This New Moon is going to help us by bring up doubts. Not what you were expecting? Good. That’s the name of the game, to get out of expectation and into fresh possible pathways. How attached to your stories are you? Because the more you are willing to doubt the story you have about yourself, about someone else, about whatever you think might be happening, the more you get that fresh start. Which is terrifying to the part of you that likes the feeling of familiarity.
So let’s start with the ‘Ugly’ portion. This Moon cycle ushers in perspective so we can see where we are the narrators of any story we are telling. And there’s enough evidence to prove your view of things is ‘right’. The ugly truth is there is a lot more evidence to expand that view than you investigated back when you formed your story. And, your life is made up of a lot of different versions of that story. It also has three main coping strategies. Firs one is, you have to fight to get what you desire, otherwise you won’t get it. Second strategy you have to abandon anything or one that denies or delays you getting your wish. This includes denying yourself the original desire. Finally you have to fix things in order to connect with the desire. This includes fixing anything that is imperfect in you.
No matter which one of these three main approaches is yours, they take you into a coping strategy that still isn’t the whole picture. Which is why, prepare to confront whatever provokes you. This way you can revisit your habitual approach, trusty explanation for what happens and why and comfort yourself with the ‘usual’ perspective. Or you can start to doubt your approach. Slowly dismantle the spaces where you are your own biggest obstacle when you settle for coping skills set when you were far more powerless as a child.
Now here is the Bad. Most of what we see is our own projection on to people who have a portion of our original trigger. There is behavior that echoes those that we experienced back when we set the pattern. But when we experience that trigger, we project our whole story and are caught in our own loop that often leaves out big swathes of what’s actually going on in front of us. Be kind here. It’s normal, it’s human and it’s addressable. It’s not helpful, but it was the best we knew how to do. Until you do know better…
That’s the Good news. Slowly but surely you can start to pull back your projections. Own them. Be present with what you feel and what you need in that moment. You have a chance to give yourself what you didn’t receive back then. So why not give yourself that and show the world how to treat you better? This isn’t a ‘fix’. This is an evolutionary process. When we see how we are conditioned to miss anything that doesn’t fit our story, a lot more information shows up. As if by magic there is insight to navigate by that can actually move you closer to what you desire. Sometimes with less effort and many of the same people and resources. The Cards and Stars will help.
Thank you,
Lisa Greenfield
P.S. I’m delighted to share that it was my honor to contribute to a fun book about Self Discovery, one of my favorite topics! You can see if it tempts you for yourself or as a handy reference guide to share with those around you. It has so many engaging ways to know more about YOU. Find it here: Your Guide To Self Discovery
6/17 Gemini New moon five of swords
How fitting, the card to represent self doubt shows up for this New Moon. That bottom line is that fear lies, a lot. It over-estimates the loss and underestimates your abilities to cope with things. That’s how it keeps you from expanding beyond the known where it can survive more confidently. After all, you know the threat in the story you keep projecting. So you keep climbing on that hamster wheel trying to magically go back in time and right the power imbalance from childhood. Cue the screeching tires. It doesn’t work. It almost works, but not quite. Which is why we play that story out again and again. As Gabor Mate says, “you can’t ever get enough of something that almost works”.
The New Moon lets our mind get off the wheel and start to question how effective it is. You’ll likely feel some of the same old story. But there’s a different path. Keep in mind with Moon square Neptune, your assessment of how well you can do this will just reveal more of your coping skills. Too much pessimism about you and you know that you underestimate yourself. Too much confidence in yourself and you are likely to underestimate the obstacles. You are looking for a more centered realistic assessment of what you’ve got to work with personally and what the real situation might be.
