By Amanda Painter
Tomorrow is the Aquarius New Moon: when the Sun and Moon form a conjunction to begin a new lunar cycle. Curiously, the Sun and Moon themselves are not making any major aspects to any major planets; the action seems to be happening elsewhere in the chart, which is an interesting kind of commentary in and of itself.
Jan. 21, 2017, Portland, Maine; photo by Amanda Painter.
For one thing, it’s rather fitting that the sign associated with groups (which is a collective of individuals) is hosting a New Moon whose chart emphasizes events other than the New Moon itself.
I read it as a metaphor for the importance of community awareness even at one’s most introspective moments. For example, events of the past week could be prompting you to do some deep questioning; it’s possible you’ve been drawn into old patterns of fear and anger; maybe you wonder about your effectiveness as one individual in the face of a political machine that is massively larger than you are.
It would be very easy to give up and retreat into the confines of your own mind. Except for one thing: there is just so much energized social and political activism happening right now.
Looking within will give you one view; looking around you will give you another view — one that’s possibly very motivating in its opportunities to get involved. The two forms of awareness have to work together.
So while the New Moon Friday night at 7:07 pm EST (00:07 UTC Saturday) is a natural time to quiet yourself and look inward, it would make a lot of sense if that introspection also points you back outward — to your local community, to the national stage, to global issues — and informs you somehow about how you, as a unique individual, can contribute to the work being done to benefit the common good.
Remember, Saturday’s Women’s March on Washington and its many sister marches was only the beginning. It was a rallying cry; and now the real work must begin. Some of that will be individual work; some of it will be collective. All of it is necessary.
As for the other astrological things happening in the Aquarius New Moon chart, one is that Mercury finally leaves its post-retrograde echo (or shadow) phase several hours before the New Moon. This means that Mercury (in mid-Capricorn) is finally traveling over some new zodiacal territory. If you’ve been dealing with reverberations from its retrograde for the last two-and-a-half weeks or so, you should be able to tie up any loose ends you’re still wrangling. It’s also a symbol of a refreshed mental space, which feels long overdue.
Just twenty minutes after Mercury slides free, Venus in Pisces makes a square to Saturn in Sagittarius. At first glance, this aspect reminds me of something an old friend is fond of saying: “You only truly have what you give!” Whether you’re talking about love, money, compassion or something else, it’s a pretty sound way to approach life. Generosity tends to open the way for receptivity. But stinginess closes you off to receiving just as much as it closes you off to giving — because it’s an energetic cycle.
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Yet, taking a closer look at the signs Venus and Saturn are in, another layer of meaning comes through.
Taking into consideration the social and political context I was just discussing, let me ask you this: are certain friends and loved ones not living up to your moral, political or ideological standards of “love and compassion for all”?
Saturn in Sagittarius can indicate a rigid and self-righteous belief system. Venus in Pisces can be seen as love and compassion for all, all the time. In a square aspect, we get an image of tension looking for a path of integration.
So, where are you at with those concepts? Is your own capacity to love and empathize feeling a little constricted in our hyperpolarized political climate, especially in the Aquarius-ruled environment of digital media? Do you feel like you could use a reminder of what compassion for those who piss you off and push your buttons feels like?
I’m not suggesting that you offer yourself up to bullies and abusers, by any means. Healthy boundaries are important; Saturn can help with that, as can the Aquarius New Moon itself (traditionally ruled, as it is, by Saturn — with modern ruler Uranus sparking progressive ideas). But if you’ve noticed any rigidity in your assessments of people you’re close to, or if your current zealotry on some issues is feeling a little myopic, it’s okay to take a step back and self-assess.
What are your deepest relational ethics, and are you working in alignment with them? Is there any sense of lack within yourself that’s influencing your interactions with loved ones — and if so, can you ease up on that and find where you can allow more generosity? Apropos of the New Moon, a little solo time could give you the space you need to recalibrate.
A brief metaphysical pause from the fray could be just the ticket to feeling ready to re-engage with your community, whatever that looks like for you.
Speaking of going within to then focus on what’s around you: here’s a helpful self-care guide for those wishing to stay involved without burning out or getting overwhelmed:
https://medium.com/the-coffeelicious/how-to-stayoutraged-without-losing-your-mind-fc0c41aa68f3#.i244x4bc4
Thanks for the reminder of compassion, and healthy boundaries. With natal Sun (Virgo) square the Great Attractor (Sagittarius), many polarizing projections that can come my way. Want to also give thanks and much gratitude to the women of our world for bringing us back from the soullessness we’re witnessing, and to give our fearless reporter (Amanda) something to ground her feet on.
Was worried about you; thanks for the link, and the great articles that you and the Planet Waves family bring to us. Talk about giving.
