October New Moon 2023

• New Moon, Solar Eclipse in Libra 15 October 2023, 3:55am (local time - Bilpin, Australia)

Eclipse season is here! This one feels like it is priming the pump for the Lunar eclipse happening on the 29th. This New Moon finds us with a stellium of Pallas-Mercury-Moon-Sun-South Node all working together to push a Libran agenda. Remember key words for Libra: "Yes, and..." Open the doors and invite all to sit at the table. Everything has a voice, everything belongs. Lets face it. High Libran energy has its work cut out for it in our modern divisive society of cancel culture, dubious politics and me-first capitalist agendas. But also remember that Pallas-Athena is the warrior goddess who never lost a single battle. But she is not the warrior of brute force, rather she is the strategist, the one who understands patterns and landscape, weather conditions and human nature and all the things that make winning a battle a clear process rather than a messy one. Mercury is the storyteller, trickster, messenger god. For Mercury no way is ever barred. He passes without hindrance between the Under and the Over Worlds - the only god who could do so. He can weave any tale. We have been conditioned think that facts are immutable and if one simply pays attention to them then Truth is revealed. But none of us are naive enough to really believe that anymore. And it doesn't even take lying or scheming. We live in a world blessed with paradox. Most of what is true is simply a matter of perspective. And sure, we can know this in some enlightened corner of our hearts, but when we are stuck in our own story - our fear, our trauma, our pain or resentment, we can forget this little piece of magic. We can forget all about paradox and possibility and can instead believe ourselves overmuch and put up walls and barriers where none need to exist. We can make our lives smaller and we can trap ourselves through our own miserly expectations of possibility. This Libran New Moon is a time when this habit can shift - maybe not with everything, maybe not in all the ways, but to change all big patterns, only one small tiny part needs to shift, and not even that much. Add a bit of time and before you know it everything is different. Eclipses count on this. They are the chaos principal - the wild cards. Libra is cardinal air - so it begins new ways of thinking, it initiates new mental constructs, it opens the doors in our mind and builds bridges between seemingly separate things to find commonality, balance and harmony between them.

The South Node is also joining in this New Moon energy. The South Node is also called the Dragon's Tail - as such it shows us where the shit comes out! It shows us where we need to let go and release, purge and purify. Libra energy focuses relationships, on the other - but unhelpful Libran expression is when it does so and forgets itself in the equation. Then we get a lot of projection. It doesn't even have to be the kind of projection that only sees everyone else looking like a jerk. Often when Libra energy is being unhelpful, it negates itself and becomes obsessed with the other and what they are doing and thinking and feeling. It forgets it has agency and projects all of its power onto something external. This can lead to the Libran hell of trying to create too much compromise. You know the one, where everything loses and little is gained but a frazzled look. Don't do that! Purify your Libran energies. Being open and trying to hold everything are not the same things. If you are trying to make everything work, please everyone and erase your own needs, you are going to lose sight of what actually matters. Be the fulcrum. Be in possession of your own capacity and of your own power. Be honest. Being open requires one to be strong in their own root, centered, interested and engaged, while at the same time willing to allow things to rise up or fall down according to their own natures. This is no small ask. It means that you have to own your own story. Know that you are the creator of it. You are the one making connections between things - inviting them in or trying to wall them out. This New Moon is not so much about changing your story, as it is about recognizing that you are its creator. You cannot have all the things. You cannot please all the people. You cannot manifest all the dreams or follow all the roads...so you must choose, you must strategize, you must decide what is important and what is your bottom line goal. And then, you must be willing to be open to what arises, even if it looks 'wrong'.

