As we lay to rest a year that
faced us all with our mortality, may we find solace in the requiem song of all
that passed.Our final full moon of
2020, known as the Long Nights Moon in our Northern Hemisphere, sings a song of
comfort and care from the cardinal waters of Cancer.Again, as the New Moon whispered weeks ago,
these comforts are not without some sadness as we look back at all that
transpired this year.But we who are greeting
this Full Moon now…we made it through, and we can sing for those who didn’t.
Often, this Full Moon in
Cancer each year is one which illuminates the importance of emotional bonds and
familiar protection, no matter what we may be going through.This time, our luminaries are in a 90 degree
square to Chiron in Aries, the Cosmic Shaman who has been teaching the Aries medicine
of self-reliance with a call to ‘heal thyself’.Alongside Chiron is the asteroid Requiem.This main-belt asteroid was discovered and
named in 1977 by Nikolai Chernykh, whose mother (Melaniya) died the day he
discovered it.
Chiron’s wisdom, at the end of
this year, tells of the great healing power in honoring all we have lost in
2020 with a collective prayer of Requiescat in Pace (Rest in Peace).And, at the same time, this dynamic square calls
for a Requiem of Woundedness that has been viral for centuries longer than
Covid19.May we lay it all to rest in
this year where we learned we cannot live well without each other.May we lay it all to rest in this year where
we learned our natural world can heal in the absence of who we were.
And may this teaching provide
the solid foundation from which Humanity creates a future of Peace with all
life on Earth.
Total Solar Eclipse in
Sagittarius: The South Node Seeding
Moon conjunct Sun- 12/14/20 @
10:16am CST
In the shadows of Eclipse
Season, we begin the last lunar cycle of 2020, a year to remember.Here in the Northern Hemisphere, as we approach
the Midwinter Solstice, we welcome the Long Nights Moon cycle.Our sisters and brothers in the Southern
Hemisphere, as they approach Midsummer Solstice, welcome the Strong Sun Moon
cycle. Together, we are welcoming a
shift of season that holds a solar standstill and a Great Conjunction of
Jupiter and Saturn.
We also say our goodbyes to
the previous Jupiter-Saturn cycles so we may usher in the Aquarian air of the
next.As the story goes with the 20 year
conjunction cycle of these two planets, ‘one king dies as the next king reigns’.This Aquarian conjunction happens on December
21st, Solstice Day, and carries a strikingly similar theme to a
story of our Solstices.Within each
solar standstill, the Holly King and the Oak King engage in battle.Each rules for half a year, before the other usurps
them.This story tells of the growing,
dying, and rebirthing of the Sun throughout our seasons.
'The Riddle of Strider' by J.R.R. Tolkien
And within this total solar
eclipse, this ‘death and rebirth cycle of the Sun King’ theme is accelerated as
the shadow of Moon sails across our Sun for 2 minutes and 10 seconds of
darkness.Not all Earthlings can visibly
observe this totality, but every one of us can feel it.On the other side of this eclipse portal, a
rapid rebirth of light ensues…reminding us of so many ‘changing of the guard’
moments in our Earthly lives.
This total eclipse is at Moon’s
South Node…seeding a new cycle with Sun that honors the fruit, flower, and root
from whence it came. Within this seed,
past provides future potential as we approach Solstice.
Yes, but shadows…so many of us
would hide from seeing the truth within them.The Shadowland seems dangerous territory…we cannot rely upon our sight
and we are challenged to practice the extra-sensory navigation we were born
with, but often forget how to use.The
Unknown envelops us as we cross into the Void.We search for some comfort or safety as we have known it before…but
there is only what can be birthed from this darkness.Even the words to describe where we are now have
acquired some dreadful connotation from a past that has tried to dissociate
from Goddess Wisdom.But as all Dark
Moons in Dark Nights teach us, light is reborn in the dark.
South Lunar Node in
Sagittarius 20
Sabian Symbol- ‘in an old
fashioned Northern village, men cut ice from a frozen pond for use during the Summer’
There is an interplay of hindsight
and foresight within this last month of the 2020 vision…one in which the
shadows of the past reveal a message for the future.Where we come from arrives at this threshold
in a transformed state, supporting our growth into where we are going.We
are leaving something behind in a South Node Eclipse, but we carry forth the
past that matters most to our growth:the wisdom of experience.This is
where hindsight gives birth to foresight in Sagittarius South Node medicine.We anticipate the needs of our Collective
Soul by surviving and learning from past experience.Within this symbol, we carry forth what we
need of “frozen” memory as a way to care for each other in times to come.The South Lunar Node, a portal to the soul’s
past, carries experiential wisdom from our Ancestors that they pass through to
us.In bringing forth the ice cutting
symbol, our Ancestors of many realms provide insight to the natural cycles.As Earthlings, this is our rhythm…the
drumming of Gaia’s Heart.Listening to
that rhythm, even in the dark, connects us to the beat of our Collective Earthdance.There is a message in that song, being seeded
now within the compost from past cycles, of planning for our Descendants…considering
who we are as Ancestors and how we may show our support for the future Now.This message, this cyclical rhythm of Mother Nature,
it holds true for us even through the Shadowlands of our journey on Earth.
