitions, and how your friends are or are not reflective of your values, your heart, and your current magnetism.
The Scorpio factor has been teaching us about Reversing Magnetism using Scorpio energy, which is an important skill to cultivate whenever we deal with squares or oppositions to planets in that sign. You can bet that when Mercury crosses through the Scorpio zone of this Equinox T-square it will bring Mercurial manifestations of this set of tests.
As Mercury goes retrograde at 19 Scorpio on October 21, it means we’ll get the first set of releases and challenges to integrate from Oct 6 through 21, we’ll get the next set as Mercury retrogrades back through the 11-18 Scorpio zone from Oct 21 through 31. Then after it goes direct at 3 Scorpio on November 10, we’ll get another Mercury pass from November 21-26. And keep in mind the Sun crosses through the zone from November 2-10, so expect those periods to show you what this Equinox T-square is all about for you.
Primary lessons involving this particular T-square are for us to make sure we’re using the right means to achieve our ends. Fit things into a long range perspective, and keep it all on the rails despite momentary diversions and distractions. Don’t get needlessly aggravated when too much is going on all at once, and definitely don’t create “straw men” to fight when it would be easier to detach and take it a little easy.
Other lessons involve not allowing ourselves to be taken as non-entities and/or inconsequential, and see what we really care about, bring it to the attention of others, and rise to some “emergency” that can bring us into line with our higher purpose. Don’t neglect what’s important while finding a way to give enough time to the various projects that really matter to you. Keep all the minor issues related to the major play, don’t let yourself get jockeyed out of perfectly good opportunities, and awaken self or others to the need for action!
The T-square is given added power through the Sun at the critical degree of 1 Libra (bringing forth “symbolic deaths that are an initiation into a greater spiritual reality”) being semi-square to both Venus and Mars while sesquisquare the Moon. That means this Octile set of aspects will most affect those with planets or angles near 11-18 Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, as well as 26 Gemini-3 Cancer, 26 Virgo-3 Libra, 26 Sagittarius-3 Capricorn, and 26 Pisces-3 Aries.
The End of a Long Era
2013 was the first time in quite a few years where the very heavy Cardinal T-squares, and especially Pluto in early Capricorn, aren’t a major factor in the Solstice and Equinox charts. The Sun and Pluto were conjunct at Winter Solstice 2012, but were binovile at the Vernal Equinox in late March 2013. They were in wide opposition at the Summer Solstice, and now are 99 degrees apart, making no aspect. The coming Winter Solstice conjunction will be the last aspect in this series.
Taking a look back, in Dec 2006, the Sun was in close conjunction with Pluto at the Galactic Center. After that point the Sun always conjuncted, squared, or opposed Pluto at the Solstices and Equinoxes. This started getting more drastic at the 2009 Summer Solstice since the Sun conjuncted Uranus (still in late Pisces), and Uranus began to square Pluto. Once Saturn in Libra joined the Sun-Pluto dance at the 2009 Autumn Equinox chart, we entered a period of very intense Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto T-squares and/or Grand Crosses until Winter Solstice 2010. Lots of articles in the archives explain it in great detail.
The Sun-Pluto hard aspects at the Solstices and Equinoxes since 2007 have been challenging us all to find confidence in the midst of chaotic conditions, and use self-discipline and deep insights to pioneer in new directions. If the Solstice and Equinox charts show the weather patterns to come, this chart indicates we’re just about done with our Sun-Pluto hard lessons in play 2007-2012, and have entered a new era of spiritual evolution.
Given that Pluto is one of the anchors of The Grand Irrationality, when squared it releases a lot of energy precipitating situations that move people to make choices that propel them into their destiny. This rolled forward in a huge way during the Summer 2010 Cardinal T-square involving Pluto, and now that the Sun again occupies Saturn's late July-early August 2010 position, we can definitely expect things related to that T-square to power up!
As I noted, I've written about the Cardinal squares and oppositions to Pluto in several Equinox and Solstice articles in past years. You can find out a lot via this article on the bigger picture involving Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto squares and oppositions at that time in history, and what everyone on Earth went through in 2009-2011. It also has internal links to other articles on each of the squares and oppositions and what they mean.
As it was composed during the T-squares of the earliest degrees, it is very relevant to what’s triggered at these Equinox and Solstice points. At the bottom of this one, I’ve included links to two more articles that can help explain why 2009-2011 turned everyone on Earth in new directions.
A Sun conjunct, square, or opposition to Uranus or Pluto releases a lot of energy, and either blocks or propels events. That's because squares tend to put the brakes on some things, while indicating a "turning of a corner" in other things. Conjunctions bring new year cycles of transformational Light/Life, while oppositions bring awareness and polarizations.
Strong aspects to Pluto often show things going out of control or something extreme happening that results in either a favorable purification or a grinding toxicity. Strong aspects to Uranus often show things being unexpectedly revolutionized or renovated, with an awakening to a greater freedom that will not be denied by any thing.