Like i said, this is a big ask, but it is a one with many rewards, as this New Moon is also the apex of a Yod (aka: Finger of God) configuration with Jupiter-Uranus in Taurus (sudden but determined changes in our tangible reality that brings us into better alignment with our personal Faith and Truth) and Neptune in Pisces (unity consciousness) as the base. Yods are never easy to manifest, but they are a bit of divine suggestion to do so. One of the best ways to help activate a Yod, is to lean into the polarity point of the apex (also the mid-point of the base). With this New Moon, we actually have the North Node and Chiron in Aries there. This further emphasizes that the key to bringing about more of that high Libran energy is by owning where we are caught by our own pain story. The North Node or the Dragon's Mouth shows us what to be hungry for, what to seek out and ingest into ourselves as nourishing food. Chiron always shows us a very legitimate wound which while we cannot necessary heal/negate it, we can actually choose to grow bigger than it and find a lot more room around it. Chiron always shows us a trap of victimhood mentality where we are caught. He shows us where we forget we have agency and simply focus on our pain. Chiron teaches us to acknowledge our pain, and then behave as though it didn't matter. Not to ignore it, but also not to make it worse by adding suffering on top of it. All of us feel pain. We don't have much choice in that. But pain and suffering are two different things. Suffering happens in our minds... and no one can think your thoughts but YOU! Its time to be a warrior (Chiron in Aries) when it comes to your own trauma. Don't let it beat you and make your life and your possibility smaller. Don't let it steal your compassion or your agency or your vision for the future. Find your courage. Find your determination. Claim your power. Stand there in the mess that is you and make no apologies, beg no forgiveness, simply take responsibility for what is yours to do AND DO IT (ruler Mars in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn). You have the power to change your story. You don't have to be a victim to your own habituated thought patterns. We don't have to stay in patterns of fear and anger, powerlessness and separation. The garbage can here looks volatile and reactionary. Being hurt or having trauma is actually no license to act alike an ass. You are responsible for your own actions - and your own boundaries. If someone crosses a line, well, be in possession of yourself and your own story. Let them know. You don't have to be a jerk or even quietly resentful. Neither of those things are actually even very interesting options. You get to have your boundaries and you get to have your pain. And what you do with those things are also your responsibility and thus reflect on you, not on anyone else.

You may experience people stuck in their pain stories and unable to navigate that well. You may feel pressured by self or other to compromise or play nice where you don't have to capacity, energy or resources to do so in a healthy way. You may encounter overwhelm and anxiety this New Moon. Breathe. That is the first step. Its cardinal air, remember? What you do at this time matters. How you act, what you say, what you choose to tell yourself. Venus, the ruler of Libra has moved into Virgo, so this is a time of powerful discernment. This is not a time to try and control or micromanage a situation or someone else. Any attempts at manipulation will likely not have the desired results, however well intentioned or planned out. Its eclipse season, so all kinds of carefully laid plans and ideas are likely to slide sideways. If folks around you are using you as a mule to carry around their baggage, its really time to decide for yourself what story you want to continue to be a part of. This New Moon in Libra is not so much about focusing on 'the other' - but rather focusing on your part in engaging with the other. Take back your projections and take back your power. This New Moon is about self-possession - staying in your own root (Venus in Virgo) while keeping a loving heart (Moon in Libra) and an open mind (Mercury in Libra) and bringing your conscious awareness to bear on how you relate (Sun in Libra) to others, to yourself, to your story and how best to navigate the hurdles of being oh so very human (Pallas in Libra).

Good Luck Everyone! (Like i said, this Solar Eclipse is just priming the pump)

Aquarius Full Moon

• Aquarius Full Moon – 2 August 2023, 5:32am

• Venus cazimi in Leo – 13 August 2023, 9:15pm

The Full Moon is in Aquarius - fixed air. It holds patterns (fixity), particularly about mental (air) things. A Full Moon is when the Sun and the Moon are the farthest apart. This means that the Sun is in Leo. These energies, while in opposition, do have the greatest distance from one another, it also offers us a lot of perspective. We get to step back from the canvas of our own luminary dramas. Our intuitive – yin side (Moon) can fully take in and appreciate our linear – yang side (Sun), and vice versa. Appreciate or tear down. We get to choose, but oppositions do not have to mean conflict. Think of holding hands with someone and spinning together. Thanks to your opposing partner, you can lean much farther into the spin because of the ballast of another body. All that is needed is trust. Full Moons are when we get to practice trusting in the balance of our own swirling, opposing natures. They do not have to war, they can tango! When Full Moons are in the fixed signs (Leo, Aquarius, Scorpio and Taurus) our focus has more staying power, as does our bravado. When the Full Moon is in Aquarius, it is a time when our mind can have more heart, and our heart can have more fire. So dare to tell a new story (Leo), particularly about yourself (Sun). In order to do that, it helps to get some perspective (Aquarius) on your own emotions (Moon). Be honest, own your patterns (Sun in Leo) and allow the navigational tool of authentic expression be the healing balm for your own existential weariness (Moon in Aquarius).

