Here we are, my friends. The lunar cycle which sets off summer eclipse season. A gateway. A portal. A chance.

What’s arising within you now? What is it you’re longing for, down to the tips of your toes? Not clear yet? Perhaps set your intention with this New Moon to uncover it. And then plant the seed at the next New Moon — also in Leo — with the fiery, total solar eclipse on August 21.

Transformational processes are arising constantly, aren’t they? And yet, somehow, this one feels different. Leaders being called forth, tribes constellating and converging… echoes of the past coming forward to say: what have you learned? What can you do differently? How can you nurture your own spark of genius and bring it forward in celebration — because the world needs you now.

This New Moon can go in so many different directions. Maybe you know exactly where you want to be. Use it, then, to make plans. But perhaps it’s not that concrete for you yet? In which case I’ll say…

Love yourself. Fiercely. Make it a devotional practice. Learn the ins and outs of your loves, wants, needs, expressions and desires. Go into the dark, shadowy places and bring to light all that you are. Love yourself — all of you — into reality and then take the reins and make shit happen.

This new moon does offer us a gateway, harnessing the fiery energies of the Sun and Mars. The resulting combustion can be used consciously to fuel the creation of our desires in the material world. But the core of this work requires a unified will. The cultivation of a unified will requires bravery, honesty and unadulterated yet finely honed expression and creativity.

This is not easy work. Not for the feint of heart — although I dare say engaging it will indeed increase your heart’s strength. But because it is not easy, and because what we find in this process so often makes us feel our difference more acutely (that’s the Aquarian polarity), it is so very important to seek out others on this path as well. Communities of outsiders. Witches. Queers. Seemingly ordinary folks with a penchant for occult studies or crystals or some other kind of woo. Those who are grappling with deconditioning themselves from the landslides of crimes against our natures that have been perpetuated for millennia now in order to create a vast infrastructure of lies and repression that we now dare to call ‘normal.’

The Aquarius-Leo axis invites to the process of individuation. This is not the call to be more unique, special or individual. This is where we hear the call of our soul and answer. Finally. Often because we no longer have a choice. And yet…we choose. The path of the heart in all its tangents and backslides, rather than the path that has been laid out for us without care for our true nature.

We need — we must have — radical transformation. The kind that makes us twist and turn, but the kind that also then allows us to bask in the sun more fully, more wholly. Fully naked rather than cloaked in suits and scrubs — no matter how designer or cute or half-off they might be.

And yet there are pitfalls here. Drama. Narcissism. Inflation. Be aware of them. And if you dip into that energy, accept yourself anyway. Correct. Change course. Learn.

Use this New Moon to ground and center yourself. Use it to tap into your heart and listen to what your own spark of life and truth is calling out for you to do now. The heart is a window into the soul, the soul is a magnet for magic, and magic is a truth that all of us know is real but have forgotten how to use. It’s time to remember. To play. To bask. To love.

This is your call to action.

Take a look around — there are others answering it with you.

Leo New Moon exact Sunday, July 23 at 2:46am
0+ degrees Leo, conjunct Mars at 1+ degree Leo
To view an hour long webinar about Creating Your Own New Moon Ritual (with specific guidance for this New Moon) click here.

More specific New Moon guidance, including ritual preparation is available for Patrons at the $10+ levels. Want monthly guidance while also supporting my ability to continue doing this  work? Check it out and sign up here.

Happy Full Moon weekend, y’all.

Happy? Hm. Maybe not. I mean, that might indeed be the case for some of you! For others of you, not so much. And I suppose that’s an apt description of any moment in time — it all depends on everything — but for those of you feelin’ the cosmic tumult, I bet it does indeed feel somewhat extra-ordinary, perhaps a bit cosmic, and maybe just…well, fuckin’ rough.

Mahakala:The Wrathful Protector of the Dharma by Khenpo Karsang Tenzin

There’s a lot of intense energy bouncing around out there. Intense energy that is desperately  trying to wake us up . But here’s the thing. Sometimes we wish that good ol’ Intense Energy would be a bit more direct with its communication and let us know exactly what it’s trying to transform. It’s like sometimes Intense Energy doesn’t realize that what it’s ACTUALLY DOING, rather than explicitly waking us up, is taking us around on an inner goose chase as we flail and fall, scrambling to grasp onto any sense of reason or meaning, any external event that we can blame for why we feel so awful. Then we volcano our emotions all over that external thing, whether it’s the cause or not, whether our reaction is proportional or not… and the result might or might not align with what Intense Energy was trying to reveal to us.

But alas, if we had a more explicit roadmap, it wouldn’t be as exciting would it? Security is overrated…isn’t it? Hm.

So few of us are prepared to do the deep diving that this kind of lunar cycle invites. We have responsibilities, after all. Capricorn knows all about responsibility. Even those of us who are in fact prepared, or just willing, to dive deep can fall into the traps of shadow Cancer/Capricorn at this point: intense subjectivity, cold calculated manipulation as defense, or attempting to run so far and fast in the opposite direction of whatever fear is arising that we find ourself accidently running off a cliff and into the fear in an even more intense and distorted form. We can place emotional security needs over responsibility. Or vice versa.

You can only run away from your demons for so long, folks.

