New Moon, New Year, New Future
Today, the new moon and the Sun are in Capricorn, where they serve to stabilize, guide and direct us as we move away from the cold chaos of the darkest days and nights of the year. This is the time of year we traditionally begin to build the infrastructure underneath the dreams, visions and goals we have for the New Year. This process is always somewhat labor intensive, requiring extraordinary physical and emotional strength. This year, one can reasonably expect it to be much more so, as it is interwoven with crisis and corruption fatigue, a global pandemic, an ongoing economic downturn, a change of administration, and a nation struggling to find its way.
And yet, there are a lot of opportunities here.
Can you see them?
I can.
As always, let’s look to our ancestors and to the stars for guidance, and chart a course from there.
The Spirit of Capricorn
Each planet has its own specific realm. As planets move through each sign, that realm takes on a uniquely different flavor and offers uniquely different opportunities. The more planets there are in any given sign and at any given time, the more focused and amplified that sign’s energy—and the opportunities presented—will be. Right now, it’s all about Capricorn. The Sun, the Moon, Venus, and Pluto are all there. So let’s look at what the opportunities are and how to make the most of them.
Long considered the Lord of Karma, the most important thing to remember about Capricorn is its righteousness. Capricorn rules integrity and accountability, doing things right and making them right when they go—or have gone—seriously wrong. Capricorn rules processes, and also both patience and commitment. While these things are essential components of any sort of process, they are even more important for the karmic ones, the ones that can take lifetimes to sort out.
When there are so many planets in Capricorn, you are asked to step up and into your karmic priorities. You are being asked to remember and review the reasons why you are here on the planet now, with the individuals in your soul’s tribe, and under the circumstances you now find yourself. Fortunately, Capricorn also rules plans and strategies. If yours are still solid, then Capricorn simply asks that you recommit. If yours are coming up short, then Capricorn will help you sort it out: where you are, what is needed, and where to start. Or, if necessary, start over.
But Capricorn is more than just a stern taskmaster with a big tool kit. Saturn also rules the cornucopia, the horn of plenty. Capricorn rules the abundance that comes from hard work and clear goals, from diligently and thoroughly working all the angles of the different manifestation cycles. All of them. When there is this much planetary energy in Capricorn, you can count on receiving something your heart has long desired and striven towards—often for lifetimes.
Now is a fine time to review your achievements and accomplishments—the highlight reel of both last year and this lifetime. Give thanks, yes, but there is much more to this opportunity than that. Appreciate yourself: acknowledge and honor all the different aspects of your psyche and your soul that were aligned enough and strong enough to create this level of grace. I can’t stress this enough. And here’s why.
You worked hard for this.
The karma of your heart’s desire didn’t arrive in the package you had expected, in the time frame you had imagined, or for the price you wanted to pay. No, Capricorn did not do that. It does not do that. When manifesting the biggest, most important things, Capricorn always asks you to clean up some old, nasty bit of your karma. Sometimes quite a lot of it. Cleaning up karma is hard work. If it was easy, you would have and could have done it long ago. Because Capricorn always makes you work for, and earn, your redemption, you must definitely take time—make the time, if necessary—to revel and rejoice in your exploits.
When your faith is strong, this dilemma is relatively easily and quickly solved with gratitude and a reframe, and the celebrating comes naturally. When your faith is less strong, this will cause a temporary but intense sense of restriction and a lack of freedom. This is sometimes accompanied by an increase in duties and obligations, burdens and responsibilities. Though sometimes it is more of a felt sense than reality. So be clear. Regardless, the sense of urgency you may feel about some of the things you are being asked to do is very real. Don’t fight them. You won’t win, and that sort of drama won’t help you in the long run.
I am seeing a lot of folks right now staggering under the weight of the realization of what Capricorn is asking them to do. If you are one of them, know that you are not alone. Not only that, you are breathing rarefied air. The load you carry, and your commitment to being free of it, is a badge of honor that few can wear. Pace yourself, prioritize, create a strategy, get the support you need in order to find some way to stick to it. And as you find the ways you keep sabotaging yourself, or find yourself in need of more sophisticated intervention, you will be better served now than at any other time of year in terms of getting it.
A cardinal, female, earth sign, Capricorn is ruled by Saturn. To the Greeks, he was Kronos, the God of order, structure, discipline, form. For modern managers and executives, Capricorn rules your ability to stay grounded and calm, clear and focused, disciplined and diplomatic. It rules your core strengths, time and project management, as well as leadership, team building, risk management, and communications theories. Right now, you have a singular opportunity to develop those abilities, so they are more of a way of life and less like points on a line, or moments in time.
Take advantage of these opportunities and you’ll develop the new skills and habits you for which you have long searched. As you do, you’ll raise your vibration. As you do, these new gains become your new normal. So make that your intention, say your prayers and invocations, and double down.
Capricorn rules the direction of the north and the season of winter. Use this moment wisely, and your stabilizing influence can be quite welcome in the cold, COVID chaos of our current one. So many of our beloveds are struggling to communicate constructively across our differences and find solutions to our common problems. That process has made us acutely aware of how crucial it is to find the line between cleaning up karma and being a hideously codependent, enabling doormat. That line can be so very enigmatic. But you have more help than you realize. Capricorn also rules the traditions and wisdoms of the ancients, the elders and the ancestors. In moments of stress, duress and confusion, call on yours. You have an opportunity now to build a better working relationship with them.
