Have you noticed that there’s been more talk this January about alternate concepts of the “new year”? I’ve seen so much more content lately about pagan, astrological, and otherwise alternative ideas to when the year is “new” and heard from more folks than usual that they are taking a slower or more considerate approach to their new year. It feels like January 1st hit, and there was a collective shrug. Not apathetic per se, but one where our attention seems to be elsewhere: on our own lane, our families, our communities, our passions. 

 

There’s also been hints of a potential shift in the wellness space, away from solely focusing on the capital -s- SELF, to self and____.  As in self and community or self and systems.

 

We could attribute this to the effective propagation of information through social media, but I also think this is a natural response to the swift pendulum swing of “back to normal” 🙃 we’ve experienced these last couple of years after the isolation and uncertainty of lockdown in 2020. Collectively, we are beginning to question the movement of the tide the pushes and notice patterns where before the glitter and the drama would have distracted our attention. And that’s not to say that we don’t each have our attractions or our pleasures which we default to when all the stimulation and demand for our attention becomes too much. However, a slight pivot is happening and we are becoming wiser to ourselves as parts of a greater whole. Something that felt perhaps quite new four years ago.

 

It’s clear that we are entering a new age. Old feuds may still be playing out, but the global response has been remarkably different. The taste of dissent, and revolution, and of something we don’t yet know is in our mouths and we are now more than ever eager to figure it out. Perhaps you have noticed this in your workplace, in your friend circle, amongst the parents at the playground, or folks at the bar or the gym or the coffee shop. Online and face-to-face, it seems to be seeping into circles heretofore fenced off from certain kinds of community intimacy. It’s juicy. It’s rich. It will feed our unions and fortify our networks. If we invest in each other mutually, we are sure to see double the fruits. 

 

This may seem like an Aquarian intro, but these sentiments are born from the Capricornian creative repurposing of the idea of the New Year. When we understand our history, take personal responsibility and express our creative autonomy, we can utilize any system to suit our inner values, not just those imposed upon us for the benefit of a select few. When we know ourselves, and commit to our unique expression, we inevitably change the game we play, the table at which we sit, and inevitably the course of our lives.

 

 

For the last four years, I have offered content and now a free series on the Human Design New Year as an alternative to the Gregorian calendar new year. In Human Design, the planets transit through the gates, similarly to the way planets transit through signs in astrology. The Human Design “calendar” begins in mid-late January, when the Sun enters and transits Gate 41 known as Decrease—The Gate of Contraction. Think of it in terms of the contraction before birth. In order for life to come through, in order for us to embark on our next human experience, we undergo a contraction that launches us into the new.

 

So by following along with the Human Design calendar, we get an alternative approach to embarking upon a new year by giving ourselves a five-week season to close the previous cycles, integrate the knowledge, and make progressive moves on plans for the future. 

 

If you’re interested in this series, sign up at the button below to get notified of the live video releases and receive the follow-up emails complete with a recording of the video, information about the next gate and a somatic exercise to help us embody the upcoming energy.  Later today the Sun will transit into Gate 61, and I’ll be doing an Instagram Live video this morning at 11:00am PT! 

 

Can’t join live? Sign up to receive the full video below!

 

 

There are so many auspicious features of this New Moon in Capricorn. If you are into numerology, the date 1/11 is a sign of good luck or a fortuitous new beginning. Some view this as an angel number, a sign that you are on the right path. Thursday is ruled by Jupiter, the planet of expansion and good fortune. A new moon is the beginning of the lunation, the fresh page, a time to close the last chapter and start anew. With a sextile to Neptune, a trine to Uranus and conjunct Pluto, plus Jupiter trine Mars sextile Saturn we have a combination of aspects that bring major opportunities for leveling up in ourselves and our outward expression. If you have a manifestation practice, this moon is definitely one to work with as long as you’re ready to face your true shadows. 

 

Few folks are lucky enough to not only enjoy the work that they do to create resources for themselves and their families, but to also have it satisfy their creative outlet. And for some people (I’m looking at you, Manifesting Generators) it’s actually more fulfilling to have variety in their energetic expression. We are moving into a time when folks are less willing to compromise on their values, specifically of their time and creative energy. 

 

A New Moon in Capricorn relates to our creative responsibility, our greater purpose to ourselves, and how we can, individually, create structures and systems that support us creatively. Ruled by Saturn, Capricorn usually gets a bad (boring) rap for being traditionalists. But I dare you to show me a Capricorn who isn’t a superfreak. They make success sexy, they turn calculations into kink, and flip the system on its head so fast it doesn’t even have time to say “Yes, Daddy!” Although Capricorns and the energy they bring to the world plays very well within the limits of our current capitalist culture, they are really the envelope pushers when it comes to creative work because they value discipline. Talent is the mastery of the next step, and Capricorn energy is ripe with it. Capricorn is represented by a chimera, a combination goat, serpent, and in some depictions lion. A creature of contradiction whose multifaceted talents pave its way to success. 

 

The New Moon in Capricorn conjunct Pluto can have a transformative effect. We may have intense emotional experiences over these next couple of days . It could bring up deeply rooted emotional memories that are ready to be resolved, or that you are ready to move on from. However, without proper attention, this energy could create a fate, as in the concept from the IChing.

 

You know when you are going through a season of your life, or an extended experience and you feel like you’re lucid dreaming. Maybe it doesn’t feel like  you’ve necessarily been there before, but you’ve been there. You know? Like you are watching yourself and actively noticing a pattern? According to the IChing, when we make certain decisions from our ego or our “not-self”, based on false values, or otherwise out of alignment with our true nature and our uniqueness, we can create what is referred to as a “Fate.” Think of it like a branching path that takes the long and winding route, giving you opportunities to correct past mistakes, eventually getting you back in the direction of your destiny. It’s still a part of your soul journey, it’s just not a section that’s going to be as easeful as if you had made a past choice that was aligned with your true inner nature. Fates are natural parts of the process and nothing to fear, but wonderful to notice so that we may correct our behavior and steer ourselves back into the most harmonious expression of ourselves.

 

 

This new moon also creates a wide sextile with Neptune in Pisces and a trine with Uranus (Rx) in Taurus, which will heighten our perceptiveness and intuitive sensitivity as well as our emotional independence. We may lean into the transcendental and find our feelings about certain past conflicts or future fears changing for the better.

 

Jupiter is trine Mars and they both sextile Saturn, creating a solid foundation of consistency and balance for higher learning, entrepreneurship, engagement and activity. There is an openness to learning, a hunger for knowledge and a drive to create and jump on new opportunities. However with Mercury square Neptune, we may encounter some chaotic thinking. Make sure that any action taken on ideas are based in reality as it is right now. There will always be time to adjust and pivot later, but best to start out on a good and solid foot. 

 

Later today the sun will move into Gate 61—Inner Truth, The Gate of Mystery. This individuated gate in the head center filters inspiration through the pressure to know by absolute recognition. It is not focused on recalling patterns of the past or using logic to predict the future, but to dive into the vastness of the unknown until a universal principle is recognized. There is the desire and the pressure here to know the unknowable.

 

In the IChing, Hexagram 61—Inner Truth refers to the “treasure chest of inner truth” that each one of us is born with as well as the truth within situations. It reminds us that decisions made purely based on the external appearance of people or things will only lead to chaos or conflict later down the road. We must find within ourselves a stillness, like a reflective lake, where the truth can be recognized by our inner senses.

 

The truth within situations can be a little more complex because it is shaped by all parties involved and past elements that are still being acted out. It requires that we listen with our commonsense and create the context, space, and time for transformation within and without. ⁠