Questioning Our Faith in Connection: New Moon in Sagittarius, Astrology & Horoscopes for November 29, 2016
Sagittarius is the last of the fire signs. In its mutable qualities it evokes the fading warmth of a fire, embers glowing and growing darker, the final sparks floating silently upwards. In the astrological language, fire is the element of intuition and idea. In its Aries incarnation it is the initiation of idea into action; in its Leo incarnation it is the expression of ideas to the world; and in Sagittarius it is the spreading of ideas from one point to the next - the ways that ideas become beliefs and beliefs become causes. Sagittarius is not content to simply sit and ponder, it has a mission to expand, proselytize and ignite. November’s new moon in Sagittarius is exactly conjunct the asteroid Juno. In ancient Rome Juno was the protector and special counselor of the state. Daughter of Saturn and sister/wife of Jupiter, she gave birth to Mars and Vulcan. Figurehead, warrior and Queen, Juno’s mythology is complex and often confusing. She is armed protectress but also the committed wife. She signifies devotion and jealousy. She is fierce, autonomous, vengeful and heartbroken. As with all goddesses her mythology is partially lost. She was the first sacrifice, the first wife to a male god in the new order of Patriarchy, and so she also signifies the desire for cooperation as well as the co-opting of feminine force and fertility for masculine values of ownership and autonomy.
As the ruler of Sagittarius Jupiter is a special figure in the new moon chart. In Libra since October, Jupiter is bringing abundant opportunities for learning through relationship. All of us are being pressed to discriminate between self/other and being called to bridge the gap. No matter what “side” we’re on, you’re acutely aware that there are other sides out there, and now more than ever those with views different from ours are impacting our lives deeply. Whether or not it feels contentious is a different matter, but expect to have more interactions more often that challenge your self concepts.
Jupiter is currently touching upon a point that is bringing up issues that were strong especially between 2012-2015. Power struggle is the key phrase. Regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, we’re all learning how to contend with identities and views that are greatly different than our own. External events as well as inner reflections that have occurred in the past few years have uncovered awareness of our personal power for both creation and destruction. Any gains we’ve made in the past few years in balancing our need for independence along with our aims for committed maturity are put to the test now.
This new moon is a time to consider your faith and commitments to the ideals you uphold – and also to see the spaces for inclusion of others whose views differ from your own. Learn more about the astrology of this new moon by listening to this week’s podcast. Help yourself stay steady through Thanksgiving and the end of the year with this guided meditation that focuses on balancing receptive awareness of others with generous attention towards your own self-care and empowerment.
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These horoscopes are written partially as affirmations. Affirmative thinking and speaking are a form of magic that works through magnetism. If your horoscope affirmation resonates with you, print it out and place it somewhere visible for the next two weeks. Repeat it to yourself often and notice how the magic works. I suggest reading horoscopes for both your sun and rising signs. If you’re interested in a more personalized approach to your astrology you can request a reading here.
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ARIES Your identity and desires for yourself have been shifting so much the past few years and it feels that right now the urgency for meaning and aliveness is strong. It seems you are straddling the chasm between the need for personal awakening and the need to work through structures and systems of maturity – you are trying to wake up to yourself and be accountable to others at the same time – and this can be both thrilling and a total cluster. This new moon can bring a coalescing to your sense of faith, ideals, and purpose. It’s a great time to dig out and open up all your favorite books of wisdom; to seek out your teachers and mentors; to pray; to meet new and foreign people who speak new and foreign languages; and to journey, even if it’s only in your mind or with a movie, to lands that you have never seen before. Remembering that the world is vast and huge does wonders for our personal sense of meaning and responsibility. Remembering that our lives are comparatively short and that the best things any of us can really do are the ones that bring us joy and connection can be an incredibly helpful perspective when future burdens are heavy. Your affirmation for this new moon is, “I expand my mind with curiosity. I take every opportunity to learn. I seek and I see my teachers everywhere. I treat others with respect and reverence for their wisdom, and in that respect and reverence I know myself.”
TAURUS This new moon brings the possibility for new beginnings to the ways that you perceive, approach and offer intimacy. Intimacy is so many things and so much more than candlelight and pillow talk. Most of the time intimacy is uncomfortable – it pushes us to the edges of where we meet another – it forces us to reflect, to change, and to accept. The ways that we see and are seen in vulnerability are hugely impactful to the ways that we honestly allow ourselves to feel desire and vitality in life. Getting over insecurity, rigidity, suspicion and obsession is making room for trust, playfulness, comfort, and joy. This moon is harnessing some of the power you’ve been building through deep work in your unconscious. You may have been going to therapy, working with dreams, taking deep solitude, or recognizing art as a means to self-growth. Keep working with the ways you are addressing the parts of yourself that are hidden, scared, or weighted down with baggage no longer necessary. Keep structuring your day-to-day as a container for the kind of stability only you can give yourself. Keep caring for your body and surroundings and remember that it is when each individual cares for themselves that there is enough safety for expression together. Your new moon affirmation is, “I easily see the ways in which I can attend to my own needs. Without envy or resentment I assume my self-care because I know it will be the most satisfying. I easily open to receive others with vulnerability and transparency. I see the ways that they assume their own self-care, and in acknowledging their commitment to responsibility I am inspired in my own.”
