“The person who makes a success of living is the one who see his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication.” -Cecil B. DeMille

If you’ve ever worked with a life coach, project manager, or anyone else involved in taking an idea from inception to implementation then you’ll recognize the need to set goals. A goal is simply a line in the sand that helps us recognize when we’ve achieved something. Goals can be big (“launch a new website”) or small (“write my new moon blog post”) but in either case they setup some future state that we can begin to move towards.

The axiom “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” is an apt description of the sign of Sagittarius. This sign is a dual, or double-bodied, sign. The centaur is half horse and half man. The lower half is a symbol for the animal side of our nature – those base desires and ignoble actions we share with all living things. The upper half is a symbol for the rational mind and our ability to rise above our desires in order to seek understanding, wisdom, and a sense of the divine.

Sagittarius is called “the archer” and its astrological symbol can remind of of its desire to “aim high.” To aim means that we have our sights set on a target. Therefore, what are you aiming for this month? 

The Astrology of the New Moon

November New Moon

The new moon occurs on November 25, 2011 at 1:10 A.M. at 2° Sagittarius 37′. This is an extra special new moon as it is also a solar eclipse. This means the earth, moon, and sun are more or less in alignment. A new moon eclipse is a powerful time when the intentions we set, the goals we commit to, and the targets we aim for have a much greater chance of coming to fruition.

The new moon in Sadge makes two important aspects. First, it makes a trine aspect to the planet Uranus in Aries. Both Sagittarius and Aries are fire signs. Fire is a symbol for intuition. Now, you may think of the water signs as being “intuitive,” but that’s not the case. Fire signs are intuitive in that they are always looking forward and making decisions based on what could be rather than what is in front of them. They get their information not from their senses (i.e. “what do I see in front of me?”) but rather from their capacity to make connections and see the bigger picture (e.g. “what could be…”).

Therefore the new moon in aspect to Uranus will awaken us to what the future possibilities can be. Sounds a lot like the beginning of goal setting to me Uranus always carries the sense of the “new” or the iconoclastic. This is a wonderful time of initiating new goals that, perhaps just a few weeks ago, you might have thought them to be too outlandish. Surprise yourself.

The new moon also makes a square aspect to the planet Mars in Virgo. Virgo is ruled by the planet Mercury and during this eclipse Mercury will be retrograde (this Mercury retrograde period lasts from November 24 – December 14; for more information on what Mercury retrograde mean, see this blog post). The struggle (square) between Virgo and Sagittarius is one between being caught up in service to the details and one for freedom and higher vision- the bigger picture. Don’t let your efforts to work the minutiae blind you from seeing the bigger picture.

When Mercury retrogrades back to 3° Sagittarius on December 14 we can then start to work the plan, put the details into place, and execute our strategy. Until that time keep your plans at the 10,000 foot level. Make 5, 3, and 1 year plans now. This powerful eclipse has the power to fuel even our most important endeavors.

With that in mind here are some questions to ask yourself at this new moon:

• What is the bigger vision for my life?
• What dreams would I like to make into reality?
•  What has my experience taught me? Where am I wise?
• If I know what’s best for me am I willing to act on it?
• How can my dreams and goals create more security for me?