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What's in the chart for this new moon?

Mercury is retrograde this New Moon. "Oh no--not again!" Every time Mercury goes retrograde-which occurs three times a year-I hear this complaint. Understandably, many grumble on entering this phase of mis-communications, mechanical break-downs, and general mischief. Yet, if approached with patience and curiosity, these retrograde times can be the most fruitful weeks of the year. Let the knots in your mind relax and unravel. During the retrograde you have permission to cease striving. Your mind--and the minds around you--are going on a little vacation. Don't visit the car mechanic, pressure your contractor, or sign contracts if you can avoid it. But do be willing to reconsider everything. Allow any plans to stall or take new shape in front of you. There is a larger intelligence at work. When Mercury goes direct (January 6 PST), you'll find new inspiration--a bright reward for all your flexibility and patience!

If your dreams feel bigger than your ability to execute them, you may be at the wrong end of the cardinal T-square in this New Moon's chart. In our house, life served up its own sabian symbol: My eleven-year-old, Branden, was decorating the Christmas tree, solo for the very first time. He broke two strings of lights in bouts of frustration. After hanging up the rest, he scowled: "It looks stupid." That was hard-to-please Saturn. In the New Moon chart, it opposes the Capricorn Sun/Moon conjunction. The broken lights were courtesy of an impatient Aries Mars --squaring both Saturn and the Sun and Moon. It's fitting that this perhaps demanding or agitated New Moon arrives within a day of Winter Solstice-the darkest day of the year.

Of course it all depends on how you look at it. To my eyes, the blinking Christmas lights were beautiful-they had appeared like magic, without any effort on my part! "They're all bunched up in the middle," Branden complained, "there aren't enough on the ends." I explained that when you put lights on the outer branches, your tree looks like the winter sun is sparkling on its icy needles. But when you collect the lights around the trunk, your tree celebrates another kind of light-the one that shines from the depths of your soul. It took a few seconds before Branden rolled his eyes and dismissed me. But I could tell he felt much better about his tree.

Winter Solstice may be the darkest day of the year. But there's another way to look at it: things will be getting brighter from this point on. The light is about to return. This fact is behind the "twelve days of Christmas" tradition: the pagans noticed it was twelve days after the solstice when days became visibly longer again. This suggests the best way to sit with the energies of this New Moon. If you're full of desire but frustrated with your circumstances, know that the light is returning. Mars just spent four months wandering in Pisces. A client of mine described this time as "swimming in concrete." But now that Mars has entered its home sign of Aries, new energy is stirring. Yet Saturn advises not to move too quickly. Use Saturn as strategist. Think about where you truly want to go. Because soon enough, go you will.

Where is Your Personal New Moon?

New Moon charts describe a collective energy. But each New Moon also has its personal significance. To find yours, look to the house of your birth chart where the New Moon falls. Here's your personal seed bed. This is the place you usually "do Capricorn" and where each year at this time, you need to re-invigorate your Capricorn mission. With the students currently enrolled in my monthly Moon Workshop, we're looking at how the story of Zeus is played out in this house. We're investigating how we've been threatened by Cronus, nourished by a magical goat, and inspired to stand up to our destiny when the goat's horn breaks off in our hands. If you'd like to explore your personal version of this myth with us, check out the information for my Twelve Moons Workshop.