New Moon in Sagittarius
Dear Friends
We have a new moon this weekend, just a day before winter solstice. It is the final new moon of the year, and it occurs in the early hours of Saturday morning (20th Dec at 1.43am UK time), in the visionary fire sign, Sagittarius, which is all about what lies ahead, and what lies beyond the bounds of this mortal life. The archer’s fiery arrow is trained upon the far side of what we can ordinarily see, beyond the visible horizon. In Sagittarius need to know not just what we are doing, but why we are doing it, and what is the meaning of it.
The need for meaning is as fundamental to human life, as our need for nourishment and security. Without it we are lost, aimless, in a kind of void. We need to be able to put our faith in something greater, expand our awareness and investigate the bigger picture of which our mundane lives are but a part. The Sun and Moon are making an almost exact square aspect to Neptune in Pisces, which can really take us off into dreamlike states, exacerbate our longing, and could even make us reluctant to face the reality of a situation. This is likely to be felt most acutely by those with their Sun, Moon or personal planets in the last degrees (27-29˚) of Sagittarius, Pisces or the other mutable signs of Gemini and Virgo. More on the aspects in today’s chart below…
The Main Aspects in the New Moon Chart
There is a very strong Sagittarian theme to the new moon, with Mercury and Venus also in this sign, which stretches our capacity to imagine what is possible and inspires us to seek a greater meaning to our lives. The Sun and Moon are separating from a conjunction with Venus in Sagittarius, so that suggests that themes around love are uppermost. With Venus in square aspect to Saturn, there is a balance to be struck between what is possibile and what is necessary. Venus might inspire us here to have more faith or reach for some new possibility in love, while sober Saturn might seem to place a condition or limitation on how that actually comes to pass.
As already mentioned, the square aspect of the Sun and Moon to Neptune is a very prominent feature of this chart, and we could get carried away with a dreamy ideal at such a time. This can be a heart-melting aspect and we might feel an overwhelming sense of compassion or sympathy for another or for a particular situation in our lives or in the world. We are often so moved as to want to act in response to this longing that it can carry us away, but it is perhaps more advisable to hold the tension of this and allow it work on the soul, as we are more than usually vulnerable deception or we may tend to act naively under such an aspect. It also might not be the best moment to invest all your savings in a big project or throw your heart into something without really checking it out first, however good it looks in theory. We can tend to see things through rose-tinted glasses under a hard Sun/Moon-Neptune aspect, and if something seems too good to be true, then it probably is!
The Sun and Moon are also making an exact inconjunct aspect to Uranus and this can make us restless for change. It inspires in us a different kind of longing to Neptune, one that imagines an overhaul of the existing system of our life, or of the systems that govern our community or the world at large. If this aspect taps into prominent placements in our natal chart (around 27-29˚ of Sagittarius or Taurus) then we might be moved to make a radical change in our life around this time, even if that is out of character for us, and involves going off in a seemingly tangential direction.
The Winter Solstice
The winter solstice is the one of the most mystical moments of the year, when the sun reaches its southernmost nadir in the northern hemisphere - marking the re-birth of the solar light, deep in mid-winter. It also stands as the gateway through which the teachers of humanity (Christ, Mithras, Zoroaster, Oannes etc) are symbolically born. This moment is enshrined into the alignment of ancient temples the world over, including famously at Stonehenge, at New Grange in Ireland, and at the Temple of Amun Ra at Karnak. I am currently in Egypt and will be at Karnak this year for the Winter Solstice celebration on Sunday. At dawn the Sun will rise exactly in line with the temple above the Holy of Holies. It promises to be a spectacular event, and it is mirrored over on Luxor’s West Bank at Hatshepsut temple, as the Sun appears through a specially placed ‘light box’ where it lights up a relief of the pharoah Thutmosis III making an offering to Amun-Ra. I am here in Luxor with my friend and colleague, Mags Mackean, as we prepare ourselves for the 14-day Egypt Star-Lore tour that we are running in February. We are hoping to witness both of these temple alignments, during the three days of solar standstill.
The Sagittarius Mantra
The great hope of this Sagittarius new moon is that we might be inspired to reconnect with what we inherently know to be true, to trust our own inner wisdom and to follow it. There are things about the nature of reality that are beyond doubt, values and truths that are part of the perennial wisdom tradition, things that are beyond cultural re-framing or abstract speculation. So let’s take the opportunity of this new moon to connect within that which most deeply inspires us and have the courage of our own convictions!
My Sagittarius mantra runs thus: “I know the way, I am guided by the stars, and I trust that my aim is true!”
New Moon blessings and Happy Solstice!
John
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