Especially with an eclipse season like the one we’ll see in August looming.

So for this full moon, be the calm in the eye of the storm. Or find some calm in the eye of the storm. Here’s a hint: it’s inside you. It’s in the calm, grounded, centered presence that you can tap into at will with a few deep breaths and inward reflection.

The Cancer-Capricorn polarity has a lot to do with the masks we wear – in our personal and private lives versus out in the world in our professions or careers. The rest of the cardinal axis shows us the lessons of masking as well — with Libra being the masks we wear in interpersonal relationships and Aries being the absolute absence of mask — pure instinct.

There is a high likelihood of power struggles this weekend. It might be worth some retreating from the world, or re-visiting your own self-parenting process. At the very least it is definitely worth some reflection on the concept of power, what it means for you, how it displays itself to you, where your relationship with it needs to change, and — perhaps most importantly — where you locate your own power in your body and how your various masks support or fail to support the correct use of your power.

The New Moon two weeks ago initiated us into a cycle of clearing emotional baggage – particularly the baggage associated with our deepest fears and shadow parts

Here’s a helpful hint: sometimes our shadow material is actually good stuff. Qualities that would normally be deemed “positive” by society, but were shut down within us for whatever reason. Perhaps your voice was shut down when you spoke an inconvenient truth as a child. Perhaps your gentle feeling nature went underground as you were told again and again that you were “too sensitive.” Societal conditioning (Capricorn), while it has its purposes, can also be a brutal slam against natural law and human intuition. Accessing your voice is a vital part of living your truth; your sensitivity is a tool for empathy and understanding.

Until you uncover those repressed shadows, you won’t learn how to hone these tools that are so vital to your identity and emotional well being (Cancer) so that you can use them in productive and helpful (Capricorn) ways. All of that energy can be liberated for the service of your dharma — what you’re here to do in this life.

My tip for this weekend? I know this might be shocking (insert sarcasm), but here it is: Stop and breathe. Feel your feet on the ground, breathe some more, wait, drink some water, and THEN respond. This astrology can bring things to a head. You get the choice about whether or not to dive in now — it could be great energy for working things out! — or waiting til the energy has peaked and then taking a closer look.

Another tip? Your fears can become your allies. You can use the energy you spend fearing things and transmute it into fuel for better pursuits. That is very much the crux of the Capricorn Moon’s conjunction with Pluto: How do we transform our fears into something useful?

Other than that? Try to be kind. To yourself and others.

Full Moon at 17 degrees Capricorn Saturday, July 8 at 9:07pm Pacific Time

*Subscribers to my Patreon Campaign (at the $20+ levels) get access to further guidance for the Full Moon each month. To check it out and become a Patron, click here.*

New Moon June 23, 2017 exact at 7:31pm Pacific Time
3 degrees Cancer

And so we arrive at the first New Moon of the summer. How are you feeeeeeeling? Did you feel that shift from frenetic, curious Gemini mind to soft and sensitive  — or in my case, a little cranky — Cancer?

Perhaps the most simple lesson of Cancer is this: we are emotional beings, yes. But emotions shift and change. Constantly. Like the tides. One of the biggest lies of the modern era is that a ‘mature’ human has consistent, stable emotions all the time. They would have us believe that any show of emotional shift, let alone grief or rage, is inherently pathological.

But you know what? It’s ok to feel. There’s power there. In holding ourselves through the feelings. In being able to see them through, knowing they’ll shift again. To be aware of the stories that arise from our wounded, aching hearts without giving them power.

Emotions and feelings are indicators. And although they can be distorted, or we can get stuck or have chemical imbalances that require treatment, having and expressing emotion is not pathological in and of itself. We should never overlook the fact that there are abundant reasons to be feeling a lot of things really viscerally right now. We are living through a paradigm shift and there is radical insecurity in that. Or, taking it down a philosophical notch — in our world, genocide is constant, black men are being murdered by the police in front of their families, we treat our earth like a sewer, and a group of sociopaths run our government continually smashing any hope that these things will change. To me, it’s lack of emotional response to these things that is pathological.

In a shower time meditation on the nature of Cancer the other day, I recognized a nuance of sensitivity in the sign that I’d never fully thought out before. I often look at astrology as a developmental wheel, with Aries being the birth instinct, and then Taurus the internalization of security based on touch and a sense of being held.

In Gemini, we begin to develop our perception-thought-speech process. We become conscious. We start to think and label and categorize. This intellectual development leads us to language and communication.

It is also through Gemini that we ultimately learn about difference — and separation. Which, after all the fun is said and done, is actually a terrifying proposition. The soul contains two conflicting desires: to separate from source (Aries) and to return to source (Pisces). As we gain consciousness, we gain awareness of our separation and our difference.

And so, in Cancer, in response to the outward activity of Gemini, we return inward — we remember the warm waters and how cozy and serene they were… and for the first time in our brief  incarnation, we yearn to return. We are able to label our separation, and insecurity emerges. We remember Pisces, the part of the water triad that transitions us from the end of the wheel to the beginning, and we long for it — we long for home.

