New Moon at 20 Sagittarius 40
December 12, 2023 at 3:32pm PST, 6:32pm EST, 11:32pm GMT,
December 13, 10:32am AEDT
After passing through the transformational intensity of the Scorpio Moon cycle, eclipse and all, we are in the season of fire, of candlelight, starlight, and wisdom light lit by a subtle and intriguing fire triangle of New Moon/Mars in Sagittarius with Chiron/North Nodes in Aries and true Black Moon in Aries. Sagittarius beckons us to follow the beacon of truth, lit by our intelligent, higher mind intuition. We find storied nuances in the stars to guide our own stories. This is an action-oriented Moon cycle, as Mars continues to accompany the Sun until after Solstice. Act on your vision.
With this New Moon square Neptune, the Sagittarian theme of truth-seeking is a slippery slope these days, with information and disinformation equally rampant. Mercury turning retrograde 8 hours after the New Moon suggests that Truth is found within. Turn inside and trust your inner knowing.
Retrograde Mercury begins in Capricorn. As a cynical 'reality' shows up as unworkable, the Messenger of the Gods retreats back into Sagittarius to dig afresh into perennial vibrant and evergreen guidance we can follow. Retrograde through Solstice and across the 2024 threshold, Mercury gives us time to look back over this past—rather challenging!— year to realign both our goals and our visions for the New Year. We can recalibrate, not according to what the current elusive 'reality' is pointing us toward, but what our stirs in ourdeepest desire for a positive future. That's the Sagittarian 'modus operandi'. Act on that and see how your reality shifts accordingly. Magic? more like Quantum Creativity. We are invited.
The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon is an intriguing one:
21 Sagittarius: A Child and a Dog Wearing Borrowed Eyeglasses.
It takes a good bit of Sagittarian imagination to make a story out of that image. Imagination can take us to places we would not have previously noticed. We may be looking at life from another person's point of view (maybe even a canine friend). This enhances mutual understandging. We can certainly benefit from considering different viewpoints, but we do not want any false vision, warns that challenge from Neptune. Use discernment and trust your inner guidance.
Mercury turns retrograde at 9 Capricorn: An Angel Comes Carrying a Harp
We could use some heavenly music that tunes the heart and soul to divine influence that resonates with harmony, truth, beauty and love.
We have an interesting pair of Kuiper Belt Objects right there with Mercury, as it slows down, pivots and starts retracing its steps. Adding to the harp music, Quaoar, Creator God of the Los Angeles-area Tongva people, creates through music and dance—an exciting way to change up and charge up our energy. Next to Quaoar is nasty Ixion, who never voluntarily reforms his bad behavior. He transgressed universal law by killing his father-in-law and then, when Jupiter was trying to help him, he tried to seduce Juno, Jupiter's Queen. Ixion was tied to a wheel that rolled on through the underworld, like the wheel of karma, compelled to repeat "Show gratitude to your Benefactor." Like a mantra, this may reprogram his mind, freeing him from repeating past sins. This is a compelling message for us: to turn our minds to positive thoughts, so that we do not continue to repeat mistakes from our past. We can apply that personally and collectively. Let's get on that creative dancing and singing, extending our season of Thanks-Giving and finding new ways of moving into a new year.
Mercury focuses on the creative capacity of the odd KBO pairing of Quaoar and Ixion to overturn any static interference, finetuning our lives to a freer and more joyous frequency. Whatever clues we need to perceive potential can come to us during this retrograde. It so happens that by the December 26 Full Moon, the Sun has moved into alignment with this pair, highlighting a further level of fruition. Yet another upgrade possibility is on offer when Mercury , direct (on day 1 or 2 of 2024) returns to that conjunction on January ________ This is, therefore, a potent pair of KBOs to engage as a grand finale to this year. Freedom from karmic bondage on some level with celebratory joy to enter a fresh new year. The reverberations can continue to play out during 2024, under some extraordinary celestial choreography to come.
A key player in this New Moon cycle is Teharonhiawako (tay-a-rone-wah-ko), the Iroquois creator god who gave his people celebrations of ThanksGiving for spiritual remembrance. I have written about this one lately. And now the Kuiper Belt Object named for him is in a close activation square to this New Moon, even closer than Neptune. So, yes, let's extend whatever kind of ThanksGiving, candlelighting, fire ceremony and gift-giving season we celebrate wherever we are. And also, finding some moments in our daily lives to appreciate all gifts and blessings from the Great Spirit. Lighting a candle is a simple way. Infusing our drinking water with love and appreciation is another, amazingly effective one.
