Written by Jane Anne Thomas
Art by Tess Guinery
New Moon Exact : Feb 11, 2021
11:05 pm PST | 12:05 pm MT | 1:05 pm CT | 2:05 pm ET
The dance between our Sun & Moon comes to a fevered, restless embrace this Thursday, February 11th in the star sign known to the Vedic sages as Dhaniṣṭha धनिष्ठा (pronounced Dhan-ishta). This union of moon & star, called amāvásyā in Sanskrit denotes a time of “no moon,” or “dwelling together“ of the generative solar & receptive lunar forces governing our world. This exact point of union is seen as a time of immense power. A time of marking new beginnings born in the dark, with only the stars to guide us. Glinting in soft persistence, these distant beacons like the eyes of our ancestors float so far above us that they seem to move outside of Time; suspended in its memory. Moving with a kaleidoscopic grace through the shadow worlds; they remember what we have forgotten: …our origins, our incarnations, our many-selves woven within the web of a vast evolutionary tapestry. They pulse in silent (subsonic) symphony, like our hearts more felt than heard. Steady & patient through the ebb & flow of life, all the while gently revealing a path, a sparkling map, held soft against the drifting void & the tidal pull of our surface worlds.
This month’s new moon (no moon) celestial map converges in the box shaped star cluster forming the head of the Dolphin constellation (Delphinius) which the Vedic Seers saw as the drum shaped lunar abode known as Dhaniṣṭha nakshatra. This is a much loved & sought-after sign at this particular time in the human story for it’s famous gifts of dynamic sensual allure, physical beauty, social status & material wealth. It is the epitome of contemporary glamour, bringing unparalleled fame, admiration & abundance to many of its timelessly beloved natives (Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, & Audrey Hepburn to name just a few). But like any blinding light, it can cast an equally dark shadow, often teaching of the perils of becoming trapped by desire, whether self-generated as ambition & achievement (which must then be maintained) or intensely projected onto you by others as the object of desire (which obscures & competes with an ability to sincerely “see” the substance / the soul within). Many whose life path intersects with this star are deeply shy, compassionate & gentle at heart & all too often struggle privately with being loved for who they really are without all the pretense & packaging.
Dhaniṣṭha’s magnetic quality presents several keys to the secrets of materializing our desires, but simultaneously challenges us not to become wholly seduced by the illusion (both good & bad) in the process. Socially it asks us to embody the heart’s compassionate understanding that even at such a time of accelerated over-exposure & near total access to imagery / information about each other… we actually only know a very small fraction of the truth of anyone else’s human experience. We can see form in the beauty of structure, symmetry, & talent. The desire body can be devoured. It can be touched, tasted, smelled, celebrated & even worshipped to transcendent heights, but it can also devour us in return, exhausting the senses we long to exalt. In contrast the Spirit can never be consumed like a product with a shelf life, like true Love it is far too vast, infinite, & indomitable for that. Desire can be exchanged, bought & sold ~ moved around on the shelf, but the Soul is not for sale.
With Dhaniṣṭha’s New Moon mark on this lunar month we are presented with the lesson of holding first to our substance, our compassion for others & devotion to guardianship of our own heart before we look to achievement & outer-validation as a center of gravity. This sign says that with humility, steady commitment & an open mind your deepest dreams can be known, but with out tending to the heart, the substance & guardianship of the soul ~ in truth no amount of accumulation, wealth or fame can otherwise become the refuge that we imagine it to be.
With both of our luminaries together in this sign it would be action-packed enough for a restless audience, but the Sun & Moon are joined by a rare massive congregation of masters (a Retrograde Mercury + Jupiter + Venus, & even Saturn to keep things interesting all just right next door) just a few short degrees away in the sign that precedes it called Śravaṇa श्रवण (pronounced Shra-van-ah). In translation Śravaṇa has been called “The Star of Listening,” “… of Learning,” & my personal favorite (drum-roll) … “The Star of the Guardians of Shamanic Sound.” It is a star that offers the ability to connect so profoundly with the hearts of others that it builds a pure harmonic bridge of relationship & understanding with all things. Śravaṇa harnesses the potential of pure vibration to the point of supernatural creative capacity! In order to accomplish that goal, this star very clearly advises that we observe the quality of our listening. This month we are witnessing an unmistakeable summit of masters all pointing our attention to the urgency of sitting silently in witness to our inner & outer worlds. As the star the comes before Dhaniṣṭha, it is also the key to unlocking (truly manifesting) it’s earthly treasures. If Dhaniṣṭha is the drum (of the flesh) awaiting a steady heart-beat to mobilize it’s power; then Śravaṇa is the in-breath, the life-force that animates that heart, propelling all life forward.
This rare summit of planetary masters at the time of this particular new moon is no accident. It may feel like the ground is rumbling, the emotions are high, our resistance is grumbling as we try to digest the intensified lessons before us. But if we can concentrate, still the mind (as much as possible) & quietly center our intentionality … we can begin to tend to the heart… dust off the drum … & in gently observing the quality of our listening, a truly incredible breakthrough lies waiting for us. This moment comes as an emissary of a great inter-planetary request, a commission from the cosmos itself to humbly allow the truth that sits in the stillness & quietude to reach us, & gentlely teach us. They are asking us to let a soft acceptance in, for with it comes a mature cleansing of our sense of mission, a renewed vitality, a refinement of our rich palette of desires & our relationship to our goals. All of this can be found like a startling priceless gemstone you didn’t realize lay right at your feet, revealed by simply listening… tenderly… reverently to the heart of creation.
With Love & Strength,
Jane Anne
If you’d like to follow more of Jane Anne’s work and wisdom, you can find her at janeannethomas.com.
