By Brandon Alter:
In Astrology, as we chart the movements of the planets, the Sun gives us the greater context. Consider that the Sun literally tracks the Seasons for us. These broad strokes of light and dark help us orient ourselves in large swaths of time. Is it Spring or Fall? Is it day or night? The Sun helps us answer. But it is the Moon that marks the moment. The Moon herself initiates and inaugurates. As the closest planetary body to Earth, her energy is the one that touches us most deeply and, in some ways, holds the most power over us. And so, while we've been in Aries Season for weeks now, it's the New Moon in Aries that truly brings our beginnings to commencement.
Aries is sunrise, the start of the day, ripe with possibility. And once a day, Aries sits on the horizon. So, starting over is always available to us. It's never too late in the day to clear the slate and start again. Each breath offers us a chance to renew or release our current entanglements. But there is no portal to genesis like the New Moon in Aries. It's a really potent doorway that invites you to leave your old life behind and live anew.
Here at the Spiritual Gayz headquarters, we think of the Sun as your soul essence (sometimes the ego) and the Moon as our heart, the inner self. When these two meet up in the sign of the dawn, there's no more powerful opportunity to restart yourself—body, mind, and spirit. In some ways, the Sun spotlights, and the Moon helps us absorb the meaning of what's been illuminated. So while we may have been seeing the potential for action in these last few weeks, now we get to feel it. We don't just intellectually observe possibility, we get to embrace it.
The truth is that this Aries New Moon happened last Sunday night, the 11th at 7:31 P.M. (PST). But that doesn't mean you can't reach back for it. This whole week is a great time to really ritualize the new beginnings you're wanting to actualize in the coming months, year, decade. If you've been wanting to start a new exercise routine, diet, creative project—start it this week. If you've been wanting to change your lewk, your style, your hair, your boyfriend—do it this week. It doesn't have to be perfect or the final product. But it all has to get started now. Sometimes I equate Aries energy to that moment when the sperm fertilizes the egg. That urge to create is raw and powerful—but don't confuse conception for the actual birth itself. Your water isn't about to break, but you are in the mood to make a baby.
Simply put, this is a moment to take action, to plant your flag in the ground. We've all had plenty of time to contemplate and equivocate—now we need to choose. This New Moon makes a sextile to Mars in Gemini, planet of action in the sign of indecisiveness. So listen, maybe you'll end up choosing something else a few weeks from now, fine. Don't let that stop you from starting now. Meanwhile, Venus sits four degrees away from the Sun and Moon, exerting her influence on the fiery couple. In Aries, the goddess of love can be a little impatient; she wants what she wants when she wants it. But that is not necessarily a bad energy to have right now. Impulsive can be effective. Make a choice, make a stand, make yourself a priority. You can always go back and refine later.
Perfection and readiness can be our worst enemies. Perfection keeps us striving, stuck in the mud when we should be miles farther down the road. And readiness keeps us in our beds, waiting for the imaginary moment when we actually feel ready to do something. That moment never comes; you only realize you're ready when you look back and see that you've already begun. Don't let either of these specters keep you from starting now. Aries connects us to instinct, something that can't be learned only allowed.
Lastly, I'll just suggest that while it can be quite seductive to try to look back and make sense of this past year of our lives, don't do it. We aren't far enough along yet to even begin to comprehend what we've all survived, collectively and individually. This is not a moment to look back, this is a moment to forge ahead. This chapter in history isn't over. To try to summarize it now would be grossly premature and dangerously incomplete. Instead, consider what you're wanting to create. What would nourish you the most? Once you know, get after it.
If you're unsure how exactly to get your new beginning off the ground, consider joining us for Breathwork on Saturday. Breathwork bypasses your brain and heads into the depths of your being to clear stuck, stale energy and initiate the desires of the heart. It's a wildly powerful practice, and there's a truly beautiful group of folks who gather to create the circle of healing. Also, put our Taurus Season Astro Club on your calendar. That's right, Taurus Season is just around the corner, and it's sure to bring some much needed beauty and nourishment. Astro Club is a casual but informative place to explore your interest in Astrology among like-minded seekers. And both of these offerings come with recordings, so if you can't attend live that shouldn't' stand in your way.
Your Tarotscopes are specifically crafted to help you make the most of your new beginning.
I pulled cards for each of your signs around the question: HOW (and where, if applicable) is this new beginning wanted to be tended? So whatever you're starting, this card is wanting to help you make it a reality.
ARIES
Six of Pentacles (Reversed)
The Six of Pentacles suggests practicing our generosity,
but only to a point.
It's like a glass of wine that needs refilling.
Don't pour the whole bottle, only pour what fills the glass.
Reversed, however, this card would suggest the opposite.
Give with abandon.
Pour the whole bottle and let it cascade over the edges of the glass.
Let it drench the tablecloth.
Your new beginning will not be tended by mindful, careful attention.
Rather it wants your robust, overzealous, infinitely over-the-top style of action.
Give with your whole heart, don't hold yourself back, or else what's the point?
TAURUS
Five of Cups (Reversed)
There is always something to grieve.
I abandoned Twitter for this very reason.
We are what we pay attention to, so if you look for trouble, you become trouble.
Five of Cups reversed suggests that while there may always be something to grieve, there is also always something to celebrate.
Seek that out instead.
Fight against your impulse to hang your head and pity your situation.
Fight to reclaim the joy that will ignite this new beginning.
After a diet of tears, your heart is hungry for joy.
GEMINI
Nine of Pentacles
This is the exact same card that showed up for you last moonth.
Which isn't to suggest you aren't paying attention;
it's more like a book you keep reading over and over again,
because each time it reveals something new.
