New Moon in Cancer

Note: All timings are based on my Australian time-zone. Anyone needing the New Moon Ritual pattern explained, please see the start of the Capricorn New Moon entry. Also note that i aim to put up a new post on or just before the Full Moon - so mark your calendar or send me an email and i can put you on the notification list.

Cancer New Moon, 10 July 2021

Belated-Solstice Blessings! We had a beautiful opportunity to catch Jupiter’s attention while he stationed on the Solstice near the fixed star Formalhaut. Hopefully you all took advantage! (to learn more about this and other fixed stars, here's one option: https://darkstarastrology.com/fomalhaut/).

But we are here to talk about the upcoming New Moon in Cancer!... at 18 degrees (so if you know your chart and have anything on the 18 degree mark regardless of sign, you can begin to feel into how this New Moon Cancer energy plays with that area of your chart/life). Cancer, the crab – also called the Great Mother Nurturer, is cardinal water. Water element – governing the emotions and feeling sense. The kind of knowing that arises from empathy. Water element, where flow and change dominate. Cardinal is beginning energy - that initiator that is the seed or spark, the place where the changing ways of the mutable energy sends out a little root and seeks to take hold. Cancer rules the 4th house of home and roots and closets. The 4th house speaks to our bloodlines, our ancestors. It is said that when folks don’t know us, they experience our 10th house – our reputations; when they meet us, they experience our 1st house – our personaes; when they form partnerships (of all kinds) with us, they experience our 7th house...but the 4th house, these are our kindred - those who see us as we are in our most private selves. The lunar energies like being in Cancer, because the Moon rules this sign. So it feels quite at home here. Energies maximize their potential when in rulership. Remember that strong does not always mean helpful. We can have a weak response and that does not change the strength of the energy – its just as happy to fill our sails if we head in an unhelpful direction as when we aim our intentions to our best possibilities. So Cancer as the ruler of the deepest most ‘bottom’ part of the chart often has an insular feeling. It is the homebody in us, the nester. Cancer is very capable of defending its privacy and its sanctity. When overwhelmed Cancer retreats; when it wants something it grabs hold with incredible tenacity; when it wants to go somewhere, it often gets there by going sideways. As Great Mother, this is the part of us that intuitively knows how to tend and heal. She is where we go for comfort, solace, nourishment. This is her high expression. Low vibration Cancer is the caregiver who uses the tasks of giving to avoid tending to self and delving into its own dark murky closets, blocking the flow of its own bloodlines with yet another person or situation that ‘needs their help’. The garbage can that results from this is often victim mentality running rampant (for both the nurturer and the nurtured), as does drama. Cancer has a very unique ability to keep calm and address what is needed in drama. I heard Tyson Yunkaporta say in an interview that ‘trauma is pain for which we have failed to find meaning’. It struck me as deeply true. To step that further, it seems to me that drama might be what most often use to distract ourselves from our trauma. If we never allow ourselves to explore our trauma, without the loud, distracting drama, how can we ever find that meaning? Cancer when in right relationship is really amazing at giving us insights and intuition at our darkest murkiest depths. It can lend us great tenacity to stay with the feeling, however tidal or stormy and it can nudge us lovingly into a sideways step of tremendous healing, by offering perspectives that do not negate our reality but sees instead the long line of potential built up through many changing and moving cycles. At it’s best Cancer empowers us to stand strong and tall in our root and feel supported, guided and even carried by our kindred. It gives us a belonging place, where we can be as we are. In Cancer energy, we can let go and become fully naked and vulnerable because we know our kindred hold us and not only protect us, but keep us from straying from our own path.

Cancer teaches us about boundaries by giving us a container to pour ourselves into. It shows us how to have a firm shell so that we can be tender and mushy inside. So this is a time to let go a bit of all those external responsibilities (both real and imagined) and turn our attentions inward and down into ourselves. Cancer is at its fullest empowerment in the outside world when its own root is well nourished. Retreat is often key, but if you have had plenty of self-care and feel a full cup, then this is a potent time for us to be generous with our excess. What we offer as overflow at this time has great healing potential. It does pay to err on the side of caution (as any self-possessed crab would do) and be very honest when deciding which side of that fence you land. Consider yourselves warned, as Venus and Mars are forming a conjunction in Leo at the time of the New Moon and so there will be plenty of opportunity for melodrama should you feel inspired to feed shadow Cancer and continue to avoid finding meaning for your own pain. If however, empowering and healing yourself and others seems a far more interesting path, then this Mars-Venus conjunction (exact on the 13th) helps us to merge passion and creativity in ways that work in symbiosis with the people around us, really spreading rippling of waves of Cancer’s nourturement and healing potential deep into our communities. Remember that the New Moons are seeding times. What is sown during them gets harvested later when the Moon returns to that same sign in its Full form. Lets all endeavor to be kind to our future selves (to say nothing of our greater human family), by maximizing this Cancer New Moon!

Useful activities at this time – PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR OWN SELF CARE HABITS (!!!) and do what is in your power to course correct. Remember that rest and hydration can easily account for half of most healing. Good nutrition is the third leg of that tripod. Helpful Cancer is about taking responsibility for your own healing before taking care of others. So remember to put on your own oxygen mask FIRST. That does not mean that you can’t invite your love to lay down for a nap with you! Or how about making an extra large nutritious meal and pop half of it in one of those plastic containers threatening to take over your kitchen and give it to your neighbor (then go home and have a nice quiet delicious meal by yourself). Cancer energy is about the healing that comes from candle lit baths. It knows to add salts and rose petals (rose is a plant that teaches how to open wide the heart and remain full able to protect itself – like Cancer, it teaches about necessary and healthy boundaries). Not everyone finds their feelings in baths or pillows (my Moon is in Taurus, so those work for me), but each of us has a way that acts as a door to our feeling place, where we can peel off some of our skin and touch our own vulnerability. Do what works for you. Do it with intention. Do it as an offering and celebration to your own beingness. Tend to yourself as you wished others would’ve tended to you. This is a great time to journal to your inner child or better yet have your inner child write you a letter of its needs. An easy and eye opening practice: using your non-dominant hand, write a letter to yourself – don’t think to hard about what to say, just write what comes up. Allow feeling to express itself using the limitation of dexterity to force concise expression. Its also a beautiful time to do any ancestral work you have been interested in exploring.

