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by Heather Ensworth

What is it we believe? What is true for us? What is really true?

The energy of this new lunar cycle is calling us to dive deeply into these questions. What beliefs do we cling to about ourselves and others? How do those beliefs shape our lives and our feelings and actions? Are those beliefs true? What do we believe about the world that we live in? How does that affect our attitudes and choices? These are questions to meditate on at this time of the New Moon.
 
As we enter the new lunar cycle today (December 29 at 1:53 am EST), the New Moon and Sun are next to Mercury. Mercury went retrograde on December 20th and will be retrograde until January 9th, a few days before the Full Moon on January 12th. Our New Moon, Sun and Mercury are all next to Pluto in the stars of Sagittarius. The New  Moon, Sun and Mercury are located in the head of the Archer who holds his gaze and arrow focused on the galactic center.
 
Our New Moon is part of a powerful configuration as it is next to Pluto and squaring both Uranus and Jupiter. Jupiter, the ruler of Sagittarius, symbolizes our beliefs and how we integrate our understanding of life. These energies are challenging our beliefs and our ways of seeing life. We are being asked to release the beliefs that bind us and to open to new ways of seeing.
This New Moon time is calling us to meditate and reflect on what it is that we believe and what we hold to be true. What is it that we focus on in our lives?
Our beliefs have a profound impact on us emotionally, physically and spiritually. Our minds are powerful. Much of my therapeutic work is focused on helping people to dismantle the constricting or negative beliefs about themselves that lead to depression, anxiety and suffering. So many of us have internalized false beliefs about ourselves from painful experiences in the past. We may believe that we are “bad” or “not good enough” or “not smart enough” or somehow not lovable. These beliefs constrict us and cause us pain. When we release these false beliefs, we gain more freedom and clarity about who we truly are and deepen our self-love and acceptance of ourselves and others. Often, we are supported in releasing these false beliefs as we are seen through the eyes of another who knows us and loves us and supports us in gently untangling those constricting and binding beliefs.
 
How we see others is also filtered through our perceptions and projections and fears. How we see the world and our times is also through the lens of our core beliefs, unresolved issues and fears. We here in the United States have just been through a tumultuous election process in which fake news had as much impact as facts. Our beliefs shape what we see as true about others and our world and not just about ourselves.
Take time at the beginning of this lunar cycle and as you enter this New Year to reflect on your beliefs about yourself and others, about the world and about life.
What thoughts block you or cause you suffering? What do you believe about yourself that is not true and that causes you to hold yourself back or make yourself small? What unresolved aspects of yourself do you project onto others, undermining your ability to see them clearly? What do you believe about the world and about the times that we live in? Are those beliefs true? How do those beliefs hold you in fear or block you from living fully or seeing the world clearly? Write down those thoughts and beliefs that you want to release and burn them in a fire ceremony. Allow yourself to let go of fear and open to more clarity, freedom, self-love and compassion for others.
 
You may also want to write down your dreams or intentions for the New Year. Also gift those to the fire and allow the energy of the New Moon and New Year to support you in staying focused on those intentions and visions for the year.
 
Many spiritual teachers talk about the power of our beliefs and how our thoughts and intentions shape our experience of reality and what we manifest in our lives. What we focus on is what we put our energy into and influences what we do and what we call energetically into our lives. Allow yourself to meditate on what it is that you focus on in your life. Is your true focus on your deeper vision and mission for yourself? Many of us have dreams and visions but actually focus our energy on other things or allow our minds to draw us down other paths. If we want to feel love in our lives, is this what we focus on? Or do we focus on the ways we feel abandoned or let down or disappointed by others? If we want to live out our creativity, do we focus on those things that we are passionate about, that light our inner fire? Or do we suppress those longings and focus on our fears, daily responsibilities and what we feel we need to do to survive in the world? Allow yourself during this lunar cycle to witness your focus and energy and actions. Where are you focusing your attention and intentions? Let yourself be bring that to more awareness so that you are making those choices from a more conscious place.
 

Now let’s take this New Moon meditation even deeper.

 
To get clear about our intentions and to focus on them is a powerful way of manifesting, but does this mean that we are shaping our lives from our mind’s beliefs about what is right for us? Are these intentions coming from our deeper soul self or from a place of ego? Take time to ponder on this during this lunar cycle. What is it we are truly centered on in our lives? What is it that we fix our gaze on and focus our lives around? Whatever this is will in fact shape our intentions, actions and experiences.
 
