Sagittarius New Moon: Your Higher Truth

Sagittarius energy–the sign ruled by the planet Jupiter, the great benefic—is always about expansion. It corresponds also with adventurous long-distance journeys, higher education, law, and philosophy of life, including religion.

 Sagittarius encompasses how one’s philosophy of life manifests as what we come to believe in as the truth. For many people, such truths derive from an indoctrinated religion. For others, they emerge from deep within through an expanded consciousness derived by going out into the world with open-minded curiosity and wonder.

This is not a condemnation of organized religion. Far from it. Most major religions have resulted in the codification of morals and ethics into laws by which we live so that we may coexist peacefully and in community with our brothers and sisters.

So, yes, Sagittarius is an energy about expanding whatever it touches in your chart, but in the end–when you boil it all down–it’s really about one of the most important things we humans can experience, which is the expansion of our own consciousness.

It’s Sagittarius energy that allows us to jettison traditionalistic security-enhancing hardline religious ways of thinking–and to rise above them and onto a more spiritual plane. And such expansion—as many can attest–allows us to have faith without the need for tangible, empirical, concrete, physical proof.

This Sagittarius New Moon—when the Moon meets the Sun in the sky and we have what’s known as a dark of the moon period—provides fertile ground for planting the seed of faith in the world around us. And this may mean beginning to think in more expansive, all-inclusive, and spiritual ways.

Sagittarius New Moon Square Dance

Unfortunately, this Sagittarius New Moon is fraught with obstacles to overcome in terms of making strides toward the kind of faith derived from greater consciousness which, even on a good day, is no easy task!

The trouble begins with the fact that this 7 degree 42 minute Sagittarius New Moon squares Neptune, which conjuncts the South Node in Pisces, and the Virgo North Node. The nodal axis represents our karmic dilemma, meaning the energy we’re tasked with moving away from (in this case the Pisces South Node), and that which the universe encourages us to move toward (Virgo.)

Astrologer Steven Forrest likes to say that any planets squaring the nodal axis show us what may have “vexed”–or blocked–us in prior lifetimes, as well as in our current one. Squares in astrology are always challenges requiring a good bit of inner strength and insight to recognize and overcome.

As discussed in previous writings, I view Neptune on the South Node and in the sign of Pisces as very much about the struggle to move away from seeing people, circumstances, and things the way we want to see them, rather than as they really are.

Under the influence of Neptune–the planet of illusion, delusion, and confusion–we may repress our own greatness and project it out and onto another or others, thus making them larger than life and casting them in the role of saviors or redeemers.

Think of sitting in the first row of a movie theater and looking up at your larger-than-life favorite movie star or celebrity from that perspective, and I think you’ll get what I mean.

The Sun square Neptune sets us up right now to quest after the elusive father figure, to idolize males in our lives who appear to us to be redeemers. The Moon square Neptune can make us prone to invasion by other peoples’ energies and, as a result, to feel depressed, fatigued, enraged, or whatever emotion we may empathically pick up from others and/or the collective right now.

Neptune & The Con That We Call “Love”

The challenge right now is to try to recognize what’s real and what is not.

A tall order when Neptune/Pisces energy is involved, especially if this Sagittarius New Moon degree falls in a significant area of your own personal horoscope.

The trouble with Neptune—often referred to as the planet of illusion, confusion, and delusion—is with our tendency to project. All that glitters is not gold, as they say, and this is particularly true whenever Neptune or Pisces energy is involved.

Often, it’s tough to tell whether another has deceived us into thinking of them as savior-like, or if we ourselves boosted them to such great heights. Let’s call it the “rose-colored glasses” syndrome…

In the end, the question always becomes how much have we allowed others to deceive us with promises of happily-ever-after-love-and commitment, glory, wealth, stability, health, etc., and how much is based upon our own illusory thinking?

Neptune/Pisces energy is always concerned with redemption—accomplished only by returning to source energy. In cruder parlance, it’s the attempt to return to the mother’s womb. Metaphorically, it’s the womb of the great mother–a place where we’re all connected as one, lost in a blissful state of the collective unconscious. In this context, Neptune/Pisces’ connotation with escapism is undeniable.

This kind of energy can leave us vulnerable to escapism, illusory thinking, dreams that have zero basis in reality–and which cause us to project onto the greater screen in our minds the gloriousness of another. Hence, Neptune/Pisces represents both the victim and the savior.

 A Martyr In My Bed Tonight

Compounding this conundrum on this Sagittarius New Moon is the fact that it’s joined by the asteroid Juno, which also squares Neptune and the Nodes. The question becomes: is our thinking vis-à-vis partnership clear right now?

Juno, the Roman counterpart to the Greek Hera—the wife of Jupiter/Zeus, the king of the gods—has an honored place among the pantheon of the gods. Mythologically, however, Juno/Hera is regularly deceived by Jupiter/Zeus in the realm of marriage–which in our latter day more parochial view is sanctioned as a supposedly unbreakable bond with our partner.

Now, this isn’t saying that everyone’s partner is going to deceive them at this Sagittarius New Moon. No, no, no! Rather, it’s about asking yourself whether any partner you’ve chosen is of the same belief system as you and whether it matters…and how, why, and where we may project onto them attributes they, in fact, do not possess.

Here are a few questions we might ask ourselves at this Sagittarius New Moon:

•  Where might a partner appear to be on board with our thinking, but turn out to have quite different views?
•   How can we transcend our rigid thinking and allow this person to coexist in our lives without having to dump him or her, deceive them, or allow ourselves to be deceived by them?

