Sagittarius  New Moon– 2023

By Tracy Cook

Where should my focus be during this next 29-day cycle? 

When we draft a chart for the new moon, we get a sense of the energy that will be up for processing for the next 29 days.  

Okay what is this cycle about?    Joy in this Sag season may not be big instead it can come in little bits.  But bits of joy at a time of need inspire us by their sweetness and can stay with us forever.  

Scorpio New Moon 

December 12, 2023

3:32 pm PST

20 Sagittarius 40   

Welcome to the 2024 Sagittarius New Moon 

On the Sagittarius New Moon, we have an opportunity to expand our world.  Sagittarius is the wanderer both mentally and physically.   Sag wants to know ‘what’s over there?’ Sag asks a lot of question like its opposite sign Gemini.   The difference is Gemini gets lots of dots of data, but Sag puts the dots in an order or a theme.   

Sagittarius is the teacher and the author.   Sag is the judge.   Sag is there to help others broaden their perspective.   Sag wants to inspire and tap its own inspiration.  Sag is the priest, rabbi and imam and anyone that leads worship.   Sag is the writer and the opinion maker.  Sag looks for the funny and will use humor to make its point.  Sag looks for truth in a fact, in a person, in a heart.   Sag looks for the light. 

Sagittarius is a centaur, a mythical creature who is half man and half horse.   In the man’s hands is a bow and arrow and he is always aiming for something more.   Sag is the final fire sign of the zodiac, and we can use that fire to energizes us to ponder ‘what’s next’?    It is both a philosophical question and a road map.   During this cycle there is an impetus to get out of the house.  It is a natural fit for Sag that holiday parties take place in its 29-day lunar month.   Eat, drink and be merry is all about Sag however  this year, Sag’s exuberance may not be as strong due to  Neptune.   

The new moon chart has a square with Neptune in Pisces.   When Neptune impacts a chart, transparency goes out the window.   For 29 days we may feel fuzzy around us.  We sense others are not telling the truth or don’t have all the facts.   Sure.  People get sloppy.  People lie.   Got it.   Or maybe there is a negative patina caused by other factors that feel out of our control.   Sure, that happens.   So, what do we do with all our Sag energy who wants more, wants inspirations and wants truth?   We get quiet.   We find truth by observing.   Sag knows good teaching comes from good observations.   We benefit this cycle when we take things slow.   Perhaps the joy of Sag adventure comes from knowing we don’t have all the answers and even if we feel sad or blue, we can still we find strength and bravery to find little bits of optimism.      There is also the gift of learning to find and trust our guts.   While Pisces gets in a tizzy when Sag is righteous and dares anyone to say it is wrong and Sag gets worked up when Pisces bumbles around with no purpose and seems to believe life is just flotsam and jetsam and random, they both share a commonality.  They are both ruled by Jupiter (Pisces co-ruler along with Neptune) and Jupiter has an inner authority that comes with a strong gut.   This will be a 29-day cycle of gut finding.    

Another note on Neptune.   Neptune has been in Pisces since 2012 so along the way there have been a few squares with Neptune on The Sag new moon.   Consider where you were in the holiday seasons of 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020.   What was your headspace?     Americans can look at those dates and see a tie into the political landscape as each of them had important elections transpire that November. God knows Sag new moon in 2020 was impacted by Covid.  We can see the patina of being ‘off’ on those cycles.    After this year we will only have one more Sag new moon squared by Neptune and that is in 2025 after that Neptune begins a cycle of trines with Sag which will bring some extra joy.   Until then with the Neptune square we deepen the philosophical side of Sag and still hang in there even if we feel ‘off’.   

The new moon chart also has an inconjunct with the planet Uranus which suggests opportunity for changes.   During this 29-day cycle something out of the blue can come up that will activate a practical change.   Perhaps plans go awry and the alternate solution is offered.   It could feel like a loss but later it turns out to bring its own joy.   This is gift of Sag, finding the adventure in changes.  

Additionally, in the new moon chart there a wide conjunction with Mars.   While there may be some sparks that comes with the Mars, it is a waning energy and given the square with Neptune dominates the chart, Mars may be more cautious than normal and look at some enemies and tasks not worth the battle.   How philosophical of Mars! 

