Thursday, December 14, 2017

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius New Moon 2017

The Cosmic Story: Sagittarius New Moon 2017
Winter Solstice: Saturn into Capricorn
Time to Birth a New World

Milky Way Galaxy

This very powerful Sagittarius New Moon occurs days before Saturn’s ingress into Capricorn and the Winter Solstice. The New Moon conjuncts the Galactic Center – the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy – close to where Mercury turned retrograde on December 2-3rd, to go back to retrieve any last messages from the Sagittarian Sun on December 12th (the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe) and to be integrated once Mercury stops to move forward on December 22. Saturn leaves Sagittarius after 2 ½ year and moves into his own sign of Capricorn on December 19, beginning our journey toward the big conjunction between Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto in 2020. And of course, Winter Solstice arrives in the northern hemisphere on December 21st when the Sun ‘stands still’ for 3 days before starting to move back North. For those of you in the southern hemisphere, Happy Summer Solstice!

Saturn into Capricorn

 
Where to begin? Let’s start with Saturn, since his energy signature is all over these three events. Saturn has gotten a bad rap from ancient astrologers who saw him as a hard taskmaster and even as a malevolent force in life. Saturn represented limits, fear, depression and melancholy. But those are the dysfunctional expressions of Saturn. So don’t go into fear when thinking of him, since that’s the most negative manifestation of Saturn. In reality, Saturn is the energy of our material reality, the reality that there are limits in life, that we have to take responsibility for our life and that often takes discipline and perseverance. He is the trickster of delays and denials. He is teacher, tester, mentor of life. Saturn is our teacher of self-discipline and self-respect.

Saturn was originally the ruler of the Golden Age, a time of peace and prosperity. He rules time – so in Capricorn, slow down and initiates us into our fate. He often evokes fear and anxiety and tests you with them. He represents authority. so we have to ask, ‘Who is the author of my life?’ When this planet passes through a sign, we know we will be tested on our maturity and our willingness to accept the limitations of life and do something with them. In alchemy, Saturn is the lead that the alchemical process turns into gold. Our work is to turn our unconscious acceptance of our collective reality into a conscious spiritual self-awareness and responsibility. 
 
Saturn has been in the sign of Sagittarius since late December 2014, forcing us to look at our beliefs – both religious beliefs and our personal beliefs about life and what is possible. We’ve been struggling with ideological divisions – my truth, not yours. We’ve seen the death of moral authority in government and religion. During those 2 ½ years, we’ve had to deal with the question, ‘What is true and what is false?’ Fake news has been a sticking point since the Neptune in Pisces square to Saturn in Sagittarius in 2016, asking us to discern between what is real and what is illusion. I find it heartening that Judge Roy Moore was just defeated in the Senate race in Alabama, perhaps Saturn’s last gift to the U.S. before he heads into his own sign of Capricorn. 

  
As the 3rd fire sign, Sagittarius asks us to be the flame and the fire, to invoke the power of light in our lives and in the world. 
 
So the question is: Have we finish our Sagittarian work of knowing in our bones what we believe? Sagittarius is the sign of cosmic law – the laws of the universe which our patriarchal society has tried to ignore or overrule to our detriment and the Earth’s degradation. Our culture is out of balance with those laws and so we are at a turning point. We have to become our own moral authority. As Saturn leaves Sagittarius, are we ready to act? 
 
The whole Earth is suffering from our unconscious and compulsive conspicuous consumption, which has become the whole focus of life under capitalism. Our corporation culture has turned us into consumers so we won’t engage in the active responsibility of being citizens. It’s time to take responsibility for our world as Saturn enters his own sign of Capricorn, which is concerned with our social structures and communal life, as well as government and our financial systems. 
 
Thank you to Daniel Giamario for enlightening me about how some ancient cultures saw Capricorn as a Council of Grandmothers, who shared their wisdom for the common good. This is the wisdom of the Earth and also the body. How do we bring in our spirit’s purpose into the world. Through our bodies! It’s called Incarnation. This aligns with Capricorn’s connection to our dharma – our soul work and responsibility to our society to bring it peace and prosperity. 
 
The last time Saturn was in Capricorn was in 1988 – just a year after the Harmonic Convergence in August 1987. Remember that? That was the beginning of a world-wide spiritual revolution that is about to manifest in our society in a big way if we’ve done our inner work. That was a big year in my life. What was going on in yours? Perhaps you’ll get a chance to finish up some old business in a more mature way now. What have you learned in the past 30 years (assuming you’ve lived that long!)?

