New Moon in Capricorn with partial solar eclipse Saturday, January 5th 5:28 p.m. PST.
Full Moon in Leo with a total Lunar Eclipse is Sunday, January 20 at 9:16 p.m. PST.
Last Saturday I was asked to go up to Napa Valley and lead a group of twenty people from Equinox Sports Club in San Francisco on a hike and meditation through the vineyards at Liana Estates as part of their Wine & Wellness program. It was a seed I planted with the Events director months ago and now beginning to see it sprout.
Driving up to Napa, the rains had ceased and the skies opened up to a blue-bird, picture-perfect day. The rolling hills were blanketed in green with electric pops of yellow blooms from the mustard greens already in view. A stark contrast to the barren vines whose gnarled wooden stalks are dark and rain-soaked.
Seeing this juxtaposition helped me realize how this overlays on to our lives at present. As we enter the new year full of hope and promise, we sense there is something slightly askew. We forget that we’re still in dormancy, just like those rain-soaked vines amidst the ebullient mustard greens.
Tuning into it, it feels like we’re being energized as usual by that New Moon in Capricorn, with its goat and fishtail characteristics of remaining steady as it ascends from the sea to the mountaintop. Quite a trek!
"Capricorn is your ally here.... it will test you, maybe thwart you, but ultimately strengthen and mature you."
We’re setting goals, showing up & being responsible, focused on success, self-discipline, all qualities we need to launch into the new year. But because the 'umph' of the partial solar eclipse that happened at the same time, it also feels like we’re trying to do this on not-so-steady ground.
And we are, as the amazing astrologer, Pat Liles writes,
"Can we conjure up the perseverance to take the next step and the next even when we are confronted with fatigue and doubt, resistance? Can we get our inner Frodo to toss that ring of ego distortion back into the fire at the top of the mountain at this time of huge transition? Capricorn is your ally here.... it will test you, maybe thwart you, but ultimately strengthen and mature you. Here’s where you get pushed out of your comfy nest-rut to see if you can muster up some discipline, get real, take responsibility for your life, show up, delay gratification, get practical and make your dreams real.
....[Capricorn] is here to help us break up the old structures of systems and of consciousness so we can invite in more love, spiritual clarity, connectedness and cooperation and bring that into our bodies and way of life here on the most beautiful planet in our solar system."
You might be feeling a lack of clarity now about what to do with the gift of this new year. You might be asked to take unexpected leaps that you weren’t quite prepared for. It’s okay. Let yourself shake off the dormancy of your winter at your own pace, but don’t fall back into old patterns. The fiery energy of Full Moon Leo facilitates this around January 20th.
This is a time of being mindful in the pause between light and dark. Intuitively feel what is aligned and what’s not. It’s a time of releasing the old and making space for the new, but doing it this year from an intuitive place rather than a reactive place.
On February 5th, we enter into the Year of the Pig and 2019 presents this as an Earth sign. To me, this means that it’s imperative to get grounded first, take stock, trust that you are fully supported in your endeavors, then launch!
So yes, most all of you are encountering this new year as a little shaky, a wee bit wonky, as we emerge from the muck and mud. But as Thich Nhat Hahn wisely said, “without mud, no lotus.”