Venus is retrograde in Leo (23 July – 4 September), so this is the place in her 8 year pattern where she asks that we reassess how we relate to the world, large and small, intimate or distant. Are we in alignment with our inner light? Do we have pride in ourselves? Can we take ownership of our lives? Do we share our true spark freely? Where are we paying too high a price for approval? Where are we being cowards, because we are unwilling to feel fear or vulnerability? This Full Moon can give us lots of insight, but we need to acknowledge where we are not walking our talk. If we can’t change our walk, then we need to have a mental reckoning and revisit what we offer lip service to. Venus is cazimi on the 13^th of August while in trine to Chiron in Aries. This means that Venus is in the very heart of the Sun and it is an auspicious place where she is getting juiced up and filled with solar fire. Notice what is being downloaded this day, be open to a more authentic story. Claim the truth of your own personal power. You can choose to be the storyteller and tell a more interesting story – particularly about your own pain and how it shapes the way you relate to the world. When Chiron is in the mix, we have a choice to decide to not be defined by our individual trauma. We can essentially transcend our pain by remembering that there are others who need our hard won wisdom. From our suffering, comes a gift. But it is a healing we must choose and then act accordingly. Chiron does not make the pain go away, but it does show us where we can choose to put it in a much larger container, so its not taking up so much room in our conceptual reality. Many astrologers these days feel that Chiron also speaks to our ancestral karma and helps us heal those tangles. This Venus cazimi is an opportunity to choose big healing medicine. It will require both courage and a willingness to not only claim our authenticity, but lay our pain and fears surrounding that, on the altar of something bigger. We all have a choice. Sure, we can choose to keep twisting ourselves in knots. The energies will happily help us miss the boat and encourage further pretzeling, so that we grow so distant from our own hearts we lose our inner navigational bearings. thereby proving the too small story we choose to tell. But I dare us to dream a better story and then start letting the truth of our own individual hearts walk us toward freedom and wholeness.

Cancer New Moon

•   18 July 2023, 5:32am (local time: Bilpin, Australia)

A New Moon is when the Sun and Moon conjoin (line up). It is a time for your head and your heart to be on the same page – your conscious, yang, self-identity directed motivations (Sun) and your intuitive, yin, feeling, self-nurturing directed motivations (Moon) can find common ground. I don’t know about you, but the speed of life has really picked up in the last several years and more and more I am feeling scattered, fragmented and compartmentalized. The New Moon is a time when I intentionally try to make a bit of space for all of the me’s to breathe together and re-cohese.

This New Moon is a perfect time to do any kind of self healing, coming back into your center kind of work. Cancer is the energy of the Great Mother – the one who is soft and tender on the inside and tough and resilient on the outside. Cancer energy is cardinal water. So water, ruling the emotional and intuitive realms, really knows how to flow and merge. Water is powerful – think about the Grand Canyon. Think about how we are mostly water. Think about how long any of life is possible without it. Water is transformative. Think about how many other things you know of that have several distinct forms and is still itself – water can be ice, liquid or vapor. Water knows how to circumvent all barriers because it can morph. This also makes Water a very wise Teacher. Cardinal energy is that initiatory energy. It not only begins things, but it enlivens us so that we are motivated to begin. Fixed signs hold space, Mutable signs change space and Cardinal signs reform space, they organize the chaos and possibility created by the Mutable energy into patterns. So anytime you want to begin something, choose a time when the planet most associated with that activity is in a cardinal energy.

This time is a time to begin a healing journey. The Sun-Moon are at 24 degrees Cancer and they form a sextile with Uranus at 22 degrees Taurus. Uranus is the Change Agent – he is the electrical energy that comes as a surprise, a flash of insight, a curve ball, the jolt of reality from left field or the consideration just outside of your scope of vision. In Taurus, Uranus is really trying to wake us up to the considerations of our physical forms (Taurus is Fixed Earth energy) which we have taken for granted and neglected to consider. Uranus in Taurus is bringing the reality of our consumer choices into our awareness. Uranus in Taurus is highlighting the plights of our planet and environment as well as our personal physical health and resilience. A sextile energy is very potent. It stimulates and supports. As a 60 degree angle it is close enough to us that it feels graspable and of similar mindset (unlike the 90 degrees of a square or the 180 degrees of an opposition), but unlike a conjunction which sometimes can feel like preaching to the choir, it sits far enough away that it offers stimulus and fresh ideas and perspectives. Sextiles can feel very passionate and awaken that level of aliveness within us.