If you are picking up a theme that slower is better, great, you are paying attention and just to hammer home that theme is Mercury.   Six hours after the new moon launches, Mercury stations retrograde.     Yep, time to slow down.   

Mercury 

11/25 Mercury shadow begins

12/13 12:09 am PST Mercury station retrograde 8 Cap 29

12/22 Mercury re-enters Sagittarius  

1/1/24 8:37pm PST Mercury station direct 22 Sag 11 

1/13/24 Mercury re-enters Capricorn 

1/22/24 Mercury shadow ends

Usually there are three Mercury retrogrades per year but sometimes we can get four, such is the case this year.    As a reminder, Mercury retrogrades encourage us to slow down and research.   Try to hold off on important purchases and signing contracts if you can.  If you must do important just double check every t before you cross it and dot every i.   We don’t get frozen by the retrograde we just slow down.  

Mercury in Capricorn is very practical.   It is a super pragmatic thinker.  It is a focused and restrained.  It can do a mental heavy lift.   Anything that needs hard thinking and hard work, it can figure a way to do it.  Capricorn understands small wins can make an ultimate success.   Mercury in Capricorn looks around and knows exactly what is broken in the system.  In the mundane world, during this retrograde there will be stories on electeds or leaders in some sort of manner who are showing up and doing the work and having successes and others who created big failures and are only at the job to pull chains and climb up the ladder.     Watch the news for who is on the right side and who is on the wrong side of history.   

On another note, it is interesting that Pluto who is now direct in the last degrees of Capricorn and Mercury is going backward in Capricorn.  It is almost as if we all need to focus on the Capricornia energy that is our government and big business and leadership before we do our next round of Pluto in Aquarius in January.   Our landscape will reveal a lot in this retrograde period from shadow to shadow.  

On a personal level, Mercury is how we think and how we communicate with others and with self.    Capricorn can be negative and can look at the glass as half empty.   You may find yourself hanging out in a cynical head space while Mercury is retrograde in Capricorn.   But when Mercury re-enters Sagittarius on December 22 we can shake off some of the negative thinking and begin contemplating a way out.    We look for a light.  

While there may be an inclination to grit our teeth and just white knuckle through any hurdles that come up during the retrograde, don’t truncate the real impact that Capricorn can offer.   Consider percolating in the negative thinking where you may feel less than or the recipient of the short end of the stick.  Don’t suppress all those icky feelings.  Let them come up and use them to inform you as to what is broken in your system.  Then during Mercury’s return to Sag consider how others do things, perhaps people who are foreign or just have a foreign attitude to how you do things.  One that you normally don’t experience.   Is there something there for you?    Then when Mercury stations direct on January 1 you can begin efforts in a meaningful way to fix issues on the ground level and by the time, we get to Mercury returning to Capricorn on January 13 there could be some small wins.  Sometimes feeling the hardship and struggle make the success that much sweeter.  

Watch the houses that contain the transit of 22 Sagittarius to 9 degrees Capricorn for important insights and themes. 

Jupiter

Then there is Sagittarius ruling planet, Jupiter who is stationing direct and will head out for its final run of Taurus.  Right now, we are revisiting the period between June 2011 and June 2012 at the last Jupiter in Taurus.  Before that period, it was June 1999 to June 2000.    Are you seeing themes from then and now in your personal life? 

Jupiter 

June 11:    Shadow begins (5 Taurus 35) 

Sep 4:        Jupiter station retrograde Taurus 34 (15 Taurus 35)

Dec 30 :    Jupiter station direct (5 Taurus 35) at 6:40pm PST 

Mar 23 :    Shadow ends (15 Taurus 35) 

For the last three months (since Sept 4) Jupiter brought its bigness between 5 and 16 degrees of Taurus.   Anyone with planets at those degrees especially the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio & Aquarius) have felt, no doubt, a huge gravitational pull.    

Jupiter loves to be big.   Taurus loves earth, property, real estate, money, banks, projects, building stuff, beauty, and love.   Taurus does not like making waves.   But when something gets in its way and stops Taurus from its values, get out of the way.  The bull will stampede and gore.  Where have you been stampeding?   Where have you found the gravity spinning you?    What’s going on with your money?   How have you been drilling deep on your values?  