That’s not an easy task when you’re used to operating out of a mostly projection based story. Also helpful to remember that the vast majority are also projecting their stories onto each other. Like a Gordian Knot, better to cut through it rather than untangle it. What do your feel, what does that feeling need and how well are you able to articulate that to the people involved. This is a refining process and it’s not a fast one. With the outer planets lining up their retrograde phases the next 90 days, we have a global reset happening. There is an ease factor that facilitates our collective change, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
With Pluto retrograde back into Capricorn, it’s out to transform that power over dynamic. In truth we are each meant to learn how to collaborate with ourselves rather than brutally dominate our dark self or deny it. Whether we try to stamp out those complex emotions that don’t feel good or deny they are even present, there is a better option. Integration allows us to acknowledge the power struggle is real, without giving it the steering wheel. Add this into relearning better coping skills. What’s the right use of power within our selves? Because when we master that, the world indeed changes. Between now and December 2024, that is exactly the retooling going on for everyone. So start with a single step. Watch for your projections. Doubt your fears and start assembling a better story about you and anything that happens to you.
6/18 four of swords
Can you feel it – that deep exhaustion that goes with all the effort it takes to keep projections in place? The Sun squares Neptune today in an effort to help us admit where our boundaries and negotiation skills need a serious upgrade. We get a lot of support to look at how much we invest in propping up the old system instead of getting to a better place. Try this on for size. What do I feel and what does that feeling need? Can I express it in a way that improves the chance I can be met and so can my need?
Our operating system is likely to be based on believing too much or too little of ourselves. The first is like a puffer fish that has to present an image that is bigger than life to succeed. The second is denying or scaling back what we are so we don’t threaten belonging with individuality. Neither one is a place to stay stuck. Yet our mind cannot think our way out of it. When this four appears it reminds us our thoughts are the servants NOT the masters. When they try to do the job they aren’t designed to do, they wear us out. For some it happens faster than for others.
But eventually, it exhausts us so we have to let our bodies into the conversation. Hint, include yours now. Notice the more subtle messages. They can be tightness or contraction. Investigate. Instead of jumping to a story about what that means, find out if your mind responds to your projection or to the actual event. Patience and practice are incredibly valuable as you do this. But oh how worthwhile it is when you do… At the very least, you expend less effort for better results.
6/19 six of cups
Today is one of those days that show you what’s in the basement, so to speak. Prepare to have emotions emerge that may show up as over functioning or under functioning, depending on your survival skill pattern. This is absolutely a day where some quiet introspection or calmer observation will shed bright light on unseen pockets around powerlessness. As children, we had limited agency in the world, But you are not a child. Yet your emotional or intellectual response is set by the time you are roughly 6 or 7 years old. Get ready to reparent yourself.
Emotions defy logic. They use our mind to justify the feeling or even explain it. Except as Brene Brown points out in Atlas of the Heart, we have a very limited vocabulary for our emotions. Which also limits how well we integrate and process those feelings. Which is why today matters. Take some time. Resentment is an offshoot of envy, because someone else has accomplished something you yourself have managed to do as well. Whether it’s their ability to hold a boundary or say no when you feel compelled to agree.
Whatever the scenario, the opportunity is this. Get granular with your feelings. Don’t worry about the situation or discussion. In fact, if you can, put pause to it and agree to come back later. This gives you a chance to center and feel better in command of what you feel and need. This way you reparent yourself. First by giving yourself space for whatever emotions are there, then by choosing how to shape them into something that works for you. You can stay in conflict or you can deconstruct the internal reflection of whatever happens outside of you. There’s nothing outside of you that doesn’t have its roots in the world inside of you. You determine what grows and what goes. Learn to make your circumstances work for you rather than have them define you. It’s not easy but it’s possible and powerful. Feel your way.
6/20 three of swords
Well you can break up with bad habits today or you can simply break up. It’s a day of endings, separation and delays with a side of sadness. This three is the break up card. Ouch, right. Except you can deal with loss. Every new beginning has and ending somewhere. To live with that truth and try anyway is the definition of taking risk in order to live. In some cases it may be holding your ground that change has to happen before you can wisely proceed. For others, you cannot move forward without jettisoning some baggage that can’t make the trip ahead. It’s your decision. But check first to see how much of your story is a projection that conveniently fits on the hook of those you know.
