What do you do when you feel wronged – how do you handle it? One person this week likened herself to an Amazon warrior hellbent on justice. Another one shrunk into physical overwhelm and tears at bad news. This New Moon dials in to our inner landscape. This is the place that gives birth to what we do next when we feel somehow left out, hurt, betrayed or wronged.
Jupiter tightly squares the New Moon and Sun as they sit next to Dark Moon Lilith. Chiron, our wounded place, is in Aries along with Eris, Mars and Jupiter. Since Jupiter expands all it touches and Chiron and Eris are the pain points, we cannot escape dealing with what hurts this next moon cycle. Mars points to what we do with what we feel. But since is squares Pluto, change is required to your standard operating procedures.
Ouch, right? Who wants to know pain is imminent. For some of you, it’s already present and the Moon Cycle is more to help you process it. The story for Eris and Lilith are deep feminine wounding and revenge. When power is wielded badly and we suffer, it’s understandable to want to even the score and feel powerful by hitting back.
Both Lilith and Eris tell tales of carnage unleashed as payback by wounded females. Then Mars squares Pluto this Moon Cycle so impulsive response is likely when one feels powerless or wronged. Mars is our courage, confidence and daring in action. In Aries it can be childlike and willful, like a four year old hands on hips shouting NO. Or it can be inspired and brave to do something differently and get different results. There is an innocence that dares greatly when Mars is in Aries. It believes it can so it tries. Square to Pluto, though, cautions you have to begin as you mean to go forward from here. This energy can be used to limit the overreach of authority.
We’ve had a long, long, long cycle of punishment, retribution, power games. Centuries of it if you look back. There are grudges today still playing out on a global field. Russia feels entitled to the Crimea and Ukraine, so it takes it by force. The United States Supreme Court rolled back rights that have existed for almost 50 years and protests are mounting. Except we miss the bigger power when we react thoughtlessly. We need strategic forward motion. For feminine the power lies in shaping what is fertilized. It takes nine months for a single meeting point to yield a formed human being. Power is in the patient shaping of what unfolds out of YOU.
Courage is absolutely required to break patterns of belief and behavior. If you find yourself dropping into reflex action, stop. What is the feeling and what does it need? Uncover the original stories of powerlessness, pain and inequality bit by bit as you come back to it again. Just be present to that feeling if you can. It needs time. What two year old or four year old needs to be rushed to figure something out, right? When you identify how old that is place inside you those feeling come from, you have a guideline on how to treat that part of you. From there you can muster up the ability to try something out of the ordinary on your behalf. It won’t be driven by the wound but it will be richly informed by it to act on your behalf wisely.
People’s worst behavior can often be an adaptive child that survived using those unfortunate skills. Why bring them into a prominent place in the mix now? Respect them, yes, once they were all you had to get through a day. So be gentle as you unwind them as your primary motivators. It helps you honor the original wound and go beyond it. Adjust your starting point and watch how that affects all your actions from here on out. Affects them a lot, even. How you do one thing informs how you do everything. Be deliberate, be strong and be brave by the end of the day, no matter where you begin it. The cards and stars will help.
Thank you,
Lisa Greenfield
6/28 Cancer New Moon The Moon
Very appropriate, to have The Moon on this Cancer New Moon. How many ways can the Universe say, our receptive feminine side matters right now! If you’ve looked at the headlines and state of the world with panic, pause. We swim unformed in our mother’s womb for months before we emerge and there aren’t usually people who stand over us with a clipboard saying we are behind schedule. The dense stickiness you sense in today’s climate is a primordial soup and you are life force in it. Be selective, be purposeful in what you do, how you do it and why you do it.
You are not powerless, you are potent with possibilities. Find them. That is the best possible use of your time. You want the outside expression of power to be a natural extension of the landscape shift inside of you! So when you feel ineffective at tackling the world’s woes, remember you are highly effective at tackling your own. They need your attention, time, kindness. When you do this you stop punishing those who’ve hurt you. You stop hiding out from demons long gone. The raging wounded child isn’t calling the shots. From there you can do better to others than you have been done by. This improves everything.
