Happy Lunar New Year of the Fire Rooster; New Moon in Aquarius

Cycles                                                                                                                                    Catherine Al-Meten Meyers

The lunar year, the Year of the Monkey is ending, and the Year of the Rooster is about to begin. On Thursday evening, January 27, the New Moon in Aquarius ushers in the Lunar New Year. At 4:07 p.m. PST/7:07 EST the Moon meets the Sun at 8/15 Aquarius, the first decan of the sign. The Sun entered Aquarius on January 19, and is nearly through the first decan, setting the Aquarian energy into motion making us feel more connected to one another and to higher causes in this very divisive and chaotic time. The New Moon in the first decan is in the most idealistic stage of this transit. Nothing wrong with optimism, but change and transformation requires both labor and birth. And after the birth, the umbilical cord must be cut for life to take hold. 

This whole transformation and birth process is not without pain and suffering. Freedom comes once the cord is cut, and then in order to survive, the entity must learn to live on its own. In the case of the current transformations taking place in our lives and in the life of the planet, the birthing process has been completed, and the post-partum period has begun. The Moon in the first decan of Aquarius is forever looking for the ideal. While hope, a vision of what could be, and optimism are good and useful elements of transformation, they are not all that is required. In the process of breaking away from that which has held, defined, or restricted us in the past, we find ourselves feeling rebellious, resentful, or perhaps ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater. This will pass, but for the time of the New Moon, observe what you are cating your dispersions on, and simply identify what you are having a difficult time releasing. That will go a long way to helping you when you have healed up, recovered, or prepared yourself in body, mind, and spirit to move forward.

We often cling to what was in hopes it can be repaired, revived, or recovered. That’s a normal part of the process, but we cannot move forward into freedom if we are clinging to what was or what one hoped would be. I remember when I was giving birth, the water broke, and I cried and cried because the whole experience of being pregnant and feeling my baby within me growing and changing had been such a precious journey. It is normal for us to feel the grief of endings, in all areas of our lives. This might be one of those times when you feel a great sense of loss for something that was once very precious to you. Allow yourself to honor that as it will help you move into the newness of the new lunar year ahead.

The Moon and Sun in Aquarius sit on the fixed star, Alpha Tucana, the Toucan. The Toucan, with its sharp beak is a trickster as well as a noisy bird. It often duels with other toucans, its sharp beak pecking and biting. This symbolizes the element of arguing, verbal fencing, and loud, noisy bickering...something we might be tired of but might also notice more of during the New Moon phase. As the Moon moves deeper into Aquarius later in the week, this eases up.

Venus at 24 degrees Pisces forms an exact square to Saturn at 24 degrees Sagittarius at the New Moon. It’s a difficult time to express affections as our fear of rejection may be triggered by past events (Saturn the Great Teacher reminds us of what happened in the past). Confrontation ought to be avoided during this cycle, and if you must confront or deal with issues that are hot and edgy, get an intermediary to provide some form of protection for you. Shield yourself from anything that is  a threat, perceived or real, until you feel less vulnerable and fragile. It’s time to treat ourselves with tender loving care. Our egos have been bruised, our hearts have been wounded, and our emotions are right up on the surface, ready to pour forth. We need to build up our strength and confidence before confronting anything that could damage us, body, mind, or spirit. Don’t walk into any burning buildings, and avoid unnecessary confrontations. Hold your own counsel and get support in healing or coping with old wounds and trauma. It’s time for healing. Whatever inner work you do now and in the next few months should help you find yourself in the new identity that is growing in and around you. It’s a time to rebuild our sense of confidence, to renew our strength and energy, and to remember who we are and why we are here. It’s a key time to resurect our sense of purpose and well being.

This Venus-Saturn square is a deep seated reworking and healing energy that may touch on some pretty tender parts of our lives. We need to muster up our courage and be patient as we work on reviving and renewing. Avoid dropping down into despair and hopelessness. Notice where you are feeling unworthy of giving and receiving love. Start with small steps to reconnect to the heart-centered part of yourself. Do simple things to help you rebuild your strength and help you focus on what really matters in life now. Spend the time you need to work throught the different stages of loss, grief, and disappointment with what was, and work to reconnect with your inner gifts and strengths. When we lose something, even a vision of who we thought we were or what we hoped would be, we often feel humiliated and embarrassed. If this is true for you, I will say to you what a dear friend said to me when I felt like this. “You did nothing wrong. All you did was try to love someone. Try to do your best.” And this applies to any loss or disappointment. Focus on what your true intentions were, and give yourself credit for doing your best, and then stop worrying about how others treated you or what was not accomplished, or what will never be.