During Jupiter retrograde we may have figured out what works and what needs patience.  This could be the perfect antidote and follow up to anything Uranus changed or broke since it entered Taurus in 2018.    What are you rebuilding?  Did you get clarity during the retrograde?   A lot with Jupiter is about philosophy.  Have you experienced a change in your opinions?  Are your big opinions working for you and your goals of building something from the ground up?  What change of opinion has become more aligned with your values since September.   As Jupiter unwinds, have a lot more to explore before Jupiter enters Gemini next May.  

In conclusion:

So, this is a muted Sag period.   The parties are not as wild, the abbondanza not as big and we may not be coloring outside the lines, which sometimes Sag can do for just the fun of it.   Instead, we are quieter, we sense we don’t know the whole picture.  Sag the archer may like to shoot but not when he does not know the whole shot.  Instead, we look around, we learn, we observe, and we find the light in the world, in others and in the mirror.    

In the spirit of the season and as my gift to you, I offer up an interesting and compelling discussion on the mind and the body that should scratch the Sag itch of wonderment.   Thank you to Mark my Gemini bestie who of course found it in his eternal quest to find the good on the world wide web.  

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCW2NHbWNwA

May your season be bright where it needs to be and Happy New Year!  See you in January for Capricorn.  

The 8 phases

December 12, 2023

3:32 pm PST

20 Sagittarius 40   

New moon: Plant seeds, make calls, activate, start projects.   Activate something that will ideally lead you to more results.  This is the phase where INTENT is critical.  Even if the results are not immediate, the intent is there.  You may not have all the answers or road map, but you should put out your Intent.

This focus:    Where do you need 

Special note:

12/12:  Mercury retrograde (see above)  8 Cap 29

12/14:  Sun trine Node.  There is an adventure component when finding independence.  

Crescent Moon Phase

December 16, 2023

1:08am PST  

Crescent:  We will receive information, we will research a bit more, perhaps get feedback on stuff that we planted on new.  Perhaps get some information that will help down the road on a seed we planted a while ago.  We can collect some data now.  Even if you think you are not getting information, stop, and re-look at everything.  Who called you?  Even the silliest things when they come up during Crescent are note worthy.  A parking ticket.  An argument with a spouse?  A refund check from the phone company?  All of it needs to be considered a message from the universe.  How can this information help you?

Focus on: What are you learning about your friendships?   How do they expand your world?  How is your tribe a reflection of your philosophies?    How is your tribe not connected to your goals?  Does it work?  Or not work? 

Special Focus

12/18: Mercury trine Jupiter.  This is the second one (12/7 first) third is Jan 19.  Big ideas.  Big opinions.  Big gravitational changing conversations.  

First Quarter Moon 

December 19, 2023

10:39am PST 

First quarter: We do more actions based on the information that we just received.  Or we feel our instincts guide us on something.  We pursue again.  We make another call, or we see someone. We mail something.  We stir the pot again.  This can be a time when we realize that the goals, we planted on new need more action from us, perhaps actions that involve breaking away.   Are there people who say they have our best interest in heart but fear us growing away from them?  Maybe we need to get help from others not the usual suspects.  Some independence may need to be exerted. 

Focus on:  How are you taking actions that speak to your faith?  How are you taking actions that speak to something bigger?   What knowledge do you have that may not be written down or learned in a traditional manner but still you are informed?   How is your mystical guiding you?  

Special Note

12/20:  Venus oppose Uranus. Love and values get out of the blue actions.   Lightning strikes  on money, love, beauty, creativity.  How does it work? 

12/21: Mercury sextile Saturn. Structured thinking is inspiring.   Less is more on every thought.  

12/21 : Sun enters Capricorn.  First day of Winter. 

12/22 : Mercury conjunct Sun.   Thinking about our place in the world.   Is it time to be out there more?   How are our leaders showing up or not showing up?   

12/22 : Mecury re-enters Sagittarius.  Thinking is a bit more positive.  The glass is a bit more full.  Our communication is cheerier.  

Gibbous Moon

December 22, 2023  

11:28pm PST  

Gibbous:

We refine our information.  We pick and choose, we discriminate, and we organize to be ‘Virgo’ like.  We sort through details.  Have we missed something?  How are we sifting through the information?  Go back and make sure something hasn’t been neglected.  Refine our actions.  