You’ll be hearing much more about the big happenings in 2020 as we get closer, but let me begin by saying that we cannot predict how this big energy will play out. But we can look at the different energies involved. With Saturn in Capricorn, now is the time to step into your maturity and wisdom and manifest your vision. It’s time to show up. Do it with integrity, please. Whatever you know is enough now. What can you do with the tools you have gathered? We are all called to heal the Earth and our society. If we’ve healed ourselves, now it’s time to heal others. Look at the house(s) where Capricorn lies in your chart. And if you have planets in early Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn – you’re the ones who will be challenged the most. Lucky you!

Pluto has been bringing down those institutions which are no longer viable – we are seeing their last gasps in the Trump administration as it tries to turn the clock back to unfettered greed and domination by ‘old white guys’. But it isn’t working. And they’re going down – maybe, hopefully in 2020. Jupiter will accelerate and enlarge whatever Saturn and Pluto bring up. 

If Saturn is the energy of structure and limits, and Pluto is that of death and rebirth, and Jupiter is the energy of faith, curiosity and expansion, we could be looking at the re-birth of our republic and a renewal and re-structuring of social institutions that will support our collective well-being, not just the well-being of those 1%ers. But in the end, it’s up to each of us to make that happen. We need to do it for ourselves and each other, for Mother Earth and most importantly, for our children to the 7th generation. We are the Ancestors of the Future and what we seed now will determine what that future looks like.

Winter Solstice

 
Saturn is also associated with the Winter Solstice, not only because it will conjunct the Solstice Sun as it enters Capricorn, but because back in ancient Rome, the time of the Winter Solstice was called ‘Saturnalia’ a 12 day period of death and chaos, when the rules of society were turned upside down – when slaves were equal to their masters, when a fool, the Lord of Misrule, could sit on a throne. (Sounds like this whole year, doesn’t it?) 
 
Many cultures had days or weeks that were ‘out of time’ due to the working of their calendars, and these were viewed as times of chaos, a time out of regular time so the world could be renewed. During this time of chaos, the old king was sacrificed to make way for the birth of the New Light, dies natalis solis invicti – the birthday of the unconquerable sun. And of course, we have the birth of Baby Jesus on December 25th and the 12 Days of Christmas, which are supposed to foretell the future year. 
 
(I’ve been doing the 12 Days of Christmas dreaming for over 30 years. If you’re a dreamer, starting December 25th into the 26th, record your dreams each day and they will stand as a prophesy for the 12 astrological months.)

Saturnalia, like our Christmas and most other Solstice celebrations, was a time to evoke abundance, joy, generosity, hope, fertility and life, so these ancient ancestors of ours celebrated much as we do, with music and dance, food and laughter, community and worship, fun and games, evergreens (for eternal life) and light. We need to bring these elements back into our Solstice celebrations as well as our own family traditions. Let’s bring back singing and storytelling, dancing and games to our Christmas/Hanukkah celebrations as well. Gifts are wonderful expressions of love and appreciation, but when most of us live in such abundance, do we really need to keep shopping – which is the need of our economy but is it our need? Don’t we need community and laughter and hope just as much as another tech toy? 
 
Make it a ritual – create a great holiday happening that goes against the stereotypes of our modern holiday season. Create, create, create, moments of laughter and joy and shake off the old year so a new possibility can start to take shape. And then go out and keep up the good work of stopping the outrageous measures our government is fostering on us. 
 
The Sagittarius New Moon, December 17-18, 2017

The Sagittarius New Moon occurs on Sunday, December 17th at 10:30pm PST and on Monday, December 18 at 1:30am EST/ 6:30am GMT. 

 
This is the first New Moon to trine the degrees of the total solar eclipse New Moon in Leo. So we are also bringing that energy into the mix. Remember the Sabian symbol for the eclipse: A mermaid emerges from the ocean waves ready to take on human form. She is the longing of our collective heart – the longing to create a better world. And she is going to take on that human form through those women and men who see a better, possible future.

There are 5 planets in Sagittarius at this New Moon, so the cosmos wants us to pay attention. Sagittarius is the sign honoring truth, vision, belief and optimism that can light a fire within each of us. Occurring during the darkest time of year in the northern hemisphere brings the image of Light into clear focus. In the dark, we seek the light. Our purpose (Sun), our emotional body (Moon), our mind (MercuryRx), our body’s wisdom (Venus), and our authority (Saturn) want to be clothed in that light. But Sagittarius is also playful and fun. So don’t forget that the Divine Feminine manifests through the imagination, through play and fun.