Now that we’ve examined the Sun-Pluto energies, let’s turn to Uranus. The Sun squared Uranus in the June 2010 Solstice chart, conjuncted it in the March 2011 Equinox chart, squared it again in the June 2011 Solstice chart, and opposed it in the September 2011 Equinox chart. It made the same aspects for the December 2011 Solstice and March 2012 Equinox charts as previously, but in the June 2012 Solstice chart the Sun was too wide to make a square.
However, in the 2012 Autumnal Equinox chart Uranus retrograded back to a Solar opposition, again creating a major line of tension between the Great Light and the Revolutionizer. In any Sun-Uranus affliction, there is a need to control willfulness and erraticism, and turn those high tension energies toward finding inner values that the world will recognize and reward, and stop making excuses for non-action.
Sun-Uranus hard aspects challenge us to embrace the values and standards we hold in our hearts and pursue them with no reservations. We had to bring our genius to the fore while tempering any erratic tendencies or willfulness that sent us in directions at odds with what we were trying to accomplish.
We all learned to follow our higher genius or special qualities that may have been abruptly awakened. These energies helped us rise to some urgency we care about, develop "social intuition," and be wholehearted in pursuing goals that called to our hearts.
As with the passing seasons of preceding Equinox and Solstice charts, this is a time of decision, using our "free will" to demonstrate our wisdom and training as they have gestated over the long haul. It is a time when we can find a renewed sense of purpose and ways of creatively expressing that purpose as well as the higher genius of Self.
Jones Pattern, Dispositors, and the Lunar Phase
The planets in this chart are in a Splay pattern, which I explained in the recent article The September New Moon in Virgo Pt. 2 - Signs, Sabian Symbols, and What It All Means This chart shows a wide distribution, with one or more planets across 8 signs and the tripod quality anchored by the Water planets.
In this chart, Venus, Mars and the Sun make up the “chain of dispositors,” with Neptune apart from the rest of the planets. That makes Venus, Mars, and the Sun very powerful, as they form the backdrop to various energies of the other planets. As there is a combination of frictional and productive aspects made between the planets in the chart, you can expect a blend of these qualities to be present over the next 90 days.
Since Venus rules the Sun it strengthens the Sun, and facilitates a more loving approach to all life and relationships. As Venus is at 14 Scorpio, there will be a focus of the Light on how to build and/or strengthen lines of communication into unknown zones.
Much will be released in magical ways for those who know how to use the courage, faith, and devotional power of Mars to sever what must be severed to join in a public renewal. Nobility and creativity will work to move stuck situations while maintaining a “live and let live” attitude as we stop seeking and become spiritual warriors. Some will find shortcuts in their evolution, and need to find protective mechanisms to guard the “gold strike” as they rest after the labor.
The Full Moon Lunar phase in the T-square while sextile to Jupiter and quintile to Neptune shows that we’ll need to survey what we need to continue to stabilize our works. As we do this there will be many opportunities to be productive in finding that which sustains our nourishment, and simple intuition will help us navigate the occasional traffic jams in the collective atmosphere.
Important Aspects
Besides the powerful octile-series aspects mentioned earlier, other important forming aspects include Venus trine Jupiter and tredecile Neptune, Mars binovile Saturn, Jupiter tredecile Saturn, Saturn quincunx Uranus, and the ever-ominous Uranus square Pluto. These show us things to come over the next 13 weeks! The separating aspects show things already past.
Venus and Neptune bring special interactive gifts and circumstances for those with planets or angles between 1-5 Virgo-Pisces, 7-11 Libra-Aries, 13-17 Scorpio-Taurus, 20-24 Sagittarius-Gemini, and 26-30 Capricorn-Cancer. Of course, Venus makes two huge aspects, a trine to Jupiter and a square to Mars. We again continue to build through Water, or feeling-flow, and release through Fire, or inspiration.
Again, don’t let momentary interruptions deflect you off your goals, and make sure you’re clear about what means you need to achieve your ends. Learn to get a steady coordination between your various affairs so you don’t get diverted, fit things into a long range broad view, and you should be able to keep things going despite the distractions.
Saturn quincunx Uranus will bring huge adjustments and sacrifices based in the turning points we’ve confronted during the long period where Saturn was triseptile Uranus, discussed in numerous New and Full Moon articles over past months. This quincunx shows something MUST give way in either our Saturn function or our Uranus function or both.
The adjustments will occur wherever we have 10-11 Aries and Scorpio in our charts. We’ll all be able to pull out of nosedives and move into new vistas of conscious, concrete development, as well as find opportunities to combine imagination and engineering to use visualization and skill to bring forth new significant forms and processes in our lives that can help us get things done.
