The upcoming new moon on Sunday June 18 2023 is a good time to initiate fresh starts. The new moon is generally the time of ending one cycle and beginning another. It occurs every 28 days as the two luminaries meet in the sky. It makes for a good time to end old habits that you wish to remove from your life and begin new improved regimens that could upgrade your life in whatever way is most important or meaningful to you.
Curiously, on this particular new moon of June 18, the sun and moon also align with the asteroid Juno in the heavens, which makes marriage and unions a significant theme. Juno is the mythological wife of the god Jupiter, chief of the Roman pantheon. Juno was actually the original moon goddess, curiously, and her name was Juno Covella (from the Latin word meaning hollow, to describe the crescent moon).
Juno also traditionally symbolizes soul mates, true love and commitment, and thus the 18th is a fine time for marriage or wedding ceremonies. On a deeper level, the asteroid Juno has come to symbolize mystical union within oneself, where one is able to find wholeness as the two sides of ourself unite harmoniously. Or where the soul and Supersoul are able to unite in a loving relationship or wedding of their own.
So the 18th will be a great day for those June brides, as well as for the yogis who aim to transcend the mundane ego and link up in love with their higher self, with their deity or divinity of god who is situated permanently in the heart at all times but who waits for us to turn to him or her in love.
The mature spiritual seeker is on the path of union. In fact the word “yoga” means union. The spiritual journey is one of attaining the goal of union with god. Some schools of thought aim to merge identities and become god, while others more accurately aim for the union while simultaneously maintaining individuality, more like a couple who wed yet say man and wife. This simultaneous oneness and individuality is the foundation of true mystical achievement. It is the goal of the alchemists and mystics of both eastern and western traditions.
With this goal always in their minds, the true spiritual seeker is by nature peaceful because they no longer hanker for mundane or external objects of sense gratification. Their goal is not material. It is one of consciousness, and is transcendent. Thus achieving material results makes little difference to them. They are not attached to loss or gain because the mystical union is something that occurs within. And once that is achieved, all other secondary desires are fulfilled.
The 18th new moon also makes a square or 90 degree alignment with Neptune, suggesting a time for enhanced creativity and imagination, which will facilitate art, music, dance and such activities. Anything to do with service – whether to the divine in a devotional sense, or in a more mundane sense of social upliftment and charity – will be facilitated. It makes for a good day to perform any religious ceremonies or sacred rituals. I will be meditating on invoking peace and healing for the planet, which is much in need of both currently.
Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the upcoming new moon of June 18 is said by western astrologers to be in the sign of Gemini, but it is actually literally still in the constellation of Taurus, as any Vedic astrologer practicing Jyotish (astrology) will tell you. The sun and moon will conjunct at the new moon moment on the 18th, right at the tip of the bull’s horn in the constellation of Taurus.
This also aligns with the fixed star called Al Hecka by the old Arab astrologers on ancient times. This star has the nature of Mars, and is said to incline symbolically toward violence and danger from males and from accidents. It is combative verbally and physically, so beware such themes in yourself and your environment on the 18th and for the entire four week lunar cycle this ahead. It might be good for military strategy as long as we be careful of ambush and deceit. And be careful of those who like to get drunk at weddings and cause a commotion for everyone at the party.
The exact new moon moment is at 05h37 in London GMT on Sunday 18. Use the opportunity like a farmer or sailor uses the natural cycles and tides of nature to assist in their activities, thus harnessing the flow rather than going against it.
(image and reference: www.astrologyking.com)