Moon-Sun in Sagittarius 24
Sabian Symbol-‘a bluebird perched on the gate of a cottage’
Our luminaries resonate with
the medicine of Bluebird…often considered a threshold guide in many
cultures.Bluebird sings a Sacred Song to
the rhythm of our earthly cycles and invites us to show our true colors.
You may have heard of the Bluebird
of Happiness. As a child, I first
encountered this winged symbol in my favorite Shirley Temple movie…where her
character follows a bluebird into a magical Otherworld much like White Rabbit
leads Alice and a Twister guides Dorothy.
The coming-of-age journey of these young girls mirrors Bluebird
medicine, which guides us through our passages in life. The search for happiness brings us through
unexpected realms…what we once knew can go through reversal to be understood
more wisely. And so not all experiences
on the path to happiness are as joyful as we hoped.
When Bluebird perches on the
gate, as it does in this symbol, there is an invitation to a journey guided by
what illuminates happiness.There is a
promise of joy and good fortune here, when we move beyond the gate, and yet
happiness is not separate from the blues of our sadness.There is a type of joy that is only
experienced through grief…one where compassionate care and support embraces us
in both states at once.
Sadness and Joy with core memory in 'Inside Out'
This is a theme seeded now and
amplified in the Solstice Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.Jupiter expands, Saturn contracts.Jupiter is jovial and festive, Saturn is
serious and solemn.And their conjunction
has them expressing as one for our Collective…just as a New Moon marries the Spirit
of Sun and the Soul of Moon in the Matter of Earth.
Perhaps, in our pursuit of
Happiness during this holiday season, we may find the truth of that journey in
our Sadness.What we have collectively
experienced throughout 2020 has largely been a Saturnian lesson of limits and
responsibility.The year began with a Saturn-Pluto
conjunction in Saturn’s nocturnal sign of Capricorn earth, a necessary
breakdown of our societal structures through soul crisis.The year closes with a Jupiter-Saturn
conjunction in Saturn’s diurnal sign of Aquarius air, a productive progression
of ingenuity for our societal systems.As we head into 2021, multiple planetary cycles are seeded in Air
signs.But what have we learned of our
Earth cycles?We will carry forth the
wisdom of those past experiences, both happy and sad, to inform and provide for
our future.
You may ponder, in this
eclipse, what you have learned from your past adventures…in the saddest challenges
and the happiest blessings.What truth
have you found there that can sustain you through the months ahead?The hard work initiated this year does not
disappear after 2020 closes and the new year begins.We are to see it through in new ways.And in this renewal of many cycles, we have a
responsibility to ourselves, to each other, and to our future…that this new
vision of society is sustainable and supportive of Life on Earth.
I wish you all a Blessed
Solstice, Happy Holidays, and a Prosperous New Year!May our light shine bright, even through the
dark.
Penumbral Lunar Eclipse in
Gemini: The North Node Calling
Moon opposite Sun - 11/30/2020
@ 3:29am CST
At this Full Moon in Gemini, our
Moon is close enough to her North Node that the penumbral shadow of our Earth
reveals itself upon Lady Luna’s face.This shadow may be subtle, but it carries a long history and a hint of
where we are headed as a collective.
There is often some kind of
world crisis involved within the lessons of Eclipse Season.Depending on how each eclipse interacts with
your own natal makeup, the personal crisis can also be apparent to varying
degrees.When we navigate through
crisis, we are being invited to respond with necessary change and
transformation.Crisis has taken on a
rather negative connotation…because there is an edge to it, a transition from
known to unknown…where faith can either falter or become our strongest
ally.When we come to these critical
turning points in our year, we are faced with what of the past can no longer
continue as it was…and faced with potential choices we want to dream into our
future.