With the Moon square Eris and then going on to oppose Pluto, the chaos is rich with opportunity. Sort through what can stand the test of time. Whether it’s a belief, an identity, a relationship or a path, time to revisit what you thought was going on and take a closer look at what’s really true. Your fear will want to color the story. Notice that. Because fear always goes to work limiting your greatest strength. So whatever doubts or criticisms it serves up, the power to act on your behalf is right behind the smoke and mirrors. Don’t let fear decide for you. Let that be what you leave behind today. You will always have your fear brain, just don’t believe everything it says. Question, clarify, push back and doubt your doubts. This way you won’t miss what you leave. You may even celebrate it…
6/21 transformation summer solstice (northern hemisphere)
The Solstice has a component of harmony or coherence that happens world wide around each of the equinoxes and solstices. It’s a rebalance that happens throughout each year. Stretch one direction, then come back to center at the equinox. Stretch the opposite direction, then come back to center again. The astrological energy and this card together point to a pivotal 90 days ahead. It’s a slow change for the better, not a rush job. And the aspects point to a shift in how we express ourselves as individuals with Mars square Uranus.
It’s also in a tense aspect with Pluto in Capricorn. What is the right use of power? Each person has to define that for themselves. Ultimately we are meant to exercise healthier self expression that is based on our internal power dynamic. Do we bully ourselves or do we go the other direction and excuse ourself for resisting expansion and growth. How well can you feel emotions, appropriate to the moment and express them in a way that is most likely to be heard? For some, no matter how well you express them, you are surrounded by people who can’t or won’t hear. What can you adjust about that?
For others, it’s a matter of finding your way, even if it is uncomfortable for you or those you wish to hear your truth. Sometimes we avoid it because in discussion we may find that our point of view or personal expression needs to expand or be better tailored. Whatever it is, the status quo won’t serve you here. In fact it’s a volcano that will erupt over the next 90 days unless you deal with what is there in the present. Start with your resistance and stories that justify how you do it now. Be kind. They were functional until they weren’t. And they aren’t now. So start by facing them and bit by bit replace what isn’t true now with something that is. One choice, one belief at a time, we upgrade.
6/22 two of wands
Whew, after a couple of intense days we get a lift! This two is about shared ideas sparking more possibilities and inspiration. the Leo Moon meets up with Mars to help us find a way to shine as only we can do. In fact, shining helps heal the wounds of the past and individual expression for our own sake is balm to the soul. It can even set us free of long held fear. We find that if it doesn’t get the approval we may have hoped, we can take delight in our ability to do it for ourselves.
It helps to remember, our approval is the most important and necessary. The rest is collaborative editing and can happen in time. Today is about celebrating your uniqueness. Give yourself a moment to be your best self and why not high five yourself in the mirror once you do. You deserve praise, just for being YOU.
6/23 ten of pentacles
Do you know the difference for you between well grounded and stubbornly immovable? This Ten and the days aspects bring that little question to the forefront. Tens are an empowered one. This ten speaks to the wisdom in the body and the karma of our actions. Because actions have consequences. This fact is just one reason why many people stick with what is familiar. They are well aware of what the likely outcome is for those behaviors. Except the world is changing. What was once a given, is no longer so. And what once benefitted you may have smaller and smaller benefits for the same energy output.
So how do you change? Do you initiate it or do you respond when the outside world thrusts it upon you. For most it is a combination. But it usually leans one way or another. It’s a good chance to feel into where balance and harmony might be best served when you update how you do change. With Moon opposite Saturn, you may find it easier to see your resistance to change than your abilities. That’s okay. It’s a good place to begin. Once you know your reasons for resisting, you can be consciously selective. You can shine the light of day on some of the reasons for impulsively jumping to the new or stubbornly resisting it. Either way, you wind up on more solid ground. The kind you can build on for a long time to come.
6/24 queen of pentacles
The aspects today line up a chance to receive, receive, receive good input today. Our bodies are in easier conversation with our mind. While these two aspects have very different traveling speeds, today they meet up for electrifying results. This Queen is about the magnetic quality of the feminine. When we know it is safe to receive, there is all kinds of insight, opportunities and benefits that come our way. It’s when we don’t trust ourselves that we throw up boundaries to keep the unsafe or unwanted out.
