The two factors, as we mentioned, are linked by a square --

traditionally seen as a "bad" aspect, but more accurately seen as

simply frictional. Squares generally suggest tough choices, external

pressures, and at least some stress.

You don't need to be an astrologer to know what the Moon means. Just

engage your imagination. Immediately, the mind free-associates.

Moon: night...feelings...falling in love...seeing a ghost... And

that's pretty much what astrologers throughout history have said:

the Moon represents your interior life, your "heart." Like all

astrological factors, the Moon progresses, taking a little over a

quarter of a century to make one circuit around the chart. It

typically spends a couple of years in each sign or house, and

eventually forms aspects with all the planets. How do we read it?

Simple: at any given moment the progressed Moon tells us where your

heart is. Or, to be a little less schmaltzy about it, the Moon says

where your attention is. What is concerning you. Where your growth

experiences are unfolding -- which is often to say where you're

experiencing challenges, upsets, or opportunities to regroup and

express yourself in new ways. Being an emotional factor, the

progressed Moon always refers to areas of heightened sensitivity.

Intuition comes to the forefront. Instincts must be followed.

Somehow the unconscious mind has gotten ahead of conscious

awareness, and now conscious awareness is catching up, following the

trail of intuitive clues and impulses laid down by the wise, dark

interior of your spirit.

How is the progressed Moon currently impacting on you? It aligns

with the First House cusp: April 27, 2011.

The First House is about choices and commitments. It represents

crossroads -- and the idea of burning your bridges behind you. When

stimulated, as it is now through the entry of the Moon into it, you

are in the driver's seat...so you'd better take the wheel and steer!

The pace of your life is accelerating rapidly. Don't let the speed

of events blind you -- underlying the question "What choices should

I make?" "Who am I" is another, more primal question.

While the First House always symbolizes an active period, it is more

fundamentally a meditation upon identity. What you do and who you

are...they're interwoven, of course. But more importantly, both are

now being renewed and rewired, embracing more of the qualities of

the Moon, as we just described them. Certain unfamiliar experiences

in this world can nourish you, make you glad to be alive. Others,

perhaps very familiar, are now simply irrelevant. When the First

House is cooking, one point is sure: to claim those nourishing

experiences, you'll have to exercise the power of your will.

There is something of the nature of the Moon you must conquer; you

are being challenged to lead your life. If you do well, the paradox

is that people will call you selfish. They'll shake their heads and

ask what's gotten into you. You have entered a season of radical new

beginnings. That implies endings, too, and the severing of ties with

the past. When it comes to amputations, the swift, sharp blade is

far kinder than the slow, dull one. Trust yourself. Move decisively.

And don't look back.

Deep-sea voyagers observe that even the largest sailboat becomes

extraordinarily small after a week or two at sea. Every quirk in the

character of each crew member is magnified, and the way a person

scratches his chin can become a motivation for homicide. At that

microscopic social distance, personality looms painfully large. Now

turn it around and look at the other end of the spectrum. How do

people appear at enormous social distances? We no longer are aware

of introversion or extroversion, of expression, of feeling or cold,

clear reason. At those ranges, we stop seeing who people are.

Instead, we think of them in terms of what they do or what they

represent.

Astrologically, this dimension of our humanness is symbolized by the

Midheaven. What we do for a living is almost always a significant

piece of the puzzle here, but it's misleading to limit our

understanding of the Midheaven to career concerns. Being known as a

liberal or a conservative, a feminist, an environmentalist, a patron

of the arts...all are Midheaven roles, even though we don't make any

money doing them. (Usually the opposite, in fact.) One's role in the

community must evolve as we mature, and that process is linked to

the motion of the progressed Midheaven, which has gone critical for

you this year. Typically, progressed-Midheaven events mark changes

in your social status. More deeply, they suggest a need arising in

you for a more multi-dimensional role in the world. You are ready to

bear a new kind of fruit in the community; something inside you is

ready to be unveiled...and an old role has grown thin and tired.