The January-February 2018 Moonwobble Report: New Moon in Capricorn

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By William and Alana Fennie

This post is coming a few weeks too late to be useful for this cycle, but we believe the overview and journal prompts may still be helpful.

From William:

The peak of this cycle is 3-4-5 February, and the effects were being felt even during the second week of January, which is not unusual.

New Moon chart for 16-17 January 2018 - click to enlarge

The conjunction of the Sun with the South Node at 14 degrees of Aquarius on those dates portends an experience of the worst side of ideological approaches to problem solving in the political sphere. The New Moon chart (see illustration) for January 16-17 provides the context for interpreting this MW cycle, and it is heavily weighted with Cardinal Earth - in the form of six planets in Capricorn.

I confess that when I saw this configuration for the first time the negotiations on the latest U.S. federal government budget resolution were in full stride, and the image that came to my mind was "pigs at a trough." All those ambitious Capricornian interests in there slogging away to get what they want.

That's a bit specious, especially since the Virgo ascendant for DC suggests that the Washington crowd is actually working very hard and possibly taking the opportunity to iron out their more troublesome vexations.

Sextiles to Neptune and to a conjunction of Mars and Jupiter in Scorpio indicate creative imagination as well as an abundance of willfulness at play. But play also shows up in the fifth-house placements of four of the six planets in Capricorn: Pluto, Sun, Moon, and Venus. The game is on and the players are doing what they do best.

Uranus, now five degrees away from its square with Pluto, still brings instability and flamboyance to the party. Its closer square to the new moon conjunction suggests a volatile ride, especially as regards issues of personal security, and as we approach the peak we should expect to see strident pronouncements at odds with an unexpected desire for accommodation.

The offer by Senate republicans to link six years of CHiP funding to a four-week continuing resolution, for example, seems very much in the spirit of this Venus-influenced new moon, and it's an open question whether Senate democrats' decision to push for DACA concessions represented a wise choice.

As we publish this the prospect of second government shut-down is looming.

Alana has some exercises to help with identifying the relevant issues for you, personally.

Aloha. . . .

Exploring Moonwobble Energy: Journal Prompts

Because the nodes of the Moon do not change sign quickly, a Moonwobble Cycle will often share the same nodal access as its previous cycle. This phenomenon may make it seem that during a Moonwobble Cycle issues and patterns you thought you completed or “dealt with” already seem to resurface. You’ll often find some twists, though, as the New Moon which initiates the current Moonwobble Cycle will likely be in a different sign, often bringing with it a new polarity, elemental and modality. The New Moon offers context and context is everything.

Let’s examine what that means with the current cycle, since its nodal axis recalls the very noteworthy July – August Moonwobble Cycle from 2017 – noteworthy because that cycle included the “Great America” Eclipse of August 2017. Patterns that began in those cycles (Moonwobble and Eclipse) are being further worked on with new energies. 

In both our current Moonwobble Cycle and that of July – August 2017, the Moon’s Nodes fall across the Leo-Aquarius axis, with the North Node in Leo and the South Node in Aquarius. The New Moon in July-August was in Leo, a yang or masculine, fiery, fixed sign. In the current cycle, however, the New Moon is in Capricorn, a yin or feminine, earth, cardinal sign.  

It’s likely that in July-August – especially in anticipation of the “Great American” eclipse – you may have been inspired (a very fiery feeling) to review your approach to the world or your identity in that world. In an outgoing, extroverted sign, Moon in Leo may have nudged you to think of ways to present yourself or express yourself in some external way, possibly in art, social media posts, writing, or even in how you groom yourself or do presentations at work. Likely, this energy focused on expressing a self you already claim as yours, rather than encouraging you to change or think deeply about your identity.

Whatever new ways you dreamed up to present or express yourself this summer are likely now clamoring for more structure. What is your plan for implementing a sustained creative practice? How might your output or your self-expression move beyond the personal to help lead the changes you would like to see in the world? Now is the ideal time to organize your ideas into reality!

