Capricorn Balsamic Moon
—January 29
Today’s a big day, celestially speaking…
Today’s moon illuminates Mars, which is now in Capricorn, and thereby today’s lunarly governance—the oldest saturnian moon… and this conjunction associates itself to ‘stealing glimpses of a hidden reality…’
Perhaps, from yesterday’s strategizing motivations?
Or, and maybe more likely?—reality checks. Because, Saturn.
Mars, in Capricorn, is the bullying inner knowing that you should be getting up off your hibernating backside already if you’re expecting your life to change in incredible ways… and today’s lunarly conjunction to Mars will absolutely illuminate this.
You’ve likely been feeling this particular tug since Mars moved into Capricorn, back on January 23rd—but this first lunarly connection to Mars, today, is definitely provoking this need… or, its lack.
Further, today’s Capricorn moon, in its balsamic phase, is what shamanic astrologer Raven Kaldera calls the Dragon Moon, a moon when through we “look toward the future… and can see the impossible and strategize ways to achieve it; dragons challenge us to do our best in ways we hadn’t even imagined.”
Further still, Kaldera suggests that it is upon this moon that “we take a long look at the limits on our lives and consider how we can surpass them… keep your speculations pragmatic and well within the realm of possibility—what you should be challenging is your courage and ingenuity, not the laws of time, space, and physics; the Dragon Moon challenges is to be more than just an idealistic hero—we have to become a practical, prepared hero as well, or we won’t survive.”
In other words, today is a day of deep focus—focus upon the centrality of What Could Be and What Is.
Notice that—as it’s a balsamic moon, this is a detail—it is not a moon to initiate any of the changes you’re envisioning or strategizing, though you likely really want to; it’s a moon to continue grinding the wheels within your mind.
Think about it astro-literally: to initiate something likely challenging upon a weakened moon in the sign of Saturn… it would be metaphorically dead upon arrival—or really f*ing challenging.
It’s particularly essential, today, to get all of the wheels within your mind grinding in the same direction, just keep it mental… in other words—it’s important to mentally organize your metaphorical wheels so that they’re all visually grinding in tandem, toward the same motivations in eventual actuality.
Wink
Also…
Venus stations direct at 11°05′ Capricorn today—the last time Venus was moving through this degree was November 17th, again separating from a square to Chiron… but this time, a saturnian moon will be illuminating a conjunction to Venus, and to asteroid Vesta—all squaring Chiron, all connecting to Uranus by trine, all moving in tandem.
Please allow me, here, to share with you that the eleventh degree of Capricorn—the degree through which Venus stations direct—associates itself with ‘encountering chaotic situations with aplomb; being open to all of life’s crazy possibilities; and living in the moment…’
So… as the sobering moon moves to apply and exact a conjunction to the Venus/Vesta conjunction, the essence within what truly matters—particularly toward what your wheels are grinding toward, but really, the meat within all matters…
Again—the central focus.
Rather quaintly, Vesta represents these matters—the meat, the real deal, and that which remains despite it all… Vesta is associated with the home and hearth—the hearth being the fireplace that, historically and, until recently, traditionally, was always placed within the center of the home, literally bringing the family, and everything that mattered—warmth, food and light—together, in the center…
The fire in the hearth was everything, and it was maintained always, no matter what—it never went out… talk about wheels grinding behind a bullying inner knowing that you should be getting up off your ass already!
Venus has just stationed, so, she’s still gaining grounding—it’s best not to begin pestering just yet… besides, there’s work to do.
If you’re expecting your life to change in incredible ways… this oldest, ancient saturnian moon will likely guide you toward what really matters within the thick of all of it.
❝We do not lend the hearth quite the importance that our ancestors did, Greek or otherwise. Yet, even for us, the word stands for something more than just a fireplace… we speak of ‘hearth and home’. The word ‘hearth’ shares its ancestry with ‘heart’, just as the modern Greek for ‘hearth’ is kardia, which also means ‘heart’. In Ancient Greece the wider concept of hearth and home was expressed by the oikos, which lives on for us today in economics and ecology. The Latin word for hearth is focus—which speaks for itself. It is a strange and wonderful thing that out of the words for fireplace we have spun ‘cardiologist’, ‘deep focus’ and ‘eco-warrior’… the essential meaning of centrality that connects them also reveals the great significance of the hearth to the Greeks and Romans, and consequently the importance of Hestia, its presiding deity.❞
——Stephen Fry
Image credit— @launchdsigns on Instagram
Goldsmith, M. “The Zodiac by Degrees.” Weiser Books; ©2004.
Hill, L. “360 Degrees of Wisdom.” A Plume Book; ©2004.
Kaldera, R. “Moon Phase Astrology.” Destiny Books; ©2011.
Rudhyar, D. “An Astrological Mandala.” Vintage Books; ©1973.