The Hopeful Sagittarius New Moon

Thursday's New Moon is an exciting one, taking place in the third decant of Sagittarius, which is Leo-ruled, and therefore, because the Sun rules Leo, with a closer than usual connection to the Sun itself. The Sun represents the evolving personality over time, the ego function that, when transformed, becomes the vehicle for moving beyond ego. In this New Moon, the Sun parallels Mars, while the Moon is in close contra-parallel to Jupiter. You might regard the energy of this New Moon as providing a new opportunity to take a real stand for yourself; to embody what you truly believe, on the inside, and are willing to fight for.

This New Moon is also interesting because Mercury is finally out of its retrograde shadow, returning to the zodiacal longitude that it occupied when it stationed to retrograde motion in the first week of November. As it gains ground in early Sagittarius with the timing of this New Moon, Mercury squares Chiron and makes a trine aspect with Uranus. This is a powerful combination of energies, bespeaking sudden enlightenment regarding where and in what way you may be internally wounded, likely stemming from trauma that you have come through in early childhood. With the new-found understanding of yourself that this New Moon brings, you might be ready to take the next slight and ethereal step forward along the path of your own personal evolution - the path that actually forms the basis for the most important factor of your life. This movement toward who you really are is perhaps subtle, but vital for your continued well-being.

The Sabian symbol of the New Moon degree, "A Chinese Laundry," is somewhat dated. Marc Edmond Jones refers to the continual effort of perfecting that which we came here to perfect: "Imaginative self-sustainment through unremitting hard labor." These symbols were created in the 1920's when Chinese immigrants would routinely own certain businesses, such as a laundry. This would not typically be true today, in the blending of cultures within what is beginning to emerge as a more global society. Taken in the context of its times, this symbol is also a reference regarding the recognition of alien environments with yet a homey touch. As we move forward in our lives we recognize that something rich and strange, alien yet somehow entirely familiar, is constantly emerging from the ordinary course of each day's struggle, as we continue to somehow find our own unique way forward.