It’s that simple and that hard. Take command of the emotions that want to ‘even the score’ instead of raise the quality of what happens. When you do, that simple act shifts a long chain of events that come out of it. The feminine is fertile. It turns what it is given into so much more. Which is why feminine rage is so much more atomic bomb than male rage. Soothe your inner screaming child so you can improve what you create. Be willing to give better than you’ve received. Grab hands with your friends and go forward better than we’ve been before.
6/29 nine of cups
We follow yesterday’s soup of emotions with a short lunar trip through comfort, fear and on to courage today. We long for that which we love. The thought of it floods us with joy. Then we hit the fears of the past, echoes may show up to see how you handle the emotion. Are you going to choose powerlessness or will you release it? You cannot expand and contract at the same time. Which is why fear exists, to get us to pull back. There are times for that. A child’s way is to see things in black and white.
Take educated risks, this is how you acknowledge the worst possibilities and balance them with the best creative outcomes you can imagine. What you fear is not groundless, it may simply be out of proportion to your current abilities to impact the situation. Fear may be asking you to take certain measures before you jump in whole heartedly. Why not prepare for the leap and let your wisdom provide momentum for a bigger leap? This Nine is the ‘wish come true’ card. It also says, be careful what you wish for. If you want them to come true, what will you bring to the party to help make it possible to unfold?
6/30 princess of wands
Pluto trines Pallas giving us a burst of inspired beliefs this morning. We need them because the Moon also squares Eris. It’s tempting to want to drop back into revenge fantasies with this set up. Then the Moon moves on to a sweet aspect with Neptune, to help us imagine a better story than our fears want to paint. Yet it takes acting on things in a different way. Mars in Aries squares the Moon. Be careful you don’t use your intelligence to justify ‘power over’ tactics. Helplessness can justify grabbing power any way possible, part of that primordial ooze. Use your resources wisely so you don’t stay in the slime or add to it.
Instead this fire lit princess of a card says believe it can be different. Choose not to retaliate, it makes a difference. Instead hold firm and flexible boundaries. The dark feminine has more creative power in what it shapes by defining a boundary than it does with overt influence. Dark feminine overt influence is more of the destructive Kaali. That requires skillful hands and a clean heart to wield it or it becomes nuclear waste that scorches everything for generations. It’s too long of a discussion to enter here. But you’ve seen it if you are at all a student of history. Believe it can be different and then act on that belief. Believing is seeing…
7/1 queen of cups
This is the most emotional of cards with a big down side risk and equally large benefits to it. Our emotions are like our dashboard. You can drive without looking at them, but it sure helps to have the information. Especially if the gas tank is low or a check engine light is blinking. The challenge is to feel what you feel and then shape those emotions. The word even has ‘motion’ in it. What you act on depends on the story you tell yourself. When you get information, can you slow down and process how it landed?
Today Mars squares off with Pluto. Aries the Youth faces down Capricorn the Old Man. Guess what, you need them both to win. That win/lose thing, not a good option. Harvest some youthful exuberance, some blind optimism that can listen to the Old Man’s reason and do something unexpected with it. The Moon in Leo trine Jupiter can offer self confidence tinged with ego if you aren’t careful. Watch for rushing anything. You want to pick up momentum, just harness that horse power and be willing to learn as you go. When you do this, the Queen of Cups offers good news, good fortune and good connections.
July 2 king of cups
This King is a match to our lovely Queen yesterday, carrying the thread forward. It’s also the minor magician card. When the masculine King meets the feminine cup it’s a case of one plus one equals three, like a baby. So be prepared to help magic happen today. If you find yourself in doubt or despair, call on magic to help show you where you can turn a situation around with how you handle it. Mercury trines Saturn, then squares Neptune. The Moon stands opposite Saturn. How this combination lands for me is an invitation to be practical in application but not in imagination.
