The origins of struggle
This is the fourth of seven Full Moons at 27 degrees. It also is in a tight Cardinal Cross with two key asteroids, Eris and Haumea. What does this have to do with overthrow? This year is the aftermath of three exact Saturn/Uranus squares. In case you are rusty on your mythology, let’s do a quick summary. The Earth or Gaia was partnered with the Sky or Uranus. Except the Sky God insisted all his children be imprisoned on Earth. This injustice caused Gaia to convince her son Cronus (Saturn) to attack and dismember his father with the help of his brothers. She gave them a sickle she fashioned in order for them to do it.
Thus the feminine literally armed her children with rounded blade to cut down the oppressive father. Talk about a being thrown a curve. Except that Cronos in Greek (Saturn in Roman) mythology was then later overthrown by his son, Zeus, for behaving much as his father did. We’ve been living in a long cycle of violent overthrow of the masculine that occurs over time (Cronus/chronological). What begins as protective and life giving degenerates into oppression and dictatorship.
Then there is the feminine to contend with, too. The oppressed feminine, unaware of her own power to persuade rather than compel fuels and arms the conflict. This cycle is ending and we exist in a time where the pattern can be broken. Those two asteroids Haumea and Eris are key to what unfolds. Eris stands for the uninvited, oppressed and/or denied places of life. Haumea is the Goddess of childbirth and cyclical life patterns of regeneration. What an intriguing cocktail served up in this Full Moon first of the year.
overthrow and regeneration
So what is the matter at hand this first Full Moon of 2022. In this Moon cycle we have Mars in difficult aspects to both Neptune and Saturn. Mercury is retrograde moving between air and earth elements. So what do you do with this celestial stew, you may wonder. It’s simple yet there are many layers to it. The caution to move slowly applies this first 90 days of 2022 more than any time this past year. Be an expert at observing what you do and go granular on why you do it ‘that way’.
It’s time to shed any internal oppression and revenge story you picked up along the way. The age of violent overthrow is over…We simply have to find a better way than a continuing cycle that endlessly repeats the same mistakes and creates new wounds on top of old ones.
In sneaky small pockets, not immediately seen, habit hides waiting. Waiting while the voice in your head demands conformity or results to quiet it down. The reason it wants results may not even apply any more. It is more habit than helpful. This Cancer Moon square to Eris and Haumea highlights where we took on the oppressor only to become what we opposed. We have to re-parent ourselves more kindly. From there we can act in ways that offer win/win solutions.
Begin here, now
Go with me on a sideways hop, if you will. How much do you create in your day? Tasks are less about creativity and are more about structure. How many things do you do when you have no idea how they will turn out? If it feels too daunting, consider something like poetry. There is a form you follow but within the form, you can create whatever is inside you that wishes to be expressed. Where can you add poetry to your day? How kind, reassuring and available are you for things that aren’t easily measured?
When you keep an eye out for more of this in your day suddenly challenges to the status quo become opportunities to make it something fresh. Plus, it holds more of your individual contribution to whatever comes about then simply hitting expectations or exceeding last efforts. This year ahead holds a lot more opportunity and a lot less predictability for a reason. Your potential has room to become reality. Where can you make it safer to be a student instead of just mastering what you already know? The Cards and Stars will help.
Thank you,
Lisa Greenfield
TruthinHand.com
P.S. Jupiter is in Pisces until May dialing up our intuition and dreams. Interested in unlocking more of your potential for Intuition? You’re invited to take a Beginner’s Tarot with Lisa that includes instruction and mini readings over six classes. Class size is limited to accommodate mini readings each class. If you feel the pull, then email Lisa@TruthinHand.com with the subject Beginner’s Tarot. Love to see you in class!
1/17/22 Full Cancer Moon
This Moon Cycle is oceanic in all the impact it carries. Seismic events are likely on deck both within and without. For we must learn how to be compassionate first, empathetic selectively and then back to compassion again. Our brains can register another’s pain when we empathize. The challenge with that is it causes something termed ’empathetic distress’. When you put yourself in another’s place mentally, your body has a hard time distinguishing between them and you. It then moves into survival mode which either tries to manage/control, placate or escape the situation or person. This ultimately helps no -one.
For the next couple of weeks, notice the stories you have about those who are suffering. This includes you. What’s necessary is to move into compassion or ‘tend and befriend’ rather than imagining what the other may be going through. Or you may recall where you have been in a similar place, flooding your brain with worst possible outcomes. With Jupiter moving through Pisces with Neptune, it’s easier to empathize and thus go into overwhelm. You must put your own oxygen mask on here or you both go down the emotional drain together. Our support for each other is being strengthened if we access it wisely.
You are not them, they require compassion for the distress they are walking through, and you need to reassure yourself that the situation will resolve itself. Manage your mind. This is not easy to do, so give yourself credit. The mind wants to jump into the future or back into the past to protect or control outcomes. Breathe and bring it back to this moment. All your resources are here in the present.