This is not a time to waste energy on surface interactions. Cancer is a deep diver. Make better choices at this time as to where you put the energy of your intentions. It is a good time to open up your proverbial closet and reacquaint yourself with all you’ve shoved in there to deal with later. Maybe just pick one thing – just reach an arm in through the crack of the door and grab whatever fistful you can. Haul it out into the light and carry it around with you in your awareness. How can YOU bring more nourturement to this one thing? What is a way you can retell that old story from a perspective with more healing potential? You don’t have to commit to anything or even change your mind, all you have to do is feel around to see where you can and are able to soften. Or spend more time watching your mind. If you catch it chattering away, key in. There is potential here. Pause, take a deep centering grounding breath and move your intention lower, beneath the mind, into your heart space, into your feeling place. Try to sit with the feelings, let them be vague or strong or swirling. Let the words bounce around on the choppy surface and move past them deeper down into the emotional currents causing all the surface tension. There is often a knee-jerk that comes when telling someone to feel their feelings. “But what if it overwhelms me?” What if it doesn’t? What if you come to understand the container that is you more deeply, by realizing the depth of your own capacity, the strength of your own tenacity, the wondrous ability you have to heal. Like the crab, we are made to contain our tenderest self. That part of us is designed to live in tidal areas and thrive in the ebb and flow of powerful currents, relentless waves, murky visibility. If you find yourself in a cloudy or tumultuous situation, bring your intention there. Bring your pause, bring your centering love. You don’t need to fix anything; you don’t need to do anything. Just breathe right there in that feeling place and let all the waters bath you with their crashing and their fury.

Rituals at this time… well baths of course! I’ve already gone there, but to take it up a notch you can create your own version of indigenous healing practices from the America’s (where I have come across them at any rate, though I am sure all medicine peoples used some version of this practice): The Plant Bath or ‘Plant Cleansing’. Go take a walk and listen to the land, feel for the plants that call to you, pick yourself a lovely bouquet of greenery and flowers (avoiding any spiky and nettle-like things). It doesn’t have to be a giant bundle, just a small fistful will do. Remember to give thanks to the plant when you pick them. You can leave an offering of a few strands of hair, or a song. If this is unavailable to you, go and buy a small bouquet of flowers. In either case, let the plant know you wish to use it for a healing ritual. You can hold your ritual in the bath (or better yet outside). Just fill a bucket with water (warm it if you like) and dip in your bouquet stirring it clockwise and seeding it with your prayer or intention for self-healing. It is best to try not limit yourself by using words. The emotions here are key. Just feel into your feelings. Push your feelings into the water. Allow any and all feelings to rise up. Whatever they are, let them come. See if you can nudge yourself down into those more complicated feelings, those that confuse you and leave you sore and tired. Push those feelings into the water and just keep stirring clockwise. Do this long enough that you are actually feeling your feelings, not just thinking about your feelings. If you fear that your feelings are too big for you to contain then draw a bold symbol of Cancer on the side of your bucket beforehand or any personal symbol that you resonate with. Stir those feelings into the water. Own your own vulnerability and reach into the patterns of creation and simply ask for help. Ask to be held. Ask to be fed. Ask to be healed. Then take that bouquet that you have been stirring the waters clockwise with, and give yourself a cleansing with them, starting at the tippy-top of your head and working down. Keep dipping and cleansing, patting and brushing every part of your body. Be sure to get those closed more private, tender places where all your lymphs reside. Brush and pat all the way down your legs and over the tops of your feet. Finish with the soles. Repeat from the top of your head to your soles, however many times you wish. When you feel ready, if possible let yourself dry off naturally. When you go to empty your bucket, imagine your grief, your sorrow, your hunger, your pain – whatever ails you - being drawn from you and carried away with the water. Thank the water. Then go and eat something with intention (think fruit or nut rather than Twinky). Just a small bite of something, taken and experienced with deep attention. Always as you create emptiness, you put in a seed to fill it. Thank the plants in your bouquet for their healing medicine.

So go on then, off you go...make some plans! Schedule in "me-time" on the 10th and practice for the following two weeks taking responsibility for your own self-care.

New Moon in Gemini

Gemini New Moon, 10 June 2021

Gemini itself is a kind of natural wild card and this New Moon is also a solar eclipse which themselves are chaotic, so expect some wackiness this New Moon. Gemini is mutable air. The mutable quality is just as it sounds - changing, flexible, shifting. The Air element rules the intellect and ideas. Air element is orientated in the mind and the mental faculties and so sometimes has the quality of being cold and unfeeling. When Air is not engaged with consciously, its rationale is not grounded in the practical (earth) or the heart (water) but rather purely in possibility, in whatever thread the mind can conceive and follow. Because Air is a naturally moving energy it can get very heady, lifting us up and out of the body and out of the heart. Gemini naturally governs the 3^rd house – which is all about movement and communication. Its symbol of the twins suggests the binary nature of give and take, back and forth, ideas bouncing off one another. But more than just communication and interaction, the twins reminds us about multiple perspectives and most importantly about synchronicity. Gemini is a very flexible energy that is forever curious. It can bounce this way or that quite, taking in many points seemingly at once and this is part of its Airy mutable nature – it moves, constantly. Gemini in its pure expression does not seek to deep dive, for that is not its roll. It is here to skim and slide and slip and glean. Its point is to be generative and it does so through engagement. It connects seemingly disparate things together because it opens doors, through flexibility, through curiosity, through its need to keep moving. Real magic can happen in these conditions, because pathways are wide open, ideas are not rigid, possibility is set free from practical or even emotionally binding concerns. Synchronicity thrives in these conditions. Gemini teaches us the importance of being in community and in communion with ALL of possibility. And this energy, like every energy has its down sides. Here we can find the 10 million projects started and never completed, or escapist busyness gone rogue. Here we can see a lack a staying power that hinders deep understanding and commitment. Here we can also find dismissive attitudes towards long term repercussions, or anything that might be somewhat slow or requiring patience and time. This energy can as mentioned before, can be hurtful and impractical if it looses touch with physical reality or emotional responsibility. Responsibility is not a strong Gemini trait and this is because it is associated with youth and the energy, vibrancy and eagerness that comes with that. And I don’t say this is one of its shadow expressions per say. For the point of youth is to be less responsible. Youth could not do what it is meant to do if it were bound and tied the way adulthood is. Yes, of course can go too far in one direction, but when strong Gemini energy is manifesting, part of the imperative is to shed something (an idea, a form, a concept, a belief) and slide out from under the weight of responsibility that those preconceived notions have put on us. Gemini wants movement. Its ruled by Mercury after all. That quick silver, messenger to the gods. Mercury who could travel to the underworld and the overworld without having to pass through customs or suffer under all those questions and scrutiny. Mercury like Gemini connects disparate points.

