Sunday, December 29, 2013

New Moon in Capricorn: Stone and Bones

Ancient stones © MP Lynch 2013
New Moon in Capricorn
January 1, 2014
6:14 am EST / 11:14 am GMT

At New Year's, we confront the tradition of resolutions. We'll be asked what ours are, and how we did last year. Maybe we did alright, often not all that well. Oh, well ... time to try again.

Enter the Capricorn New Moon, aligned with transformative Pluto and sharp-eyed Mercury, squared by incendiary Uranus and hard-nosed Mars, widely opposite Jupiter and Lilith, both retrograde in Cancer. Chiron the wounded healer is also involved, exchanging energy with the new Moon. Oi vey!

This Moon looks like it's all about getting down to work, stop messing about, nose to the grindstone, should to the wheel. But when I think of it that way, I already feel tired. Let's look for other perspectives.

The presence of all these other planets, which include a mix of the outer message-bringers as well as the close-to-home personal planets, invites us to look more deeply into the meaning and message of Capricorn.

This is not only the sign of hard work and consequences, pragmatism and transactions. Capricorn is an initiator, a manifestor. Capricorn is connected deeply with the Earth. In Capricorn, we have the chance to know what we know because we feel it in our bones.

There are some excellent blogs out there diving deep into the meanings of this New Moon. Check out Molly Hall's post at About Astrology and Julie Dembowski's ASTROLOGY. Here, I want to focus on the idea of intentions and resolutions.

For some years now, my New Moon practice has focused on setting intentions at this time. As I've explored this, it's become clear to me there's a much deeper process going on than will-based affirmations, or the idea that I, solely, create my reality. New Moon intentions are about aligning with the universe, sensing into something deeper than what I want now.

The New Moon is a time of making wishes when we don't know it all, when we can't see the way clearly, when we realize we're not totally in charge. In no way am I suggesting we are weak, or unimportant. We are strong, and we are essential. At the same time, we're part of larger stories, including the lives of the people around us.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

~ John Donne

No being is an island, which makes it tricky to figure out what to do in complex, chaotic situations. Which we are living in today, and will be, for the foreseeable future. What do we do? Throw up our hands and throw in the towel?

This New Moon offers, I believe, an alternative. Capricorn is never one for giving up, and yet facile resolutions are not the answer either. Instead, we're invited to go deeper.

What do we know in our bones? When we reach our roots right down into the depths of the Earth, what do the stones tell us? 

This deep knowing is the source, not of individual resolutions, but of resolution itself. At this New Moon, we move past the idea of intentions to look at the process of intending.

As always, look to see where this New Moon falls in your birth chart. See what you have going on in Capricorn, and what else is happening in your chart in and around 10 degrees in any sign. 

These planets, points and houses will be the focus––areas where we may feel confronted with what isn't working in our lives and offered a chance to find a new way.

In general, though, we're all being invited to work together to find a new way for our world. The ways we are together, the ways we treat each other, how we get things done––is it what we really want? Is it what we know is right and just?

Capricorn is all about making. At this New Moon New Year, we have the opportunity to choose new ways of making the world better. Our personal worlds, definitely, and the wider world too.

The words "Be it resolved .." begin many official statements, or at least, official-sounding ones. At this New Moon, what will we resolve? What can we re-solve, solve again, in a new, more effective way? What solution can we apply to dissolve problems and distill a new elixir?

We're stepping into a new year, a new time, a new age perhaps ... with the pace of change surrounding us, it certainly feels like it. What do we know in our bones that offers the strength to face our challenges, succeed, and enjoy together the good things of this world?

Let those kinds of things be the bedrock of our resolutions.
    
 

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