Last Quarter Moon in Sagittarius ☾ Mar 9, 2018

Friday, Mar 9 at 3.22am PST

At the last quarter, the moon rises at midnight, peaks at dawn and sets at noon.

The fiery moon in Sagittarius squares the Sun in Pisces. Quarter moons are sharp, angular crossroads. The purpose of last quarter moons is clearing out in preparation for the new moon / new lunar cycle. This moon phase brings active change in direction (Sagittarius) overlaying deep spiritual introspection (Pisces). Restlessness inspires forward motion. Dreams, wishes and fantasies take manifest form. This phase is decidedly rose-tinted. Pisces is the queen of wishful thinking, Sagittarius the starry-eyed hunter of the cosmos. When these two wrestle in the skies, illusion mounts. Attachments notwithstanding, it is time to be honest.

Sagittarius is born from fire. Any square involving fire brings swift transmogrification and ritualistic rebirth. Sagittarius the optimistic adventurer flips the fishes out of the water and up to the starlight: dance, be free, be joyful! Pisces lives within, swimming in a trance, and the archer burns through time and space. Sagittarius is Pisces’ fiery predecessor, bursting with energy, contagiously enthusiastic. The fishes encourage the centaur to reflect. Without such reflection, Sagittarius is carried away by big ideas, rainbow bubbles and eventual exhaustion.

At this juncture last year, I spontaneously drove from my wintry midwestern homeland to my old stomping grounds in Boston. I stayed at my old apartment where my old roommate still lived. I was so excited to be there, I felt manic. Walking in my old neighborhood and downtown, I was reborn. I saw an old lover. We wandered in sweet silence through an art museum. One installation was a tiny room where Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” crooned and intermittent lights illuminated our surroundings. At times we were plunged into total darkness.

I struggled to be happy when I lived in Boston, but felt only love and gratitude there last year. I thought of Ram Dass, how he started there, cold and mechanical like so many others, and how he was led away, so far away, only to come back completely changed. I felt this way too, like the coldness of that place clamped my heart until a spark, then a flame, then a raging fire took hold of my soul and flung me elsewhere, and in these other places I was cracked open. I came to know myself, my ocean heart, and the deafening love I feel thudding in me. When I visited, I sang and danced in the street, in the train, on the bus, in the cafes and book shops and narrow alleys. I felt joy, endless joy, and I was warm all over, brimming. I remembered what it was like to be asleep, and how long I slept, and how deeply. It’s a shallow breath and a faint heartbeat but it is there, between the sirens and the music of one thousand languages, between the eyelid and the eye, in the softness of your lips, a kernel of light, a smile, a shy, aching tendril unwinding slowly unto humanity. Bodies wrapped in coats and bags pressed together like absent-minded lovers, and we rode the train in silence, thinking of home and dinner and bed.

Practice hip-opening poses in yoga, or go walk somewhere you’ve never been before. Wear purple tones to open the crown chakra. Avoid all drugs and alcohol, even caffeine.

Sagittarius never disappoints. He blinds us in the light of Truth, then gifts us with even greater sight. I wish you enough strength to shoot the archer’s bow and enough sensitivity to care for the fishes swimming in your heart, forever chasing tails. Like a sonic boom, like golden glitter snowing silently, ascend to worlds that do not yet exist. Surface from the ocean floor, expand. You know who you are and what you believe. Rise from seated lotus and begin. Crack open with Sagittarius Yoga. To find your personal moon sign, click here.

Mantra:  be here now