Pluto retrograde in Capricorn is sitting in opposition to this New Moon and so we have some truth telling to contend with. Pluto wants us to take responsibility, not only for ourselves, but when in Capricorn, for our community as well. Capricorn energy is cardinal earth, so it likes to build and climb vertical structures. Patterns of habit, which in the highest Capricorn ideal is the integrity of body-mind-spirit. Pluto is putting our patterns of the less than ideal habits also in our faces. This means owning our shit, both figuratively and metaphorically. We all know that we consume to excess. Combine that lens with the Uranian Taurus energy juicing up our conscious heart (Sun-Moon conjunction in Cancer). We all know that we consume to distract and comfort and compartmentalize. This New Moon might not feel great, and that is ok. Part of making new habits, building new paradigms, creating new patterns is that its uncomfortable at first. Think of getting a seriously drastic hair cut – or stepping out of your own framework in any way. It can be scary, it can feel very isolating, it can make us hyper-self-conscious. If we feel that way with superficial things, then how much harder is it for things that run much deeper – that is where Cancer energy pushes that probing. This New Moon can give us perspective on that Pluto energy, but if we aren’t able to sit with discomfort for a bit, then how can we be sure that what we think feels ‘wrong’, isn’t actually just what ‘different’ feels like? Our primitive brain is hard wired to find safety in the fold. But its truth telling time... the fold (by this I mean the society of all of us) is an often very unhappy place. We live from a story of scarcity and hierarchy (Pluto in Capricorn). And in doing so stimulate more of the same Capricorn garbage can – climbing long lasting structures that support our sense of isolation. Pluto wants us to look at power structures and take responsibility for what we create when we are not in our own alignment and integrity. Uranus trining from Taurus can encourage us to play with the simple truth of individuation through the radical idea of our own nature as medicine. This New Moon can be a time to spark the building of new patterns that actually Heal Us. Trine energy is stabilizing. We can choose to stabilize helpful or unhelpful patterns with the Uranus-Pluto trine. An unhelpful pattern looks like keep doing more of the same: trying to gain and accumulate more (Taurus) in a vertical hierarchical system (Capricorn). Either way we will still have to face the cold hard truth (Pluto) and deal with some bolt of lightening surprise (Uranus).

There is really no way around that Capricorn fact that in a closed system (which our planet is), we are kin to each other, the plants and animals and the water and the minerals and the air. Plastic are our ancestors. And there is no way around that fact that we all share this very precious, and very unique planet. And like it or not, face it or not, the more we engage with vertical hierarchy, the more we contain ourselves with an old linear model of the world. The more out of alignment things feel. I don’t know about you, but that story has gotten really boring to say nothing of how utterly unsustainable it is.

This New Moon is an opportunity to sit with our discomfort at the mess of all these truths and get a bit more comfortable with sitting with it. That is the first step to making real change. Use this New Moon to come into resonance with yourself. What is it that you really feel just inside yourself? What do you really need to be healthy or happy or nourished? Remember that the pitfalls of Cancer energy is taking care of everyone else so that you don’t have to take care of yourself. Cancer in the garbage plays the martyr. It fears intimacy with itself, so it rushes around and tends to 100 million hungry mouths, collapsing at days end in a stupor to rise and do the same the next morning. The other side of the Cancer energy has to do with being able to lovingly apply strong boundaries – with self and with other. It also has to do with creating a bit of space for itself so that it can listen deeply to its own needs and take responsibility for them. It is only from this place that we can work to wisely respond to this time that we are living in NOW. We can shift the patterns now more easily, we can choose to move into new paradigms of integration and integrity, but it will require us to be centered and honest and above all, willing to be uncomfortable. Sit with your feelings this New Moon, particularly the hard ones. Your discomfort doesn’t have to only hurt. If you feel pain, follow it down to your own truth and look at it from the perspective of kinship with the whole world. Our discomfort can be a guide back into alignment with ourselves.