Not a Capricorn? No worries. Everyone has Capricorn somewhere in their natal chart. If you don't already know where yours is, now would be a good time to find out. There are too many opportunities for you, here and now, that you don’t want to miss.
Where Capricorn lives in your natal chart is where you are undeniably the master, the teacher, the prophet, the law-giver, the way-finder, the grown-up in the room, and the shepherd of your flock. Your Capricorn placement is where you are Moses: your righteous devotion to your faith, your karma, and your process helps you lead your people out of some vestige of the bondage you all share. The role of Moses, and of Capricorn, is to steer culture and civilization away from the violence of this world and from the catastrophe of the human condition. Your Capricorn placement determines where you are uniquely qualified to do that.
So let’s give you permission to find it, to do that, and to be that. Let’s find that part of your psyche and your soul and activate it. Always, but especially now, listen up, read the room, lean in, call on your ancestors, and rise to the occasion—or at least find some way to start listing in that general direction. Soon. We have just entered the Mercury retrograde prelude period. Your ability to see your karmic path and the grace in it is growing by the day. Focus and follow, and if you get stuck, call me. We’ll figure it out.
Calendar
Below are some of the dates where your opportunities for wizardry, magic, and alchemy will be the greatest.
January 1: New Year’s Day
January 6: Mars moves into Taurus; the Feast of the Epiphany and the Three Kings
January 8: Mercury moves into Aquarius; Venus moves into Capricorn
January 9: 21-day Mercury Retrograde prelude period begins
January 12: New Moon in Capricorn
January 14: Uranus goes direct in Taurus
January 18: Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
January 19: Sun moves into Aquarius
January 20: Inauguration Day
January 28: Full Moon in Leo, also known as the Wolf Moon, Storm Moon, Snow Moon, Old Moon, and Moon after Yule
January 30: Mercury retrogrades in Aquarius for 21 days
February 1: Venus moves into Aquarius
February 2: Imbolc
February 11: Lunar Imbolc; the Chinese New Year; New Moon in Aquarius
Everybody’s natal (birth) chart is different. These differences reflect our individual souls: their journeys and evolution, their triumphs and their tragic flaws. As such, the specific impact of each of the following dates will hit each person differently. But there are some general themes.
Holy days, holidays, and astrological transits are opportunities for us to experience grace. But remember how grace happens: sometimes it comes through discomfort. The gifts aren’t always immediately apparent. All of the days on this list ask you to be more compassionate with yourself and others, to try and be more awake, and to be more open to synchronicity and messages from Spirit. On days when more than one astrological event, holiday or holy day occurs, know that the power of that day will be even more profound. The more events in a day, the more powerful that day is, and the more intentional you should be.
Again, in general, full moons are a good time for ending things, wrapping things up, conclusions, and closure. New moons are opportune times for new beginnings: starting a new chapter of some aspect of your life, tackling a new project, or launching something new. Retrogrades are always about slowing down and paying more attention to aspects of your creative, spiritual, and social lives. The eclipses always reveal: sometimes it is something others have hidden from you, sometimes it is things you have hidden from yourself, usually it is a little bit of both. To go deeper, look to the planetary signs and the houses they fall in, and, of course, to your natal chart. Or give me a call. I can help you with that.
Retreats, Rituals, Services, Ceremonies and Journeys
As always, choosing the best day or days is a very personal thing. You have to feel your way into it. But there are some generic rules that can help you in your decision-making process. Full moons and new moons are considered the best. Holidays and holy days are as well. Full moons and new moons that occur during or over a period of holidays and holy days are extraordinarily powerful.
Factor in a retrograde or two and you pretty much cannot avoid leveling up and becoming a much more masterful magician. Especially around anything that has to do with your faith, your trust in it, your ability to serve your faith and serve with it. Seriously.
With that in mind, in the next month, the best days for deep, transformational experiences are these: January 12th, 13th, 18th - 20th, 28th, 30th, February 1st - 2nd, 11th - 18th.
“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”
The Mystery School Guidebooks
For as long as humans have traveled the earth, we have turned to the cycles and movements of the natural world and celestial bodies to guide us. Over time and across cultures, the art and science of navigation has provided powerful tools to ensure safe passage through the mysterious currents of life's more difficult moments. Now, by combining ancient practices with modern modalities, you can chart smooth and successful routes through the most important journeys of all: the integration of your internal landscapes, your relationships, your spiritual and professional paths.
The Mystery School Guidebooks are the culmination of my 30 years of dedicated research and practice as a business consultant, astrologer, and intuitive. I am currently offering six guidebooks: Mars Retrograde, Level 1 and Level 2; Mercury Retrograde, Level 1 and Level 2; and Venus Retrograde, Level 1 and Level 2, with more in the works. Each one is a magical combination of information and experiential exercises, designed to provide you with the tools that mean the difference between falling prey to your innermost demons—fears, outdated behaviors and belief systems, and long-buried traumas—and discovering, perhaps for the first time, greater joy in relationships, success in career, and increased self-confidence, access, and flow in your personal and spiritual lives.