Mercury is retrograde from December 20th until January 9th. While Mercury retrograde is often perceived as a time of confusion or difficulties with focus or communication, this too may be a false belief. The deeper meaning of Mercury retrograde is that we are called to turn inward, to reflect, to meditate and to step out of our minds and into our hearts. We are being challenged to let go of our egos and our analytical, linear ways of thinking and to drop into a deeper knowing, the knowing of our intuition and of our hearts.
When we let go of living from the mind, we are able to live from our hearts and from our souls.
Then the mind becomes an effective servant of our deeper knowing rather than the inner controller or critic constricting the fullness of who we are. Allow yourself to open to the possibility of “losing” your mind during this lunar cycle and gaining a deeper connection with your heart and your inner knowing and connection with the Source of all that is.
 
There are two levels of the archetype of the Sagittarian Archer where our New Moon is located. On one level, he is the warrior with his arrow focused on either his target/goal or on his enemy. He is focused on power — power to achieve his goals or power over what he fears or wants to control. The deeper archetypal meaning of this Archer is the spiritual warrior who is focusing his gaze and energy on the Galactic Center. He is seeking to connect with Source and to follow a spiritual path. He is not seeking power, conquest or personal success but is seeking to be in service to and empowered by the energies of love and truth that move throughout the Cosmos.
 
Take time this New Moon to reflect on whether you are living from a place of ego, seeking power and personal success or whether you are seeking to live from your soul self and deeper connection with Spirit? When our gaze is on Source, we live from a place of inner stillness and all of our actions flow from that alignment with Spirit. Then we are “in the flow” and feel held by currents and energies beyond ourselves. Then our will is aligned with the energy of the Cosmos.
 
As we move into the time of the Full Moon on January 12th, Mercury is now moving in a direct manner again and is aligned with the Galactic Center. As we have released the false beliefs that constrict us and bind us and have opened to our deeper connection with Spirit, we now are able to align our minds with cosmic awareness and allow our thoughts and communication to flow from that connection with Source. What does that mean on a practical level? This means that we can dance in freedom, releasing all of the thoughts and beliefs that swirl around us and move through our minds. We can witness those thoughts but not get on their trains, letting them take us down tracks that leads us into constricting beliefs about ourselves and our lives. We then drop into a deeper knowing that we are living in the particularities of our lives with our individual personalities and thought patterns but, at a deeper level, we are a manifestation of the consciousness of the cosmos that is experiencing itself through us. We are a drop in that Sea of love and wisdom and truth and will soon return to that Source.
 
At the time of the Full Moon, the Moon is now in the stars of Gemini, near the Wasat point. This is a powerful placement that indicates our ability to move and act and communicate from our connection with Spirit, with Source. The Full Moon and Sun are in a grand square configuration with Pluto, Uranus, Chiron, Mars and Jupiter. This configuration indicates that, as we have released our constricting beliefs and expanded our awareness, we are empowered to live from that deeper clarity. Our true power is now not in our capacity to manifest our personal intentions but in our merger with Source and in our awareness that we are channels of that cosmic energy of love and truth. We become agents of transformation and transmutation. This can be a profoundly freeing and healing time for us. Our actions now flow more effortlessly as we align with those transpersonal energies. We are moving not from a place of ego but from our oneness with Source. We feel the energies of the cosmos flowing through us and live in that wonder and mystery. We also are then able to live from a place of trust and not fear. We no longer need to be in control or live from a place of certainty. We open to the mystery and know that we are part of a process much larger than ourselves. We are carried in those transpersonal currents of change and consciousness and love. Then together, guided by the love and consciousness of the cosmos, we are able to envision and co-create a new world.
 

 

— Sky Watch for this Month —

  • Mercury — is invisible and under the beams of the Sun until Jan 4th when it emerges in the east before the Sun at sunrise
  • Venus — is an evening star, visible in the western sky after sunset
  • Mars — is in the western sky after sunset and can be seen above Venus
  • Jupiter — is visible in the morning sky before sunrise
  • Saturn — is visible in the morning sky shortly before sunrise