But that’s the thing, right? That memory of the water being warm and serene is an idealization, emerging fresh out of the ocean of Pisces. We’ve idealized the memory of it. Rare is the child who is born to the ‘perfect’ parent. Perfectly present, perfectly nurturing. Our original home — our mother’s womb — is but a mere replacement for the universal womb, that primordial blob where everything exists in an undifferentiated state. The love from which we ultimately sprang. We try to map that memory onto our human experience, unconsciously, registered only in our tissues and bones and cells. The memory of what it was like to truly be one.

But our mothers are human. Their wombs are subject to so many innocent mistakes, or even well-thought-out-decisions-that-turn-out-to-be-wrong. That doesn’t even go to mention the flat out purposeful ways that they sometimes make decisions that…well, that fuck us up to some extent.

Cancer, the sign of home and family and unconditional love, is also the sign of being thrown back in on ourselves. For it is through that process of being forced inward that emotional self-reliance and responsibility are born. There we meet Cancer’s polarity — Capricorn. Nurturance is tempered with boundaries. Not to say Capricorn is any less tender than Cancer, but it has mature awareness of timing and cycles — and how to make use of them.

It takes a long time to learn about those cycles. Think of our oceans etching away at rocks turning to sand, slowly over time. Here we can understand Cancer’s association with ancestral lineage. Standing behind us, the ones who came before, sending their teachings down through language, yes, but also through our genes…strengths and weaknesses, health and disease, phobias and favorites…it takes a very long time for patterns to become ingrained. And then to change again.

The first time we re-encounter that sense of bliss through merging that we so long for and yet fear is when we merge sexually with another human. Sexual union (in its idealized form, at least) is the first visceral remembrance, and that’s part of why it’s so intense — we’re recalling what it was like to be in the ocean, in the womb, merged with another being. But we’re experiencing it in compact physical form as a human for the first time. These are the undulations of Scorpio, the third of the water signs. Where Cancer feels too fresh and raw for intensity, Scorpio dives into it, seeking the orgasmic bliss of union and the transformation that arises there.

This Cancer New Moon represents the yin, receptive principle after the outward mapping of Gemini. We return inside again to integrate and map our emotional bodies instead. To build an identity based on what we’ve learned and our family mythology. We discover who we are, and then wear that identity like armor — like the shell of a crab. We find the healing salve of belonging through family and blood ties.

This New Moon gives us the opportunity to re-discover our roots, to tap into what’s made us who we are and re-evaluate our identity. Not based on who we think we should be, but on our emotional responses, which constantly shift and change, and on the magic of memory. Where Cancer and Capricorn come together, we develop emotional intelligence — the ability to understand our own needs through experience and embodied practices, to love ourselves unconditionally through changes, and to locate ourselves within a family, be they of origin or chosen, where we find sanctuary and home.

This New Moon, in conjunction with the Summer Solstice just days before, gives us the opportunity to examine our shadows as well. The longest day, the darkest shadows. As the Sun and Moon are also in conjunction with Mercury, perhaps there is a message there as well, trying to come through the emotions or the heart. Be gentle and take care, but also watch for where you coddle yourself when you need to step up and take responsibility — this act, too, can be a reflection of superior self care.

Like what you read here? You can support my work and access ways to learn about astrology and yourself through my Patreon campaign. More specific New Moon ritual guidance is available in part 2 of this month’s New Moon writings, which is sent to to Patrons at the $10+ levels. Become a Patron now. 

Self-Generated New Moon Ritual
Updated June 2017

*Note: As many of you know, many of the incentives of my Patreon Campaign revolve around New and Full Moon stuff. I send out monthly New Moon ritual guidance to all Patrons who have pledged at $10 and above, and then Patrons at $20 and above get Full Moon meditations as well. I’m working on a series of articles that explain easy ritual, altar building and so forth in order to facilitate each of you being able to participate in the radness of cosmic mystery as its facilitated by astrology. This article is the first in that series. You can support my work and receive help working with your own chart by becoming a Patron*

So! One of my favorite practices – and one of the areas I believe astrology is most useful – is tracking the cycles of life through the movements of the planets. Every single one of the planets has cycles that can be tracked individually or in relationship to other planets. Yes, it’s true, all planets are in relationship to all other planets.

The easiest way to start tune into planetary cycles (learning a ton about yourself and astrology at the same time!) is through paying attention to lunar cycles. This is why the bulk of the incentives on this site are built around new and full moon guidance. Accessible. Practical. Fun. All good things.

Because most of you are signed up at the $10+ levels, I figured it’s time to write a little guide for how to create your own new moon rituals. This will help you make the most of your monthly new moon-ing. This guide is by no means complete, and will be a living document that will change over time. It’s meant to guide you to the heart of the matter: once you can give yourself permission to do ritual however you want to do it, to play around with it and see what works, you’ll open a whole world of wonder and magic that you can bring into your waking life in practical and concrete ways.

And playing around is in fact one of the key ingredients of ritual — ritual loves drama and play, as that’s what amps the energy. So have fun with it! And sometimes, yes, ritual involves grief, anger and deeper feelings. But for now, try not to take yourself super seriously.

One of the reasons I love astrology is because it provides a map for understanding the soul’s journey. It provides a doorway for conscious and active participation in life and its mysteries.  That said, possible intepretations of the archetypes are infinite, and so it’s necessary for you to begin to understand what the archetypes mean to you. Forget salvation based religions, folks. Astrology at its best requires you to hone your intuition and find truth within yourself rather than looking without. Let’s celebrate that fact!

