12:57 pm  AHST 11/23/2022
   2:57 pm   PDT  11/23/2022

   5:57 pm   EDT  11/23/2022
 10:57 pm GMT   11/23/2022

This New Moon in Sagittarius is occurring just as the Sun has moved from Scorpio to Sagittarius. They are conjoined at the first degree of the sign, an omen of new beginnings. Sagittarius is a mutable sign, that is, indicative of change, movement. Each of the four seasons astrologically are characterized by the three types of signs, which appear in this order: Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable. Mutable signs are the last sign of each of the four seasons. They represent the energy of transition, the ending of one season and a beginning to adapt to a new one. Coming as it does at the end of autumn, Sagittarius asks us to turn to our spiritual awareness toward the larger cycles of life on Earth, as we prepare to enter a time of the darkness and stillness of winter.

Since Jupiter is the ruler of this month’s sign, it encourages us to seek wisdom and faith in order to prepare us for winter’s darkness. It’s time to re-energize our spirituality in whatever form it takes for us, whether it’s a renewed meditation practice, or community involvement, or taking better care for our physical body. Jupiter rules our world view, commonly called our philosophy of life. Our world view frames and oftentimes creates our reality of how we experience our life events. This is a time to re-energize and perhaps shift those frameworks within ourselves.

Just 5 minutes after the exact time of the New Moon, Jupiter, which has been retrograde since July 28^th, will go direct. When two major events happen this close in time, we must take special note. As I’ve often said, a New Moon is a new beginning. And when a planet goes direct, its energies are once again more overtly expressed. This is a signal event in which we are shifting into new gears. New insights and significant events that set a new course are in the works for each of us, and for the collective as well.

Looking at the aspects to this all-important Jupiterian event: first of all it is conjoined in Pisces with Neptune. Neptune with its unfathomable depths contains the vast unconscious realms of everything from Divinity to Delusion. Jupiter is temporarily in this sign until the day before Winter Solstice. Bringing emphasis to our deepest and most profound sensitivities, Jupiter is in a harmonious trine (120˚ angle) to the New Moon and Sun, supporting a sea change in our awareness. In addition Venus and Mercury are conjoined in Sagittarius and in a trine to Chiron, supporting our awareness of how our personal and generational wounds can be the springboard to greater self-awareness. And speaking of Chiron the centaur, the symbol for the Sagittarian Archer is half-human, half-horse.

The caveats to the possibilities for transformation are the squares (90˚ angles) between Mars and Jupiter/Neptune. With Mars retro in Gemini, taking action only from our thinking brains, from our prejudices or rationalizations, leads to misunderstandings, delusion and destructive self-aggrandizement. We will see an increase in these in our society and the political arena in the next month, and should watch for elements of them in our personal relationships.

Coming through the wormhole intensity of the last two eclipses, we are now ready to adopt new ways of being in the world, despite (or in spite of) what the media reports to us. This New Moon is a significant validation of how the processes of change are in the works. Of course, the violence and insanity continues, and the energies of the planets can indeed foster hubris and arrogance. The Congress in the US remains divided, which mirrors how the world hasn’t yet fully committed to changing its ways. But the changes that even destructive events bring, carry with them the seeds of a new world, one that is transforming and has yet to be fully birthed. Embracing this helps us to “keep the faith.”

“And still, after all this time,
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."
Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.”
― Hafiz