My dear friend and colleague pointed out that well done boundaries are NOT a way to keep people out. Rather they are how we show people (and life) how to safely enter our worlds and connect. Like a front door, there is a welcome mat out. If someone wants to insist on breaking a window to come in, I’m a firm no thank you. But I will educate those who show respect as to where the main entrance and occasionally other doors, less formal in nature. Do you know where your doors are located? Why not spend some time with that question today…
6/25 nine of wands
And here comes the fear brain to reign in the expansion of the last few days. This Nine highlights the need for discipline as we expand. It’s okay that the mind wants to serve up threats, criticisms, second guess you. Just don’t let it have the last word. The mind is our servant, not the master and it only does one part of the job or being you. It’s actually best in third place. First we sense something beyond the familiar or lived experience (Spirit). Then we need to feel the attraction to what is sensed.
Then and only then does the mind help us get from our present place to the new place. It’s an ideal bridge builder when used wisely. But remember fear goes to work on our greatest strength? So instead of building good roads and bridges it has us separating from what we don’t want without necessarily moving closer to what we do want! It’s a learning curve. The Moon trines Pluto so you can go beyond the known limits today. It just requires you do a reality check on those illusions and fears.
Things may not be what they seem but then again, you can act in ways that help bring about more of what you imagined. You just have to begin with what is, instead of arguing over what it should look like. Back to the discipline of the Nine. You decide how you use your energy. Battling for what you think something should be or helping add your creativity and wisdom to evolving whatever it is. In some cases, it may require you admit that you can’t turn the situation into what you wish, and find a way to start fresh where you can make a difference. You can’t get it wrong. What feels like the best expression of you?
6/26 ace of pentacles
With several tense aspects today, this Ace shouts the wonder of one step at a time. In fact, given some of the tension, rushing is not helpful. Although the pressure may be strong to ‘do something now’, see how well you can harness the impulsive you. There is enormous power in healthy impulse management. Like allowing fine wine to age, some of those desires benefit from time as well. Let them ripen and deepen in you or notice when they wither and die without immediate fulfillment. What is your story that comes up around what you desire and the fulfillment of it over time? Spend some quality time getting to know what moves and motivates you today, on all kinds of little things. You are worth your time.
6/27 seven of wands
Where do you do battle? Is the conflict inside of you or out? Well, that’s a bit of a trick question. Because we mostly project our internal conflict out onto the world and play it out there. So what’s the story about you and battle?? Do you believe that you must fight to get your piece of the pie in life? Maybe you are someone who only feels comfortable fighting on behalf of someone else. It really comes down to what is worth taking a stand for and how do you do it? Today’s aspects are like little grains for pointy sand in the oyster. The places where it’s hurt can give you a chance to make something beautiful.
Power struggles are likely and are a reflection of your understanding of your own impact. Since most of us are hardwired to overestimate others and underestimate ourselves, this topic is worth a regular update. Most conflicts are needless and involve some misuse of power. Mostly because we don’t see ourselves as powerful as others do! So imagine how many conflicts can go away when you realize you are on higher ground than you thought you were, as this Seven declares. There really isn’t the need to battle. Which means that what’s left is really more about a pattern of being right as protection against pain. How hard do you work to be right? And with whom do you feel that most? Yup, start there on the reset.
6/28 emperor
We get a lot of help today to ground the work you’ve been doing. This card stands for putting a confused life in order and being masterful at doing so. Nice, right? The Moon is in harmonious aspects to Mercury, Sun and Saturn. This nice line up makes it easier to tell a new story based on updated information (Mercury). Then having the will to do it differently, one day at a time (Sun). Which brings long lasting, structural changes to build upon as we grow (Saturn). It may take effort, because the Moon also opposes Jupiter to dial up expansion fears.
