Out With The Old, In With The New!

The Sagittarius New Moon brings together heart & mind—as do all new moons—allowing us to plant seeds around the Sagittarian archetype. At 26 degrees 31 minutes of the sign of the archer, this new moon occurs at 10:30 pm PT on December 17 & 1:30 am ET on December 18.

Sagittarius, ruled by Jupiter–the planet of expansion of consciousness–is an adventurous, optimistic, glass is always half-full type of energy. This sign represents expansiveness in general, but particularly in relation to our ability to expand our way of thinking…

Why?

Because this is how we develop our general belief system, or philosophy about life…

The December 3 Gemini Full Moon asked us to look at where old beliefs may no longer serve us and to jettison those deemed to have outlived their usefulness or purpose. The upcoming Sadge New Moon says: “hey, now you can replace old ideas by planting seeds for new ideas, philosophies, and beliefs!”

The importance of getting rid of old, outworn, inflexible, no longer profitable philosophies & beliefs was paramount during the waning Gemini Full Moon because as we did, we created space for new ideas and beliefs!

This is the gift of the Sadge New Moon! It tells us that now we can envision what we want for our future that’s more in alignment with what our soul truly believes is right for us individually, instead of what we’ve been taught, told, or forced to believe in the past.

Supported by Mercury, Venus, and Saturn—all in Sagittarius—this Sagittarius New Moon is the perfect time to get fired up about the new year as it approaches! As Venus moves into a favorable trine aspect with change-maker Uranus, we can easily see how new ideas and ways of thinking may support positive change and growth around our value system…

Co-Create 2018!

Likewise, Mars waxing into a trine with Neptune at this Sagittarius New Moon sets the stage for us to dream ourselves into the altruistic kind of energy necessary to achieve success in the new year…

This Mars/Neptune aspect tells us that—whatever changes we conceive of making for 2018—we’ll benefit most by playing neither the victim nor the martyr, but rather by understanding we’re part of a greater “each man’s joy is joy to me; each man’s grief is my own” whole…

This is important to remember moving forward, not least because a more realistic and compassionate view of the world (and our role in it) will undoubtedly increase our chances of greater success over time…

When you spend time thinking about 2018 and how to move forward to co-create your own future, you may notice new ideas slowly replacing old ones as they become less and less useful to you now…

Lending us a hand with this process, we’ve got Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius until December 22, calling us still to review situations, projects, relationships, etc. We’ll find ourselves going over old ground to revisit what needs to be tweaked in any of these areas.

However, Mercury’s retrograde period assures us this is necessary so we may either continue forward on more solid footing, or end or abandon what’s not working. In this way, when Mercury stations direct on December 22, we can embark on our plan for a new course of action, if need be…one that espouses a different set of beliefs, perhaps more grounded in reality…

Meanwhile, Mars entrance into Scorpio on December 9 is still in effect until January 26, when the warrior god moves on into Sagittarius. For now, motivated Mars in the sign of secrets—especially those to do with taboo subjects such as sex & money—will likely continue to excavate and reveal additional information about those who’ve crossed the line and perpetrated crimes in these areas.

Likewise, Mars waxing into a trine with Neptune at this Sagittarius New Moon sets the stage for us to dream ourselves into the altruistic kind of energy necessary to achieve success in the new year…

This Mars/Neptune aspect tells us that—whatever changes we conceive of making for 2018, we’ll benefit most by playing neither the victim nor the martyr. Rather, part of our success will be derived through understanding we’re part of a greater “each man’s joy is joy to me; each man’s grief is my own” whole…

This is important to remember moving forward, not least because a more realistic and compassionate view of the world (and our role in it) will undoubtedly increase our chances of success over time…

Saturn Enters Capricorn: Time To Get Real

In order to really discuss the “truth” about astrology, it’s important to understand that this metaphysical tool can lead us to greater insight and understanding–both about ourselves and the world around us.

This entails not only understanding the positive attributes of planets and signs and their configurations, both in the sky and our individual charts, but also the negative side of their archetypal meanings.

Why bring this up now?

Primarily because Saturn’s entrance into the sign of Capricorn, where it will be from December 19, 2017 until March 22, 2020, tells us two things: we can use this time period to get real and get down to business, or we can waste it by avoiding our responsibilities.

The penalty for avoidance is that nagging oppressive notion that we SHOULD be doing something, but we’re not. You know, the kind that hangs over your conscious mind like a cloud, that sits just behind you when you’re trying to be in the moment & keeps tapping you on the shoulder, constantly reminding you of your “duties” and your inability to adequately fulfill them…

This, over time, can cause a type of slow spiraling depression from which it often feels like we cannot extricate ourselves. We may feel crappy about ourselves, like we don’t deserve good things happening to us, or that life it hard—often simply too hard—to even make us want to try. In short, we may develop a defeatist attitude par excellence!

