A New Year and A New Moon - dare to make big plans!
Happy New Year
Hello and Happy New Year. Welcome to a New Year and new beginnings especially with this New Moon which is right at the start of this new year, making it a really, beautiful, exciting time because it gives us a chance to work with intention setting right at the start of a new year. Personally, I love this time of year, it’s an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start again, to think about what we want to take forward into this new year, what we want to achieve over the next 12 months, and how we're going to do it. Each new year brings new astrological events and I for one am breathing a sigh of relief that 2022 brings in a different energy to what we've experienced over the last two years. Energy wise it’s a much more positive, optimistic year focused on growth. You’re probably going to get really sick and tired of me mentioning it, but the theme of this year is about figuring out what's really important to us. Where do our true values lay, and how can we embody those, and our purpose in our lives each day.
New Moon Energies
Let’s get straight into the big stuff. This new moon starts off the year rising here in the UK on January the 2nd at 18.33. And it's a super moon. It’s in Capricorn, which is a cardinal earth sign. And Capricorns tend to be very practical, very determined, very resourceful. They're ambitious, they're disciplined, they're wise, and they like things to be organised. When you think about the symbol of Capricorn it's a mountain goat. Sure footed creatures they're good at finding a pathway. Even when you look at the side of the mountain and can see no discernible path, a mountain goat will find the pathway and find its way through. But at the same time, it's looking ahead to see where the next step should be, to see how we can get to the ultimate goal, which is the top of the mountain. When we use the strengths of Capricorn, we're using them to get focused and disciplined on what we want to achieve. Working with Capricorn energy we need a plan of action. Capricorns work best with a direction, a plan, when things are organised, and they have a focus. Creating a plan under this New Moon works perfectly with the fact that we are standing here in a new year. With this new energy incoming we can look at what we want to achieve, or where we want to go, what we want from the next 12 months. When you're setting your intentions under a new moon, you can set them for the next month so it takes you through a full lunar cycle to the next new moon, or you can set them for the next six months or the next year. As long as you are realistic in how you're going to get there, and how long it's going to take you to get there, then you can dare to dream big.
A Capricorn moon is a very grounded, practical, focused and disciplined one. On a practical level it's about making a commitment to your goals. Thinking about what you truly want 2022 to be, not just the small stuff, you want to ask yourself the really big deeper questions as well. It's not a time for big daydreams. It's a time for planning, for getting focused and clear. And getting real on what you want to achieve.
New Moons are a time when things slow down, a time for reflection, for thinking, for planning, for creating, listening to our intuition, it's a time for rest as well. It's not an action time, it's a rest and reflect time. New Moons give us permission to take some of that much needed rest and recuperation, especially this one after the turbulence of the last few years. And that’s a wonderful thing, don't feel guilty about sitting on the sofa with a good book, or Netflix, or taking a bath, or just giving yourself some me time, whatever rest and recuperation looks like for you. Wrap yourself up, prioritise what needs doing, and then let the rest of it just wait. Give yourself the gift of time. Give yourself that space to put things on the back burner a bit. And just let yourself rest, breathe and be aware of how you feel about things and lean into those feelings.
Capricorns have the gift of a really organised mind making this a good time for us to write things down or to create a vision board, to dig deep about what changes you want to make, what do you want your life to look like going forward. And the other thing about Capricorn is, it teaches us that when we look at aligning our work with our life's purpose, with who we are, that's when the magic happens. That's when things fall into place, that's when the path ahead reveals itself. The energies are shifting this year, Sadly, they don't just change the minute the clocks change, we will have some hangovers from 2021 still to work through. But the energies of Capricorn work with us to resolve what needs addressing and to give us an actionable plan to do that. Whether you want to start a new relationship, begin a business, move locations, or whether it's something like an old habit that you want to shift under this new moon, now is really powerful time to work on setting those intentions, to creating a plan, and to working towards attainable goals, to thinking about what and how you're going to achieve that goal.