I don’t really consider astrology to be a religion, but understanding how it can inform spirituality is worthwhile. I use the term ‘spirituality’ and instantly cringe because it’s become so loaded. But I use it loosely as a way to reference the ways we accept that life has meaning.

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. It uses universal archetypes within which individuals are their own center of truth. Astrology invites us to take somewhat obscure concepts and make them relevant according to our own experience — to internalize universal ‘truths’ and make them our own — or throw them out.

And then maybe go back and reclaim them again at some point when they line up with our experience. Truth is fluid and relative. That transiting Saturn is currently in a trine aspect with Uranus is “true” for everyone, but how it ripples through my experience will be different from yours. I might experience it as a revolutionary force that allows me to take practical steps towards complete life change. For you it might pass virtually unnoticed.

Because astrology allows us to dance with the archetypes, when we use it we start to see that the ways the archetypes play out are infinite. New Moons give us an opportunity to learn about an archetype’s presence in our own lives, plant some seed or set some intention, and then follow the changing course of our lives throughout the course of the following month.

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. Yes, it’s true, ritual effects physiological change as well as emotional.

Astrological ritual is one of the tools we can use to help mediate and understand the emotions and energies at play in our lives. It helps us to embrace the idea that we are participants in co-creating our realities, but there is also something mysterious about our existence.

So! Here are somevery basic keys to creating a New Moon ritual.

First, we recognize that rituals have a beginning, a middle and an end. In short, the beginning can be when we set the stage by doing something like:

• Setting an altar up with objects that represent the energies we’re working with (a Cancer New Moon altar might have some moonstone, jasmine essential oil or incense, a candle and something that represents what we’ll be focusing on for the month; tarot cards and crystals are also easy go-tos — they provide images and energies to work with, and they’re pretty!)
• Sitting in front of the altar and lighting the incense, and visualizing a golden circle of protection around us, and then doing some breathing or a grounding and centering practice
• Calling in helping allies or guides

The middle of the ritual can be something like:

• Praying; talking to your guides/ancestors/gods/goddesses/self about what it is you’re wanting to let go of and what seed or intention you’re wanting to plant
• Dancing
• Doing a tarot reading for yourself
• Burning a written statement of what you’re releasing and then writing down the intention to be left on your altar so you can view it every day for the month ahead
• Doing a guided visualization, journeying or other forms of imaginal work
• Dedicating a new piece of jewelry, object, piece of art that represents your intention

The end of the ritual should be where you

• Express gratitude (to any guides you’ve worked with, to yourself, to the Moon, the energies at play, or anything you’re grateful for)
• “Release” whatever helpers you’ve called in
• Breathe and reflect
• Blow out the candles/put out the incense
• Clap, stomp,rub your hands together and place them on the ground, or anything else to break up the energy and symbolize re-entering ‘normal’ time and space

In the days leading up to a New Moon, I’m typically bouncing around ideas for what intention I’d like to set based on what’s going on in my life and what I know about the sign of the New Moon. Amplification can be helpful here – google searches that give me more information or reading about the archetype. Amplification helps to narrow in on the themes for the New Moon at the personal and collective levels by increasing our understanding of the archetypes at play.

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.

In terms of using your chart to help make your intention more specific and work with the energies more effectively you can:

• Find out what degree of the New Moon and then locate that sign and degree in your chart — this will lead you to the house where the New Moon falls, and as houses represent areas of life (such as home, relationships, career, etc.) that can help to focus it
• See if the New Moon is in aspect to any planets or angles in your chart and bring in those archetypal energies as well
• Work with key words. For example: If the New Moon is in Cancer (emotional self-reliance, home, family, identity) in my third house (communications, language, thoughts) I might string together keywords until something clicks (“My thoughts support emotional self-reliance” or “I communicate in ways that reflect my true identity” or “I use language that helps my interactions with my family”)

If you aren’t quite at a level where you can figure these things out for yourself and we’ve had a reading together, please feel free to reach out to me with questions and I’ll happy to look up where the lunation falls in your chart and whether it has any major aspects.

Remember: New Moons happen every month, which means you don’t have to get too carried away with making sure your ritual is some huge thing that is perfect and that covers every single thing you want to work on. You can keep it simple.

OTHER TIPS:

New Moon rituals are best done right around the time of the actual New Moon. You can find this information online or in an astrological ephemeris. I also post the times in the guidance I send out. Ideally, the ritual takes place at the moment of or just after the new moon (say within 12 or so hours). Don’t be too hard on yourself if it needs to be done just before, but as the energy of the moon is still waning (fading) then, it’s better to wait til just after, when it’s building again.

Setting up an altar in your home where you can do your rituals is an incredibly important practice. More on altar-building in a future article. But again, you can keep it simple — set a candle, an incense burner and some statue or image that is meaningful to you in a spot that’s set aside from the hustle and bustle.

Remember! Ritual and magic are not processes that make things go POOF! They require your participation. So after you do a ritual and plant a seed, you need to take concrete steps to follow through. The magic created will support you and send you opportunities, but you need to participate and see it through. You can do this by spending time every day in silent meditation at your altar, perhaps staring at your collage or a tarot card. You can make a to-do list. The possibilities are infinite. Just make a commitment and be an active participant rather than passively sitting by waiting for something to happen.

