Art by Sally J. Smith, from Silver Rockets.  The New Moon occurred a few hours ago, but we are still in its influence for the next day or two.  Although astronomically this is technically a partial eclipse, because the lunation was 12 degrees away from the Nodes of the Moon, that is a bit too far to have much astrological impact.

Like all New Moons, the Sun is conjunct the Moon, fusing the emotional instincts (Moon) with the conscious identity (Sun) to create a powerful new beginning.  Every New Moon in the lunar cycle provides us with an opportunity to begin again with a clean slate.  Under the Sagittarius New Moon we move from the darkness of Scorpio and its emphasis on the underworld of Soul experiences into the lighter framework of the Sagittarian need for expansion and a sense of meaning about life.

There are four planets in Sagittarius right now, so the Sagittarian emphasis is strong.  In addition, Jupiter (the planet that rules Sag) is in an exact trine to the New Moon which gives us a Double Whammy (technical astrological term) of Jupiter/Sun/Moon energy. Now is the time to forge a vision that expands your life, your consciousness, your mind.  Eliminate from your being the need to stay rooted in the past or any idea of who you think you are.

Jupiter and Sagittarius work with our belief systems, helping us to understand more about life and about what gives our life meaning, but those ideologies are not meant to be static or confined under the Jupiterian influence.  They are meant to continue expanding, taking us into ever broadening circles of knowledge and wisdom.  Chiron (wounding and healing) interacts harmoniously with Jupiter this week, facilitating the easing of the energy blocks that our wounded places create, thus facilitating the expansion of our lives into greater abundance.

Over the past week or so Mars has been aligned in a Grand Trine in Earth, first with Jupiter and now with Pluto.  There is potential for greater stabilization now, a great boon when dealing with the pressured expansion of this strong Sagittarian influence.  We also see a trine from Saturn to Neptune: from form and structure (Saturn) to the dissolving of that form into bliss (Neptune).

We do have a challenging square from Chiron to the New Moon now which suggests that in order to benefit from these planetary alignments we will have to allow ourselves to be healed of any emotional dissonance which holds us back.  These Chironic experiences are not always comfortable, but they are necessary for personal growth and evolution.  In this context, as part of the New Moon, it becomes easier to see these growth experiences as helping us to achieve the big Jupiter/Sagittarius vision.

We also have Mercury turning retrograde today.  Mercury will remain retrograde for three weeks during which our ideas and goals are likely to be more difficult to achieve.  Mercury is in Sagittarius now, and Sag tends to dislike being held back by a retrograde.  Retrograde periods are important  because they force us to go back over areas of our lives or experiences that may need more attention before they come to completion, and Sagittarius prefers to be free from any restrictions.  This means that this Mercury Rx period could be more challenging than some in terms of bringing communication snafus and equipment problems.

While Mercury is retrograde see if you can find areas of your life that need to be re-done, re-viewed or re-assessed rather than beginning a new project.  This Sag New Moon inspires us to think big and create great goals, but there will be a few weeks of bumpy starts before we can really move forward with those goals.

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