One final note before some simple exercises to help you strategize. Giving an influx of energy to the Nodes and the New Moon is a Jupiter-Mars conjunction in Scorpio, which is square to the Nodes and sextile to the New Moon. This aspect suggests plenty of stamina and courage to connect with others on a deep, visceral level, a place where their aspirations lie. To make the most of this opportunity, be sure that you check that your actions are in tune with however you conceive of the Divine. While this is always good advice, it’s especially important in this cycle where you might be so focused on expressing your creativity, you could lose sight that your expressions have a real effect on others.

Consider any of the following reflective exercises as a way to connect with the energetics of this Moonwobble cycle. 

We recommend keeping your insights private until this Moonwobble cycle is over, since one of the lessons of the fire Trine here is to consider when, with whom, how, and how much we share of private self and creativity with the outside world.

1. You Meeting the World

Spend a day (or week if you’re really feeling the energy) observing how people react to your expressions of creativity, whether in person or through social media. 

You get to decide how to define what creative expressions mean: how you run a business meeting; how you plan your family’s schedule; poetry, Instagram posts – your imagination is the limit. You may want to focus on just one or two people or sets of people:  your family or your followers; a boss or a parent. 

Consider what the creative expression was; what was the emotion or inspiration behind it; and what the reactions were. 

What patterns do you observe? Does it seem like your creative intentions are having the affects you’d like? If not, consider sharing the exercise with a close friend or counselor to discuss the results. It may simply be that your creative expressions don’t fit into other’s expectations. If that is the case, how can you gently explain to them your intentions? How will you process feedback? 

2. Inspiration and Structure

Take 30 minutes or so to reflect back on July-August 2017. What ideas came to you during that period that you haven’t yet developed? Why haven’t you developed them? Make a list of all the reasons you haven’t done anything yet – and then burn the list!

On a fresh sheet of paper, brainstorm what needs to happen to make the idea a reality. You might put your idea in the center of page and then, around the idea, list all the implementation steps from the mental – maybe a change in attitude – to the concrete.

Pick one step and schedule ways into your calendar to implement it. Next month pick another step and so on. You’ll want to evaluate your progress at the next New Moon and the next Moonwobble cycle.

Trees and leaves

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A tree is a miracle.

You knew that, of course, but I repeat the oft-stated perception that trees are fabulous and inspiring.

In Autumn we get to see the spectacle of trees shedding the leaves they’ve been maintaining all summer long. They created the leaves out of stuff they pulled out of the earth. In this way a tree is lot smarter than you are. It knows the minerals and organic substances in its environment in a way that you never will, even if you pushed your face into the sod and tried to lick the earth.

It turns those minerals into a structure - trunk, limbs, bark . . . and leaves. It uses the leaves to harvest sunlight. The leaves turn sunlight into energy the same way your intestine turns an eggplant casserole into energy that gets used to support the activites of your soma. What the tree doesn’t use it stores in its roots. It always makes a profit. It uses some of the sun energy to do business and it stashes away the rest because it knows that winter is coming.

As winter approaches, the tree conducts a process of risk management. It knows that the big leaves that generate so much profitable energy during the summer become a significant liability in winter. There is still sunlight in the winter, but the risk-benefit equation is all wrong. Trees have learned that it’s just better not to try to do business with the sun during the winter months. It’s better to close up shop and live off of the surplus generated during the summer because the risks associated with too much weight on the limbs during winter is too great. Real structural damage is possible.

(Other trees have found a strategy for harvesting sunlight during the winter - the evergreens. Take a look at their leaves : thin, long or short needles. Even evergreens shed in autumn, though. You see a carpet of golden needles on the ground as they cut back on their liabilities when winter approaches.)

From our perspective, we see the leaves ‘turn’ - they change from green to red, gold, yellow, brown, and they fall to the ground. With a little breeze you can see the leaves leave their home and drift lightly to the earth. Uncountable numbers of leaves of all sizes fill the air, and fall. They cover the ground with mulch that rots and brings organic matter back to the soil, from which the tree again will create more leaves, maybe two or three years hence.