This New Moon is seeded in the Galactic Center, so let the eternal truths of the cosmos take root in your hearts so they blossom in these next, oh so important years for humanity. Let go of old perceptions and open to extraordinary possibilities that might whisper in your hearts during meditations and journeys. Trust that the Universe knows what It’s doing when it chooses YOU to channel its creativity and vision.

Mercury is retrograding back over the Galactic Center degree, so it will go over this degree three times – and you know that the Goddess always works in 3s. So just let the information come in – you won’t know it all until after the New Year. 
 
Saturn at 30* Sagittarius is also conjunct this New Moon, offering us the grounding we need to internalize these higher frequencies. Take authority for what wisdom you receive and find ways to make it a living source of life for you and the world. Saturn will make you grapple with your vision so it will come to birth in the best possible way. 
 
So slow down. It’s not going to happen all at once. It’s going to take time (Saturn) to manifest. 
 
There’s a grand fire trine in this New Moon chart between Eris, Uranus and Pallas in Aries, the North Node and Ceres in Leo and this New Moon with Venus, Sun, Moon and Saturn in Sagittarius that adds inspiration, creativity, passion and purification to the New Moon seeding. 
 
We also have a water trine between Neptune in Pisces and Jupiter/ Vesta/Mars in Scorpio, which adds deep emotional healing, imagination and empathy. It’s time to embrace our feelings instead of suppressing them. Emotions (energy in motion) flow through us to tell us how we’re reacting to life. When we name those emotions they become feelings and we can put a value on them – how should I act on these feelings instead of reacting to life.

The Sabian symbol for the Sun and Moon at 27* Sagittarius is: A sculptor at his work. Here is the image of creation, of projecting a vision into matter. That’s our goal.

The Sabian symbol for Saturn at 30* Sagittarius is: The pope blessing the faithful. While many of us are turned off by the idea of the pope, Dane Rudhyar asks, ‘Are you willing to live a transpersonal life as a symbol?’ Here’s the need to take on an archetypal role – whether it’s The Healer, The Bard, The Leader, The Magician, The Priestess – we need to find our archetypal pattern and live it out.

The Sabian symbol for Venus at 22* Sagittarius is: Jehovah looking down on the Earth from his heavenly throne. This is an image of divine justice and protection. Venus is beginning her underworld journey, traveling and disappearing behind the Sun until February 20 when she rises as an Evening Star of Wisdom. She is in the process of transformation and this image implies she will be protected.

The Sabian symbol for Mercury retrograde at 16* Sagittarius is: Equatorial explorer drifts down a jungle stream in a sailboat. This feels like an image of a grand adventure which will take all our determination and spirit to accomplish. That’s the kind of passion we’ll need to complete our task here. A sense of adventure and a sense of determination, powered by the winds of clarity, upheld by the waters of the imagination and enclosed by the fertility of Mother Earth

 
Mercury is retrograde until December 22nd. It turns to direct motion at 14* Sagittarius. The Sabian symbol is: The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx. This is symbolic of the power of our spiritual ancestry. These great structures symbolize archetypal energies which are still available to us today. 
 
Jupiter is the ruler of Sagittarius and it is at 15* Scorpio, the power gate of Scorpio. The Sabian symbol is: Laughing children play on five mounds of white sand. This is about our need to play in our physical bodies, play with the five senses, to get a firm grounding in the physical world. It’s fun! If Saturn is our ground of being and Jupiter is our spiritual vision, we have to become as ‘little children’ again to ground that in.

I love this time of year. The evening sky is cobalt blue, the air is cold and crisp, and it’s alright to stay inside and get cozy. Winter is a time for inner work, inner reflection and stories! Pay attention to your dreams now – especially during the 12 Days of Christmas from December 25 – January 6. 
 
May the peace and love of the Goddess, who births the Light, be ever in your hearts.
Cathy
 

A Winter Solstice Prayer
The dark shadow of space leans over us. . . . .
We are mindful that the darkness of greed, exploitation, and hatred
also lengthens its shadow over our small planet Earth.
As our ancestors feared death and evil and all the dark powers of winter,
we fear that the darkness of war, discrimination, and selfishness
may doom us and our planet to an eternal winter.
May we find hope in the lights we have kindled on this sacred night,
hope in one another and in all who form the web-work of peace and justice
that spans the world.
In the heart of every person on this Earth
burns the spark of luminous goodness;
in no heart is there total darkness.
May we who have celebrated this winter solstice,
by our lives and service, by our prayers and love,
call forth from one another the light and the love
that is hidden in every heart.
Amen.




Please LIKE/ SHARE and pass on to friends.  Thank you.  
© Copyright 2017 ~CATHY PAGANO  All Rights Reserved





No comments:

Post a Comment