Other Factors
Due to the emphasis of Venus, Saturn, and the North Node in Scorpio, keep eliminating useless emotions or toxic responses. This is the time to eliminate old ways of relating, as well as stagnant life structures, and move into deeper feeling-connections with others. We’re going deeper this season, and have the ability to move into a much broader view of who we are and what we are here to contribute to our world.
So this season brings conflict and major releases and turning points, but at least we’ll have the ability to see a bigger view and move into a more fluid way of finding what we need and expressing compassion as we enter unknown zones. We can also find that which refreshes us within a collective setup, this leading to the rebirth hinted at a few paragraphs up.
This continues to help us find what we need to continue to build the vision we first encountered between August 2011 and March 2012 that began a life chapter of our part in building toward a new society, new ways of living, new ways of working, new ways of relating, whether to each other, the Earth and Her creatures, the invisible world, or Life Itself. Make your life a work of art, and your art a work of life, and keep it all simple and pleasant through the storms that are all around.
Decide with precision, and then act with strength, courage, and creativity. Get the information and interactions you need, and then go deep into your experience and feel the power of the flow. Then go do whatever you need to do. Buena suerte, and Godspeed!!
Aum and blessings as we stand on the threshold of a new season of life!
For some perspective on 2013 so far, here are the past Solstice and Equinox articles.
Summer Solstice 2013 - What's Coming in July, August, and September
It's the Vernal (Spring) Equinox 2013 - What's Coming in April, May, and June
Happy Winter Solstice 2012 - Part 1
Happy Winter Solstice 2012 - Part 2
If you want to know more about the 2009-2011 period and why things were so crunchy back then, here are a couple that will help make things clearer:
There's more about the specific lessons of Saturn in early Libra square Pluto in early Capricorn, the structure for much that has evolved since then, in the article Is It Saturn Square Pluto That's Giving Me A Hard Time, or Something Else? And in Who Is the Saturn in Libra Square Pluto in Capricorn Most Impacting? you will see which birthdays and generations have been and continue to be impacted every time a Cardinal T-square is set into motion at this time in history.
© Copyright 2013 Robert Wilkinson
September 21, 2013 | PermalinkTechnorati Tags:astrology, Autumnal Equinox, cardinal cross, Cardinal T square, Equinox, Fixed T-square, galactic center, Grand cardinal cross, Grand Irrationality, Jupiter in Cancer, Mars in Leo, quincunx, quintile, Saturn in Scorpio, Venus square Mars
well all I am able to offer as one in the southern hempishpere with a human date/time line that precedes most of the northern hemisphere is,that we enter the dawn of a new day first, not as in first the winner simply first as in natural process and we have endured the first winter post 2012 and yes it it has been very challenging yet we are still here as the light now begins to return to our part of the world and it is doable, so long as one doesnt get caught up in the fear, keeps ones eye on wthe direction you are aiming the ball and the passion to create the opportunities or the seeds now planted that will germinate under the cover of darkness throughout what sometimes seems to be a harsh winter. Pay attention to what is occurring in this hemishpere as it may be used as a heads up of pitfalls you may be able to avoid by changin your mind on anything that doesnt look good down here, we have often been served up s...t and told to see it as manure which is not true and what hasbee "burned" in accordance will no doubt be revealed in the comins days for those who swallowed it the rest of us, well regardless of what we no longer have, we still have our bodies and our faith and what may come is no worse than what we have learned to adapt to in order to survive and hopefully flourish ahead.
Namaste to you all, and genuine thanks as always Robert, for your unique expression of the scenarios from your writings and ares, very grateful.
ph and ps hahahaha yeah here she goes yet more to say, I have natally Pluto 5VIrgo, Chiron 5Pisces, Neptune 8Scorpio, Venus 15Taurus and finally Saturn 28Cap, and feel like I am in the middle of an amazing adventure, yes there is some fear that rises from time to time due to the unknown, but in mostly it feels like the excitement of a new adventure adn all the wonderful new things to see and experience,I feel like a tour guide learning a new route, quite um, not sure how to describe it really, it does feel good though whatever it is hahahaha!
Posted by:Debbie |September 21, 2013 at 08:06 PMHello Robert...thank you for this article and all you do! Is the link to the 'Who is the Saturn in Libra square Pluto in Capricorn Most Impacting' link working? I cannot seem to access this article.
Teresa
Hi Debbie - You are truly in the middle of an amazing adventure! I have no doubt you'll do quite well in the transition.
Hi Debra - A decan is a third of a sign, a ten degree span that's at the beginning, middle, or end of a sign.
Hi Teresa - Fixed the busted link.
Posted by:Robert |September 22, 2013 at 06:07 PMShould be an intetesting adventure with my venus at 14 d scorpio (today is my venus return!!!) conjunct my ic! My progressed moon is almost at 10d scorpio and transiting saturn as well North Node!!!
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