This New Moon in Gemini is also conjunct retrograde Mercury in addition to being a solar eclipse. This is interesting to unpack. So retrograde seems to get folks freaking out. And in the spirit of shadow Gemini, this is a great time to remind ourselves that a little bit of knowledge can be both detrimental and misleading. All the planets retrograde – it has to do with the apparent motion from the perspective of earth – sometimes they seem to move backwards. Retrograde means revisit, redo, reexamine. It is simply a time to slow down and pay attention to details. In our fast paced, instant everything world we have created this leads most readily into frustration, but it is rarely anything that is disastrous. Ok, having your hard-drive crash, loosing your wallet, signing before actually reading all of the fine print, can certainly feel disastrous, but it is never out to flay you or destroy you. Retrogradation is mostly there to teach us about the nature of time (within the context of the planet involved). Mercury is about what we know and say and think. It is about connecting the dots. It is about messages and receiving Divine information and guidance. So a retrograde Mercury is often about revisiting ideas and concepts. It is about slowing enough and getting out of our own way enough to receive a download. Deja vu is very common when Mercury is retrograde. It is a time when we can make connections and understand things not usually as readily available to us. But this only happens when we keep in mind that this is a receptive and reviewing time, rather than one where we forge ahead or try to get ahead of the game. Because you will have a softened focus during Mercury retrograde times, important little details can slip past you (ever more so when there is an eclipse). So don’t freak out about Mercury retrograde, just take steps to behave accordingly. No biggie.

Having said that, the solar eclipse will make things far more extreme than usual. To remind you, a solar eclipse is where the Sun – or your conscious orientation – is blocked or has to take a back seat to your lunar concerns - that of your emotional and intuitive realms. Another way to look at it is that the yin aspect of our natures often hold sway over the yang aspects of our nature. One astrologer I heard recently talked about eclipses (solar and lunar) as being this maw of possibility that opens up in the cosmic space time where all the rules and logic go out the window and no holds are barred. For this reason there are many who caution against ritual during eclipses, because things can easily go sideways and give unexpected results. I am not of the school that follows one should try to control magic, so for me, eclipses are certainly times where we should exercise caution in what we wish for – we might just get it, and it won’t at all be what or how we imagined it. But I don’t necessarily avoid ritual at these times. I usually use eclipses as times to really just throw love out with abandon. That’s it. Throw it out from you and let it go. I’m not talking about desire or insecurity or all the things we often mistakenly call “love”. That will often return to bite you in the ass. But Love – that indescribable thing that fills us with openness - however that comes back at you, is always a blessing and never is ill timed. For me, eclipses are not times to avoid ritual, but rather its about fitting the ritual to the time. Eclipses are cosmic wild cards. So know this. Great magic can come from this time. Pay attention to the energetic weather and dress your ritual and your intention accordingly. Remember that Mercury is retrograde. Remember its a solar eclipse. If you know your chart, see where it falls for you. Take all this into consideration. Its actually very potent to have Mercury, the ruler of Gemini conjuncting the eclipse in Gemini. Thought and ideas can really open up. Change and movement can happen so easily. Reality as we know it can do a 360. Guidance in extreme forms are available. And just to keep it real, it also means your head can get farther up your ass than its ever been before. Everyone will be experiencing this, so stay centered and be open. This is not the time to take a stand or to get rigid. Also know that you might flex in ways that feel ok at the time but 6 months from now (the time it is said it takes to integrate the energy of the eclipse) you will be wondering what you were thinking. This too is part of the process. I like to think of it like chopping wood. You never aim your ax at the wood to split it, you aim it through the wood, at the block. Sometimes to get to where we need to be we have to overshoot or we’d not make the mark.

So activities that are great for this time? Go and talk to people. Chat up strangers when you are waiting in line for whatever. Comment on conversations that are happening around you. Share ideas that occur to you. Share information. Gemini is a storyteller, so tell stories, and seek them out. Stay curious, get connected. Dip into new ideas, pick up a book or listen to a podcast on things you’ve not considered before. And above all LISTEN. Retrograde Mercury is very much about ‘receiving’. Try to listen in new ways. What does it feel like if you keep your ear in your head, what does it feel like when you put that same ear in your heart or lower down just below your navel, in your guts? What do you hear when you do this, how does it change your understanding of what is being received, what nuances do you notice from one place that you didn’t in the other? Its all information. So gather it, dip into it, taste it. Gemini is really about being creative and curious, so engage in your internal process of listening. Explore what that means for you and all the ways that it can happen and how it changes. If you find yourself getting stuck somewhere, practice detaching and shifting focus. I am not saying ‘check out’, I am saying see how you can tell a different story with the same facts – give yourself a challenge to bend and flex and flow into a whole new kind of yoga. Gemini rules movement, so get out and move your body. Ambulation of all kinds - dance, run, walk, skip. When was the last time you skipped? Try it and notice what it does inside of you. How it changes how you feel, what you think. Get very curious about your own process. Then find a friend and bounce your findings off them. See where that reveal takes you both. Commit yourself to going on an adventure!