There is great opportunity
within crises, and much experiential wisdom born from them. Yet such rewards cannot be reached without
entering through that Eclipse Portal and crossing beyond that shadowy
threshold. You are certainly not alone
if you are being faced with your fears, the roots of your insecurities, and
many of the untruths that have clouded your own truth. This year, the eclipses have held the added imperative
of Neptune squaring the Lunar Nodes. All
these transformations feel a bit hazier and indescribable this year…like we can’t
quite put our finger on any of it, really.
And yet, we are inspired to create a new dream within this mystical
haze. We are challenged to take those
leaps of faith, not knowing where we will land.
And we are drawn to integrate all the disparate parts of our Collective
Soul into wholeness…all without the definition and clear guidelines of ‘How’.
The strongest opportunity we
are blessed with during this time, which is still rather subtle, is from Mercury
(the Messenger planet and the guide of this Gemini lunation) in harmonious
rapport with our social planets, Jupiter and Saturn in Capricorn.Both Jupiter and Saturn are now in the last
leg of their journey through Cardinal Earth, where they have been joining with
Pluto all year for the massive renovations of our societal structures.On December Solstice, they meet in the 1st
degree of Aquarius for their Great Conjunction…ushering in an era of elemental
air conjunctions after a long stretch of earth focus.But we’re not quite in the Era of Air just
yet.The Mercury sextile provides us
with some useful information from the depths of Scorpio waters.Something that has been hidden in the subconscious
realms of our Collective Mind is coming to the surface to be worked out before
we move on from these Capricorn lessons.A helpful way to tap into this sextile is to communicate your
observations with others.Also, the
Capricorn-Scorpio sextile can be helpful in moving one step at a time with a
thought or idea.In a Neptunian fog,
this can be very useful.
Another subtle sextile
opportunity arising at this time is that Mars in Aries is inspiring us to move
forward again. Because this is an
applying sextile and trine to the Lunar Nodes, our inspiration to work with the
Collective Soul’s needs will grow over the next couple weeks.In this Full Moon, we may catch a glimpse of
what we are building toward.
The harmonious sextile and
trine from Chiron Rx to the luminaries is also a helpful healing influence
during this eclipse.The Chiron aspects
to the luminaries are fleeting, and already on the wane, but are still
accessible in the Full Moon opening of this Eclipse Portal.Wounding from the past may find healing in
the future if its cast into the eclipse cauldron to transform.
But aside from the very apparent
dynamic of Neptune’s mystification, and the subtle harmonies offering
opportunity for relief, there is also a waning Venus-Uranus Rx opposition still
working seemingly unrelated and strange magic behind the scenes during this
eclipse.And though we may not currently
see how the inconjunct aspects to our luminaries apply to this aperture of
Eclipse magic, their Strangelove vibration is part of the integration of these
lessons.The exaction of this
Venus-Uranus Rx opposition was a few days ago…and whatever new, out-of-the-box
observation about love or finances came up this past week will want to be
integrated (however uncomfortable, it brings unexpected growth).
'Psyche Opening the Golden Box' by John William Waterhouse
It is good to keep in mind the
way of Gemini in this Sagittarius Season, not just because this is a Gemini
Full Moon (though that’s a very good reason) but also because her North Node has
been and will continue to be in Gemini for many months to come.North Node represents the Collective Soul’s
evolutionary needs…what we are taking in for our growth though it is not what
we’re used to.The North Node journey
through Gemini asks us to follow our curiosity and fascination.We may be taking in a lot of new information
(Gemini North Node) as we release some old reasons and beliefs (Sagittarius
South Node).As we do this, we feel
drawn to communicate with fellow souls when our paths cross.Because this Lunar Eclipse takes place near
the North Node, what is calling us now is to allow Psyche to speak through
curiosity.The asteroid Psyche is
conjunct the North Node and strengthening in influence right now.Her Heroine’s Journey is guiding our Collective
Soul Journey throughout this Eclipse Season.
“What you resist not only
persists, but it will grow in size.” -Carl Jung
As we lead into another
eclipse season, Moon conjoins Sun at perigee (where she is closer to Earth in
her orbit).Not only is she closer to us
(and more intensely felt), but she is also in a sign that is counter-intuitive
to her naturally protective and comforting emotional nature.Scorpio is a path of complexity, intensity,
and extremity.What is safe, relaxing,
and predictable is of little concern on this path.Scorpio often pushes us to the edges of what
we fear most…so that we may find the deeper truth of it and transform.Along the Scorpio path, that which must die is
brought to the charnel grounds to decompose.
