Shedding Outworn Illusions: New Moon in Aquarius

"I get my ideas out of my dreams ... if you're lucky enough to use something you see in a dream, it is purely original. It's not in the world -- it's in your head. I think that is amazing."

-- Alexander McQueen (16 March 1969 - 11 February 2010)

Tonight's new Moon heralds the approaching collision between Chiron and Neptune in the constellation of Aquarius, exact on February 16. Chiron and Neptune haven't joined forces since 1945 just after World War II. This intense conjunction pierces into the heart of deep collective pain, longing and anxiety. We're talking way beyond anything even our best modern day distractions could remedy. In fact Neptune in Aquarius-inspired social networking collectives, like Facebook and Twitter, are only superficial drugs that actually make these gods hungrier and dig up hellish high school clique-ish wounds so that Chiron in Aquarius may teach us to finally let go of such BS once and for all.

"What is your calling? Ask yourself what gives you the most joy -- before you go to bed -- in the middle of the day -- before you go to sleep. It's all about service anyway."

-- Carlos Santana

The depth of yearning you may be feeling even if only as anxiety just below the threshold as you reach for the comfort of your iThing to distract the hungry gods -- is beyond anything technology can fix. We may only let ourselves feel this kind of longing while listening to a really moving piece of music, poetry, film or while dead asleep.

The collective energies of the Chiron-Neptune conjunction submerge us into deeper waters so that we can no longer deny compassion and interconnectedness without suffering an unbearable betrayal to our soul. It's no accident the remake of "We are the World" should appear during this new Moon along with Naomi Campbell preaching on CNN to opt out of that second pair of shoes when that money could feed a mother in Haiti for a month.

Our sensitivities increase and our need to relinquish the superficial and narcissistic attachments become imperative. Yet, this doesn't mean it's so simple to abandon our collective illusions without a painful internal struggle. But there are several wake-up calls every day. If the suicide of Alexander McQueen, a true genius-Neptunian-Pisces fashion god if there ever was, on the onset of Fashion Week wasn't a glaring reminder to put our souls first.

In the process of shedding outworn illusions, our first instinct is often to cling to our default attachments and "go to" addictions --food, sex, internet, alchohol, drugs -- to numb the pain. But as we're all too painfully aware (if only on a subconscious level), the transition is going on regardless of whether we are willing and conscious participants or not. And the pain is truly in the resistance.

New Moon contemplation:
Where have we been split off from our authentic core Self? Neptune is our longing to connect with some, any, shards of the infinite. Do we live by the dictates of our soul or what? How do our needs to belong to a group, community or clique affect our relationship to Self? What does it mean to be on the outside looking in? What do we sacrifice in order to fit in, be liked or accepted by whatever social norms we still consciously or unconsciously subscribe to?

Why be normal?

"When you find bliss and you keep it you can lose everything else."

-- Carlos Santana