GEMINI This moon is bringing a new sense of steadiness to the ways in which you perceive and engage with the world external to you. Your curiosity and willingness to travel far in order to find a meeting of minds with another is an amazing attribute that I hope you are aware of and appreciate. It may be that someone who you are in relationship with is taking on the dual role of creating a sense of both restriction and possibility. One thing to mention is that this relationship is equal in its nature – and be they partner, friend, colleague or even someone who you see as an adversary – they do not hold any more or less power than you do. This is an important thing to remember and commit to. Learning how to hold your own in dynamics of power, even if the ways that you express or claim power is different than theirs, is an extremely important step for you. Your ability to self-express, to find joy and pleasure in your expression, and to harness the vitality of your expression is key for the kinds of work you want to do in the world. Understanding power and power play as something that is entered into willingly rather than forced gives you options in the future leadership you imagine. Remember that many great leaders lead through suggestion, through subtlety, or with opportunity rather than challenge. You don’t always have to be at the front to lead the pack. Your new moon affirmation is, “I accept the limitations that are presented to me in relationship as opportunities to grow my creative self-expression, and to further expand my notions for future relating.”
CANCER This new moon wants to solidify a sense of purpose that has been growing for you in the areas of your life that have to do with self-care and basic maintenance. You are a generous spirit my friend, and so it’s natural for you to have big ideas and travel fairly far from your comfort zones if it means that you feel you are needed and useful to others. That’s not a bad thing, but it is something that has the potential to pull you off your own path if you give too much of your time and energy, which you are prone to do. Recent changes in your career and/or the ways you understand your own importance and authority are affecting your home life and sense of stability. There is currently a huge amount of support for balance and generosity that is growing at home. How this collides or colludes with where you see yourself going professionally is another matter. Don’t worry too much about working out the how-to in the long-term, but focus instead on a daily practice of balance and achievable goals in the short-term. If you find that you are consistently giving more than you get you should consider a change in your commitments. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to walk away from anyone or anything, but it does mean a radical shift in your beliefs around your own self-worth. Understand that you as a person are inherently generous and big hearted, commit to seeing the ways that you are and stop giving yourself the short-end of the stick when others don’t meet you. Taking a few steps back gives them room to take a few steps forward. Your new moon affirmation is, “I need balanced, equitable relating with my family and in my home in order to have enough energy for my own pursuits. I commit to seeing the value of my own pursuits. I commit to prioritizing myself and I trust that others will support me and love me for doing so.”
LEO This new moon features a settling in your commitment to a child, a romantic situation and/or a creative project. Your nature is to think big and want to go far. This is a good thing. However, because you are someone with a lot of big ideas this can also mean that you easily get bored once your ideas have moved past the original excitement of their conception. The past year or two has seen you getting more and more grounded in understanding your capacity for creative output. You are finding that it is easier to commit and you are doing a good job of shifting your ideals to balance the satisfaction of long-term results along with short-term excitement. Right now though it could be that a growing sense of commitment is reminding you of all the ways you will be limited rather than freed. Confusion or uncertainty about sharing resources or trusting others might be in the way of feeling fully on board with what you are saying you want to do. Check in with your heart, really listen to it. Listen past the parts that are immediately familiar and into something deeper. If you are aligning with your true intention, which is ultimately to learn to love (yourself and others) more, than you can trust your relationships to serve that aim regardless of how they manifest. Continue to focus on the ways that you are expanding your abilities to communicate. Continue to seek a common language that is based in balanced viewpoints and honest consideration for the needs and values of others. Your heart is growing right now in ways that want to transcend the separations your ego loves. Seeing that whoever and whatever is arising in the moment is a teacher will allow you to take a step back from the impulse to do it all right now. Give this time to play out and trust that it is leading you towards the kind of vitality of expression that you desire. Your new moon affirmation is, “I commit to my generative, generous nature by practicing contentment and discipline. I practice right speech with myself and others. In questioning what I want to offer I consider first: Is it true? Is it helpful? Is it ready to be received? My willingness to commit to boundaries ultimately is my freedom.”
