The New Moon’s Energetic News:  Sagittarius

By Lynne Hyde

We are leaving the intense time of Scorpio and its insistent message of death. Friends around us have come to our doors with new ailing health diagnoses; neighbors are missing who used to be seen daily in their yards; and precious, beloved relatives have had the last sip of life slip out of them, forever… The awareness of our impermanence has been beating like a steady pulse inside of us, for the last, long thirty days. News of mass murders have covered our screens and ships have been blown up, and the image of desperate men clinging to the side of a sinking vessel all signify the demise of Scorpio. Every fall, each intricate leaf gives up its golden glory and lets go, blowing to the ground in surrender, as this is the time in the astrological cycle for endings …

We have now left the Fixed, emotional Water element and are entering the Mutable, philosophical Fire element. The Sun and Moon join together at twenty-eight degrees of Sagittarius on December 19th, right at the end of the Sign, and they want to birth freedom there in the wide Sagittarian expanse! Venus and Mercury are also following in Sagittarius and the four planets in Fire create a greatly needed shift in energy. Life is lifting up. We can leave heavy, angry emotions and embrace the light adaptable search for inquiry, meaning and experience. We are fortunate that Fire follows Water and spirited action can release and move our complicated feelings out of our bodies. The almighty astrological cycle is perfectly designed for proper process and growth!

The planet Jupiter is the commander of Sagittarius; considered to be the “The Greater Benefic,” it bestows prosperity, generosity, abundance and all things beneficial and grand. Its downfall is that it will also expand whatever good or bad emotion, incident or occurrence appears in front of us. It’s like an enhancing magnifying glass, making all things bigger than they really are, exaggerating reality.

This is where “the holiday season” comes from; shopping, giving, over-gifting, gatherings, celebrations, overwhelm, having too much on our plate, feeling “exceptionally” isolated.  Once the Sun moves into Capricorn right around Christmas time on the Winter Solstice watch and experience the majestic spirit fall flat, disappear and become more serious. The holiday season is the large, sweet slice of the Sagittarian melon that becomes present for humanity to taste all over the planet, this time of year.

It’s not a particular religious revelry, but a wonderful, wild current of generous energy that we need to willingly feel, trust and allow to run freely through us. Giving connects us to spirit and isn’t that what religions know? 

Yet, Sagittarius is not just merrymaking, but wants and needs to find and focus on the essential meaning and purpose of Life. It’s considered the “Truth Seeker,” and its core motive is to know the “why” of things. It’s critical to understand the overriding picture that ultimately matters; it has no patience for the small and petty among us. Sagittarius has integrity and respects integrity. So going to parties will feel good, fulfill us and help others, if we embrace something of morality; if we share our precious values and concerns that matter, in our talks. Light chatter will get us nowhere this cycle. We need to share naked sincerity and honest truth to ride the month buoyantly forward…

This New Moon is exactly squaring Neptune, the planet of confusion, and almost in an exact square (challenging) to Saturn, the planet of conservative contraction. The month ahead may need to be held with some hesitation and caution. Neptune can be deceptive and the news we hear will need to be questioned. It’s also extremely sensitive and hurt feelings may be sifting and shifting in our backgrounds. Doing less is best right now with Saturn so prominent. It is a degree away from squaring Venus, the planet of love and money, so spending less and expecting less will give us more safe and secure footing. We have “feel good” expansion that needs to be stepped into, one small, careful inch at a time. Simple gratitude can provide our needed security and stability.

The Solstice will plop its dynamic head out of the winter womb on December 21^st. It must be honored as it signifies the changing season and the new year of 2026 to come. The Sun moving into Capricorn will still have its grip on the tight square to Neptune and chaos and uncertainty may also come…      

The retrograde hold is over; only two of the ten planets are on pause. We can begin again, just a little bit now. We are in the midst of having seven of the twelve annual New Moons (from September until next March) all taking place at the final, last degrees of the Signs.   Instead of being birthed at the fresh beginnings or in the healthy middle of the Sign’s thirty degrees, they are all at the very karmic end; indicating that we are still in the weak arms of dissipation, and in fact, in a major, fateful ending. We all are letting go of the past as Neptune, Saturn and Uranus leave Pisces and Taurus and change Signs. Neptune and Saturn will join at the most powerful degree of the zodiac, “zero Aries,” on February 20^th and our lives will finally change with the cosmic winds moving into Aries’ and Gemini’s new zones and directions…

At this last safe, familiar place, may you enjoy Jupiter taking you into the sweeping grace of the Sagittarian space!