New Moon in Sagittarius
The Sun and Moon align at 20°40’ of Sagittarius, this Tuesday, December 12th, 2023, at 3:32 PM Pacific Time.
This New Moon is stewarded by our planetary ancestor*, sibling*, cosmic kin, Jupiter. Just contemplating the planetary virtues and themes associated with Jupiter can support us through this cycle.
Here’s an invitation for a relational astrology practice, i.e. an invitation to be held by people much, much bigger than us (the Planets) during times we need holding.
Using a soft gaze, skim over the themes listed here. Notice which ones stand out to you. Allow them to be a lens or a focus of self-inquiry, holding them lightly in your mind alongside your experiences, as they unfold this month. This way of attending/loving can actually sculpt meaningful and fresh experiences that strengthen the Life-affirming expressions of our Planet of Bounty and Benevolence.
And, if you’re curious, here’s a peek into my own personal contemplations on the Jupiterean keynote of Hope.
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This New Moon is also forming a square to Neptune, the exiled instinct, the rejected “uncivilized”.
One evolutionary potential of Neptune transits is a release of identifications that pinch off the wilder aspects of our wholeness we’ve learned to hide from society – but that can offer key insight and guidance through the most extra-ordinarily difficult situations.
The challenges and risks of Neptune activations including flooding, overwhelm, helplessness, hopelessness, delusion, lost at sea.
(That said, the evolutionary potential of Neptune encompasses our experiences of its challenges and its risks. We don’t access its potential through avoidance, as that attempt in and of itself is part of Neptune’s trips.)
Neptune requires a kind of our heart-courage to become Nobody. To allow triggers to help us loosen attachments to past identities that are now in the way of our ability to bridge great divides,
to take actions that portal us into new ways of being,
to take rest stops that portal us into new ways of perceiving and worlding.
I want to make AMPLE space for consciously approaching Neptune and for engaging with Sagittarian & Capricornian non-ordinary modes of perception that Mercury asks us to enter (as Mercury stations Retrograde on this New Moon, traveling back through both the signs of the Centaur and Mer-goat).
Towards that aim, here you will find a short list of flower essences that resonate with the current cosmic influences on the collective psyche. These botanical allies can resource our response-abilities during challenging times, opening us up to more Love that’s here and now. Reaching out and inviting them in, can widen our perception (and experience) of a world where humans are in communion with Nature. It’s a transformative action. You can skim through this list and see who resonates most strongly with you personally at this time, and walk with these allies through this lunation cycle. (More guidance on this here).
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Lastly, the Sun and Moon join Mars in this New Moon. Sagittarius is Centauric consciousness. While Sag is popularly known to be playful, it does carry the capacity for aggressiveness.
With Neptune and Mars’ involvement here, we are susceptible to getting confused about who exactly it is we are fighting and how we can fight them.
We might expect the other person to be more hostile to us and to our perspective, than they actually would be if we approached them without that expectation.
We might fight in a way, or with a fervor, that enmeshes us into a mode of perception that we’re aching to be able to move freely in and out of.
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*Planetary ancestor is a term I first heard from my primary teacher Jason Holley and astrologer Ari Felix. Planetary sibling is a term I heard from my other teacher, Diana Rose Harper. Both help me relate to the Planets through different doorways of perception.
