NEW MOON in CAPRICORN –

December 23, 5:17 am EST.

By Mike Zizis

ATTENTION ASTROLOGERS; please rectify this new moon for your time zone.

In astrology we assign meaning to the ever repeating, ever unique, patterns of the planets. The placing of meaning is not arbitrary. This is based on 8, 9, or 10 {take your pick} thousands of years of people patiently watching the journey of heavenly light at night.

Planets ‘fall’ around the sun, and the moon ‘falls’ around the Earth. The cyclic patterns enabled the first farmers to plant crops at the optimum time. This theme of survival is about making mistakes, the village starving, and the wisest among us understanding the crops and planetary patterns that at last allow us to feed our children. Please make no mistake about this; you are here because they were here. Astrology was conceived and refined in places with four seasons.

This new Moon is one of 12 every year. This is a momentous new cycle. In the northern hemisphere it signifies the end of the days darkening and night encroaching. South of the equator this same new moon cycle reveals the end of tempestuous summer and the beginning of the seed cycle of renewal.

In astrology the four points of the compass are replaced by the four cardinal signs. The beginning or zero points of the signs are the beginning of the next season.

0° Capricorn on this day actually heralds some of the most severe snowstorms of the year so far. It does seem paradoxical that the beginning of the return of light is accompanied by the frozen ground of Capricorn. The seagoing goat — half fish and half goat — is neither comfortable scaling mountains nor swimming in the ocean. That’s Capricorn more than any other sign feeling excluded in a harder path than any other sign of the zodiac. This is the journey of what we call character, which is what is left after the cosmetic of personality has been burned away.

One of the best uses of this new moon cycle, next 28 days, is gratitude and application of the more challenging path of health, an unwavering understanding of addiction, and quiet perseverance. You might meditate on card number eight of the Tarot — strength, or the Lady and the lion, in a gradual and masterful harmony that is unwitnessed by others. In the words of Sly {from the Family Stone} “You have you to complete, and there is no deal.”