Intentions to set? Basically the same thing…. Try to avoid putting things in boxes with labels on them. If something rubs you the wrong way, find a way to bring curiosity into the space. Remember that this is not a time to hold an impossible yoga pose, all you need to do it flex into it for a brief moment and then slide away. Its not a time to be fixed in body or mind. Nor is it a time to fix, but rather to explore. So have your intentions follow. Try to remain fluid and open. You can practice mantra along these lines. If you find yourself getting bogged down with unhelpful mental chatter, give your little monkey mind “go with the flow” as a stick to hold onto and wave around. Put your feelers out – all of them. Fully extend your range and see what you pick up. Remember that this is not really a time to ‘do’ anything with whatever information you receive, its more about exposure and taking in abundance. So stretch your container and see how much you can fit in. By opening our hearts, we make room in our minds. Try to shift your habitual patterns – whatever they are. Bring in newness and even a bit of chaos. Make the intention to simply engage differently. Gemini energy is not about judging a thing, its about exploring it. Gemini energy is an open mind – wide open. If you need a meditation tool at this time, I would recommend the Tarot card #6 of the Major Arcana. Angeles Arrien gives a beautiful interpretation of this card from the Thoth deck. Therein she quotes the I-Ching of Break-through saying “Even a single passion still lurking in the heart has the power to obscure reason. Passion and reason cannot exist side by side. Therefore, fight without quarter is necessary if the good is to prevail. In resolute struggle of the good against evil, there are, however, definite rules that must not be discarded if good is to succeed. First, resolution must be based on a union of strength and friendliness. Second, a compromise with evil is not possible: evil must under all circumstances be openly discredited. Nor must our own passion and shortcomings be glossed over. Third, the struggle must not be carried on directly by force. If evil is branded, it thinks of weapons, and if we do it the favor of fighting against it blow for blow, we lose in the end because thus we ourselves get entangled in hatred and passion. Therefore, it is important to begin at home, to be on guard in our own persons against the faults that we have branded. In this way finding no opponent, the sharp edges of the weapons of evil become dulled. For the same reasons we should not combat our own faults directly. As long as we wrestle with them, they continue victorious. Finally, the best way to fight evil is to make energetic progress in the good.” If you take issue with these words, well, this is a time where we all get to explore them a bit more. Gemini can help us unpack our own shadow natures and it can open our awareness to our own prejudices and inform us about our own privileges. None of our hands are clean. So how do we learn to join them? Gemini holds a key at this time.

For ritual this month I mostly recommend to just spend time in communion. Talk to the bee, the bird, the stone and listen in return. This time is about making contact and being open to receiving contact. Again if you are going to ritualize an intention to try to set something in motion for this New Moon, keep it really simple, very basic – and be sure to let go of all your expectations and illusions of any kind of control. This is a wild New Moon, so please dress accordingly.

Finally in parting this month I would like to add that there are A LOT of weighty aspects from the Full Moon (lunar eclipse) when I post this, right on through to the New Moon that I have shared a little bit about. This is a very pregnant time. We have all been called to show up here and now on this planet. One way or another we answer that call through our willingness (or unwillingness) to be present for our life as it unfolds day by day. This is a time when great change is afoot. Minds can 360 at the drop of hat. We can connect all the seemingly disparate parts of ourselves too. Any dip into quantum theory or history for that matter shows us that physical reality changes as mind changes. The downfall of this time is skimming across the surface of the information and formulating a belief to stand on where we can wield our righteous emotions. History will provide endless great examples of such hubris too. I urge us all to practice breathing into whatever conflict we find ourselves in – whether on the outside of us as we engage with the world, or inside of us as we come to terms with our own shadow nature. Just show up and be honest. Our jobs are not to pick up the banner of a truth from something outside of ourselves. This time we are all in calls us to listen to the wisdom that is seeded within each of us. So what really is your bottom line? What are your core values? Are you able to stand there and not get carried up and out of that truth? If not, use this time to simply practice just being uncomfortable and to take in as much information from all sides as you can. Use this yin time to receive and to stretch your capacity to sit with multiple and even conflicting perspectives. The Gemini twins can bring polarities into stark relief, but the binary energy of the twins can just as easily be lovers and two halves of a greater and far yummier wholeness. So pay attention to the twinning energy that you encounter on your travels.

New Moon in Taurus

Note: Anyone needing the New Moon Ritual pattern explained, please see the start of the Capricorn New Moon entry. Also note that i aim to put up a new post on or just before the Full Moon - so mark your calendar or send me an email and i can put you on the notification list.

