So quickly the Moon changes! Already it’s a thickening crescent well on its way to first quarter. So before I fall even further behind, here’s a look at the new phase from last Wednesday, 18 February 2015. The chart is set for my location of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
First, a reminder: We’re looking at these charts in the abstract for learning purposes only. I’m identifying testimonies involving dignity and reception, but there’s no attempt to draw any meaning from those testimonies. That’s because there isn’t any meaning, absent a specific context! No chart can mean anything until it is anchored within a real-life situation; that is, someone has asked a horary question, or we are looking at a person's nativity and life as it unfolds.
This New Moon occurred in the last minute of the last degree of Aquarius. Only a minute to go before the Sun leaves its detriment! The Moon is in its own face, the most minor essential dignity; once in Pisces it is peregrine. Every new moon is, by definition, an exact conjunction with the Sun and therefore cazimi, the strongest accidental dignity a planet can have.
Once the Sun moves into Pisces it shares positive mutual reception with Jupiter in Leo. Meanwhile, Mercury applies immediately to that sextile with Saturn we’ve seen coming, with Saturn taking Mercury into detriment.
Mars and Venus are in an interesting dance with each other, bodily and by reception. Mars soon enters its own sign of Aries, increasing in essential dignity from triplicity to rulership. Once in Aries Mars starts loving himself and hating Venus. Meanwhile Venus, not far behind, suffers a big drop in essential dignity as she leaves exaltation for detriment. She starts hating herself and loving Mars. When Mars moves into Aries and Venus is still in Pisces, they are no longer conjunct. They become conjunct again as soon as Venus enters Aries. She then begins to move ahead of Mars, slowly at first. By the next full moon she's a full five degrees ahead of him.
Photo above by James Havard, Feb 20, 2015; Source: Flickr. Used under a Creative Commons license.