So, what is life like for the leaf ?

It wakes up one day and finds it has a shape that is unfurling. It feels the energy of the sun waking it up and it finds itself motivated to do what comes naturally : to use the sunlight to feed its growth to full size. To do so, it also draws upon the nourishment provided by the tree. But it finds that even at full size there is still a lot of energy left over, and the tree says, no problem, give it to me and I’ll store it. The tree has invested in this leaf, and now it’s time for the leaf to provide ROI. So for several months the leaf does what leaves do - it turns sunlight into useable energy and the tree stores the surplus energy in its roots. Until the day when the tree sends out a memo “to all leaves”. Due to overly dangerous circumstances we are shutting down our sunlight harvesting operation - you are no longer needed. See your local branch manager for details on time, date, etc., of discontinuation of nutrient flow.

Without nutrients from the tree, the leaf cannot sustain itself anymore - it dies. It loosens its grip on the tree and finally falls away. Lessons learned :

  1. Leaves die because the tree has withdrawn nourishment.

  2. Trees have a purpose separate and apart from their leaves.

  3. Trees create leaves to serve their needs and they discard them without remorse when the time comes. Having created them they are within their rights to discard them. The leaf is not an individual in its own right but a part of the tree. (I can see certain interests using this as an analog for “job creation and job destruction”. Looking into that is another topic for another time.)

  4. Leaves are ephemeral to trees as trees are ephemeral to geology.

There is, however, a more salient point : a tree is an intelligent system. Within the limitations of its situation a tree demonstrates a profound level of intelligence. Seeing the vast intelligence there should remind us that we ourselves possess an even greater magnitude of awareness without even considering “education”. We are born very, very smart.

 

NFL on Tarot - Week 9

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The Wheel of Fortune and the Hermit from the Renaissance Tarot, published by Lo Scarabeo.

All along we have been tweaking our method for doing the draws without changing the essentials. Early on we adopted a system of “guide cards” - a pair of cards that we pull before doing any of the draws for the matches. We view these as a kind of index about the week in general, or perhaps about the energy we’re bringing to the event.

After drawing the guide cards (sometimes referred to as ‘game wardens’) we return them to the deck. This week we decided to withhold the cards from the deck so they would not be available to be drawn as a card representing a team.

The guide cards for Week 9 - November 4 - are the Wheel of Fortune and the Hermit.

The draw for Week 9 saw the first appearance of the Tower. Hard to believe : In over 100 matches the Tower has never appeared even once. This week it arrives with a vengeance - four appearances. Strength also shows up four times, and the Magician shows up three times, as does the World.

From the guide cards we get the feeling that several of the matches will involve outcomes that hinge on chance and that some teams might end up exhibiting unexpected resourcefulness.

The prominence of the Tower and Strength suggest low scoring games due to robust defensive play, but also a significant possibility that some teams will be forced to go back to the roots of their strategy (throw away the playbook), possibly due to catastrophic injuries.

Now that we’re half way through the season we’ll take some time to look at overall trends - in another post. 

NFL on Tarot - Week Six

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The Emperor is strong this week, with four instances. He is matched with the Hermit, the Chariot, and the Hanged Man (twice). This is going to be interesting to watch.

It seems to indicate a week where strength plays a dominant role. This may mean it’s a shake-out week and the season’s strong teams may begin to become evident.

Sheer speculation, of course.

This is the NFL on Tarot - Week Two

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As we reported last week, the card picks for Week Two were a little eccentric. The Wheel of Fortune or the Fool showed up twice each in the first four picks - never against each other. Fortune won once and the Fool both times. Fortune won again in another contest where Death was the opposing card.

We find it interesting that one cannot make any rules about the relationship between two major arcana cards. In one instance one is stronger; in another instance, the other. We haven't made any effort to find more information about any of the teams.