Taurus New Moon 12 May 2021

The progression through the signs is an adjusting process in response to the excesses in the energy that came before. Aries was charge and GO! It requires a tremendous staying power that can put the breaks on that. Taurus does that and more. Taurus is fixed earth. Fixed, the least movable of the triad of modalities. Earth, that grounding practical energy. Taurus can be incredibly stubborn and incredibly stagnating energy for these reasons. It knows how to hold its ground and take its time. It knows the benefit of hard work and good rest. Its a tangible energy, it wants to work with its hands and use its body. It understands the animal pleasures – food, rest, sex, exercise – all those things which draw it deeply into the body and into the moment. All of these can be taken to an unhelpful extreme, for Taurus is nothing if not also self-indulgent. Taurus is ruled by Venus after all. It is where Venus gets her predilections for acquisition. Taurus is about accumulation – earth, building up, metabolism slowing down. Lazy, it understands most thoroughly. It is how Taurus can heal us from the intense high speed car race of Aries. Taurus wants a soothed nervous system. Peace and pleasure are its prime motivators. Taurus teaches us how to rest, how to slow down and pay attention to what is actually happening inside of our bodies. Taurus doesn’t mind hard work and can usually pull its own weight and then some, but it has to do it in its own time, in its own way and for practical, useful reasons. Taurus as an earth sign understands both time and resources are limited, that everything comes to an end and so it relishes being in the body – feeling its own aliveness is a big part of it. Taurus is about Gratitude. For Taurus there is an unshakable simplicity to life. Its very basic - simple solid pleasures. It stands in polarity with Scorpio for whom complexity rules. It takes that fireball of activity that Aries initiated and it tries to build something with it. Preferably something that leads to greater pleasure. It does this by tuning in very deeply to the rhythms and cycles of the world around it – particularly the non-human world of plants and animals. What Taurus listens for is the deep hum of Gaia herself. Taurus trust smells more than it does words, it understands actions more than thoughts. It has an innate attunement towards vibration and here we see why Taurus rules the voice and singing. Taurus is the natural ruler of the 2^nd house, sometimes called the house of money. I see it as the house of personal power, where we see to our own basic needs for food, shelter and safety. It is hard to have peace when those things are not met. Money is one way to do that. Our values are another, as is hard work. But Taurus listens more deeply and so knows when we are paying too much for our money. The 2^nd house represents our bottom line – where we can stand and not be moved from. It is the core. Taurus honors this core, this essence. This is where personal power is generated. So it wants to put its considerable strength and determination to that which really addresses this bottom line.

This New Moon we find Uranus also in Taurus – 10 degrees from the Sun & Moon. Uranus is the paradigm shifter, the rebel, the radical. Uranus is lightening and unexpected surprises. Taurus energy is very slow to anger, but when it does LOOK OUT! Any Uranian explosions take center stage will this month will be ones that have been a long time brewing. CHANGE is in the air with Uranus. Taurus may fundamentally not like change, but when it has to, it does. And when it does, it does so completely, because for Taurus, when it makes its mind up, there is not much that can move it. So we really want to harness this Taurus momentum wisely to what Uranus is opening up within us. Uranus is about the collective. The Sun and Moon are about the individual. We change the collective story by each of us individually taking responsibility for the reality of our own lives and our actual effort. We shift the narrative by hoeing our row – whatever that is. How we know is by listening deeply to our bodies and what instinct is telling us. What vibrations sound like peace and pleasure. That is what we can shift the story into….and not in a namby-pamby, flight into light, head in the sand kind of way; not by waiting for help to arrive or for someone to fix it or for it to become fair. No, Taurus knows the work that needs to be done and just gets on with it…. It wants to finish, have a shower and eat a good meal before it slides into sleep.

Intentions: pick up what is yours to carry and get on with it. Don’t listen to all that noise out there telling what is what, tune into your own body, trust your own instincts. Choose to NOT have your feathers ruffled. Step away from drama – whatever form it takes be it self-generated or media/social hype. Listen to what your own senses are telling you and take responsibility for that. Believe your body, more than your mind. Our minds can often convince us of things that wreak havoc on the body. This is time to move towards peace, stillness, gratitude. Put your roots down. If you are facing choices this season, pick the ones that seem the most practical, especially financially as Taurus rules money. Practical in terms of the health of your body, your quality of peace, the amount of time it gives you. These are the things Taurus values. Decide to make lifestyle changes that bring you closer to these simple truths.

Actions: go do something with your hands. Find a way to work up a good sweat. Get a massage. Do some yoga. Spend time in the kitchen making something amazing. Do a sauna or a sweat. Work in the garden or in the yard. Wear your comfiest clothes. Sing! Studies show that singing is the number one thing we can do for not only our emotional and psychological health, but for our physical health. Singing – particularly if you sing something you believe in, creates resonance within the body that helps to flush toxins from our cells and increases out internal vibration. Basically raising your Qi. Simple songs can be used as mantra or as a way to commune with others without needing to involve our minds so much. Song is the First Gift and is used in every culture around the world as an offering of gratitude. Here is a really good simple song that utterly embodies the Taurus vibe. I encourage you to learn it and sing it and teach it. There are many versions of it on the internet, here are two of my faves:

https://soundcloud.com/heather-houston-2/put-your-roots-down-all-parts/reposts

https://soundcloud.com/user-811262828/mindful-music-sangha-put-your-roots-down-original-by-arielle-solomon

Ritual: whatever you do, make it outside, make it unplugged, have something delicious to eat, burn fragrant herbs and sing! A beautiful ritual well suited to Taurus energy is to ground by simply saying “Thank you”. Its a great way to begin your day with a gratitude salutation – just go outside and listen. Use all of your senses, see and feel and smell, then for everything that touches your senses, say Thank you. “Thank you Sun. Thank you warmth. Thank you sky. Thank you birds. Thank you trees. Thank you tired. Thank you people. Thank you traffic. Thank you mosquito. Thank you breath. Thank you shadow. Thank you time. Thank you peace.” And so on. Take your time, give yourself time. What usually happens is that there is a deep sense of connectivity and humility that fills us. It can be incredibly cathartic and deeply soothing. You can do this with others, you can do this alone.

You can use this New Moon to begin a change of lifestyle and a ritual is a perfect way to make the intention tangible, but don’t stop there, that’s lazy Taurus – entirely available to you for sure, but what a waste when you could pick up one simple practice to keep working for the next two weeks. As I said, Taurus has tremendous sticking power, so if you have been trying to change your diet, quit a habit, get more sleep, unplug more, exercise more – whatever it may be - try picking one actual thing that you can do for the next two weeks and DO IT! I am talking about the 2 weeks beginning on the New Moon and ending on the Full. This is the most potent building time for energy. You will find that there will be far less resistance to this lifestyle change and it will give you momentum to continue to follow through even after the Full Moon. Same goes for a project you need to knuckle down on and put some hours into. And throughout the next two weeks continue to really check in with your body, how it is feeling and what you are doing about it. Are you listening or are you ignoring it? What vibrations are you picking up on and what are you choosing to sound yourself?

