The monthly Solar/Lunar cycle has been observed since the dawn of human existence. Along with the cycles of day and night, and the changing seasons, it provided a repetitive pattern which gave the ancients a sense of predictability in a chaotic world. Using the Secondary Progressed Sun and Moon, you can define the predictable patterns which underlie the changing circumstances of your life.
Secondary Progressions
Secondary progressions (SP) are a tool astrologers use to bring an individual's birth chart into the present. The Secondary progressions, sometimes called internal transits, are measured using a "day for a year" formula. They are based on your birth chart and unlike the transiting Sun, Moon, and planets in the sky, Secondary Progressions are uniquely yours.
Monthly Solar/Lunar Phases
The monthly Lunar phases are based on the ever-changing relationship of the Sun, Earth, and Moon in the sky. There are eight lunar phases each month. To the naked eye, each last three plus days. The Moon in the sky takes 28+ days to complete her phases and begin again. These simple astronomical observations provide the rationale for interpreting the phases of the monthly lunar cycle.
The Secondary Progressed Solar/Lunar Cycle
Your progressed lunation cycle is a dynamic relationship between your SP Sun (creative potential) and SP Moon (unconscious receptivity). Using the "day for a year" formula, it takes the SP Moon 28+ years to circle your entire birth chart, and in that time, she makes eight dynamic connections with your much slower moving SP Sun.
Things to keep in mind:
- These eight phases define turning points in each 28+ year span of life
- Each phase lasts three + years
- Your first lunar cycle does not necessarily begin at birth, but everyone's first complete lunar cycle begins sometime before age 30.
- There is no specific type of circumstance or event that goes with any particular phase of the lunation cycle, but whatever happens in your life happens within the context of your SP Solar/Lunar phase.
You can calculate your SP Solar/Lunar Phases at Lunarium.
The Progressed Solar/Lunar Phases
The eight Progressed Lunar Phases can provide individualized guidance through life's changes and challenges; the sharp turns, steep climbs, and occasional plateaus, as well as the beginnings, culminations, and endings that everyone experiences during their life.
The New Moon Phase
Each New moon phase is a pivotal point in life. This is when the seed that will root, grow, blossom and die back over the coming 28+ years is planted. During this phase, you'll sense something important is about to happen, but you have no definite expectation of what's to come. Depending on the individual, you can feel vulnerable, confused, or excited. Whatever occurs outwardly begins on a subjective level. New and far-reaching intentions are set in motion. You may move, marry, divorce, have a child, or start a new job, but whatever it is, it's an important new beginning that sets your course for the next 28 + years.
Examples:
- George Clooney's last appearance on ER and his beginning as an A-List actor happened at his SP New Moon
- During John Lennon's SP New Moon, The Beatles signed their first recording contract
The Crescent Phase
What was begun at the New Moon will be tested during the Crescent Moon. You're taken out of your comfort zone by an inner urge to push forward and expand. Change with can be frightening, but this is the time to be courageous, have faith in yourself, make a commitment to the future, get a clearer idea of where you're going, and put firmer foundations in place.
Example:
- When John Lennon was going through his SP Crescent phase, it was the height of the Beatles popularity. It was then that Lennon began putting down a firmer foundation for his future.
The First Quarter Phase
The First Quarter symbolizes one of the more stressful phases of the cycle. You have reached a significant turning point that calls for will and intention. It's time to take independent action to ensure continued growth. This phase tests your level of commitment. Returning to the seed analogy of the New Moon this is the time when the seed needs to put down deep roots.
Example:
- When John Lennon reached his SP First Quarter Moon, he divorced his first wife, married Yoko Ono and started his solo career.
The Gibbous Phase
With the Gibbous phase, you're coming to the close of the first half of the cycle, and promise is in the air. You learn to adapt to existing realities or limitations in pursuit of the direction to which you committed at the First Quarter. It's also a time when a sense of discomfort causes you to become introspective, analyze and sort out your priorities. During the Gibbous phase paying attention to details and perseverance are essential.
Example:
- At his SP Gibbous phase, Salman Rushdie went into hiding as religious outrage over his Satanic Verses reached fever pitch.
Full Moon Phase
During the Full Moon Phase, the seed that was planted at the New Moon, flowers. It's a time of recognition. You're objective and have a detached acceptance of where your life's choices have brought you. The Full and New Moons are the most significant turning points in the SP Solar/Lunar Cycle. At the Full Moon the waxing half of the cycle ends, and the waning half, that's associated with "reaping what you've sown," begins.
Example:
- George Clooney's SP Full Moon began in 2014. In 2014 he got a lifetime achievement award and to everyone's surprise, the longtime bachelor married the accomplished lawyer and activist Amal Alamuddin. The events of 2014 in many ways mark the culmination of what had been set in motion 15 years earlier when he left ER at his SP New Moon.
The Disseminating Phase
At the Disseminating Phase, you sense that something is beginning to shift, you've changed and grown and want to share what you've learned with others. You put your skills to work, build networks of friends, and demonstrate what you know. This is when you interact with others, ask questions, and share ideas, insights, and knowledge.
Example:
- A fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined the Beatles during his SP Disseminating phase
Fourth Quarter Moon
During this phase, there's a crisis in consciousness. You'll search for meaning and make decisions. The SP Last Quarter phase raises urgent questions about who you are, what you want, and how you see your destiny. For some individuals, there's a growing sense of emptiness and meaninglessness, for others the SP Last Quarter Moon is more about the future than about the past.
Example:
- Nelson Mandela was released after 30 years in prison at his SP Last Quarter Moon. With his eyes focused on the future, Mandala went on to become the first black South African president.
The Balsamic Phase
The Balsamic Phase is a time for rest and retreat. Whether that means waiting, reflecting on the past, actively pursuing options that had been put aside earlier, receiving a reward for long-held dreams that have been fulfilled, or coming into your own, depends on the individual. These three plus years are for withdrawal from striving in the outer world and letting things come to an end.
The Balsamic is the last phase of the Lunar cycle but it's not just an end, it's also the bridge to the next cycle. It's in the quiet of this last Lunar phase that the seed of the next SP New Moon is to be found.
Example:
- In 1994, during his SP Balsamic Moon Phase, Nelson Mandela became president of South Africa. This was the time when Mandela came into his own and was rewarded for his long-held dream of an apartheid-free South Africa.
Turn, Turn, Turn
"To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, a time to reap that which is planted." The lyrics of Turn, Turn, Turn, written by Bob Seger, were taken almost verbatim from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, these lyrics express what the SP Lunar Phases represent.
