New Moon in Aquarius - Moon Wobble & The Black Water Snake

Chinese Year of the Black Snake 10th February 2013 Gong Xi Fa Ca!
Self-reliant Snakes are complex. They have charisma and confidence and can appear to shed adversity like growing another skin because they endure and recover well. They are bon viveurs and have good taste.

On the 10th February, 2013 we celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year of the Black Water Snake and also notice that the Moon moves out of it’s dark Balsamic phase and starts afresh. It is time to renew, re-invigorate, ‘have another go’, pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and charge up the motor. In the week or so before we may have been just going with the flow, allowing things to drift along and perhaps letting go of what needed to be released. We could have waved ‘goodbye’ and said hello to what we thought was lost but now found or even renewed. There would have been a general sense of resting, waiting but an increased awareness, a quiet sensing of the direction the breeze may blow and a feeling that there is something brewing, hidden, just out of sight. 
In fact something has been growing, building and gestating. We may not know exactly what it is because the time for revelation is a few weeks away yet, when the light becomes brighter with the Full Moon. Right now we are prompted and primed to prepare for a change. This is just the start of this moon dance.
                                             
Boxing's 'The Greatest' Muhammed Ali is Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake
The signal that something is changing reveals itself as a shimmer, the merest glimmer of moonlight, magical but barely discernable. This glimmer of a shift in our awareness is the seeding of change that occurs with the monthly New Moon. It is an initiating time when we can pick up and tune into the haunting and subtle whispers of change promised by La Luna’s rhythms. We are much more sensitive now to the tiny filaments of alteration, the gossamer thin shifts in direction and the momentary re-adjustments of momentum. It is all there to be sensed and is as slim and subtle as the New Moons light beaming down to the earth. This month the New Moon seeds at 21 degrees of Aquarius. Aquarius the Human Water Bearer, Aquarius the Humanitarian, Aquarius the Air sign of potential genius. This is the flavour of the energy being stirred into wakefulness. 

Transylvanian Composer/Pianist Bela Bartok is Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake

The Aquarian qualities of being fair minded, the wilful pursuit of change and betterment for everyone and a broadening of our wave bands of interests and a widening of our circles of friendships, groups and acquaintances. An outright oddness may emerge as we throw our intentions behind effecting these changes. We may feel that we must now address issues that have an effect on everyone not just ourselves or our own clans. We must widen our range and go on ever further forward. We must try to experiment and explore and try to detach from the small minded and set our telescopes to focus into the far reaches of space. We must set something in motion now that may yet provide us with more of sense of who we really are outside of the confines that define us and may not really be ours but belong to ghosts, ancestral memory or present time authorities or authority figures. 

Founder of House of Gucci, Florence Guccio Gucci is Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake
(Gucci Atelier, Florence 1953)

We may feel more authentic and free someway further down the road. We might not see the finished results now but that lighthouse that contains the architect’s plans may well show itself later on in our journey when we can see its full beaming light, as it comes into the spotlight during the Full Moon time in a few weeks.

This month Lady Moon is again holding hands with the Sun Lord in Aquarius. This brand New Moon also sets off with a Moon Wobble, a term first used by astrologer Carl Payne Tobey. It involves the Sun in a dance with the Moon's Nodes by square or conjunction and right now the lunar nodal axis is Scorpio/Taurus 

Axis of Power & Possessions - Scorpio/Taurus. The Moon Wobble can essentially be a time when things can get a bit odd and with Aquarius, a sign already famed for weirdness it may prove quite a combination. Aquarius just loves to wake up the neighbours, it has a taste for the shocking and throwing in the odd spanner or ten into the works and relishes and revels in the unusual. Aquarius season is already in full swing but things may now take some further twists and rather strange turns and perhaps there is no way to make ourselves ready to greet the unexpected except by trying to avoid unnecessary drama.

Romanian Opera Prima donna 'Draculette' Angela Gheorghiu is Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake
'sings with the power of a hurricane...I'm waiting for a modern opera..I can put on all the blue jeans in the world. I can be sexy, I can be everything. But give me a reason.'

