1/11 New Moon Portal
Around here we love an angel number, we love a portal moment, we love a ritual and a new moon and a synchronicity!
It feels… sacred that the first new moon of the year happens with ALL planets direct, in a year where for the first time in what feels like forever we started the year with all planets direct… that the first new moon is in Capricorn which feels stable, grounded and willing to look at the reality of what is needed to build the life we want this year… that it’s on 1/11, the numbers that signify planting seeds and beginnings and having the courage + conviction to start.
If you’ve known me for a while, you might remember #MOONMOODS, which was an e-mail list I sent out weekly (for a while, then it changed) about where the moon would be and how we could embrace the energy it was bringing. It was the beginning of my foray into what would become my tarot and astrology practices, the community in which I built Fiends, and the first seeds that have brought me to where I am now.
I don’t talk about the moon and its cycles as much, don’t track it as diligently in a mind-mannered way because so much of my practices are about living alongside these things now. BUT… this one feels potent.
1/11
To quote myself on the energies of 1/11…
INTUITION; the primal, the thread, that which draws us closer to the truth, the pure, the undiluted, the signal, the omen, the seed
This energy is the base. If 000 is the universe, 111 is its first manifestations. It is the energy of that which we create without criticism. It is the point in which there is only belief in possibility. It is where we look at the raw materials of our desires, skills, dreams, resources and opportunities. It is a time to play with possibility.
The core of this energy for me, like all things, is that my desires themselves are seeds to be planted. The first step is acknowledgement. Looking fully and unabashedly at what I want; not brain want, but body want. Spirit want. Heart want.
This is not a space to explore the how or when or even the why of it. It’s just getting clear on the what. What do you want? What do you need? What do you desire? Be honest with yourself. Recognize any fear and doubt or guilt or shame or anger or sadness - tell it you will have time for it later, but right now is for deeply dreaming. Right now is for allowing. Right now is for cataloging.
New Moon
This phase of the moon cycle is sort of like a tilled field, an empty glass, a promise to be fulfilled. It takes 6 months for a moon to go from new to full in a sign - so we will see the fruition of this moon in Cancer season, during summer. I feel that it’s important to recognize this because it really does take time; but we don’t have to focus on the time. The time is a container, it will hold us the way we need to be held. It’s about asking ourselves what we want to do in this container. What are we committed to.
In my experience, the New Moon is the best time for manifesting. The Full Moon provides a tipping point, a completion, an emptying that is about to commence. The New Moon is when we align ourselves to be in resonance with what we want.
For me, there is a huge difference between manifestation and resonance. Manifestation is calling in what we want, making it appear. BUT RESONANCE… is where we make space for our manifestations to come into our lives. It’s bringing ourselves into alignment with that - and it takes time to do so. We don’t just change overnight, it takes practice and devotion and patience. Thus the time it takes to move through cycles and patterns - not just with moon but with anything in our life. We are patterned beings in a patterned universe. The question - or task - becomes using those patterns for growth instead of stagnancy.
The time between what we plant now, and what we see coming into fruition is that of clearing, aligning, and nourishing.
In Capricorn
Capricorn, the sea-goat, straddles the lines between the physical reality world and the dream reality world. To me, this archetype is able to move between different realities, able to guide us towards quantum leaping or time-line hopping. And not just guide us but teach us how to do so. Equipping us with the practical necessities of getting there. Capricorn gets a hard wrap sometimes but they truly are driven by their dreams and desires. They see what is possible and work steadily to make it happen. They know that the foundation, the seed, the soil is so fucking important - but so is the daily watering.
Here we have an opportunity to get clear about the blueprint of our actions. This doesn’t mean planning every single step of how things are going to unfold, but it means looking at our desires, being faced with the honest reflection of what is required of us to grow this, and then the daily work of becoming that person. The clearing of space can be making different choices. It can be letting go of habits, stories, and ways of living that keep us stifled or in a labyrinth of action.
