New Moon in Sagittarius: Becoming A Leader In This Moment

 This is not a typical moment in history.

But you already knew that, didn’t you, love? You can feel the discord rattling our Earth as the tides swell and our transitional seasons shorten. Our planet is no longer given the luxury of a leisurely unfolding between our extreme summer and winter seasons. And neither are we.

This moment in time calls for a different kind of strength, a more grounded type of existence. It calls for a collective, grassroots approach to leadership, instead of the top-down hierarchy that has never truly included all of us.

To be a leader at this moment means to be a communicator and a listener, creative and receptive. And it requires that we finally face our collective wounds that have refused to heal.

The Universe has spent the past year (years, if we’re honest) showing us just how deeply broken our current leadership is, as well as the systems within which our leaders have clung to power. It’s no coincidence that 2018 has been riddled with challenging retrogrades and chaotic eclipses. This has been the call to bring our collective flaws to the light so that we can adjust accordingly.

It’s also been a call for us to see that many of our leaders do not deserve the pedestal we’ve placed them upon. To paraphrase the words of Alice Walker, “We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.”

Within each of us lies the potential to step into our power and lead.

It means digging deep and listening to not only what lights us up, but what enrages us. We’re called to accept and align with both our joy and pain and then to act on them both. It’s using our joy to transform our share of the bone-deep traumas that prevents us all from rising. For some, this may look like creating stunning graphic designs, or deeply nurturing children, or working to secure a more equal and just world in the future. For me, it looks like using my knowledge and appreciation of astrology and coaching to remind womxn just how damn resilient they can be.

The idea of examining the world’s pain and using our grit, intuition, and skills to help us all ascend is where leadership at this moment differs from some of the leadership models of the past. This will require us all to consider what part we’ve played in our current situation and to course-correct using our strength and personal power.

Develop Your Vision for Leadership This New Moon

As you embrace the new moon in Sagittarius, which will perfect on December 7th at 2:20 am, it’s time to develop your vision for the future. Sagittarius, one of the most visionary signs of the zodiac, alchemizes thoughts into actions. So paying attention to how you are being called to lead proves extremely fruitful now.

A Note on Leadership: The Crucible

“The process of becoming a leader is much the same as the process of becoming an integrated human being.”
– Warren Bennis, leadership expert

Or to put it in another Bennis phrase: “Leadership development is personal development.”

If you follow my work, I know you take your personal development journey seriously. I do, too. I bet we agree that personal development is an intricate part of a successful life; a life comprised of both meaning and pleasure. While often categorized as “self-care,” personal development goes deeper than that, and works on the nooks and crannies of your becoming. It often feels hard, sometimes even hard AF. And the point of all this hard work? To develop your capacity to contribute in meaningful ways to the unfolding of the future our generation is responsible for creating.

I want to share a bit more about Warren Bennis’ work to support understanding why personal development and leadership development are so intertwined.

Alongside Warren Bennis, Robert J. Thomas wrote the book Geeks and Geezers. These two leadership tycoons identified a crucial factor in the story of many highly regarded leaders; they all went through intense periods of hardship, what they define as a “crucible.”

“We came to call the experiences that shape leaders ‘crucibles,’ after the vessels medieval alchemists used in their attempts to turn base metals into gold. For the leaders we interviewed, the crucible experience was a trial and a test, a point of deep self-reflection that forced them to question who they were and what mattered to them. It required them to examine their values, question their assumptions, hone their judgment. And, invariably, they emerged from the crucible stronger and more sure of themselves and their purpose—changed in some fundamental way.”

Contending with a “crucible” or a challenging life experience often galvanizes leadership.

And not just any leadership, truly impactful and effective leadership.