This is also a time when our emotions can be whipped up along the path ahead and we may feel as if we are treading on shards of glass rather than tufts of grass as we make our way forward. Our impatience and recklessness could peak and erupt in outbursts or behaviours that prove to be even more ill advised and that we will no doubt regret. We may feel like we are just churning up the lawn, gouging out the tufts and thumping out great divits in the dirt in our desire to instigate change. We may be blinded and overtaken by a sense of justice and fairness which seems right at the time but which from an objective viewpoint becomes neither just nor fair for a great many other people. Best advice is to keep cool, calm and collected, and try to detach yourself from the swirling emotions. Give yourself time to think, some air space, because a solution will come to you if you allow it time and an entry point. Whether it is yours or other peoples, let the head of steam cool down and evaporate.
The fixed star Deneb Algedi at 23 degrees Aquarius, is a binary star, together with Nashira, the Two Bending Stars lie in the split tail of the celestial Seagoat, in Capricornus like the tongue of the Black Snake they represent both good and bad fortune. The current contact with the Aquarian Sun and the Moon on a wobble highlights the need to use moral codes and ethics but not as weapons, at the expense of others and certainly don't 'bend' them in order to make good our own positions.

Ex French Prime Minister Dominique le Villepin is Moon in Aquarius/Snake
Came under the international spotlight with a passionate speech to the United Nations against the Iraq War, acquitted in the Clearstream smear campaign against Sarkozy plus R&C (Relais & Chateaux) fraud scandal.

New Moons ignite, they start stuff off, they sow the seeds and often in unseen and invisible ways. The light from the Moon is still just new, just a sliver and it is hiding more than it is showing. New Moons are those times when there are often sparks of novelty and bursts of freshness. We want to start again and begin new projects and undertakings. Our hope and optimism surges, we feel a ‘well why not’ attitude welling up inside us and begin to notice it in other people. The few days around the New Moon are excellent for trying out new things. Whether it is experimenting with new styles trying out new tastes or generating ideas this is a time for experimentation and play. Activating in the air sign of Aquarius, much of this testing out could take place with regard to social, cultural or group matters. We can use the energy in our favour by taking steps to re-build, re-design or strip back something back to its bare necessities and start afresh. Honour the Aquarian spirit by being a bit experimental, a bit ‘out-there’ and boost your vitality levels by expressing your inner weirdness. Aquarius is group orientated in that fact that it wants to give everyone, regardless of class, creed, race or sexuality a fair and level playing-field chance to be themselves. A birth-right to be free to live life in ways which honour not only our own inner being but also being mindful of bringing others needs to be who they are into the mix.

Existential Philosopher/Writer Jean Paul Sartre is Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake
'As far as men go, it's not what they are that interest me but what they can become'

Over the next few days of this New Moon time we have an opportunity to use this Aquarian energy to shake things up, come at life from a different angle and ignite our own spark of genius. Bring to mind some of your future projects, plans and schemes and perhaps think about them from another angle, its in your hands, you have the skill to direct any stream of knowledge into any dry desert waiting for irrigation. Plant the seed in a garden which allows for bio-diversity and where a weed can be be hailed as a wonderful flower. Don’t expect everyone to gather round and join in with you all of the time, they will have their own stuff to get on with now. The chance for gathering will come later, in a few weeks time, at the Full Moon. Keep a cool head, look to the future and dare to re-design your own life no matter how strange things get for a while.
             
Fashion Designer Christian Dior & Rapper Kanye West both are Moon in Aquarius/Chinese Snake
credits:financial times & idlers journal & the observor 

posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

New Moon In Capricorn - Serious Changes Germinating

Just weeks after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Connecticut, the National Rifle Association (NRA) president Wayne LaPierre said 'Look, I get it a bunch of kids died, and it’s really fucking sad or whatnot, and blah blah blah, but it’s not the end of the world here, people..the beat goes on..LaPierre wants armed officers in American schools 'the only answer to death by guns is flood the country with more guns and stand ready for the shootout' The media response is that the NRA president appears to blame everyone and everything except the guns. There are also various conspiracy theories as the identified shooter, 20 year old Adam Lanza's father Peter, claimed his son's body from the morgue also receiving death threats along with his other son Ryan also mourning the loss of his mother.
Adam Lanza's had Moon in Capricorn and the Moon was also in Capricorn at the time of the shooting.
Venus in Sagittarius - Faith in the Future

On 10th January, 2013 the Moon moves out of it’s dark Balsamic phase and starts afresh. In the week or so before this date we may have been appearing to be just going with the flow perhaps allowing things to drift along where they will and hopefully, letting go of what needed to be released and saying a few ‘goodbyes’. We may even have said a couple of hello's to what we thought was lost but now appears re-found or renewed. There has been a general sense of resting, of waiting and anticipating. It could feel like there is something hidden and brewing just out of sight. Something that has been growing, building and gestating. We may not know be able to actually pin down exactly what it is, the time for revelation is a few weeks away yet but we are prompted and primed to prepare for the changes waiting in the wings, ready or not.

