✧ This January's New Moon + Partial Solar Eclipse on 1/6 is in Capricorn ✧
Essences
Grounding, nurturing, beginning, patience, release, growth, practicality, yes
Questions to Ask
*our little ritual this week has to do with answering these questions, so be sure to read the ritual down below before answering :)
What do I want to say YES to this year?
Where do I feel that I’ve been holding myself back, and why? What is holding myself back keeping me from achieving / doing?
What is my idea of success? What does success both personally and professionally look like for me this year?
What helps to ground me?
In what ways can I be more practical? How can more practicality play into my creativity?
What is testing my patience the most right now? And how am I handling it?
What nurtures me?
What are my priorities this year?
What to Become Aware of
Happy solar return, friends! Our planet making her new lap around the sun gives us a sweet opportunity to hold our visions for new beginnings, celebrate endings, and ground ourselves in the patience and practicality required to remain present in honoring them both. This is not the time to hold ourselves back in even one more experience. This is the time to release the doubt and the control — to soar into what the core of our being knows that it needs. This is our time to unfurl — to alchemize each moment as an opportunity for growth and deeper trust in the mysterious unfoldment of our hopes + dreams. May we lift our face towards the golden Sun just as much as bow it towards the dark, New Moon.
This is the time to take an honest look at what we need from ourselves in order to feel fulfilled and successful in the coming year, and then give ourselves absolute reign to embody it all! We so easily tend not to see ourselves in our full brilliancy. We allow rampant self-deprecation, limiting thoughts, and conditioned beliefs to tell us what we are and are not worthy of being or achieving. And really, way more so than setting new year goals and expectant manifestations, we need to be digging deep into these conditioned thought patterns and habits. The more we sink into these habits, the more we close down. But the more we rise up to challenge and question these habits, the more we open up. May we trust ourselves in this process, and know that we are safe in our self-discovery, for this discovery is the foundation of everything else that manifests in our reality. May we remember that our “healing” is endless and cyclical as long as we are blessed to be alive — that the “healing” is really just the “remembering” of our most authentic, intuitive nature and what it came into this life to radiate and create. This is our time to be so unapologetic in embodying who we inherently are.
Our New Moon this week reminds us that the welcoming of this new year is not at all about deepening our control over life, but rather it’s about practicing a release of control and deepening a trust in what’s manifesting. We do have control over what we envision and intend to manifest, but our surrender is required to the ways that our manifestations show up. May we find our balance between the wishful and the practical. When we set our goals and intentions for this new year, may we do so with the understanding that we are not entitled to anything … our work and effort is constantly required. If we want something, we have to go out and get it! If we set a goal to achieve something by a certain time, we have to hold ourselves accountable to waking up every day thinking about what we can do to manifest it. And even then, we must practice equally as much patience in the process of how our goals decide to unfold. At this New Moon, we are being reminded that we are always held and cared for — that our allies are always working and growing alongside us. It is our responsibility to say YES to the unexpected, to say NO to what doesn’t feel aligned, to release old patterns of control, to ground ourselves in patience and persistence, and to nurture ourselves by keeping a light-hearted perspective … we don’t need to take it all so seriously anymore. We’re here to have fun :) ~
When we are joyful and open to saying YES, no matter how many times we’ve been knocked down, life shows up for us in magical ways. This is our night to celebrate the sweetness of our being, and to give it intentional permission to unfurl into all that we do. This is the real alchemy: allowing even the most menial and difficult of moments to becomes the moments that truly ignite our compassion and remind us of how to lean in and surrender.
A Ritual to Practice
Embodying the Answers
This little ritual is all about the answers you made to the questions above. When it comes to doing inner work, I am huge on asking questions! Silence and lack of thought (meditation) definitely has its place, but so does language. Thoughts are often what get us into sticky situations in the first place, so it’s good sometimes to use thought to help get us out. Really spend time with the questions here — answer them as intentionally and honestly as you’re able.
Before you do, create your sacred space in which to answer them. Pick a spot — maybe out in nature or within a cozy home — that helps you you feel safe and creative. Light a candle, burn some incense or palo santo, and curate the ground or table before you with a few of your favorite, sacred trinkets.
Then, say a little prayer in whatever way aligns with you best. Prayer is not meditation — meditation can be thought of as a “listening to God” while prayer is more of a “communicating with God”. So whatever your concept of God and of prayer is, tune into it. Pray for openness and honesty in your answers — that they may radiate from the most authentic, intuitive core of your being. Pray for trust in the mystery — to be able to surrender into the unfoldment of your life without a need to control it.
Lastly, breathe. Breathe in starlight, exhale smoke. Breathe in consciously, thanking your body and lungs for holding you and pulling you through such a miraculous life. Breathe in all the love and compassion for yourself that you can muster. Touch your chest gently, sending waves of kindness and patience into it.
And now, jot down your answers. Once you are done, say a closing prayer of massive gratitude for all the forces working with you and beyond you. Take some last closing, conscious breaths. Now is your time to soar.