Hey Glen — by “fearless reporter” do you mean Amy Jacobs? She’s the one who went to the Washington DC Women’s March — I just went to my local one here in Maine. Couldn’t figure out why you might be worried about me. Or maybe you’re thinking of Amanda Moreno, out in Seattle? She use to write a weekly article on spirituality & astrology for PW, and has definitely been grappling with some big downs and ups this past year. But she stopped writing her column this past fall.
But I’m doing just fine, thank you! (I know — we’ve had too many “Amys” and “Amandas” at PW recently to be able to keep them all straight!)
And I’m grateful to know this piece has offered some useful thoughts for you. Onward!
Hi Amanda!
Looking around, I could definitely tell when the energy shifted. A couple of items I’d been coaching along in a effort to avoid having to buy new, broke down. Now I get new ones!
I suppose with two of the arms of my cross going off, with Uranus conjunct asc and Mars in Aquarius, my Saturn Sag is prodded to speak up. For a long time a woman’s expression of her ego was through her husband. Not having a path to express her Self, herself.
I attended Texas A&M the second year women were allowed on campus and had, what my professors called it, the gaul to enroll in engineering. One day the Dean summoned me to his office. I was told my professors had complained about my behavior of skipping classes and only showing up for exams. He told me to keep it up. Knowing I didn’t need them to teach me had given them the motivation to become better teachers.
I ended up being the 1st and the 2nd woman hired to work in engineering with 2 different power companies. I was rather obnoxious in those days. I knew the men were fearful and uncomfortable, because that was the way they tried to make me feel. Instead of reacting the way expected, I hung a sign in my office which said:
“A woman has to do twice as much as a man to be recognized as half as good.
Fortunately, it isn’t difficult.”
Age hasn’t exactly mellowed me. I just started operating from a different perspective. “Being One with All That Is” is pretty much a Majority. And that’s what I see operating in the expressions being voiced.
A funny thing about the subject of “truth” from the perspective of my Saturn in Sag. Many discussions have illuminated that there are many “truths”. Which to me simply describes an idea that by our own Will, we choose to believe. I see the Creative Power of our own Will. Is, in fact, the idea “true”? Maybe. It makes it the for the one believing in it. But not for anyone else. Unless they too, choose to believe in it.
What I’m going to say is that there is another understanding of “Truth”, which surpasses and includes all time and space. The essence of this Truth, is True. It stands on its own and needs no support.
I see a belief system of conformity that is in a state of collapse. Fewer and fewer people are choosing not to believe in these ideas. It’s threatening people whose lives are attached to those beliefs systems. Because their only power is that which is extorted from others. They cannot stand on their own. And this is their great weakness.
A woman knows how to stand on her own in being a woman. Destroying life is easy. Giving birth to it quite another feat.
There’s an exercise I found beneficial in taking back the power of my own Will. I take any subject: Love, sex, money, power, etc. and write “Love is ______”. Fill in that blank 20 times.
The first ones are easy but by 12-13 we start slowing down. It’s like taking an inventory of our subconscious. When done, look at each statement and decide if you really want to believe that idea. If not, discard it.
Also look at any contradictions. A leaf CAN be all green and all red just not in the same time and place. A focused Desire is more intense than buckshot.
We don’t HAVE to believe in an idea. We don’t have to put the energy of our own Wills behind a belief. Especially in cases where our agreement is intensely sought. The need for agreement is an expression of how much Truth (or lack of it) is behind the belief or perspective. And remember that empty vessels always make the most noise.
Be True to our own Hearts.
Sue Edwards — I did not see your comment this weekend. I think your fill-in-the-blank exercise looks like an very interesting one to try! Thank you.
And I appreciate your anecdote of being an early female engineering student at Texas A&M. Kudos to you for your pioneering grit! And even more for refusing to be cowed by those who were uncomfortable around you. 🙂
Amanda – Thank You for your response. I learned at an early age not to trust any outer authorities when it came to what to believe. I was going to decide that myself. I had incredible intellectual gifts and was strong emotionally but didn’t like the way I felt after battling. I always felt horrible. Like having goo stuck on my horns after impaling someone on them.
Then I learned of another level of “Power” and turned inward. That’s where astrology came in for me. It was a mapping of fields of energy to me. Fields that could be sensed.
It came down to the instructions to “Know Self”. The more we knew, the more Power we had.
The exercise came as a result of finding out I was a mess of contradictions and truly un-Loving ideas. Of all I had ever been taught. It was an understanding of Momentum and the Power behind it. Focus.