A very important part of rebuilding our sense of confidence and feeling of worthiness is through appreciation. What are you thankful for? What blessings have come to you? What have you accomplished? What and who are blessings in your life right now? Stop gazing in the pond looking at your refection (the dreams, expectations, illusions, distortions) of the past, and look around you. Where are you now, and what are the blessings right in your NOW? I can tell you one. You’re alive and you’re able to read. Begin to see what there is to be grateful for, and then build on that to do more reaching out, creating, and building a new life.

Venus is about love, creatiivity, harmony, and balance. And it’s about money and resources. There are different ways to use the energy of this New Moon. One is ambition, the other is competitiveness. Both can work together to find you working harder than ever to make something come to life and to increase your financial resources. Whatever you pour yourself into at this New Moon will have long-lasting consequences and will increase your value. Be careful what you expend your energy into. Avoid wasting in in being despoindent or cranky and argumentative. Use it instead to get something accomplished. Move the energy into clearing and cleaning up what needs to be cleared, and begin putting plans into place and working on projects or steps in areas of growth that have reached a new stage of development.

The news during this New Moon cycle may reveal some rather outlandish and crazy-making side shows. Avoid getting pulled into the side shows and instead find a refuge from the storm that is blowing with the changes taking place. We all need a time out to rest up, build up our reserves, and determine for ourselves what is most important to our own development. Whatever we work on in our personal lives, will have a direct impact on the world beyond us. Ground yourself in the priorities that are most important to you, notice what may be holding you back or distracting you, and take action to eliminate contact with crazy makers, wet blankets, and energy vampires. Clean up your act, and take some time to refresh yourself. Run out when the sun comes out and soak up some Vitamin D. Drink lots of water, take lots of walks, and clear the deck of any debris or time wasters that hold the potential to slow your growth and block your vision.

Saturn the Great Teacher shows us what is worth preserving, Venus reminds us of what really matters to us. The New Moon in Aquarius opens the door to the new lunar cycle and new lunar year. The Sun in Aquarius shines is light on where you are right now and what you can actually have some effect on. In the negative realms of life, the areas where people use the Saturnian and Venuvian energy corruptly, we can now also recognize where the corrupters are and what they are doing to use, abuse, and destroy what supports and upholds our fundamental goodness. We need to be vigilant and focused now. We need to be healthy and clear to do this. Now is the time to seek clarity, guidance, and inner strength.

On Wednesday, just before the New Moon in Aquarius, Venus conjuncts Chiron (The Wounded Healer) in Pisces. This brings us an unexpected and welcome opportunity to heal and mend our personal relationships. It’s a good time for building trust, forming lasting commitments, and reaffirming what is best about our personal relationships. This includes seeing where the dysfunctional relationships that are not healed or healing need to be released so that healing can take place in our understanding of what a real commitment requires. We are not to wilingly bury ourselves in unhealthy, destructive patterns and cycles right now (or at any other time for that matter). It’s particularly important now to recognize now though that in the words of Christ Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas, “When we bring forth what is within us, what we bring forth will save us. When we don’t bring that forth, we will be destroyed.”  We cannot ignore our gifts, beauty, talents, and abilities. And we are the Divine gift born into this time, place, and body to do good works. We cannot allow anything or any illusion of who we are or should be to stand in the way. Get some clarity, ask for help, and seek Divine guidance and protection to helpy you become your beautiful, best self. You have a lot to offer the world. The world needs what you have to give, create, and offer. Waste no time in sorrow when you can bless others with your gifts.

Now a little bit about what the Year of the Fire Rooster bodes. It is said that the Year of the Fire Rooster will find people being more polite and less confrontational (despite the way the year starts out). It is also said that people will often complicate things more than they have to be. The year will highlight progress, honor, and integrity.  Rat people will enjoy financial success and many happy events. Ox people will be surprised by unexpected success and unexpected events. Tiger people will not suffer for anything, and will have unexpected last minute help. Dragon people will hear lots of good news and will have much success and will make advances in their careers as well as making progress in all areas of importance. Horse people will have much success and personal happiness this year. There could be imbalances in career. Avoid getting edgy and upset over such issues. Change is good. Goat people need to watch their spending and unexpected expenses. Trouble in the family if they attempt to temper down the Goat. Let the Goat grumble; be there to support changes.Monkey people will have a very good year in their romantic lives. Rooster people will have help for all the problems that come up. Help comes from influential and powerful people. Rooster people are going to have a lot to deal with but the energy and support to get things accomplished. Cat/Rabbit people may have a difficult year with lots to deal with, mostly having to do with material possessions. The Boar people will have a busy, tense year. Financial and business problems will require tenacity and patience. Dog people may have some unexpected health issues to deal with, and may have trouble in the romance area of life.