Not a pretty picture to open
with…but bear with me, I was born under a Scorpio Moon.It’s almost impossible for me to unsee what
is dying of our former lives still walking around and interacting as if it is
immortal.It will not ‘go gentle into
that goodnight’…mostly because many of us have been conditioned to fear death
as an absolute end.We hold on to even
that which hurts us or holds us back from truly living.Scorpio teaches that death is necessary and
leads to regeneration.
This Scorpio New Moon is in a
sextile to Jupiter, Pallas Athene, and Pluto in Capricorn.The sextile provides an opportunity to begin
this lunar cycle with some wise insight about where we need to transform.By now, as Saturn, Jupiter, and Pallas wrap up
some of their last lessons of sustainability in Capricorn (eventually leaving
Pluto to continue the transformation process in cardinal earth)…we have
witnessed the bare bones of our societal structures being rattled and tested by
the force of natural law.It has been
undeniable and unavoidable.But on the
personal level, each one of us is feeling our own necessity to change as
well.Step by step, we are transforming
in our own ways.Some have a harder time
with this process than others.But
really, none of it is easy.It involves
so much letting go of what we have previously relied upon.It requires a great deal of trust in the
unknown, and as much patience as we can muster.
There is likely an inclination
to fall back into suppression of our feelings so that we can power through all that
is being asked of us now.The feelings
are so intense, many will fear they will only further complicate the process
and bring us into states where all control is lost.In Scorpio season, we tend to cling to a desire
to control things.And yet, Scorpio shows
us our hidden power to transform when we let go of our desire to control.That’s a scary lesson for most people to
accept.
We often hear that what we
resist persists.But the other part of
that quote from Jung, that what we resist also grows, is a large part of the
theme of this New Moon sextile Jupiter.Jupiter, the planet of expansion, amplifies things.So if we’re trying to suppress our
complicated feelings right now…they are bound to grow, eventually erupting from
under the surface of that suppression.Pallas Athene suggests the best strategy is to have a solid emotional
outlet.
What might be most suppressed
right now is what is coming from Eris in Aries, who squares the Capricorn
planets and is in an uncomfortable quincunx with our luminaries in Scorpio.Feeling unseen, unheard, and unappreciated…Eris,
Goddess of Discord, is tapping the masses to sound the ‘Devil’s Tri-tone’ and
unleash their chaotic fury.This has
been a recurring theme all year with Eris squared by the Capricorn Council, but
the protests continue to evolve into new territories…some more chaotic than
others.Whether we act on it visibly or
not, everyone’s feeling that chaos in some way in their own lives.Eris’s call in Aries has really always been
about integrity…but integrity is often challenged when pitted against established
societal structures.Even worse when we
are conditioned to be pitted against each other so the establishment can
maintain business as usual while we fight amongst ourselves.
As Mars, traditional ruler of
both Aries and Scorpio, has been retrograding through Aries and recently slowed
down to station direct…I have been pondering the Mars-Eris connection and what
it has been bringing up lately.In this
New Moon, I feel it is an appropriate time to share my thoughts on this.The following is something I’ve been writing
about lately…
Eris, Uninvited
In a world gone mad, Discord
makes herself known.She’s not just
lurking in dark corners…she is crashing every party that wasn’t expecting her.Her reputation of stirring up chaos and
strife precedes her…but there is much overlooked about the Goddess Eris.It is when she is overlooked or ignored that
she wreaks havoc on what we guarded as our comfort zone.
In Astronomy and Astrology, we
were introduced to Eris in 2005, though this celestial body wasn’t named after
the Goddess of Strife and Discord until 2006.
Eris is well known in her mythological storyline for shaking up the
order of things…and her discovery led to Pluto being ‘demoted’ to ‘dwarf
planet’ status along with her. Not only
was she uninvited to the planetary party by Astronomers, the threat of her
importance took Pluto down as well.
Neither Eris nor Pluto will be exiled without a fight, and this year has
been one to remember as they square each other multiple times.
'Eris, Goddess of Chaos' by Emily Balivet
Since her discovery, we
Astrologers have become more and more acquainted with Eris.We see the beauty in her chaos…there is great
purpose in it.When we’re ignoring the integral
things that seem too complicated to deal with, too outside of our comfort zone,
too threatening to our complacency and convenience…Eris arrives to cut through
the very fabric of falsity we enable.In
tatters after her blow, we can finally see our true self and what we are really
meant to do.Eris isn’t subtle, though
she often creeps up on us unannounced.