Executive Director, Gun Owners of America, Libertarian, Larry Pratt has Moon in Capricorn
'Gun control supporters have the blood of little children on their hands...laws combined to insure that no teacher, no administrator, no adult had a gun...
Of course there are other opinions..the debates continue.

The signal of change is just the merest glimmer of sharp, silvery moonlight. This merest shift in our awareness is the seeding or initiating of transformation and occurs with the monthly New Moon. This is the time we can pick up on and tune into the haunting and subtle whispering murmurs of adjustment promised by the powerful Lunar rhythms. We are more sensitive at this time to the tiny filaments of alteration, the gossamer thin shifts in direction and the momentary realignment of momentum. It is there to be sensed and responded to and is as subtle as the New Moon's light flickering like candlelight over the surface of the earth.

India started a very serious the New Year 2013 with candlelit protest vigils
Mars in Aquarius - Idealistic Battles & Contradictions

This month the New Moon seeds at 21 degrees of Capricorn. Capricorn, the mountain goat or sea goat, Capricorn, the Achiever, Capricorn, the wise Cardinal Earth sign, this is the powerhouse energy being stirred into wakefulness just now. Capricorn qualities of ambition, grit and determination will emerge as we throw our intentions behind the practicalities of ‘getting the really important stuff done’. We will feel that we must now face the new glare of reality and adjust to changing things with a fair chance of some even tougher times ahead. We will feel an urgency to set something in motion right now that could provide us with more authority, some tangible signs of security or more control, further down the road. We may not see the finished results for a while but that lighthouse that we have the architect’s plans for in front of us will show itself to be useful later in our journey when we most need it's full beaming light. Quite possibly at the time of the Full Moon in a few weeks time. 

               
We may well have to slug and tough it out as we step into the ring and prepare for a wave or force of energy coming our way. Depending on what is triggered in our chart by 21 degrees Capricorn we could all use a technique which allows us to withstand and weather a few hurtful blows, or any accusations or criticism. Those born around 9th/13th January of any year have their Sun shining eternally on this point and can relate easily to the wisdom of standing firm and toughing it out. They have learnt to construct a protective shield around their vulnerable inner core. People like boxers George Foreman and Joe Frazier have included this ability in their career choices. Others like Richard Nixon, Heather Mills, Rod Stewart and David Bowie have learnt to stand firm and endure, some creating personas and alter egos which provide a buffer any swings and blows that may come their way.

David Bowie Sun,Mars and Mercury in Capricorn 'comeback' after a decade his 66th birthday 8th January, 2013 and looks back at life and Berlin 24 years after reunification..ch-ch-ch-changes and face the strain..
We may all benefit from this ability to protect and shield and to be able to stand firm. We may have to perfect our block and put on a brave face but we will triumph in the end in our own unique way. Sometimes, as is the case at the moment in New South Wales, Australia, people are facing the blasts of fiery winds scorching destruction upon the earth - for them abandoning an unwinnable fight may be the greatest defence. Controlled fire ravaged earth will encourage new growth, as the phoenix rises from the ashes so do new shoots but there are also obvious losses. Survival and adaptation is an unique hallmark of Australian native flora. Their ability to handle fires, however, really sets them apart from the rest of the world because not only do some species adapt, some depend on the fires to exist. Some plants have the capacity to sprout new growth from groups of little dormant buds under the bark that are only broken by the heat of fire others like Acorn Banskia need to bake their seeds and Wooly Bush seeds are just fire resistant, in fact the chemicals contained in the smoke can actually trigger germination. Protective shields and various personaes apparently exist in the plant world as well.

New Moons ignite, they start stuff off, they sow the seeds and often act in unseen and invisible ways. After all the light from the Moon is still just a sliver it is hiding more than it is showing. All New Moons bring times when there is often a spark of novelty and a freshness as we start again or begin new projects and undertakings. Our hope and optimism will get a surge, we may feel more of a ‘well why not’ attitude welling up inside us and we may also notice it in other people. The few days around the New Moon are excellent for trying out new things, experimenting with different styles trying new tastes or generating ideas even if some of them feel radical. 

