In my work with clients, I often spend time looking back to look forward. This is because we can only change in the present when we have some understanding of what got us there. Any challenging present patterns, mindsets, insecurities, and wounded parts were created at some earlier time for a valuable reason. Survival strategies are powerful and necessary forces. Problems arise when past parts animate present perceptions and habits. Like a coat that we have outgrown, these once necessary strategies are simply outdated, inaccurate, and no longer helpful. The coat is frayed. Tight. Restrictive. It lacks any real protection. Regardless of any discomfort, though, to certain parts of us, the known familiar feels better than the uncertainty of freedom.
This New Moon Eclipse in Sagittarius, and really the whole of 2022, will require some too tight coat shedding. There is tremendous sacredness in that process of intimate inner discovery and release- if we are brave enough to commit to it. Astrological cycles happen on a personal level, of course. Look at where 12° Sagittarius falls in your chart, and you will get a sense of which coat needs updating. Additionally, this cycle is also happening on a macro level.
The Pluto return in the US chart is exact this coming year (2/20/2022), but Pluto transits cover more ground. We have actually been walking (stumbling?) through Plutonian energy for the last year. Reality checks and technical (albeit uncomfortable) truths abound. I imagine you have had to look deeply at something challenging, something you may have decided was ‘over,’ and then reality showed you otherwise. As a nation, the same cycle is occurring. Dysfunctional patterns are on full display, the shadows of society brought to light. This eclipse happens on the ascendant of the US chart, signifying the new- rebirth, redefinition, and recalibration we have been living. The good news is we know exactly what needs changing. The difficult news is when faced with evolution or innovation, our fear often defends familiarity instead. Inner and outer, parts of us cling to the status quo and habitual ways of doing things, even with the knowledge the old ways brought us to this exact place. Remember, old coats feel familiar regardless of their effectiveness.
In the wise words of Albert Einstein, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Our past brought us here. If any change is going to happen, we have to look back to look forward. One more critical point regarding Pluto- the lessons increase and repeat until we get them. Reality has a way of piercing the veil of denial, regardless of the spin.
Another point. Remember, this is a South Node eclipse. So, we can bet there is some vital shadow walking required. And because it is the last of the Sagittarius/Gemini 2021 series before the nodal pattern switches to Scorpio/Taurus in late December (mean Nodes switch 12/22)/mid-January (true Nodes switch 1/18), we will definitely be covering once traveled ground. Think of the themes, experiences, and situations we have explored over the last year. Those will likely resurface as a way to assure we have traced the edges of understanding… or not. I have written a ton about precisely what that curriculum has been over the last year so go here, here ,or here for more info.
Vesta and Mercury also stand with the Sun linking our will with a new intention. Myth tells of Vetsal Virgins that were tasked with the sole responsibility of keeping the fire in the central temple. Without fire, Rome, and the civilization that depended on it, would perish. Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, is the flame that gives us life. It symbolizes the part of us that animates our will to act. Getting this inner force right is an essential part of our authenticity, drive, and potential. If that same fire is sourced through fear or wounded parts, that same fire exaggerates, controls, and dominates or falls into powerless victim patterns. Often the shadow parts look like both. Our will can be a force of creation or destruction depending solely on which part oversees the flame.
Power, freedom, justice, and truth are words associated with this stellium in Sagittarius. Words that in their light give rise to the very best in us and in their shadow the very worst. Looking back to look forward, our nation was indeed birthed in the revolution of freedom, innovative at the time and also biasedly imperfect from our future vantage point. That isn’t to demean but to observe. Much like personal shadow work requires we face hard truths, collective shadow work does too.
The only way we can change anything is to first acknowledge where we need to grow. And historically, we have had some wins and have made some significant mistakes. There is no way to move forward without fully acknowledging both.
The Sabian symbol for this New Moon Eclipse is “A widow’s past brought to light.”
In the words of James Burgess, this point is about “Dealing with unresolved issues. Facing up to our past imperfections. The past can never be forgotten until we have dealt with what we need to deal with fully and finally. A widow would normally expect to receive compassionate forgiveness, yet here she is being made aware of her forgotten transgressions, in a seemingly insensitive breach of etiquette. Nonetheless, just because the widow is sorrowing, does not mean she is free from accountability. This degree asks us to consider the extent to which we have a callous inclination to repudiate responsibility for what we have done – or if we are willing to integrate both failure and accomplishments into personal improvement.”
Perhaps we can all relate. This has been a year of tremendous loss, grief, and frustration. Now we are being asked to look even deeper at ourselves, our society, our nation, and our world. Yes. The good news is there is enormous potential for innovation and improvement. The potential challenge is it will threaten tradition.
There is no light in a closed system. There is no room to move in a too-small coat. Individuals, families, companies, societies, or governments cannot evolve by staying the same. Accountability, the ability to humbly own imperfection and then learn, listen, and adapt accordingly, is what is required. But that is some of the most challenging, painstaking intense, and powerful work. We, as a people and as a nation, really resist being wrong in any way.
Some advice for this New Moon and especially the next year? Get comfortable being wrong. Be open to learning. Practice radical accountability and humility. It is intensely freeing.
Venus goes retrograde a couple weeks after this New Moon Eclipse for 40 days and nights in the sign of Capricorn (same sign as the Pluto return, BTW). We’ve already been feeling this one as the shadow phase began in mid-November. Venus is a force that represents our sense of security, worth, and value system. On the surface, it is things like money and “stuff”. Going deeper, Venus represents our very esteem. All of that will require some more profound reflection. I expect some pauses to consider what we truly value. To contemplate and reevaluate what is truly important. And what isn’t.
Life events will likely occur that offer that flavor of learning for all of us. Spoiler alert- the answer won’t be more status, or fame, or social media mentions. It won’t be found in the complexity of more “stuff”. It won’t be found in making another person wrong. It won’t be found in insults or angry, hateful rhetoric. It won’t be found in competition, selfishness, avarice, or denial of what is.
What is truly valuable is found in simplicity. Connection. Cooperation. Compromise. Kindness. Service. It is found in giving and finding the sacred in sacrifice. It is found in sunsets. Mountain vistas. Snowy meadows. It is found in holding hands. Inside jokes and laughter. Time. Experiences. It is found in doing what’s right even and especially when it’s hard. It is found in shedding old coats that no longer fit to live more fully. It is found by humbly looking back to look forward.
Because Pluto reminds us challenging change is coming either way. The old way is clearly no longer sustainable. If we are going to get through dark nights personally and collectively, we need to assess the foundations on which we have placed our identity. Because Astrology doesn’t map the fate, it offers the destiny of potential. What we do as a person, nation or world is totally up to us.
Choose wisely.
“How will people remember you when you are gone? And for how long until they forget? Were you selfish or selfless? A gossip or a patient listener? Did you add value to the world, or did you simply take from it? Did you add value to the lives of others, or did you take the value out of someone’s life? Were you a plus or negative? Meaningful or meaningless? Do you live to take or live to give?”
― Suzy Kassem
Want to know what this time if revealing for you? Contact me, for more information.
Photo by Grant Ritchie on Unsplash
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