A swirling vertigo of disorientation has challenged our minds and our hearts.
Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) Reading for December 30, 2016 – January 27, 2017 Tevet 5777
Last month: Kislev 5777 December 1 – December 29, 2016
Mother of Blades ‘The Organizer’:
A swirling vertigo of disorientation has challenged our minds and our hearts. The world that we thought we knew, the stability that we thought held us in place has suddenly been pulled out from under us.
Watershed events on the personal, national, and world level forced us to find our own moral compass. We were confronted with the reality of a fearsome shadow reality that refuses to remain hidden. For many of us, this has meant opening our mouths, taking a stand, seeking new alliances, and looking to build new structures that can contain our grief and our outrage.
Honest communication has felt really right. What do we have to lose? Structures that once organized us – political institutions and religious organizations have crumbled. The void this created forced us to come into our own authority. We owned our desires and asked for what we wanted.
Our dreams further stimulated us to look at our relationships with authority. Chunks of the past that we have effectively hidden have floated up to the surface and bit us. To create the world we want, to make a fair and righteous world, we have had to step out risking rejection and community censure.
The marking of time according to the lunar cycle is an ancient practice that is enjoying resurgence in women’s circles. The New Moon is an excellent time for reflection and renewal. This 5-card spread facilitates both a reflection on the events of the past month and an understanding of what spiritual energies will prevail in our personal lives for the upcoming weeks. I have devised a system that associates a specific Tarot card with each lunar week of the Jewish calendar. This reading interprets five randomly drawn cards within this context.
Card 1:Reflections on the past month
Card 2:The week of the new moon
Card 3:The week of the waxing moon
Card 4:The week of the full moon
Card 5:The week of the waning moon
Week of the New Moon (Rosh Chodesh): December 26, 2016 – January 1, 2017
XIV ‘Temperance’ or ‘Neviah’:
The New Moon invites us to take the opportunities that daily life brings us for personal transformation. Instead of just moving through our moments of challenge and discomfort as quickly as possible, we can consciously embrace these as sources of insight and inspiration. Emotional catharsis is often the impetus for some of our greatest growth and creative expression. Instead of running and hiding, we can sit with our stuff.
We can play with a new mindset that welcomes an opportunity. Wherever we feel pain and discomfort is our edge, the line where growth is possible. The month of Tevet is all about striving for a spiritual perspective instead of business as usual. This affords us ways to come to closure with issues and people that no longer support our highest good.
Week of the Waxing Moon: January 2 – January 8, 2017
Seven of Waters ‘Visualization’:
Visualize world peace is more than a bumper sticker! We can carry in our hearts the desire for peace. Whenever we are confronted with a choice, sometimes it’s not that hard to simply modify our behavior a little. In any given situation, we can check in with our hearts. We can consider how our actions might affect all who are involved. There are always an array of choices before us.
When keeping harmony is a core value, we can carefully choose our words and our behavior. It can become second nature to be sensitive to others. When we extend tolerance to others, it comes back to us in lovely ways.
Week of the Full Moon: January 9 – January 15, 2017
Mother of Waters ‘Empath’:
She immerses in the deep waters that endlessly flow around and through her. No depths remain unplumbed. This activity of constantly feeling from the heart the whole range of emotions from deep depression to exhilaration and joy gives the Mother of Waters a resonance with the human condition. Compassion – to be able to walk in the shoes of another, brings a softness, a gentleness.
We are filled with a passion to bring change, to help others in their growth. Empathy allows us to direct that fiery intensity towards someone else without scorching them. During this week of the Full Moon, it is our softness that allows us to effectively support another’s growth and change.
Week of the Waning Moon: January 16 – January 23, 2017
XIII ‘Death’ or Mekonnenet’:
We are opening to new possibilities. Something is ending that needs to end. This death brings the key to moving forward with our lives. We have walked an endless path of woundedness. We have passed through gateways of suffering. We have felt dry, lifeless and burnt out.
As we reconcile our past history with an enhanced spiritual vision, we can process and move freely into an optimistic future. Our soul, which has felt lifeless as a dead branch, now blooms with promise. We are alive.
