Insights by Kerstin Hern of The Mirrored Lantern / Original art for J. Southern Studio by Spirited Animals
Happy New Year! We have initiated a brand new cycle with fresh and fertile possibilities (and a lot fewer major transits) to engage with in 2022. The busiest planet this year is Jupiter, versus Saturn and Uranus the past couple of years, which is a massive (literally) refreshing energy that ushers in luck, optimism, expansiveness, and joviality.
Here’s a quick astro recap to start the year to ensure solid understanding of planetary transits: These slower moving planets, or outer planets, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Pluto, and Neptune, represent long term patterns and themes that affect the collective—like the Major Arcana in the tarot. The inner planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and our planet, are faster-moving and encompass more personal themes. The Sun and Moon are the outer/ego and inner/emotional archetypes that engage with these planetary energies to create narratives and archetypal energies that we can use from above to understand what happening below within our personal and interpersonal lives.
January always initiates the new year with Capricorn energy: ambition, practicality, and discipline… A wonderful way to start a new yearly cycle with vigor and confidence. Capricorn is a cardinal sign, meaning it’s an initiator and change-maker that imbues us with leadership vibes that fill us with enthusiasm to get moving and jump-start projects. We are also kicking off the year in Venus retrograde until the 29th, plus Mercury retrograde on January 14. Therefore, the first month of 2022 is all about revisiting, revising, reassessing our relationships, how we love, our values, our relationship to finances, how and with whom we communicate, and personal ideas/narratives and initiating change or adjustment where needed.
Check out several notable astro transit dates below to both prepare for and better understand these massive and micro energy shifts so you can work with the cosmic flow. Be sure to check the Tarotscopes blog for specific astrology transits for your sun, rising, and moon signs, too.
Create your own rituals around the new and full moons with themes, symbols, and tools to activate your manifestations and releases (outlined below). Make note of which house will be most affected for you, per lunation, as well—especially the super new moon!
Wishing you all a wonderful and empowered start to the year ahead!
Notable Transits:
THEMES & SYMBOLS: fresh starts, long-term goals, year ahead plan, perseverance, tenacity, practicality, endurance, leadership, structure, discipline, patience, resourcefulness, sensitivity, devotion, responsibility, goal setting, initiation, stubbornness, yearly intentions, revisions, security, brown, gray, taupe, garnet, sea goat, goat-fish, mountain goat, ram, ibex, antelope, horns, sickle, cornucopia, mountain, earth, compass, Saturn
We are lucky to have a Super New Moon starting off the month and the year, activating auspicious energy for short- and long-term goals within the vibration of Capricorn, whose sensibility and ambition can lay a sturdy foundation for all goals and wishes we set now. It also falls on a Sunday, which is a momentous day for personal success and health magick. We have Venus in retrograde during this lunation, so applying Capricornian practicality and sustainability to all we are revising in the realms of love, money, and values will also serve well, as sometimes the rose-colored glasses other signs tend to wear can make red flags just look like flags (I stole that from BoJack—such a good line!). Mercury has also moved into Aquarius on the same day of this new moon, adding a fresh perspective and clarity of mind with the planet of communication and ideas moving into an air sign (communication and ideas) threaded with innovation and humanitarian ideals. Aquarius used to be ruled by Saturn, Cap’s ruler, so we really have access to a grounded, clear, realistic grip on what is going on inside us, in front of us, and around us but also with the beginner energy and optimism of setting big, daring goals for ourselves, as we should!
YOUR NEW MOON LUNATION HOUSE:
Find your sun or rising sign below to see what area of your life will be most impacted by this new moon:
RITUAL + ALTAR INSPIRATIONS
NEW MOON PETITION
Write your intentions as specifically as possible on a small piece of paper, in the present tense, as if they are already happening or already happened. Fold it 3 times toward you, symbolizing bringing energy to you, and place on your altar under your crystals. You may also place your petition under your Earth Element Candle or chime candle before you light it. This is an earth moon, so you can safely light your petition on fire then place it in your cauldron and mix with salt, bury your petition (if on animal-friendly paper) in your yard, or place in a healthy plant.
SUGGESTED MANTRA
“On this lunation, I ground and anchor myself into the core of Capricorn energy, feeling ambition, fortitude, and perseverance rise from my feet, up my body, through my arms and heart space, through my throat chakra and into my mind. I am a clean slate energized with fresh goals on this new moon. May I be seen for my worth and hard work, may my updated intentions at the beginning of this year be heard and honored throughout 2022, and may I have the willpower and confidence to move forward, bypassing all low vibrational energy. I am fierce. I am determined. I am moving upward. So mote it be!”