And humanity was in a state of
complacency before this rising state of emergency alerted us to what has been
out of integrity all along.No matter
how many times we’ve gotten her message since Eris let herself be known to
us…we still kept falling back into complacency after the dust would
settle.Rejection after rejection,
Eris’s message has by now reached a fever pitch in 2020.
Slow as her faraway orbit is,
the vast majority of people alive today were born with Eris in the cardinal
fire sign of Aries.This is a sign ruled
by Eris’s brother (Ares/Mars), whom she would join on the battlefield to ensure
that justice was served.She’s quite
powerful here in Mars’s fire sign, and is acknowledged with respect as a fierce
warrioress by her brother.Perhaps this
is part of why she spends more of her 560 year cycle in Aries than in any other
sign.Like Mars, she has a lot of agency
in cardinal fire.
Mars has been enjoying an
extended stay in his home sign this year too, retrograding through the last half
of the Aries degrees lately.From August
through October, Mars has made conjunctions with Eris…calling upon her
warrioress gifts to aid him in the battle this year.This has strengthened Eris’s presence in our
collective awareness along with discordant square aspects activating her from
the Capricorn Council.
And what interests me most,
since I was born in 1982, is that this Mars Retrograde in Aries has been either
doubly or triply activating the natal Eris of each person born in the last 38 years.Really, for most of us under 80 years
old…we’ve been at least twice within the orb of influence with Mars activating
our natal Eris.Mars stationed direct at
15 degrees of Aries on November 13th, the very same degree Eris was
in between 1982-1987. When anything
contacts our personal Eris degree, it stirs up whatever has been keeping us out
of integrity with our purpose.The
discord becomes more pronounced internally so that we feel we have to do
something about it.
And at this Scorpio New Moon, which
follows both the final Jupiter-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn and Mars’s direct
station in Aries, all signs point to a big change toward greater integrity with
our soul’s path.Perhaps if we actually
invite Eris to the party, rather than shunning her out of fear for what chaos
might ensue, she’ll help us grow through our discomfort.
This Full Moon ushers in
Witches’ New Year, and we begin what we call ‘the time which is no time’ from
now till Solstice.For those of us who
celebrate it as such, the Full Moon closest to the Scorpio cross-quarter is
known as ‘Lunar Samhain’, which just so happens to fall on Halloween this
year.There are few subtleties of cosmic
timing in 2020, you may have noticed.
Samhain Greetings from the Kavi House
And though the seasonal
cross-quarter (‘Solar Samhain’, when Sun reaches the midpoint of Scorpio) is on
Friday, November 6th…Lunar Samhain initiates this week where the
Otherworld is in closest contact with us.Stepping beyond the veil of sensory consciousness, we invite the Ancestors
in for an extraordinary celebration of life and death on Earth.We may communicate with them, we may feast
with them, we may put on costumes and perform for their amusement, we may pay
our respects to the dead in ceremony.No
matter what you do, or don’t do, to celebrate this time of year…the vibration
of this Full Moon will be felt one way or another.Don’t let it spook you.Seeing more ‘trick’ than ‘treat’ right now is
part of the vibe this year.However, the
blessings far outweigh the unfortunate events surrounding us.
'Taurus' by Cynthia Sheppard
Moon loves being cloaked in
the earthy comforts of Venusian Taurus…and here she is, in full, to show
herself in exaltation.But at this Lunar
Samhain, she is closely conjunct Uranus Retrograde.This stirs many surprises into the cauldron
of our High Priestess, Luna.It is an
improvised recipe bubbling within this strange brew when Uranus Rx is in the
mix.Since Uranus has been traveling
through Taurus (May 2018), this earth sign has not felt as stable and
dependable as it often is.There is an
electricity surging through solid earth…that’s what Uranus in Taurus feels
like.All of our sudden changes for 2
and a half years (so far) have been pushing us through our own resistance to
change drastically.It isn’t the easiest
sign for Uranus to express, but no matter.Innovation, currently through retrograde renovation, is inevitable where
we least expect it for the next several years.In the way of Taurus, you can’t force a flower to bloom until it is
ready.But with Uranus here, you also
can’t resist the acceleration of awakening.So where we see our strongest resistance, we may also see our necessity
to change.
And this is quite like
Death…unpredictable, often sudden, not what we’d expect even if we thought we’d
had a pretty good grasp on it.Tis the
Scorpio Season where we either greet or hide from Death, decay, darkness, loss,
and transformation.I choose to greet
the season with open arms toward all that is dying and all that have passed
beyond the veil.And this year…there
were so many deaths.It seems fitting we
have such cosmic synchronicity to attune us to the wisdom of the departed.It is so apparent that we need their
assistance to navigate this coming season as much as we need each other.
