Welcome back honey hunters! Today I will be diving into the recent new moon. As always I am using Yasmin Boland’s Moonology oracle deck and Giulia Massaglia’s Golden Art Nouveau tarot deck! Please refer to my first post for a rundown of my reading ritual.
To get in the mood for this reading I did some painting and depicted the new moon! Lately I have been paying attention to the gradient of darkness in the sky as the sun sets and wanted to depict that in this piece. I also got to play around with some of my iridescent paint pans and silver and gold inks that I recently purchased. If you enjoy my artwork, please consider supporting me by making a purchase through my redbubble! On to the readings.
The Spreads
The new moon spread contains the following:
- What is rising up within us? Full Moon in Leo: Don’t let pride get in your way.
- What is the main message this new moon? Mutable Moon: Nothing is yet set in stone.
- The final outcome. Waning Moon: What do you need to release?
The new moon happened to occur in sidereal Leo this month, conjunct with Mercury. Every new moon is a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon – the Father and the Mother or the Masculine and the Feminine. The presence of Mercury could represent an exchange (commerce) between these two dynamics, or learning from one another. Mercury can also represent a youthful/playful presence, perhaps the three planets together represent a family or triad. Whatever is happening right now, it is a good idea to act from your heart and communicate with the people involved in your current situation. Is pride holding you back from making concessions that could invite harmony to your situation? Is it possible to make some space for others during this time? The mutable moon tells us that it is not too late to change directions and let go of grudges or emotional baggage. The card itself depicts ocean waves – are the tides changing? The spread itself is fairly ambiguous about where things are heading, and I take this to mean that right now it’s important to turn your attention inward and reflect rather than worry about the outcome.
This waxing phase spread contained the following positions:
- What is rising up between now and the full moon? Ace of Swords
- How can any challenge that arises during this time be resolved? King of Pentacles
- General advice. Ace of Wands
- The final outcome. 10 of Swords
First off, this spread has a lot of masculine energy in it. We see the Ace of Swords and Ace of Wands – hands holding phallic objects, as well as the King of Pentacles. In the 10 of Swords we also see a man on the ground, defeated by 10 swords. There is also a kind of tension between there being aces and 10s and a king – the bottom of a suit vs the top of a suit. It can represent a period of great creative potential, transitioning between different phases. Aces represent new beginnings, or raw potential, while 10s represent finality and conclusions. The kings of a suit are very experienced and rule over their suit with authority – they’ve seen it all.
We can also look at how the images on the cards appear together as a kind of storyboard or complete picture. First, the hand in the Ace of Swords appears to be holding the sword towards the King of Pentacles. Where did this sword come from? Was it plucked from the ground of the 10 of Swords? Is the sword being offered to the king, or is it being held to strike at the king? Likewise, the Ace of Wands appears to be looking towards the man in the 10 of Swords. Does this hand mean to offer the man the wand as a tool, or does it intend to beat a broken man? Was this wand sent by the king? What kind of exchange is happening? The man is merely dressed in a common robe, while the king is dressed lavishly. Likewise, the Ace of Swords depicts a barren landscape while the Ace of Wands depicts flourishing river with a castle or town in the distance.
With all this being said, the spread itself can be interpreted a number of ways, and I encourage you to try out your own interpretations (and share them in the comments!) I believe we are seeing an exchange between the defeated man and the king. What is rising up? The Ace of Swords – cutting through the bullshit and the facades, posing serious inquiry to the king, who possesses the solution to the challenges that have left this man strewn on the ground. The king has achieved material success and enjoys great security, not without hard, patient work. I believe the advice is to take what he is offering – perhaps the wand can be used as a walking stick to help the man pull himself up off the ground and limp to his next venture. The outcome remains the 10 of swords, because it may take longer than the waxing phase to pull ourselves up off the ground. The pentacles are a slow suit that require much patience and commitment to obtain their bounty. It’s okay to hurt for a while and be still; sometimes that is what is necessary to discover creative motivation. As the new moon spread revealed, some reflection is necessary right now while we traverse this sea change. We may need to wait for the full moon to shed light on a dark period.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading my article and I hope you enjoyed it. If you enjoy this kind of content please comment below or follow me in the upper right corner! If you have any questions about my readings or how to use tarot and oracle cards, I would love to answer them. Have a wonderful time and I will drop in again at the new moon!
