Aquarius New Moon – 21 January 2023

Not my will, but my willingness to embrace Spirit.

Aquarius – evolution in the context of universal love

.       A new focus is emphasised this month by the New Moon being at the very beginning of Aquarius – the Sun will be in Aquarius all month. Most of the planets are involved in one pattern – a sense of new energy to expand our own agendas, as though now is the time at last. We have been facing down-to-earth issues that needed resolution, and are experiencing a sense of freedom to be different. But we are still thinking in terms of how that expansion would have been made in the past. We are still trying to use the methods that would have worked before, so we may be expecting too much too soon.

.       The fact is, there is no way we can ever go back, so we need to find our place in whatever future is unfolding, find new ways to accomplish our goals. And forward movement is likely to reveal those places in our lives that need up-dating – devices that are not sufficient to our needs, arrangements that have collapsed as they were, relationships that have changed. We still need to adjust to the fall-out from all that has happened over the last couple of years.

Responsibility is not permission to control

.       Although it may seem ‘selfish’ to be considering our own position while everyone else may also be struggling, the first step in any personal development is to take full responsibility for our own experience. This must include the intention to ‘do no harm’, to treat others as we would wish to be treated. Blaming others prevents growth, and trying to help others without taking care of our own needs can result in feeling martyred and resentful. That’s when unconscious agendas kick in that can cause harm we didn’t consciously intend. The important thing in holding to one’s own perspective is to give others the same respect that we need for our own autonomy. Responsibility for myself and not for you, gives you freedom to be yourself. Responsibility for yourself and not for me, gives me freedom to be myself.

.       We may feel like weighing in to take care of someone out of a sense of responsibility, but do check that this isn’t an unconscious attempt to control their actions or feelings towards what you think is best for them. As long as they still have their mental faculties, you could be interfering with their efforts to grow, which first requires taking command of one’s own life. So the best thing would be respecting their autonomy and encouraging their sense of personal value. We only take care of ourselves well when we feel that our well-being matters in life.

(All this is relevant within the energy pattern of Sun/Moon sextile Jupiter in Aries and trine Mars in Gemini, while Mercury in Capricorn squares the midpoint of Jupiter/Chiron, and quincunxes Mars who sextiles them – see the New Moon and Full Moon charts on the video via my website.)

Spirit continuously manifesting life

.       Having said that about responsibility – ‘if I can and another can’t, I should act for them’ – at this time in history, we are learning how to be individual while at the same time acknowledging our individual selves as part of the whole. With this New Moon being in Aquarius, the emphasis is on being an individual who also needs to take responsibility for the care of their own material body and circumstances, which includes learning how to be with the whole of the natural world. This requires us to step back from our material identities into our greater selves to be open to receive inspiration from Nature itself – in order to heal ourselves, we must heal our relationship with the planet by recognising that we are part of this planet as much as are any of its other inhabitants or resources. The responsibility of conscious humanity includes doing no harm to any part of planetary life (Mercury trines Uranus on the North Node in Taurus).

.       The background to all this is the call to love spiritually. Historically that would have meant ‘judging fairly’ to the best of our ability. But at this time, love requires us to discern the unrolling needs of the whole, to determine what is most appropriate in the present for the bit we’re looking at. This aim may not be perfectly achievable, but intention draws inspiration, and the working principle of the moment is evolution in the context of universal love (Venus with Saturn in Aquarius).

Material growth is not spiritually expanding

.       From the Full Moon on 5 February, the context becomes the revealing of what’s been hidden which includes all agendas, the global materialist controls and our personal hidden desires (Mercury, sextiles Neptune, as it approaches Pluto). Not all agendas are wrong, but we will need a spiritual perspective to recognise those agendas that would contract our future lives, from those which would truly expand them. All is spirit and we cannot change or modify that. All that we are is spirit manifesting materially, and we can only be what we are. Expressing spirit does not require that we give up our individuality, but we need to use our inner spiritual compass as we go along to determine what prevents us evolving into greater spiritual awareness. So far, humanity has followed the principle of ‘growth’ but has misunderstood it to mean growing primarily in material comfort and wealth, and in the process, the spiritual compass gets ignored, and we forget about ‘doing no harm’.

.       As our agendas come under scrutiny, there may be focus on battles, as the world of duality tends to make arguments out of any discussion. Arguments are often used as a distraction from the deeper issues, so be aware of what in your life distracts you from what you really need to be focussed on. The arguments, both personally as well as globally, are likely to be about principles as opposed to practicality: whether we can survive if we let go of our present material way of life, or whether allowing great change is in fact the only way to survive.

Go with the flow, letting feelings pass through

.       From 9 February, the time of change and action unfolds faster, but at first it could be a bit like crossing a swamp – one needs to consider carefully where one puts a foot next, and test the ground before putting one’s weight on it. Emotions could be arising from anywhere – it is always good to feel them, but perhaps at this time not to try and pin down their origin. Our anger or sadness could be from inside or outside, from yesterday or ancestral history. Let them flow through, but not act them out – it’s OK to cry and not know why! Although our first attempts to make the necessary changes may miss the mark, by mid-February we should have a better understanding of what will work (Venus in Pisces squares Mars; and Mercury moves into Aquarius and passes the square to the Moon’s Nodes).

.       Whenever there appear to be two ‘sides’, the place to be is above the midpoint, the central balancing point of the scales, allowing all points of view to have their space while keeping the spiritual compass central to any decisions. A compass is only useful when the needle is not fixed to a single point – the fact is we don’t know the future, so we need to be sensitive to nuances, changes in energy fields and our needs during changing times. The compass is more of a feeling of ‘rightness’ as our focus wobbles through possibilities. We can only do our best. (Uranus in Taurus at the point of a T-square with Sun opposite Moon.)

_________________________________________________________

Contemplation for this New Moon in Aquarius

Allow greatness
to wash through your space
– not ‘my greatness’
but the awe and wonder of totality.
We are being asked to be the night sky
that gives space to all stars and the unknown,
to let the glorious sunrise blossom in our hearts.
Why would I refuse the joy of wholeness
when dust fills those days without it?
Sit with me in the hand of God
and delight in the tiny things,
where greatness
is.