Aries 1st Quarter Moon At 8°18’—December 29
And then BAM!!!—everything changes…
Or might need to.
The lunar shift from Pisces into Aries is one thing—though today’s lunarly shift emboldens this notion one step further: into an Aries first quarter moon.
Should you be willing to participate—this is your first opportunity to break through some of the cycles that keep you within limitations of personal complacency…
This year’s last first quarter moon occurs midway in between a lunar conjunction to Jupiter, before the quarter moon, and then a conjunction to Chiron, after the quarter moon is exact… and even just this symbology is something to wonder about, as this quarter moon will likely trigger bigness—be it feelings, initiatives, or otherwise aggressive swings—and also, very likely pain, be it emotional wounding or inflictions of adjustments otherwise.
Aries, as the first zodiacal energy, represents the self—and is often somewhat quite self-focused in its own way… and first quarter moon represent changes being nudged from within. These nudges may very likely feel could feel uncomfortable. These nudges may provoke you to make changes you might not really want to genuinely make. These nudges may be, themselves, somewhat focused toward something very specifically, and defensively, vulnerable.
Shamanic astrologer Raven Kaldera writes of this moon, that it is the moon “when we work with our anger—at people, at institutions, at the world, at the gods… this is something that is likely to happen whether we will or not, because this moon tends to trigger blowups—and the kind of no-fault accidents that lead to the worst blowups…”
Kaldera recommends breathing… lots of breathing.
The degree through which today’s lunarly event occurs speaks, more specifically, to the “sensitivity… and the need to find information or immediate answers to problems…”
Which is unfortunate, because Mercury stationed yesterday and is now officially retrograde.
Further, this degree provides as much anyway, that “logic and reason may not work well at this time…”
I’ll concur to that.
In fact, ‘in your situation the whole picture is probably right before you…’ though it may as well be invisible, or being communicated in a foreign language. Examining the actual structure of whatever it is confounding you at this time could be helpful, as would be listening more actively and streamlined to your intuition…
What are you doing in your reality and how are you focusing toward what you really want?—remember, this lunar event is likely provoking something targeting the centeredness of You, and you alone… it’s most literally ‘all about you’, in likely a very major way—a way that is inflicting pain, anxiety, or wounding otherwise.
What is your unconscious mind telling you?
Because your conscious mind, by technicality, is now experiencing something of a standstill… and will then begin reviewing, more manipulatively, events from the past—which could be either treacherously unhelpful or defiantly destructive, and maybe, just maybe, should you choose to be ruthlessly honest with yourself: revelatory.
But it’s on you.
This lunar event occurs within the first decan of Aries, a decan associated with the 2 of wands—a card that represents possibilities being endless…
Also, it should be understood that all this Aries energy/focus strongly suggests, particularly within the depths of Capricorn season, much emphasis upon change, risk, inner knowing, new beginnings, and ‘going it alone…’ as the first decan of Aries emerges, naturally, upon the spring equinox, which, in turn, represents a new astrological year. Equinoxes are times when the light and the dark are in balance—and so, too, are these current energies: circumstances really could go either way—in that, you could choose to make changes, or remain stuck within your own self-made/self-perpetuated complacency.
This first decan of Aries, according to astrologer Austin Coppock, supports the notions of change, and growth… and the imagery of one becoming two. Further, “by engaging in contests of will, those who travel this decan may have to submit to those who best them in this game—indeed, it is often the first lesson of the dominant personality to experience the other side of the duad they continuously recreate—there is a tendency in this decan to try to do too much with force alone… not comprehending the subtle cycles of the world, karmic debts accumulate quickly…”
The 2 of wands is a card that reminds us of these cycles we become stuck within… it’s a card that symbolizes ‘options and choices… possibilities—that there is much planning that needs to be done; exploring options and setting goals.’
The tarot writer TS Chang writes of this card, “you can call it planting time or you can call it spring cleaning—you can call it a paradigm shift between the old world and the new world… you can stress the destructive power of this face, or its power to fertilize—the point is that there is no looking back.”
The bolder the initiative—the more powerful it will be.
Tarot writer Jessica Dore writes of this card, that “we often stay stuck for too long in the wrong situations because we don’t know how to cope with the disappointment of something not living up to a fantasy we had…”
With Chiron being so close to this moon, it’s sort of inevitable to experience even the slightest feeling of disappointment.
Dore continues, “when the only way you know how to deal with disappointment is to avoid it, you’re at especially high risk of getting stuck, because life is full of things not being what we thought they would be—and it’s important to our evolution that we learn to live with that…”
Further, Dore writes that this card often represents a call to adventure… comparing this notion to that of the story of Buddha seeking enlightenment, that if “that’s not a teaching to go for what one requires, I don’t know what is… [the Buddha] had to first be willing to face how disappointed he was with his existing life circumstances—he had to accept that what was enough for others was not enough for him… it was that acceptance that allowed him to move forward.”
And that’s just it—if that isn’t a zodiacal lesson in Aries, I’m not sure what is… Aries, and the sector of life Aries governs in your nativity, inspires the part of you within that will forever want more… will forever seek to grow, to become, to experience. And, in tune with Aries energies, one will choose to go it alone if necessary to experience the scratch to the itch.
This definitely isn’t for everyone. Some of us prefer our stuck-ness, preferring constancy and comfort over change and chance… but that isn’t what’s on offer today. And for those of you preferring to keep your heels deeply buried and embedded within the mud of settled constancy—today’s moon will likely baffle the bejesus out of you.
Dore writes, “the human mind has this ability to construct elaborate fantasies that are so powerful that when reality doesn’t match up, we’re often perplexed, completely unaware of what’s happened… people go years trapped inside the dissonance between what they’d hoped for and what is—but there is another option: we always have the choice either to stay trapped in that tight space between the things we wanted and the thing we got, or to buck up and feel the disappointment that comes with accepting that reality is not what we’d hoped for—we get to essentially choose between two emotional experiences: feeling disappointed or feeling stuck…”
Or, we can choose to make changes that are within our control and power.
And, of course, it is entirely possible that the only pain you endure through this lunar phase is a migraine to claim all other migraines—it will likely still point you in a new direction, or inspire looking into a new perspective…
Either way, if you look hard enough, there will always be something to be disappointed with—it’s so much more empowering (not to mention that much more connective and self-disciplined) to choose to see the potentials, the opportunities, and the possibilities within What Is, as well as those toward What Could Be.
❝The only limits are, as always, those of vision…❞
—James Broughton
🖋 by Jamie James
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Hill, L. ‘360 Degrees of Wisdom.’ A Plume Book; ©2004.
Kaldera, R. ‘Moon Phase Astrology.’ Destiny Books; ©2011.
Reed, T. ‘Tarot: No Questions Asked.’ Weiser Books; ©2020.
Roche, D. ‘The Sabian Symbols.’ Astrology Classics; ©1998, 2010.
Rudhyar, D. ‘An Astrological Mandala.’ Vintage Books; ©1973.