VIRGO Continue to see and offer gratitude for the wealth in your life. This could be actual income and your possessions, and even if it is, it is also relationship. Remembering again and again that wealth is shared helps you to feel less isolated or scared of your own abilities to generate. Remembering again and again that wealth is meaningless without connection to purpose and with others helps you to keep it in perspective. Recent decisions to solidify or steady your commitments with family and at home have been helped by a sense of expansion in your value and values. This new moon brings with it an opening for a new experience of home and possibly a decision to formalize something that has previously only existed as a belief or idea. Confusion about someone else’s commitment or intention though is real. It may feel like every time you think you’ve made a gain the people who you want to work with dissolve a bit of your solidity by not being very solid themselves. There is a force working on you right now that wants you to transcend your ideas about self/other. Recognize the ways that you project the parts of yourself that you either can’t accept or express upon your relations. We can get overly attached to others and to the ideas they embody when we give them the power of being what we don’t integrate in ourselves. A good practice for you right now is to closely observe the ways you give anyone else agency for your experience. Anytime you hear yourself lead a statement with something like you make me..., or they made me..., consider what kind of role that puts you in. Taking accountability for your own decisions means that you choose to see every relational dynamic as one that you willingly enter, even if it brings challenge, confusion or suffering. Your new moon affirmation is, “When relationships are confusing I see the ways that I am addicted to confusion and I acknowledge my own fears of loss. When relationships are elating and perfect, I see the ways that I embody the whole of love and I recognize unity in myself.”
LIBRA This new moon brings with it a deepening commitment to self-concept that you have been working with since last fall. The ways that you articulate yourself and your stories in your mind have been becoming significantly more sober and realistic. What could have at times felt like disillusionment or depression at not being able to live up to the big ideas you had of who you were, is now turning into a strength as you realize that big ideas are rarely actually action. Your ability to love, accept and grow with yourself is key right now. Erratic-ness or upheaval in your relationships is merely serving to remind you that your personal equanimity is a promise of equitable relating. When surprise or chaos does occur in significant relationships allow it to illuminate the ways that you maintain your personal philosophies of fairness and balanced power even in the face of challenge. Fairness though requires both sides of the story, and that is something that you can commit to now. Seeing yourself honestly and recognizing the ways that you want to live with meaning and purpose helps you put into context the demands that others place on you. Admitting to yourself when you are being either overly rigid or idealistic will help you to take everyone else’s drama with a grain of salt. Your new moon affirmation is, “I am honest in how I portray myself. I have no need to hide or pretend. I gladly accept and offer to others that I am not a superhuman, I easily admit my biases and boundaries. I forgive myself for not being able to be it all, all of the time. I grow my self-love through radical acceptance and celebration of what is. In accepting myself I allow others their own fluctuations and know that they are not my responsibility to heal or control.”
SCORPIO It seems like you’re ready and wanting to put your money where your mouth is. It seems like your commitment to quality now goes far and beyond a merely mental aesthetic and must now embody every ounce of what you say you value. This has you willing to shake up the status quo of your daily life in ways that have previously seemed challenging and now seem exciting. This has you moving into unknown territory in psychological landscapes that previously seemed dangerous and now seem, maybe even... delightful? This is a moment to take stock of how far you’ve come. This is a moment to offer yourself some sincere appreciation for all the deep work you’ve done addressing demons. It may be that some tender points from the last few years get picked at now. If they do know that this is just another step in the healing process. Remember that where you are now is not even close to where you were then. Remember all that you’ve learned. Remember all who have loved you and stayed close when the going was rough. The ways that you’re changing are good. Believe in yourself. Keep moving with the grace that you’ve recently felt and trust it will continue. Your new moon affirmation is, “I trust myself to express my true values. I trust the intent of my heart and I listen to it. When life gets noisy and my mind feels fractured I practice the ways I know to pray. All that is worthy in my life rests upon the integrity I have in receiving it. Whatever is arising is my teacher. All teachers give the lesson of integrity. I commit to the path of wisdom.”
SAGITTARIUS This new moon is bringing some serious power to all the ways that you do YOU grrrrrl (even if you’re a dude, you can still be a grrrrrl.) It takes serious chutzpah to put yourself on the line in the ways that you are and have been. It seems that even though times may have felt challenging and downright scary, now you are starting to get used to the thrill and what used to be your edge is now feeling like your groove. I just want to take a minute and say yes to you. Yes to all the ways that you’ve pushed yourself to grow. Yes to all the times you didn’t back down, but you also didn’t bowl anyone over. Yes to the conscious choices you’ve made in walking the fine line between socially accepted and completely left-field. Yes to the ways you’re stepping into your role as a possibility model for how to do what can be done with mega-loads of grace and goodwill for all. This moon is an acupuncture point in the last 4 years of working hard to live into your values. If you find that there’s some pushback from folks who haven’t been that close, let them push. You know what your game is, and you know that people will always judge. You also know that nothing is over and you’re just getting started. This is a new moon for you to get real about the intentions you have for yourself and the power you know you can pull. This new moon is a time for a deep breath in and a deep breath out. You are on the precipice of some exciting growth and it’s going to be good. Your affirmation is, “There is no need to rush. I have all the time in the world. There is no need to run. I don’t need to get anywhere I’m not already. All feedback is human. I am human and so are they. I appreciate myself entirely.”