This potent Full Moon can help switch on the need to bring yourself into presence, even if it makes you uncomfortable first. Think of it as the emotional gym on re-mothering yourself so you can then face the world powerfully. Think of the old saying. Everything will be all right in the end. IF it is not yet all right, it is NOT the end.’ Give time a chance and manage your inner world. Then go give yourself a High Five in the mirror. It offers a neurobiological hit of joy!
1/18/22 four of pentacles
This solid, stable Four serves to remind us that security comes from within first. Uranus, the Great Awakener, moves direct after months in retrograde motion. This is often accompanied by seismic activity as the lightning bolts of awareness light up the inner and outer landscape. Plus the Moon’s Nodes move from Gemini and Sagittarius into Taurus and Scorpio. That means the eclipses through July 2023 are in the signs of Taurus and Scorpio. Distribution of wealth is going to go on a new 18 year journey. What we value and why we value it is under construction.
One key thing to remember from this is YOUR value. Pulling from yesterday’s Moon Cycle, one of the key things that keeps us in Compassion instead of too much Empathy is feeling valuable, just as you are. Important to remind ourselves that just listening to another can bring down anxiety by up to 50%. Yep, that’s a reduction of half when someone feels heard. It doesn’t require you to do anything more.
If you do feel compelled to add to that contribution, let it be the solid ground this Four represents of trust in the situation to resolve itself. We need to take things one step, one choice, one moment at a time. That alone is a huge shift in power dynamic. Practice that today and going forward. Be willing to pause, take in new information, the full landscape and then trust what you feel over the stories in your head. Muscle test for when the body is ready for the next step. If you are all tensed up, don’t act until you feel centered. This gives you a firm foundation to build on moving forward.
1/19/22 nine of cups
The Sun Capricorn gets a sweet greeting from the North Node newly situated in Taurus. This Nine of Cups anchors a heartfelt promise of wishes come true over the next nine months. That’s half the Nodal Cycle of Taurus. Which adds the reminder to take things one step at a time. Trust yourself, trust what is unfolding. Not much is going to be stable outside of you, since this is a yet another year of change. You make it safe within you as you learn to welcome the unfamiliar as a chance to create.
It may take a while before that settles in as the new normal. Patience helps. All the different ways your coping skills have sought to protect you from pain had a purpose. And you’ve outgrown many of them. Discover which ones and feel your way forward, one choice at a time. Nine is a master number. Time to master feeling good with the unknown. Potential for much joy sits there for you.
1/20/22 Hanged Man
And we are reminded to put heart above head with this card shows up. It also reinforces the need to slow your pace. When you rush to decide or act it’s too easy to pull from muscle memory and habit. It doesn’t take into account all you have learned from all you have lived. As the Moon moves into Virgo, time to take a self inventory. Have a list of your strengths in your back pocket.
Why not make a note of places where you triumphed in spite of sticky circumstances or obstacles. When your inner critic wants to circle you back to familiar (and often uncomfortable) space, whip out that list. Doubt your doubts and expand, one deep breath at a time. Then see how much fun you can have while you do it. Who said it couldn’t be fun and a little unnerving at the same time?
1/21/22 Ace of cups
There is a little bit of struggle around what we do and what it means to us today. And there is some help to tell ourselves a better story. Did you know that shame is a misguided way of taking power in a trauma situation? If you are somehow to blame, that means you have the power to change things. So tune into where you may have used that strategy in the past when you were helpless, and consciously thank the coping skill and tell it to relax on the couch. It can take a much needed rest because many places we were in shame were not actually within our control.
It is also helpful to do the other side of that equation. Where have you blamed others for things that were perhaps out of their control? When you can lovingly understand that blame is also a misguided attempt to prevent future suffering, you can use it more wisely. It’s much more effective to live in personal responsibility. What we do, how we do it, affects those around us. While we cannot martyr ourselves for others and live an authentic life, we do benefit from modifying our actions to include how it affects others. See it as a chance to be creative. How do you do what you want and integrate it well into the lives around you. This requires real skill and is in the tool kit of every truly happy person I know.
1/22/22 Queen of wands
This fiery Queen shows us the power of persuasion over force. We start out with good support to feel our feelings, enjoy our desires. Then we run into the limits of our actions. How we do things matters. It’s not comfortable, but you can really see where your actions are contrary to your best results today. We really can be our own worst enemy, or at least worst hindrance. Think of yourself as a sculptor with your imagination. Picture what you want to feel, how you want to be received and only when you have an image of those feelings act on them. Watch what happens. Practice, play with it. It can be a kind of magic wand once you know how. Imagine what would happen if the original myth had Gaia sure of her own ability to persuade Uranus instead of castrating him.
1/23/22 nine of swords
Ah, the needless worry card. Except that it can be so convincing that the monsters in the closet are a threat, right? Most of what we fear never happens. Today the Moon is opposite Chiron so we can see the shoreline of old hurts and grievances. The challenge comes when we forget to incorporate all we learned and gained from even the worst situations. This is a good day to whip out that inventory list of your strengths I mentioned a few days back.
Resilience is a wonderful gift in life. It allows for joy in spite of the darkest days. When you use your list of strengths and wisdom gained to help balance the struggles you’ve endured, you choose to be resilient. It doesn’t dismiss the pain. It enlarges the view to see the whole picture, one that includes your triumphs over pain. Now that is the mental mastery promised in this Nine. See the world you’ve walked with a bigger lens, one that is more accurate to who you are now.