Focus on:  How are you refining your properties?  How are you refining your values?  How are you refining you skills to build something one bit at a time?  How are you refining your money and resources?  

Special focus

12/24: Sun sextile Saturn.  Finding order brings stability and long range goals into sight.   

12/24: Mars trine North Node.  Actions that lean into independence are fruitful.  

12/25: Venus trine Neptune.  Love of humanity.  Love of the people around us.  Finding moment of joy even if it is in bed watching movies.    Cozy is there to be found. 

12/25: Mercury square Neptune.  Fuzzy communication already in place with the retrograde, now with the square to Neptune we double down in fuzzy.   If people aren’t honest how do we move around it from an inner knowing?  

December 26, 2023

Full Moon

4:33 pm PST 

4 Cancer 58  

Full Moon:  We make the needed adjustments on the things we planted. Usually, emotions are up and running and for those people who perhaps did not utilize the new moon and the rest of the waxing moon, this is when emotions can get the better of us.  There can often be a big emotional break, for no other reason than to get back on track.   Some partnership will offer up some balance.  The moon is bright and full and there is no room for shadows, what is reflecting on you?  

Focus on:   How are you emotions guiding you?  How do your feelings inform you about your goals?   What is family reflecting back to you?  What is the good that you got from family?   What is the not-so-good that you got from family?    How do your roots strengthen you?   When do your family emotions get in your way? 

Special focus 

12/27: Sun trine Jupiter.  Joy and abundance that comes with practical application and pragmatic vision.  

12/27: Mercury conjunct Mars.  The tongue is sharp and razor.  Take caution. 

12/28: Mars square Neptune.  Fuzzy warrior.  Perhaps misguided.   Intuition needs to be found.   

12/28: Venus sextile Pluto.  Joy, creativity, values get a needed and gentle overhaul in some small way. 

12/29 Venus enters Sagittarius.   Three weeks of big love and big creativity.  

Disseminating

December 30, 2023

3:50pm PST       

Disseminating: Share information; find a teacher or someone who has more knowledge. Perhaps there was a big ol’ blow out on the full and one feels in need of support and help, this is the phase to reach out to one who knows more. This is when we find a rabbi or a minister or therapist who gives us more insight.   And of course, you too may be ready to teach and share your own information.  

Focus on:   How are you sharing your dramatic side?  How are you sharing your strength?  How are you sharing your big?  How are you sharing pride?  How are you sharing your ability to be brave?  

Special focus:

12/30 :  Jupiter stations direct  (5 Taurus 35) at 6:40pm PST (see above) 

1/1/24:  Mercury station direct (22 Sag) 11at 8:37pm PST (see above) 

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Last Quarter Moon Phase

January 3, 2024 

7:30 pm PST    

Last Quarter moon:  Now we do the final adjustments to the seeds we planted on new. The final call, the final letters to send, we follow all the trails that came up that still make sense.  And we let the other parts lay fallow. It is a time of action but wise action.  It is a time for living “The serenity prayer” 

God, grant me the Serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change Courage to change the
things I can, and the
Wisdom to know the difference.

Focus on:

What final actions can you take that support your partnerships?  How can you act that supports relationships but also supports your growth?  

Special focus 

1/4:  Mars enters Capricorn.   A warrior for practicality and pragmatism for two months.   

Balsamic Moon Phase

January 7, 2024  

5:09 pm PST 

Balsamic:   We let go.  By releasing we can prepare for the new.  

Focus on:  How are you releasing your big opinions?  How are you releasing broad philosophies that do not really apply to your life?  How are you releasing righteousness?  How are you releasing too much gusto?   

Special focus:

1/8 : Mercury square Neptune.  Fuzzy thinking, thoughts and communications that lack transparency.   What does your gut tell your brain?  

1/9: Sun trine Uranus.  Creativity and novelty come from out of the blue and bring change that is well received. 

1/10: Sun square North Node.   Tension between holding on to the status quo and going new with more independence.   Where’s the balance? 

Cap New Moon January 11, 3:57am PST  (20 Capricorn 41)