The current New Moon cycle is taking place in Scorpio along with the great planet Saturn.  The New Moon happens approximately every twenty-eight days and simply marks the time in the lunar cycle when the Moon is conjunct the Sun.  It is both an ending and a beginning as it ends the cycle of the last Moon/Sun conjunction and begins the cycle of the current Moon/Sun conjunction.  On an energetic level, it marks the time of the lowest level of prana and is therefore a “natural” time to reflect, rest, and work on inner healing.  Once the moon is past the exact degrees of the Sun, it moves into the waxing phase and the pranic energy begins to build again.

The “exact” conjunction of the Moon and Sun will take place on 11/29 at approximately 7 AM, Eastern Standard Time.  However, the Moon will not leave “Scorpio” until 11/30 at approximately 4:30 P.M, Eastern Standard Time which will give us all extra time to utilize the last New Moon being influenced by the energy of the planet Saturn as it will be approximately twenty-eight years before Saturn is in Scorpio again.  Keeping in mind the nature of Saturn as the great karmic teacher and Scorpio as the sign which delves into the hidden nature of the subconscious mind, the lessons of this configuration cannot be underestimated.  While, for some, the most noticeable feelings may be fatigue, discouragement, or resentment, by looking a bit deeper they can discover that the theme of the thoughts and emotions have a familiar pattern.  Those thoughts, issues, and emotions should be those that have been strongly present for the past two years and may actually represent one’s own shadow.  If one respects Saturn’s nature as the “truth bringer,” this is an opportunity to clear out some emotional and mental garbage within ourselves which tends to prevent us from experiencing harmony and balance in our lives.

I came across a wonderful quote which gives a perspective on dealing with truth and seems appropriate for this New Moon:  “The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie – deliberate, contrived, and dishonest – but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.  Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”  (John F. Kennedy)

 Here in America, we are all dealing with the results of a shocking and even frightening presidential election.  Donald Trump ran a campaign in which he lied almost every time he opened his mouth.  His opponent is a life-long politician who, as is the nature of the business of politics, too often spoke within the scope of trying to appeal to segments of the population with what she considered the “right” words.  She was saddled with some poor decisions along with a decades-long smear campaign by her political opponents.

In the end, enough people chose the myth of Donald Trump – they chose to believe that Donald did not release his taxes not because he was hiding something, but because he was taking a stand against the government and was actually on the same page as the angry voter who believes in the right-wing myth of the evil government.  Does the fault lie with the liar or with those people who prefer myth over the discomfort of thought?

On a more individual basis, all of us have had Saturn parked somewhere in our charts, and we can be sure that there has been a recurrent theme in our lives for the past two years.  This New Moon is an opportunity to truly reflect on why a certain area of our lives seems to be bothersome at this time in our lives.

Perhaps the best way for me to illustrate this is to get more personal than I usually get in these blogs.  Scorpio is the ruler of my sixth house of work and health.  These two issues have been under the glance of Saturn for two years now and have caused me to make some changes.  I deal with an auto-immune illness and, at one point during this cycle, I had to admit that the illness was becoming stronger and that some change had to be made if I wanted to be able to complete my own bucket list.  In order to make the necessary change, I needed to first accept that part of the truth of the situation was that my lifestyle was a detriment to my health and that all of my choices for my illness were helping me to perhaps maintain, but I was not actually becoming any healthier.  I was living in the most densely populated community in America and one of the most expensive.  The pollution of the area was making me nearly house-bound, and the expense was not worth the living conditions.  After long thought and deliberation, I closed down life in that location and ended up here in Quebec.  It is not my final location, but I am able to leave the house and benefit from the cool, clean air.  My physical energy is returning, and I feel that I am no longer just maintaining the status quo.  The two big items on my bucket list are now within reach.

The issue of work and truth is a bit more challenging because it is in that area that I can run into the issue of people preferring myth over truth.  Like many astrologers of my generation, I came across astrology via the Western or Tropical system of calculation and studied it for years.  I moved away from that system of astrology because, like the English language, there were just too many exceptions to the rules, and it was getting too messy for my mind.  I had and still have great respect for the psychological aspects that Western astrology brought into this most ancient of all sciences.  It is the psychology and humanity that makes the Western system unique, and a great debt is owed to people like Dane Rudyar, Stephen Forrestor, and Robert Hand since today many Eastern astrologers have been able to add another layer to their own work.

Because of the respect that I have for the work done by Western astrologers, I followed the path of many Eastern astrologers and simply left the differences between the positions in the two zodiacs in the background.  Western astrologers are often able to be accurate because they are very open to the discovery of new planets, stars, asteroids, etc., and the intuitive blending continues to make their work valuable.  However, Saturn is truth and facts and, for the past two years, I’ve been nagged very much about the differences in the calculations of the two zodiacs.  Today, anyone can go up to the NASA website, or any other astronomical site, and see with their own eyes that the Sun on November 21st is in Scorpio, not Sagittarius, and they certainly can see that Saturn is in Scorpio.  Modern science has also been stunned to discover that people born during certain times of the year tend to share specific qualities – the same qualities that astrology has been talking about for thousands of years – but these same scientists will usually add to their conclusions a comment about how these studies in no way give credence to the quackery of astrology.

As someone who has spent most of her life being disparaged for my “space cadet” beliefs and also has clients who keep me a secret in their lives, Saturn being in Scorpio has been telling me that I don’t have to be rude or militant, but that I do need to stand up for the truth.  The truth is that there is nothing imaginative or intuitive about the placement of the planets along the zodiacal path.  The truth is that there is much to be said for the principles of astrology, but if the majority continue to put the planets in positions that were correct over two thousand years ago, astrology does not have a viable position in the world of fact because anyone who knows the positions are wrong will simply stay with the “it’s a ‘bogus’ system” mindset.  The truth is that I cannot honestly blame them for believing that.

I am not going to start a movement about this issue, but for those who read this blog, you will notice I am going to be more insistent about the “true” positions of the planets.  Those who happen to follow my Twitter or see my Facebook postings might notice a somewhat snarky comment at times – it is just me doing my best to follow Truth.

Not everyone, of course, has their sixth house ruled by Scorpio and each of us may have a different Saturn truth depending upon the house placement. If someone has Scorpio ruling the seventh house of relationships – both personal and professional – there may be a shift in their attitude towards relationships or in the people with whom they are in relationship. There are twelve houses which gives us quite a variety of issues in which truth is being discovered.

As you read about the New Moon in Sagittarius and compare it to your own New Moon experience, keep in mind that Sagittarius is a forward-moving, positive, and naturally buoyant energy – if you don’t feel that type of an energy flow, don’t believe it’s because Saturn is in Sagittarius; what you are experiencing is the nature of Scorpio.  Use this energy to delve deeper into your shadow and allow yourself to dump some of the garbage.  Finally, in approximately two years perhaps we will be discussing the results of Saturn’s truth in the positive sign of Sagittarius and we will hopefully find that we have  rediscovered the forward-thinking and more idealistic side of America and ourselves.