Capricorn Full Moon

• 3 July 2023, 10:39 pm (Local time: Bilpin, Australia)
  

When the Full Moon is in Capricorn, that means that the Sun is in Cancer. Full Moons always highlight a pattern of two – patterns of opposites, polarities and things that are binary in natural relationship. Astrology teaches us that every aspect and every energy signature is fundamentally about integration. Just because two things sit in a polarity pattern, does not mean that they have to be antagonistic. Oftentimes it is the very distance of opposing perspectives that offer the only opportunity we have to view the beauty and integrity of something in its wholeness. It is why artists step back from their work – to actually see it. When we are in close proximity (aka: conjunction) with something, we often lack the perspective needed to clearly view it. When the Sun and Moon sit opposite, we not only get to see the Moon in her Full Radiance, but we can also get in touch with our personal drives and logically grasp some of the numinous puzzle that is our emotional and intuitive realm. This helps the Sun (our conscious selves) to navigate, allowing for more heart centered action. The Moon similarly at these times, gives us deep insight into how we might possibly manifest our desires. The Moon helps make intuitive leaps and provides inspiration on where/how to put your foot next. We can work our internal or external polarities and lean into their signatures. We always have a choice. We can make our containers smaller and use the polarities to create division and othering, by telling ourselves stories that highlight the antagony of opposites and we can pit the sides against each other. Or we can welcome the perspective and distance they bring into awareness and use it to grow our containers - effectively stretching stories and thus ourselves to fit the complex paradigm that is wholeness.

And while Capricorn energy is all about "The Facts", when the Full Moon is here,it is not about paying attention with our logical minds, but rather we are meant to become immersed in our sense of values. Those are very legitimate facts too, and ones we might not always be in alignment with. This Full Moon is a time to ask yourself - what really and truly matters? Capricorn energy is often the most cognizant of all the zodiacal signs of the temporary nature of form and so Capricorn Full Moons can often call up feelings of separation, fatality and the weight of the world. Alternatively though, it can also charge us with a sense of duty and responsibility to use the limited time that we have in this body to its fullest effect. What story are you going to be telling this Full Moon? With Pluto being retrograde also in Capricorn, we know that there are deep systemic changes that we need to own and take responsibility for. And this Moon sits in trine with Jupiter in the energy of the Builder, Taurus. It puts not only great determination, but long lasting resonance at our disposal, but like all trine energy, it doesn't just create these windfalls, we must consciously activate it to utilize its full benefit. When we have trining energy, we can all too easily just get a bit lazy, but when we can rally and activate them - lean into them with intention, then they often are like magic wands.

Mars and Venus when they conjoin, can make for drama in our personal lives – especially in Leo. While these two energies might be natural polarities (like the Sun and Moon) when they come together we have an opportunity to integrate our passions. Like lovers in the tango, their individual and seemingly opposing natures, works to the advantage of the whole. With the Sun conjunct Mercury in Cancer our conscious focus centers easily around what do I need to nurture myself, to listen to my own needs and have better boundaries that support that.

So there is much energy available over the next 2 week period for us to gain insight and take beginning steps to working with our binary patternings both internally and externally in ways that are mutually beneficial and supporting. So when you notice yourself in a position of antagonistic opposition, see if you can take a step back and look at things with more heart, from a place of your actual values. This can help you shift your perspective (and more importantly - your story) to one of a polarity that honors the fullness of being. Can you use this Full Moon to allow life to be round and complex and full. Can you celebrate the paradoxes even! Make wild passionate love to the sultry complex dance that is wholeness?

Gemini New Moon

• 18 June 2023, 3:37pm (local time, Bilpin Australia)

