Astro Alert: We’ve just had our New Moon in Aries. (7:20 pm, 5 April, 2019, Sydney time).
Over the past few days I've had this strange inkling from somewhere deep within, a gut knowing, that a new beginning is possible. A 'real' new beginning. And as much as my logical mind wants to just dismiss it and keep on ploughing ahead, business as usual, I can feel it in my bones. It feels like a great weight is finally lifting! Life is encouraging me to dare; to dream; to will; to engage the sacred vision of my Life. Frankly, it’s exciting! Having said that, it's also quite daunting.
Have you felt it, too??
It’s not just a new page that we’re being invited to turn, but the beginning of a whole new chapter. Or a whole new volume! The weirdest thing, though, is that this 'new' volume feels more like a remembrance of who we were born to be, *before* we allowed ourselves to be thrown off track by the people and circumstances we’ve encountered along the way ... and before we were weighed down by wounding and ineffective, self-defence mechanisms.
As always, I look to the astrology and numerology to see what’s going on … Wow, do we have some rare configurations happening at the moment! I’ll put some astrology & numerology notes at the end of the article for those who are keen to dive deeper with me.
Suffice to say, though, 2019 is a 12/3 Universal Year. The 12th archetype aligns with the energy of The Hanged Man in the tarot, ie: the Pattern-Breaker. Further, April is a Universal 16/7 Month. So, this Aries New Moon embodies the liberating power of both The Hanged Man AND The Tower! That could feel very intense for some of us. (Side note, the last time we collectively experienced the 12/3 archetype was in 1920. It’s been a while ...)
Astrologically, this Hanged Man energy aligns with Uranus' ingress into Taurus, as well as the fact that both Pluto and Saturn are currently conjunct the South Node in Capricorn. Big transits! In fact, the last time we experienced Saturn & Pluto at the South Node in Capricorn was in March 923 BCE. That’s nearly 3,000 years ago! Woah! (If I’ve accidentally missed one, let me know in the Comments below, because that is extraordinary!) It's worth noting that the Pluto & South Node conjunction was precise yesterday, ie: the day of the New Moon, and is therefore part of how the next 2.5 year cycle will unfold. (Remember the Moon Families technique I mentioned?)
I’m also going to throw into the mix that Venus is currently on Her descent to the Underworld. Specifically, She has just passed the 5th Gate of Personal Power (ie: the Solar Plexus Chakra), and is calling us to release anything that impedes or challenges our sense of Power.
What an archetypal combination!
Let's put it together
We have a rare opportunity to confront and overcome the entrenched weight of our Soul’s past.
Let me repeat that.
In order to move forward, we have the opportunity to drop our stories; to release our old beliefs and baggage; our wounds, our addictions, fears, habits, and restrictive patterns. We’re being empowered & challenged to confront anything that binds, limits, or hinders our commitment to ourselves and our Great Work ... Yes, even our 'fail safes' and the walls that we've built around us, thinking they'll protect us.
In dropping our stories, they no longer have any hold over us. We are free to embrace the energy of a fresh, untarnished, unencumbered new beginning, however that looks for each of us!
No wonder it feels like a great weight is lifting! (Or perhaps some of us have just become aware of how heavy it actually is … )
For me, I'm putting down my fail-safes that protect me from the stories & fears I have around being attacked and bullied if I'm 'seen'. I'm choosing to step more solidly onto this path of publicly sharing my passion for astrology and numerology. It's time to allow my voice to be heard and myself to be seen. (That feels simultaneously terrifying and electrifying in its freedom and possibilities! Wow!)
What is it time for you to do?? Where have you been holding yourself back from fully committing or fully expressing your passion and devotion and excitement ... your truth??
Even Life itself is saying, "It's time!"
To paraphrase Sun Tsu, when we let go of what we are and who we were told to be, we become what we might be. THIS!!
Following Odin's Lead ...
I'm just thinking too, The Hanged Man archetype reminds me of Odin, a Norse God for whom no sacrifice is too great in the pursuit of wisdom (and for whom Wednesday is named). He once voluntarily hung upside down on the great tree, Yggdrasil, for nine days without food or water. He even stabbed himself in the side, as all sacrifices made to him were. He sacrificed himself to himself … ie: his 'lower' self to his 'higher' self. He had to prove himself worthy of receiving the wisdom of the Runes. He later sacrificed his own eye in order to drink from a sacred well of remembrance, thereby gaining a more sacred, symbolic level of sight. (This also flows well with the section on Mercury's Retrograde season in Pisces, below.)
What are we so passionate about that, like Odin, we're willing to sacrifice for it? What are we willing to sacrifice, in order to master ourselves or our craft/path? To get where we really want to go? That's a big question ...
So, the questions we need to consider are:
Are we willing to understand that our fail-safes & the walls we've built around us to protect us are actually restricting & hindering our progress?
Are we willing to love ourselves & our path enough to release our self-imposed, destructive beliefs, patterns, habits, and limitations? Our fears. (Gulp)
Are we willing to do whatever is necessary to put the weight of our past down? (I feel like we should have a rousing rendition of 'Let it go!" from Frozen here, ha!)
Are we willing, like Odin, to sacrifice something (ie: ‘make sacred’) in order to fully realise & then share our Gift with the world?
Are we willing to trust our intuition & our gut knowing? Are we willing to heed the sacred vision we receive of our potential and our personal power?
Are we willing to release the intellectually-based definitions we have of ourselves & the world, in order to receive a greater understanding?
Thank goodness the Sun is in Aries! We may need to draw on His heroic strength and courage … especially as He applies to squares with the heavy-hitters (ie: Saturn, Pluto, & the South Node) in a few days! (See dates at the bottom of this post.)