Dream big and then take an honest look around to see the gap between what you pictured and where you are now. Begin at the beginning. Remember you have a world of resources around you to draw on as you work to make those dreams real. And you can’t escape the reality of where you start because you need to know where you stand now. If you don’t have clear perspective you aren’t on solid ground. Build on the strength that looks harsh reality in the eye and knows you can make magic with it in time. Don’t spend too much time lamenting what is, be willing to help it become what it can be. Now that’s magic.
7/3 four of cups
Watch for feelings of defensiveness today. With the celestial stew brewing you may have reason to want to pull the shutters closed to keep out the noise. On their way to being brave, people may inadvertently tread on toes or even steam roll another. Raise the bar. Say no to the behavior, not the person. Be very careful making a bigger story out of what happens. It’s a sloppy boundary, fired-up sort of day. Fours are the foundational cards. This one says, ground your emotions so you don’t put a wall up when a curtain will do.
7/4 seven of swords Happy independence day North America
This card is the hallmark of lies and liars. Funny that it falls on Independence Day for the United States when there is a Pluto return that has us choose who we are as a country all over again. Gloria Steinem “the truth shall set you free, but first it will piss you off”. It can enrage us when we uncover lies. We deflect and project it onto those we accuse of misleading us. And fail to see where occasionally we are partners in crime with those who lie. When do you accept bad behavior and call it love? When do you offer the same to others? Our bad behavior is simply the adaptive child in us that was twisted in one direction in order to survive.
But you are the adult in the room with your young self now. It’s time to treat yourself with the love and strength you may not have had in childhood. Accept where you begin today as less than ideal. Tell the truth about that, even if you have to start small. That behavior served a purpose. Locate the need (purpose) for the behavior and construct a different path. Adjust as you go. Make it safe to be honestly you and the need for lies ebbs away with the tides. The more you do that, the more you provide safe space for others to do it too. Now that’s true freedom for all in the making.
7/5 transformation
This card, also known as the Death card in other decks, is about slow change. Like the seasons, winter brings a time of letting go of one cycle in preparation for a whole new one. We get another celestial circuit training today. So observe what you feel, what’s the first time you remember feeling this way? What’s the need and what do you wish to do to meet that need today? Be the adult in the room with loving patience for that adaptive child part of you. See what happens to situations as you turn inward instead of outward.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself rationalizing the old way of thinking and being as good. Try it on for size. It’s likely it doesn’t fit anymore. Not really. If you are curious and explore around the edges for subtle shift, congratulations. There is really rich details you can gather today. Transformation is not rushed. There is tension in the slow pace that helps you build strength to go beyond where you have gone before. The leaves turn colors and fall off in stages. Let the old parts of you show their brilliant colors as you no longer feed them. The dark feminine knows even death has its beauty and there is a new way of life that grows out of the old.
7/6 chariot
One of my favorite teachers offered this, “The key is to really awaken compassionate listening; that love as an act of care, because it’s an act of care stops any prejudice. Notice your pattern of reacting to what others speak. It could be headlines, it could be friends or family, just observe your response. How you respond to them is a mirror for how you handle your inner dialogue. Where’s the balance of power in any exchange? This card promises major success and cautions pacing yourself at the same time.
It may be a while before you taste victory, but persevere and it is there ahead on that path when you listen compassionately. First listen to yourself, then to others. See feelings underneath thoughts, see tension or relief in the body. Map your personal response, one situation at a time. It guides you into a place where you can respond to your own emotions better and then take that into the world. Don’t worry if it is a primordial soup at times in there. Nurture what you want to grow and let the rest be fertilizer.
7/7 five of cups
Some texts talk about the combination of yesterday’s Chariot with today’s Five of Cups and the ‘Let go to grow’ combination. Instead of what has been, can you try a new level of responsibility? Brene Brown shared from her shame research that in safeguarding vulnerable intimacy between people, ruptures of trust must be acknowledged, amended and infrequent in order for connection to survive. Can you move past defending yourself to a new piece of real estate? This one has personal accountability for your part in any rupture.