1/24/22 two of wands
There’s a short journey on the books today, an internal one. This heated two offers a chance to spark our imagination between two people or it can point out where we use conflict to buffer us from too much connection. How do you use your anger as a protection of your boundaries? Anger helps us consolidate our self and hold firm yet flexible boundaries. Flexible in that it takes in new information and adapts accordingly.
However many people use it as on offensive weapon, going on the aggression trail to bend outcomes to our liking. I’ll ask again, ‘how do you use your anger as a protection of your boundaries’? You cannot expand safely without a comfortable understanding of your emotions as your tool kit. Anger is a key one. Too much or too little leaves you hobbled.
Take a boundary inventory and place anchor points at the gate of too much. This simply means you acknowledge that when someone crosses this boundary you can fire up within and hold that boundary with them. It doesn’t mean go to war, it means say no. Work on saying it so they can hear. If they can’t or won’t, in spite of your best efforts, make adjustments to how close they are with you. It’s simple, yet not easy. Try it anyway. Then go give yourself another high five in the mirror.
1/25/22 eight of swords
Unpleasant or uncomfortable information may come to light today. It’s an opportunity to re-view the landscape and put a much bigger frame on things. It may be you suddenly realize where you help create the drama in your life. There may be a sting in the realization and yet the relief it brings to know you can do something about it is refreshing. It is the opposite of misplaced shame or blame. It is the reality of accountability. When you are brave enough to hold yourself accountable for your choices, any results, even failure, hold power for you to harvest.
1/26/22 two of pentacles
This Two sandwiched in between two cards of the Sword suit highlights a see saw activity. It’s easy to find yourself going back and forth between the old habits and a more thoughtful, reflective and expanded approach. Think of it as behavior modification. You can even have some fun with it. When you catch yourself in a bad mental neighborhood, look for signs to help navigate back to more beautiful territory. This is the second two in the cycle which always means separate paths. There are new possibilities waiting that don’t include century old stories of oppression and revenge.
Compare and contrast how you feel about yourself and life when you slip back into past behavior versus something more tuned in to this moment. Watch out for ‘shoulds’ and ‘have to’s’ as they are clear signs you’ve wandered away from present moment. Gently steer back into trust for yourself and discover what wants to come forth from you right now. There is more to you than reactions, programmed from who knows when. Get curious and open to be surprised at more of who you really are.
1/27/22 Princess of swords
The Moon squares Jupiter today, dialing up fears of your expansion. It may show up as control tactics or the blame game. The good news is your have lots of support for cleaning mental house and retelling whatever happens in your mind. Think of it as script rewrite. No matter what story your mind lands on first, see what you can do to make it a better one. Where is the dare to be great moment just waiting for you to seize the thought and take it to higher ground. This Princess is a good communicator, just a tad on the critical side. It’s nature’s brakes on all that ability to redefine anything you encounter. Find your inner editor and lavish her with praise while you steer her into better definitions.
1/28/22 two of swords
Success! This two signals a change in direction from discussions and feedback since it is the third in the Moon Cycle. Your efforts to reshape the stories in your head are paying off. The more you rein in the contracting voice and manage your mental downsize, the more you enjoy expanding. Healthy dialogue in your head with all the different voices isn’t schizophrenic, it’s productive when you honor the younger you, the fearful you, the cockeyed optimist you. They all get a seat at the table and your adult, wise self gets to direct the chorus. Mercury is conjunct Pluto to help get deeply into the our dark and light. We are all of that and everything in between. See it, embrace it, manage it and you are living life large.
1/29/22 eight of pentacles
Venus moves direct as of today and ends a 40 day wander through the wilderness of past messages regarding our lovability. Who you are in connection with those around you has received an upgrade, whether you know it or not. This Eight points out that what you put out there, you tend to get back. This is not quid pro quo or give to get. It is simply understanding that if you put out there more love than fear, you get more love than fear back. It’s always a mixed bag, so perfection isn’t realistic.
How about a reasonable goal to increase your capacity to trust the world holds move good than bad. You are part of making that real as you go through your day. Be kind to yourself, accept yourself and still ask more of yourself than your worst moments and you raise the bar. You just helped set a new 20 year cycle up as to what you want to create and live when it comes to love. You don’t need to weaponize what’s around you to level the playing field. It’s already level. Congratulations.
1/30/22 Temperance
The energy today feels spring loaded. This card offers the sage advice, ‘don’t push, don’t shove’. Breathe, move slowly and deliberately. Expect the unexpected both within and without. Like a chick pecking its way out of the shell, staying inert is not an option. But neither is an exploding egg shell. One situation at a time find your voice, connect with what you feel and what that feeling wants from you. Start there. This is a long cycle that begins today, so no need to rush. It’s more important to refine what you do and how you do it. Empowerment is a lifelong journey and today you take it up a notch. Celebrate yourself in this moment and don’t worry about outcomes. All you need to measure is how available more of you is to whatever happens.