Scorpio medicine, which Sun
illuminates while conjunct the asteroid Astraea, is the path that brings us to
the edges of what we have felt to find deeper truth beyond the liminal
spaces.This is a path of transformation
and regeneration, brought forth through emotional catharsis.It can feel intense, because it requires us
to be ‘all in’ to reap the rewards of rebirth, even through the pain of
separation.It is Mars’s domain, where
cutting away that which must die is the way to move forward.
Astraea, the Star Maiden of
Justice, may straddle that threshold…both aiding the transformation of what is
being composted and what is being seeded for the coming year.Astraea’s strength is in her compassion and
her fairness.Her influence right now
tells us we must learn when to let go, but with grace and gratitude for what it
was meant to be for its time.
'Vesta' by Pamela Matthews
We also have a Grand Earth
Trine with Taurus Moon-Uranus Rx as she harmonizes with the asteroids Vesta in
Virgo and Hekate in Capricorn.This
creates a pattern called a ‘Kite’ with Sun-Astraea as the watery anchor for the
earthy flow.This kite vibration allows
for creative manifestations rooted in the depths of our feelings.Vesta the Priestess is the Guardian of the
Sacred Flame, Goddess of hearth and home.Hekate the Mother of Witches is Guardian of the Crossroads, Goddess of
magic and night.Together in harmony
with this Uranian Full Moon at Samhain, they invite us Earthlings into a Sacred
Passageway.When we approach a passage,
the soul of us calls out for ritual.We
may do this in varied ways during this time (which is ‘no time’)…but when we do
this with reverence for the dead and gratitude for our Ancestors, we are fully
supported.
'Hekate' by Kaysha Siemens
You don’t have to be a witch
to do this, though many of us are.Everyone has Ancestors and loved ones who have passed.You may call it Halloween and think of candy,
costumes, and creepy creatures first.But Halloween has sacred origins, too.Even the candy, costumes, and creepy creatures are part of the
Rite.
So, whether you’ve ever done
something special in the past for this holiday or not…this particular one is
uniquely magical.You may simply find
your awareness pulled toward the Moon on this night.You might have already felt this as she’s
traveled past Mars this week…and you’ll likely continue to be drawn to her
brilliance in the days following the Full Moon.Lady Luna is a visible reflection of what is wide awake within us
now.Sing to her, dance with her, bless
the way she guides us toward swift change in her monthly cycles.Join us witches in drawing her reflection
down to our Earth, bathing in the radiance of her exaltation.There is much to celebrate, even during the
heavy chaos of this year.And really, we
could all benefit from a little magic right now.
Satisfaction, success, peace, and the ‘Aha’ moments of our
lives are the very things that shift us into who we are as humans.But they don’t happen every day.For some, they don’t happen very often at
all.Sometimes it just is what it is,
and sometimes we’re actually missing opportunities to shine.In the latter case, we’re almost always
standing in our own way to achieving the many things that make us happy with
ourselves.
And so we become frustrated, bitter, angry, and
disappointed with ourselves or the world around us (often both).For many, these dissatisfied feelings are
more frequent and obvious.It’s
especially obvious because it often hurts to feel them.We can’t miss what hurts.
And, depending on the circles of voices you surround
yourself with, you may hear so often how you have the power to manifest
anything with intention at any time.The
truth is, not everyone is wired with that Manifestor Magic.Most of us have different, but equally
important, magical wiring.Most of us
have to wait for invitations to respond with our magic.Some very lunar beings have to wait a moon
cycle.
And in this culture of convenience…patience is a lost
art.
I bring all this up because we are all wanting to manifest
dramatic changes in our lives and in our world…even those who want a change
against these growing changes so that things can stay the same. And pretty much
everyone is dissatisfied on some level…with the state of the world, with
humanity, with ourselves.
For those who follow Astrological transits, we can see this
tension pool into the heavy emphasis of the Capricorn Council at this New
Moon…creating a sharp edge that demands a big structural change to outmoded
operating systems.The Capricorn Council
(especially Saturn, Pluto, and Jupiter) have had a weighty influence on this
year already.And now they’re at the
apex of a Cardinal T-square with Retrograde Mars-Eris in Aries and our
luminaries in Libra.We humans notice
the frequency of squares, especially in activating Cardinal signs, whether we
have technical terms for the feeling or not.We notice them because, often, they hurt in some way.They create enough dissonance with ourselves
to provoke a change.And creating a
change to alleviate the clash is really the point of the squares…the dissonance
itself is actually the invitation we’ve been waiting for.