The Nine of Pentacles shows you standing in your garden
tending to the private nature of your desire.
Here you are safe from the harsh glare of the world.
Here you can be yourself.
Your new beginning starts at home, and that is precisely where you can nurture it best.
Slow your roll to parade your metamorphosis up and down the boulevard.
Keep letting the slow revelation of yourself happen in your innermost chambers.
Soon the world can be let in on the secret of your wondrous evolution.
CANCER
The Tower
Some of the oldest decks didn't call this card the Tower;
they called it the House of God.
It suggests the passage in the bible: "for no one may see me and live."
Seeing the face of the Goddess reveals so much that we can longer live as we once did.
Your new beginning suggests exactly that type of revelation.
You have seen your false but comfortable prisons, and now you must escape.
Tear it all down.
Free yourself from who you once were.
Your new beginning requires fire and brimstone.
Spend this moonth living the life of a destroyer goddess, and at the foot of your wreckage, gently, spring flowers will bloom.
LEO
The Hierophant (Reversed)
Your new beginning will not be tended to in ordinary ways.
Subvert the status quo.
Ignore the popular pathways of productivity.
Traditions go stale if unquestioned.
And you are an eternal questioner.
The Hierophant brings us face to face with knowledge
passed down from generation to generation.
When reversed, the Hierophant suggests drinking from your own source of wisdom.
You are the teacher and you are the student, life itself is the lesson.
Learn again.
VIRGO
Two of Swords (Reversed)
Stillness has its power, magic, and beauty.
But so, too, does action.
That's the sword you need right now; the one that slices, not the one that hangs in your hall.
You new beginning is a mental one, and before you become encumbered by the pros and cons, you need to act swiftly.
There is a time for carefully considered moves like a game of chess and then there is a time to storm the barricades
and act before you lose your nerve.
I think you know which invitation is yours right now.
LIBRA
Eight of Cups
They say when you get sober you have to change people, places, and things.
But this isn't just true for recovery.
Whenever we come out of a cocoon, we are leaving things behind.
The butterfly abandons their former caterpillar friends,
they don't stay earthbound, apologizing for their transformation.
Flying sounds good until you realize what you must fly away from.
Don't let that keep you from taking to the sky.
Your new beginning is in recognizing your heart's evolution.
Your needs have changed, and to get them well met, you will have to seek out new sources of love, new places of power, and new people who revel in the majesty of your wings.
SCORPIO
Magic
It's very hard to explain what magic is.
It's like trying to explain breathing.
You can't teach it, you just have to feel it.
Magic isn't about power or ego, it's about dissolving yourself to allow that which wants to come true.
This is where your new beginning lives.
It really is a lot like breathing; you can't force it, you have to allow it.
Sometimes, when I would teach Yoga, I would tell my students, "Don't breathe the breath, let the breath breathe you."
So, maybe you don't have to make the magic at all, you can let the magic make you.
SAGITTARIUS
Two of Pentacles (Reversed)
You can't run from yourself.
Changing houses, changing jobs, even changing your hair
can only do so much.
Real change comes from staying put and digging in.
Your new beginning is already here, and it doesn't need a new office or a new outfit, it just needs a new attitude.
Sometimes, the sneakiest form of procrastination
is the one that masquerades as productivity.
Don't make changes that don't actually need to be made.
Don't adjust to avoid the inevitable.
It's not about the pen or the paper, it's about what you write.
CAPRICORN
The Star (Reversed)
Your new beginning isn't interested in the big picture.
Which I know must break your heart.
But there are hidden seeds that only you can see, and you may not know what they'll become until long after you plant them.
Instead of thinking What will this get me?,
consider How does this project make me feel?
The things we work on because they make us more whole
tend to be the most impactful to the world anyway.
But not always.
Give up the future for the present.
If you write the journal always considering the reader, you may never get all the way free.
AQUARIUS
Five of Pentacles
The other day I asked the Tarot,
"What is personal power?"
And I curiously pulled the Five of Pentacles.
This is a card that signifies a physical constriction, sometimes of resources, sometimes energy.
It's a moment where we must ask for help because we cannot give ourselves what we need.
Your new beginning is in your relationship to the invisible forces
that shape our world.
How can you ask them for help?
How can you ask them for power?
As it turns out, this card suggests that personal power doesn't belong to us at all.
It's only lent to us for safekeeping.
PISCES
King of Swords
If you can't say it out loud, you aren't ready to have it.
Your new beginning wants to be talked about, babe.
Shout it from the mountaintops.
Speak your dream into existence.
Honestly, if you're doing this right, people will be sick of hearing about it.
But that's the sort of authority you need to exercise right now.
You are the authority of your life.
You get to decide what roads you walk down.
Remember that words are spells, and the way you speak about your desires is how you bring them into being.
BRANDON ALTER is a spiritual healer, Tarot reader, Astrologer, mystic, and writer living in Los Angeles. He is passionate about sharing spiritual tools that have helped him reconnect to the wisdom of his heart. Brandon is a thoroughly trained healer and teacher who co-hosts The Spiritual Gayz with his husband, a twice-monthly podcast dedicated to exploring the wide reaches of spirituality, without pretending that it all makes sense. Brandon’s mom took him to his very first psychic when he was seven and gave him his first Tarot deck when he was eleven. Since then he has devoted himself to the study of Tarot, Yoga, Pilates, Reiki, Astrology, and the myriad ways one can work, heal, and grow with the help of the spirits.
Visit www.thespiritualgayz.com to learn more. To sign up for The Spiritual Gayz newsletter and get these Tarotscopes delivered to your inbox, click here.