 Overall, we appear to be holding our own in the pool, which comprises about 25 teams.

Week Three

The tone appears to be "Strength" - the card showed up in three of the first four picks. Later on the Magician made an appearance in three of the contests. Last week we looked for a summary of the NFL week to see if our premise of "unusual events and upsets" held true. Couldn't find one, though.

Tarot Predictions 001: How Likely is a U.S. Federal Government Shutdown on October 1st, 2015?

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If you live or work within the D.C. metro area, you know that one of the most hotly debated issues right now is whether there will be a government shutdown on October 1st, 2015. Probably even if you don’t live in the metro area you can’t avoid hearing about this question on the news shows.

What the Financial Analysts Say

On September 9th, the Washington Post published an article entitled Get ready: Experts say a government shutdown is likely.

After summarizing why a shutdown could be likely – basically Congress “using the budget process to push their ideological agendas on everything from abortion to military spending to international nuclear deals” – the author, Amber Phillips, consults with four congressional budget analysts to see how likely a shutdown really is.

You can read the article for the specifics, but let’s summarize the results by sharing:

  • who made the prediction

  • what their credentials are

  • what the percentage rating of a government shutdown is

  • why a shutdown is likely (the sticking point)

Phillips suggests at the conclusion of the article that the threat of a shutdown may spur Congress to roll up their sleeves and actually address all the issues. Ok – stop laughing.

What the Cards Say, Part 1: Choosing the Deck

Before reading Phillips article, we pulled out the very trusty Renaissance Tarot and used it to ask: How likely is a U.S. Federal Government Shutdown on October 1st, 2015?

We’ve been reading with the officially named Tarot of the Renaissance (Giorgio Trevisan & Pietro Alligo; Lo Scarabeo) since 2013.

We won’t go into a review of the deck here, but suffice it to say that this deck has proven very reliable in readings involving finance, power, and other business related matters. The deck delivers messages clearly, unambiguously, bluntly, but also at times with a bit of humor. And the cards were really accurate about changes on the horizon.

We mention these experiences in order to convey that, despite its pastel colors and almost imaginary Renaissance imagery, this is one astute deck for penetrating worldly affairs.

What the Cards Say, Part 2: The Message

When we ask a yes-or-no question of the tarot, we follow the tradition that four aces in the spread mean a yes while no aces indicate no. One to three aces indicate nuances that can be explored by the other cards in the spread.

On the morning of Sunday, September 13th, the spread yielded four principal cards: Ace of Cups; Ace of Pentacles; the Devil; and the Hanged Man.

The presence of these two aces and two major arcana cards in a half-half relationship suggests that energy is still very much in flux, though the energy is indeed rooted in issues that have come before and are cycling around again.

Although the cards indicate that no specific conclusion can yet be drawn, that does not mean that we have a 50/50 chance of a shutdown. Nor are we left clueless about what the cause of a potential shutdown is; nor how to avoid it.

The first two cards in the spread are aces, indicating the factors that would make a shutdown likely. The specific two aces drawn (Cups and Pentacles) suggest that thoughtful reasoning or careful thought about specific ideas do not, in fact, motivate the actions and words that might lead to a shutdown.

To the contrary, it appears that key players in the budget discussions are allowing their emotions (Ace of Cups) to dictate their decisions about money (Ace of Pentacles). This interpretation is reinforced because the Ace of Cups sits atop Temperance while the Ace of Pentacles covers the Five of Wands and Two of Swords.

Actually let’s explore this a bit more by looking at the specific imagery of the Tarot of the Renaissance.