'The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame' by Georges de la Tour
So while our frustrated efforts to push forth our will to
act have been getting many of us down lately…this Libra New Moon opposite the
Retrogrades of Aries invites us to be patient in our impatience.Mars Retrograde in his own sign shows us that
there’s a perspective on activity that we’ve been missing in all our
rushing.And this Libra New Moon
illuminates how peace grows patiently from a seed. In these newly planted perspectives, there is
also the death of old ones that we are asked to make peace with. The amplified death cries of what is on its
way out are so loud now and full of fight that it appears as if they are
getting worse…getting out of hand…getting stubbornly fixed into the very fabric
of who we are as humans.This is an
illusion.What is real is that
everything is changing.We’ll all look
back on 2020 as a crucial turning point between the way things were and what we
were meant to become.
So, the opposition to this Libra New Moon clues us in that
we may get increasingly frustrated in this long process of change we’re moving
through.Libra, full of consideration
for others, teaches us to not react out of anger when we feel frustrated by
having to weigh things out before we respond.Consider that we are all feeling some level of this personally…even
those you don’t want to relate with as human beings.Libra New Moon points to the purpose of relating.
In every New Moon, we don’t see Luna in our sky.A potential is born from this darkness, but
it takes some days to grow into our awareness.If you notice you have been feeling frustrated, or continue to feel
frustrated, with your desires being impeded lately…sit with that frustration.Feel it.Let it wash over you and finally dissipate…every time it arises.It is not your natural state of being…it is a
momentary indicator to realign.No
matter how long, or how many times, it takes.This is how we adapt in these hard times.This is how we make peace with our feelings. We feel it so that it may move us onward.
Things we couldn’t possibly plan for are coming our way in
this lunar phase.Some may seem good,
some may seem not so good.Ultimately,
it’s all neutral…but still shocking.Mercury (the Collective Mind) has just stationed retrograde in Scorpio a
few days ago…and is now moving back into opposition with Uranus Rx in Taurus,
the planet of Group Awakening.By the
Full Moon in Taurus (Oct. 31st), these Uranian surprises will be
fully illuminated, fully felt.So taking
the time now to rest in our potential for peace in these times of great change,
as the Libra seed of this year is planted, is crucial to our adaptability in
whatever changes are coming.And with
this New Moon at Libra 24, the Sabian Symbol is ‘a third wing on the left side
of a butterfly’.The very symbol carries
the imagery of one of our most transformative (Pluto) creature teachers with a
surprising and unique (Uranus) adaptation.
And because Libra is a Venusian air sign, allow yourself some
time to connect with others who help you to feel at peace with yourself and
what you are experiencing.It is true of
humans that in our toughest times, we get by with a little help from our
friends.
This Full Moon is closely
conjunct Chiron Retrograde in Aries, illuminating the wisdom of the Wounded
Healer/Mentor archetype.On September 29th,
about an hour before Mars Retrograde was exactly square with Saturn, the exact
opposition between Sun and Chiron occurred.In these aspects, much of the pain of our identity wounds (Chiron in
Aries) was illuminated (Sun in Libra) as we felt the frustration of our will
(Mars in Aries) being blocked, stifled, or altogether halted (Saturn in
Capricorn).And the feeling is still
present with us, being further reflected upon now as we enter this Full Moon
period.
Where the Full Moon is will
show us where our emotional needs can be met now that the initial seed of the New
Moon is in full bloom.And Full Moon in
Aries shows us Chiron, the Cosmic Shaman, here to guide us through the healing
process of re-membering who we are.In
the Virgo New Moon, we were feeling into the various pieces of what we were
starting with in this lunar cycle.We
were discerning between what is essential now and what needed to be discarded
to make room for the new we were ushering in.Now we see, in the full light of Luna’s reflection of Libra Sun, how we
have grown into our self-expression.What is revealed in this lunation is who we are as healers, teachers,
mentors, and guides for this larger process of healing that we are all moving
through together.The Healer within is
illuminated now…as we heal our own identity wounds to better be able to heal
the collective identity wound.
Whatever ‘who am I?’ process
you have been going through internally through this Chiron Retrograde has
reached a point of illumination now.We
are more conscious now of our own innate abilities to heal from whatever has
fractured our sense of self in the past.Chiron may bring up other healers, teachers, and guides into our
awareness surrounding this time…yet, we now understand how crucial our own part
in our healing is.Aries energy teaches
self-reliance and integrity…so this Chiron Full Moon illuminates the integral
role we each play in the healing process (within and without).