When this happens, we may sink further and further down, increasingly aware of all the things we meant to do that have now piled one on top of the other, and all the things we mean to do now and in the future, but that we’ve done none of…

The reward for getting down to business now, while Saturn transits through its own sign, is that, as a result of hard work—often VERY hard work—we can not only accomplish much, but after doing so, we’ll roll into bed each night exhausted but far more fulfilled.

Why?

As a result of having tackled what needed (and needs) to be done, even if we’ve procrastinated in the past, even if we’ve made a million excuses, come up with a thousand reasons why we can’t or won’t or don’t have to do it, we’ll feel good that we accomplished something…

And, if we build on this momentum without allowing ourselves to self-sabotage, if we stand up to Saturn in Cap’s inevitable self-judgmental attitude when this energy is at its worst, then we can feel successful in the end…

Success, mind you, doesn’t have to be BIG. Rather, it can be incremental, on a day by day basis…please keep this mind, as Rome wasn’t built in a day…

When The Lord Of Karma Comes A ‘Callin’

“Seven moons and seven suns, Heaven waits for those who run…” ~ Audioslave

Let’s talk about Saturn as the Lord of Karma, which is also how this planet’s archetypal energies are often interpreted. In this astrologer’s opinion, it’s not simply all that happened in the past (either in this lifetime or past lives) catching up with us in order to torture/punish us as we stand helplessly victim to any “crimes” of our past.

Rather, karma is something we create every moment of everyday moving forward.

Therefore, we have the opportunity to change up our karma as we move forward, not because we need to eradicate the past (which is impossible to do, as those of us who’ve tried well know!) but to change our future, a.k.a., our destiny…

A time of reckoning is upon us all, but this is not the grim reaper calling. Rather, it’s the Lord of Karma, as Saturn is known in mythology, attempting to teach us into greater levels of maturity.

The method of Saturn’s lessons?

To learn by experience! When we have the guts to face our perceived inadequacies—meaning those areas where we feel “less than,” or like stupid, inexperienced, scared, lazy, far-from-perfect, no good, rotten ne’er-do-wells–Saturn rewards us for our bravery.

However, often the trouble is this: We don’t like to learn Saturnian-type lessons if we don’t have to. We’d much rather drift, coast, lay back, procrastinate, or generally avoid, avoid, avoid doing the kind of hard work Saturn requires of us.

And this means that Saturn’s lessons are designed to wake us up to the notion that “karma” is a fluid, ongoing, living, breathing, energy. It’s NOT a static, gloom & doom, no-way-can-you-change-your-future-no-matter-how-hard-you-try.

However, Saturn’s lessons, at the time they are being administered, often seem harsh. They can leave us to bemoan our fate, wallow in our

misfortune, mire ourselves in the darkness of depression, don the cloak of victimhood, or react in any other negative ways to people and events around us–especially those we feel have abandoned us in our time of need…

“The frustrating experiences connected with Saturn are obviously necessary, as they are educational in a practical, as well as a psychological sense,” writes astrologer & Jungian psychologist Liz Greene in her book Saturn, A New Look at an Old Devil.

“The basic fact remains the same: human beings do not earn free will except through self-discovery, and they do not attempt self-discovery until things become so painful that they have no other choice.”

In short, Saturn’s a “no pain, no gain” type of guy.

Sun In Capricorn Joins Saturn At Winter Solstice

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” ~ Desmond Tutu

On December 21, the shortest day of the year is finally here! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, we can rejoice that our days will lengthen in light by about 2 minutes each until we reach the summer solstice in June when the opposite will become our reality…

For now, however, it’s good to remember the adage “it’s always darkest before the dawn,” and to hang in there, even as we feel the morphing of energy at the winter solstice away from a more happy-go-lucky Sagittarian nature into decidedly more serious Saturnian territory.

This serious message is enhanced by the Sun’s meet up with Saturn in Capricorn on this day, too. It reminds us now that if we let go of old ways of thinking we’ll begin slowly to solidify our future ideas, plans, beliefs, and philosophies, so that they’ll be given the respect they deserve going forward.

How’s that?

Because they’re rooted in a more expansive personal value system–one that contains increased self-compassion and the kind of love for others that generates true brotherly/sisterly love.

How can such self-honoring and recognition that “there but for the grace of God go I” fail to result in the planting of seeds now for a realistic & more successful future?

Answer: It can’t…

Here’s my tribute to the end of the shortest days of the year via Audioslave’s video The Last Remaining Light…Remember, it’s a future of sunnier skies from here!:

“Roll me on your frozen fields
Break my bones to watch them heal
Drown me in your thirsty veins
Where I’ll watch and I’ll wait
And pray for the rain

Curl like smoke and breath again
Down your throat inside your ribs
Through your spine in every nerve
Where I watch and I wait and yield to the hurt

And if you don’t believe
The sun will rise
Stand alone and greet the coming night
In the last remaining light

Seven moons and seven suns
Heaven waits for those who run
Down your winter and
Underneath your waves
Where you watch and you wait
And pray for the day

And if you don’t believe the sun will rise
Stand alone and greet the coming night
In the last remaining light…” ~ Audioslave

Namaste…