Being uncomfortable simply cam to me to being a sign of growing. I came to accept that “It” was simply a part of me. I trigger change and cannot help it. Transformation requires a change in our thinking and I simply try to offer ideas that may not have ever been considered. I offer a choice. I never ask for agreement. It would be counter productive to the idea of individual sovereignty – the recognition and the value of it.
My Life is MINE. I choose to direct its energy.
Of all I had ever been taught.
I had never been taught how to “Love self”.
I apologize. I do not know how the rest got deleted. (Just had carpel tunnel surgery and am clumsy.)
I love your comments Sue Edwards! I discovered some of this growing up as well. My proudest moment was when my 23 year old daughter said to me “Mom, you won’t take guff from anyone and you taught me that no one can make you do anything.” or something like that. In the context it was given, I was glowing inside. Well, it was my daughter.
Kudo’s Catherine ! If my daughter was grabbed in any way, she’d knock them flat. I would deal with it another way but I am bolder than she. When a crew chief used to speak to me in language laced with cuss words, I’d tell them that I knew all those words, too. And they’d sound a lot worse coming out of my mouth.
My inner strength has just grown since then. It took a different direction when I began “Knowing myself”. To the depth we Know and Understand ourselves, so do we Know and Understand all others. One of the first things I realized that really helped me, was that it really didn’t matter what other people thought. Only what I did. I was riddled with self Doubt in many areas and was able to Heal, because I began to have a inner kind of Knowing.
“You really don’t care what we think?!” my relatively new in-law said to me one day. He and his wife were guests in my house and had just expressed in how many ways they considered me to be sinful.
“I cared enough to listen, respecting your freedom of expression. I also respect your right to choose your own beliefs and will defend that right in my own home. I simply do not choose to believe likewise. You’re welcome to think that but not to make any demands of others.
“You don’t care how we feel!!!!!!!!”
“I do care but your feelings are your own, a result of what you have chosen to believe. What you are really saying is that I do not care what you think about me or how you fell about it. In that you would be correct. This is not about me. It’s about Respecting you enough to be a Real and Honest human being and appreciating that same thing in you.”
We’ve been friends ever since.
Women are the ones with the intuitive Power but often lack the courage to speak up. For me, Courage means Love and Loyalty to Life. It doesn’t mean we don’t acknowledge our fear. Simply that our Love is stronger.
With the way things are in our world today, there is no Reasoning going on. We can’t Reason with people who are being unreasonable. The ONLY way to communicate is through emotions that will reach Hearts (since heads aren’t attached anymore).
My nephew came to me to ask me to consider what he happened to think. After telling me, I replied that I didn’t consider that much in the way of “Thinking” at all. Thinking was a process of reason. Reason was a process of adding one idea to another without creating any conflicts, contractions or nullifications in the process. What I had heard was a random podge podge of emotionally charged ideas associated in ways that made no sense what so ever.
Answers like that is the reason why he enjoys visiting his Aunt.
Now THIS is beautifully instructive:
“With the way things are in our world today, there is no Reasoning going on. We can’t Reason with people who are being unreasonable. The ONLY way to communicate is through emotions that will reach Hearts (since heads aren’t attached anymore).
“My nephew came to me to ask me to consider what he happened to think. After telling me, I replied that I didn’t consider that much in the way of “Thinking” at all. Thinking was a process of reason. Reason was a process of adding one idea to another without creating any conflicts, contractions or nullifications in the process. What I had heard was a random podge podge of emotionally charged ideas associated in ways that made no sense what so ever.
“Answers like that is the reason why he enjoys visiting his Aunt.”
…I hope to be an aunt of that sort as my two nephews grow up. 🙂
Amanda – “I hope to be an aunt of that sort as my two nephews grow up”
I’m sure with that desire in your Heart, you will be!
My door (and kitchen) is always open to my nieces and nephews. I’ve been a fixture in their lives since they were very young and have just been waiting for the time they reached young adulthood and began asking questions. Many of them were robbed of their chances for self development and an education because their parents sent them to Pentecostal church schools.
“Millennial” and “Pentecostal” don’t blend harmoniously together. So they come to their black sheep aunt and uncle, who made it known we don’t abide by the same beliefs. Mostly, they were bored with the education they were receiving and quit. So I’ve encouraged them to go after what they feel they have been denied. I help them study for their GED’s and encourage and support their efforts, while teaching them to be understanding and accepting of their parents. Who never had someone like me in their lives to help them along.
We are all timid when it comes to the unknown, however, that doesn’t mean that it is unknowable.
I listened to them without any judgments. The only thing I ever asked was if they wanted me to listen, please give thought to the value of my life. Make it worth listening TO. I guess what I was conveying is that there needs to be a balance. Inner reflection leading to outer expression. Which is exactly “when looking inward points you outwards”.