Crystal Grids
One of my favourite things to add into my lunar energy work is to amplify the work with crystals. I love using crystals when I'm working with the moon. I love creating a crystal grid. And thankfully, I have a huge store of crystals after many years of doing this. So, what are good crystals to work with under a Capricorn New Moon? Here are the crystals I’m using this month on my crystal New Moon grid:
There's this beautiful crystal, which is called Ocean Jasper, the ones I've got are a beautiful deep blue. Ocean Jasper brings about patience and stillness. It helps to it helps us learn to go with the flow in the same way as the tide does, to flow and ebb, but it also helps us to tap into unrealised potential. Sometimes when you're looking at setting powerful or huge intentions you need a little bit of help tapping into that unrealised potential to remember the magic in you, to remind you of what you’re capable of. And to know that you are more than you think you are at this point in time.
And then I've got Tiger's eye. Tiger's eye focuses the mind. It promotes mental clarity, it brings confidence. It's said to be a stone of power of courage and of protection. And it doesn't matter if you use the red or golden colour, I’m using a blue Tiger's eye, whichever one calls to you go with that.
Smoky Quartz is another beautiful stone, particularly if you get a natural Smoky Quartz. It's a beautiful stone. And it's a very grounding stone. But it also removes a lot of negativity from the environment, removes negativity from us, it's a good stone to have around any electrical equipment, your computer, your phone, to keep the energy clean. But it's also helps us with breaking old habits.
And then I like to use Fluorite and Fluorite, again, is a great stone for focus.
Malachite, which is the stone of transformation, helps us with creating boundaries. And when you're creating good, strong solid foundations, it helps to have boundaries in place. If you're working with sharing your life's purpose, questions such as do you share your gifts with the world can arise. Or are you actually hiding them away because you're afraid of other people's thoughts or opinions, or you're afraid of not having other people's approval. So, Malachite is helpful in creating those boundaries about what we want to build without worrying too much about what other people think.
Clear Quartz known as the Master Healer. It's a fantastic stone for connecting us to our higher consciousness and helping us to find our purpose.
And then lastly, the beautiful Azurite balances out the Saturn ruled work side of Capricorn. Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn and is known as the taskmaster planet. Azurite balances out this Saturn ruled part of Capricorn with a more spiritual outlook. And it helps to open and increase our intuition as we go forward as well.
So, these are just a few crystals that you can work with if you're wanting to make a crystal grid and are wanting to amplify the energy of the intentions that you're setting.
Planetary Action
We have Venus still retrograde in Capricorn now. And much as when I talked about the full moon back in December it's about considering finances, considering relationships and our values, and helping us to get much clearer on what we want to commit to and where we should be placing our energies.
We also have Jupiter entering Pisces on the first of January where it remains until the 28th of July, when it retrogrades into Aries, and then thankfully it moves back into Pisces in October. Now, in traditional astrology, Jupiter is the ruling planet of Pisces, so it's in its home sign. Known as the lucky planet in its home sign it's about expansion, about opportunity, learning. It's about good luck and good fortune. And it allows us to connect in with our inner wisdom and our inner power. It's about tapping into our potential and listening to our inner voice and really, really allowing us to create magic on a very spiritual, very soul led level. You often find that when you've got Jupiter in Pisces you get a time of Spiritual Growth and spiritual awakenings. When you tap into your soul purpose and your spiritual side, you can really start to shift things with this energy and live and work with true purpose.
And then we've got Mercury going retrograde on the 14th of January, now mercury gets a bit of a bad rap when it goes retrograde. And this year we have four Retrogrades (we normally get about three with mercury). And interestingly, they're moving into the earth signs. So, it's a slightly different energy with retrogrades this time around.
Enjoy working with these energies, set your intentions, create your vision boards, write down your intentions, make sure that what you're working with is clear and focused. And that it comes with an actionable plan. Remember to use that positive, organised and down to earth, practical side of Capricorn, the discipline, the wisdom, the tenacious resourceful side and focus on your plans with practical steps so that it gives you a chance of achieving them. And with Jupiter in the mix don’t be afraid to make those plans big ones!