No doubt there will be some unexpected surprises unfolding for the collective. These are the times we are living in. We all have free will to choose how we respond to these times. Our minds are only part of the equation, our bodies – the earth – is another part. Take time to really tune in to what the earth and what your body is saying to you and then pick up what you are responsible for and own that choice. Taurus is about owning your personal power and standing strong there. How we do that is by anchoring to our bottom line. Make your bottom line more than just money, more than just feeling good in the moment – like all earth energies Taurus wants things that hold water, things that stand the test of time.

New Moon in Aries

Aries New Moon, 12 April 2021

So Welcome New Beginnings! Aries is the sign that ‘in theory begins the energetic cycle around the zodiacal wheel. But it doesn’t matter how often its been reinvented, a wheel in my book is still gonna be round! Which means that everything is a progression with no real endings or beginnings… or rather that in the ‘real world’ endings are beginnings and vice versa. Its only the imaginary world of human deconstructive comprehension and separation consciousness that it is construed otherwise. The Aries New Moon is Cardinal Fire – the initiating spark! Fire element is tranformative and rules our spiritual intelligence. Think phoenix. So this is a time to focus on that fire – in all its ways - being forged by it, burned by it, challenged by it, hollowed out or asked to give your all. This is a time when much energy available for transformation, whether that is a project or a personal goal you can feel that charge of full speed ahead. But I wasn’t just getting on a soapbox earlier, there is always a destructive element that is part of the picture here. That is the nature of the beast. If we don’t work that side of the duality consciously it will manifest unconsciously. This is the energy of “I am!” Aries is ruled by Mars. So if we think in terms of planetary polarities: Venus attracts, Mars repels; Venus is the lover, Mars is the fighter. So we have here warrior energy with Aries. Mars rules “Geburah”, the 5^th Sephora on the Tree of Life, in Hebrew it means strength or might. This warrior energy of Aries is abundantly available to us this New Moon and again warrior energy in all its forms, from the Berserker to the Samurai. It is force of will. Which is a very easy thing to use unconsciously, especially when you are riding the momentum of transformative fire. When working with Aries, I always like to recall something the Dali Lama said: “The world is drunk on anger.” That world that he is referring to is very much a result of unconscious use of Aries energy. The thing to remember with Aries is that there is going to be a lot of juice in the system, there is going to be a fire, a rocket, a KAPOW!, Part of activating that high warrior energy means taking responsibility to direct that fire in healthy ways. Make sure you have an outlet….but better yet, use this fire to purify and challenge yourself. Take whatever you are working with to the next level. Take bold action toward something that is really meaningful for you. Stick your neck out and Dare. Stand tall and unrelenting in the face of your own fears. This is definitely a time to fight battles, but make sure that what you are fighting is a worthy opponent. The questions to ask are not only which fight is the most honorable one, but how to fight it in such a way that it brings honor to everyone. I am thinking here of how most historians agree that a large part of why Hitler was able to spread as he did was due to the extreme punitive measures placed upon Germany after WWI. Had a top priority been honor for both sides of the table, I suspect that things could have gone quite differently farther down the track. Venus and Mercury join the line-up in Aries for this New Moon so there is an added element of communication and relatedness. This is a very beautiful time to speak your truth. Do so knowing that passions will be similarly inflamed – across the board for everyone. If inattentive and leaving ego in the driver’s seat, there is a lot of potential to be hurtful and rash, as well as biting off more than we can chew. Aries is an energy that takes up space and you have to give this energy space, don’t engage it when feeling cornered. Don’t paint people into a corner. That is a lose-lose situation. Remember Honor. Aries needs a lot of room because it is learning to be aware of itself through conflict and edges, challenges and extremities. Don’t take that fact personally. Think of it like gravity, we don’t take gravity personally. So if you are getting bumped into as people around you are finding their edges too, remember where and how you really want to direct that fire. Yes, for sure stand your ground and take up space – that is your right, but honestly, there is room enough for all of us if we keep honor as the guiding star.

Aries naturally rules the 1^st house of ‘self’. So this energy is what is required to discover what that actually is. What is self-hood? Learning about boundaries – where you stop and something else begins. This is most readily learned through challenges. Think of the tiny seed in the soil in spring, cracking open, sticking its fragile little neck out farther and farther through heavy dark earth. What is needed to transform from seed to sprout? Courage; and courage, requires the presence of fear. Pause and think about what that means. The element of fire/transformation ruling the house of the self means personal challenge, growth opportunities through effort and facing the unknown. These are the highest expressions we can harness at this time.

Both space and movement are key for this energy. Think of fire, it is very active, doesn’t ever ‘rest’. Aries is similar, it wants physical expression, so use your body, find your edges. At the very least exercise or have yourself a dance party, get that body moving and the juices flowing and release your own fire. Have a good sweat – get those toxins out. These things are really helpful when trying to work the high expression of the energy. Think pressure cooker… it needs a steam valve to release regularly. That is part of the process. If you have a project that needs a push, now is the time to PUSH. Push hard – give it your all. If you are trying to work up the courage to leap – LEAP! Just go for it. Ask yourself: “when you die, are you going to regret failing or not having even tried more?” Don’t just pick any challenge – choose one that has heart for you. Put your skin in the game. Give yourself a challenge to create something that will give you sense of pride of self; something that will bestow honor to you. If you need a redirect in your life, now is the time. This energy has the force and momentum to totally turn everything in a completely new direction if need be. So if you need to make a hard turn, do it now. With Mars currently in Gemini, we can put a more specific spin on our focus by remembering that we will have our greatest breakthroughs with challenges at this time if we employ both curiosity and willingness to consider all angles. Transformation is never purely a question of brute force, but also requires possibility to be opened; thus inspiration is needed. So YES, be the Warrior, don’t knee-jerk, but stay open and connected – again this will be easier to do if your heart is fully engaged. This is not a time for easy. Challenge yourself by stepping fully into what is truly most meaningful to you.

