This new moon happens at 11 degrees Sagittarius on the 3rd of December, just after midnight (GMT), and it represents a bit of emotional bouyancy and relief after months of very stark skies.
Sagittarius is a mutable fire sign symbolically represented by a centaur with a bow and arrow: a creature half-human, half-horse, shooting its intention and drive toward some far-off target. And the sign is like that: nomadic, half-wild, adventurous, unsuited to settled life. It wants space and freedom, open sky and a change of air. It is always literally or metaphorically galloping over the plains, seeking what's past the horizon; never content with staying within the staid old boundaries.
It's like this poem:
"I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move. How dull it is to pause, to make an end, To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!"
Yep, that's very Sag.
& this: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
That's the purpose, the goal. The never-ending seeking is itself the goal - each provisional goal, attained, is only a marker along the way, never the end in itself.
And notice Ulysses is totally unexcited by the prospect of hanging out with his aging wife in Ithaca and administering his domestic domain... Man what a boring-ass scene that is, when he could be out sailing off the edge of the known world. It's wonderful, isn't it? I think it is. He is unable to accept stagnation - he'd rather die.
Anyway, here are some Sagittarius keywords and phrases: restless, optimistic, outward-looking, expansive, happy-go-lucky, generous, blunt. OTT, funny, randy, full of hot air.
Sagittarius is ruled by Jupiter, and Jupiter is about luck, blessings, expansion, higher education, teaching, faith. It's probably no coincidence that Jupiter (the 'great benefic' in astrology) is a gas giant, the biggest planet in the solar system, holding some of the largest moons in the system within its massive gravitational field. The four inner ones were named after some of the Roman god's multifarious sexual exploits by Galileo. Big huge randy gaseous guru planet, over-the-top everything, full of lightning and howling winds and storms the size of the Earth—it's interesting how the astrological meanings of planets line up with the actual physical objects. (Remember the meanings were devised long before the physical objects were observed via probe or telescope.)
But that line of thought would lead me into a digression I will not follow right now. (Digressions - especially philosophical ones - are very Sag too!)
A moon in Sagittarius is symbolic of a happy, roving, freedom-loving sort of emotional tone — a great need for space and broadened horizons, an emotional buoyancy. We can all use this after the difficulties of the past year — we can use a bit of a lift.
And this particular Sagittarius moon is in mutual reception with Jupiter in Cancer. This is a beneficial relationship, and the theme of emotional buoyancy is um, further buoyed up! Further inflated. It looks pretty happy and cheerful really. Nice time to eat way too many holiday snacks and hang with the fam', singing rousing holiday carols around the hearth and weeping and telling dirty jokes and shooting each other with little water pistols and whatnot.
Might as well...it's been a grindingly difficult year for so many, and the one ahead is gonna be no picnic either. This new moon is about getting a much-needed breather, a jolt of hope and fresh air and light in the midst of difficulty and darkness.
The moon and sun in Sagittarius will be trine Uranus in Aries, and this represents more uplift, more energy and future-directed hope and faith. And Jupiter in Cancer will be trining Mercury and Saturn in Scorpio: this stabilises the emotional tone and facilitates deep communication. It will very likely be possible to examine old relational patterns and emotional wounds in depth, especially family ones...and to gain some sort of freedom from them; to transcend them. People are going to be less likely to want to stay stuck in the past, dwelling on their petty little personal grievances...and this is great, needless to say. Because under Saturn in Scorpio, the weight of all that old grievance, combined with the knowledge of collective difficulty...well it can be too much. It's lovely to get a breather like this. Thanks Jupiter!
The new moon will also be squaring Chiron in Pisces, so here's the catch: this is only a breather. The awareness of pain and loss will never be far from the surface, however festive and rambunctious things may get. The undercurrents here are deep and serious, and they are not going to be going anywhere for a while.
So enjoy yourself, drink some freaking eggnog with a triple shot of rum, bask in the affection of your crazy family... and set your intentions for a cheerful holiday season. Come the full moon in two weeks, Mars will be in the early degrees of Libra, just entering Uranus-Pluto cardinal t-square territory. And then things are likely to get considerably more jagged and uncomfortable.
OK, I have another poem about this new moon. T.S. Eliot this time.
http://poetry.rapgenius.com/Ts-eliot-marina-lyrics#note-2052767
"The awakened, lips parted, the hope, the new ships." Yep, that's it exactly.
The boat may be falling apart; forgetfulness and awareness of death ever-present. And yet there are other shores calling like birds from the fog. Very like Tennyson's Ulysses, really: an old man facing decrepitude and death, but fired with the spirit of enthusiasm and adventure nevertheless.
Well whatever rapids and whirlpools lie ahead, we can resolve to face them with that same exploratory spirit. "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
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| "Otherworld" Andrew Wyeth |
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