The Hanged Man joins forces with Mercury Retrograde (Rx)
With the current Mercury Rx season in Pisces (conjunct Neptune), I think it’s important to emphasise something about the Hanged Man archetype. The two really are flowing beautifully together, here. The Hanged Man questions our egoic attachment to the way we intellectually view & process the world around us. He challenges us to reach beyond our rational, intellectual mind, and to instead centre ourselves. From our centre, we can flow to anywhere. From our centre, we can trust our deep, instinctual gut knowing.
To hold the greater, sacred vision that is possible for our lives, The Hanged Man is guiding us to develop our intuitive mind, and to heed the wisdom of our dreams and visions.
If we are to seek the answers to our profound questions, we must not be limited by mere human logic! Reason is a barrier to absolute experience. It arrogantly demands that the Great Mystery confine itself to the tiny, finite boxes of statistical data sets and what makes sense to humans!! Seriously?? As Hafiz would say, "Someone should start laughing. Someone should start wildly laughing!"
Remember the things we were asked to do during this Mercury Rx cycle in Pisces? Have you been accessing altered states of consciousness? eg: via meditation, trance dancing, drumming, astral travelling, journeying with plant medicines, creating, prayer etc? Combined with the Hanged Man, Mercury's Rx season is incredibly relevant to the energy being seeded this New Moon! (Please see the notes below for further information, & my previous post on the Mercury Retrograde Season.)
To honour our intuition and gut instinct can feel difficult in our modern society, yes?? It’s not what we’ve typically been conditioned to do. As Einstein once said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift."
Perhaps this is another pattern we have to break … Overcoming our intellectual bias may take humility. We need to be willing to acknowledge that there are things we do not and cannot understand with our rational mind alone. It may also take devotion and discipline to learning a new way of perceiving and navigating the world and ourselves.
I am also mindful of the intuitives and psychics among us who may be struggling right now with the fear that others will deem them crazy?? Or perhaps they fear that they actually ARE losing their minds? Goodness knows, we don't have ready access to Spiritual Directors, Shamans, or others who can offer strong mentoring on how to navigate the alternate realms, or how to integrate & communicate the information received via these higher levels of intuition.
Your Great Gift:
If you’ve feared that it’s too late; that your chance to develop your Gift has passed, fear not!
The words of Clarissa Pinkola-Estes come readily to my mind. I hear her rich, mellow voice assuring us that our Gift cannot be destroyed.
Our personalities may become discouraged, and our hearts may become disheartened, but our Gift absolutely cannot be destroyed. It is rooted in our Soul, and waits patiently for us to honour and embody it! It waits for us to commit ourselves to its mastery; and to then offer it back to Life itself with respect and gratitude.
Our current skies are supporting us in stepping into our Gift, by empowering us to relinquish all that keeps us from it!
(Why do I say this? Uranus in Taurus - Taurus is where we hold the gifts from the Gods and Goddesses that we are required to polish and return to them. Uranus entering Taurus, and slowly moving through this part of our sky for the next 7 years or so, gives us ample opportunities to develop, master, and then offer these gifts to the world and to the Divine.)
Possible Affirmations for this Month
(with gratitude to Angeles Arrien):
- I value breaking ineffective old patterns.
- I free myself from self-imposed limitations.
- I release the wounded parts of my past.
- I willingly release my old stories, addictions, and destructive habits.
- I trust my instinctual, intuitive knowing.
- I have faith in the deep essence of who I am.
- I surrender to the higher design at play in my life.
- I enjoy looking at the same situation from as many perspectives as possible.
- I am willing to change the way I perceive the world.
- I am open to a greater vision and greater perspective.
- I humbly empty my cup, so that I may discover new possibilities.
Thank you for sharing the journey with me. Great Peace and Blessings to us all for the upcoming month. It may get a little rough, but it's so going to be worth the effort. Let me know how you're feeling about it all. Share your wins and your struggles. We've got this.
Much love
Juliette xo
Here are some notes on the astrology etc of it all, and some dates for your diary. Tap out now, if this isn’t your jam! ;-)
a) Remember, New Moons always set into motion a new 2.5-year process, which becomes the cumulative, ever-changing foundation we build our lives on. This New Moon in Aries builds on the New Moon in Pisces before it. Please note that both the Pisces AND the Aries New Moon have included Mercury’s retrograde cycle in Pisces, conjunct Neptune … hence the call to a more intuitive engagement with Life. Mercury is our rational, logical, sequential way of understanding and processing the world around us. But He has been forced to spend a lot of time with Neptune and Pisces over the last couple of months, engaging our intuition, the dream state, alternate states of consciousness, and all that is beyond this 3D, physical, manifest world of ours. How perfect to see such alignment between all the archetypes at play just now – ie: The Hanged Man and Mercury Rx cycle in Pisces. Fabulous! Mercury will finally leave Shadow on 17 April at 29 degrees 38 minutes Pisces.
b) The 12th archetype of the Pattern-Breaker is definitely in alignment with Uranus entering Taurus!
c) Not only was Pluto exactly conjunct the South Node yesterday, ie: the day of the New Moon, but the Sun is now applying to a square with Saturn, Pluto, and the South Node.
April dates for the diary: The Sun’s square with Saturn will be exact on the 11th, with the South Node on the 13th, and with Pluto on the 14th. And then on the 23rd, the Sun will conjunct Uranus. We’ll definitely feel that! The Sun is engaged in big, heroic work this month!
d) Venus passed the 5th Gate of Personal Power on Her descent to the Underworld on 2 April, so this entire month will emphasise this process.