SEPTEMBER 27th: FIRST QUARTER MOON in CAPRICORN 7:54PM PST

Assess and Reset

This Wednesday, September 27th, is the first quarter Moon. Our New Moon was a week ago, our Full Moon eight days away. The Autumn Equinox was five days ago; the light is shifting. Some of it is still left at the end of our work day. It’s not too late to spend time in an Equinox ritual: to take the time to reflect on balance, to give thanks for this summer’s harvest and lessons. It’s almost the end of the month; we’re sliding into the last third of this year. The hourglass is half full, the sand moving up—for the moment. Energy may feel high; our capacity to do more work could be wider and deeper.

The Last Quarter Moon this month asked us to shed ideas about identity and perceived notions of self. The New Moon was about wellness and healing. At this time, examine your ideas for personal important goals and ambitions and what needs to happen. Assess and reset what your consistent actions will be at this time: clear, carved out, yours and yours alone.

Mentally, energetically, and emotionally take stock. Where are you ready to go beyond? Jump over, crawl under? There’s a correlation between the sign of Capricorn and work. Here we are, in September. Summer is over, the school year is well underway. What do you want to accomplish in the next week, the next month?

Be clear, concise, determined.

A lot of times our spell work and intention settings do not work as well they could because we are afraid to ask for exactly what we want. A lot of times our relationships aren’t as authentic as we’d like them to be because we do not communicate what we really need. Time and time again I’ve had students in workshops who admit they don’t do spell work based upon their deep desires because it isn’t truly “for the greater good.” Gentle reader, the ancient French root of the word “desire” is from the phrase de sidere, which means “from the stars.” Your desires are greater than you, summoned from the cosmos.

If it is what you truly want, harms no one, and will make you happy, then it is for the greater good. We can’t feed others unless we are fed. We can’t help others, teach, give our time freely, if we are overly wanting. Casting spells for wealth, better health, or more recognition is not wrong or overly selfish. We must put the oxygen mask on ourselves first, before we help others on the plane careening through the sky. Of course, excessively using “self-care” for excuses, or refusing to help others in need, is not useful.

(At times, incessant themes around spell work or desires can point to certain areas where the quality needs to be given more freely to oneself. Greed for greed’s sake is a downward spiral. A much too scratchy itch for fame and recognition points to an endless hole inside, one that can never be filled no matter how many screaming fans one has. Just a note, sweetest heart, to be very clear about why you want what you want, and to seek out simple ways to give these baseline needs to yourself first before knocking on any other doors to get them.)

At this time, I encourage you to write down a few wishes or goals that make you feel selfish, uncouth, or even frivolous. Only you know what will give you contentment and pleasure. Could you cast a spell around these desires during the next week, this upcoming Waxing Moon phase?

You could also reexamine goals or ambitions and fine tune them to get them more in line with your true self, the soul’s deep wishes. A lot of what we really want out of our lives is less about things, and more about moments. Less about status, and more about connecting with others. More about fine-tuning our inherent talents and interests to their most mastered state, and less about endlessly chasing carrots on sticks put in front of us by society.

When we think about working outside of the dominant cultures’ egocentric capitalism and the crippling structures of rich/poor, success/failure based upon money, ego, and other strange forms of status, we allow a freedom that can loosen our fears, anxieties, and blocks. When our success is defined by how we want to feel, who we wish to include, who and what we know we must protect, what we must honor, what we desire to create, and what value systems we dedicate our goals to, there’s no way we can fail. When our soul’s bedrock and baselines are crystal quartz clear, it is all in our hands already, raised in reverence, wrapped in respect for our dedication and the devoted pathways of our pursuits.

Who are you working for? Why? How?

It is now time to begin. To walk the walk. For real. With manifestation work and goal setting, at a certain point the action items must get crossed off. Get started, whether in a tiny teacup way, or bolder and larger than you’ve tried to before. Gulp hard, past the frogs in your throat, and move forward in tangible ways this week. Enact some of the things that precisely scare you the most.

Starting sloppy and unsure is better than not starting at all. Putting one foot in front of the other, over and over, when in alignment with one’s clear goals, is sometimes the only thing to do.

We have to commit to making changes before they occur.

What next? What moves do you need to make? What spells would help you with this?

Here’s the thing: magick works best when you do.

You are magick, through and through.

Work your magick this week: build altars to your ambitions, then bring that ambition out into the world.

So mote it be!

Ask yourself: How will this week be different?

How can I make this day different, more in alignment with my goals?

Is it simply giving yourself more time? Breathing? Carving out space for joy?

Do you to wake up ten minutes earlier to meditate, jog, journal, or breathe?

Suggested Activities: 

This week, clarify your action steps around your goals. Be specific, clear, and committed. If you need an accountability friend, then get one. Maybe they need one too!

Get a book that is a biography of someone you look up to in your desired or current field. Make notes in the book, or copy quotes from the author to inspire you.

Finish one or two annoying tasks that you’ve been making excuses around not completing or starting.

Build an altar to your project, goals, or ambitions. Visit it every day this week.

If you are casting a spell to build a practice, project, or business, cast a specific spell around the smooth, useful, profitable, and focused “doing” of the thing. Infuse the “work” part of it with magic. Then, when you begin to work on it, light the candle and bring the talisman into your work space. Take moments before you begin to work to connect with your higher self, with the magic you felt during your spell. Know that your work is blessed and the benefits to you and others reverberate outward.

Helpful crystals for drive and determination: Carnelian, Tiger’s eye, pyrite, picture jasper, bloodstone

Helpful herbs/tinctures for strength and energy: Nettles, bamboo, cinnamon, hawthorn, burdock

—Excerpt from Many Moons. Buy here.

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