CAPRICORN This new moon occurs in the area of your chart that signifies spaces of the unknown, unconscious, unseen. For the past year this area has been receiving the steady, heavy influence of Saturn which is asking you to get real and realize in this space. Pay attention to your dreams. Pay attention to the ways that you unconsciously, unknowingly absorb from the world around you and how what you absorb becomes your thoughts. Ask yourself what kinds of commitments you hold to those who have passed on, whether or not you knew them. You can harness the energy that is now flowing from the greater collective unconscious into your work in the world. Your dreams, the thoughts that arise spontaneously – seemingly out of nowhere, and the possibility you have for dialogue and communication with unseens realms are all teaching you about faith. Getting through darkness, trusting that the answers will be revealed when the time is ready, and learning to attune yourself to yourself when psychic noise is loud are all necessary and valuable tools for the kind of relating you are learning to do right now with a larger public. The kind of destabilization you have felt in your base (this could be your home base as well as your mental base - i.e. sense of safety internally) for the past 4 years is soon going to stabilize, but this moon and the coming few months might bring up some pieces, specifically around anger and rage, that still need to shake loose. Be gentle with yourself, be compassionate. Know that to struggle increases suffering and consider the ways you still have to surrender. My advice to you is to pray. Connecting to Earth right now is so important. Pray to her, talk to her, feel her. Trust that she is there. The more you can remember yourself as an expression of her love – timeless and limitless – the more space you can make for the messages that are coming. Your new moon prayer is, “Earth, may I see you everywhere. May I see you in every plant, every tree, every pile of dirt. Every time you are present anywhere, may I see you. Please remind me that I belong to you. Please let me know that you are here.”
AQUARIUS This new moon occurs in the area of your chart that symbolizes large networks of relationship, expanded communities, and your ideas and wishes surrounding how groups work together. Jupiter, the ruler of the new moon is taking the next 10 months to travel through the sector of your chart that rules higher education, philosophical and religious pursuits, long-distance travel and the expansion of mind that comes with exposure to difference. Allow this time on Earth to be inspiration in opening your eyes to a much wider world than you saw before. Notice the ways you articulate your own identity to yourself and others and then do your best to meet and greet people who are significantly different from the things you say you are. One thing that happens when we open ourselves to difference is that we realize how many of our basic needs and instincts are the same. Another thing that happens is that when we are presented a rainbow of options, often we realize that who we thought we were was only so because we didn’t have other possibility models to grow towards. Allow yourself to be shaken as well as inspired. Notice how the confrontations serve to harden a self-image while curiosity serves to soften one. Decide how you want to present yourself (with confrontation or curiosity) to others and be a possibility model for the kinds of big ideas you think you are. Your affirmation is, “I willingly walk towards the unknown in others. I embrace their differences and their similarities. I allow myself flexibility in my own (re)definitions and I trust that we will all grow together.”
PISCES Over the past year your work and public image has been under the microscope in some ways. Feelings of resistance, reluctance, and rigidity have been showing you where and how you’re spending your energy in ways that are perhaps unnecessary. At the same time, the challenge of rising to the occasion shows you where and what your commitments are and is teaching you how to see your own accountability and mastery in what you do. Fluctuating finances and uncertain stability in your income means the necessity to question what your ultimate values are. If you are holding onto money and material objects as some kind of guarantee for future happiness then you can expect another two years of ups and downs that could take a serious toll on your mental wellbeing. Alternatively you could view this time as ripe with opportunities to prioritize your individual values and goals that have more to do with being who you are than being what you have. You could also use this time to meditate upon the resources that you share with others and practice deep dwelling in feelings of gratitude for what is shared with you– be it money, time, attention, or other acts and objects that help you in your life. This new moon is the perfect time to make wishes for the kind of work and path that will not only align with your deeper values and vision, but in doing so will also make room for right collaborations and a more easeful sense of your security because the very thing that you do is sustenance in itself. Your affirmation is, “I easily let go of fear of scarcity. I easily release attachments that hold me back in my mind and heart. I welcome opportunities to work in new and different ways that expand my sense of safety and generosity.”