The New Moon is the fusion of the Sun and the Moon – the solar light combines with lunar illumination of the darkness for the beginning of a new lunar cycle. New Moons have long been known as times to begin something new: to plant new seeds, to create, to bring something new into being.
This New Moon is in the sign of Libra. Ruled by the planet Venus, Libra is the sign that teaches equanimity, balance, and the integration of opposites. Under the influence of Libra we easily see both sides of a question. We are sensitive to disharmony and learn manipulate our outer surroundings in order to bring our inner world into a more harmonious state. Venus is associated with attraction, including our ability to attract that which we desire as well as the force of attraction that connects individuals and fosters relationship.
Typically, the Libra New Moon is a time to begin new connections and find ways to attain greater balance in our lives, including in our relationships with others. But the ruler of this Libra New Moon is in Scorpio, a sign of intensity and passion and Truth above all things. Where Libra values politeness and harmonious experiences, Scorpio cares little for social niceties and prefers an environment where the Truth is known regardless of the social cost.
Scorpio is ruled by the planet Mars; where Venus is soft and interested in beauty and peacefulness, Mars is hard, associated with war and concerned primarily with aggression and desire. In addition, Venus (traveling retrograde and therefore taking us back into unfinished business) will be facing off against Mars in a challenging square. This duality between Mars (our personal Will) and Venus (our desire to connect with others) is a theme of this New Moon. This completes a theme that began at the Aries Full Moon, when the Aries Moon, also ruled by Mars, faced off against the Libra Sun requiring a balance between concern for the “other” in Libra with a preoccupation for the Self under Aries. Now the Sun and Moon combine in Libra, but the influence of Mars is still power. Libra seeks integration and harmony, but Mars still requires passion and action.
Today’s Venus, representing divine love and beauty, is a successor of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. But in prior cultures, such as Babylonia and Sumeria, the love goddesses Ishtar and Inan na, as well as Ashtoreth who is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, were powerful feminine forces of war and creation as well as romantic love and beauty. This New Moon, with its emphasis on Mars, demands that we find the hard truths that underlie all of our romantic conceptions and fully embody and empower them.
The power of this lunation to embolden our darkest Truths and find new ways to make them known is expressed by the challenging square to the Sun and Moon from Pluto. Pluto is the modern ruler of Scorpio; where Mars rules the Will of the personal Self, Pluto represents the Will of the greater Self. Pluto enhances the demand for pure and absolute honesty in all of our dealings right now.
This New Moon is also tightly connected to Ceres, the planet of nourishment and comfort in our bodily incarnation. Many of us find it difficult to manage the kind of intensity that this week’s Libra New Moon demands, and that can sometimes lead us to dissociate from our physical experience and disregard our body’s needs, and this kind of reaction will not be supported under these planetary conditions.
If ever there was a New Moon that demanded a ceremony of conscious intention, this is it! I’ll leave you with this poem:
Fire
Remember what you must do
when they undervalue you,
when they think
your softness is your weakness,
when they treat your kindness
like it is their advantage.
You awaken
every dragon,
every wolf,
every monster
that sleeps inside you
and you remind them
what hell looks like
when it wears the skin
of a gentle human.
by Nikita Gill from Wild Embers.
[DISPLAY_ULTIMATE_SOCIAL_ICONS]
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
“Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voice behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life that you could save.
Mary Oliver
The Journey
Thanks Jerre, I love Mary Oliver. ❤️
Thank you for your thoughtful analysis of the New Moon especially
when so many of us are feeling so much uncertainty about the future.
A good time to conscientiously make intentions clear and embrace
the power and the passion to bring about real change…..
I loved the poem……..
You’re so welcome Elaine, glad you loved the poem! I did too, and thank you for taking the time to leave your thoughts.
Always astute and helpful! Thank you, Lynn! :o)
Thanks Janet! ?