To learn more about the themes
of Chiron in Aries, you may want to retrograde back to when Chiron entered
Aries in 2018.Here is my post from that
time:Chiron in Aries:Heal Thyself.
And if you missed this
interview from June of this year, where Stormie Grace and I explored the many
facets of the Chiron journey, it will help to illuminate the main themes of
this Full Moon.
This Virgo New Moon reflects a
critical turning point in our Collective Soul experience of this year, as it is
square to the lunar nodes (at the ‘Northern Bending’).Something new is seeded here that is expressed
in outer events.With Virgo’s attention
to detail and organization…one can hope that whatever we’re all taking in at
this time will provide some much-needed discernment (or help us ‘get our shit
together’, if you like).
In many instances, outward
choices look pretty grim to most on either side.How do you separate the wheat from the chaff
when what we’re handed is mostly all chaff?We’re going to need something new to consider.If everything still looks to be all ‘same-old,
same-old’ during this lunar cycle…a shift of perspective may be in order.After all, both Saturn and Pluto will be
stationing direct in Capricorn during this cycle (and Mercury will station
retrograde in Scorpio before this cycle ends and the next New Moon begins).
This shift holds true both on
the collective level as well as the personal, though it may be more apparent on
one level than the other (depending on which you are more focused on right
now).On the personal level, you may be
feeling the necessity of making an important choice between what you’ve grown
used to (whether you have grown to like it or not) and the unknown new (whether
you think you’ll like it or not).This
is where Virgo discernment comes into play to start us off with a well-examined
feeling.What feeling is predominant
right now in your experience?Begin to
strip it down to ‘brass tacks’.What is
it made of?How does it function (or
dysfunction)?And if the need is there, how
can you tweak it to a frequency that is more efficient for you?
New Moon in Virgo 26
Sabian Symbol:‘A boy with a censer’
Art by Elizaveta Galitskaya
This specific degree of Virgo
illuminates the purposeful rituals we do in service to what is greater than
us.In performing these rituals, however
small they (and we) may be, it acknowledges the sacred within the mundane.It attunes us to the Cosmic Order.We are more conscious, then, of how our individual
efforts influence the whole…and how the whole influences us.
You can be very literal here,
as Virgo does incline that, and light some incense to purify your New Moon intentions.You can also consider what sensory input you
are infusing into your body and mind at this time.Virgo also inclines holistic health
consciousness.
The Seed of the Cycle
'Virgo' from Cyril Rolando's Dancing Zodiac
Essentially, Virgo Medicine guides
us toward intelligent design.I don’t
mean our anthropocentric (human-centric) ideas of intelligence.I mean the kind of intelligence you can
observe in plants, where it is the root tip that learns the best path for
growth.‘Down and in’ intelligence.We humans are a bit backwards with our brains
so far from the ground.We would do well
to recognize the many forms of intelligence outside ourselves.
If we are in accordance with
the lunar energies, we are seeding something at each New Moon (whether we are
conscious of it or not).If we are
seeding something, the first thing sent forth from that seed is the embryonic
root (the ‘radicle’)…essentially the nourishing intelligence that moves downward/inward,
feeling our way toward what will sustain us.We are rooting each New Moon seed within ourselves first, before the
shoot can sprout upward and grow outward as the Moon waxes…and bear fruit from
full to waning.
To help this New Moon seed
along, our luminaries form a trine to Saturn Retrograde in Capricorn.Capricorn is the nocturnal domicile of Saturn
(down-and-in expression of Saturn at home).Saturn’s Retrograde, already at the degree of the direct station (exact
on 9/29), is at the most inward part of the retrograde journey…the very lesson
we needed to return to before we can move forward on our commitment to Aquarius
expression.
Saturn’s just making sure we
got the point of Capricorn this year.And much as we’re pleading, ‘alright already, we get the point!’…we
actually haven’t, and that’s why we retrograde.It’s not a bad thing, just a necessary thing.And now we’re back to whatever Saturn lesson
we neglected in February this year.Perhaps we should commit to it this time around.Saturn often teaches in ‘shoulds’, after all.
And though Mars and Eris (both retrograde) have
been squaring off lately with the Capricorn Council (especially Saturn-Pluto, both retrograde),
there is this ease of earthy energy happening between this New Moon and Saturn.
It provides a steady flow of practical
magic to sustain us throughout this cycle.We only need to give it welcoming ground to take root.What grows from such an invitation is infused
with Saturn’s commitment to sustainability and solid structure.