NEW MOON MEDICINE
Capricorn rules the teeth, bones, joints, knees—all body parts that make us stable and hold our fixed structure so that the more malleable/creative parts of us can be expressed healthily. Getting exercise, stretching, and taking Epsom salt baths are restorative, as well as getting sun (safely) and eating vitamin D-rich foods, such as salmon, eggs, mushrooms, oatmeal, and cheese (but not too much!). Yoga poses for bone health: cobra, triangle, bridge, chair.
THEMES & SYMBOLS: Security, protectiveness, roots, home, family of origin, chosen family, domestic matters, nurturing, maternal energy, children, connectedness, deep emotions, intuition, sensitivity to energy, compassion, empathy, devotion, meaningful dreams, housecleaning, uncovering personal power, connection to ancestry, creature comforts, sky blue, aqua, turquoise, sea foam green, teal, ruby, crab, crustacean claws, seashells, ocean waves, ebb and flow
The first full moon of 2022 is called the Wolf Moon and is a sage time to release any residual baggage from 2021, and anything you’ve outgrown during the introspection period of Venus retrograde. It’s a clean slate moon and a wonderful time to sit with gratitude in acknowledging all the blessings you harness starting this new year. Like gratitude, granting forgiveness to anyone still heavy on your heart or mind at this lunation will release some karma and baggage that you do not have room for in 2022.
This lunation is a culmination of emotions from the fullness in a sign that feels all the feels in connection to security, the home, and family in addition to being very intuitive (thus, everyone’s intuition will be heightened now). The shadow sides of Cancer that can emerge in the light of the full moon are co-dependency, passive-aggression, and spitefulness. Cancers are one of the most intuitive, therefore emotionally intelligent signs, so if out of balance, that strong protective and insightful energy can be used as a weapon. Check in where you may feel less security or comfort in your own life and ask yourself how you handle situations where you feel threatened, be it your ego or sense of relational security, and ensure you are operating from a place that is for your highest good and not frantically clinging to someone because it is comfortable. This lunation has Pluto conjuncting the Sun, so personal power is also relevant. Ask yourself what drama has been active at home? How can you move past it? How is your work/life balance off-kilter? Uncover both barriers to security and healthy boundaries as well as your own personal power that may have been hidden out of sight. Also pay attention to dreams and intuitive downloads, they will be active!
YOUR FULL MOON LUNATION HOUSE
Find your sun or rising sign below to see what area of your life will be most impacted by this full moon:
RITUAL + ALTAR INSPIRATIONS
FULL MOON PETITION
For this water moon, write out your full moon releases, speak them aloud facing west (water element direction), then light it on fire and place in a dish with fresh water, moon water, sea water, or rainwater. For emotionally heavier releases, flush your petition down the toilet.
SUGGESTED MANTRA
“The full moon is illuminating my personal and social worlds, and I courageously recognize what is no longer serving my highest good, security, and personal power. I now thank and release what is out of alignment with my needs. May I be aware of how my work life and home life are out of balance. May I see all the abundance that I may have taken for granted. May I hear and honor my intuition in actioning my goals. May I forgive and be forgiven for the past so I can move forward in a new year with a lighter heart. I am secure. I am nurtured. I am safe. So mote it be!”
FULL MOON MEDICINE
Cancer rules the diaphragm, stomach, chest/breasts, uterus, and ovaries. Focusing on the sacral and solar plexus chakras by doing massage around our hips and stomachs, drinking lots of water, and meditating with yellow stones on the solar plexus chakra and orange stones on the sacral chakra will be cleansing and balancing. Chanting the bija mantras VAM (sacral) and RAM (solar plexus) will clear and strengthen these chakras. Push your shoulders back and open your chest and feel your personal power light up from this simple movement. Breath into your belly to relieve tension and energize your digestive system. Sleep with lavender for peaceful and healing dreams.
Wishing you all an inspiring and motivating New Moon and balancing and empowering Full Moon in January! Here’s to a great start to 2022…
Kerstin from The Mirrored Lantern has practiced right hand path magick and tarot for over 29 years and has been a lover and learner of astrology for just as long… She is currently in graduate school for Clinical Psychology with a specialization in Spiritual & Depth Psychology. Follow her on instagram @themirroredlantern for witch tips, weekly tarot, occulture, and depth psych tidbits!
