Balsamic Moon in Sagittarius: Into the Fire

Soon we’ll enter the Balsamic phase with the Moon in early Sagittarius.

In this final phase before the New Moon, the Moon grows dark. The waning light disappears as the New Moon draws near.

This is a contemplative time, an invitation to let go of what is complete and no longer fits into our lives.

Yet this Moon in Sagittarius joins Venus, Ceres, and Mercury already in this sign of mutable Fire. This is a restless, searching energy that seeks to light the way forward.

I think about alchemy, the process of purification that leads to the essence of life.

The first phase in the alchemical process is calcination. The material the alchemist is working with is burned, subjected to intense heat until it’s reduced to ash.

The symbolism here neatly aligns with the Balsamic phase: We let go of what no longer fits. In a chart filled with Fire, burning is the way to go.

Now look where we’re heading.

The New Moon will be in Capricorn, where the Sun waits. Mars is already there, strong in the cardinal Earth sign in which he’s exalted.

We’re moving from the purifying Fire into an Earth sign where we can build slowly, carefully laying solid foundations. This New Moon will conjunct Pluto in Capricorn, the planet who tends the deepest, most foundational levels of reality.

Tonight as we enter the Balsamic phase, both the Moon and Mars are out of bounds. Having slipped outside the reins of the Sun, they chart their own ways forward. Expect the unusual.

Burning has long been used as a way to purify and release. One potent symbol of this is the phoenix, the magical bird who renews itself in flame and is reborn from the ashes.

Over the next few days, we can be bold in letting go, brave in consigning to the flames what needs to be released. We know we will rise again.