Today is a New Moon, normally an excellent time for reflecting on what to release in favour of the goals you hope to achieve by the next Full Moon in two weeks’ time — but this one holds a different energy, combining with a powerful Solar Eclipse (and kicking off a three-month eclipse cycle). Eclipses are potent energetic portals that set the tone for the 6 months following, making today a huge opportunity to start laying new plans and patterns for how to find and maintain balance in your life, now and moving forward <3<3

This New Moon/Eclipse occurs in combination with the Sun and Moon opposing Pluto retrograde in Capricorn, emphasizing that move towards balance a hundredfold! We have the astral mother (Cancer) and father (Capricorn) facing off in order to join forces, most specifically to transform your home life and material situation. The choices made today (and tomorrow, while the energy is still fully charged) are effectively “cooking up” the recipes you’ll be filling yourself with for the next half-year. Make something good!

This reading is drawn from Chakra Wisdom Oracle Cards, Creative Whack Pack, and the Cook’s Tarot. I laid out a crystal grid of a dolomite bear to bring in an energy of nurturing protection, a big raw carnelian for pure creative energy and emotional understanding, sunstone to bring in the sun’s energy of vitality and light, moonstone to bring in the moon’s energy of understanding cycles and personal patterns, a large magnesite to keep you thinking clearly and connectedly, aventurine to open your heart and welcome in abundance, serpentine for further understanding of your personal patterns and your relationship with the magic of life, and black onyx for deep grounding and protection of your personal energy.

To begin, we will look at the Shadow crads, the “entry point” for the reading:

Shadow Cards: Destiny + 13. Look to Nature + 3 of Pentacles

Yes, this New Moon/Solar Eclipse finds you very much “in touch” with where you know you want to be, secure in the knowledge that you’ve already been making the necessary connections to further your goals and support your truths. You’ve hit a point where things are feeling very organic, natural, even easy, although you know that this is no time to “drop the ball” now that your team is formed and everyone is in full action, working hard and building a bright and important legacy <3<3

Oracle Cards: Mysticism + 7. See the Big Picture

You’ve hit such a positive spiritual groove that “everything” is starting to make much more sense in a far bigger way than ever before! You’ve been so very dedicated to shifting out of your more regressive perspectives, focusing on thinking more selflessly and in a way that seeks to encompass realities both known and only imaginable. As a result, though, you know you’re hitting your stride, feeling yourself blossoming out of the darkness and coming closer and closer to the doorway that opens up onto full and soul-filling light! You’re fully committed to this rapidly expanding path, recognizing and embracing the potential to be found in the pure unknown.

Where to focus this New Moon: Knight of Pentacles

Indeed, part of that spiritual revelation was a new understanding of time, and a trust in timeframes beyond linear understanding! You have relaxed into the idea that “slow and steady wins the race,” in turn easing off the pressure to produce and instead grounding yourself in the full, hands-on feeling of doing work that you know is taking you places. You’re feeling it so fully that you’re not worried about when or how you’ll reach the finish line, because the ride is so enjoyable and fulfilling. You look forward to each new twist and turn and the cool learning experiences that come with each!

How to make the best use of the Solar Eclipse’s 6-month energetic portal: Knight of Swords reversed

The next 6 months will represent an opportunity to fully embody that easygoing “trust in time:” this will be a period where you learn to stop being as hasty, to really listen and think things through before dashing off in a new direction, as well as the true meaning of “teamwork” and thinking in ways that benefit the whole. You’re in a space where individual goals give way to collective ones, where instant results are recognized as somewhat shallow along and the lines of thinking needed to create longer-lasting scenarios are at the forefront of your mind. This Solar Eclipse breathes in the gift of productive hesitation, the “pregnant pause” that provides you the extra inspiration to think your ideas through a little longer, in favour of a more positive blends of communication and gentler, friendlier courses of action.

Higher Self Cards: Workaholic + 46. Avoid Arrogance + 8 of Wands

Rather quickly you’ll find yourself cascading into new depths of output, your plate filled with new tasks, even more opportunities, and stacks and stacks of fresh creative inspiration. You heard it here first: don’t let it go to your head! When things start to coast easily and effortlessly, that’s precisely when you need to re-dedicate yourself to the morals of teamwork, sharing, and compromise that got you here in the first place. In order for the matches to continue to strike, they need a clean, dry environment with just enough grip that they can find their grip — and that’s when the magic happens and the real party can begin!

This Solar Eclipse is all about finding balance, so be sure to think with both your structural “dad”-mind and your nurturing “mom”-mind and encouraging them to meet in the middle, laying the foundations to put even more collaborative work in and knowing that what you’ve been building is universally protected <3<3<3

If you’re interested in a personalized reading with me, head over to my Etsy shop! Feel free to use the coupon code THANKS15 for 15% off your reading at checkout!

Chakra Wisdom Oracle Cards. Tori Hartman. Illustrated by Gretchen Raisch-Baskin. London, England: Watkins Media Ltd., 2014.

The Cook’s Tarot. Judith MacKay Stirt. Schiffer Publishing, 2015.

Creative Whack Pack. Roger von Oech. Stamford, CT: U.S. Games Systems, Inc., 1989.