Venus in Scorpio through the Full Moon continues the Scorpio theme of letting go and shedding the undesirable. Her evocation in this sign of deep underground waters is of the dark goddess of transformation and emotional alchemy and calls for vigilance within our hearts. This passage hearkens back to the July-August retrograde of Venus, where she sinks in the sky and disappears, shifting from Evening to Morning Star. True Black Moon in Leo also touches back on those months, while mean Black Moon is resonating with the sensuality of earthy Virgo.
Venus is in a special interactive square dance with
Varuna, Vedic deity that sustains universal law in Leo;
Chariklo in Aquarius, haloed holder of highest healing potentials for our upcoming Aquarian Pluto journey; and
Jovial Jupiter in Taurus, promising rich rewards if we let go of undesirable emotional entanglements and sense of unworthiness.
On Moons & Mythos #17 with Davyd Farrell, we talk more about this. See below.
There are so many stories of the goddess descending to the underworld. One that is particularly meaningful in this Moon cycle is that of Psyche and Eros, a classic tale of the psychospiritual awakening of soul to the divine. Depth psychologists call this 'soul work," a process of digging and discovery as we unearth our 'stuff': places where we are blind, where we project, fantasize, deny.
Asteroid Psyche at 24 degrees Sagittarius is conjunct the New Moon. Asteroid Eros at 2 Pisces is conjunct Saturn, making the erotic a significant factor in our current 'work' of shaping our energy field—and with our conscious relationship with water. Eros is also in a quintile, a 72-degree relationship with the New Moon (and Psyche), bringing forth a highly harmonic dynamic of creative soul fire.
"At first there was only darkness wrapped in darkness,
All this was only unillumined water.
That One which came to be, enclosed in nothing,
Arose at last, born of the power of heat.
In the beginning desire descended on it—
That was the primal seed…" -A.L.Basham, The Wonder That Was India
Eros is the primal force that evokes the intense passion that creates the universe from chaos and matter, transmuting hitherto separated entities through their union into a new life. This god of love, Amor in the Latin, has obscure origins that can be traced back to the beginning of history. One story is that he emerged from Chaos together with Gaia/ Earth from the desire To Be. Later writers made Eros the naughty cherubic son of Aphrodite whose arrows caused wounds of love.
This later image does not do full justice to the creative power inherent in the original erotic function. The term erotic is understood mainly in connection with physical sexuality—yes, life is inherently sexual— yet Eros is primarily concerned with the spiritual/creative passion in life and relationship. In the story of Psyche and Eros, the god does not experience this passion himself until he sees Psyche. Through the painful, yet glorious, agony and ecstasy experience of relationship with “soul”, Eros is reborn with the awakened soul, Psyche.
Venus requires that Psyche pass four rigorous tests to be worthy of Eros, to mature her capacity for true love. The last, and scariest task, is to journey to Pluto's dark realm to ask Persephone, Queen of the Underworld for a vial of her beauty cream to give to Venus. It is as if we are in a version of this story now, with Venus in Scorpio both in a complex square dance and with the involvement of asteroids Eros and Psyche.
With sage advice, Psyche succeeds in her dire quest. Upon her return to the daylit world, she can't help but want to take a bit of the cream herself to look beautiful for Eros. She opens the vial and falls into a deep swoon. Eros swoops down and sweeps her up into the heavens with him. She becomes immortal through her reunion with the God of Love.
Let Us Go Back to When We Were Lovers
The earth changed with our touch.
A channel to the sea
Coursed in waterfalls and whirlpools.
In the cup of a mountain crater,
We lay upon rocks soaked in heat.
Now the day star sinks into night.
We come apart
As though to sail a remote voyage.
For a long moment,
I shall remain in a memory of sorrow,
Then follow the flight of my heart
To join you in the dawning. -1985
How may this short version of such a love story come alive in some way for you and for us all during this Moon cycle that brings us across into New Year 2024?
I WISH YOU EACH & ALL MUCH LOVE & JOY IN THIS HOLY SEASON OF FIRELIGHT, CANDLELIGHT, STARLIGHT & SOLSTICE LIGHT,
whether hemispheric highlight or lowlight.
Hear much more about his Moon cycle on Moons & Mythos #17, a dynamic discussion with Davyd Farrell, Quantum Plant Healer.
A Light-Hearted, Lighthouse-themed offering I was recently honored to participate in:
Infinite Soul Wisdom Council
In honor of Solstice and the ending of a long and challenging year, Martha Alter Hines gathered a wonderful circle of women to share perspectives on how to navigate these times.