All in all, the Year of the Fire Rooster is going to be one of dealing with change and transformatiion, clearing out what is no longer working, and taking advantage of new opportunities. After the whacky and unpredictable antics of the Monkey year we are completing, the Year of the Fire Rooster is gong to bring us situations and events that will require quick thinking and fast action to deal with. Whatever challenges arise, seek the opportunities that come with them, and keep using your wit and wisdom to cope with what needs to be tended to.

Catharthis: Full Moon in Cancer & Grand Cardinal Cross Ignite Change

You Are Loved                                                                           Catherine Al-Meten Meyers

If life hasn't already been full of surprises and upsets enough, it's about to reach a cathartic turning point or two more. Both in our personal lives, and in our colletive identity, life has shifted sweeping the rug out from under all expectations and predictions. Take a deep breath, hold onto your hats, and get ready because the ride is far from over. But you are in a good place to get a front row seat to the action. What is going on right now in your own personal life, is mirroring on some level, the collective shifts. What is rising up within us is now calling us to the next leg of our journey. As some have said, this is what we've been prepared for. Ready or not, here it comes. A new yaear has begun, and on Thursday January 12, 2017 at 3:34 A.M. PST/6:34 A.M. EST, the Moon reaches her fullness in the third decan of Cancer at 22/27 degrees.. 

The Full Moon in the third decan of Cancer and the Grand Cardinal Cross forms a volatile and emotional crossroads point. With the Sun in Capricorn and Moon in Cancer in opposition to one another and Jupiter in Libra and Uranus in Aries in opposition, all in cardinal signs, this first full moon of 2017 (and last of the lunar year) trigger both personal and collective floods and eruptions that force issues out from hiding. As the Full Moon in Cancer, the Sun in Capricorn, Uranus in Aries, and Jupiter in Libra, the Cardinal Cross forms two oppositions and four squares. The Full Moon in Cancer triggers the Jupiter-Uranus opposition. Look for four key areas of your life where the Cardinal signs are transiting, and prepare yourself to deal with some major awakenings, releases, and sudden and shocking shifts.

Due to the nature of both fiery Uranus in Aries and buoyant, visionary Jupiter in Libra, this aspect releases some pretty far-reaching and rebellious types of energy, actions, and collective actions, movements, and energy. Uranus rules electricity, and Jupiter symbolizes abundance and beyond-the-bounds inspiration. This meeting and friction ignites us personally and collectively to head out on new pathways and take new directions in the call of personal freedom and liberty. Extremes of all kinds are triggered at this point, and have long-lasting effects where both shocking and surprising changes take place in some of the most unexpected ways.

Polarities are in the extreme at this point, and any compromise or backtracking with personal or collective actions, intentions, and decisions will have lasting and destructive ramifications. We want to stick to that which is calling us to grow and find the right path ahead,avoiding any destructive compromise or unwillingness to see how the die has been cast. We are faced in our personal and collective lives with the choices and responses that will determine how our future will unfold. Be sure you are doing what you are called to do, in the way you are called to do it, and for all the right reasons. Be sure you have disconnected from  any unwanted behaviors, patterns, baggage, or connections as you carry forth what is within you now-acknowledge or not.

Reflect on what you invested your time, energy, and resources on six months ago. Whatever you invested in at that time is now coming back to you with the rewards of that  investment. The Full Moon in the third decan of Cancer brings with it abundance and luxury. Full moons are fulfillment, and so we now reap what we sowed. Where we allowed what was within us to come emerge, will be rewarded now. The retrograde phase of Mercury ends as I am writing this column. Mercury in its retrograde cycle has reentered Sagittarius, and at the time of the Full Moon will be in the anaretic degree (29th/last degree) as it completes its transit of Sagittarius and prepares tor reenter Capricorn. A vital aspect, communications may be fiery, shocking, and critical at the time of the Full Moon as well. Any lull in January energy may be much less than it usually is. As the Moon waxes to fullness, we find ourselves restless and energized. 

The annual Saturnalia festival of ancient times, a time when Capricorn’s ruler Saturn was honored as the table was set and roles were reversed, with master serving slaves in a feast of appreciation and liberation from the normal rules and customs. Some believe this festival (usually celebrated in December) was the festival Christians chose to celebrate Christ’s nativity. This year, the ancient festival falls in the light of the Full Moon, and beckons us to celebrate our freedom and independence from tyranny, oppression as we break the shackles that bind us to that which threatens our freedom and creativity. Cardinal placements trigger change and open doorways to new ways of knowing, being, thinking, and behaving. This is a time to break out of any molds that are inhibiting who you are and preventing you from living authentically and freely.