This is not taking all the blame as a covert power move to then be able to ‘fix’ what’s wrong if you just do things perfectly next time. That’s a pipe dream. Rather it’s a loving assessment of where you failed to hear, speak, listen, share and understand each other. Can you sort that out between two adults in the room who have kind command of the adaptive child that wants to protect itself in familiar ways? When you hold that goal, new possibilities emerge. You may have to hold the frequency for a while until the other person sees the invitation and responds to it. Feel your way. It’s a worthy goal and worth your effort.
7/8 lovers
Triangulation is a great way to keep from getting to connected to another person. Whether it’s lover’s triangles, gossip that divides people into one side or another, it has been a long standing tool to guard against emotional pain. There’s a good way to move away from this losing strategy. Replace it with one you want. This is what the dark feminine offers in all the swirl of pain. Wherever you’ve been part of the triangle, see what purpose it served for you. Weigh out what you gained and what you lost. The balance is informative.
If you value security more than love, good to know about yourself. At least from there you can make informed decisions as this returns agency to you instead of blaming another for your choice. When you keep repeating triangulation, there is protection in that for you. If you value love over security, recognizing the places you feel unsafe, will help inform risks you do take. From here you can make yourself self by asking for what you need, seeing the level of respect that’s offered and going from there. Again, start where you start and trust that it can grow and evolve. All or nothing situations are rarely helpful or productive.
7/9 seven of pentacles
This Seven is a reminder to do your part and let the world do theirs. Like a gardener in this card, you plant, tend and harvest. How ridiculous is it to imagine we are the sun, the earth or the water to what grows. We absolutely are the means by which what is planted connects to all those things. So what are you responsible for and what belongs to another? Patience is also required in today’s aspects. It may feel tense, tight, even adversarial at times. If you feel discouraged, check your expectations. Remember you don’t plant seeds today and pick the flowers tomorrow. Give yourself and others time.
7/10 two of swords
My sister-in-law was paraphrasing a writer I can’t recall when she said, ‘my mind is a bad neighborhood I can’t seem to get out of’. I knew what she meant. Today’s two of swords offers a choice, stay in the bad neighborhood or decorate it when you can’t escape. The aspects today serve up both the plus and minus to keep things interesting. Expand or contract, which will it be? It can also be a bit tempting to react to whatever comes your way. Especially if it is a shock to your system. Take care of you first. Before you speak, before you even spin a story, take care of the feelings. Breathing helps. Then choose what to do, how to do and when to do it. Later is just fine…
7/11 ten of swords
This card is no fun. It’s the place where our mind faces defeat. Hint, our mind is a sore loser. This is why the card holds so much dread for many. Except what we must let go of is our idea of something, not necessarily what we love about it. Love is liquid, like water on a rock. It can wear down the biggest obstacle over time with love. And that love begins and has to end with you. When you love something you care for it. Not necessarily by getting it what it wants. You may long for something that isn’t in the right form or shape.
When you can let go of the predetermined ‘thought’ of what an outcome or process must be, you open the door and let what you love be expansive. Are you willing to love in a way that goes beyond your predictable outcome? By all means, manage the risks in opening to new possibilities. Let the results been what they are and release the image you cling to of what ‘should be’. The hardest part is to stay present in all that disappointment. When you do, however, suddenly you start seeing what you can do that was unexpected. Grieve what’s lost and then discover the freedom in new horizons. They are there, waiting for you.
7/12 eight of pentacles
I look at the first card and the last card in each Moon Cycle to give me the container. This earthy eight speaks to what we give we also receive. It’s the student card. We are learning to handle our intuition and fear that goes with it (Moon) in a way that is not only educational, but quality craftsman education (8 pentacles). The Moon in hardworking Capricorn is in trine with Mars in Taurus making heaving lifting feel almost easy.
Fear is always equal to the power you have to expand into the unknown. Tune in to your body, let it give you guidance on what inner emotional care you need before you act. This lessens the amount of unnecessary fear laced into what you create. I’ll say it again, slow is your friend. Deliberate steps serve you so well right now. It isn’t easy but it is a rich way to give all the seeds of possibility within you a chance to grow. Tend your garden with care, patience and deliberation and you can harvest joy. I see it for you. Perhaps you can see it now, too.
Wonderful! ❤️❤️❤️