By Amanda Moreno

Hello! This week, I’ve chosen to update and re-publish a piece from last year that talks about how to create a New Moon ritual. The reason for this is simple: I finally gave in and immersed myself in some news and current events. The result was a strong urge to be proactive and creative about finding ways to effect change. I offer this piece again, in a slightly revised form, so that perhaps you can use the Dec. 11 New Moon in Sagittarius to plant some seed or intention for yourself — or at least find a moment of solace or hope.

Photo by graywacke/A Landing a Day

One of the reasons I love astrology is because it provides a map for understanding the soul’s journey. It’s a language that can be ambiguous, but with a little creativity we can see this ambiguity as possibility and step into it to feel how it resonates within our own experience, thus creating understanding.

Astrology provides a doorway for conscious and active participation life. I don’t really consider it to be a religion, but understanding how it can inform spirituality is worthwhile.

In order for a spiritual system to serve as a container for transformation, it has to remain relevant at the level of the heart. Astrology is particularly rad in this sense because it provides a framework for a kind of global mythology, with a set of archetypal correlates within which individuals are their own center of truth. That transiting Saturn and Neptune are square is ‘true’ for everyone, but how it ripples through my experience will be different from yours.

The upcoming New Moon in Sagittarius provides us with an opportunity to contextualize and process what is going on in our lives. It’s also an opportunity to let go of one thing and invite in something new.

One of the main functions of ritual is to help reconcile opposites, creating a dialogue or exchange with the ‘other’ that engages transformation at the cognitive, emotional and physical levels. In fact the root of the word ritual comes from an Indo-European word meaning to fit together.

All of us carry tension within us to varying degrees at different times in life. These areas of tension can clue you in as to what might be a good topic to ritualize for the New Moon.

For example, when I originally wrote this piece I was focused on my love-hate relationship with writing, and the pattern of, on the one hand, wanting to focus and produce something while at the same time wanting to just give it all up and go for a swim. That tension was emblematic of a larger crisis going on within me. It felt like I was at war with myself in so many ways, like I had the opportunity to move through patterns that had been with me for eons. And I swear that as soon as those patterns can tell they’re on their way out, they become possessive. They amp up, and all the ego parts that are invested in old ways of being start to cling and gasp and grasp: “But you need me! You neeeeeed me!”

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Then I look around at the world and realize how true that whole ‘microcosm reflecting the macrocosm’ thing is. Shadows amping up, crisis points being hit.

Astrological ritual is one of the tools I use to help mediate these energies at the personal level in hopes of therefore affecting the collective. New Moon rituals provide an opportunity to get to know more about my own relationship to the archetypes at the same time as I get to set an intention for the month. So I ask myself what I’d like to focus on using my understanding of the energies of the chart.

Sometimes I’ll create a collage for the event, while listening to a podcast or music. This process allows me to be in the flow while noticing what thoughts come up in conjunction with a given theme. This activity also provides me with something to put on my altar for the month, alongside relevant tarot cards or crystals. It’s a process that builds upon itself.

Sometimes these rituals take three minutes and sometimes they’re much longer. One of the most important things to remember is that they should involve a level of playfulness or drama. They should be fun. The basic format involves having a beginning, when I call in spirits/elements/signs; a middle, when I dedicate a collage or stone, pray, dance, or somehow set my intention; and an end, when I express gratitude and close the circle.

Once I have a theme for a ritual, I like to distill it into a sentence or two in the form of an intention. I will often look at the Sabian Symbol for the degree where the New Moon is occurring to get some inspiration or focus. The Sabian Symbol for this New Moon at 20 Sagittarius is: In An Old-Fashioned Northern Village Men Cut The Ice Of A Frozen Pond For Use During The Summer. The Keynote for this symbol reads: The foresighted use of natural resources to supply future human needs. 

Although I’ll need to spend time in reflection to work with this symbol and these themes, two things immediately come to mind. The first is that the New Moon is conjunct Neptune in my chart. I might, therefore, go ahead and do a little visualization exercise I’m fond of, in which I imagine sitting on a point in my chart. Facing the middle of the circle, I’ll see if I can become aware of how the energy is flowing there, and listen for any messages, memories or insights that want to come through.

The second is that the symbol makes me think about the volcanic eruptions that have been happening in the past few days. As the symbol references the relationship between humans and nature, it reminds me of cycles of change and the rhythms of the Earth — of something powerful boiling beneath the surface and waiting to emerge at just the right time.

I will be writing and submitting next week’s piece before the New Moon occurs, and so likely won’t get to fill you in on how these threads develop for me personally. But I invite you to create your own ritual, large or small, and report back here if you’re so inclined.