Whether those shackles are in letting go of thoughts, beliefs, patterns of behavior, toxic relationships and living conditions, or conditions that make living peacefully and in harmony impossible, we will be pushed over the edge by the energy building up now. The Grand Cardinal Cross triggered by the Full Moon in Cancer, fuels our deepest desires for real security, the kind that is rooted in our living our own Truth, not submitting to the false and poisonous dictates of others. This is an life-changing time for us, and we will feel it on some very profound and deep level. One of the ways to see what is shaking out in your own life is to look at what houses/areas of your own life are being affected primarily.

On Tuesday as the Sun in Capricorn  forms the square to Uranus in Aries, we find it difficult if not impossible to guess what’s coming next. Expecting the unexpected is the rule as this transit begins the energizing of the Cardinal Cross. Time to take a wait and see attitude about any major changes or choices that you may have been considering. This does not mean to stop clearing and disentangling from toxic and outworn modes of belief and behavior, but it does signal the need to take some time to reflect, observe, and watch how what you’ve already put into place begins unfolding, in sometimes some pretty amazing and surprising ways.

On Wednesday as the Cardinal Cross continues forming, the Sun in Capricorn squares Jupiter in Libra. This energy may have us feeling restless, unsettled, and anxious. A good time to channel any unstable energy into creative, purposeful, and grounding activities. A very beautiful aspect that coincides with this Full Moon in Cancer is the conjunction of Venus and Neptune in Pisces. The Full Moon in Cancer trines  Venus, Neptune, and Chiron casting a mystical, creative, and healing energy over us. We may be going through a lot of shifting, changing, and transforming, but we are beginning to feel and connect to the beauty of this change in our lives.

The more we recognize the pain, lessons, and challenges of the past have elements for helping us remember how we have leaned to heal, the more we will feel ready and capable for whatever challenges our new pathways and choices hold. For in the forward momentum and movement into becoming more fully who we are, we also remember who we have always been at the heart of our being and essence. Connecting and seeking guidance from the Divine helps us navigate the waters we are sailing. This is a time when psyches are open, vulnerable, and more easily swayed. While what is shiny may be attractive, we need to use our powers of discernment to not pay too high a cost for what is illusory, vague, or fleeting. Ground yourself to what truly speaks from your soul of your own journey, and welcome those as partners and allies who can walk that road with you, not drag you off into dark and tragic places where there is no hope but continually circling the same old loop.

Later when the Sun forms a semi-square to Neptune in Pisces, we may feel we have lost track or slipped back away from the path that seemed so clear in the light of the Full Moon in Cancer. This is only an temporary illusion, a block woven from our own exhaustion, fears, and the normal tendencies we all have when we’re starting off on a new journey. The desire is to run back to the safe places, to return to a time that is no more. What we need to do now is to face the unknown with courage and with determination. And take a rest stop for a day or two to recover from the major shifts that have just taken hold. As we near the end of the lunar year (The New Lunar Year begins January 27-28), this is a time when reflection, rest, and repairing of nets needs to be done so we are ready to begin the new cycle in greater clarity.

The Year of the Fire Rooster is about to begin. The Fire Rooster Year will follow on the Year of the Monkey, a year that has us all scratching our heads and asking, “What just happened?” It was a year full of surprises, upsets, and challenges to whatever we thought was supposed to happen. Surprise after surprise, both good and not so good, marked the Year of the Monkey. Now we head into a different type of energy altogether. The Year of the Rooster will bring new challenges, and will require us to use our wits and figure out practical solutions to challenges that arise. The new year begins on the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice. Predicted to be a powerful new year, with no middle of the road when it comes to making changes and moving forward. This is a year when impressions will count more than usual. We want to look our best, make good impressions, and put our best foot forward. Show the world what you are through respecting yourself and taking pride in the appearance of your home, your work, yourself. Make your intentions clear (that requires being clear yourself with yourself). Use what is tried and true, and avoid too much risk. Stick with what you know works for you, and focus on honoring loyalty, hard work, family, commitments, and always looking and doing your best. You honor others when you care enough about yourself to present your best.

As you celebrate the Full Moon and prepare for the New Lunar Year, clean up your act. Clear away clutter, clean the house, car, office, and get yourself some new clothes, a hair cut, and give some special attention and gifts to those you love, in appreciation for the gifts they have shared with you. Happy New Year and celebrate the shifts the Full Moon in Cancer bring to light.