Alternatively:

•   How might we be idolizing or idealizing a partner out of all proportion?
•   Where are we so desperate for a redeemer that we’re willing to accept less than?
•    How can we fulfill our needs in partnership from within first and without second?

As we move forward and question our partnerships, our answer about whether to leave such partnerships behind may in some cases be a resounding “yes!” while in others the issues won’t prove big enough to be deal breakers.

Going deep now about where we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that someone else can solve our problems is bigly in play right now. While we may find that we’ve projected our desires out to a political figure, a cleric, our boss, or someone in our more personal sphere, it behooves us all to try to put our finger on it.

Failure to do so can result in many of us chasing the kind of rainbows that both Neptune/Pisces and Jupiter/Sagittarius allow us to project out and onto the world at large, and can set us up for major disappointment in the future…

Why Don’t We Break The Rules Already?

As Jupiter squares Pluto during this New Moon (and begins move into opposition with Uranus over the next few months as well) it’s a good idea to look at improving your relationships, but avoid obsessing over what you think is right.

Remember, to be really convinced that your truths really are true—for you—you might need to reexamine your ideas of right and wrong. Then, if you have the courage of your convictions you can stand on solid, not shaky, ground. If not, you are likely to run into resistance from another or others. Try to avoid power-tripping anyone now as well!

Jupiter begins to move into opposition with Uranus, creating—along with the tight square of Venus to Uranus on this Sagittarius Full Moon–the desire for change by busting loose, a.k.a., freedom. This energy will wax in strength as this opposition becomes exact between December 2016 and February 2017.

Although Venus moves quickly, its square to Uranus at the precise moment of this Sagittarius New Moon signifies that our values are also up for reflection and introspection. Venus always bottom lines for us that which gives us pleasure via the five senses and the physical body, and what truly makes us feel good–which then becomes that which we value.

However, this square to Uranus may makes us feel too hemmed in or unable to move freely, and may foretell the sudden throwing over of anyone or anything now in our attempt to be free. Or someone may throw us over instead.

Let’s face it, how can we be flexible if we’re stuck, complacent, or too resistant to change? Anyone or anything in your life that causes stagnation may have to go…if not in the short term, then Venus square Uranus may trigger events on this Sagittarius New Moon that conspire (as Jupiter moves into opposition to Uranus) to result in your moving on in one way or another, whether by choice or not…

“The other night, you wouldn’t believe
the dream I just had about you and me
I called you up, but we’d both agree
It’s for the best you didn’t listen
It’s for the best we get our distance…”

What Do I Stand For? 

Despite this, however, the true danger with this Sagittarius New Moon squaring Neptune and the Nodes becomes settling in to a new kind of rigidity. But this is not a Saturnine rigidity—rather, this is a Jupiter/Sagittarius shadow side rigidity.

Thinking we know everything, that we have all the answers, can be a major pitfall here. And the possibility of projecting this onto a leader because it’s part of the collective unconscious deserves acknowledgment…

Such a mindset stops us at the borders of our current consciousness and allows the ego, which is Saturnine, to proceed unchecked. Drawing our wagons in a circle, so to speak, to barricade our boundaries from infiltration by the “other” is a danger we’d be well-apprised to consider before we mount any kind of ideological attack on any other individual, group, nation, religion, race, gender, etc.

Neptune at the South Node in Pisces runs the risk of letting it all float awaydownstream as we lie helpless to stop it. This kind of anesthetization has been prevalent in the world for a while—one need only examine where one knows one checks out in order to avoid dealing with the harsher realities of real life as proof.

The issue becomes whether we can go deep and actually consciously investigate what might lie under the surface, embedded in our psyches, that prevents us from moving toward Virgo North Node energy–clarity, detail orientation, discernment, and nuance.

In short, do we possess the capability to make out of Neptune and the South Node’s hazy Piscean Haldane soup something concrete, something manifest, something we can live with and by

A belief system that not only arises from the deeper depths of your soul’s true knowledge, but which softens ideological boundaries rather than fortifying them into a rigidly constructed belief system that never allows your thinking to change is something to ponder now…

If we convince ourselves to take that higher road, we’re able to embark on the journey that Jupiter’s Sagittarian energy so often encompasses. Freedom to think as one chooses, even if one is in the minority, the adventuress-ness to soar to new heights of the mind–but in alignment with the true needs of the soul–is what this Sagittarius New Moon cries out for us all to try to do…

The energy of this Sagittarius New Moon brings into mind another time when conflicting ideologies caused war between previously peaceful factions…when I saw that FUN had used a civil war themefor its video, it was like a reminder of where things can head if we do not keep an open mind and open dialogue with those who philosophies of life may be different from ours…

“But I still wake up, I still see your ghost
Oh Lord, I’m still not sure what I stand for, oh
What do I stand for? Oh what do I stand for?
Most nights, I don’t know…

So this is it? I sold my soul for this?
Washed my hands of that for this?
I miss my mom and dad for this?
No. When I see stars, when I see stars, that’s all they are
When I hear songs, they sound like a swan, so come on…”  

Watch Nate Ruess/Fun’s Video Some Nights Here

* “The video shows a fictional battle taking place during the American Civil War and the band singing from afar as war breaks out with lead singer Nate appearing as the commander of the Union force. The story also follows two particular soldiers, one from each side of the conflict. From the Confederacy, the song follows a middle-aged farmer clearly in love with his life, land, and animals, while from the Union side the story follows two young lovers torn apart as the young man heads off to the fight. The broken loves, of beauty and of nature, eventually clash in the battle with consequences for both the loser and winner, showing that the personal costs of war will continue far beyond the battleground.” [Wikipedia]

Namaste…