Self-styled Guru Asaram Bapu has Moon in Capricorn. He has created a furore in India by holding the Delhi gang-rape victim, Jyoti Singh responsible for her brutal attack and subsequent death from her injuries suggesting that she could have saved herself by deferring to her attackers with 'Bhaiya' a Hindi word meaning 'big brother'. He then called his critics 'barking dogs'

This is the time for experimentation and trying things out. Activating the earth sign of Capricorn with this New Moon, much of this testing out could take place with more practical, structural and systemic matters. We can use this energy in our favour by taking steps to rebuild, redesign or strip back something to the bare necessities, reevaluate and start afresh. Be a bit more responsible now and be the authority, make the tough call because the 'buck stops here'. With Capricorn, somebody is finally responsible and with Capricorn's ruling planet in Scorpio the issues are being brought to light. Saturn in Scorpio - Snake Charmer Karma

'The death of the student who was gang-raped on a Delhi bus has prompted anguished soul-searching about the place of women in Indian society..25-50 million women in India are 'missing'..as well as infanticide and foeticide girls can die of neglect..adult women also die early..Ultrasound for sex determination in India is illegal but remains widespread' A womens place in modern India

Over the next few days of this New Moon time use this re-structuring, re-assuring, wise Capricorn energy to establish your new position or place in the world...Yes, that is how big the plan may be. 
Think about future projects and apply new energy to any plans and schemes you may have had on the back-burner. Obviously, think realistically about how you want things to actually manifest. Don’t expect everyone to gather round and join in with your schemes, they will have their own stuff to get on with. The time for gathering will come soon enough with the Full Moon. One Billion Rising

                 
credits: drmartinsurvey2 & bellenews & BBC news &  
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

New Moon in Sagittarius -Substance in the Shadows

Writer Victor Hugo has Moon in Sagittarius
One of his best know works is Hunchback of Notre Dame
'sacrificing the earth for paradise is giving up the substance for the shadow'

The Moon moves out of it’s dark Balsamic phase on the 13th December, 2012 and starts afresh in the sign of Sagittarius. In the week or so before this date we may have been just going with the flow, allowing things to drift along where they will and maybe we tried to let go of what needed to be released. We may have even said ‘goodbye’ to what we thought was lost or an enthusiastic 'hello' as it may well be rediscovered. There will have been a general air of waiting and a sense of resting a while. We may feel that there is something hidden but brewing, just out of our sight. Something is growing and building, a glimmer of a plan or a flicker of an idea may be gestating. We may not get to know exactly what it is, the time for revelation is a few weeks away yet but we are prompted and primed to prepare for a change of our own making.

Actress Emma Watson has a Sagittarius Moon
This glimmer of light, this sliver of a shift in awareness is this month’s New Moon occurring at 21 degrees of Sagittarius. This degree falls a couple of degrees shy of the star Lesath, or Aculeus, which can highlight outspokenness and ‘toughing it out’. Over this time it look as if we will be able to give as good as we get having to verbally defend our opinions, standpoint or beliefs and committing ourselves.

Depending on what is triggered in our chart by 21 degrees Sagittarius we could use a smooth and soothing tone and have a way with words to get our point across. Or we can even dream up fantastic new ideas relating to area of our chart being activated. Those born around the 12th/16th December of any year have their Sun always shining on this point and can relate really easily to the double action of having to tough it out and smooth over ruffled feathers, sometimes at the same time. Examples of this double handed juggling act include Gustave Flaubert, Jamie Foxx, Sanjay Gandhi, Dionne Warwick, Dilma Rousseff, Oscar Niemeyer (We Are Stardust Series 2 - Oscar Niemeyer Drawing Curves in the Sky).
                
Christopher Plummer has his Sun and Moon in Sagittarius. At the age of 82 he became the oldest actor to win an Academy Award in 2012 in the film Beginners for Best Supporting Actor.
We can all benefit from this easy way with words that may have to say difficult things. The smooth and palatable line can divert attention away from the tender difficult subject matter. We can accomplish much more this way, even if sometimes it still kicks up the dust and grit of opposition we will be more than equipped to finding a path through. At the very least we can raise a laugh even over the grumbling and shaking of fists.