Questions? Comments? Tips or tricks you find particularly effective that you’d like to share? Feel free to comment or email me.

Do you feel it?
The pause before the exhale?
The bliss of inhaled expansion?

Or maybe, my love, for you it’s more like
The calm before the storm?
Or rigid, pulsing dread?
Clashing of realities.
Dimensions spatting in parallel.

Big hopes and dreams come swirling through this Sagittarian Full Moon portal…
Opening, confusing, clarifying, refusing.

What opportunities are coming your way?
What does your intuition say?

Something is about to ignite
But not before one…more…veil…is removed.

Close your eyes, breathe…
You are the wind and the rain
The sun and the grass.
You are the knowledge that recedes
And the wisdom that is born.

You are the light that awakens
The dawn in cracks of hope.

Feel it all pouring through you now…
In image and memory and caress…
And remember…

This Full moon takes place on Friday, June 9 at 6:10am Pacific Time. The Moon will be in Sagittarius while the Sun is in Gemini. The Sagittarius-Gemini axis highlights the axis of knowledge and wisdom, information and truth. It’s a great time to let all the words and concepts floating through your mind go for a bit and tune into your intuition if you’re able to. The conscious mind is an incredible gift, but sometimes it distracts us from those silent moments of knowing that are worth their weight in gold.

This lunation is ruled by Jupiter, which is the ruling planet of Sagittarius. Jupiter just happens to be returning to direct motion on the same day, after four months of being retrograde. Be open to opportunities coming your way, especially any that are linked to what you’ve been working on in the past few months. It might also be helpful to pay attention to what is needing to come to a close at this time in order to make space for the gifts of expansion Jupiter has to offer. Where could you use a little optimism in your life?

The energy of Sagittarius is normally quite bright. Some of us might, however, be feeling the influence of its proximity to Saturn, and being asked to reflect on the structure of our beliefs. This is the last time Saturn will be in Sagittarius for a Sadgy Full Moon for nearly 30 years, so you can use that extra OOMPH provided by the Lord of Karma and Time to finally let go of whatever narratives and stories have been up for review since this cycle began in late 2014. The time is now; the world can’t wait.

It’s also worth noting that the Gemini-Sagittarius axis involves notions of duplicity and lies vs. truth. We can see this playing out on the world stage right now. Gemini and Sagittarius are mutable signs, which means they are letting go of something, constantly changing. Sometimes that lack of claim to one absolute fact can just feel like a lie, especially if we’re used to being decisive or choosing one thing. That does not mean it is a lie, which gets at the relativity of truth. Processing is important.

There are times, however, when lies need to be called out for what they are, whether they stand in conflict with the rule of human-made law or natural law. Do not allow yourself to be glamoured and mystified by the circus that is our government and political system now. Pay attention to your values and don’t allow the wool to be pulled over your eyes. There are larger universal truths that we must stop avoiding: We cannot continue to use the earth as a sewer system. All beings deserve food, water and safety. Love is the unifying force that will save, and it is not passive or shy but bold and fierce.

We’re living in a crucial moment. Locating ourselves firmly in heart centered truth is the only way through.

**A guided visualization for this Full Moon has been posted (labeled as part II) for Patrons at the 20+ levels. Its aim is to help you reclaim some vital wisdom or truth that will help you moving forward.  If you’d like to purchase the recording on its own (it’s about 8 minutes long), send $8 via this link: www.paypal.me/aquarianspirals and then send an email to me. I will be traveling in the next 24 hours but will do my best to get it to you within 12 hours.**

(New Moon in Gemini exact Thursday, May 25 at 12:44pm PDT)

Who are we really? Are we each one united whole? Are we supposed to be? Or do we contain multitudes? From the Geminian perspective, the latter is far closer to the truth — the psyche is polytheistic, or comprised of many gods. In Gemini it is so difficult to choose just one, because there is so much to learn and so much to know.

Wherever Gemini falls in your chart is an area of life where these themes are likely to come into play. As Gemini is represented by the twins, its dominion is where duplicity is more apparent. Perhaps it appears as contradiction. Perhaps it can be helpful to shine a light on the shadow of this place. How can we reconcile seemingly disparate parts?

There is a beauty in the openness of Gemini season, which began Saturday, May 20. What are the possibilities? What futures are rippling out in front of us waiting to be claimed? What new ideas are waiting to gestate? Kicking it up a notch — how can we unite our head and our heart to further reinforce our will once we know what we want and then communicate our truth?

From Cilla Conway’s Intuitive Tarot

Gemini’s ruling planet, Mercury, is associated with the Magician in the tarot, after all. The Magician is the figure who knows how to use all of their tools in order to manifest what their will desires, to travel between the worlds as messenger of the gods in order to ensure connection and communication between body, soul and spirit.

Each month, just before the New and Full Moons I make a point of reviewing my magical diaries — a collection of journals where I record rituals, dreams, tarot readings and other notes. Although I’ve been journaling since I was five, I didn’t actually commit to keeping a magical diary until a few months ago (I’ve had a few false starts over the years).