This New Moon wants interaction and it wants transformation, so while the emphasis is on personal growth, this energy needs other people to access that potential. So, have some edgy conversations, stay in high warrior mode, but really challenge yourself. Take off your personae and be naked. Be vulnerable. There are so many divisive topics these days and it seems avoiding them or driving the wedge ever deeper, to be the paths most chosen when it comes to learning about these edges, but what this energy is asking of us, is to take the road less traveled – how to knit the divide? Dare to get in side of it and reach out both your hands, not as fists, but open, curious, attentive and willing.

High Aries intentions? Hold the idea of transformation by fire in your mind. Step into the flames. What can I allowed to be burned away at this time? Can I look upon the fire as a Gift and step accordingly by rising to the challenge and realizing that I have more capacity and more resilience than I had believed. There is that beautiful Rumi has some great poems about fear. Search “Rumi + Fear” and find some line to stick on your mirror. Here are two of my faves:

“Fear, it’s the smallest room in the house.

I’d like to see you in better accommodations.”

or

“Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down the dulcimer. Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

Practices along these lines are to pay very close attention to your own fear. Really notice who is in the driver’s seat. Notice when you react and dig down and see what is at the root. If its fear. Go there and be witness. This is the time to take responsibility. You don’t have to do anything but own and witness what is there, the rest will come of its own accord at this time. The warrior energy in all of us rises in defense of the weak. There is honor in feeling your fear. And remember that fear sometimes looks like a very busy person with a million things to do, or a neat and orderly list with boxes to tick as much as it can look like a bully. Whichever form it finds you. Be honorable and own it for what it is, really feel it; feel your own edges. And then decide what is the path of honor and lean into your own inner warrior. If fear seems to remote for you then work with the other side of the coin – anger. Notice your tension, your frustration, notice your word choice or what things draw you in. Pay attention and go there, open and curious and again see what is at the root.

Rituals… usually I don’t have much trouble coming up with lots of ideas on the ritual sides of things, but Aries energy is really about “doing” and in a manifest way, rather than in a symbolic way. So this one tends to slide away from me when I try to grab hold of it. So I invite you to explore this as it speaks to you. Hold the energies in your heart and follow your own nose. That too is Aries. Write to me and let me know about what arises for you on this front. I’d love to hear some of your Aries rituals. If you are really stumped but want to try to work with this energy. My go to is to work with rage. Ritual is a safe and super transformative way to work with rage. Have a fire (of course) and symbolically burn some bridges. If there is something that you want out of your life, spend time creating an effigy of it and torch the damn thing! Make noise and scream loudly in defiance as it burns. I mean it, really get that shit out of your system. One caution I would advise is that energy is energy, like all the rest of our pollution, the earth still has to carry whatever we throw “away”. This is not to say keep the trash in your system, but know that if you just unleash it, the unconscious results can be the same. So whenever I work with rage, I make a salt circle, working clockwise to create your circle. Salt grounds energy and acts as a container. Say a little prayer as you make your circle – you don’t have to use a lot, just a sprinkle, we are working symbolically after all – ask that the energy you release be used for growth and healing transformation. Your trash is another’s treasure and the earth always knows how to best direct it. So begin (and end) your ceremony, by properly preparing your space and taking responsibility for yourself and your own energy. When your ritual is completed you can open your circle with a repetition of your prayer and a request to release it. Or you can ‘sweep up’ your circle moving counter clockwise and take the leavings to moving water (water balances fire) or dig a hole and bury it (earth dampens fire) – be sure to give thanks and again say a little prayer that it be used in healing ways.

New Moon in Pisces

Pisces New Moon, 13 March 2021

Hi ya’ll… before getting into the upcoming New Moon I wanted to put some context around what is happening on the collective level astrologically this year. There is always more going on than what I have space to write about, and so I’ve tried to keep the focus on the New Moon. I think though, that our own individual journeys are often best navigated when held in the context of a larger picture. And since this New Moon is in Pisces, which is all about the context of connectivity it seems apt to give a bit more background this month.

The big activity this entire year is the square between Saturn (structure, authority, duty responsibility, linear time, cause and effect) and Uranus (left field, rebellion, individuality, surprises, lightening, technology). Saturn inspires form, while Uranus inspires change. When these energies integrate there is potential for a lot of growth and evolution. Squares however are two energies coming at 90 degrees to one another… they often feel like they are t-boning into one another. We struggle the most with squares, but we often learn the most with them too. You will hear folks spending a lot of energy talking about how hard squares are. Its true for sure, but it also misses the point. All aspects are essentially about integration – that is their goal. How to get two energies right angles to integrate? That is the question of the square. The interesting thing about this square, is that Saturn is in Aquarius (where Uranus is very comfortable) and Uranus is in Taurus (where Saturn is also comfortable). This makes them more able to relate and thus softens the inherent tension. The Saturn-Uranus square this year calls for us to pay attention because someplace where we are stuck and slow to change or are stubbornly limiting ourselves (Taurus), is receiving a stimulating jolt or surprise for the purpose of change and individuation (Uranus). Simultaneously in the areas where we can be overly mental or cold or not very practical or tangible (Aquarius), we are being brought up short through some form of real life limitation or duty in order to ground us and also to force us to take better responsibility for ourselves and our actions (Saturn). Its like expansion and contraction of energies are happening to us on conflicting fronts at the same time and it can feel that we are being tortured with no clear direction forward. But think of metal in a forge being heated and folded and pounded and heated again….over and over. The point of this process is to slow us down, to keep it real and honest. The result of this heating and pounding will be to clarify our commitments, strengthen our integrity. At the end of the day this square is about shifting power structures and how we interact with them (Uranus in Taurus) to better integrate communal responsibility (Saturn in Aquarius). How we address these topics as they arise in our personal lives will have big implications on the vibration of the collective, which is what happens when transpersonal planets like Uranus engage with the gatekeeper of the earth plane (Saturn). We will undoubtedly see this energy playing out on the global field. And it will be particularly relevant for anyone who has planets in the early degrees of any fixed signs. This square is active all year but you might notice it most when it is nearest to exact (17 Feb 2021, 15 June 2021, 24 December 2021 - there is one more a close but not precisely exact conjunction 1-12 October 2022). More often than not, it is not the exact moments when we feel the intensity of an aspect, but rather when it is triggered for us by a faster moving personal planet.