So it’s a two steps forward, pause; One step forward, pause; Two steps forward and one back kind of day…Think of it like dancing. Pick your rhythm and find the pace that allows for negotiating a new dance floor. Not everyone hears the same music you do and they may not feel like joining. At least not yet. That’s fine. Your goal is to get centered, clear, conscious and act from there. Even if it’s only once today, it’s a start. Set the intention to do it each day, and let your mind serve you the opportunities in the weeks ahead. Slowly but surely it becomes muscle memory…
6/29 four of cups
This four often signals our defensive coping skills. We wall ourselves off from emotional pain with whatever means necessary. We hear the insult in a casual comment and pull back. Maybe we see a threat in someone’s personal expression that fills the room up and leaves us feeling squeezed into small space. Time to spend a little time with your defense system today. The Moon opposite Uranus means you can let go of some relationship obstructions. Whatever happens, the goal for you is to understand when do you retreat, what makes you wall yourself off in relationships. When you stop to look at that Venus and Chiron help you see it in a kinder light today.
When you invest here, some unnecessary walls can come down to open up relational space that is on emotionally firm foundation. That’s the promise when you do the work with this Four. And it’s the second four in the Moon cycle. Which symbolizes firm foundations and equitable relationships. Two fours make an eight, the sign of infinity. Which is possible because of the endless give and receive motion. So make infinite love possible for you with a little attention on what stops that from being present in your life. You can reap an eternity of good return on this investment in you today.
6/30 The High Priestess
The Moon has a cozy meet up with Neptune shortly before it stations retrograde for the next five months. This underscores an opportunity to stretch where we understand and apply our intuition. Because fear is such an eager player and wants to protect you from that sense of the unknown, we have to understand how we take in the insight and then act on it, or fail to act on it. Don’t worry, you have not only this Moon cycle but another five months to hone your skills.
Neptune is in Pisces along with Saturn. Saturn literally has rings around it. So it cohabitating with Neptune retrograde is about how to contain the flow of information. This is an exceptional time to build your intuition and instinct so they become a trusted tool for life. The body plays a key part in processing what we sense, however it is the slowest to integrate the knowledge. That’s because it literally gets cellular. That’s pretty granular, right? Have fun and go on a treasure hunt for intuitive skill building. Set the intention that you find exactly the right match for you to stretch your inborn talents and bring them out. Our ancestors used it for survival. Imagine what happens when you apply it to help you thrive!
7/1 five of cups
This is the second five in the Moon cycle. Two fives bring forward the theme of personal uncertainty. With Neptune retrograde, time to determine if we really want what we think we want. Do you know the reasons you want it? Are they still valid and intact or have they shifted… In some cases you may discover you still have the same desires, but your actions don’t really move you closer to having it. In fact in some cases you may be actively working against what you say you wish for and don’t have yet. The ‘aha’ is available by evening with a grand fire trine between the Moon, Venus and Chiron. The wounded part of us may have had it’s own reasons for hiding the truth. Best to spend a little quality time on this part of you. You having your heart’s desire is a good motivator.
7/2 seven of swords
This Moon Cycle began with self doubt in the Five of swords. Offered the reassurance of of slow transformation as you break up with past pain and trauma, this Seven echoes the reminder to not let your fears rob you of present happiness. Those ugly projections are yours. They can be adjusted, edited or thrown out. You can say no to behaviors without saying no to a person or situation. Include yourself in that. You get angry, great. Time for a healthy boundary to show another how to safely connect. You have the ability to go beyond the past patterns. With the Moon in difficult aspect with Neptune, appearances are deceiving. It more likely that you see what you are afraid of then what happens. This is a good time to revisit that good, bad and ugly.
Be patient and curious with those fears. How far back to they go? Where did they repeat? Because a pattern doesn’t usually become one until it’s repeated a few times, right? So this is a reminder to doubt your doubts. Track the origin of those fears. Comfort yourself and then reassure yourself that you have choices now you never had before. Take it one decision at a time as you express what you want and need and say no to what isn’t a match for you. Your fear is going to try to save you one kind of pain while it causes you another. It’s not a winning strategy. So adjust as needed. Be present for yourself in the process in a way you couldn’t have been when you were younger. Choose love over fear. Then do it again. Now keep going…