This June New Moon finds us in Gemini with its ruler Mercury holding court nearby also in Gemini. Gemini is mutable air energy. So it moves and wants change and stimulation. Gemini is the ‘youngest’ energy of the zodiac. It has a lot of “giddy-up” and the optimism that comes with that kind of juice. Remember that air energy has to do with our minds and our nervous systems. It moves up and out. It wants to disperse and have free range. If this New Moon is hitting a sensitive point on your chart you can expect tension and anxiety to have more impact on you, so do what you can to support your nervous system. Get enough rest, drink plenty of fluids and remember to eat. A handy trick when you are feeling especially ungrounded, is to simply put a few grains of salt on your tongue. Salt is a mineral and therefore grounding. A few grains can provide a reset moment to help deal with all the up and out energy. But the point is not to block this energy, we always want to integrate what is happening to its highest potential. Gemini energy is here to teach us curiosity. It wants us to ask more interesting questions. Gemini values breadth over depth and has a magical ability to take great leaps and move very quickly. For those of you who work with sect, Mercury can belong to either the day or the night. Mercury is the only god who travels in both the overworld and the underworld freely. Mercury knows no barriers. It can move in any direction. Symbolized by the twins, Gemini mimics that by emphasizing the kinship of polarities. Gemini know that polarities need not be purely antagonistic, but can, in their combined scope make for tremendous richness of opportunity and possibility. This New Moon is about coming to terms with binary models of thought and restructuring how we place ourselves in relationship to them. In its highest expression, this New Moon can help us break down limiting beliefs regarding binaries of ‘right vs wrong’, ‘good vs bad’. We have an opportunity to build new and more interesting bridges and structures of thought that create cohesiveness and understanding rather than a continued "either-or" fracturing that limits our possibility and scatters our strength and ingenuity.

It's all about free will – if we want to continue to draw lines of ‘us vs them’, then this New Moon is also happy to facilitate. We always get to choose how we respond to any energy – we can activate its highest potentials or its lowest ones. The energy really doesn’t care – its job is simply to express. We are the storytellers.

The ruler of this New Moon - Mercury - sits in sextile to Venus in Leo, who has been chasing Mars trying to catch up to him. Sextile aspects energize and enliven. Whenever Venus and Mars get close to each other we can always expect a lot of fireworks. This is the passionate dynamic duo of the zodiac. They are planetary opposites like the Sun and Moon. So we are seeing a double emphasis with this New Moon on binary models - the patterns of two – the Yin and Yang dynamics coming together and wanting to join forces. When Mars and Venus do so in a sign like Leo, we can expect the drama factor to rise. This ups the ante for whatever way you want to play the Gemini energy. Leo energy makes everything personal and it needs to be seen, so it can really blow things up and put them in your face. How you respond again is up to you. This New Moon is not about NOT having drama or trying to avoid it (good luck with THAT), but it becomes more about whether or not you are going to make high art out of the drama that does unfold. Leo lends a lot of creative spark into the mix. Leo energy is daring and transformative. You can whip it all into an energetic, soul sucking frenzy that costs a lot of time and money – drama as sword. Or you can use whatever drama that arises as pen – can you inspire with it? Can you weave a story that has people dreaming something life-affirming with you?

Gemini gets short shrift a lot of the time, because it is so fast and can move all over the place. Because it is so youthful, it is seen as naive. But when we are stuck - when we are locked into our own soul cages of chosen circumstance, dead beliefs and ideals of habit, Gemini energy is exactly what is needed to usher in a fresh wind and carry us out of the dull drums. This New Moon is especially strong in its ability to help you stick your neck out and make some authentic changes in your life. So if you have been wanting to make a change or knowing that you need one, but not sure what to do, this New Moon is here to help you. USE IT. Gemini energy ripples out and side steps easily into different planes of being, so follow your curiosity – however tiny the spark. Take a different route to work. Say yes, if you normally say no. Say no if you normally say yes. Walk on the opposite side of the street. Part your hair differently, wear your johnson in the other pant leg for a change – you get the idea. The point is to invite in opposing energy, welcome a shift of perspective and embrace change. It doesn’t have to be huge – that Leo juice is waiting in the wings to work whatever you do to its big screen potential. With this New Moon, if you want to make art rather than just more drama, then keep it authentic. Put some skin in the game and Be Real. What you begin to align yourself with on this New Moon, you can use to set your Winter Solstice intention for the New Solar year ahead on 22 June.

And on a side note, pay attention to the day following the New Moon (19 June), as that is the day Venus hits her degree of direct station in September. Notice your relational themes and any topics relating to your values as well as your finances, but more importantly interpersonal power dynamics, as it will help give you some insights into what the upcoming Venus retrograde period is all about for you. (Venus will station retrograde 23 July at 28 degrees 36 minutes Leo and stay retrograde until 4 Sept at 12 degrees 12 minutes Leo).