The main function of such a tool is that it gives us a way to ensure we don’t collude with the defenses of our ego, which is always eagerly trying to erase any memory of intention or progress as it struggles to maintain its prominence. The ego, or the part of us that helps us orient to our experience by giving us a sense of identity or who we are, loathes change. It prefers comfort and the known, to be able to define exactly who it is, and because of this it is prone to forgetting anything that might change that identity. This is in direct contrast to the desires of the soul, which involve pushing up against limitation and then transforming.

It’s a core paradox that can create a lot of anxiety, and the ego does what it can to avoid anxiety. And so we witches and transformers need ways of remembering and recording — and holding ourselves accountable.

These days, however, it seems that everything is quickening, moving faster, as we writhe under an onslaught of constant change and stimulation. The technological age has made it so that those of us privileged enough to have access to so many different devices are constantly bombarded, never having to wait for anything, always able to escape, always able to change our external situation, avoid, procrastination — and learn more.

The technological boom is also fucking with our memories. Oh, our poor, poor brains.

While reviewing my magical diary this morning I recognized a few things. First, that I started it just over two months ago. Two! Two months. Feels like ten years. And as I reviewed all that’s happened in those two months I was floored. So. Much. Change. And so many forgotten intentions. So much progress. And a few steps back. And several empowering notes that I really wish I had remembered. Seeds planted, blooms emerging.

“Quickening” is a term most predominantly associated with pregnancy. The moment when the mother first feels the baby moving inside of her. It is the mother’s first perception of what has been gestating. A sensory connection is finally made. And in fact, Gemini is associated with the perception-thought-speech process. We gather sensory information in Taurus and then begin to develop conscious awareness of our surroundings, linking it all together through language and communication

I spent a few days learning about the upcoming lunation cycle, and leaning into the energy of it. Gemini energy is speedy. It’s fluid. Not fluid in that watery way, it being an air sign and all. But fluid in that mental kinda way — ideas rise to the top of our consciousness and then float out again, being replaced by something new. Gemini is full of the fun and wonder that emerge in the quest to unite the head and the heart.

But there’s something deeper there as well. This lunation feels somewhat like a pressure cooker.

Now, there are a few reasons for that. We are, after all, still in the waning (releasing) portion of the Taurus-Scorpio lunation cycle which has been rather intensely transformative, and so there’s a kind of cosmic push to get rid of whatever bullshit still remains (get it? Bull is a symbol for Taurus and Scorpio is often associated with shit…).

There’s also the interplay between the shadow of Gemini and the quality of a dark moon. Gemini’s strength lies in its curiosity and sense of wonder and playfulness — a strong desire to learn about the world and be immersed in left-brain pursuits. But it can also be superficial, constantly skimming the surface, prone to one distraction after another and as a result missing the call to go deeper — or even actively refusing the call, resulting in a vast waste of energy that could be used for necessary transformation. The polarity of Gemini — Sagittarius — is where we integrate and synthesize all that knowledge into a cohesive whole. We have here the knowledge-wisdom polarity. And they are in fact two very different things, although they clearly rely on each other.

In a world where we are in fact constantly bombarded by media and increasingly wired to be swiping, scanning and drifting over headlines and selfies and a never-ending search for something new, the Gemini brain can become a devouring, energy sucking beast. It loses sight of the goal, which is synthesis. Gemini shadows thrive in today’s technological environment.

This contrasts with the energy of the dark moon, which calls on us to retreat inwards, be silent, let go and plant some new seed. This is especially true when we’re dealing with a mutable sign (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces), the energy of which is…letting go.

…and then there’s the fact that this lunation coincides with a square between Venus and Pluto — which can bring up challenging power struggles in relationships and stormy emotion.

This reminds me of the fact that Gemini is also associated with The Lovers card in the tarot, the shadow of which is that the desire to merge and synthesize is just as strong as the fear of it, and so we keep avoiding and escaping, reluctant to admit that union is also part of the process. Where do we need to commit to uniting — with an idea, a truth, a person, an aspect of ourselves?Additionally, in all of my Gemini-style research I came across the fact that this lunation takes place in Gemini Decan I. What you need to know about that is that it carries the energy of the shadow — of facing the shadow in particular. And my oh my is it hard to see a shadow in the dark of the Moon. Gemini doesn’t tend to be super comfy with deep emotion, and so it might be good to remind ourselves not to run away if conflict does arise in the coming days — while at the same time remembering to question whether or not we need/want to actual explode whatever thing we’re facing.

So…that’s a lot of information! Shocking, I know. More detailed help in terms of New Moon rituals will be provided for subscribers at the $10+ level of my Patreon Campaign. But to simplify, based on where I’m at in this moment, the question that arises is: What needs to go so that new ideas can be born?

The Full Moon in Sagittarius on Friday, June 9 at 6:10am, then, is the time for synthesis. Make an extra effort this cycle to do some art. Make a collage. Bring the pieces of what you’re learning together in some form, even if it’s just some free writing with a cohesive title at the top. At the very least, spend some time speaking or writing your truth. Work it out. Leave time for wonder and non-confrontation dialogue and deep listening. Remember patience. And the joy of learning new things, even when it makes us feel cranky and conflicted. And then, as always, take a deep breath. Something new is about to be born.