This Five of Wands is similar to that in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, though instead of many figures fighting with sticks, we see one figure backed into a corner readying himself to fight off unseen attackers. This card indicates a competitive feeling, directed towards the “little things,” rather than fighting over major issues. Petty disagreements in order to establish turf is the phrase that comes to mind. This is not to say that for some people the various issues surrounding the debate on funding aspects of the budget are not serious business, but it indicates that others are exploiting the disagreements and fostering discord in order to gain power, not with a view to solving the issue

The image of Two of Swords in the Tarot of the Renaissance amplifies this interpretation. Two men smile as they hold aloft their swords. The men are wearing different styles of clothing, possibly indicating that they are not on the same side; yet they are not hostile toward one another. In fact, they seem to be enjoying themselves. Perhaps it is only a game to them. Power, in this schema, resides in being in control of money, and the way to gain control is in the cynical manipulation of emotions, rather than rational debate.

From the first half of the spread, we would predict that we are in store for a lot of emotional language and posturing, especially from politicians seeking their party’s presidential nomination. The Two of Swords could indicate that members of both parties will likely indulge in emotional rather than rational debate of the issues, hoping to secure some extra support and love from their constituents. However, in the end, it is just posturing and the issues could be resolved satisfactorily.

So far, the message in the cards seems to reinforce the main thesis of the Phillips article, that ideological agendas are the underlying reason of why a shutdown might occur.

What to make of the second half of the spread? That smiling Devil and the Hanged Man? Having major arcana cards close out our spread, they likely offer a look at the “karmic” energies of the moment and how to avoid a shutdown. We use the word “karmic” to indicate that these are energies that have built up over years, are ones we’ve seen before during the last 30 or so years, and are prominent because their root causes have not been successfully worked through.

Look at that charming Devil, offering us a host of worldly goods and rewards. The temptation is to put short-term power gains ahead of long-term solutions to the very real issues the United States is facing. But, even more, he is encouraging us all to seek security for our mental and emotional unease within the material realm, while also implying that our financial situation is on the verge of chaos and only by making short-term extreme decisions will we be secure. This attitude surely is a major lure of the Devil: he encourages us to look for respite and solution to our fears primarily within the material world, which may not hold the solutions to our mental and emotional unease.

Alternatively, the Devil may represent a “Devil’s bargain” made to avoid a shutdown which could end up being a losing proposition for all concerned.

This is where the Hanged Man enters the picture. He reminds us that our current perspective or way of handling the situation may not be the most productive or fruitful. Clinging to the Devil’s perspective and promise of wealth and security, we’re actually (and literally) losing money and going nowhere. The Tarot of the Renaissance adds a bit of humor to the message: coins are literally falling out of the Hanged Man’s pockets!

The Hanged Man asks us to flip our perspective. Instead of looking for solutions to our fears (apparent dwindling dignity of life; an uncertain future full of unpredictable changes) in government policy and funding of the budget, we could (as individual citizens and those in leadership positions) adopt a civil attitude toward each other and converse in polite, measured tones over what the government is charged with doing: funding its operations.

The sky is most assuredly not falling, unless we base our actions on the false belief that it is. This spread suggests that our financial footing as a nation is really not all that bad, but our fears may lead us to act in such a way that may destroy our decent situation.

Verdict, for now

We project about an 80% chance of NOT having a government shutdown on October 1st. Even so, we wouldn’t wager on the capacity of the current leadership to make the required ‘flip’.

Update Saturday, September 26, 2015

The resignation of House Speaker John Boehner casts a whole new light on this reading. Which cards do you think would relate to him ? Is he the figure in the Five of Wands, fighting off the partisans of his party ? Is he the Hanged Man ? Is he the Devil ? None of the above ? A lot probably depends on your party affiliation. An interesting question to ponder.

This is the NFL on Tarot - Week One

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An NFL game at Wembley Stadium, UK, in 2010. Courtesy Mark Botham - Creative Commons license

An NFL game at Wembley Stadium, UK, in 2010. Courtesy Mark Botham - Creative Commons license

Our local community sponsors a weekly pick of the 16 football matches that take place every week. For a bit of fun, quite unexpectedly, we decided to join the party and make our picks using Tarot cards, thinking this would give us the opportunity to study Tarot "algorithms" or patterns. Old story ? Been done before ? We don't care - it hasn't been done by us.