This energy wants straightforward, simple, trusted actions. It doesn’t need things to be complicated or fancy - it needs them to be sustainable and long-lasting. Often we have a habit of making things way more complicated than they need to be because we feel complicated feelings about it. This is there the 1/11 energy is so important - to allow ourselves to be hopeful. To allow there to be simplicity. To allow a seed to be a seed - it just needs light and water.
So what is the light and water to your dreams? If you want to write a book it’s as simple as making time, and sitting down to write. There really is no secret other way to writing than to write. If you want to become a great sewer, it’s as simple as getting the supplies and sitting down to sew. There is no way to avoid the learning curves and natural progression of mastering something without actually doing it.
1/11 Portal in The Capricorn New Moon
To summarize… this is a time where we look at the tender, practical, NOT COMPLICATED reality of what we need to do in order to get where we want to go. For me, I want to create a course and I want to have long-term travel opportunities this year. This means I need to make time to write the course, and I need to research house-swapping opportunities in the places I want to go. It’s not more complicated than that. It’s not anything fancy or bigger than just simply making time and space to devote myself to what it is I want to do. I might experience distractions or doubts or fear or the itch to procrastinate and that’s okay. I just need to know that even if I water the seeds a little bit every single day, that I will grow what I need and want to grow. That it doesn’t need to be perfect, and it doesn’t need to always feel easeful. But simplicity is my friend here. It is all of our friends.
You can even simplify this to how do I want to feel in my life? And then as you are living and making choices, asking yourself “does this choice or action align with how I know I want to feel?”. That question becomes your tool and your guiding force.
I think what is interesting about this time is that while the portal is on a specific day, that what we engage with and choose is actually something that we will continue to show up for daily - or at least as often as possible. Sometimes meditating and visualizing and breathing will be the work - allowing ourselves to believe it’s possible or sit with, feel, and release the emotions that come up with the process. It is finding forgiveness when we want to jump ship for not showing up and staying the course. It is about removing perfectionism from the long-term attempt and instead aiming for consistency. For devotion. And ultimately it’s not an external devotion to a specific outcome, idea, or manifestation. It’s a devotion to the worthiness of ourselves - that we are deserving of feeling fulfilled. We are deserving of showing up for ourselves. We are deserving of the dreams that are chasing us. Because that is what desire is - something in the universe chasing us down because we are the right door for it to come through.
How To Use It
TBH I don’t have a tried and true ritual that I’m going to spout to you. I really have always and will continue to make these up as I go along because it always works and I think that is a part of this - trusting what feels right and good for you. Maybe in sharing what I feel called towards you can be inspired or guided to your own actions.
So for me…
writing down all the things I’m scared of, feel blocked in, have unsupportive stories about
getting clear on how I want to feel in my life
getting clear on what desires are showing up in me
writing these things down on a separate piece of paper
finding the common denominator - is it freedom? abundance? health?
focusing my “actions” on what will support that commonality; maybe it’s just being hydrated every day. Maybe it’s taking time to write every day.
bury the piece of paper with my fears and blockages in a plant or in the earth; giving the energy back and making space
breathing/meditating/sitting with the feelings I am embracing and choosing to embody
maybe I’ll light a candle for it, do some fire magic for connecting with the desire and lighting the path ahead
put the SMALL AND SUSTAINABLE list of daily actions somewhere I can see it - maybe putting into the 2024 vision board collage or next to my bed on my gallery wall
focus on and prioritize those things
forgive myself and move onwards when I forget or fall short
as time passes, continuing to make and clear space. Saying no to things, getting rid of physical & emotional things that I don’t want or need anymore
taking note of the challenges or lessons that come forward, noting them for myself as evidence and growth
don’t think about the time too much, just let it happen. let it pass. let myself be in it.
Ultimately I don’t feel that these things need to be complicated. You can make it as rich and diverse as you want, but more often than not lately I’ve been finding that the simpler I make it the easier it is to engage with it. Usually once I’m in it, there are more layers that will unfold. Things will develop because it feels good, not because I have to to make my efforts more powerful or to show the universe I’m doing it. It’s just clear communication with actions - it doesn’t need to be fancy and full of crystals and cards to be heard.
Keep it grounded. Keep it practical. Keep it sustainable. Watch as magic unfolds.