*If you’ve had an astrology reading with me before and would like help locating the house of this or any future lunation, please feel free to email me and ask*

Now through June 1 I am offering a special gift to anyone who signs up for any level of monthly support of my Patreon Campaign: you’ll receive a free PDF with a copy of your chart, blurbs describing your Sun, Moon and Rising signs, and a little spiffy decoder to help you know where each planet is in your chart and where the signs are (so you can locate New and Full Moons and much more on your own!). This is in addition to the monthly incentives associated with each tier.  You’ll receive an email with further instructions once you sign up through Patreon.

In recent weeks, I’ve had the honor of many humbling and inspiring experiences with clients. I’ve sat with several people who have then reported back to me, letting me know about the insights they’ve had since the session and the changes they’ve made as a result of the “ah-has” they’ve arrived at through our work together. It makes my heart swell with joy, not just because I love seeing people become aware of the power of astrology and shadow integration work, but because I know that what the world needs now, perhaps more than anything, is more people cultivating the courage to face their own stuff and then heal that shit.

In a class the other night, we began discussing the recent shift of the nodes of the Moon from the Virgo-Pisces axis into Leo-Aquarius. As I’ve leaned into this shift, which is profoundly impacting my own chart, I’ve felt that swell of heart joy many times. In fact, that swell — that spark of inspiration that leads to embodied creativity — is what Leo is all about. With the nodes of the Moon on the Leo-Aqua axis now, we’re being asked to step into our hearts and manifest our genius, that unique calling that lies within each of our souls.

The power of the Aquarian polarity, then, is that Aquarius is what liberates us from the conditioning that keeps us from hearing and actualizing the call. Aquarius frees us enough to recognize our own spark of genius and then actualize that. One problematic aspect of this process, which Jung referred to as the process of individuation, is that it can make us feel like outsiders. Aquarius carries the energy of the exile, because it is the sign of difference. That fear of being an outsider — of being ‘alone’ on the journey, of being different — is what keeps so many from stepping into their true path.

Our society does not tend to support people who diverge from the conditioned, acceptable path. Furthermore, we can look to history to show us just how terribly outsiders have been treated in the past — how many have been burned at the stake, tortured, exiled, ridiculed and otherwise harmed for being different? We carry memories of these traumas in our cells. Society is slow to keep up with the insights brought by progressive thinkers. It took around 200 years for the masses to accept a heliocentric model of the universe, after all, any many were murdered for professing this scientific truth during that time. In this we can see why astrologers associate Aquarius and Uranus with trauma.

Because the nodes of the Moon are associated with karmic release and surrender, and the medicine for the soul, we can anticipate that the coming 18 months might see a lot of the more shadowy aspects of the Aquarius-Leo axis coming into play, being revealed in order to be healed. Aquarian trauma is associated with long term memory and collective trauma. The shock happens and then part of us just flies off somewhere else, dissociating and fragmenting. Leo’s shadows include rampant narcissism and the inflation of ego structures. In many ways the current president of the US is a massive caricature of the collective shadow of narcissism — and many of us are cringing as memories of collective (and personal) trauma are constellating all around us, as we anticipate what might happen next.

All of this is very much related to the shift from the Pisces-Virgo axis. The nodes move through the signs in about 18 months. So for the past 18 months we’ve been asked to heal, release and purify wounds related to self-sacrifice, self-sabotage, codependency, sado-masochistic tendencies, boundarylessness and existential despair. So now, with the nodes moving into Leo-Aquarius it’s time to reconnect with the heart, with our individual sparks — and to unite with communities that can hold space for us as individuals, that nurture whatever it is about us that is unique and inspirational.

During this time, your own personal Sun is a key to forward movement. Learning about it, and finding the ways its symbolism is relevant to your life can help you to shine light out into the world in the ways you were born to, and bridge the gap between the personal and the collective.

Perhaps one way to simplify this nodal configuration is this: Choose your own adventure. But remember — we’re all in this together.

Like what you’ve read here? Wanna support my work and receive personalized tools for growth as a reward? Check out my Patreon page and become a Patron. This month I’m offering a free PDF with your chart, blurbs about your Sun/Moon/Rising signs and a decoder-key to tell you where everything lies in your chart as an incentive for anyone who signs up at any level of monthly pledge.

When I was a child we took regular trips to the ocean. I have crystal clear memories of beach time. Poking jellyfish with sticks we found on the beach. Running around, screaming and laughing. Collecting sea shells.

Art by Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman

I also remember the waves. I remember plunging into the ocean and laughing. I remember standing in the surf, and the vertigo that would hit as my feet sunk deeper into the sand as the water rushed over them, and then back again.

I was a strong swimmer — when you live in Arizona, you apaprently spend most of your life in a pool pretty much from birth — and I also remember doing battle with massive waves. Diving underneath them and through them. And then sometimes, one would get me. I’d underestimate its strength, and it’d toss me around, drag me against the sand and rocks, and then spit me out somewhere on the beach. I learned early on to just go limp in those moments — to resist the urge to panic and struggle and fight. To just surrender to something so much larger than me that has its own intelligence and flow.