Our approach is to take a completely naïve attitude to the project. We do not study the teams; we do not watch the games; we avoid sports news as much as possible. We also have no financial interest at all; we don't bet on the games.

At the beginning of each week, that is, on Wednesday evening, we take the list provided by our community and we draw two major-arcana cards, one representing each team. The list includes a point spread between the teams. We take a naïve attitude about that, too, and we don't look at the point spread until the game is over and we are entering the scores into our spreadsheet and evaluating whether our guess was correct or not. And how can you call it anything but a guess ?

It was during our first draw, having made one pick, that we decided that we should use only major-arcana cards. We are new to this kind of prognostication so experienced practitioners may have issues with our method. One benefit is that the major arcana comprise 22 cards -  a very reasonable set that will help with comparisons and evaluations later. The object, of course, is simply to learn as we go - and to assemble data to test how well a Tarot-informed guess fares.

At the time we are posting this there has been one complete week of competition and we are in the middle of the second week of competition, which will end on this coming Monday night, September 21.

First week
We took turns shuffling the cards and holding them out so that the other person could pull the two cards. We turned the cards over and looked at which card was representing which team. Based only on our knowledge of the character of each card we made a decision about which team would be victorious. We'll report details of our results at the end of the season but we appear to be off to a good start.

During Week One we noticed two matches in which the Wheel of Fortune was involved. In the first match Fortune came up against the Devil, with a three-point spread favoring Fortune's team. In that match Fortune's team won by 28 points. In the second match Fortune came up against the Fool, with a 2.5 spread favoring the Fool. Fortune's team won that contest by 17 points. These are large wins by NFL standards.

Another interesting point is that there were three matches where the team lost the game but because of the point spread they won the match. In all three instances the team that lost the game but won the match was designated by the World card.

Second week
We obviously cannot report second week results yet, but we did notice some odd behavior during our draw on Wednesday night. We had a lengthy conversation during the first week's draw about how to interpret a match where the Fool or the Wheel of Fortune was involved. During the second week draw the Fool or the Wheel of Fortune, either one or the other, appeared in the first four draws that we made. It was a bit uncanny.

Our thoughts about this take us into the world of astrology where we are in the middle of a period of instability. Not only is there an aspect between the Sun and the Moon's nodes which peaks on September 25, but Mercury stationed on the night of the first match of the week (Thursday, September 17) and will be retrograde during the weekend period of competition. (It will go direct in October.) Our tentative projection about this is that this week will be an unusual one in the league, and there may be unexpected victories and unusual events. One would expect the passing game to suffer.

Evaluation
As we go along we'll make micro-evaluations of things we notice along the way; we'll save an overall evaluation for mid-season and post-season.

Puny mayhem

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Some kind of arctic blast blew through here at around 8:00 p.m. “What’s going on outside the window ?” Alana asks.

“How do I know ? I’m in the kitchen,” I respond.

Wander over to the door on to the lanai and now I see what she means. Visibility zero. It looks like a snow blower - I’ve never seen weather like this in my life. Reminds me of the winter storm scene from “March of the Penguins."

After midnight now and the temperature has dropped to -8C, heading for a low of -13C overnight, and the puny amount of snow that got deposited early in the evening has turned the neighboring apartment complex into the Ice Capades.

Seriously, there is a Montgomery County fire truck that cannot get up the little hill that always gives our neighbors trouble when it hasn’t been salted. This is a really little hill, honestly - maybe a 5 degree incline. But when it’s covered with ice it might as well be Mount Everest.

This is the way the whole season has been - occasional freak storms that create havoc out of ridiculous metrics - this is less than an inch of snow but it’s brought traffic accidents and mayhem.

I can’t imagine what it must be like in Boston.

No power outage so far, thank goodness, despite the 60 mph winds which just keep coming.

One more shot of Aquavit, I think, before I call it a night.