So, with 2018 in wrap-up mode—a year that had so many hairpin turns, and gut-wrenching moments—I encourage you to consider how your crucibles have and continue to contribute to your becoming an effective and impactful leader. As a society, we face a collective crucible, too. Thankfully, 2019 brings a much different astrological year. Sandwiched between 2018 (with its abundant retrogrades and palpable eclipses) and 2020 (which will be a time of crazy-intense astrological transits), the year ahead asks us to own our truth. After all, truth is quintessentially Sagittarius! Now is the time to embrace the truth of who we are, our vision for the future, and step into our greatest leadership capacities.

The New Moon in Sagittarius: Own the Truth of Who You Are

With Jupiter, the planet of good luck and good fortune traveling in the sign of the archer for a whole year, this new moon activates Jupiter’s potential. Jupiter loves being in Sagittarius. Why? He’s in his home sign there, amplifying his impact. And more good news! This new moon, happening at 15 degrees of Sagittarius has a loose conjunction to good luck Jupiter (currently at 6 degrees). This combination not only encourages an in-depth look at who you are, how you lead, and ways you can not only develop your vision… but! also backs it up with the commitment to action required to make it happen.

In the most simple terms, the new moon in Sagittarius asks you own—and live from—the truth of who you are.

With Mercury wrapping up his final retrograde cycle of 2018 on December 6th, we might feel like a piece of sand inside of an oyster shell that’s finally ready to emerge as a pearl. This was a rough-and-tumble year that tossed us back-and-forth and side-to-side. But finally, we’ve completed our last inner-planet retrograde cycle of the year. Halle-fucking-lujah.

Tune in and see what clarity emerges now, as it might feel just as ripe as a late August peach. Though also please note: true soul direction needs to take as long as it takes. So, don’t rush anything or feel bad if it doesn’t become crystal clear right away.

Mainly because there are still some mild challenges at the time of the new moon in Sagittarius. Active Mars travels in Pisces, very close to dreamy Neptune, and makes a hard and harsh angle to this new moon. Mars and Neptune (both in emotional Pisces) square the sun and moon (both in blunt and bold Sagittarius), indicating that direction may still feel cloudy, in spite of Jupiter’s auspicious alignment and Sagittarius’ fire.

So, don’t rush clarity. If it’s not there right away, embrace slowness.

Let clarity come from the truth within your heart, not a sense of urgency or impatience in your head. (Often, truth requires going painfully slow—and that’s ok. Success isn’t a race, it’s a rhythm.) Remember: to be a leader at this moment means to be a communicator and a listener, creative and receptive. So start with listening to your own heart. Learn her language and stay patient with her pace. Decipher and decode her messages. Nothing else matters more.

Besides, long gone are the days of performative self-care. (If you haven’t checked out Well+Good’s 2019 wellness trends you gotta!) This new moon isn’t about snapping a pretty pic of your new moon ritual for Instagram or rushing through a ceremony because you feel like you “have to.” It’s a critical opportunity to tune in and access your inner truth to guide you as you step into the next year. And yes, this might take the whole damn lunar cycle! So, chill out and let it emerge as it will. It’s your job to hear it. That’s it.

Resilience Is The Key To Both Personal Development and Leadership

Listen, if leadership is born in the ability to find meaning amidst our most difficult moments (aka, our crucibles) leadership is genuinely about resilience. Furthermore, I believe our survival is, too.

When we acknowledge the punches life throws at us, we learn to bob, weave, recover, and rise, instead of pretending we aren’t getting hit in the face on repeat. By accepting our reality, we develop our resilience.

Our resilience is our empowerment.

As we become more resilient, we learn to move through stress quicker, to accept and let go, and appreciate our experience for what they are instead of what we wish they could be. We become the highest version of ourselves, and only then do we begin to create a reality that’s not only in our best interest but in the best interest of all.

Now over to you. What is calling you to rise as a leader? How can you use your strengths to serve a broader community? How can you develop your resilience so you can keep going? Have you been through a crucible that’s empowered you as a leader? What’s your soul-driven vision as you step into 2019? Let me know in the comments.