The ocean is still one of my favorite things, and that memory of being tossed around is certainly a solid metaphor for the Taurus-Scorpio axis. Life and death. Calm, grounded centeredness vs. turbulent, tumultuous and chaotic emotion. Sitting in the sun, listening to the rippling of the grass in the wind, eating some good cheese and bread and wine vs. walking into the sunset, into the shadows and darkness and being consumed by the dark.

In Taurus, we can get moments of reprieve and simple appreciation of the senses, stocking up on comfort that can tide us over when the storm begins again, whether by force or by choice.

Of course, Taurus has its shadows as well. Stubborn. Restrictive. Narrow-minded. Overly focused on possessions and possessing. Scorpio does that last one in spades as well – the two energies understand jealousy well. But in Taurus the response stems from fear of what sits across the circle: Death. Loss. Grief. Taurus is about survival and holding on (to life!). In its distortions, it becomes a highly internalized and stuck energy structure. The frog in the well who assumes the one patch of blue it can see is the entire world. Hunkered down. Stuck.

Another reason I love the ocean: It is water sculpting earth. Waves pounding (or even lapping) on the shore are slowly but surely over long swaths of time breaking earth down into ever finer grains of sand. Renewing. Regenerating. Transforming into something else. This is the truth of the Taurus-Scorpio polarity. All is change…but sometimes it’s slow and sometimes it’s sudden. The waves WILL transform whatever they touch. We cannot stay stuck as we are forever.

So we have this Full Moon on Wednesday, May 10 at 2:42pm (PDT) that emphasizes this Scorpio/Taurus axis. Sun in Taurus. Moon in Scorpio — where it’s considered to be “in its fall.” The Moon’s sensitive underbelly proclaims to be in anguish in the claws of the Scorpion.

Pardon my bias, but having a natal Moon in Scorpio has been one of the biggest gifts of my life. It allows me to go deep, to navigate the intense waters of emotion that threaten to sweep so many others away. To hold space for others going through intense grief processes. Scorpio relates to the depths, and in its highest form is able to hold space there and let the emotion swarm through and then let it go again without developing a compulsive need to keep digging, keep understanding. Where it becomes problematic is in that compulsiveness — becoming deeply suspicious, always uncovering raw nerves, never feeling secure.

Taurus, then, is the anchor. Through the senses, through our relationship with our bodies, we are able to take root deep within, valuing ourselves enough to hold space through the storms of Scorpio. Remembering to breathe, to bring it back to the here and now. Taurus relates to the heart chakra and to infinite love and compassion — the ways we hold ourselves and others in nurturance and stability because we’re worth it.

So on the one hand, for this Full Moon, I want to encourage you to stop and slow down and take some deep breaths and time out for yourself. Seems like good medicine.

But at the same time, I dare say there will be some of us feeling the Scorpio energy more — the intense emotion welling up, intensity in relationship, in sexuality, feeling the need for something to transform or shift, and maybe the deep breaths are good aftercare — but so is diving in and seeing what is being revealed by the intensity of the emotion.

This Full Moon can help us to feel at peace with intensity. It can help us to identify emotional uprisings and discern what it is we need, and what it is we value. It can give us the boost we need to ensure we take practical steps to meet the desires of our souls. The moon is supported by a sextile from Pluto – supporting its transformative qualities. Ritual, baths, sex, reflection, or any combination of those find their homes in this energy.

I’m reminded of one of my favorite poems by Rilke…

Quiet friend who has come so far,

feel how your breathing makes more space around you.

Let this darkness be a bell tower

and you the bell. And as you ring,

what batters you becomes your strength.

Move back and forth into the change.

What is it like, this intensity of pain?

If the drink is bitter, turn yourself to wine.

In this uncontainable night,

be the mystery at the crossroads of your senses,

the meaning discovered there.

And if the world shall cease to hear you,

say to the silent earth: I flow.

And to the rushing water speak, I am.

(Sonnets to Orpheus – Part 2 – #29)

I’ll be posting a guided visualization for this Full Moon on my Patreon page shortly. It’s available to anyone subscribed at the $20+ levels. It runs about 15 minutes and can help with grounding and centering — and also with letting go of or transforming something you’re ready to release. To obtain a copy, just send payment (between $10-15) to me using www.paypal.me/AquarianSpirals. Or become a monthly subscriber via Patreon.

And as always, if you’re a astrology client of mine and would like help locating where this lunation falls in your chart (and therefore the areas of life being directly impacted), just email me.

New Moon in Taurus early this morning (April 26). So much fire energy in recent days (months?), so much combustibility and change. Taurus offers the opportunity to slow down, to bring our attention to breath and flesh. To ground. Stabilize. Taurus is an earth sign and the inner side of Venus – our values, our sense of being secure and strong in our bodies. Self-reliance. See if you can slow down, if only for a few moments today or through the next month. What earthly pleasures bring you joy? Food? Touch? Music? Masturbation? That last one is crucial Taurean medicine. Self-pleasure. Yes. Getting to know ourselves. Yes. Wanna take it a step further? Speak your intention for the month while orgasming. Bring the power of body and voice together. Can’t hurt to try, can it?

To support my writing and participate in my work (which includes monthly New Moon ritual guidance at the $10+ levels) visit: www.patreon.com/aquarianspirals.