Ok, so this upcoming New Moon is in Pisces. This is the energy of Mutable Water. Mutable, again means changing, moving – in the process of transformation. Its form is flexible, and thus its ideas about itself are flexible too. Water rules the realm of the emotion and feeling. Water signs are often quite intuitive, because like water, they are very conductive. Water itself is also often moving and formless, so mutable water is an amplification of these qualities. Mutable water is thus incredibly transforming, incredibly non-attached. Think of that point of ‘in between’ – like when the organism is not quite a caterpillar anymore but not yet a butterfly or that space in where something might not be dead, but is not alive either. This is often the state of ripe fruit plucked from the vine and sitting on your table offering itself to you. Because of this ‘in between state’, there are many doorways available to mutable water energy. This is perhaps why Pisces naturally rules the 12^th house, which governs the ending of cycles, where ego and attachments dissolve and are stripped away. Ideas matter less and less, and feelings more and more.

The goal of Piscean energy is to soften and become porous because ultimately Piscean energy is the embodiment oneness. The opening and releasing of form or ideas are so that we awaken to the energetic truth that everything is connected; that there is no separation. Piscean energy teaches unity consciousness… something very difficult, but very necessary for the little human animal who has been so steeped in separation consciousness.

This New Moon opens pathways of possibility for remarkable transformation through radical release. It is both soft and deep. So go and spend time in or around water, floating if you can – allowing yourself to have no agenda but to feel and experience the moment. Imagery along these lines will also help facilitate entry into this energy. Likewise you can imagine yourself sloughing off your skin, shedding your ideas, letting go of your beliefs, even dissolving your form. Chanting Om, just that – lengthening the ‘mmm’ so that you feel the vibration in your bones, releasing all the breath out of your lungs as you do so. Also try to give yourself more time when you are bathing, just be there feeling the water running over you and imagine thought forms and beliefs washing off of you just like dirt would. You can say out loud ‘i release anything and everything that does not serve my highest evolution’. Think of the Grand Canyon and feel the enormous potency of moving water. Feel the porousness of your own temporal existence. You are not your form, you are not your thoughts or even your beliefs. The essence that is you, is much, much larger and has almost nothing to do with ‘you’ at all.

Intentions along these Piscean lines are really about moving with the flow of whatever is happening around you in the moment. There are times to practice having good boundaries – Piscean energy is not one of them. Here its about merger, allowance, flow. You can practice this in everything you do throughout the day. Noticing your resistance where ever you find it or whenever you pull away, and try to soften there however you can. Notice when you are attaching to an agenda or a story or idea and try to let go and see what happens in your experience when those attachments aren’t factors for the moment itself. Maybe you ‘can’t’ let go. That’s ok too. Just be there with that, feel into your own resistance and soften your judgment about it by noticing more deeply, becoming more curious and allowing yourself feel whatever feeling comes up. A mantra I often use throughout the day when I am practicing with mutable water is: ‘Go with the flow. Roll with the punches. Embrace the unknown.’ I sing it as a little song on repeat and just let it play in the background of the entire day. I’ll actively pick it up when I am driving or walking or doing the dishes – just using it to softly keep the thought process of monkey mind ‘distracted’ and to help keep me focused on the feelings of release and allowance.

How can you let more in? How can you let more out? How can you become more and more aware of the membranes that keep you separate? How can you become more porous? This intrinsically means noticing your judgments. It means letting yourself off the hook and also letting others off the hook. It means letting life just be what it is. Allowing it to be complicated, sticky, messy, scary – whatever. This New Moon is about softening into the reality of our feelings and giving ourselves permission to really feel deeply into them – AND practice not doing a single thing about it. When we can learn to sit in this space – this curiously uncomfortable space of wide open allowance and feeling, and just be there, breathing one moment to the next, a radical transformation happens on an energetic level.

As for ritual, I would recommend exploring deeply and pushing your edges around your personal and global suffering through a Buddhist practice called Tonglen. I am including two of my favorite Buddhism teachers speaking on and teaching Tonglen (Pema Chodron – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x95ltQP8qQ and Tara Brach – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apQS0St3PKY). If these teachers don’t resonate for you, there are many Tonglen teachings available online. An important thing to remember with Tonglen practice is that if during the practice (or at the end of the practice) you feel a predominance of heaviness or sadness or weightedness, you most likely need to lengthen your out-breath. Its an indication that the out-breath is not in balance with your in-breath. Its very important in this practice that the in and out breaths are balanced both in force and length – meaning: in both attention and intention (read that last bit again, its important). What should remain at the end of the practice is a feeling of balanced openness – a kind of energetic neutrality through non-resistance and a general feeling of expanded compassion and connectivity. Partaking in a formal Tonglen practice during the New Moon is heightened because this New Moon is joined by both Neptune and Venus. Neptune is said to be the ‘higher octave of Venus’. Both of these planets are fundamentally about relationship and connectivity to both the mundane (Venus) and to the divine (Neptune). There are of course many other things you could formally or ritually practice that would engage oneness – electromagnetic plant communication, shamanic journey work, trance – anything really that helps you to move through the barriers and ideas of separateness and focuses the heart on connectivity. Pisces is the energy that reminds us that “the sea refuses no river” - there is no wrong way, you cannot loose the path or miss the turn. The entire universe is holding you in place, so just let go and be.