While the Sun and the Moon have each other for company (Sun in Sagittarius - Big Time Adventures on Horseback), nurturing mutual benefit and understanding, they are still a bit ‘out there’ on their own. This ever expanding duo is pretty much left to their own devices as they form no other major ties to the rest of the planets at the moment. Now being left to get on and do its own thing, independent, free and untrammeled may sound like music to any Sagittarian ears and it may seem so on paper. Yet despite what Sagittarius says the sign actually thrives on contact with others, it is Mutable, it feeds off feedback, even if it 'knows'. 

Astrologer Liz Greene has Moon in Sagittarius
'Freedom is important to Sagittarius for ver special reasons....It is almost as if the heavens are strewn with magical glyphs, and life is like a treasure hunt. One tries to work out what a particular experience means, and what it is supposed to be teaching, and how one can grow from it. Once that experience has wrung dry, and then one finds the next clue in the next experience. Hopefully, one day it will all be revealed, which, of course, it never is. The design just gets larger and larger.' By Liz Greene, Barriers and Boundaries.

The New Moon in Sagittarius for us means that just as we first gallop off without bridle, girth or reins we may literally fell like cavorting (in keeping with the party season). We may all relish the feeling of freedom, shaking our heads with delight at the prospect of such uninterrupted and unmonitored time to just be ourselves. Oh the plans we may foresee, the truths we can try to hunt down, the new opinions we can try and and form and all those ideas blowing around like tumbleweed through our fertile imaginings. We may want to set our sights on huge vistas, panoramas of potentials, massive all encompassing projects, the list may seem joyfully endless. Then we may turn around to gush at those around us, to gleefully share what we see, only to discover that our audience have not followed our personal star at all but are in actual fact chasing their very own ones. We may just have to 'keep the faith', believe in ourselves and enjoy our own jokes, now that is something Sagittarius finds easy.

Actress Portia de Rossi has Moon in Sagittarius (with Ellen DeGeneres Mars in Sagittarius and Saturn in Sagittarius/both with Sagittarius Ascendents) 
Over the next few days of New Moon time will bring a rush of outward looking Sagittarian energy. We could stand out from the herd, reach higher ground and gain some perspective or just take an idea and soar on the thermals. Think about future projects, plans and schemes and try to envision how you want things to actually manifest. Sagittarius needs a firm footing with its four feet stable on the earth to shoot any arrows skyward. Don’t expect everyone to gather round and join in with you, they may well have their own stuff to get on with. The gathering could well come later in a few weeks time at the Full Moon. On the same day as the New Moon it so happens that Uranus, planet of bolts from the blue and illumination takes a move forward, thus ending its backward, Retrograde, motion, for the time being anyway. With Uranus in Aries surging onward again it rekindles our more revolutionary and exciting projects. We are thirsty for change, hungry for innovation and ready to make it happen. This all neatly fits in to the recent forward of Mercury (Mercury in Sagittarius - Postcards from an Optimistic Mind) and its re-arrival into the sign of the moment - Sagittarius and so excited and full of ideas right now.

New Moons want to ignite, they are there to start stuff off, they sew the seeds, often in unseen and invisible ways, after all the light from the Moon is still just a sliver and like an acorn it is hiding much more than it will have to show. New Moons are those times when there is often a spark of freshness even novelty as we start something again or begin brand new projects and undertakings. Our hope and optimism will surge and we feel a ‘well why not’ attitude welling up inside us and we may even notice it in other people. The few days around the New Moon is excellent for trying out new things, experimenting with new styles, trying new tastes or generating ideas. This is a time for experimentation and play. With the New Moon activating the fire sign of Sagittarius, much of this testing out could be motivational, inspirational, or philosophical it will also be very focussed on political matters.

We can use the energy in our favour by taking steps to learn something new or factor in a period of study. We would benefit from opening up our world and expanding our boundaries and find ourselves being quite daring. We may be a bit more loud and boisterous even letting our hair down more than occasionally. Share your jokes you never know someone may find them really funny or not but hey thats life.

Singer/Actor Ol' Blue Eyes, member of The Rat Pack Frank Sinatra had Sun & Moon in Sagittarius 

credits: wikepedia & kathy foote footeography & astrodienst
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs